Image of The Day, 2 of October: Quartz, The Next Web, ABC News, 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. NOBLE SEEKS HELP ( Bloomberg)
Puerto Rico's Noble Bank Seeks Sale Amid Crypto Slide
Noble Bank International, the Puerto Rican financial services firm with clients that have included prominent cryptocurrency ventures, is looking for a buyer, according to a person with the direct knowledge of the situation.
Noble Bank attracted attention in cryptocurrency circles earlier this year because of its willingness to work with Tether and Bitfinex, which was dumped last year by Wells Fargo & Co. The two crypto ventures, which share management, were subpoenaed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in December as the regulator examined whether Tether had more than $2 billion in customer money to back its virtual coin, a person familiar with that matter said in January.
2. IN SEARCH OF DIRECTION (The Market Watch)
Bitcoin struggles for direction as traders pine for breakout
The world’s largest digital currency has not traded outside the $6,500 to $6,600 range this week. “Bitcoin’s price is consolidating on the back of the low volume,” wrote Naeem Aslam, the chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K., evident by futures volumes, which slumped to their lowest levels since Sept. 20 on the CME Group exchange with just 1,514 contracts changing hands Monday.
“We are struggling to break the resistance of $6,800 and $7,000. The support of $6,000 remains a major focal point,” Aslam said. Furthermore, the sideways price action has pushed the 30-day bitcoin volatility index to a 12-week low of 2.55%. Year-to-date the index has fallen more than 500 basis points.
3. SWELL IN THE RIPPLE (Quartz)
Ripple’s XRP has doubled in the run-up to its Swell conference
Ripple’s Swell conference—now underway this week in a swank San Francisco event space—fits the established pattern of blockchain and cryptocurrency events. Celebrities provide the glitz and the glamour, and the crypto companies finance the parties.
As much as Ripple pleads it’s a disinterested user of XRP, the company is doing an awful lot to bring attention to the controversial digital asset. In the month preceding Swell, XRP more than doubled in value and at one point, XRP even briefly surpassed the market cap of ethereum, a prominent rival token.
4. RISE OF THE MACHINES (Wall Street Journal)
Bots are manipulating price of bitcoin in ‘wild west of crypto’
Investors know bitcoin’s violent mood swings well. What they often don’t know is that unscrupulous traders, wielding purpose-built software, can be behind them.
Manipulation in cryptocurrencies is a growing concern for regulators—and even for some proponents of the digital coins. The Securities and Exchange Commission cited that risk in August when rejecting several bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds.
5. INTO THE BIG BOOST (Forbes)
Bitcoin Adoption Could Be In For A Big Boost
Bitcoin adoption, getting people to exchange their bitcoins for goods and services, continues to be a problem for cryptocurrencies — but that could be about to change as the closely-watched Lightning Network continues to grow.
Now, enterprising Spanish hardware hacker Ricardo Reis has shown how bitcoin's Lightning Network can be used to buy items (in this case bottles of Coca-Cola) from a vending machine. You can watch Reis's video, published over the weekend, and see it for yourself.
6. A 7 BILLION DOLLAR MARKET (CNBC)
Blockchain could be a major boost to Amazon and Microsoft
Blockchain adoption will eventually be a multibillion-dollar opportunity for tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft, according to new estimates from the Bank of America. Based on the analysis, the entire total addressable market for blockchain will eventually hit $7 billion, though the analysts did not "attempt to put a time stamp" on it, as the technology is not yet widely adopted.
The potential beneficiaries could marry blockchain with existing cloud computing operations and improve supply chain operations, according to the Bank of America research analyst Kash Rangan.
7. THE FIRST OF ITS KIND (ABC News)
World’s 1st blockchain university to begin teaching in 2019
A team of Oxford academics hopes to bring university education into the 21st century with the world’s first “blockchain university” when teaching begins early next year.
The pioneers at Woolf University will use blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, to provide a system of one-to-one education that will prove cheaper for students and pay more for teachers. Forbes recently described the university as “uber for students and airbnb for academics.”
8. LOST GAINS (The Next Web)
YouTube stars accuse App Store cryptocurrency wallet of $8,500 theft
Here’s another cautionary tale for blockchain investors. Hackers have purportedly stolen 1,500 EOS ($8,500) from popular YouTubers, the Hodgetwins after they downloaded a dodgy cryptocurrency wallet from the App Store.
The Hodgetwins insist the hackers made off with their cryptocurrency soon after the YouTubers transferred their EOS tokens to a presumably malicious cryptocurrency wallet called EOSIO Wallet Explorer. The pair says they downloaded the wallet from Apple’s App Store.
9. FRENZY IS OVER (Market Watch)
Falling volatility and volumes have made bitcoin boring
If you haven’t noticed, bitcoin’s prices have been rather subdued of late. While altcoins, the collective group of 2,000 or so cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, have been whipping around in almost violent fashion, the No. 1 digital currency has barely budged.
In fact, the 30-day volatility index for the world’s largest digital currency hit a 12-week low of 2.55% Tuesday, its lowest level since July 10 and more than 500 basis points lower from where it began the year at 8.02%, according to Buy Bitcoin Worldwide.
10. THE SPECIALIST (South China Morning Post)
BitMEX hires former Hong Kong markets watchdog to oversee operations
One of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading platforms, the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange (BitMEX), has recruited a Hong Kong regulatory veteran to work with watchdogs worldwide to develop a proper set of rules to help the industry grow. BitMEX appointed Angelina Kwan on Tuesday to become its chief operating officer with the immediate effect, overseeing the overall development of the company.
Kwan, a certified public accountant, served as the managing director and the head of regulatory compliance for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing from January 2015 until the end of August this year. Previously, she was a director at the Securities and Futures Commission between 1998 and 2006, covering enforcement and market supervision.