CryptoDigest@Steem Thursday, June 15, 2017

Dear Steemians!

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

Bitcoin is tumbling
Bitcoin gained about 180% from the beginning of April through the middle of June. Coindesk explained it best: "Most notably, the proposal would dedicate mining resources to hard forking the network to a rule set with a larger block size — an upgrade that would likely result in two bitcoin networks and two tradable bitcoin assets." That run prompted tech billionaire Mark Cuban to call bitcoin a "bubble." While the news surrounding the cryptocurrency has been mostly positive as of late, with China's three largest bitcoin exchanges lifting their bans on client withdrawals and Japan's government naming it a legal payment method, one big issue still needs to be resolved. Bitcoin is plunging on Thursday. (businessinsider.com)

Head of Bundesbank Proposes Digital Currency To Compete With Bitcoin
Jens Weidmann, the head of Germany’s central bank Bundesbank and one of the most powerful bankers in Europe, proposed the development of central bank-issued digital currencies to compete with Bitcoin. He stated:"Allowing the public to hold claims on the central bank might make their liquid assets safer, because a central bank cannot become insolvent. Weidmann argued that Bitcoin could potentially worsen future financial crisis due to its decentralized nature and the non-existence of central entities within the Bitcoin network. But, his point that central bank-backed centralized digital currencies could compete with Bitcoin is not valid as investors and users of Bitcoin perceive the cryptocurrency as the alternative financial network to the global banking system. During a speech featured by Business Insider, Weidmann stated that the issuance of central bank-based centralized digital currencies is safer for the public as a central bank cannot become insolvent. (cointelegraph.com)

MORGAN STANLEY: Bitcoin isn't a currency
Still, Morgan Stanley has some guesses as to why bitcoin has seen such a catastrophic rise:Get the latest Bitcoin price here. Bitcoin may have appreciated 300% in the last 12 months, but Morgan Stanley still isn't convinced the cryptocurrency will be a viable currency in the long run. The huge rise in the price of bitcoin is perplexing to the bank, which says other factors should have brought bitcoin's value down. In new research published this week, analysts at the bank say that bitcoin (and its counterparts like ethereum) are still more like investment vehicles than fiat currency that you could spend on goods and services. Their values are too volatile and too hard to actually use for payment for most to consider them currencies. (businessinsider.com)

Is Bitcoin a Safe Haven?
Bitcoin is not a safe haven asset and bears little or no correlation with other traditional markets at this time. This remains the most high risk investment you could possibly take and it is possible we could see bitcoin around $1000 again before not too long. Safe haven assets are things that tend to go up in value when there is prevalent uncertainty or fear in the world. The traditional markets went on a wild ride yesterday. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or an investment recommendation. (hacked.com)

Bitcoin Exchange Gemini Leverages Banking Charter in Washington State Launch
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has granted Gemini Trust, a New York-licensed bitcoin and ethereum exchange service, permission to serve customers in Washington State. While a small update, the decision has potentially major implications for cryptocurrency startups that may be classed as money services businesses or money transmitters. The exchange was following in the footsteps of itBit (now Paxos) – the first digital currency firm to seek a charter in the state. Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Paxos. The approval comes two months after Washington passed Senate Bill 5031, which requires some digital currency businesses to comply with the state money transmitter laws and exchanges to obtain licenses. (coindesk.com)

Bitcoin Price Watch; How Low Can You Go?
So, with all this noted, let’s try and outline some levels with which we can approach price during the session today. If anything, it just means we have to keep our upside risk pretty narrow, as the overarching momentum seems to be with the Bears right now. The bitcoin price continues to correct from highs registered towards the end of last week and currently trades in and around the 2500 mark. We are monitoring price closely for any indication of a near-term bottom, but as yet, we have not seen one. Standard breakout rules apply for the session today, so we will look to enter long on a close above resistance towards an upside target of 2475. (newsbtc.com)

Traders Plan for Correction as Crypto Market Falls Below $100 Billion
The attention alternative asset protocols have gained lately have highlighted some of this overconfidence, he said. "Many of these new traders are retail traders that have little knowledge of crypto-assets or trading in general," Rupsys told CoinDesk. Tim Enneking, managing director of cryptocurrency hedger fund, Crypto Asset Management, also spoke to the exuberance in the market. Marius Rupsys, a cryptocurrency trader and co-founder of fintech startup InvoicePool, took a bolder approach, telling CoinDesk he liquidated his entire cryptocurrency portfolio and has started shorting bitcoin, actively betting its price will go down. If traders want to hedge against this decline, he said, they should begin mining on alternative asset protocols, and simply hold the coins they receive instead of selling them. (coindesk.com)

Bitcoin takes another dip as cryptocurrencies drop into the red
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped into the red last night, and prices continued falling this morning. Jafari said he will consider re-establishing bullish exposure when bitcoin was between $2,330 and no lower than $1,915. Read more: Bitcoin is rallying after hundreds of dollars were slashed off its price Ethereum, the second most popular cryptocurrency, was trading 13.12 per cent lower at $345.44 after edging over $400 to new all-time highs earlier this week, according to CoinDesk's index. Earlier this week, banking giant Goldman Sachs wrote a bearish client note on bitcoin. (cityam.com)

New law to target Bitcoin under "money laundering" enforcement
Those pushing this invasion of personal privacy say it’s necessary to facilitate a crackdown on money laundering operations that use cryptocurrencies as cover. The bill, entitled “Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Counterfeiting Act,” was introduced by Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California. Included in the proposed sweep are mobile phones, flash drives, and laptop computers that contain any digital records of cryptocurrency holdings. (Natural News) Legislators in the United States have taken aim at digital “cryptocurrencies” like bitcoin and ethereum with new proposed legislation that would force people coming into America to report their cryptocurrency holdings. The implication, of course, is that the government has to intervene and start tracking cryptocurrency use to prevent terrorist attacks. (naturalnews.com)

Bitcoin non-regulation leaves users vulnerable to theft, fraud
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin’s blockchain technology is attractive for several reasons – including decentralisation, pseudo-anonymity and its lack of regulation – but new research highlights a downside: users are open to theft and fraud. Computer scientists at Lancaster University and Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia say that Bitcoin’s design features have shortcomings, some of which are attributable to human error: a lost or forgotten password means waving goodbye to your Bitcoin stash forever, and choosing a weak password leaves your cryptocurrency open to hacking. Additionally, the irreversible nature of Bitcoin transactions means that once you have transferred funds to another wallet it is impossible to recover in cases of fraud or faulty goods.“Despite deregulation being a crucial characteristic of blockchain, its users actually desire regulation, mostly because of the challenge of dealing with dishonest traders which, they believe, could be addressed by de-anonymising trading parties,” says Dr Corina Sas, senior lecturer at Lancaster University’s school of computing and communications.“Bitcoin provides freedom over one’s assets, but at the same time it no longer provides the security that traditional regulated financial institutions provide.” (irishtimes.com)

Bitcoin Financial Regulation: Securities, Derivatives, Prediction Markets, and Gambling by Jerry Brito, Houman B. Shadab, Andrea Castillo :: SSRN
The next major wave of Bitcoin regulation will likely be aimed at financial instruments, including securities and derivatives, as well as prediction markets and even gambling. While there are many easily regulated intermediaries when it comes to traditional securities and derivatives, emerging bitcoin-denominated instruments rely much less on traditional intermediaries. Additionally, the block chain technology that Bitcoin introduced for the first time makes completely decentralized markets and exchanges possible, thus eliminating the need for intermediaries in complex financial transactions. In this article we survey the type of financial instruments and transactions that will most likely be of interest to regulators, including traditional securities and derivatives, new bitcoin-denominated instruments, and completely decentralized markets and exchanges. We also find that some laws, including those aimed at online gambling, do not contemplate a payment method like Bitcoin, thus placing many transactions in a legal gray area. (ssrn.com)

Bitcoin Misses $3,000 Due To Issues... And The 'Flippening' May Happen
There needs to be a legitimate system for trading BTCUSD. Some of the online trading platforms are trading Bitcoin. The exchanges getting overloaded is a major concern for anyone wanting to get involved in trading the crypto-currencies. And, it is getting to the point where that may happen very soon as Goldman Sachs has started to cover Bitcoin. This is the first step to getting BTC up to being a major trading platform. The big problem, or the growing pain, for Bitcoin is the exchanges being bogged down. (seekingalpha.com)

Japan's Peach Aviation to Accept Payment in Bitcoin
Why Tim Draper Says Indonesia Is a Great Place to Be (bloomberg.com)

More details on these and other related news can be found at http://zentrade.online/bitcoin-news-digest-thursday-june-15-2017/