Image Of The Week, 13-17 Of August: CNBC, TNYT, Forbes And Others
13 of August
$100 billion risk (CNBC)
SEC issues a new warning about IRA fraud and cryptocurrencies
It's not uncommon for those nearing retirement to become nervous about their nest egg, concerned it won't be sufficient. This has led some savers to pursue self-directed IRAs, an individual retirement account that you control with investments of your own choosing. These IRAs are often invested in real estate, private mortgages, precious metals and private company stock.
Lori Schock, director of the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, told CNBC, “Now that some self-directed IRAs include digital assets — cryptocurrencies, coins and tokens, such as those offered in so-called initial coin offerings — we think it is important to alert investors about the potential risks and fraud involved with these kinds of investments that may not be registered.”
Lira’s problem (The New York Times)
Turkey’s chaos could be your problem
The Turkish lira keeps sliding, and that could hurt all of us. U.S. stock futures were down this morning after declines in European and Asian markets. Perhaps, even more, worrying: Beijing weakened the renminbi against the dollar, a sign that other emerging markets’ currencies could be suffering.
The Turkish central bank is responding: It has restricted sales of lira for foreign currencies. Some think Ankara could do more, though, perhaps by forming a currency board.
14 of August
A new low (The Wall Street Journal)
At $191 billion, the total market value of cryptocurrencies world-wide is at its lowest
The cryptocurrency market just hit another new low in 2018. A broad selloff in digital currencies has pushed the value of the entire market below $200 billion for the first time this year, according to research site CoinMarketCap, erasing more than 70% of its worth seven months ago.
Just you wait (CNBC)
Bitcoin's value will come in time, even if investors are spooked now, crypto advocate says
Bitcoin's narrative is hard to pin down, but as with early internet stocks, real traction will come in time, cryptocurrency investing advocate Meltem Demirors told CNBC on Monday. Despite bitcoin's aspiration to be a safe haven asset, the cryptocurrency has not seen a rally with the stumble of the Turkish lira.
“The narratives around bitcoin is still really hard to grasp”, Demirors said. “Really the only metric we have for most cryptocurrencies is the price, and the price is such an imperfect metric. What does actual utilization look like? That's really the struggle for crypto right now.”
15 of August
$224 million dollar loss (CNBC)
Cryptocurrency investor robbed via his cellphone account sues AT&T for $224 million
A US investor filed a $224 million lawsuit against AT&T on Wednesday, accusing the telecommunications giant of negligence that allegedly caused the California resident to lose roughly $24 million in cryptocurrency.
In a 69-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Michael Terpin claimed that because of "AT&T's willing cooperation with the hacker, gross negligence, violation of its statutory duties, and failure to adhere to its commitments in its Privacy Policy," he lost nearly $24 million worth of cryptocurrency.
A $3 Billion IPO (Bloomberg)
Crypto’s Millennial Mining Tycoon Is Planning a $3 Billion IPO
Bitmain Technologies Ltd., the world’s biggest producer of cryptocurrency mining chips, is planning a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise as much as $3 billion.
The Beijing-based company, whose 32-year-old co-founder Jihan Wu is one of the most potent players in crypto, plans to file a listing application with the Hong Kong stock exchange as early as September, according to the people. Bitmain closed a private funding round in the past few weeks valuing the company at about $15 billion, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
16 of August
Still murky for the most (The New York Times)
Blockchain Benefits Still Murky for Most Commodities Trading
Commodity firms and banks have been diving into blockchain pilot schemes over the last two years but the new technology's application for most trading has likely been over-hyped, a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said.
Blockchain, originally the platform behind cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is viewed by some as a solution to inefficiencies, improving transparency and reducing to the risk of fraud. But BCG believes its potential has been exaggerated. The volume of trades through various schemes has been negligible so far and it is too early to tell how soon it might reach the significant mass.
Is this kino? (News.Bitcoin)
"Crypto" Thriller Starring Kurt Russell in Post-Production – Producers Share Details
The upcoming thriller movie called “Crypto” starring Kurt Russell, Alexis Bledel, Luke Hemsworth, and Beau Knapp is in post-production. News.Bitcoin.com first reported about this movie in June.
Producers of the movie noted that It “ doesn’t particularly focus on any particular coin…[But] the overall message of the movie is positive, even if [it] does focus on crime, corruption, and cryptocurrency.”
17 of August
Frog ate the hamster (Market Watch)
Nvidia stock drops as crypto-mining decline overshadows earnings beat
Nvidia Corp. shares dropped in premarket trade Friday, after the graphics-chip maker’s revenue outlook was hit by a sudden decline in cryptocurrency-mining sales.
“Our revenue outlook had anticipated cryptocurrency-specific products declining to approximately $100 million, while actual crypto-specific product revenue was $18 million,” said Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress in a statement. “Whereas we had previously anticipated cryptocurrency to be meaningful for the year, we are now projecting no contributions going forward.”
Funds frozen (News.bitcoin)
Funds Frozen, Account Closed: UK Banks Target Cryptocurrency Owners
In a chilling but sadly all-too-familiar sequence of events, UK banks have been targeting cryptocurrency owners. Individuals who have cashed out large amounts of cryptocurrency – legitimately – have had their assets frozen and accounts locked without warning, fueled by fears of money laundering and a general distrust of bitcoin. One victim even claims to have had their house raided and computer equipment seized in a follow-up operation by UK police.
While some jurisdictions have belatedly welcomed cryptocurrency with open arms – think Gibraltar, Malta, and Liechtenstein, where Binance has just opened a fiat-crypto exchange – the majority have taken an antagonistic stance. The UK is a prime example; unless you’re a bigshot like Coinbase, which recently secured a deal with Barclays, don’t count on retaining access to a bank account if you dabble in crypto. On P2P site Localbitcoins.com, UK traders exchange large amounts of BTC every day, requesting, in most instances, that the bank pay-in reference is something benign and unrelated to crypto. To do otherwise is to play a dangerous game.