Image of The Week, 10-14 of December: Forbes, Market Watch, The Next Web and Other
We're presenting “image of the week”. Bitnewstoday.com has chosen only 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 in the most indicative quotes are below!
10 of December
TRIGGERMEN (Forbes)
Jeff Bezos will trigger the next bull run on the market
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors have battened down the hatches for what could be a long crypto winter, the name given to the Bitcoin bear market that has mauled prices over recent weeks. But many Bitcoin and crypto faithful are eagerly looking towards the next Bitcoin price bull run, which they remain confident will come eventually.
Now, the chief executive of major global Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has said he expects Jeff Bezo's online retail giant Amazon to be the catalyst for the next Bitcoin bull run. Changpeng Zhao, often known simply as CZ, took to Twitter to ask his followers what they think the trigger for the next Bitcoin bull run will be. When one wag, Crypto Guy @Ankit4043, joked that CZ could spark a bull run by buying all the Bitcoins currently in circulation, CZ replied that he couldn't but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who's often the world's richest person largely due to Amazon's soaring share price, perhaps could.
IN A MIDDLE OF WOODS (Market Watch)
Bitcoin bear market is far from over, says analyst
Bitcoin prices rallied as much as 10% over the weekend, giving virtual currency owners some respite after another tumultuous week. However, after moving above $3,600 on Sunday, the price of a single bitcoin has drifted lower and was last fetching $3,413.40, down 3.3% since 5 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday on the Kraken crypto exchange. The market value of all cryptocurrencies is hovering above its 15-month low at $110.8 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Stephen Innes, head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda, is arguing that the Bitcoin bear market is far from over because the No.1 digital currency has yet provide a significant use case. “Bitcoins have gone well beyond the ridiculousness of tulip bulb mania,” he said on Monday. “It’s has been a disastrous year for cryptos, and by all indication, the current bear market could go from bad to worse with no fundamental or underlying reasons to buy BTC even more so when the only support offered up is a squiggly line on an analyst chart.”
11 of December
QUITE A SAUSAGE FEST! (The Next Web)
85% of employees at recently launched blockchain startups are male
At this point, gender inequality in tech is well documented. As it turns out, the blockchain industry is absolutely no different — there is a staggeringly disproportionate amount of males employed by the next wave of cryptocurrency companies. Recent analysis discovered men comprised an overwhelming majority of recent blockchain startups — just 14.5 percent of team members are women, reports blockchain data firm LongHash.
Even worse, female executives are in charge of just seven percent of these recently founded cryptocurrency companies. For advisors, the number is just one tick higher, at roughly eight percent.
THE END IS NIGH! (Forbes)
The next leg of the Bitcoin crash is here
If it’s not the stock market crashing, it’s Bitcoin. When asset instruments crash, they go down in stages. Stages are price ranges when the asset stops and maintains a level of stability before they reprice again to another level. Many markets do this on the way up as well as down. Once a market has stabilized, the next break away from that range is highly likely to produce a sizeable move. For a trader this offers a market neutral signal that can be jumped on, long or short.
And bitcoin looks to be breaking south for the next leg down. Forgive me for making such brave unhedged calls; I can’t be right all the time but as far as I’m concerned it’s highly likely we are about to drop quickly towards my $2,500 target.
12 of December
THE BULL HAS FALLEN (Forbes)
Bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz sas a stark warning for the crypto community
Bitcoin bulls have sobered up in the face of an overwhelming bear market that continues to maul the Bitcoin price and former Goldman Sachs partner and founder of cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital Holdings Mike Novogratz has a stark warning for the crypto faithful.
"I did think Bitcoin was going to hold at $6,200," said Novogratz. "It stayed there for four months. It felt like the selling was finished. But then Bitcoin Cash decided to fork again." Novogratz warned in an interview with Bloomberg. "While I believe in the underlying technology and believe in the crypto movement, when prices get stupid, I sell. A lot of my friends in crypto just couldn’t let go. They were saying, “This is going to change the world.”
THE 1% (The Next Web)
80% of wallets holding Bitcoin contain less than $100
Recent analysis run by digital asset research firm Delphi found 22.9 million Bitcoin addresses currently hold some Bitcoin (as in, more than none). Uncomfortably, nearly half contain less than 0.001 BTC ($3.40), and almost 90 percent hold less than one-tenth of a BTC ($340).
At this stage, the “#HODLgang” seems to be more of a “#HODLskeletoncrew.”
13 of December
THE QUESTION OF TRANSPARENCY (Reuters)
First blockchain loan closes in Latin America amid transparency concerns
Brazil’s Itaú Unibanco completed Latin America’s first-ever club loan through a blockchain platform this month, and while the transaction paves the way for the region’s banks to test the ledger technology, doubts linger over its transparency. Itaú’s US $100m proof-of-concept loan, provided by Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo, utilized the R3 Corda Connect blockchain platform, a paperless system that allowed the banks to assess revisions, comments and approve the club loan digitally.
“Perhaps the main challenge is educating the business areas to use upcoming technology,” said Ricardo Nuno, managing director for treasury at Itaú Unibanco, adding that another challenge was supplanting tried-and-tested technology with blockchain-friendly software and hardware.
FBI’S FAVORITE (Techcrunch)
Feds like cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech and so should antitrust agencies
While statements and position papers from most central banks were generally skeptical of cryptocurrencies, the times may be changing. Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve of Saint Louis published a study that relates the positive effects of cryptocurrencies for privacy protection.
Even with the precipitous decline in value of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other currencies, the Federal Reserve author emphasized the new competitive offering these currencies created exactly because of the way they function, and accordingly, why they are here to stay.
14 of December
STOP ASKING! (CNBC)
Wall Street's Bitcoin bull Tom Lee: 'We are tired of people asking us about target prices'
The best-known Bitcoin bull on Wall Street is getting tired of forecasting short-term prices.
For the last time this year, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisor Tom Lee updated his estimate for what a fair price for Bitcoin should be between $13,800 and $14,800. The model still puts Bitcoin about $10,000 above where the world's largest cryptocurrency was trading Thursday.
"Given we are so close to year-end, we are not providing any updates to near-term price objectives — read this as, we are tired of people asking us about target prices," Lee, former J.P. Morgan Chief Equity Strategist, said in a note to clients.
СOMPLIANCE (Reuters)
Pantera says some tokens in portfolio likely noncompliant with SEC rules
U.S. blockchain investment firm Pantera Capital said on Thursday approximately a quarter of the fund’s capital was invested in projects or digital assets that may not have been compliant with U.S. securities regulations. Pantera’s disclosure highlights a growing concern in the cryptocurrency community about digital tokens issued in the last two years that may have violated U.S. securities laws.
In a monthly letter to subscribers and clients sent on Thursday, Pantera Chief Executive Officer Joey Krug said noncompliant projects will likely end up having to offer to buy back the token at the sale price from investors and will have to register as securities. The company could not immediately be reached for further comment.