Image of The Day, 31 of October: South China Morning Post, Forbes, Market Watch 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. ELECTRIC TRACE (South China Morning Post)
Chinese Bitcoin bandits caught by huge electricity bill
An internet cafe owner in east China who was baffled by a large spike in his electricity bill ended up helping police to crack an illegal Bitcoin operation after discovering his machines had been hijacked to “mine” the cryptocurrency.
Three employees of computer maintenance company were detained and are in the process of being charged, police said via social media. The gang had made more than 170,000 yuan (US$24,400) from mining and trading cryptocurrency and if found guilty would face up to three years in prison, they said.
2. MINERS GO HOME! (Forbes)
Within a couple of years miners pissed off whole town in New-York
The miners, who use hundreds of very fast, power hungry computers to solve the math puzzles that underlie the value of the cryptocurrency came into sleepy Plattsburgh because it has access to a monthly quota of cheap power. But if the city exceeds that quota it has to share the cost of buying power at much higher rates.
Once the miners set up shop, says Read, Plattsburgh started exceeding the quota regularly, and local residents’ electricity bills started going up by as much as 50 percent. Important employers in Plattsburgh also suffer from a price surges. Furthermore quality of living in the town has dropped — there has been reports from the local population, telling that they had to close windows during summer due to the noize coming from the cooling systems of the fans.
3. WE ARE DOOMED! (Metro)
According to the Hawaiian scientist, Bitcoin will kill us all
According to scientists at the University of University of Hawaii the energy cost of “mining” the cryptocurrency could lead to a global temperature rise within the next 20 years. The researchers found that if Bitcoin use gathers pace at the speed that emerging technologies like credit cards and smartphones did, the Earth could see a global warming of two degrees Celsius as early as 2033 as a result of the energy consumption.
The team looked at the power efficiency of computers typically used to mine Bitcoin, the geographic location of mining operations and the CO2 emissions involved in generating electricity in those countries. They concluded that the use of Bitcoins in 2017 was responsible for some 69 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.
4. THE CHOSEN FEW (The Next Web)
Goldman Sachs launches Bitcoin derivatives — but only for a special few
It has been confirmed that Goldman Sachs has been signing up a few select clients to its “Bitcoin non-deliverable forward contracts.” That’s fancy banker speak for a type of derivative.
Goldman has been mulling over how to get into the cryptocurrency space for a while. In early September it was rumored that the bank ditched its trading desk, days later it reaffirmed its interest in delivering cryptocurrency products. With no fanfare launch, it seems Goldman Sachs are treading lightly with the surreptitious launch of this investment bank backed Bitcoin trade.
5. GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! (Blokt)
Bitcoin’s recent low volatility is a sign that says that bitcoin speculators are leaving
A recent Bloomberg article quoted Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone, who said that Bitcoin’s current low volatility is “a sign of speculation leaving the market and eventually a bottoming process.” McGlone further notes that “High volatility is a major factor lessening most cryptocurrency use cases for anything other than speculation.”
This is very positive for potential use cases of bitcoin in the future, but as it always comes to the predictions of the Bitcoin future, one should always be skeptical. After all, if McGlone’s prediction turns out to be wrong, it is doubtful that there’ll be another Bloomberg article about his faulty prediction.
6. SLEEPY COINS (Market Watch)
Nearly 10% of all Bitcoins haven’t moved in 12 months
Nearly 10% of Bitcoin wallets, including one that ranks seventh among all of the largest wallets, hasn’t had any activity in a year, according to data from bitinfocharts. The number of dormant wallets has nearly doubled to 15.8 million in this time.
While Bitcoin prices have plunged more than 50% so far this year, the digital currency has held to a tight range on either side of $6,500 for the better part of two months, and despite its biggest drop in nearly three weeks on Tuesday, the move hasn’t unleashed a wave of selling. “Holding Bitcoin in the store of value thesis has become a popular narrative recently,” said Anthony Pompliano, founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital. “[It’s] highly likely that people are buying into the narrative.”
7. BIRTHDAY BLUES (Reuters)
Crypto Investors face year-on-year loss
Bitcoin was heading toward a year-on-year loss on Wednesday, its 10th birthday, the first loss since last year’s bull market, when the original and biggest digital coin muscled its way to worldwide attention with months of frenzied buying.
Today BTC was trading at $6,263 on the BitStamp exchange, leaving investors who had bought it on Halloween 2017 facing yearly losses of nearly 3 percent. They stay fairly optimistic due to the fact that mass adoption will fix a lot of stuff and improvements to infrastructure such as custody services may allow mainstream investors who are wary of buying bitcoin to take positions on the market.
8. UNSTOPPABLE KIM (The Next Web)
North Korea complains that South Korea is still hacking their computers to mine crypto
Local outlet Yonhap News states that North Korean hackers are continuing to target foreign computers to implant malware and steal confidential information. The malware appears to be hi-jakcing host computers to mine — you guessed it — Monero. As ever, XMR remains the choice for crypto-jacking bandits around the globe
North Korea seems to be turning to cryptocurrency as a way to bypass ever increasing international sanctions placed on the country. The Asian country is never far from the cryptocurrency headlines these days. Recently it was reported that a supposedly state-sponsored North Korean hacking outfit stole over $570 million worth of cryptocurrency.
9. FROM BRITAIN TO ASIAN (Reuters)
HSBC, StanChart, others launch HK blockchain trade finance platform
A new blockchain-based trade finance platform, developed by HSBC (HSBA.L), Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and 10 other banks, was launched in Hong Kong on Wednesday to boost efficiency in the multi-trillion-dollar funding of international trade.
HSBC said on Wednesday the platform, eTrade Connect, had allowed the Asia-focused British lender to reduce the time it takes to approve trade loan applications to four hours, compared with the usual one-and-a-half days. The use of blockchain technology in the industry is expected to reduce the risk of fraud in letters of credit (LoC) and other transactions used in trade finance, as well as cut down on the number of steps used.
10. AS GOOD AS IT GETS (TechCrunch)
Coinbase is now worth more than all but three cryptocurrencies
With its shiny new $8 billion valuation, Coinbase is now worth more than all but the top three cryptocurrencies that trade on the platform. That’s right, the only cryptocurrency assets that are worth more than the platform that trades them are Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. Bitcoin Cash, the currency forked from Bitcoin, is a distant fourth in valuation at $7.3 billion.
It shows that the wager on a particular crypto company is looking like a better investment than putting money to work in nearly any of the other crypto assets that are for sale. During the last few crypto booms, some investors said that it was probably simpler to just invest in various tokens instead of companies working on blockchains — faster returns and your money would be more liquid, to boot.