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Fundstrat launches five indexes to track bitcoin and other digital currencies – CNBC


CNBC

Fundstrat launches five indexes to track bitcoin and other digital currencies
CNBC
A prominent Wall Street strategist who predicted bitcoin could more than quadruple in value in five years has created five indexes to track digital currencies. Fundstrat Global Advisors’ Thomas Lee said in a report Friday that the FS Crypto FX indexes
Bitcoin: Glittering Like Gold for Central Banks?Barron’s

all 3 news articles »


CNBC

Fundstrat launches five indexes to track bitcoin and other digital currencies
CNBC
A prominent Wall Street strategist who predicted bitcoin could more than quadruple in value in five years has created five indexes to track digital currencies. Fundstrat Global Advisors' Thomas Lee said in a report Friday that the FS Crypto FX indexes ...
Bitcoin: Glittering Like Gold for Central Banks?Barron's

all 3 news articles »

Australian Government Faces Scrutiny Over New Facial Recognition Measures

TheMerkle Australa Mass SurveillanceAny new proposal signed by politicians related to facial recognition technology will be met with a lot of scrutiny. Consumers are slowly becoming more privacy-aware, which means they will not respond kindly to any invasive measures whatsoever. Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has claimed his country’s automated face-matching regime under anti-terrorism rules will not invade individuals’ privacy. His country’s citizens are hardly convinced that is the case, though. Australia Sets a Disturbing Facial Recognition Precedent No one should be surprised to learn that the Australian population is not too pleased with the new set of rules put together by the government. Under these new guidelines,

TheMerkle Australa Mass Surveillance

Any new proposal signed by politicians related to facial recognition technology will be met with a lot of scrutiny. Consumers are slowly becoming more privacy-aware, which means they will not respond kindly to any invasive measures whatsoever. Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has claimed his country’s automated face-matching regime under anti-terrorism rules will not invade individuals’ privacy. His country’s citizens are hardly convinced that is the case, though.

Australia Sets a Disturbing Facial Recognition Precedent

No one should be surprised to learn that the Australian population is not too pleased with the new set of rules put together by the government. Under these new guidelines, federal and state police will gain full and real-time access to passport, visa, citizenship, and driver’s license images. These images will be utilized by facial recognition technology to identify wanted individuals under criminal investigation. Additionally, these images may help in identifying potential terrorism suspects. The agreement came to be due to approval from the federal, state, and territory leaders of the country.

This facial biometric matching agreement has received a lot of feedback from day one. Not all of this feedback was overly positive, although that is only to be expected. While Prime Minister Turnbull claims the Australian government has no “Big Brother” intentions whatsoever, the general public feels this new measure is far too invasive and puts excessive power in the hands of law enforcement agencies, which can seemingly use this information as they see fit.

A lot of people are understandably concerned that the new measure will eventually lead to mass surveillance in Australia. Turnbull claims surveillance of any kind is not on the agenda as far as this proposal is concerned, although it remains to be seen whether that will be the case. There are so many potential privacy implications here, people no longer know what to think right now.

While it is true that law enforcement agencies occasionally share database information to confirm offenders’ identities, these procedures are clunky at best. With a new era of technology upon us, some major changes had to be made sooner or later. Whether or not things had to get to this level remains to be seen, though. Giving private companies access to such databases – assuming they receive governmental approval – is not something most people are looking forward to by any means.

Some will see this program as the technological enhancement it is designed to be. Others will see it as a new attempt by the Australian government to invade consumer privacy and claim it to be an anti-terrorism effort. The new measure will be put in place before the Commonwealth Games of 2018, as increased surveillance is allegedly meant to improve public safety. There will always be a trade-off between safety and invasive technology, at least until new solutions can be created.

For the time being, there are no plans to enforce the new program over the coming months. While the public outcry is not necessarily something the government was looking for, they understand people are concerned about what all of this means. Finding the balance between security and privacy is not easy these days, despite having some really powerful technology at our disposal right now.

UK Central Bank Unveils Blockchain Data Privacy Pilot

The Bank of England announced four new financial technology projects, including a proof-of-concept test for distributed ledger technologies.

The Bank of England announced four new financial technology projects, including a proof-of-concept test for distributed ledger technologies.

Op Ed: A Roadmap For How the Blockchain Can Open Up Foreign Property Investment

For most individuals, investing in foreign property seems out of reach. The barriers, however, have far less to do with one’s income and more to do with issues around information, namely quality and verifiability. It is not just the cost of property…

RealEstateRoadmap.jpg

For most individuals, investing in foreign property seems out of reach. The barriers, however, have far less to do with one’s income and more to do with issues around information, namely quality and verifiability. It is not just the cost of property but also the expense in hiring local advisers that makes foreign real estate a rich man’s game.

Blockchain technology has the potential to significantly lower these barriers, making property investment a viable option for a larger swathe of the population. In short, distributed ledgers can provide greater transparency into the availability, detail and oversight of properties in more inaccessible areas.

Tokenization makes real estate investments more liquid and divisible among a greater number of people — an attribute that greatly reduces transaction costs and increases economies of scale.

The various levels of complexity are the reason why foreign real estate investors often resort to hiring local advisers. The costs incurred in hiring local advisers or services can add up to more than the actual property.

As business lawyer, economist and Brickblock adviser Dr. Wolfgang Richter notes, “The various fees make it unfeasible for people to invest small amounts; thus, investing is only advantageous for those with a lot of capital.”

The decentralized, fluid and incorruptible nature of blockchain technology may present a solution to the barriers that aspiring property investors are confronted with.

Providing a Trusted, Verifiable Source of Data by Demystifying Information

As it stands, one of the greatest challenges for potential investors is understanding whether a property is appropriate for investment.

Investors may see a property they like — but how can they understand whether the financial, cultural and security prospects of the surrounding area fit their risk profile? And how can they trust that the information is even correct? Ensuring the accuracy of data and overcoming language barriers makes this process extremely difficult.

The same goes for valuations — how verifiable are they? How is a potential buyer who hasn’t set foot in the country meant to ensure that the current value is fair?

Companies and advisers interested in widening their client pool to international investors can collect, store and present critical information to individuals in a clear and transparent fashion. According to Richter, this information includes “a thorough description of the assets, including a valuation by an external expert, as well as documentation that demonstrates a credible management structure.”

In essence, the distributed ledger eliminates much of the complexity of compiling, verifying and ensuring the integrity of real estate data.

Eliminating the Need for Costly Trustee and Company Structures

Most trustee and company structures exist solely to hold and maintain records. Ensuring that the appropriate data is filed, maintained and accurate — especially as requirements differ across each country — requires extensive resources.

However, with blockchain technology, all data concerning the investment deal and ongoing valuation can be stored in a decentralized database where it can’t be altered or manipulated.

Between not having to pay high marketing fees for documentation and additional costs to store and verify information, investors have more cash to park in their investments.

Reducing the Need for Local Finances and Administration

Tokenization enables real estate investments to be divided and translated into digital tokens. Tokens can be distributed and traded between investors without any need to transfer into local currency.

The ability to buy and sell property via tokens eliminates the need for local bank accounts, which often require a high initial deposit from foreign individuals or are outright impossible to open due to residence requirements. Thanks to the nature of borderless cryptocurrencies, the size of local documentation is vastly reduced — further lowering administration costs. In addition, follow-up transactions for investors can be handled easily because of the liquid nature of the tokens and because of the transparency afforded by the distributed ledger.

Transforming Real Estate Into a More Liquid Asset

Tokenization also turns a somewhat illiquid asset into a highly liquid one. Tokens can be traded or liquidated much more easily and rapidly than an individual property or shares in a typical real estate fund.

Opening Up Accessibility to a Wider Variety of Foreign Real Estate

Dividing up a real estate investment into smaller-sized tokens not only makes it more cost-effective to invest in foreign property, but also enables investors to deploy their capital across more properties. As the amount required to invest can be low, individuals can spread out risk by investing in a variety of tokenized real estate offerings.

A blockchain-backed platform investing in foreign real estate is nascent, not exotic. As companies or advisers build up track records, grading systems aligned to the data in the distributed ledger can help individuals evaluate the risk associated with specific offerings. Investors will be able to gauge the aptitude of potential real estate investments as easily as they do stocks or bonds.

“Regulation will help this process along,” says Richter. Of course, regulators are still getting their heads around the necessary oversight for tokenization structures. There are also questions about tax issues. Yet, as Richter notes, “There are already structures available based on other types of existing offerings which can provide guidance.”

All in all, blockchain technology stands to open up a wider variety of foreign real estate assets to a larger proportion of the population. While some may feel that investing in property may not make sense for those with less capital than today’s investors, the reality is that real estate — like other real assets — can help offset volatile currencies or inflation. It’s a proposition that many individuals have found themselves excluded from. As with many other areas of finance, blockchain technology stands to make it more inclusive.

This is a guest post by Jakob Drzazga. Opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Media or Bitcoin Magazine.

The post Op Ed: A Roadmap For How the Blockchain Can Open Up Foreign Property Investment appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin Price Returns to $4400 Heading Into the Weekend – The Merkle

The MerkleBitcoin Price Returns to $4400 Heading Into the WeekendThe MerkleThe cryptocurrency industry has experienced a few interesting days once again. After the Bitcoin price seemingly became stuck in sideways and borderline bearish territory, thing…


The Merkle

Bitcoin Price Returns to $4400 Heading Into the Weekend
The Merkle
The cryptocurrency industry has experienced a few interesting days once again. After the Bitcoin price seemingly became stuck in sideways and borderline bearish territory, things are finally picking up once again. Right now, the Bitcoin price is ...

Chaos, Hackers Still Rife in Wild West of Exchanges

There is a lot that can happen to your Bitcoin if things go wrong at an exchange, and relatively speaking, there is a lot that can go wrong at the exchanges.

There is a lot that can happen to your Bitcoin if things go wrong at an exchange, and relatively speaking, there is a lot that can go wrong at the exchanges.

Altcoin Analysis for 06-10-2017: NEO, DASH, IOTA, XMR and NEM

NEOUSD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Today’s chart is still contained within yesterday’s Hi-Los of $33.89 and $28.60. From the look of things, there is some buying pressure after yesterday’s bull candlestick. Going into NFP later today, we expect volatility eithe…

NEOUSD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Today’s chart is still contained within yesterday’s Hi-Los of $33.89 and $28.60. From the look of things, there is some buying pressure after yesterday’s bull candlestick. Going into NFP later today, we expect volatility either to the upside especially if NFP numbers disappoint investors and that will entirely be a fundamental event. … Continue reading Altcoin Analysis for 06-10-2017: NEO, DASH, IOTA, XMR and NEM

The post Altcoin Analysis for 06-10-2017: NEO, DASH, IOTA, XMR and NEM appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Finnish Law Enforcement Cracks Down on OneCoin Promoters

TheMerkle Finland OneCoin CrackdownIt is only a matter of time until all of OneCoin’s financial investigations catch up with it. Multiple countries are investigating this infamous Ponzi scheme and it seems some progress has been made in Finland. The police there are targeting one OneCoin promoter in particular, although it is likely more individuals are on their radar. The walls are slowly closing in on this Ponzi scheme, which can only be considered a positive thing. OneCoin Promoter is in hot Water As most people are well aware, Finland is just one of the countries where OneCoin is currently under investigation. Considering this Ponzi scheme

TheMerkle Finland OneCoin Crackdown

It is only a matter of time until all of OneCoin’s financial investigations catch up with it. Multiple countries are investigating this infamous Ponzi scheme and it seems some progress has been made in Finland. The police there are targeting one OneCoin promoter in particular, although it is likely more individuals are on their radar. The walls are slowly closing in on this Ponzi scheme, which can only be considered a positive thing.

OneCoin Promoter is in hot Water

As most people are well aware, Finland is just one of the countries where OneCoin is currently under investigation. Considering this Ponzi scheme has taken money from thousands of people over the past few years, there was no doubt things would sour for the company at some point. Not too long ago, OneCoin received a major fine due to its obfuscated business model and promises of major gains for investors without any credible evidence to back up those claims.

According to the Finnish Broadcasting Company, the investigation in Finland is heating up as we speak. Law enforcement officials have shown a keen interest in apprehending one particular promoter in Finland. He or she is the subject of an economic crime case, which means the person will likely be charged with fraud and potentially even embezzlement. Sources claim the financial damages amount to around half a million euros, which is a massive amount of money.

Finland is a popular country for OneCoin, as the company has seen its fair share of success there over the years. It is believed around 20,000 Finns have invested in the Ponzi scheme, most of whom did so after attending one of the events organized by promoters. This is a common method to recruit new investors, and is often rather successful in the long run.

While the individual in question is of great interest to law enforcement officials, there is at least one other person tied to the same investigation. Neither individual has had their identity exposed so far, but it is evident the probe into OneCoin is slowly coming together as we speak. There is no doubt the ongoing investigation will eventually bring this project and parent company OneLife to justice. It is evident their business model raises a lot more questions than answers right now.

Rest assured this is not the last time we will hear of the Finnish investigation related to OneCoin. Although this is the second time the company has faced scrutiny in the country, the initial case did not result in any charges being filed. It remains unclear what the future will bring this time around, and things could get very interesting in the coming months.

It is partially due to malicious programs such as OneCoin that we see so few people give cryptocurrency the credit it deserves. Some people even claim OneCoin is everything Bitcoin could never be, which is partially true. Bitcoin never requested that anyone invest, as people are given the freedom to choose. Moreover, in the case of Bitcoin there are no “company packages” nor any centralized structures whatsoever. The two concepts couldn’t be more different even if they tried.

Aero Aims to Become a Monero-First Darknet Market Rather Than Rely on Bitcoin

TheMerkle Aero Darknet MoneroDarknet marketplaces will still be around long after some of the major players in this space are shut down. With AlphaBay gone, there is a huge void waiting to be filled, as neither Hansa nor Dream could make any major impact. Whether or not Aero will perform differently remains to be seen. However, the latter’s acceptance of Monero alongside Bitcoin – rather than ZCash or Dash – has a lot of people excited right now. Aero Marketplace is a Different Breed It is quite remarkable to see the Aero darknet marketplace team officially announcing the launch of this platform on Reddit. Even though the DNM industry is

TheMerkle Aero Darknet Monero

Darknet marketplaces will still be around long after some of the major players in this space are shut down. With AlphaBay gone, there is a huge void waiting to be filled, as neither Hansa nor Dream could make any major impact. Whether or not Aero will perform differently remains to be seen. However, the latter’s acceptance of Monero alongside Bitcoin – rather than ZCash or Dash – has a lot of people excited right now.

Aero Marketplace is a Different Breed

It is quite remarkable to see the Aero darknet marketplace team officially announcing the launch of this platform on Reddit. Even though the DNM industry is facing a lot of scrutiny from regulators and government officials, there are still a lot of people who are willing to operate such platforms right now. Moreover, there is still a big demand for DNMs as we speak, especially with all major contenders having been forcibly removed over the past few months.

Aero may be the next darknet marketplace to quickly rise to the top, depending on how things evolve. The team has, according to the Reddit post, been working on this platform for quite some time now. Their main priorities revolve around security and preventing user funds from being stolen, accounts being hacked, or the platform being compromised by government officials. All of these goals are pretty ambitious, but they also touch on how things will need to change in the DNM industry over the coming years.

In fact, Aero is not your average darknet market, but is rather a Dark Net Blackmarket, which is a bit different. With a strong focus on security and a very different user interface from more traditional markets, Aero takes things in an interesting direction. There are a lot of people working on the platform’s coding, security and design, by the looks of things.

Under the hood, Aero users are required to have a PGP key for all operations. Two-factor authentication is also enforced, which is a very smart decision. This platform is a business like any other and should be treated as such. All shipping details and tracking information on the platform also need to be encrypted by users. However, there is no auto-encryption feature on the platform itself, which is an interesting decision at this stage.  Messages themselves don’t need to be encrypted, but it would be worth looking into.

On the payments front, there are two supported currencies. Both Bitcoin and Monero are available options, even though Bitcoin is still a security liability at this stage. Monero is the only currency suited for darknet purposes, and the rest of the community needs to realize this fact sooner rather than later. To that point, Aero will strive to become a Monero-first marketplace and may potentially drop support for Bitcoin in the future. Monero will need proper multisig support before that can be considered, though.

Last but not least, there are two types of memberships right now. They will cost US$150 and US$200 respectively, which is a fair price in exchange for what users will get. With security features such as a kill switch password, ability to burn accounts, and on-screen PIN entry, Aero is poised to become the number-one DNM in the near future. A lot of future developments and new features will be introduced in the near future, as this is only the first implementation of the nascent marketplace.

Bitcoin Price Chillout Gets Traders Moongazing As Market Cap Flirts With $150 bln – CoinTelegraph


CoinTelegraph

Bitcoin Price Chillout Gets Traders Moongazing As Market Cap Flirts With $150 bln
CoinTelegraph
Bitcoin was struggling to stay above $4,400 Friday as cryptocurrency’s market up approaches $150 bln for the fourth time. Data from Coinmarketcap and Bitcointicker show brief periods trading above the previously insignificant barrier, before coming


CoinTelegraph

Bitcoin Price Chillout Gets Traders Moongazing As Market Cap Flirts With $150 bln
CoinTelegraph
Bitcoin was struggling to stay above $4,400 Friday as cryptocurrency's market up approaches $150 bln for the fourth time. Data from Coinmarketcap and Bitcointicker show brief periods trading above the previously insignificant barrier, before coming ...

Bitcoin: Glittering Like Gold for Central Banks? – Barron’s

Barron’sBitcoin: Glittering Like Gold for Central Banks?Barron’sGold spot futures are down so far Friday to around $1,264, not far from the $1,250-level, where analysts guided the safe haven metal to settle by the end of this year. Central banks are ma…


Barron's

Bitcoin: Glittering Like Gold for Central Banks?
Barron's
Gold spot futures are down so far Friday to around $1,264, not far from the $1,250-level, where analysts guided the safe haven metal to settle by the end of this year. Central banks are major owners, holding an estimated 18% of the 190,000 metric ...

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