Fans’ Section
Bitcoin Is A 'Dangerous Speculative Bubble,' Yale Expert Stephen Roach, Says
Dan Murphy - CNBC
“This is a toxic concept for investors," said Stephen Roach, Yale University senior fellow and the former Asia chairman and chief economist at investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Roach: "This is a dangerous speculative bubble by any shadow or stretch of the imagination"
FAO: I observe that new/latecomers in attacking bitcoin are finding it harder and harder to choose their words when they are expressing their thoughts. I find this statement very poetical...
Bitcoin Could Be The New Gold, Says JP Morgan
Tim Wallace - The Telegraph
Bitcoin could join gold as a reliable, long-term way to store wealth as the cryptocurrency gains users and value in a craze which JP Morgan’s analysts believe may turn into something resembling a more traditional asset class.
DNT: Uh, oh...it seems the number of voices that compare bitcoin with gold is increasing. At the end of November we had Nikolay Storonsky, the CEO of Revolut, yesterday we had Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research for Goldman and today JP Morgan’s analysts...The truth is this comparison is valid but I wonder if Jamie Dimon is in assent with his employees...
FAO: No, he’s not. Because he (Jamie Dimon) doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a “cryptocurrency”/’digital asset” or blockchain/DLT in general, and that’s why he might have been asked not to talk about them anymore. I am sure all major banks have multiple plans and projects involving both bitcoin and blockchain and JP Morgan, in this case, having its chairman, president, and CEO yapping on both topics surely isn’t helping the team nor its investors...
Winklevoss Twins Become World's First Bitcoin Billionaires
Straits Times
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss - the Harvard University rowing twins who famously sued Mark Zuckerberg claiming he stole their idea for Facebook - have just become the world's first bitcoin billionaires,.
FAO: So the twins, who received a settlement of $65m in their case against Zuckerberg, have used $11m of them to buy 1% of all circulating Bitcoin back in 2013. Good call, right? They founded Gemini, a digital currency exchange, in 2015. Now, CBOE has signed a strategic partnership with Gemini to launch its Bitcoin Futures contract next week - more details in the “Cryptos” section. Another good call. Don’t you think?
DNT: Do you remember yesterday’s story about bitcoin Investors and the sack of fool’s gold? Now tell that to Winklevoss twins...It doesn't really suits…
CryptoKitties Mania Overwhelms Ethereum Network's Processing
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg (subscription)
Since its 2015 debut, digital evangelists have preached how the ethereum network will be perfect for applications such as managing supply chains and securities sales. What it’s actually used for is buying kittens.
FAO: OMG! Kitties have evaded Facebook and are currently in the process of conquering the Ethereum network. You can run but you can’t hide. The kitties will find you...
Cryptocurrencies
The Bitcoin Futures Race Is On
Bob Pisani - CNBC
The race to get bitcoin futures is now on. Cboe announced it would begin trading bitcoin futures at 5:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, December 10, 2017, at the start of Global Trading Hours.
FAO: You can read Cboe’s press release here. So it will happen before CME’s launch, which is planned on Dec. 18 - more yesterday. Cboe's bitcoin futures are cash-settled contracts based on Gemini's auction price for bitcoin, denominated in USD. Note that Gemini started Ether auctions this summer and Cboe’s President, Chris Concannon, recently hinted that they could also launch ether and bitcoin cash futures contracts.
*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.
Exchanges & Trading Venues
Why Coinbase's Blip Isn't All Bad
Maria Terekhova - Business Insider
Coinbase and supporters counter that the move “sets a bad precedent for financial privacy.” More pertinently for Coinbase, it undermines one of Bitcoin’s most appealing features, the anonymity it grants holders. However, the ruling may benefit the US cryptocurrency space as a whole. Although the verdict could lead to privacy concerns among Coinbase's existing user base, in the end, the company and its peers may benefit from the court's decision to allow the regulator access to information on traders of the cryptocurrency.
FAO: Discusses yesterday’s news about Coinbase losing a bid to block an Internal Revenue Service investigation.
BitPeople
Masters Of The London Stock Exchange?
Chris Hughes - Bloomberg
An aged British financial institution needs a new leader to make a fresh start and adapt to new technology. Faced with this brief, a headhunter always knows just where to start the shortlist -- Blythe Masters.
FAO: Wow! Now that would be a good choice indeed, although I doubt it will ever happen, especially after Digital Asset Holding (DAH) has recently raised $40m to expand globally.
*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.
Regulation
Bitcoin: UK And EU Plan Crackdown Amid Crime And Tax Evasion Fears
Julia Kollewe - The Guardian
Here's When Europe's New Bitcoin Rules Will Come Into Effect
David Meyer - Fortune
A Commission official told that the final “trilogue” negotiation on the amendment will take place next week (trilogues are the behind-closed-doors talks between member states and the European Parliament that essentially wrap up new legislation). “Everybody agrees” on this aspect of the amendment, the official said, so it will probably be officially recorded into EU law in a couple months’ time.
FAO: I think this was expected, right? There were multiple signals in the media lately, especially from various ECB representatives and also central bankers among the EU states. You can check our Archive for free, if you want to discover related coverage.
*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.
Associations & Federations
Asset Management Startups Using Blockchain Get Their Own Trade Body: MAMA
Mike Butcher - TechCrunch
An international consortium of leading asset management companies, investors, technology and service providers in the Blockchain ecosystem have formed a new industry organisation to “work towards a new vision for asset management using blockchain and other supporting decentralized technologies.”
Analysis
Hedge Funds Prepare To Trade Against Bitcoin
Rob Urban, Sonali Basak - Bloomberg (subscription)
The planned introduction of bitcoin futures contracts at CME, Cboe and Nasdaq will make it much easier to bet on a decline. Hedge funds, which have largely stayed on the sidelines, are waiting for the CME’s futures market to open for a fresh opportunity to bet against the cryptocurrency, according to more than a half dozen people trading the assets.
FAO: Yip, it’s only a matter of time.
Opinion
Why Bitcoin Fever Is A Bubble Waiting To Burst
Tom Holland - SCMP
The “blockchain” distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin is undeniably clever, and will no doubt find many applications over the coming years, especially in financial disintermediation. But the cleverness of the underlying technology doesn’t mean that bitcoin is viable as a form of money. And it certainly doesn’t mean that the legions of punters rushing to buy bitcoin as an investment for the future can be confident of earning superior returns, or indeed any returns at all.
So What If Bitcoin Is Another Bubble? The Dot-Com Bubble Gave Us The Modern Internet
Jonathan Shieber - TechCrunch
“I get asked a lot… is this another dot-com bubble,” said Mona El Isa, the chief executive and co-founder of Melonport, onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. “And, um… my response usually… goes something like… so what if it is?”
FAO: There are all sorts of opinions these days on this topic, especially after bitcoin reached even $11,800. And we are publishing them all. It’s up to you to decide what is what.
*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.
FAO: Florin Adrian Oprea, Editor-in-chief Blockchain Daily News
DNT: Decebal Nicolaie Todarita, Editor Blockchain Daily News
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