Image of The Day, 12 of October: FXStreet, Forbes, MarketWatch and Others
We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this day in the most indicative quotes are below!
1. STARSTRUCK (The Next Web)
Superstar plastic surgeon buys major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange
Bithumb will now be directly managed by Singapore-based investment group BK Global Consortium, after it purchased a 50-percent stake (plus one share) from its largest shareholder, BTC Holdings Co., Bloomberg reports. To confuse matters, BK Global is also a major shareholder in BTC Holdings. BK Global have effectively ‘doubled-down’ on its investment, by selling itself enough shares to have direct control over Bithumb.
Running BK is Kim Byung-gun, one of South Korea’s premier plastic surgeons and founder of the BK Plastic Surgery Hospitals, first in Seoul, then Singapore.Bithumb is currently the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by reported volume, with more BTC flowing through it than global exchange Binance.
2. STRAIGHT OUTTA WHITE HOUSE (CNBC)
Former White House economic advisor Gary Cohn joins blockchain start-up
Former White House economic advisor Gary Cohn is finally unveiling his next career move: blockchain. Cohn, who left the Trump administration in March, will join start-up Spring Labs as an advisor, the company announced in a press release Friday. The firm uses blockchain technology to share credit data between banks.
The former Goldman Sachs president told the Financial Times, which first reported the news, that this was a "unique opportunity," and "an obvious place to take a very, very analogue industry and digitize." Cohn has made very few public appearances since leaving the administration, and this is one of the first reports of his next job.
3. LOSE MONEY WHILE MINING (MarketWatch)
If you’re mining Bitcoin from home, you’re now losing money
Bitcoin mining was once, as close as you could get to free money. You plugged in your computer, which began solving complicated mathematical problems on the bitcoin ledger, and you were rewarded with bitcoin. Now, 10 years on since the first bitcoin was mined, competition to solve these complicated puzzles on the blockchain has surged making that free money not so free.
In fact, it’s become so saturated that retail miners who are plugging in their PCs, hoping to earn a quick buck, are now losing money, according to data from Diar, a blockchain and data analytics firm.
4. LITE OVER GEMINI (Forbes)
Gemini latest exchange to offer Litecoin
New York-based Gemini is the latest exchange to offer trading of Litecoin, the alternative protocol asset (altcoin) that many consider to be bitcoin's little brother. This development could provide tailwinds for the price of litecoin, which has benefited in the past from being listed on major exchanges like Coinbase.
While the exchange had already revealed during the Litecoin Summit that it planned to support litecoin starting Saturday, Oct. 13, it clarified this morning that this date is when investors will be able to deposit the digital currency into their accounts.
5. I’ll SUE YOU THEN! (Bloomberg)
Crypto exchange sues former employee over seizure of platform
The operator of the Bibox Exchange and its co-founder Wanlin Wang sued Wei Liu, a Chinese citizen who lives in Manhattan, claiming she covertly named herself as the sole shareholder of the entity that owns the venture in an attempt to embezzle more than $3 million.
Liu’s attorney, Timothy Pastore of Duval & Stachenfeld LLP in New York, said the allegations couldn’t be further from the truth. Liu, 34, rightfully controls the venture, he said.
6. MEETUP IN SECRECY (The Next Web)
Meetup.com has an unintended cryptocurrency community interest metric
There are a myriad of specialized websites that track the cryptocurrency market. But it appears the social meet up website Meetup.com might give us another metric that hasn’t yet been considered: global cryptocurrency community interest. Meetup.com‘s topics section can give us an unintended overview of global interest in the cryptocurrency market by individual coins.
It might be useful to watch how interest in these topics grows over time, and importantly where it grows. It’s also intriguing to compare how interest in different cryptocurrencies or blockchain projects varies across the globe.
7. ABOVE AND BEYOND (Daily Hodl)
Ripple is exploring new ways to broaden the adoption of XRP
Ripple is exploring new ways to broaden the adoption of XRP beyond the world of banking.
At the PreMoney crypto conference in San Francisco, Ripple’s senior vice president of Xpring, Ethan Beard, expanded on the company’s efforts to grow the XRP ecosystem through Xpring.
“With Xpring, we’re focused on the broader XRP ecosystem. Ripple, as a company, focuses on the Internet of Value – helping money move as easily as data. Our core business being ‘helping banks move money – mainly across border’ and we’ve got great momentum there.”
8. ROUBINI CONTINUES (CNBC)
Roubini tells Congress that blockchain is overhyped
Global economist Nouriel Roubini, one of the few who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, is making sure U.S. senators don't miss his warning on cryptocurrency. Within minutes of testifying at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, he sounded alarms on multiple aspects of the new digital asset class.
The self-described expert on international financial markets, asset and credit bubbles and their bust, said the first warning sign came after late last year as bitcoin neared a high of almost $20,000. Roubini told senators that "literally every human being I met between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2017" asked him if they should buy cryptocurrency.
9. NOT A BILLIONAIRE (Bloomberg)
Ether creator claims he's no crypto billionaire
Vitalik Buterin, one of the most influential people in crypto, says he’s not a digital-currency billionaire.In a Twitter post, Buterin, who helped start the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, and continues to drive the development of underlying technology, said he never personally held more than 0.9 percent of the cryptocurrency, which has a market cap of $20.1 billion.
Buterin posted a link Wednesday to his digital wallet, which currently holds 365,003 Ether, valued at about $73 million, and includes gifts and charity donations. Buterin said he has other wallets, "but they’re quite small relatively speaking.
10. BEARS RUN THE SHOW (FXStreet)
Сryptocurrency market capitalization slips below $200B
Cryptocurrency market extended the slump with total capitalization moving under $200B handle for the first time since September 19. Altcoins lead the decline while Bitcoin is relatively stable, staying above critical $6,000. The digital coin No.1 touched $6,060 low on Thursday and recovered towards $6,1789 by press time.
Ethereum fell as low as $186 late on Thursday, Ripple’s XRP touched $0.3760, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) collapsed to $427 handle during early Asian hours. Market experts believe, that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were hit by the widespread sell-off on the global financial markets. Due to recent security breaches and regulatory uncertainty, digital assets lost their safe-haven status to behave in line with risk assets.