CryptoDigest@Steem Saturday, October 28, 2017

Dear Steemians!

Here is the daily press review for bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

Man In Michigan Prosecuted For Selling Bitcoin
Per the report, Stetkiw had been brokering Bitcoin transactions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars without the proper licensing required for monetary brokering. According to local news media reports, a Michigan man named Bradley Anthony Stetkiw has been charged by local authorities for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Governments, while embracing the potential for growth, nevertheless continue to express concern over the risks associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The operation highlights the reality that Bitcoin is still within a widespread ‘adoption curve’ as the power of the decentralized currency is mitigated with the dangers of illegal activities. These activities are all licensed by state and federal agencies. (cointelegraph.com)

Desperately Seeking Devs: How to Fill Bitcoin's Talent Shortage
Many who had local-only policies have relaxed those requirements and now allow full-time remote bitcoin developers. Jimmy Song is a bitcoin developer, an instructor for Dev++ and runs his own in-depth technical bitcoin seminar called Programming Blockchain. In a way, bitcoin companies are victims of their own success. Bitcoin Edge hopes to heavily subsidize this in-person 2-day training with sponsorships from many of the very bitcoin companies that feel the developer deficit most acutely. There are a variety of initiatives to fill this developer deficit. (coindesk.com)

Law Firms Are Opening Bitcoin Wallets to Prepare for Data Breaches
Rather than waiting until it’s too late, law firms are opening up bitcoin wallets to pay ransoms in case their data is stolen, according to a cybersecurity expert. This year has seen several data breaches where hackers have demanded ransoms to be paid in bitcoin. John Sweeney, president of IT and cybersecurity advisors LogicForce, said that law firms are taking proactive steps rather than reactive steps. Yet, while countless individuals have paid ransom demands to hackers to regain access to their files that’s not always the case. Unsurprisingly, the Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea has told local banks not to cave into threats by DDoS attackers, following the million-dollar ransom paid by the South Korean firm. (cryptocoinsnews.com)

How Bitcoin Forks Influence Bitcoin Price Rise and Fall
When the Bitcoin Cash chain forked off of the main chain, owners of Bitcoin became owners of an equivalent amount of Bitcoin Cash. When Bitcoin Cash forked from the Bitcoin network, the value of Bitcoin went from $2800 to $2700 (July 23,2017). However, he would also create a buy wall that drives the Bitcoin price up since he is such a large player in the Bitcoin market. As a result of the fork, Bitcoin Cash was created and was valued around $555 at the time of it’s launch. (July 23, 2017). Randy learns that there will be a hardfork in the Bitcoin network and that the hardfork will create a new token, Bitcoin Cash (BCH). (cointelegraph.com)

Bitcoin Just Split Into 2 Separate Currencies... Again
This past Tuesday, Oct. 24, bitcoin forked, once again, into two separate currencies, bitcoin and bitcoin gold, as a result of the community being unable to decide on the future of its blockchain. This past week saw bitcoin fork (i.e., split) into two separate currencies for the second time in three months as a result of a disagreement over the future of its blockchain from within the bitcoin community. At the beginning of August, bitcoin hard forked into two separate currencies, bitcoin and bitcoin cash, after the community couldn't come to an appropriate consensus on what should be done to improve blockchain capacity and transaction settlement times. While it's true that protocols limit the number of mined bitcoin to 21 million, forking into separate currencies allows bitcoin to move beyond these limits by creating a new currency. New virtual currencies can also struggle to gain appeal, with bitcoin gold crashing as much as 66% following its debut. (fool.com)

Litecoin Price Gains on Bitcoin but Remains Flat in USD Value
Although the Litecoin price is down in USD value, it is in the green compared to Bitcoin. An interesting trend, even though reaching $60 seems to be out of reach for the Litecoin price right now. Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the Litecoin price decline in USD value. In the end, it remains to be seen how things will play out for the Litecoin price. The Litecoin price is making some decent headway in this regard, as it is up by 1.37% over the past few hours. (themerkle.com)

Is The Bitcoin Bull Just Resting (Or Dead)?
When there is a technological update to Bitcoin, the blockchain forks, creating a new coin (Bitcoin Gold most recently). Additional disclosure: I do own some Bitcoin, Ether, Neo, and Ripple. This is a fast expansion in the multiple (grey), and not just in the size of the Bitcoin network. A reasonable response is to argue that these are not use cases internal to the Bitcoin technology, no matter how long my list is. The other part of the answer turns on what you mean by a “dead bull.” Is a drop by 40%, which lasts a few months, a dead bull? (seekingalpha.com)

Market Volatility, Illiquidity Can Be Quite Profitable for Bitcoin Traders
This market scenario is damaging for trend-following strategies but profitable for market making or mean-reversion strategies. With high volatility, market swings are large and the mean-reversion strategy has a high probability of generating a profit. The best market scenario for mean-reversion is a sideways market with large volatility or market swings. Mean-reversion strategies trade the market as if the market oscillates around a fair price for an asset. The figure below shows an example of a profitable trading day using a mean-reversion strategy. (cointelegraph.com)

Bitcoin Helped This Australian Pay off His House Mortgage
A businessman has paid off his house mortgage through his bitcoin investments and is now using his profits to fund the development of a new home. At the time bitcoin was trading around AU$1,100 before eventually soaring to AU$7,700, reports the Townsville Bulletin. Whereas, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal believes that bitcoin is ‘going to implode‘ due to a lack of regulatory supervision. Yet, while Sloggett states that people should conduct ‘due diligence’ first before giving their money away, he claims that he holds much of his wealth in the digital currency. In addition to running his nutrition business he also runs My Bitcoin Academy. (cryptocoinsnews.com)

Bitcoin Cash Price Surges to Nearly $400 Despite the Odds
What is rather remarkable is how this Bitcoin Cash price increase materializes during a time at which the Bitcoin price is struggling. Then again, the charts don’t lie, as the Bitcoin Cash price is steadily heading toward the $400 price target. Only time will tell if reaching $400 becomes a possibility, but the current Bitcoin Cash price trend looks rather promising. Although it seemed doubtful the price would maintain the $350 for long, things have evolved in a good direction for the Bitcoin Cash price. No one knows for sure what the future will hold for the Bitcoin Cash price. (themerkle.com)

A Bitcoin ETF Could Just Be around the Corner
For a bitcoin ETF to be approved, the fast-growing currency may need a regulated ecosystem. A rise in number in financial products trading in cryptocurrencies in regulated exchanges has also opened the door to a myriad of investors paving way for an ETF. Speculations for a Bitcoin fund might spark excitement for a bitcoin ETF that may affect the price upwards. The push for a bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund has been on for close to 4 years with no success. While speaking on Bloomberg, Cathie Wood, chief executive officer of ARK Investment Management, said a bitcoin ETF will come into play in at least two years, possibly accompanied by a handful of “education.”The proposed bitcoin fund will allow investors to trade in financial securities tied to bitcoins without necessarily owning bitcoins.ARK Innovation ETF, which operates the first U.S cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund, gains access to cryptocurrency through the Bitcoin Investment Trust. The BIT is an investment vehicle that allows investment in bitcoins, deriving its value from the price of bitcoins. (cryptocoinsnews.com)

Japan's SBI Group Launching Eight Crypto Businesses Including Mining
Each of the above businesses “will be developed simultaneously to pursue synergy and mutual evolution,” SBI Group wrote. SBI Group is also preparing to establish a cryptocurrency exchange platform in Hong Kong. In addition, SBI Group plans to manage a cryptocurrency portal site that provides crypto-related and ICO rating information. The company wrote:Mining is a key business area that SBI Group is venturing into. What do you think of SBI Group’s cryptocurrency business plans? (bitcoin.com)

Who stands to gain the most from bitcoin?
Remarkably, then, both Wall Street and its biggest foreign competitors harbor too much ambiguity about bitcoin to make big moves that would dominate bitcoin markets. Yet so far, Wall Street remains far too skittish and internally divided to have moved with any confidence into the bitcoin space. In the short term, and perhaps longer, it is hard to see how Wall Street will become a dominant player in bitcoin markets. So far only one major Wall Street strategist, former JP Morgan Chase equity strategist Tom Lee of Fundstrat, has issued bitcoin recommendations. And what regulatory regime, if any, will integrate the cryptocurrency fully into the traditional financial system? (ocregister.com)

Arras Lives on Bitcoin for a Week and Proves Bitcoin Is Gaining Acceptance
Amelie Arras used bitcoin exclusively, no intermediaries, in a payments race to promote an industry conference. Competing against four others who also had their own strict payment methods, including gold, Ms. It’s a who-is-who of the payments industry and related companies. Arras won, showing the world’s most popular cryptocurrency is gaining acceptance as a medium of exchange. Arras discovered a key feature of bitcoin not often mentioned, the community.“Despite the rules, several racers survived only with the help of friends and others nearby. (bitcoin.com)

Why Bitcoin Is Right at Home in Emerging Markets
To Wall Streeters, Bitcoin may look like tulip bulbs for millennials. but for long-suffering citizens of Venezuela or Zimbabwe, the cryptocurrency... (barrons.com)

Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission Recommends Against Bitcoin Campaign Contributions
Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission Recommends Against Bitcoin Campaign Contributions Breaking with a 2014 advisory opinion issued by the FEC, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission offered guidance on Wednesday to suggest that candidates do not accept bitcoin. In December 2017, Skoglund plans to raise the issue of bitcoin campaign contributions at the Council on Government Ethics Laws. On October 25, 2017, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission (GEC) assessed that bitcoin is too secretive and too untraceable to allow campaign contributions using the digital currency. In the Sunflower state, campaign contribution limits have not risen for nearly 30 years. As far as reporting contributions received in bitcoin, the FEC advised that the initial receipt of bitcoin should be reported like in-kind contributions. (ethnews.com)

The End Of Easy Money Could Crush Bitcoin Prices
With central banks tapering or ending their bond buying programs -- and with some raising short-term interest rates -- the era of easy money is over. Another reason higher interest rates could put pressure on Bitcoin prices is that they will restore “credibility” to central banks and to national currencies they control. One of them is that higher interest rates raise the “opportunity cost,” of money used to buy Bitcoins. To be fair, it isn’t known whether an investment is in a bubble territory until the bubble bursts and investors lose a great deal of money. Already, the 10yr US Treasury yields have edged closer to 2.50 percent, almost a point higher than a year earlier. (forbes.com)

More on these and other related news can be found at http://zentrade.online/bitcoin-news-digest-saturday-october-28-2017/