New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has criticized the involvement of Fairshake, a crypto-focused super PAC, in New York’s 16th congressional district democratic party elections. Ocasio-Cortez qualified the media campaign against incumbent Jamaal Bowman, valued at over million, as “corruption” and a “core threat to American democracy” on social media. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tells Crypto PAC […]
Bitcoin News
MicroStrategy’s Saylor Bashes Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and Ripple (XRP); Traders See Rollblock (RBLK) as a Safe Bet
The CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, recently critiqued Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and Ripple (XRP) as he labeled them securities. This brought about a lot of talk among traders as they now look at safer options like Rollblock (RBLK). Analysts hint that this Stage 1 presale star could be the next .5 token in 2024 and one of the best cryptos to buy.
Michael Saylor: Ethereum ETF Will Never Come
One of the top crypto coins, Ethereum (ETH), has been in the headlines recently. MicroStrategy’s CEO, Michael Saylor, predicted that the US SEC will dismiss spot Ether ETFs listing and trading applications. Saylor said that he expects this decision because the US CFTC will not be able to supervise Ethereum as a commodity but as a crypto-asset security.
This Ethereum news may trigger a bear run for this crypto. Nevertheless, the Ethereum crypto value jumped 60% in the past year alone while its market cap soared to 9B. Additionally, 11 technical indicators are flashing buy signals for Ethereum. Thus, market analysts predict Ethereum will reach a value of ,137 before Q2 of 2024 ends.
Charles Hoskinson Responds to Michael Saylor’s Cardano (ADA) Comments
In that same speech, Michael Saylor stated that many other top crypto coins, such as Cardano (ADA), will be treated as crypto asset securities as well. However, the co-founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, responded to this claim. He claims that Michael Saylor is a Bitcoin maximalist who constantly bashes anything that is not Bitcoin.
When it comes to the Cardano coin value, it saw an 18% growth in the past 12 months while its market cap held at B. Not only that, Cardano is now trading above its 200-day EMA. As a result of all this bullish Cardano news, experts believe it is still a good crypto to buy. They foresee a surge to .57 within Q2 of 2024.
Pro-Ripple (XRP) Lawyer Bill Morgan Responds to Michael Saylor
Michael Saylor also stated that the Ripple (XRP) crypto will be deemed a security. XRP lawyer Bill Morgan has criticized Michael Saylor’s understanding of the cryptocurrency market in response to Saylor’s comments about altcoins. Differentiating between Ripple and XRP, Morgan noted that a court has already ruled that XRP is not a security.
This Ripple news may cause a bullish rally for this crypto. In terms of the Ripple coin value movement, it surged 17% on the YTD chart. Furthermore, there are now 15 technical indicators in the green for Ripple. Therefore, market analysts foresee Ripple hitting a value of .62 before Q2 of 2024 ends.
Rollblock (RBLK): Among the Best Cryptos To Invest In
Michael Saylor’s remarks have also led traders to talk about Rollblock (RBLK) as a safer option in this volatile crypto market. Rollblock is a community-driven GambleFi protocol that combines decentralization with centralization in online gambling. Thus, Rollblock has tremendous potential to become a dominant force in this 0B market.
Although this market is flourishing, it also has many issues plaguing it, such as high entry barriers and intrusive sign-up KYC checks. Rollblock removes these problems by requiring no additional downloads and installations. Users can now just sign up using an email address and begin playing the casino games in complete anonymity, as no KYC checks are needed.
The RBLK utility token will be the backbone of this innovative platform. Holding this token entitles you to obtain a portion of daily profits generated by Rollblock. Additionally, staking this token will bring you extra passive income and immediate rewards, which can be used in the casino or saved.
Currently, one RBLK costs only .01 as it is in Stage 1 of its presale. However, demand is high as over 9M tokens have already been sold. This is because as the presale advances, so will its value. The RBLK price is expected to increase 1200% in the presale alone. Prominent market analysts foresee a potential surge to .5 once a Tier-1 CEX lists RBLK in Q3 of 2024 – making it the best crypto investment.
Will Rollblock Leave Ethereum, Cardano and Ripple in the Dust?
Rollblock has a small market cap of M, but has a high probability of seeing a much higher % return than Ethereum, Cardano and Ripple. For its price to skyrocket, it needs fewer new funds than these competitors. With this advantage, RBLK can become one of the best cryptos to buy.
Discover the Exciting Opportunities of the Rollblock (RBLK) Presale Today!
Website: https://presale.rollblock.io/
Socials: https://linktr.ee/rollblockcasino
Latam Insights: Crypto Adoption Booms in Latam Nations, Milei Bashes Socialism
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico are present in Chainalysis’ 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index; Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei blames socialism for Argentina’s economic decline, and Bull Bitcoin expands to Costa Rica.
Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico Among the Countries With Most Crypto Adoption
Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico are among the 20 countries in the world where cryptocurrencies are used most, according to the Chainalysis 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index, a yearly report that seeks to estimate the countries where the most grassroots crypto adoption is located.
According to several metrics, Chainalysis estimated that India, Nigeria, and Vietnam were the three countries with the most crypto adoption in the world, as the company acknowledged that while global crypto grassroots adoption was down, it was growing in lower medium-income countries — where Gross National Income (GNI) per capita was in the ,086–,255 range.
The first Latam country ranked in the report, and the only one in the top ten (ranked ninth), is Brazil, which has reported growing levels of people and companies transacting in crypto recently, according to the Brazilian tax authority, the Receita Federal. Argentina, which has registered inflation levels of over 120% and faces a devaluation crisis, ranks 15th, while Mexico trails them in 16th place.
Milei Blames Argentine Economic Decline on Statism and Socialism
Javier Milei, an Argentine presidential candidate, has blamed the economic decline of Argentina on the socialist measures enacted by prior governments and on the size of the state in the country. Milei, who won the preliminary elections in August and is expected to win the presidential elections, explained that Argentina started embracing socialism 100 years ago.
In a recent interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, Milei stated:
The analogy of frogs in a pot of water is useful here. When you turn up the heat slowly, the frogs don’t realize it. Until the time comes and when they try to jump out, it’s too late and they end up dead.
Bull Bitcoin Expands to Costa Rica
The Canada-based Bull Bitcoin exchange has announced its expansion to Costa Rica, where it will integrate one of the most used payment systems, SINPE Movil, to bring Bitcoin to more people in the country. Francis Pouliot, CEO of Bull Bitcoin, explained that this move will allow foreigners and Costa Ricans to exchange bitcoin per fiat currency “without needing complicated international bank transfers and expensive foreign currency conversion.”
The exchange will offer these services through the Bitcoin Jungle Wallet, and it expects to keep expanding internationally over the next 12 months.
To follow all the latest developments in crypto and the economy in Latin America, sign up for our Latam newsletter below.
What do you think about this week’s Latam Insights report? Tell us in the comment section below.
Fund Manager Bashes Bitcoin: An Extreme Form of Libertarian Anarchism
As Bitcoin price makes headlines across mainstream and financial media, skeptics of cryptocurrencies have come out of the woodwork in droves.
The latest skepticism comes from Tim Bond, partner and portfolio manager at Odey Asset Management, who claims that Bitcoin has very little benefit to society, and instead is an extreme form of Libertarian anarchism. But could there actually be truth in the bold, blanket statement?
Tim Bond Bashes Bitcoin As Pointless, Vile, And Damaging To The Environment
Bitcoin is a subject that most economists, tech enthusiasts entrepreneurs, and fund managers alike are asked about these days, as the asset has ballooned from under ,000 to more than ,000 per coin in less than one year.
Depending on who you ask, it is the most important technological revolution since the internet, while others might claim it is a bubble wait to burst.
Tim Bond, fund manager at Odey Asset Management, instead calls it “particularly vile,” “pointless,” and “damaging to the environment.”
Related Reading | Summing Up The Case For Crypto As The Future Of Collateral
Bond claims that Bitcoin isn’t only emitting more CO2 than most small economies, but that it is spearheading “a particularly extreme form of libertarian anarchism,” which he says is why the cryptocurrency is so popular amongst Silicon Valley types.
“If bitcoin starts to displace fiat currencies [government-issued currency that is not backed by a commodity], governments’ ability to tax, spend and redistribute will be severely impaired,” Bond continued.
As Bitcoin grows in value, the more disruptive power it wields | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Crypto Anarchist Future Prefers Consensus Over Forced Taxation
Bond, however, is absolutely right about at least one thing: Bitcoin could severely impact a “governments’ ability to tax, spend and redistribute” – a system that is arguably broken already.
Governments like the United States establish control over society through their money, and without that leverage, society won’t be as compelled to comply with taxation and other forms of control.
While much of this infrastructure was designed for the benefit of civilized society, governments have abused this control and how they redistribute wealth is a major ongoing economic problem that only Bitcoin has the potential to fix.
Related Reading | Why March Is The Bloodiest Month In Bitcoin History
By removing the government from the equation, it will require community consensus – something the crypto industry does well – to handle redistribution in the future.
Bitcoin has several key benefits that give the unique cryptocurrency its underlying value. It cannot be counterfeited, there are only 21 million BTC available ever, and much more. However, the greatest benefit of all could be the fact that governments can control it – something that Bond clearly can’t comprehend.
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView.com
Self-Proclaimed Contrarian Investor Bashes Bitcoin Digital Gold Narrative
Bitcoin has become extremely popular in 2020, on the back of the store of value, safe haven asset, and digital gold narratives. The digital gold story has taken center stage recently, as the precious metal’s bullish momentum fizzled out and the cryptocurrency market took off.
But one self-proclaimed contrarian investor with a focus on bullion, says that digital gold makes little sense, and compared it – ridiculously – to “digital steak.” Here’s why Simon Mikhailovich’s comparison itself doesn’t make sense.
2020: The Year Of The Bitcoin “Digital Gold” Narrative
Bitcoin was designed by Satoshi Nakamoto to share several key attributes with gold and other precious metals, chiefly, their scarce supply. The cryptocurrency creator borrowed other commodity-related concepts, such as mining.
Unique from gold, however, certain attributes of a currency were also added, such as decimal places for unit of account, and the ability to send the asset digitally.
Related Reading | Why New Bitcoin Investors Shouldn’t Be Deterred By The Scarce BTC Supply
The “digital gold” narrative that has emerged since Paul Tudor Jones said that Bitcoin could outpace the then trending shiny yellow metal, has taken the forefront and even managed to capture the imagination of high wealth investors. Many are reallocating gold into Bitcoin, for the sake of putting capital where it is expected to perform the best.
However, one self-proclaimed contrarian investor, claims that the narrative makes as much sense as a “digital steak.” Is his comment a well-done retort, or is he wrong about the rare, digital-only asset?
Contrarian Warns Of Crypto Becoming Enemy Of Fiat Currency And Governments
According to The Bullion Reserve founder Simon Mikhailovich, the Bitcoin as digital gold narrative doesn’t make sense. Or it “makes about as much sense as ‘digital steak.’”
TBR is a private bullion asset manager, so clearly Mikhailovich could be biased about the cryptocurrency that is heavily eating into his business model and revenue.
Gold is breaking down against Bitcoin, targeting another 90% fall against the cryptocurrency | Source: XAUBTC on TradingView.com
The comparison is definitely a strange one. As Bitcoin supporters swarmed the investor on Twitter, he began to add more insight to his thought process.
Approached with sarcasm, some users questioned if he was this skeptical over “digital mail” – a nod to the fact there was once a time when pundits thought email was unnecessary. He said in that case, emails transfer information and not actual paper, referencing fiat money and ignoring the fact that paper money gets digitally transferred endlessly all day long via debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, and more.
He also explained, that “throughout history, private challenges to sovereign currencies have been deemed an existential threat to sovereign power and treated as such. “Everyone can draw their own conclusions,” he added.
Related Reading | The Dollar Losing A Decade Long Trendline Could Send Bitcoin Skyrocketing
There is always a chance that governments could view it as a threat, but the asset was made to be decentralized and operate outside of the reach of state actors. And the argument is weak from someone who knows gold well enough to be aware that US citizens were once banned from holding the precious metal under Executive Order 6102, and could just as easily be at risk.
The only reason why Bitcoin would be targeted by the government when gold hasn’t in decades would be due to the cryptocurrency being viewed as much more dangerous of a threat to fiat currencies that are used to control the world.
But any government banning BTC would be at risk of a catch 22 like situation. Being the odd man out could let other countries garner a larger share of the limited supply, leaving whatever nations late to catch on at a disadvantage if it becomes the global reserve currency.
The analogy about digital steak is incredibly poor, but email is the ideal example. The best technologies are the ones you don’t need until they become commonplace, but once they are, they become everyday staples.
So perhaps the digital gold narrative is wrong, but solely due to the fact that nicknaming it after the precious metal, despite decades of the gold standard, would be selling the cryptocurrency a few coins short.
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView.com
Economist Steve Hank Bashes Bitcoin, Says It’s Not Legitimate: Why He’s Wrong
- Bitcoin is not a currency, but a speculative asset, veteran economist Steve Hank said on Tuesday.
- The Johns Hopkins University professor noted that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin must be tied to commodities to qualify as a legitimate currency.
- Nevertheless, the respected scholar tends to ignore a straightforward thing: Bitcoin is not a foreign currency note operating under the control of a central bank or a government.
Veteran economist Steve Hank is not a bitcoin fan.
The Johns Hopkins University professor on Tuesday bashed the cryptocurrency for lacking the qualities of a traditional currency. He said in a tweet that he sees Bitcoin as a speculative asset, adding that it can become a currency only if it gets tied to a basket of commodities.
#Bitcoin is a highly speculative asset, not a currency. #Cryptocurrencies must be tied to a basket of commodities in order to be considered a legitimate currency. https://t.co/D920f9vazx
— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) June 22, 2020
In retrospect, many national currencies derive their values from their benchmark commodities. For instance, Australia is the world’s largest iron-ore producer and exporter. It means that the demand for the product plays a significant role in driving the Australian dollar’s value upward/downward.
Similarly, Canadian Dollar largely tracks the value of oil, a commodity that amounts to almost 11 percent of Canada’s exports.
An Incomparable Asset
But these definitions of national currencies do not cater for Bitcoin. A massive distributed group of miners pool their computational resources to run a decentralized ledge that validates and maintains a record of transactions. In return, a pre-programmed algorithm gives them a digital reward called bitcoin.
As bitcoin tokens come into existence, they present their holders with a multitude of use-cases. For instance, they can send bitcoin to anywhere in the world without needing to go through a bank or other third-party services by giving 99 percent lesser fee.
In other cases, users can simply hold their bitcoin tokens in anticipation of selling them later at a higher rate. More adoption ensues a bullish scenario for the cryptocurrency, similar to how the prices of gold and stocks rise.
In its 11-year lifetime, media has called Bitcoin a new form of money, speculative asset, commodity, a Ponzi scheme, a bubble, and whatnot. But the adoption is increasing, nevertheless, resulting in a price surge of more than 8,500 percent.
Bitcoin’s value comes from trust – the same factor that drives the demand of the global reserve currency, the U.S. dollar. The more people opt to switch their national currencies for bitcoin, the higher it grows as a network and an asset.
Bitcoin is Better
Professor Hank conveniently ignored what makes Bitcoin a unique asset in an inflationary macroeconomic outlook. The 77-year old veteran attempted to find the cryptocurrency’s value from the commodities that it may track in the future.
But he didn’t focus on the underlying technology that makes Bitcoin one of the world’s most successful decentralized startups in a decade.
In reality, bitcoin becomes what its users want it to be. It has served as a safe-haven to hyperinflation-hit people of Venezuela, Lebanon, and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, it has given people an option to opt-out of the fiat economies that relies on adding debts by printing an unlimited amount of U.S. dollar, backed by nothing.
Some may argue that the U.S. GDP backs the greenback. They should look at this equation first:
GDP = C + I + NX + G, wherein C stands for consumer spending; I for the sum of businesses spending on capital; NX for net exports by the U.S.; and G for government spending.
‘C’ narrows down to nothing thanks to a rising number of unemployment claims and poverty. ‘I’ is also negligible due to barriers in lending, and NX has dipped into negative territory.
That leaves GDP with just a ‘G’ – government spending. Politicians feed the economy by borrowing massive amounts of unbacked U.S. dollars, leading to a debt bubble. In the long-term, that leads to higher taxes and inflation.
Does Bitcoin want to be a currency? It entirely depends on the people. So no matter how Professor Hank may wish to define the cryptocurrency, it does not care about receiving an economical description. People will use it the way they want to use it.
That sums up the backing. Trust is a commodity.
Schiff Bashes Bitcoin as It Falls 30% but Ignores Gold Lost $215bn Too
Bitcoin fell about 30 percent in just 30 minutes this Thursday. Gold plunged nearly 3.65 percent at the same time. Which asset lost more? Of course, Gold.
The above statement was made to catch the attention of Mr. Peter Schff (Hey!), a famous gold bull, and among the few analysts that predicted the 2008 financial crisis when other white collars were ignorant.
Mr. Schiff, who serves US-based Euro Pacific Management as its chief executive, is also a staunch bitcoin critic and hates it when millennials treat the cryptocurrency as a better version of gold.
That explains why the yellow metal lover felt exhilarated after bitcoin plunged more than it while competing for the best safe-haven asset tag against the rising Coronavirus pandemic. He took to his Twitter profile to pat himself on the back, telling his 191,200-something followers about how he was right about the cryptocurrency’s doomed future all this time.
“The air continues to come out of this bubble,” Mr. Schiff taunted the bitcoin community, probably grinning behind the computer screen as he typed. The analyst later bashed CNBC for – WTF – pumping the bitcoin price with non-stop daily coverages whenever it goes up and for staying mum when it goes down.
And then came the tweet as sensible as Fox News projecting Coronavirus as “another attempt to impeach” Donald Trump. It read:
Sure #gold is down 2.5% today, but #Bitcoin is down 25%, or ten times as much. Is this really digital gold?
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) March 12, 2020
But looking into it, the tweet is an outright lie.
Yellow Metal Lost Roughly 5bn Today
Drop a stone into a lake: that is what bitcoin is in comparison to the size of the gold market. Thompson Reuters GFMS wrote in a report published back in 2013 that there are about 5.482 billion ounces of gold in the entire world. At the pre-crash rate, that takes the yellow metal’s presumed market capitalization to about .6 trillion.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, was sitting atop a 4.72 billion market valuation before the crash.
Mr. Peter Schiff conveniently projected bitcoin as an asset that lost more than its traditional counterpart gold: based on percentages. In reality, the cryptocurrency’s 25 percent plunge wiped about billion off its market, but for gold, even a 2.5 percent loss trimmed the market cap by around 5 billion.
Gold plunges https://t.co/t5Y1zEa8b2 pic.twitter.com/g1FbUNlt5D
— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) March 12, 2020
It does not mean gold is bad – or investors were keen to dump the yellow metal because they didn’t think it was safe-haven – but it simply means that Gold has more people speculating on it. In comparison, bitcoin is a very, very small market, with a lesser number of people.
Debunking the Anti-Bitcoin Tweet
Mr. Schiff wants to show percentage-losses as a benchmark of an asset’s performance, without ever considering other parameters that may influence the outcome drastically. Both Gold and Bitcoin lost hard because investors wanted something else as their safety in times of a health crisis: fiat. Hence, the money moved out of so-called safe havens into the low-risk bonds.
Bitcoin had to fall harder, nevertheless, but because it was sitting on better profits than gold, especially against the COVID-19 crisis that has left no market for investors to profit from. But to say it lost the “digital gold” narrative is an insult to Gold itself, a long-standing insurance asset.
Peace to the wonderful future for both gold and bitcoin bulls! As they say in Sanskrit, Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, which translates to ‘May all become happy.’
So does you, Mr. Schiff, so does you!
NewsBTC
Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Plunges Under $9,000, Bitfinex and OKEx DDOS Attacks, Warren Buffett Bashes Cryptocurrency Again
Another week, another round of Crypto Tidbits. Wow, what a past seven days for Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and global markets overall.
Bitcoin saw a blood-red week, to say the least, falling from ,000 on Sunday to a low of ~,480 within a few days’ time as buyers failed to keep the asset above the key ,500 support. Altcoins saw an even worst performance, with Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, amongst countless other top cryptocurrencies plunging 15% as they followed BTC lower.
The crypto market carnage seen over the past week came as global markets, from stocks and commodities, started to crash across the board. The Dow Jones posted its worst point performance in history on Thursday, falling by over 1,000 points as American stocks came under a coronavirus crunch. Gold also fell under ,600, plunging after reaching ,700 as investors tried to leverage the asset as a safe haven.
The fact that effectively all assets fell this week was a sign to some investors that Bitcoin and crypto’s weakness may be only temporary.
Indeed, due to the potentially flagging U.S. economy caused by a decrease in consumption and industrial activity because of coronavirus fears, the Federal Reserve has hinted that it may cut interest rates in the near future, adding to Bitcoin’s bull case.
Aside from the tumultuous market, the underlying cryptocurrency industry saw an equally as tumultuous week, with there being a number of news stories showing the growth and adoption of these technologies, though others casting light on issues within this space.
Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Plunges to ,500, m BCH SIM Swap, IRS Focused on Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin & Crypto Tidbits
Top Bitcoin Exchange Bitfinex Hit With DDoS Attack Just a Day After OKEx: On Friday morning, leading crypto platform Bitfinex began “investigating what seems like a distributed denial-of-service” attack (DDoS) attack on its exchange. Data from the site showed that the site response time and data throughput started to vary dramatically at 6:40 am GMT, eventually reaching a point where the site crashed around 8:00 am GMT, spurring the exchange to respond. About an hour after it began investigating the attack, services for the exchange came back online. This came a day after OKEx, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in Asia, reported a DDoS attack that didn’t affect any users. OKEx’s CEO accused a “competitor” of launching the attack.
Services on the Bitfinex platform have resumed. We implemented a stricter protection level as a result of our platform coming under a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. All issues relating to the DDoS attack have now been resolved.
— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) February 28, 2020
Warren Buffett Bashes Bitcoin & Crypto Yet Again, Even After Tron CEO’s Dinner: In an interview with CNBC, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said that he will never own cryptocurrency, adding that digital assets, Bitcoin included, has no inherent value: “Cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don’t produce anything. In terms of value: zero.” This comment from Buffett regarding Bitcoin is reminiscent of his previous statements on the matter, such as when he called the cryptocurrency “rat poison squared” and saying that the asset has not much more value than a suit button. While Buffett’s words hold weight in public circles, not everyone in the crypto space is convinced that what he has to say about Bitcoin is relevant, despite him being a legendary investor. Industry investor Anthony Pompliano explained that “I really don’t take technology advice from somebody who uses a flip phone or doesn’t use email.”
Simpsons Talked About Crypto in Sunday’s Episode: On Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons — dubbed “Frinkcoin” because the episode’s A-plot centered around a cryptocurrency built by character Professor Frink — the show makers included a two-minute segment of a Simpsonified Jim Parsons, the actor behind The Big Bang Theory‘s Sheldon Cooper, discussing cryptocurrency. During Parsons’ explainer, a few key topics were mentioned: how blockchain underpins Bitcoin (and other crypto assets) and how the ledger works, including the distribution of nodes/ledgers and how blocks are added to the chain). This writer noticed some, say, shortcomings in the script, but he can give it a pass.
G20 Advises Crypto Crackdown: According to an official G20 communique published this week, the finance ministers and central bankers of the group want member countries to implement the “recently adopted FATF standards on virtual assets and related providers.” The guideline suggests that all entities dealing with cryptocurrency should be actively collecting the customer information of those involved in transactions. The FATF advises the collection of data including the name of the transactor, their location, and the name of the beneficiary of the transaction.
Ripple Secures Partnership: Announced in a blog post published Wednesday, Ripple’s partnership with Azimo will see the latter company use On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) as a “part of its remittance capabilities into The Philippines,” with plans to expand the use of the solution in the future.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
NewsBTC
Bloomberg Host Bashes Bitcoin Stock to Flow Price Prediction Model
There are plenty of metrics and models used to anticipate the future price of Bitcoin. A popular one is stock to flow ratio but one Bloomberg host has called it nonsense adding that coin supply has little effect on BTC prices.
Bitcoin S2F Prediction Model ‘Nonsense’
According to economics reference materials, stock to flow is defined as a relationship between production and current stock of a commodity
It has gained a following in the crypto community as a measure of future Bitcoin performance. This has stemmed from updated models and theory published by industry analyst ‘PlanB’.
Using previous Bitcoin halvings as an example the analyst predicted that the same will happen again as the stock to flow ratio doubles after the BTC block reward is halved. This works on the premise of perceived supply scarcity and resultant increase in demand.
It has been a strong argument, especially when backed up with charts showing previous rallies after a halving. . A live chart can be viewed here and it has been pretty accurate so far.
Executive editor of news for Bloomberg Digital Joe Weisenthal thinks otherwise though and has refuted the model labeling it as ‘nonsense’.
Ok, since nothing's going on today, I'm going to do a quick thread on why the concept of using Stock-to-flow analysis (or any other future supply based model) is complete nonsense for anticipating the future value of Bitcoin 1/
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) December 23, 2019
Using the overall global market portfolio or real estate, equities, gold etc, the TV host added that Bitcoin represents such a tiny amount of this that and at the moment people are choosing not to invest in it.
Using the theory that society would want to hold double the current amount (4 billion in market cap) of Bitcoin he suggested that no new coins would be necessary.
“To get to 8 billion worth of BTC, there’s no need for more coins at all. All people need to do is bid up the price of Bitcoin until it doubles. Then voila. Society’s desire to hold 8 billion of BTC would be satisfied. The math is simple. Society holds what it wants.”
The existence of fewer coins being generated in the future has no bearing on the collective choice the global society makes as to how much BTC it wants to own.
The crux of the argument is that BTC supply is not a driving factor as to the value of the asset. People’s preference to hold it as part of the global market portfolio will affect its prices he added.
It is an interesting take on the popular price prediction model and Weisenthal continued to add reasons why people would want to buy Bitcoin. These included more censorship on approved payment networks, more political chaos leading to instability, fear of banks, and a desire to hold bearer assets.
Other analysts such as Alex Krüger share the opinion that S2F models are over hyped and coin supply apparently has little or no effect on future BTC prices.
Image from Shutterstock
The post Bloomberg Host Bashes Bitcoin Stock to Flow Price Prediction Model appeared first on NewsBTC.
Crypto Tribalism Intensifies as Community Bashes CNBC For Hosting Roger Ver
It appears that the crypto community is very easily riled these days. A 50% collapse in total crypto market capitalization in the latter half of the year may have something to do with it, while a recent interview on CNBC with Roger Ver has kicked of another bout of twitter tribalism over Bitcoin Cash.
Bitcoin Jesus Shilling On Mainstream
The interview in question was headlined ‘Bitcoin Cash can go up a thousand times from where it is now: ‘Bitcoin Jesus’’ which is not usually something CNBC would run. Ver starts off stating that both BTC and BCH are up over double this year and that cryptocurrencies are here to stay.
In the same breath he jumps straight onto the Bitcoin Cash shill train
“The real interesting one is Bitcoin Cash. I think it has the ability to go up a thousand times where it is currently because it’s looking to become peer to peer electronic cash for the entire world.”
Ver then goes on to cite Warren Buffets famous ‘be greedy when others are fearful’ quote presumably in reference to the rock bottom BCH prices at the moment.
The host went on to ask whether there had been any major differentiation in usage between the two rival digital assets. ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ continued with his bashing of the coin that spawned his offshoot;
“The smart money is going into Bitcoin Cash because it has the economic characteristics that made Bitcoin popular to begin with. What everybody is calling Bitcoin today is just Bitcoin in name only. The technology and user experience that made Bitcoin popular is called Bitcoin Cash today,”
Crypto Community Reaction
The crypto community was not going to take this lying down and several threads were kicked off in a twit-storm including this one;
“Hey @JoeSquawk whats up with this reporting on bcash by CNBC? Roger is saying factually incorrect information about adoption and identity.”
Hey @JoeSquawk whats up with this reporting on bcash by CNBC? Roger is saying factually incorrect information about adoption and identity. https://t.co/Ros1O8Uihs
— Dan Hedl (@danheld) November 27, 2019
Some of the arguments against Ver’s claims were pretty pertinent and included a hash rate comparison of the two.
The crypto tribalism intensified with further comments increasing in vehemence;
“Did CNBC get paid out of the 200M ‘dev fund’ for this propaganda piece?”
From a price aspect, Bitcoin surged 260% this year before dumping 45%. BCH on the other hand managed just over 200% before dumping 56% in 2019 so big brother is clearly the winner in terms of performance.
It is uncharacteristic of CNBC to shill another altcoin with such leading headline but Ver is a prominent industry figure whatever people think of him.
The entire incident reemphasizes that crypto tribalism is still alive and kicking. Instead of bickering over which blockchain is better, energy would be better spent focused on the real enemies here which are the banks and governments that currently control the world’s money.
Image from Shutterstock
The post Crypto Tribalism Intensifies as Community Bashes CNBC For Hosting Roger Ver appeared first on NewsBTC.