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Markethive

Ethereum’s share of the cryptocurrency market has exploded

Ethereum's share of the cryptocurrency market has exploded

Ethereum's share of the cryptocurrency market has exploded
 

Ethereum is gobbling up share in the cryptocurrency market.

A new report by Autonomous NEXT, a financial technology analytics service, shows that Ethereum's percentage of the total cryptocurrency market has sharply risen since the beginning of the year.

In January it stood at approximately 5%. As of June 22, its marketcap as a percentage of the entire market rose to 30%.

Ethereum's impressive rise has led to a dramatic fall in bitcoin's marketcap as a percentage of the market. It has declined from about 85% at the beginning of the year to just under 40% as of late June. Up until mid June, Ethereum was on track to surpass bitcoin as the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to Coindesk, but its share of the market has since pulled back.

Still, the shift from bitcoin to Ethereum reflects a change in what the cryptocurrency industry wants from blockchain tech, according to the report.

"Early phase of cryptocurrency market development focused on who will be the “digital gold” — and Bitcoin won through the largest developer and adoption ecosystem," the report said. "However, current battle is for other functionalities, such as global decentralized computing or smart contracts infrastructure."

Ethereum, unlike bitcoin, wasn't built to simply function as a "digital gold." According to Paul McNeal, a bitcoin evangelist, the Ethereum blockchain was built as a platform on which two parties could enter into a so-called smart contract without a third party. As a result, it can be used as a currency and it can "represent virtual shares, assets, proof of membership, and more."

The multifaceted functionality of Ethereum has many folks in financial services bullish on its future. Mike McGovern, the new head of Investor Services Fintech Offerings at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, is one such person.
 

"Ethereum is not only cheaper than bitcoin, it is also more robust and has more applications outside of simply financial transactions," he said in a recent interview with Business Insider.

A survey recently cited by Nathaniel Popper in The New York Times indicates that a lot of businesses are singing a similar tune. Almost 94% of surveyed firms said they feel positive about the state of ether tokens. Only 49% of firms surveyed had a positive feeling about bitcoin.

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

 

Author: Frank Chaparro

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Silicon Valley is hot on a new cryptocurrency that could become worth 100 times its current value

Silicon Valley is hot on a new cryptocurrency that could become worth 100 times its current value

    

Ether, the unit of cryptocurrency used on the Ethereum blockchain,

has given investors a wild ride lately. Its value more than doubled in May, peaked in June at more than $400 an ether, and then lost more than half that value by early this week. That may sound like a bubble bursting. But some investors are still optimistic and are prepared to ride it out. Aaron Batalion, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said he expected to see more 50% price jumps in ether, with big returns down the road.

"Over the next five to 10 years, I believe it will be worth 10 or 100 times its current value," Batalion said. Jason Calacanis, an early investor in startups including Robinhood and Uber, recently tweeted: "I think I need to own some #Etherium — what % of net worth would you allocate to crypto as a 46 year old with stable income?" Matt Galligan, a serial entrepreneur and investor in ether, said he was also looking to the five-year mark, when he expects the platform to have matured to the point when it has a lot of uses. "The space is still really early," Galligan said. "There's going to be a lot of froth and volatility."

What are Ethereum and ether?

Ethereum is a platform for sharing information that cannot be manipulated or changed. It's a blockchain similar to the one underlying the bitcoin cryptocurrency that records information chronologically and publicly. In the future, Ethereum may be used to securely transfer money to your bank or to send documents to your insurance company. Today, these processes require multiple steps for verification and authentication, but Ethereum makes verification a one-step process because the information is incorruptible in the first place. Ether is the unit of currency in Ethereum. It's a token that can be exchanged for services on the platform. The currency is the "fuel for the Ethereum virtual machine," said Andreas Weiler, the head of markets at Smith and Crown, a crypto-financial research group.

Ether, Ethereum, and bitcoin are not the same things

While often compared to bitcoin, ether is not actually a competing currency. Bitcoin is explicitly a digital form of money and payment system, whereas ether is a means of buying services within Ethereum. Ethereum is still in beta and not widely used, but some investors believe it may someday be a foundational layer of the internet. Ether is still a financial risk, however, because Ethereum hasn't yet taken off — and there's no guarantee that it will. "When you invest in ether, you are not actually doing anything — you are holding ammo, which will allow you to execute code when there is code worth being executed on the platform," Weiler said.

In the meantime, though, you have to be prepared for a lot of volatility.

The price of ether shot up this spring, rising from less than $20 a digital coin in March to an all-time high of $420 in midday trading in the middle of June, according to Global Digital Asset Exchange, the primary Ether-trading platform. In May alone, it rose to nearly $230 an ether from less than $90. In recent weeks, though, investors have been selling off the digital currency. It sank to as low as $175.56 earlier this week, according to GDAX, before rebounding. In recent trading on Wednesday, it was at $208.87.

Part of that instability comes from people not knowing what they're investing in, Weiler said. "It really did smell like dumb money coming in and not knowing what Ethereum is about or what role ether plays in the economy in the first place," he said. But the currency's price may stabilize as Ethereum scales and becomes more commonplace. It is this possibility that is keeping some investors in the game. "As with any new technology innovation, the early attempts are fraught with challenges, but this technology will not go back into a box and disappear," Batalion said. "We will see meaningful companies built using this technology and fund-raising approach, even if the normal end user doesn't realize it's part of the foundation of a product [or] service they use."

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Cryptocurrencies Took A Hit, But Some Experts Say Now Is the Best Time to Buy

Cryptocurrencies Took A Hit, But Some Experts Say Now Is the Best Time to Buy

Cryptocurrencies Took A Hit, But Some Experts Say Now Is the Best Time to Buy

 

Cryptocurrencies took a hit Tuesday, with bitcoin and ethereum dropping significantly. However, many experts are advising investors to hold, and some are even advising people to buy now.

 

BLACK CRYPTO TUESDAY

Tuesday, July 11, was a rough day in the cryptocurrency world, with very few of the Top 100 Coin Market Cap list cryptocurrencies in green. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was still leading the market after plummeting by 8.8 percent on Tuesday; by Wednesday morning it climbed back a little, hovering above $2,300. Ethereum Classic fell by 18.4 percent, opening Wednesday just above $200. All of the other major cryptocurrencies did worse except for Litecoin, which dropped a relatively modest 11.4 percent.

However, it’s important to see this problem in context and remember where we were before this period of explosive growth that began just half a year ago. On January 1, 2017, bitcoin closed at $997.69; on January 3, ethereum closed at $8.35.

So while this is the first time since May that the price of ether has dropped below $200, for example, the values are still significantly higher than they were just months ago, and they have retained most of their 4,500 percent growth from this year.

 

HANGING IN

Some analysts predicted that July would be a critical month, given the ongoing Bitcoin network scaling issue. However, although this is certainly a time of turbulence in cryptocurrencies, many experts are advising investors to stand fast — and some are even saying that now is the best time to buy.

“This is the time for all those who thought they have missed the boat to get on board.” — Samuel Dwomfour

Initial coin offering (ICO) consultant Murray Barnetson told Coin Telegraph that holding remains the best choice even though things might still get worse, should people start to panic. ICO expert Priyabrata Dash agreed that the scaling issue underlies the overall drop in major cryptocurrencies, but told Coin Telegraph that August may well be positive.

Bitcoin Powpow’s Edward Cunningham also spoke to Coin Telegraph: “We have all known that July was going to be a bumpy month due to the BTC possible split drama which only adds to the ICO’s dumping for liquidity — let’s hope beginning August the trend changes and heads North. In the meantime, hold as best you can.”

Ghana Blockchain Institute president Samuel Dwomfour is among the experts who think now is a good time to buy. “I’m not perturbed at all. This is the time for all those who thought they have missed the boat to get on board,” he told Coin Telegraph.

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

david ogden entrepreneur

 

 

Author: Karla Lant

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

No systemic risk from Cryptocurrency Speculation

No systemic risk from Cryptocurrency Speculation

    

possible to view price movements in blockchain-based cryptocurrencies

as influenced by the ultra-easy monetary policies put in place by central banks after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. But sharp price gains in cryptocurrencies may be a sign of excess and have led some investors to call the market a bubble. "I look at the charts, and to me that looks pretty scary," Turnill said at a media briefing in New York. Turnill and his colleagues have been advising clients to stay invested in global stocks even as some other strategists warn that prices are overextended after a run-up over the better part of the last decade.

Bitcoin, the primary cryptocurrency, hit a record just shy of $3,000 last month but has fallen some 20 percent since then, trading at $2,366 on Tuesday. Over the last year, bitcoin is still up 264 percent. Competing cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum and litecoin, posted quadruple-digit percentage gains ahead of losses in recent days. The virtual currency relies on "mining" computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. The first to solve the puzzle and clear the transaction is rewarded with new bitcoins.

Some investors have warmed to the technology, wooed by its explosive performance and the potential that the currency compete with gold and government-issued money as a store of value. Some also see other potential uses for blockchain, the technology that documents and verifies bitcoin transactions. But Turnill suggested the broader financial risks associated with blockchain-based currencies appear limited. "There's no evidence that if that price went to zero tomorrow that there'd be any broader financial implication over time, but to me it is example of where you're getting some big price movements in the market."

Apple sets up China data center to meet new cyber-security rules

BEIJING (Reuters) — Apple Inc on Wednesday said it is setting up its first data center in China, in partnership with a local internet services company, to comply with tougher cyber-security laws introduced last month. The U.S. technology company said it will build the center in the southern province of Guizhou with data management firm Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co Ltd (GCBD).

An Apple spokesman in Shanghai told Reuters the center is part of a planned $1 billion investment into the province. "The addition of this data center will allow us to improve the speed and reliability of our products and services while also complying with newly passed regulations," Apple said in a statement to Reuters. "These regulations require cloud services be operated by Chinese companies so we're partnering with GCBD to offer iCloud," it said, referring to its online data storage service. Apple is the first foreign firm to announce amendments to its data storage for China following the implementation of a new cyber-security law on June 1 that requires foreign firms to store data within the country.

Overseas business groups said the law's strict data surveillance and storage requirements are overly vague, burdening the firms with excessive compliance risks and threatening proprietary data.The Apple logo is pictured on an iPhone in an illustration photo taken in Bordeaux, France, February 1, 2017.Regis Duvignau Authorities say the law is not designed to put foreign firms at a disadvantage and was drafted in reaction to the threat of cyber attacks and terrorism. Apple also said it had strong data privacy and security protections in place. "No backdoors will be created into any of our systems," it said.

In April, China also announced a law requiring businesses transferring over 1,000 gigabytes of data outside China to undergo yearly security reviews, with potential blocks on exporting economic, technological and scientific data. Earlier this week, Apple said it planned to open a new data center in Denmark. An earlier center in the country, announced in 2015, will come online this year, it said. The new laws come as Chinese cloud firms are expanding rapidly in foreign markets. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has 17 data centers across China, the United States, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Other foreign firms that oversee cloud businesses, including Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, already have data centers in China.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Crypto Calamity: Ethereum, Bitcoin Prices Sink as Market Plunges Below $80 Billion

Crypto Calamity: Ethereum, Bitcoin Prices Sink as Market Plunges Below $80 Billion

Crypto Calamity: Ethereum, Bitcoin Prices Sink as Market Plunges Below $80 Billion

 

Litecoin fared better than most cryptocurrencies during today’s market plunge, only losing 3.8 percentage points where most cryptos suffered bigger hits, according to coinmarketcap.com. Among the cryptos with more than a billion in market capitalization, only bitcoin outperformed Litecoin in the most recent 24-hour period, losing only 2.82 points.

Litecoin, the fourth largest crypto with $2.377 billion in market capitalization, traded at $45.77 today. Second place Ethereum, by contrast, lost 10.2 points and continues its downward trend. Ripple, the number three cryptocurrency, lost 14.3 points.

 

Only 10th ranked BitConnect, with $387.854 in market capitalization, fared better than bitcoin and Litecoin in the 24-hour period, only dropping 0.57 points.

 

Market Suffers A Big Fallout

On Monday, the total cryptocurrency market cap fell below $90 billion for the first time in July. This market cap evaporation continued on Tuesday, as the total value of all cryptocurrencies plunged as low as $77 billion, a number not seen since late May. At present, the market cap is $84 billion.

Litecoin as been surging since March, when it began climbing from $4.04 to $53.60 July 4. Litecoin crossed the $1 billion mark in market capitalization for the first time ever earlier this month.

Longer term, Litecoin has rode bitcoin and Ethereum’s post-March surge, jumping from $3.85 on March 13 to $53.60 on July 4, at which point it well outdistanced its prior record of $33.72 on Dec. 1, 2013.

The price had fallen as low as $1.33 in January of 2015 before climbing to $7.76 in July of that year before tumbling steadily until June 26, 2016, when it reached $4.00.

 

Litecoin’s Long-Term Surge

Litecoin received a boost last month when BitGo, the leading multi-signature technology-based service provider that works with some of the largest bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms, began to support Litecoin and provide security services for the Litecoin platforms.

The BitGo boost came on the heels of Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, announcing his plans to resign from his role as Coinbase director of engineering to solely focus on the development and innovation of Litecoin. Lee noted that the decision of the BitGo development team to implement Litecoin and provide multi-signature security services for Litecoin-based platforms and service providers is a major step for the Litecoin community and industry.

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Author: Lester Coleman

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Big Businesses that are Leading the Bitcoin Charge

Big Businesses that are Leading the Bitcoin Charge

    

No longer shunning and brushing Bitcoin under the carpet,

some of the world’s biggest companies have seen the light and are accepting digital currencies as a form of payment. Bitcoin’s reputation as an obscure currency that is only used on the Darknet has long been left behind as the digital currency finds itself more in the mainstream than in shadowy corners. The growth of the currency as an asset, as well as the technology behind it, has sparked the interest of a lot of forward-thinking and progressive companies. The likes of Microsoft, Overstock.com, DISH Network, Intuit, and even the rival of sorts PayPal are all utilizing Bitcoin.

Microsoft

As one of the pioneers of technology it only makes sense that a company with the prestige of Microsoft has decided to invest and integrate with Bitcoin. It may sound surprising that Microsoft customers, and by extension Xbox users, can buy content on the Windows and the Xbox stores. What is even more surprising is that Microsoft has been offering this since December 2014, back when Bitcoin was far less common, understood or even trusted.

More importantly, perhaps, is that Microsoft is working on utilizing Blockchains, the technology behind Bitcoin, for large-scale businesses to facilitate the settlement of their financial data. This was done through the launch of Azure, which is a service platform on Blockchain technology. Finally, it has been announced that the latest release of Excel will have Bitcoin integration among its currencies so that users can implement the digital currency into their spreadsheets with ease.

PayPal

As one of the biggest online payment platforms out there, it seems illogical that PayPal would be looking to integrate and utilize Bitcoin which could act as a direct competitor to their services. However, the payment processing service has moved with the times, albeit in a roundabout way. In September 2014, PayPal announced that it would indeed accept Bitcoin, but it would be through integration with their mobile payment platform, Braintree. Braintree has linked up with Coinbase, BitPay and GoCoin, to allow merchants using Braintree to accept payment through Bitcoin. It must be noted that this was the start of integration for Bitcoin and PayPal, but their growth has slowed somewhat since the payment processor broke off from Ebay.

Overstock.com

The large and well-regarded E-tailer was one of the first major companies to take the plunge with Bitcoin, stating that it would accept digital currency through a partnership struck up with Coinbase back in January 2014. Customers of Overstock.com can make a purchase of anything from furniture, jewelry, clothes and decor with the digital currency. Overstock was also savvy enough to carry between five and 10 percent of Bitcoin in their reserves, and seeing how the currency’s worth has grown since 2014, that move is to have surely netted the company a huge return.

Intuit

Known predominantly as the software giant behind QuickBooks, which is a DIY Tax preparation program, Intuit integrated Bitcoin into its programs with great success for cross-border clients. In 2014 BitPay partnered with QuickBooks to create the PayByCoin service that allowed for next-day settlement into bank accounts. This helped overcome the issue of Bitcoin’s volatility. It also appealed to businesses as the usual bureaucracy and red tape associated with overseas payments were all but removed through the use of Bitcoin.

DISH Network

DISH admitted that it had heard the calls from its customers to allow them to pay with Bitcoin for the digital satellite services and it too joined up with Coinbase to be the payment processor. Again, this was all the way back in May of 2014 and has been successful in allowing customers an easy alternative to making payments for their digital television requirements.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing

Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing

Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing

Cryptocurrency mining is a difficult and costly activity. Miners must pay to build rigs capable of vast amounts of processing power, and then the rigs themselves must be powered with large quantities of electricity. It's all a careful balance between how much the operation costs and how much profit it is able to generate. (See also: What Happens to Bitcoin After All 21 Million are Mined?)
 

With mining operations for Ethereum, one of the leading digital currencies on the market today, taking up the same share of electricity as that of a small country, miners have to be careful that they aren't spending more than they are making. Because of that, some mining operations have begun to look to solar-powered rigs, set up in the desert, in order to reduce mining costs and make the largest profit possible. (See also: Chinese Investment in Bitcoin Mining is Enormous.)

 

Solar Panels Provide Inexpensive Power

Mining operations with the tools and resources to be able to set up solar-powered rigs in the desert are finding that it is a good investment. Once you have paid for the solar panel system itself, the cost of mining is virtually free. Getting rid of a hefty electric bill which typically weighs down mining operations leaves more room for profit.
 

The Merkle recently documented a mining operation focused on Bitcoin in this manner. The setup has been running successfully for almost a year and currently uses 25 separate computing rigs. The process has been so profitable, in fact, that the miner running the operation plans to increase the number of computers to 1,000 this fall.
 

In the case of this particular desert miner, the individual mining rigs cost about $8,000. This cost has included all solar panels, power controls, batteries, and the Antminer S9 ASIC processor. When fully operational, each miner brings in a profit of about $18 per day.

 

Balance Between Mining Costs and Crypto Prices

Of course, a cheap mining operation is only part of the equation. In order for miners to make a tidy profit, the price of the cryptocurrencies they are generating must remain high.
 

In the case of the mining operation in question, Merkle suggests that Bitcoin prices must stay above $2,000 in order for the operation to be profitable. Considering that the price of most cryptocurrencies is highly volatile, and that drops of 205 or more have occurred in many individual days, this keeps a certain element of risk present in any mining operation.

 

It seems likely that more and more miners will turn to areas in which renewable energy is easily accessed. Iceland has already become a popular destination for Bitcoin miners thanks to its fast, virtually limitless internet. Miners looking to move to the desert should be cautious for other reasons, though: mining in the heat can cause rigs to break down more easily.
 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Author: Nathan Reiff

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Blockchain Will Disrupt Every Industry

Blockchain Will Disrupt Every Industry

    

As with all major paradigm shifts, there will be winners and losers. But if we do this right, blockchain technology can usher in a halcyon age of prosperity for all. 

I continue to read articles and see example of the disruptive nature of Blockchain. Recently, one of our Salesforce higher education customers demonstrated a persistent, progressive student profile that was built on top of a blockchain chain-script, linking student credentials to potential employers in a real-time using a mobile trusted framework. Trust is foundational to all businesses, and Blockchain enables entities to seamlessly establish trust and transparency at scale. Today, The total market capitalization for the world’s crypto-currencies, led by Bitcon on Blockchain, is more than $100 billion.

To learn more about the impact of Blockchain on businesses and industries, I spoke with Brett Colbert, Solutions CTO and Vice President of Enterprise Architecture at Salesforce.In this role of Solutions CTO, Colbert leads the customer-facing Salesforce Enterprise Architecture team which helps customers and prospects strategically transform their business systems. Previously, Colbert was IT CTO and Vice President of Enterprise Architecture at Salesforce. In this role, Brett was responsible for Salesforce IT strategy and Enterprise Architecture. Colbert has been researching Blockchain for more than three years, leading customer implementations and collaborating with blockchain industry thought leaders.

What is Blockchain?
“A Blockchain is a digital, distributed transaction ledger, with identical copies maintained on multiple computer systems controlled by different entities.” Blockchain owes its potential to its many valuable characteristics: Reliable and available, Transparent, Immutable, Irrevocable, and Digital.Here a high-level summary illustration of blockchain:

What is Blockchain?

“Bitcoin or other digital currency isn’t saved in a file somewhere; it’s represented by transactions recorded in a blockchain—kind of like a global spreadsheet or ledger, which leverages the resources of a large peer-to-peer bitcoin network to verify and approve each Bitcoin transaction. Each blockchain, like the one that uses Bitcoin, is distributed: it runs on computers by volunteers around the world; there is no central database to hack. The blockchain is public: anyone can view it at any time because it resides on the network, not within a single institution charged with auditing transactions and keeping records. And the blockchain is encrypted: it uses heavy-duty encryption involving public and private keys–like the two-key system to access a safety deposit box–to maintain virtual security.” — Don Tapscott, Author of Blockchain Revolution

Why is Blockchain a disruptive technology?
Blockchain is a disruptive technology because of it’s ability to digitize, decentralize, secure and incentivize the validation of transactions. A wide swath of industries are evaluating blockchain to determine what strategic differentiators could exist for their businesses if they leverage blockchain.Soon to be disrupted industries will include Financial Services, Healthcare, Aviation, Global Logistics and Shipping, Transportation, Music, Manufacturing, Security, Media, Identity, Automotive, Land Use and Government. Blockchain is garnering a lot of attention because blockchain will fundamentally change many of the industries listed above.

“The “killer app” for the early internet was email; it’s what drove adoption and strengthened the network. Bitcoin is the killer app for the blockchain.”

Examples of Blockchain use by Industry –
The answer isn’t in the technology, but in how the technology can improve inefficient business processes. The processes that we use to ship goods globally, buy and sell things, determine ownership of things or identify ourselves are typically slow, error prone, paper-based and heavily people-dependent.

Here are a few examples of the opportunities that exist to improve processes in a variety of industries using Blockchain:

  • Land Use –
    Ownership and history of property currently requires the investigation of many different document sources such as Grantor-Grantee index, Land Records or Deed Records. The goal is to find any records related to property liens, easements, covenants, conditions and restrictions(CC&Rs), agreements, resolutions and ordinances. This a time consuming and laborious process in which it is easy to miss important information. Sweden is leveraging blockchain to track land registries called the Lantmäteriet. They estimate a taxpayer savings of $106 million per year based on reduction of fraud, eliminating paperwork and accelerating the process.
     
  • Identity –
    Across the globe we use passports to identify people, which are paper-based identity cards similar to your driver’s license and therefore counterfeitable. ISIS is reported to have the ability to manufacture fake passports. In 2013, almost 40 million “travel” documents were reported as lost or stolen since 2002, according to Interpol. Dubai is working on a digital passport with a London-based company called ObjectTech. The digital passport is based on Blockchain. “This is an identity that is fit for the digital age,” said Paul Ferris, co-founder and chief executive of ObjectTech. “Not only will it make international travel quicker and safer, but it also gives people back control of their personal digital data.”
     
  • Global Logistics and Shipping –
    The second largest port in Europe, Belgium-based Port of Antwerp, announced a blockchain pilot to automate and streamline the port’s container logistics operations. “According to the terminal authority, moving containers from point to point often involves more than 30 different parties, including carriers, terminals, forwarders, haulers, drivers, shippers and more. This process results in hundreds of interactions between those parties, conducted through a mix of e-mail, phone and fax.” Maersk is investigating blockchain to track global trade and shipments (see video below).
  • Automotive –
    German automaker Daimler AG has issued a corporate bond worth €100m as part of a Blockchain pilot project. “According to Daimler, the entire transaction cycle — from origination, distribution, allocation and execution of the loan agreement, to the confirmation of repayment and of interest payments — was automated digitally through the blockchain network. Lending technical support were the IT subsidiaries of Daimler and LBBW, which also adopted the Blockchain’s cryptographic signature to prevent manipulation of transactions.” Jan Brecht, Daimler’s CIO said, “We see blockchain as a promising technology, not fully mature yet, but continuously growing. Now is the right time to get into it, build up knowledge and form a network of like-minded people to share experiences.”
     
  • Aviation –
    Accenture’s head of Aerospace and Defense said about Blockchain, “I really see this coming in, in a couple of years”, speaking at the Paris Air Show in June 2017. “Through all that life cycle of the engine, the original parts, the replacement parts and configuration are all being tracked, and it is being done by a number of different companies. “Blockchain is in effect a single federated ledger that everybody who uses and touches that engine could use it as a single point of truth of what has happened to the engine,” he explained. “It is something we can see clearly in terms of the benefits and we effectively have a patent pending on how to leverage blockchain in the aftermarket.”
     
  • Manufacturing –
    The manufacturing industry uses QR codes and bar codes to identify products. These methods are notoriously insecure given the ease at which someone can copy or duplicates these codes. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the “imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports.” Imagine if luxury goods were tracked in an immutable blockchain.
     
  • Prescription Drugs –
    Worldwide sales of counterfeit medicines could top US$ 75 billion this year, a 90% rise in five years, according to an estimate published by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest in the United States of America (USA). The FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act, signed into effect in November 2013, creates a requirement to ‘develop an electronic, inter-operable system to identify and trace certain prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States.’ A San Francisco-based startup called Chronicled has launched a ‘track and trace’ pilot using blockchain to build an electronic, inter-operable system to identify and track prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States.

A Beijing policeman walks across a huge pile of fake medicines

  • Finance –
    Visa has a blockchain effort called “Visa B2B Connect” partnering with Chain to analyze the possibility of optimizing near real-time funds transfer system for high value bank-to-bank and corporate payments. A company called Ripple is working with banks to optimize how they send money around the world, with the goal of new revenue models, lower processing costs and better overall customer experience. IBM Global Finance is working on one of the largest blockchain implementations.
  • Government –
    he US Navy’s Naval Innovation Advisory Council (NIAC) will spearhead the testing of Blockchain technology in their 3D printing in order to help securely transfer data during the manufacturing process.
  • Banking –
    According to an Accenture survey, “Nine in ten executives said their bank is currently exploring the use of Blockchain.” Some of the focus is on transforming payments at scale and reducing the risk of failure.
  • Blockchain as a Service –
    Several enterprise software vendors have announced Blockchain as a Service offerings in which customers can leverage blockchain in a cloud environment.

“Every business, institution, government, and individual can benefit in profound ways. The blockchain is already disrupting the financial services industry. How about the corporation, a pillar of modern capitalism? With this global peer-to-peer platform for identity, reputation, and transactions, we will be able to re-engineer deep structures of the firm for innovation and shared value creation. How about these billions of connected smart things that will be sensing, responding, sharing data, generating and trading their own electricity, protecting our environment, managing our homes and our health? And this Internet of Everything will need a Ledger of Everything.”

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways — German Business Magazine

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways - German Business Magazine

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways — German Business Magazine

While many mainstream media personalities and analysts remain skeptical about bitcoin (and often rehash misinformation), others are beginning to give cryptocurrency an honest appraisal.

The latest comes from leading German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche, which recently published an article praising bitcoin. “The Revolution of Cryptocurrency,” written by economist Thorsten Polleit, argues that the advent of cryptocurrency set off a monetary revolution that could eventually supplant fiat national currencies.

Public fiat money, he explains, possesses four inherent flaws:

1. Inflation

2. Monetary distribution inequality

3. The tendency to produce boom-bust cycles

4.The temptation to increase national debt

Polleit states that cryptocurrencies avoid these and other flaws due to market competition. As long as no currency has a state-mandated economic monopoly, consumer demand should favor better coins.

However, it should be noted that not all cryptocurrencies resist the flaws Polleit finds in fiat money. Many cryptocurrencies are inflationary, although their rate of inflation is generally fixed rather than variable. Cryptocurrency distribution models can also exhibit inequality, and there is much debate about what constitutes a fair coin/token dissemination method. That said, by divorcing monetary policy from the national government, one will avoid the final two flaws of public money.

Polleit believes consumer demand for bitcoin will likely increase as fiat money loses purchasing power and national governments reduce or even eliminate cash transactions. He foresees the potential for blockchain-based currencies to “make…Fiat money worthless.”

Despite this bullish tone, Polleit urges investors to approach cryptocurrency speculation with caution. As he states (translated into English):

While many mainstream media personalities and analysts remain skeptical about bitcoin (and often rehash misinformation), others are beginning to give cryptocurrency an honest appraisal.

The latest comes from leading German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche, which recently published an article praising bitcoin. “The Revolution of Cryptocurrency,” written by economist Thorsten Polleit, argues that the advent of cryptocurrency set off a monetary revolution that could eventually supplant fiat national currencies.

Whoever obtains [cryptocurrency] should know that he does not invest, but speculates. Unlike in the case of shares or bonds, they do not have a recognized and tested valuation formula — the same also applies to raw materials or art objects. You can not even estimate whether the price you pay is justified with regard to the “intrinsic value” of the [coins].

For this reason, he seems to favor colored coins tied to physical assets, such as gold.

Diverging from other pro-bitcoin analysts, Polleit encourages investors to avoid currency speculation. The sensible investor, he says, should instead continue to invest in “great companies” and take a long-term approach to the markets. The monetary revolution may cause economic upheaval, but he explains that solid companies will continue to bring positive returns no matter what currency–or cryptocurrency–they use to transact business.

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Author: Josiah Wilmoth

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

Cryptocurrency has burst onto the financial scene like a blazing comet, offering investors a new asset class to grow their wealth, hedge against instability and escape the grips of central banking. As the market for digital coins crossed the $100 billion mark, hedge funds and major institutions suddenly found themselves scrambling to make sense of the shadowy world of cryptocurrency.

For the most part, investors no longer question the viability of cryptocurrency, but are instead exploring what shape this evolving market will take.
 

Cryptocurrencies Come Into Their Own

Though highly volatile, cryptocurrencies have been on a dramatic upward trajectory for the past year. In the case of bitcoin — the pre-eminent digital coin founded in 2008 by a person or entity called Satoshi Nahamoto — the bull market is at least seven years old. The success of bitcoin has spurred a bevy of other so-called altcoins, many of which have latched on to the success of the flagship digital coin.

Bitcoin’s share of the global cryptocurrency market has quickly diminished as alternative payment systems hit the market. At the time of writing, bitcoin represented roughly 41% of cryptocurrency market capitalization. By May, digital currency alternative Ethereum had surpassed half of bitcoin’s market value.

Several other currencies have also crossed the $1 billion mark this year, including Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Dash, NEM, IOTA and Stratis. Many more are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
 

Key Investment Drivers

The growth and widespread adoption of cryptocurrency-as-an-asset has dividend analysts and investors seeking to understand the nature of the bull market. The market’s dramatic rise through the first six months of the year has raised fears of an asset bubble with dangerous consequences. But proponents of digital currency say the market has plenty of room for growth as investors seek alternative asset classes. They cite several key investment drivers as proof that cryptocurrencies aren’t overbought, but are instead maturing.

1. Hedge against instability: Despite their volatility, cryptocurrencies are seen as a hedge against central bank intervention and other forms of fiat-currency related instability. China is the most prominent example, as mainland investors have poured into bitcoin to diversify away from yuan devaluation. This compelled the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to initiate a four-month freeze on bitcoin withdrawals.

2. Increased regulatory certainty: Earlier this year, the Japanese government legalized bitcoin as a form of payment and initiated capital requirements, cyber security laws and annual audits. Japan’s Accounting Standards Board is also in the process of developing a standard government digital currencies.

3. Store of value: Digital payment systems like bitcoin are mined, which makes them scarce digital resources that offer many of the same investment benefits as commodities. Bitcoin has a fixed issuance schedule with a finite supply of 21 million coins.

4. Greater investment appeal: Bitcoin’s success has triggered a fresh wave of buying interest from various segments of the market. Institutional investors and banks have expressed a greater interest in buying bitcoin. Nine of the world’s biggest banks — including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse — are developing a common standard for blockchain that could also hasten the appeal of cryptocurrency-as-an-asset.

5. Decentralized payment system: Today, more than 100,000 merchants accept bitcoin as a form of payment. As the evolution away from fiat currency continues, demand for distributed digital money that exists beyond the purview of central banks will likely grow.
 

Price Volatility Continues

Despite their widespread appeal and unrelenting gains, cryptocurrencies are prone to dramatic price swings. This trend is expected to continue as the market slowly matures.

Cryptocurrencies sold off again on Friday, with five of the world’s top-ten coins posting weekly losses of 9% or more. Ethereum suffered the largest setback, while bitcoin managed to pare losses. IOTA, BitShares, NEM and IOTA also faced heavy losses.

With more than 700 digital payment systems on the market, analysts caution that not every cryptocurrency offers investment value. Some are clearly riding the coattails of bitcoin, while others are benefiting from speculation.

At the same time, there’s still plenty of room for disruption as alternatives to bitcoin vie for capital. Analysts observe that the the cryptocurrency market will likely see significant diversity for the foreseeable future.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden entrepreneur

 

Author: Sam Bourgi

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member