Image of The Day, 19 of October: Bloomberg, Seeking Alpha, The Next Web 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. FINDING A BOTTOM (Daily Hodl)
The CEO of Genesis Trading calls a bottom
The CEO of one of the biggest over-the-counter market makers in crypto says $6,000 appears to be Bitcoin’s bottom. “As the price has sort of approached this magical $6,000 – $5,900 support level, we see the short guys closing out their positions and buying back in,” Genesis Trading CEO Michael Moro told CNBC’s Fast Money. “So we see that on the lending side, which actually correlates to some of the price performance that you’re seeing on the spot side.”
Genesis Trading launched its lending business in March, and says it has loaned more than half a billion dollars in crypto to institutional investors, including hedge funds and financial firms. Moro says he believes Bitcoin is heading back to $10,000, but won’t offer a timeline for how long that may take.
2. CRYPTO IS FINE TOO (Bloomberg)
A hedge fund manager will accept Bitcoin for his $16 million mansion
In 2013 Roy Niederhoffer, the president of New York-based R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, Inc., was in need of a place to live. He’d begun a long-term construction project to renovate a house in Manhattan, but in the meantime, he and his young family were living in a rental nearby, a situation he says was short-term at best.
Five years later, his original renovation project is finally complete, so Niederhoffer is reluctantly placing the 10,720-square-foot, 32-foot-wide mansion on the market with Cathy Taub of Sotheby’s International Realty and Dexter Guerrieri and Nicole Kats of Vandenberg at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The house is listed for $15.9 million. Niederhoffer will accept either cash or the equivalent in Bitcoin.
3. SAD DOGGO (The Next Web)
Analysts track cryptocurrency scammer who stole from 10K Dogecoin fans
An online scammer is targeting the popular cryptocurrency, Dogecoin. To date, more than 10,000 individuals have been hit by the operation, with overall losses amounting to some $24,000.
Cybersecurity firm Doctor Web fingered the perp in a recent blog, spotted by BleepingComputer. Analysts have been tracking the suspicious activity of a particular cryptocurrency criminal, who has been using a wide array of malware and other methods to gain illegal income.
4. A BADGE OF CRYPTOHONOR (Seeking Alpha)
Is Bitcoin ever a buy-and-hold?
The phrase, "I’m just HODLing" is often expressed as a badge of honor, as if holding on to a losing position due to passionate devotion is a virtue. Those that just hodl are often thought of as the true investors in crypto, as they believe so much in this nascent asset that it will have to be ripped from their cold, dead hands.
This badge-of-honor mentality presents a problem. You see, cryptos are the most volatile asset on the planet. Seventy-to-ninety-percent corrections are regular and normal. So while HODL is a sign of bravery to some, it seems to me the sentiment is akin to wearing a lemming suit and expressing the willingness to run their accounts off a cliff for their beloved cryptocurrencies. Whether you are trading cryptos or another asset, giving your undying love to an asset is a recipe for disaster.
5. FORBES MOVES TO BLOCKCHAINVILLE (Yahoo Finance)
World’s leading business magazine Forbes is partnering with blockchain start-up Civil
The magazine is merging Civil’s software with its content management system so that it can start uploading content on a decentralized system beginning 2019. This arrangement is expected to make it impossible for a third party to alter or remove Forbes’ content.
Major corporate giants including Apple AAPL, Alphabet GOOGL, Microsoft MSFT, Qualcomm QCOM, Dell DVMT and Berkshire Hathaway have started exploring blockchain and its implementations. According to MarketsandMarkets, global blockchain operations are expected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 79.6%to USD 7,683.7 million by 2022.
6. DANGERS OF DEMOCRACY (MarketWatch)
Voting by blockchain could add new risks to our elections
Looking to modernize voting practices, speed waiting times at the polls, increase voter turnout and generally make voting more convenient, many government officials — and some companies hawking voting systems — are looking to an emerging technology called a “blockchain.”
Blockchains might sound like an ideal remedy for the trust problems caused by internet voting. Data can only be added to a blockchain — not deleted or changed — because multiple copies are stored on computers owned by different people or organizations and perhaps spread across different countries. Yet scholars who have studied traditional and blockchain-based voting, believe that while blockchains may help with some specific issues, they can’t fix the basic problems with internet voting. In fact, they could make things worse.
7. SEEKING: TECH PROS (TechRepublic)
While the technology remains in its infancy, more companies are seeking tech pros with the skills needed to advance their blockchain projects.
Open blockchain jobs in the US surged 300% this year compared to last, according to a Thursday report from job search site Glassdoor. As of August 2018, some 1,775 unique blockchain-related jobs were open in the US, compared to 446 one year prior, the report found.
"While the ultimate staying power of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies remains to be seen, the blockchain job market seems primed to continue its rapid growth into the near future," the report stated.
8. NORK CYBER COMMANDO (The Next Web)
North Korean hacker crew steals $571M in crypto
North Korean hacking outfit Lazarus is the most profitable cryptocurrency-hacker syndicate in the world. Since 2017, internet baddies have in total stolen $882 million worth of cryptocurrency from online exchanges, but none have done it quite as well as the infamous North Koreans. World-renowned cybersecurity unit Group-IB is prepping to release its annual report on trends in hi-tech cybercrime.
Group-IB expects the number of targeted attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges to rise, and not just the ones from Lazarus. It warns the most aggressive hacker groups, usually known for attacking banks, will shift their attention to cryptocurrency exchanges now they know just how lucrative it can be.
9. PANTERA’S PROPHECY (The Daily Hodl)
The CEO of Pantera Capital says Bakkt and Fidelity will become two key catalysts for the growth of the cryptocurrency market.
At Bloomberg’s Institutional Crypto Conference in New York, Dan Morehead said he expects the crypto trading platform Bakkt and Fidelity’s new crypto platform for institutional investors to bring a new wave of capital into crypto.
“When we look back at this five years from now, I think those are going to be the events that spurred an enormous amount of capital into the industry,” Said Dan.
10. JUST A MATTER OF TIME (Market Watch)
Bitcoin prices have gravitated back to $6,500, but could be on the verge of a move higher, says eToro analyst
Bitcoin prices traded marginally lower Thursday, continuing what’s been a subdued few sessions for the world’s largest digital currency. After Monday’s move higher, Bitcoin oscillated on either side of $6,500, and in Thursday a single Bitcoin was trading at $6,453.14, down 0.9% since Wednesday’s level at 5 p.m. eastern time on the Kraken exchange.
But one analyst said Bitcoin’s lull may be coming to an end. “It’s only a matter of time now,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, speaking about a potential breakout for Bitcoin. “Of course, the flat-line pattern could easily remain for another few months, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing; however, there are signs of excitement boiling underneath the cool price action exterior.”