Bitcoin seen surging to $US50,000 in decade
Ronnie Moas, who for the past 13 years has made more than 900 stock recommendations via his one-man show at Standpoint Research, is now venturing into cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin will double to $US5000 next year, and reach $US25,000 to $US50,000 in the next decade, the Miami Beach, Florida-based Moas said in a note to clients overnight, where he also disclosed he bought “a little bit” of litecoin, bitcoin and ethereum in a Coinbase.com account. It’s a testament to the exuberance around bitcoin, ethereum and other blockchain assets that equity investors who hadn’t been involved in cryptocurrencies are now starting to analyse and make bets on the sector along with established bitcoin […]
The new crowdfunding? Ethereum ICOs raise close to $1 billion in June alone
In just 19 days, Ethereum initial coin offerings have raised close to $1 billion dollars, according to estimates, with speculations this could be the biggest decentralised venture funding event in history. Tech news site Trust Nodes has crunched the numbers and estimates $US642 million has been raised by prominent initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the first three weeks of June, with another estimated $US60 million raised from smaller events. An ICO involves investors buying a cryptocurrency, which has a value in relation to another currency like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Bancor raised $US150 million on June 13, making it the biggest crowdfunding in history, at least for a few days. Trust […]
Super-fast, safe blockchain technology being developed at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney researchers are building a new super-fast, safe blockchain technology that has the potential to revolutionise the global economy. Best known as the technology that underpins Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is a digital public ledger where transactions are recorded and confirmed pseudonymously. Named the ‘Red Belly Blockchain’, the new system being developed by the University of Sydney’s School of Information Technologies will allow secure and almost instantaneous digital transfer of virtual currencies across the world. “In recent testing, our blockchain achieved the best performance we have seen so far – with more than 440,000 transactions per second on 100 machines. In comparison, VISA’s network has a […]
Australian govt consults on digital currency taxation legislation
The Australian government is looking for the best way to address the so-called “double taxation” of digital currency which is now prescribed by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law. The push comes amid a sharp growth in the use of this particular type of medium of exchange. The government has published exposure draft legislation and explanatory material for amendments to the GST law. The public consultation on these proposals will run for four weeks, closing on July 26, 2017. The draft legislation would have a retrospective start date of July 1, 2017. In summary, from July 1, 2017, digital currency will be treated just like money for GST purposes. […]
The truth about blockchains
Blockchain is the new ‘hotness’ in the innovation world, but like all new technologies, it is widely misunderstood. A blockchain is a set of difficult mathematical computations, based on cryptography. Participants in the chain provide transactions to it. Some participants perform the maths of encoding those transactions into the chain. This happens at a regular interval. Once encoded into the chain, each transaction is public and permanent. Bitcoin, which is the poster child for the technology, is a blockchain used as a currency. It relies on ‘miners’, or the participants who encode the transactions into the chain. These miners get rewarded with a newly created bitcoin each time they do […]
Bitcoin looks a lot like an early Amazon
by Gordon Scott. You might as well get used to the Bitcoin headlines. They aren’t going away. And that’s because cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin aren’t going away. If history is any guide, this may only be the beginning. Bitcoin may be the most lucrative trading opportunity since internet stocks such as Amazon.com Inc. in the dot-com era. If that notion sounds as scary as it does exciting, it should. While it is true that trading digital currencies holds real risk, there is also a real opportunity for traders right now. Please note that I said traders here, not investors. Even if it were true that investors could multiply their money, they […]
Security important but most consumers prefer convenience
The fact convenience trumps security for most consumers when it comes to online shopping was one of the more alarming revelations to come out of the recent Future of Payments roundtable co-hosted by The Australian Financial Review and Braintree. For founder and CEO of online beauty store Adore Beauty, Kate Morris, the level of concern people have about security at present is nothing compared to what it was when she began in 2000. “People just assume that so long as your website looks legit, that you are all right.” CEO and founder of online personal brand consultants Social Check, David Griffiths, believes consumers are in for a huge wake-up call […]
High schooler becomes millionaire thanks to Bitcoin
The rags-to-riches stories about Bitcoin investors are a consistent theme with the rise in the value of Bitcoin over the past six months. The most recent is Erik Finman, who invested USD$1,000 in Bitcoin in 2011 when it was valued at USD$12. His parents had made an agreement with him that if he were a millionaire by 18, he wouldn’t have to attend college. A child of two Stanford Ph.D. holders, Finman was willing to take the bet. He now holds 403 Bitcoins, which, at their current valuation of USD$2,700, represent USD$1.09 mln. He also manages investments for the rest of his family, who have begun looking into Bitcoin as […]
