Image Of The Day, 7 of August: Independent, The Daily Hodl, Financial Times And Others
We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen only the freshest and 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 of today's stories in most indicative quotes are below!
1. NO EXTRA EXPENSES (Techinasia)
Major investments in new fintech project
Singapore-based startup Rate has raised US$15 million in a token sale for its cross border payments blockchain project Rate3.
Rate3 wants to build a global ecommerce payments ecosystem to help merchants, suppliers, and consumers to reduce transaction expenses and save time needed to process cross-border payments.
The Rate3 platform is built on top of blockchain protocols Stellar and Ethereum. With Stellar, transactions take an average of about five seconds. Ethereum allows to create smart contracts, which can store customer and seller information and make payments verifiable and trustworthy, Rate has said.
2. BITCOIN IS NOT BROKEN (CNBC)
Тhe potential is there
Despite bitcoin's tumble over the past two weeks, Wall Street bull Tom Lee says the cryptocurrency is gradually regaining market share — which should comfort bitcoin buffs.
"The news that we have seen, from the SEC saying bitcoin's a commodity, to ... the potential for an [exchange-traded fund] is causing investors to decide that bitcoin is the best house in a tough market," Lee, who is Fundstrat Global Advisors' managing partner.
Let`s note, bitcoin dropped below $6,000 at the end of June — its lowest value during the year, the cryptocurrency then rallied, approaching $8,400 in July, before tumbling back down to around $7,000 in recent days.
3. CANNABIS AND CRYPTO UNITE (The Daily Hodl)
Interesting reason to invest
High Times, a cannabis-focused news outlet, is the first initial public offering to sell shares for cryptocurrency.
The Los Angeles-based media company publishes a monthly print and online publication focused on cannabis. It registered its IPO with the Nasdaq stock exchange. Under Regulation A+, the company has already started raising funds in cryptocurrency. The regulation is an alternative means of raising capital for smaller, early stage businesses. It was initiated in 2012 under the Jumpstart Our Business (JOBS) Act, a law intended to support small business growth and employment by lowering regulatory hurdles for companies trying to go public and allowing firms to have more private shareholders.
Founded in 1974, High Times is planning to expand its magazine and online presence, and continue its efforts to legalize cannabis. It’s one of the first cannabis-related brands to go public on the Nasdaq, and the first-ever stock offering to accept Bitcoin and Ethereum.
4. IMPOSSIBLE TO HIDE (The Daily Hodl)
How many crypts do congressmen have?
A member of the US House of Representatives has just disclosed how much cryptocurrency there is in his portfolio.
The House Ethics Committee has recently told all lawmakers, officers and employees tto disclose all cryptocurrency investments over $1,000.
Now, in an apparent first, Chairman of the House Ethics Committee Bob Goodlatte has revealed he owns as much as $80,000 in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum.
The Republican from Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District has not yet responded to requests for comment on his holdings.
5. WELLNESS MEASURES (Independent)
New boost for bitcoin
Goldman Sachs is deliberating a plan to hold bitcoin and other digital currencies on behalf of funds betting on cryptocurrency
The banking giant will take its most significant step yet into the nascent world of digital assets, and as a result bitcoin analysts are predicting positive market movements for the cryptocurrency due to increased investor interest. The crypto fund would reduce risk for investors and can potentially lead to other cryptocurrency-based ventures.
6. SMART APP (The Next Web)
No more need to have special skills
Writing smart contracts for Ethereum is no longer the preserve of coders and programmers: there is now software that can automatically do that with new app Fondu.
The app provides a tool that helps non-coders get into the Ethereum smart contract game and launch their ICO without the need for learning how to code, or even pay a coder to write it for them.
All you have to do is answer some questions regarding the characteristics of your ICO, and the required code is automatically generated. The files required to launch your ICO are also made available for download. What’s more, the deployment program is also included in the downloaded files, so it will walk you through the launch process too.
7. IMPORTANT ALLIANCE (Financial Times)
Financial innovation from the UK, the USA and Hong Kong
Watchdogs from around the world, including the UK, the US and Hong Kong, have announced a new alliance as part of plans to encourage the growth of fintech, allowing companies to trial new products in multiple countries at a time.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority unveiled the so-called Global Financial Innovation Network on Tuesday as the part of plans to formalise a “global sandbox”, which it first floated in February.
The UK was one of the first countries in the world to introduce a fintech sandbox, having won the recognition of the industry. The network will bring in 11 other regulators, including the US Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority
8. BITCOIN SPECULATORS (Bloomberg)
Who`s dominating now in crypto business
The ratio of legal to illegal activity in Bitcoin has flipped, according to Lilita Infante at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
When Infante started seeing the Bitcoin pop up in her cases at the DEA five years ago, her analysis of blockchain data showed criminal activity was behind about 90 percent of transactions in the cryptocurrency.
That doesn’t mean criminals stopped using Bitcoin. “The volume has grown tremendously, the amount of transactions and the dollar value has grown tremendously over the years in criminal activity, but the ratio has decreased”, she said in an interview at her office in Weston, Florida. “The majority of transactions are used for price speculation.’’
9. FORGET BITCOIN! (Daily News and Analysis)
India is likely to get its own cryptocurrency soon
This comes as a good piece of news for the followers of virtual currencies (VCs). The government is in favour of a native or indigenous virtual currency, and to fulfil that purpose, it is trying to learn the technologies being employed in these currencies.
Sources close to the development informed that the government is working on the technology related to virtual currencies and is looking forward to developing a native or indigenous virtual currency within the country. At present, the government is working on the technology and utility associated with it. In fact, it is trying to find a way to use the technology in a positive way.
It should be mentioned that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and others have been virtually banned in India, and the authorities do not want to encourage people to invest in them at all.