Bitcoin Surge Is Driven by People Leaving Riskier Digital Currencies, Say Execs

Bitcoin’s dramatic surge may be more than just a speculative frenzy. The recent rally is being driven partially by enthusiasts rotating out of riskier digital assets and into the more established cryptocurrency, according to industry executives.

"A lot of the volume into bitcoin right now is actually not dollar or yen or euro into bitcoin, but is rather alt digital assets," said Peter Smith, co-founder and CEO of digital asset software platform Blockchain, at an industry conference Tuesday that brought in 2,700 people on the first day. “People do view a lot of these newer assets as more risky, and so when they make big gains there, they’re selling down those gains and rotating into bitcoin."

Numerous alternative cryptocurrencies, or "altcoins" such as ripple, have emerged since bitcoin broke into public consciousness in 2013. Companies can sell new tokens through initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While the cost of one bitcoin has skyrocketed to more than $2,000 from just 8 cents in 2010, you can buy one litecoin for about $30.

The price of ether, the cryptocurrency tied to the Ethereum blockchain, has almost doubled in the last week.

Some are worried that there’s a bitcoin bubble in the making, but Smith and Erik Voorhees, founder and chief executive officer of cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, aren’t too concerned. Booms and busts are a normal part of any economic cycle, they said at the Consensus 2017 conference.

"Every time bitcoin goes through these bubbles, a whole new wave of users come in," Voorhees said. "The reason that bitcoin is taking off is because banks have not been innovating."

The surge has also been tied to global political uncertainty and increased interest in Asia. Chinese stocks have slumped in recent months as bitcoin soared. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen 6.9 percent from its high this year on April 11 amid concern authorities will step up measures to crack down on leveraged trading. China also may publish bitcoin regulations in June, according to a report earlier this month.

"Bitcoin up 100% in under 2 months. Shanghai down almost 10% same timeframe, compared to most global stocks up. Probably not a coincidence!" Doubleline Capital CEO Jeff Gundlach wrote in a tweet Tuesday.

ShapeShift users, only about 15 percent of whom are in the U.S., are moving small amounts of value between different digital tokens as they speculate about the best place to put their money, Voorhees said. Bitcoin is the "least speculative" of the digital assets, he explained.

Smith’s company, which added former Barclays Plc CEO Antony Jenkins as a board member last year, has grown every year regardless of bitcoin’s price, he said.

"One of the beautiful things about bitcoin is you get to see free-market economics at work every day, and bubbles and creative destruction are part of that process," added Smith, who said people have been incorrectly writing bitcoin’s obituary as it goes through natural up and down cycles. "I’m sure we’ll add a lot of obituaries if the market reverses and we go down below $2,000."

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author: Lily Katz

David

Top 10 Tips For Cryptocurrency Investing, As Bitcoin And Ethereum Surge

The price of Bitcoin and Ethereum have exploded in 2017. The question is whether there is sufficient upside potential to consider investing in cryptocurrencies. Stated differently, is it still worth looking into cryptocurrencies as an investment or is it too late?

The key consideration is that Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency to invest in. On the other hand, Bitcoin has made cryptocurrencies popular and even more secure. Yes, there were definitely security issues a couple of years ago, but it seems those issues have been resolved. So Bitcoin has helped mature the cryptocurrencies space.

InvestingHaven believes that a combination of price analysis and fundamental analysis is the most appropriate way to make a rational investment choice, and to engage in forecasting the price of cryptocurrencies. With that in mind, we also look into the altcoins space in this article in order to find investment opportunities.

InvestingHaven’s research team has collected 10 investment tips for investing in cryptocurrencies which are useful to investors not very familiar in this space.

Investing in cryptocurrencies: tips, insights and upside potential

1. Cryptocurrencies investments are similar to investing to commodities

Investing in cryptocurrencies is very similar to commodities investing. The fact of the matter is that commodities have two ‘faces’. On the one hand, they are assets that are used in the real world. Base metals, for instance, are used in industry. Softs are used in the food industry. Precious metals are used in the jewelry industry. At the same time, commodities can be invested in, through open market exchanges.

Cryptocurrencies are similar. They are used in financial and insurance applications, but investors can also invest in cryptocurrencies.

From that perspective, it is mandatory to look at usage and added value that cryptocurrencies create in this world when choosing a specific cryptocurrency to invest in.

2. Usage is growing as evidenced by the collective market cap

All cryptocurrencies combined have a market cap of more than $60B meantime. So that includes all cryptocurrencies in existence: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and hundreds of smaller and unknown ones.

To put that into perspective, for investors, here are some reference points: Tesla’s market cap is $50B, Boeing Airlines $100B, Coca Cola $180B (rounded figures for April / May 2017).

Note how the volume of real world transactions has gone up together with the market cap which indicates that ‘crypto is for real’.

3. Most people are unaware about cryptocurrencies, an absolute minority uses them

If it is important to look at real world usage as a key criterium when considering investing in cryptocurrencies, then there is great news for investors: “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.

According to Statista, who has dedicated a section to cryptocurrencies useful for investing, we see that the number of adults in the U.S. familiar with the most known cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) is only 24 percent. And, by far the most important data point on this graph, the number of Americans that use Bitcoin is 2 percent while the ones thinking of using it in the future is 25 percent.

Investors should get excited when realizing this. Not primarily for Bitcoin, but more so for other cryptocurrencies.

4. Usage is the key criterium for investors

As said in the intro, analyzing fundamental data is the key element in our methodology to identify a decent investment opportunity. So supply and demand data, based on usage in the real world, is what investors should be focused on.

That is also what we used as a method in our Bitcoin Price Forecast For 2017 and our Ethereum Price Forecast For 2017. Note that our Bitcoin forecast got filled meantime, as the price of Bitcoin went over $2000, a forecast we made more two months ago.

As an example, when it comes to Ethereum, we have included the chart which features the number of its transactions, see below. This is proof that Ethereum is being used in the real world.

Top 10 Tips For Cryptocurrency Investing, As Bitcoin And Ethereum Surge

Moreover, the number of Bitcoins in circulation is another proof of cryptocurrency usage, as well as trade volume.

Note also how Ripple, a cryptocurrency which is meant to facilitate payments between financial institutions, and, in doing so, pushes transaction costs down meaningfully, has a great chart highlighting the strong usage of some large accounts along with the long tail of users: Ripple usage statistics.

5. Where are we in the market cycle?

Given the above data points, we consider that we are nowhere near any point close to euphoria according to the traditional market cycle. It is maybe not very useful to consider Bitcoin as an investment opportunity, though prices can go much higher from here. However, there are many other cryptocurrencies which are only now starting to be considered by businesses, governments, and society across the globe.

With that in mind, we believe we are only in the optimism stage in the market cycle.

Note that this market cycle can be considered by individual cryptocurrency as well (we considered all cryptocurrencies combined when we stated that we are in the ‘optimism’ stage). Bitcoin certainly has gone through this cycle, reaching euphoria in January of 2014.

6. Altcoins are similar to the dotcom hype, 80% will not survive the storm

Pareto is one of the few universal principles applicable in all areas of life, including in the investment world.

We see a dotcom type hype arising and, presumably, 80% of cryptocurrencies will not survive the storm. We saw something similar in the dotcom hype. That is simply because, during a hype, users and investors do not focus sufficiently on the real added value that is created.

It is imperative for investors, when choosing cryptocurrencies to invest in, that they acknowledge the added value that is created, from a business and society perspective.

7. A cryptocurrency MUST solve a problem in life

Just buying cryptocurrencies hoping that they will deliver an investment return does not make sense at all. The sweet spot for every investor is the ability to solve a problem: the bigger the problem that gets solved, the higher the potential value.

One of the sweet spots that cryptocurrencies can enable as a problem solver is to provide access to money and basic banking functions like wiring and paying. A fact that is unknown is that a huge amount of people globally do NOT have access to to these traditional banking services. We consider that Stellar Lumens, symbol XLM, is such an enabler. At the moment of writing, Stellar Lumens trades at $0.05. Read on Fortune.com why Stellar has a disruptive potential, especially in the underdeveloped part of the world, and is worth a cryptocurrency investment.

8. Create your investment portfolio with a limited number of cryptocurrencies

As with any other investment, investors should create their own portfolio and work on it actively. Also, they should work on it for the very long term.

Creating a portfolio with some cryptocurrencies is the way to go. Choosing them selectively is imperative. Only invest in things you understand and keep your emotions under control are principles that should always be applied, in every investment portfolio.

9. Crypto to money

Do not forget that your cryptocurrencies can be exchanged for ‘traditional money’. The market is in the process of enabling all exchanges: all traditional currencies will be exchangeable with all cryptocurrencies, sooner rather than later. So the lock-in risk which was present a while back will not be a risk going forward.

Stated differently, your portfolio with cryptocurrencies is just another way to store cash, or exchange crypto for cash (money), over time as market conditions change.

10. Read the right sources

Last but not least, as it goes with every hype, ‘everyone and his uncle’ can become a guru during a hype. Be very sceptical when following people and selecting sources to read. The blogosphere has only a handful of bloggers who are worth following, say maximum 20 percent.

At InvestingHaven, we will do everything we can to offer the best investment insights for high reward / low risk opportunities. You can also follow this upcoming blog which is owned by the same team that runs InvestingHaven: www.BlockchainRevolution.global

This article is brought to you courtesy of Investing Haven.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David

As Price Reaches Record Highs, is Bitcoin in a Capacity Crisis? â CryptoCoinsNews

As Price Reaches Record Highs, is Bitcoin in a Capacity Crisis? – CryptoCoinsNews

Imagine you are slightly late for work, quickly getting a shower, brushing your teeth and all the rest, walking – in an almost running manner – to the tube station, to then find out there are 200,000 people waiting outside to get the train.

What’s more, the train only handles 4,000 individuals and arrives every ten minutes, during which period new individuals arrive at a rate of 4 per second. Now, it’s ok, you’re busy, you can still be one of those 4,000 individuals and get to work if you pay a high enough fee.

So you check out the notice which says the current estimated fee is $1, but since others are seeing the same notice too and paying $1 too, the fee keeps going up every second, with these higher fees paid by the new individuals that come every second, pushing you down the queue.

Tough luck, you can’t make it to work today because your $1 bid is now as good as worthless to the super congested network. The next day you learn the lesson, so instead of bidding what the notice says, you bid 10% or 20% more, but you weren’t the only one who missed work yesterday, almost everyone else did too and they have this genius but obvious idea too, making you miss work again.

The next day you get angry and pay double the fee, but you’re not the only angry one. Now, sure, some in this lottery do get to make it to work, 4,000 every 10 minutes with 200,000 waiting, but a lot don’t, resulting in a bidding war which looks like below:

As can be seen, bitcoin’s fees have gone vertical, which is bad, but if you know you’d get through for x dollars then at least you can evaluate the proposition. Instead, you’re not only paying high fees, but you don’t even know whether you will get the service you paid for because of simple logics.

Let’s take, for example, a statement by Luke Dashjr, a Blockstream “open hash contractor,” who suggested everyone pay a $5 fee and you’ll get through. If we analyze this a bit further, we can start by asking why people are not paying $5 and one good reason is because then everyone would start paying $5 meaning newcomers would outbid them by paying $5.01.

Sure, one or two guys might currently “cheat” and jump the queue by paying $5, but as long as it’s a very tiny minority the rest let it go. If instead, it went to a point where say 1,000 of the 4,000 are paying $5, the other 3,000 will probably quickly start paying $5.01.

This clearly shows ordering transactions by fee is an unworkable idea which is why Satoshi Nakamoto ordered transactions by first seen in the bitcoin clients he/she released, a rule largely enforced by the bitcoin network until full capacity was reached.

The Easy Attack

Still, even the above problems, as bad as they are, might be bearable for desperate bitcoiners, but let’s imagine I’m a wealthy company, say Vusa, or Rapp Labs, or a wealthy guy who just doesn’t like bitcoin.

Just to be very clear, no one is suggesting either of them has behaved in any nefarious way, but say I’m a competitor to bitcoin or recently attracting much hype and attention due to gaining crazy high market cap in just days. You know what I could do with just $2 million?

I could send bitcoin down crashing as far as its sole purpose of moving bitcoins is concerned. That’s because bitcoin’s capacity is limited to around 250,000 transactions, but just to make it simple let’s say it can handle only 200,000 transactions a day.

At $1, it would cost me just $200,000 to take up that space, which is fine, everyone else could pay $1.50. But, at $10 per transaction it would cost me only $2 million to send everyone else at the back of the queue.

Now sure, you can pay $11 or $12, but even at a fee of $20 it would cost just $4 million, as good as nothing considering how much value may flood to the competitors and considering the shock bitcoin would receive if all the sudden everyone is asked to pay $25 per transaction.

There is no evidence to suggest this is happening at scale, but fees went up yesterday from around $1 to around $4 for a normal transaction. It could be ordinary demand, but it could also be someone or some entity which wants to send bitcoin crashing.

They have succeeded as far as bitcoin’s sole purpose of moving bitcoins around is concerned because around 200,000 bitcoins have been stuck for the past 24 hours while fees have gone parabolic pricing everyone out.

Another Obituary?

Bitcoin has only one job – to move data from a to b – and it is failing to do that simple task. A task which is not really rocket science as some claim because everyone and their cat have launched their own bitcoin like network which actually manages to continue performing their one task.

No wonder bitcoin’s market share has now fallen down to around 48%, nearly halved from just a few months ago, but its price has now doubled to more than $2,000 and its market cap keeps going up, so, who knows. Maybe $20 fees and days for one transaction are a good thing?

Or maybe it’s all just because of the recent advertising following allegations Trump’s Press Secretary and an aid to the French President Macron had used bitcoin, combined with the recent ransom global incident.

Or perhaps it’s only because bitcoin is the main gateway to other altcoins, although ethereum has started making inroads on that front due to its own tokens system and clones.

But maybe the market sees value in a limited coin you just buy and lock away in some paper wallet somewhere, forgetting about it, like actual gold and just as difficult as well as expensive to move around.

In which case, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” as bitcoin’s white paper describes it, has failed, because the current bitcoin is not a cash system. Cash can be exchanged almost instantly with 0 fee and can be moved around fairly easily without getting stuck for days.

Which might be why the market is giving conflicting signals. On the one hand, it’s falling market share is probably because bitcoin investors and other market participants are looking for the real bitcoin, the cash system, which many think has just changed its name to ethereum while getting some cool new tech like smart contracts.

It may be that these newcomers think bitcoin is still the cash system rather than seemingly having changed into something else, or maybe they like this idea of gold but with very high fees or they’re in markets which have no choice, although even they could easily diversify.

Bitcoin is Dead, Long Live Bitcoin

So, to conclude, bitcoin is definitely in crisis because the real bitcoin as described in the whitepaper does not exist anymore. The real bitcoin uses the first seen rule for transactions, rather than ordering by fee. The real bitcoin never operates at full blocks. The real bitcoin has as good as no fees and confirms almost instantly.

What now is called bitcoin is an aberration, something completely different and planned to become even more different. Far more similar to ripple with its hubs and intermediary banks than to bitcoin.

The real bitcoin, the digital cash, the codable money, the global, inclusive, permissionless network, the innovative powerhouse which has grabbed the world’s imagination, that has changed its name and is now called ethereum.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely that of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to CCN.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Price Breaks $2,000 in Historic All-Time High

Bitcoin price has, for the first time in its history, reached $2,000 and beyond during trading on Saturday.

The world’s most prominent cryptocurrency began trading in 2017 at $1,000 per coin, with today’s new all-time high representing a doubling of value for bitcoin. On an average, bitcoin price climbed to $2,040.88 in global trading markets. On the Bitstamp Price Index (BPI), price struck a high of $2,020.

Trading leading into Saturday saw global average prices climb to $1,968.48. A steady period of trading during the day saw prices climb throughout before crossing the symbolic $2,000 milestone at 18:00 (UTC) on Saturday.

“Nearly seven years ago to the day, the first real-world Bitcoin transaction was completed in Florida, when two pizzas were bought for 10,000 bitcoins,” reminded eToro senior markets analyst Mati Greenspan in conversation with CCN. “If you’d invested $100 in bitcoin that day and left it there, you’d be sitting on over $20 million right now.”

He added: “The $2,000 mark is a historical moment for Bitcoin”.

Intriguingly, trading over the last 24 hours was led by US markets followed by Japan, the inverse of recent trading trends of the past few months. Bitfinex, GDAX and Bitstamp led the way in the US marketplace, altogether leading to over 35% of trading in the past 24 hours. Trading markets in Japan, China and South Korea combined for over 45% of trading volumes.

Bitcoin prices have gained 50% in May alone, a month that saw bitcoin in the headlines for being abused by ransomware extortionists behind the global WannaCry cyberattack.

“One might have expected that the WannaCry cyberattack – in which hackers asked for payment in Bitcoin – would have had a negative effect on price, but it seems like not even a ransomware attack can prevent the rise of Bitcoin,” Greenspan added.

The analyst also revealed that bitcoin’s soaring gains hasn’t put off existing investors from continuing to invest in the cryptocurrency. “Bitcoin is gaining some serious momentum among investors on our platform, with 88% of Bitcoin traders still buying the asset.”

Bitcoin’s flourish comes during a time of marked gains for the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem, led by the likes of Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple.

After hitting an unprecedented $100 for the first time on Thursday, Ethereum’s ether token is now trading above $125.

Altogether, the entire cryptocurrency market cap is now valued above $70 billion, up from less than $30 billion a little over a month ago.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author:Samburaj Das

David

Bitcoin Price Could Double with Scaling Resolution: Hedge Fund

Global Advisors, a U.K.-based investment firm that has developed an investment program to provide market exposure to the price of bitcoin, recently offered an upbeat outlook on bitcoin. The assessment noted that Litecoin’s recent soft fork gives reason to think the scaling solution could be applied to bitcoin, possibly doubling its price.

Taking measure of the range of news around bitcoin of late, the Global Advisors’ assessment quoted the late Jesse Livermore in saying “a prudent speculator never argues with the tape.” Livermore, an American who lived from 1877 to 1940, shorted the stock market crashes of both 1907 and 1929 and was worth $100 million at his peak before committing suicide following a series of losses.

While much negative news has been reported on bitcoin, the prices have been strong.

Media Focuses On The Negative

On the negative side, which the media tends to focus on, China has clamped down on bitcoin trading by imposing trading fees and AML/KYC controls. There has also been a ban on withdrawals from cryptocurrency exchanges. There has been a roll-over on the temporary ban and a discount of up to $250 for trapped coins.

Looking further back, the IRS last year subpoenaed Coinbase to release client records for bitcoin trades.

More recently, the dispute between different factions within the bitcoin community over the future development of the bitcoin protocol continues.

The SEC denied the Winklevoss bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Bitfinex, which suffered a hack last year, continues to lack fiat withdrawal capability.

Why The Price Keeps Rising

Bitcoin’s price, nonetheless, has been on an upward trend throughout all the various challenges.

Global Advisors’ assessment points to Japan, the new hot spot of bitcoin bitcoin trading. The BitFlyer exchange has been successful with Japanese investors, likely due to its advertising campaign. BitFlyer’s sign ups set a new record on Facebook.

Litecoin also creates reason for hope. Segregated Witness, a protocol designed to shorten bitcoin transactions and improve the capacity of the transaction blocks, has been successfully implemented by Litecoin. Litecoin’s price, as a result, has tripled.

Litecoin’s SegWit success holds promise for bitcoin. The price impact on bitcoin could be “shocking,” and a price doubling wouldn’t be unexpected.

The hedge fund stated:

“Even though one can find no evidence whatsoever that there were scaling pressures in Litecoin, this upgrade went ahead and if it is even slightly predictive of a path that can be taken in bitcoin, one that will at least show progress if not resolution, the price impact could be significant. A double up wouldn’t be shocking.”

Altcoins overall will serve as “test beds” for bitcoin. New features developed for altcoins can be incorporated into bitcoin. ZCash, Ethereum and other altcoins offer desirable features.

Altcoins Gain Market Share

Ethereum’s and Litecoin’s rises have changed the “bitcoin dominance” metric, the assessment noted. Bitcoin dominance is based on the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization as a percent of all coin market capitalization. This dominance has been dropping as the total value of all coins has increased.

Bitcoin comprised 95% of the total crypto market capitalization three years. It now stands at 60%. Global Advisors termed this a “stunning progression.”

But as noted above, growing altcoins bring positive influences for bitcoin.

Arbitrage opportunities: What do they mean?

Global Advisors noted that it receives a lot of requests for an “arbitrage-only” product, which is not the best use of a company’s time that remains upbeat on bitcoin’s price and on scaling its product offerings.

Arbitrages are a consequence of fragmented bitcoin trading venues and limited capital in each trading venue. Hence, a big unidirectional flow can alter a given price deck, yielding an arbitrage opportunity.

Exchanges have three areas leading to wider arbitrage opportunities: credit/reputation risk, difficulties moving coins and problems moving cash. Chinese domestic coins are currently frozen, for example, while Bitfinex and other exchanges have banking issues.

Combined, these factors present arbitrage opportunities, some of which are untradeable, others requiring patience and still others requiring speculation.

Rather than focus on arbitrage opportunities, Global Advisors believes bitcoin’s best days are still ahead.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David

Ripple Market Capitalization Soars, Surges Past Ethereum

Ripple tokens have hit a massive upswing in market capitalization over the last day, surging past Ethereum and nipping at bitcoin’s heels.

At end of day May 14, Ripple’s market capitalization was at about $8,345,000,000. Ripple continued surging well into the next day at about $11,500,000,000, continuing to climb. This has occurred in an oscillating fashion over the last few weeks, as Ethereum and the blockchain transfer token duke it out for supremacy.

Several news sites and other sources suggest this upswing in market capitalization was spurred by recent partnerships in the ripple network. These partnerships include large banking conglomerates and other banking organizations opting to work with or adopt the Ripple network.

An April 26 Ripple press announcement said,

Ripple is proud to announce the addition of 10 new customers to our growing global network. These financial institutions include MUFG, BBVA, SEB, Akbank, Axis Bank, YES BANK, SBI Remit, Cambridge Global Payments, Star One Credit Union and eZforex.com, representing some of the world’s largest banks, innovative smaller banks, and payment service providers (PSPs).

Differences Between Ripple tokens and Bitcoin: Ripple is a “Bank Coin”

Even though Ripple is gaining ground on market capitalization, there are distinctions between Ripple tokens and currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum. For instance, Ripple has enjoyed its market capitalization skyrocket as a result of gaining the aforesaid partnerships.

This happened because Ripple is a “bank coin.”Ripple Market Capitalization Soars, Surges Past Ethereum Several commentators pointed out ripple is not a decentralized cryptocurrency. It is a centralized bank-to-bank transfer coin. Ripple’s own commentary from their labs suggested the same when they mentioned being able to use a global freeze feature.

“The freeze protocol extension gives gateways the ability to 1) globally freeze all their issued funds, or 2) freeze funds issued to a particular user. Frozen funds may only be sent back to the gateway who issued them.”

This ability to freeze funds means that Ripple is not a decentralized blockchain protocol, but instead a distributed database that maintains control of the network from a central hub. This is a feature that would be impossible to execute if the coin was founded on decentralized algorithms.

This comes to no surprise to many, though, because this fact is not a hidden agenda. Ripple’s website explained the purpose of their technology: Its purpose is to be an inter-bank transfer protocol to smooth out the financial interactions between banks.

Conclusion: Ripple’s Market Position

In this regard, Ripple’s market cap has increased as a result of their partnerships. These alliances caused the market capitalization to swell beyond Ethereum, even though Ripple is not in the same category of coin.

It happened as a result of their positioning in the market. It happened because of a business alliance. By definition and design, Ripple is not meant to be a cryptocurrency. It is a “database coin” that is controlled via centralization and economic engineers.

Will Ripple’s token continue to grow on into the future? Can it maintain the second position in terms of market capitalization?

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

By Sterlin Lujan

David

U.K. Land Registry Looks to Register Property on a Blockchain

Her Majesty’s Land Registry, a U.K. government agency responsible for registering land ownership, has announced it is seeking three non-executive board members as it undertakes a project using blockchain technology to register property.

The posting noted that the agency recently committed to making HM Land Registry “the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.” It referenced the project as the most substantial transformation in the registry’s 150-year history.

State-Backed Ownership Guarantee

The registry, an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, provides state-backed guarantee of ownership on the register rather than requiring title insurance.

To meet its objectives, the registry will have to become more digitized. It plans to launch a live test in the near future of a “Digital Street” to allow property ownership changes to close instantaneously. The Digital Street will also allow the registry to hold more granular data than is presently possible.

Digital Street would be the world’s first such registry, having great transformational potential for the property market, the posting noted. Blockchain technology is an underlying technology for the project.

Three Positions Needed

The registry seeks three non-executive board members to ensure the right mix of expertise. Experience in transformational/digital issues is being sought, along with finance and legal issues.

The transformational/digital member is expected to have experience delivering transformational change to provide service improvements and cost savings.

The person will have to deliver change across most transformation disciplines, including technology, process and people. The candidate is expected to have knowledge of information technology developments, including the delivery of digital services to customers and in data rich organizations.

The closing date for applications is June 22, 2017. Remuneration is £20,000 per annum.

Other Governments Have Similar Tests

The U.K is not the only country to explore blockchain technology for registering and managing property.

In February, the Republic of Georgia teamed with Bitfury Group, a provider of blockchain infrastructure, to use the bitcoin blockchain to validate property related transfers, marking the first time a national government used the bitcoin blockchain to validate and secure government actions.

Blockchain technology has also be tapped to improve land ownership in developing countries.

Last year, a team of blockchain technology pioneers from Ghana, Denmark and the U.S., launched the Bitland initiative to establish usable land titles and free up trillions of dollars for infrastructure development in West Africa.

The Bitland initiative will educate the population about technology and provide the benefits of documented land ownership to those who don’t have it. It will begin in Ghana and expand throughout Africa, with hopes of catapulting infrastructure development and strengthening democracy.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Contributor: Lester Coleman

David

Bitcoin Value Set to Increase Because of Asian Influence

Like it or not, Bitcoin is on the ascent and the cryptocurrency is in no place close to be done climbing. As the coin turns out to be more standard in Asia and finds more noteworthy acknowledgment in Western socioeconomics, its esteem is certain to surge higher in the mid-term. This is as per investigators like Joseph Young, who demand that market endorsement will be Bitcoin’s most noteworthy driver for the following couple of months.

A solitary Bitcoin went for about $425 back in April 2016. A year later, the cryptocurrency has dramatically multiplied in esteem. It hit a high past $1,300 in March 2017. The coin is presently shaking off the impacts of late China and US imperatives, yet skimmed around the $1,200 check for the greater part of April.

Be that as it may, any individual who thinks the shot has gone to make unfathomable increases off Bitcoin will kick themselves later on. Examiner accord is in, and it looks just as more dangerous development anticipates this blasting cryptocurrency. In the east, Japan’s affection for Bitcoin is making the money a value-based top choice. In the meantime, India is demonstrating a ton of fondness to the coin also. In the event that bits of gossip are valid, the nation will see organizations and numerous prevalent retailers start tolerating the cash. Bitcoin exchanging the locale is set to get somewhat more remissed also.

Bitcoin has been required to have a tremendous effect in India throughout recent years. The nation stands to be an enormous coin cash driver because of the country’s poor foundation, monetary stage and broken account management framework. Around 40 percent of India’s working populace, which positions in the billions, is without a ledger. Poor govt. benefit conveyance, casual employments, an absence of occupations all together and poor instruction are recently a portion of the many reasons why such a variety of Indians don’t utilize banks.

The inhabitant is alluding to a current govt. activity that has sent India into monetary turmoil. The entire of India, regardless of whether with a financial balance or without, is attempting to pull back money for day by day exchanges. The nation’s legislature has quite recently demonetized their Rs 500 and Rs 1000 certified receipts, making it harder for banks to meet the day by day monetary necessities of the populace.

The legitimization of Bitcoin as perceived legitimate in India would send it taking off. It would likewise ease a large number of the nation’s fiscal disappointments. Countries like China, Japan and South Korea have broadly done this, pushing up the estimation of the cryptocurrency impressively throughout the years. India going with the same pattern would just send the coin soaring so far another populace in the billions lawfully exchanges and uses Bitcoin once a day.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Source: Coin News Asia.

David

Bitcoin Recognised as a Currency in Japan

bitcoin recognised as a currency in japan

Bitcoin has finally gained the recognition of a mainstream currency along the lines of other fiat currencies. The privilege follows the implementation of a new law in Japan which categorizes Bitcoin as a legal payment option within the country. The much-awaited law went into effect on April 1, 2017 (beginning of a new fiscal year in many countries).

With the new law’s implementation, Bitcoin exchanges will also come under additional regulatory scrutiny. The recognition of cryptocurrency as a legal tender also means the applicability of regulations governing banks and financial institutions to cryptocurrency exchange platforms. They will be required to comply with strict anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, alongEntrepreneur with annual audits. Other requirements include meeting the stated capital and cyber security requirements to ensure consumer protection.

The recognition of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as legal payment instruments is good news for the global cryptocurrency ecosystem. Adoption of cryptocurrency is expected to increase among people, which will, in turn, drive demand and price.

However, reports indicate that the cryptocurrency platforms are still trying to figure out ways to achieve compliance with the new regulations. Recognizing the exchanges’ needs, the Accounting Standards Board of Japan has announced that it has started working on creating an accounting framework for both user and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies.

It might take a while before companies and individuals get acquainted with the accounting practices, which has raised concerns about legal implications of inaccurate reporting’s/filings due to lack of understanding. Also, few publications have raised concerns about the volatility of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and how it might impact those making cryptocurrency transactions.

The new developments are expected to drive the cryptocurrency usage in Japan to over $9 billion in the next three years (2020), which is more than five times the 2015’s $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in circulation.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author: Gautham

David

Bitcoin vs Gold: Which is a Better for Long Term Investment

bitcoin v gold which is the better investment

Bitcoin vs Gold: Which is a Better for Long Term Investment

Imagine that you have $100,000 at your disposal. You must spend all of it on either bitcoin or gold – no mixing and matching – and the assets will then be stored in a trust that cannot be accessed again for 50 years.

Which option would you choose?

With the two commodities now in roughly the same price range, it's worth putting aside some of bitcoin's short-term volatility and liquidity concerns to compare them as long-term stores of value side by side.

Sure, you might argue bitcoin is newer and flashier, and that it has arguably more utility in the digital era than gold. But, gold has the indisputable track record, having been a cherished store of value for thousands of years across human civilizations.

However, bitcoin's traits have led to those backing the cryptocurrency to believe it could potentially unseat gold over the long haul.

Spencer Bogart, an analyst with Blockchain Capital and formerly of Needham & Company, told CoinDesk:

"If we think about the qualities that make gold a respected 'money' or store of value, bitcoin is actually superior in many regards."

Inflation vs deflation

Another key advantage bitcoin has over gold is that its supply level is fixed and transparent – eliminating fears of the typical inflationary pressures associated with overproduction that could diminish the value of the asset.

"A well-known characteristic about bitcoin is that it’s on a disinflationary supply schedule. While many people think of gold as being the same, gold is actually a sneakily inflationary asset," said Chris Burniske, blockchain products lead with ARK Investment Management.

Burniske added that the global supply of gold has clandestinely increased by 1–2% annually over the last century.

He continued:

"If you were to ask people what gold's supply schedule looks like over time, they probably wouldn't draw you something that looks like an exponential curve. With gold being sneakily inflationary, it’s not set up to preserve value in the way that bitcoin is."

Such characteristics, in theory, serve to increase bitcoin’s future utility as a means of account, exchange and storing value.

They also suggest that bitcoin's value, usefulness and importance to society will only continue to grow as commerce becomes more digitized.

"As more infrastructure is built around [bitcoin], we think that demand will rise relative to its mathematically metered supply, increasing its price support," Burniske wrote in a recent white paper.

Slow and steady

The clear advantages that gold has over bitcoin are trust and reliability, according to those surveyed for this article. However, a change in consumer preferences, new technological disruption or a crackdown by a government could easily kick bitcoin to the end of the bench.

"Gold has something very important that bitcoin lacks: a more than 1,000-year history of being a decent store of value. This is very important for trust and people's willingness to store value in that particular asset," said Bogart.

Gold has also proven itself to be of value even when governments attempt to restrict its usage or outlaw it completely.

This happened in 1933, when President Franklin D Roosevelt implemented measures to prohibit and criminalize its possession in the US.

"For more than 5,000 years gold and silver have been tried-and-true money. They've lasted basically the duration of organized civilization," said Dave Kranzler of Investment Research Dynamics.

In this light, Kranzler was keen to highlight bitcoin's 'counterparty risk'.

Gold's advantage over bitcoin is that it's not dependent on the operation of the internet, thus affording it a degree of protection from heavy-handed regimes, he said.

"There’s nothing to stop any government from shutting down the internet in their country under the guise of national security purposes or what not,” he said, adding:

"We’ve seen democracies come and go, but totalitarianism always seems to creep back in. And when that happens, the government controls everything."

Elemental value

Gold has also proven itself immune to technological disruption.

According to Burniske, while bitcoin has generated significant cultural cachet, it remains at the bleeding edge and could still be dethroned relatively easily.

"That position is not necessarily going to remain the case if bitcoin is not able to attract new users and provide a happy medium in terms of user experience," he said.

Yet, as asset classes like Dutch tulips, Japanese real estate, dot-com companies and the US housing market have boomed and busted, gold has consistently plodded ahead, withstanding the test of time.

"I don’t think anyone can say with any certainty that any man-made system is going to be valuable 50 years from now," said Josh Crumb, co-founder of GoldMoney and a former commodities strategist at Goldman Sachs.

He continued:

"People forget that gold is not a pet rock or a speculative asset, it's an element. Gold is a very low-risk store of value. Fifty years from now it’s going to still be valuable."

While investors like Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have suggested that technological developments as far fetched as asteroid mining could eventually put upward pressure on the total supply of gold (and reduce its scarcity), Crumb reckons that technological creative destruction poses a much greater threat to bitcoin.

"People have been trying to crack gold for 600 years. I think it's much more likely that we're going to have quantum computing that can change cryptography than asteroid mining that's going to bring back loads of gold," he said.

Complementary or substitutionary?

Perhaps asking whether bitcoin will ever unseat gold as the universal store of value isn't quite appropriate, as it's plausible that the two can, and will, co-exist as complementary assets.

"I like bitcoin, particularly in the short-term, so it's kind of like saying 'Do you like gold or do you like investing in Facebook in 2011?'" said Crumb. "To me, it’s two totally different things."

As is standard practice across other realms of investing, the correct answer to the bitcoin versus gold question will ultimately be determined by the risk profile of each particular investor.

"In terms of proper portfolio construction, you want to diversify. You want to have different types of assets that don’t necessarily move together," said Burniske, concluding:

"There's always room for collaboration. It’s sensational to pit [bitcoin versus gold] as a fight to the death."

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author: Aaron Stanley

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