Bitcoin's latest rebound above $5,000 isn't about new investors, it's a reaffirmation of its real strength as a resistant global network.
from CoinDesk http://bit.ly/2Pahx7X
Sunday, April 14, 2019
$1 Billion Crypto Hedge Fund Crashed 40% – But Still Beat Bitcoin
Crypto hedge fund traders were not immune to bitcoin’s downright frigid bear market. Just look at Polychain Capital, whose assets under management (AUM) fell to $591.5 million at year-end 2018, according to a regulatory filing cited in the Wall Street Journal. Investors Stay Put in Polychain Capital’s Fund The San Francisco-based crypto hedge fund boasted $1 billion in assets as of February 2018, which in addition to cryptocurrency included unspent cash pledged by investors and equity holdings in companies, Fortune reports. The value of Polychain’s AUM, however, tumbled nearly 40% between April and December 2018 when the bear market gripped
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from CCN http://bit.ly/2v6vMBk
Hodler’s Digest, April 8–14: Top Stories, Price Movements, Quotes and FUD of the Week
Bloomberg calls Bitcoin a bubble yet again, and Facebook is seemingly looking for $1 billion from VC firms for its stablecoin.
Top Stories This Week
NYT Reporter: Facebook Seeking $1 Billion in Venture Capital for Crypto Project
According to a tweet by New York Times (NYT) tech reporter Nathaniel Popper, Facebook is reportedly looking to various venture capital firms to develop its digital token that has been previously reported on. Popper, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said that Facebook is seeking $1 billion to develop its cryptocurrency project, which itself has not been publicly confirmed by the company. The Times reporter also noted that the project involves a stablecoin that would be pegged to a basket of foreign currencies held in bank accounts.
Chinese Traders Pay Extra for Bitcoin Through OTC Desks Amid Crypto Market Surge
Local Chinese social media sources said that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price surge last week has led Chinese traders to pay a premium in order to trade the cryptocurrency. According to an analysis of price spreads from cryptocurrency exchanges Huobi and OKEx, cnLedger highlighted how Chinese traders are paying more in order to acquire Bitcoin. Since China formally banned crypto trading in the country in 2017, investors have had to resort to creative methods in order to deal in Bitcoin. In the analysis, cnLedger notes that a principal way to avoid the ban is to buy stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) via over-the-counter (OTC) services and convert them into other cryptocurrencies
Top-Subscribed YouTuber PewDiePie Partners With Blockchain
PewDiePie, the personality behind the most subscribed channel on YouTube, announced this week that he will start streaming on blockchain video platform DLive as of April 14. Dlive is a blockchain-powered broadcasting app with a rewards system for content creators and will become the exclusive platform for livestreaming the famous Swedish YouTuber, Felix Kjellberg — aka PewDiePie. The platform currently has 3 million monthly users and 35,000 active streamers, while PewDiePie on YouTube has over 93 million subscribers and 21 billion video views, as of April 2019. PewDiePie’s move to Dlive comes as the Swede faced backlash over his alleged ties to white supremacism, as his channel was mentioned by the Christchurch gunman prior to his attack on two New Zealand mosques.
Bitcoin at Most Overbought Level Since Record Bull Run: Bloomberg Analyst
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone claimed this week that Bitcoin is at its most overbought level since its record highs in December 2017, citing BTC’s GTI Global Strength Indicator. Bloomberg writes that similar buy patterns in the past have resulted in multi-week downturns, citing McGlone as referring to Bitcoin as a bubble. McGlone states that the recent market growth came about due to a long-term price compression and low volatility, causing the price to be “released from the cage.” Bloomberg also cites David Tawil, president of crypto hedge fund ProChain Capital, who reportedly expects the market to continue its downward trend.
Coinbase Crypto Exchange Debuts Visa Card for U.K. Customers
Major United States cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched Coinbase Card, which will enable its United Kingdom-based customers to pay both in-store and online with cryptocurrency. The card itself is a Visa debit card that is powered by users’ Coinbase account crypto balances, allowing purchases to be made globally by instantly converting customers’ crypto funds into fiat. The Coinbase Card has also been released for iOS and Android, linking Coinbase accounts with the app and allowing users to select which wallet will fund their card, as well as allowing access for receipts, transaction summaries and spending categories. The card is issued by authorized and regulated electronic money institution Paysafe Financial Services Limited.
Winners and Losers
The crypto markets are holding slightly down by the end of the week, with Bitcoin around $5,099, Ethereum at $165 and XRP about $0.33. Total market cap is around $172 billion.
The top three altcoin gainers of the week are BunnyCoin, WomenCoin and Block-Chain.com. The top three altcoin losers of the week are dietbitcoin, Cryptrust and ContractNet.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
“This is a stark contrast to the development you see with things like EOS or with Ethereum with Casper, where they kind of adopt this lone samurai viewpoint.”
Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Ethereum (ETH) and IOHK, the company behind Cardano (ADA), speaking on the idea of development with open protocols
“I have learned about how blockchain is having a huge impact on supply chain management, and how an app in Britain can help the public report modern slavery at car washes.”
Princess Eugenie, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, who founded the Anti-Slavery Collective in Britain in 2017
“Blockchain is like a spreadsheet on steroids that can automate certain tasks, build greater transparency, speed and reliability, and provide a single source of transactional information.”
David R. Jarczyk, innovation principal and tax leader for blockchain at KPMG
“Now it’s a question of duration and I suspect when you have such a massive bubble, you’ll always have an overhang of people who need to sell.”
Mike McGlone, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst
FUD of the Week
Singapore Police Secure First Convictions Against OneCoin MLM Scheme Agents
Authorities in Singapore have charged two men for promoting crypto multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme OneCoin in what is touted as the first case of its kind for the city-state. The two unnamed men reportedly engaged in activities that incorporated a subsidiary in order to promote OneCoin, in addition to signing up new members and accepting investments in return for education courses and OneCoin tokens. Singapore’s central bank had previously added OneCoin to its Investor Alert List, and various governments around the world have also issued warnings against the MLM scam, advising consumers not to interact or invest in OneCoin. While one founder was recently arrested in the U.S., the other remains at large following the indictment.
Canadian Crypto Exchange QuadrigaCX Officially Declared Bankrupt
QuadrigaCX, the embattled Canadian crypto exchange, has officially been declared bankrupt. The exchange’s bankruptcy was reportedly approved by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court following the court monitor’s earlier recommendation to do so. At the time, Ernst & Young’s legal team had put forward the argument that the restructuring process should instead be shifted to bankruptcy proceedings, meaning that the monitor will now have enhanced investigative powers. QuadrigaCX had previously filed for creditor protection when it apparently lost access to its cold wallet funds following the unexpected death of its founder in December 2018.
Electrum Faces Another Fake Wallet Attack, Users Reported to Lose Millions of Dollars
Bitcoin wallet service Electrum faced another Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on its servers this week. According to media outlets, this most recent attack has resulted in the loss of millions of dollars (the exact sum unconfirmed) with a single user allegedly losing about $140,000. The attack works by referring users to fake versions of Electrum software by employing a malicious botnet of more than 140,000 machines. The company has recommended that its users upgrade their software versions older than 3.3 and not download software from any source besides the official site. Last December, Electrum faced a similar attack that led to a loss of about $937,000 worth of Bitcoin.
Best Cointelegraph Feature
After this week’s relatively unexpected publication by a Chinese government agency about a possible ban on crypto mining, Cointelegraph takes a look into how serious the idea is, and who and what will be affected in what is unarguably the largest crypto mining sector in the world.
Facebook, Twitter and Telegram: A New Crypto Paradigm or a Glorified Voucher Program?
As more unconfirmed news surrounding Facebook’s secretive crypto project surfaced this week, Cointelegraph analyzes what it would mean for one of the biggest, and possibly most untrusted, institutions in the world to issue their own cryptocurrency.
from Cointelegraph.com News http://bit.ly/2IpN5X1
Billionaire’s Savage Tesla Takedown Ends with Surprise Muppets Quote
Hedge fund billionaire David Einhorn dissed Elon Musk over his recent troubles and gloated that the “the wheels are coming off — literally” at his electric-car company Tesla. Einhorn’s investment firm, Greenlight Capital, has been shorting Tesla stock for a couple of years. Accordingly, he has a vested interest in seeing TSLA shares crater. Einhorn: Elon Musk Is ‘Erratic and Desperate’ Einhorn — who trashed Elon Musk as “erratic and desperate” in September 2018 — says it’s obvious to him that Tesla is “on the brink of failure.” He made the remarks in a blistering six-page investor letter. “If Q1
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from CCN http://bit.ly/2GoKDxx
Elon Musk Gets Wrangled Into Crypto Twitter’s Savage Bitcoin Battle
Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be on the fringes of crypto, but he’s no outsider. Many Americans may have heard of bitcoin by now. Only the tribe, however, knows about the legal conflicts that surround the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Musk is keenly aware of what’s happening in the crypto ecosystem, and the Tesla CEO just proved it. King Cobie, the self-proclaimed “founder of crypto Twitter,” attempted to lure Elon Musk into the Satoshi-infused fight on the social media platform. Rather than take the bait, Musk out-tweeted the crypto Twitter master, suggesting that he and bitcoin are united by neutrality
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from CCN http://bit.ly/2UBsIfO
The $4.2 Billion Man: Ecuador’s Betrayal of Julian Assange Reeks of Corruption
Could it be a coincidence that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) handed the Republic of Ecuador a sweet $4.2 billion staff-level financing deal at the end of February, and 50 days later the Ecuadorian embassy invites London police in to arrest Julian Assange and hand him over to the United States? That looks suspicious as hell, doesn’t it? $4.2 Billion Loan Raises Alarming Questions Here’s a timeline of those fifty days: The $4.2 billion IMF deal goes down on February 20th. Later that month, Chelsea Manning receives a subpoena for information her legal counsel says is: “duplicative of evidence already
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from CCN http://bit.ly/2UYypDZ
Bitcoin Disrupts France’s Massive $2.5 Trillion Life Insurance Market
If you’re wondering if bitcoin will ever attain wide-scale adoption, look no further than France. French insurance companies can soon include cryptocurrencies in life insurance contracts, thanks to a vote by France’s National Assembly. Pact Act Swings Door Open for Insurance Companies to Invest in Crypto Deputies overhauled the Insurance Code via the Pact Act, with Article 21 swinging open the door for life insurance contracts to invest in specialized professional funds (SPFs), whose investment parameters have reportedly been “relaxed” as a result of yet another provision. Article 26 gives the SPFs the freedom to invest in blockchain-backed assets. Simmons
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from CCN http://bit.ly/2v4CIPF
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