Forex & Crypto & Fintech News

Днес се очаква решението на Фед относно лихвите. И докато инвеститорите залагат над 90% шанс лихвите да бъдат запазени, след повишението им през декември и на последното заседание на Фед, с ръководител Джанет Йелън, това което ги вълнува е каква ще е политиката на резерва от тук нататък? Едва ли ще получат обаче, отговор на този въпрос, в светлината на предстоящото ръководство на резерва, което се очаква да се случи през следващия месец. Доларът, отбеляза известно повишение, през последната седмица, спрямо останалите основни валути, следствие на очакванията за продължаване на настоящата политика на Фед – към нормализиране на лихвите и от новото ръководство. Иначе, резервът повиши нивата на лихвите през изминалата година три пъти. Това, за което инвеститорите все още спорят е – на колко повишения ще станем свидетели през тази година? На две, или на три? За сравнение в Европа и Япония, все още действат количествени облекчения и отрицателни лихви. Трябва да се отбележи, че ра

Рекордният старт на годината за щатските индекси, нямаше как да продължи вечно. И това се знаеше от всички пазарни участници. Така че, вчерашните разпродажби на акциите, не бива да учудват особено много инвеститорите. И все пак… Индексът Dow загуби 360 пункта от стойността си, или 1.4% до ниво от 26 076.89 пункта, а широкият S&P 500 се понижи с 1.1% до 2 822.43 пункта. Това бе най-голямото понижение за широкия индекс от август на миналата година. На сериозни разпродажби, се радваше и технологичният Nasdaq, поевтинял с 0.9% до 7 402.48 пункта. Големият печеливш в случая бе индексът на волатилността, който вече е с над 40% над най-ниските си нива от миналия месец. Дали обаче, сме станали свидетели на корекцията, която всички очакват? Не и според Джейсън Гопферт, анализатор в SunDial Capital. Той отбелязва, че всеки път, когато широкият индекс е приключвал близо до най-ниските си нива в два последователни дни, той се е повишавал през следващия ден. Или казано по друг начин,

Разпродажбите на световните финансови пазари, се прехвърлиха и при биткойна и компания. Най-голямата и популярна криптовалута, загуби 12% от стойността си до ниво от 9 800 долара тази сутрин. Така, биткойнът отново се върна под психологическата граница от 10 000 долара, за тест на дъното си при 9 300 долара. Все повече, стават скептиците и техническите анализатори, които предупреждават, че поевтиняването на биткойна може да продължи с пълна сила, ако дъното му при 9 300 долара бъде преодоляно. Разбира се, не липсват и такива, които смятат, че настоящите нива на биткойна са подходящи за покупка на криптовалутата, при потенциално поскъпване за тест на върха от близо 19 500 долара. Разпродажбите при биткойна, се прехвърлиха и при останалите криптовалути. Спад отбелязаха още криптовалутите като етериум, рипъл и лайткойн. Рипълът, отново се върна към психологическата граница от 1 долар, като рано тази сутрин се разменя при нива от 1.06 долара. Етериумът, загуби близо 10% от с

Philippine regulators said they would not ban ICOs but will be on their guard against abuses. Affirming the nation’s philosophy that technology can benefit the public when used appropriately, Philippine regulators  said  they were reluctant to issue an outright ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs), which have become a popular capital-raising vehicle among fintech startups. Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Emilio Aquino said the agency was looking at ICOs and their potential public benefits. However, Aquino stated the government would chase after companies or individuals abusing the scheme and selling unregistered securities. He stated: “We’re believers in technology, too, but at the same time, it’s not technology but the bad behavior of people taking advantage of the technology that we want to look at. If it will really help start-ups, why not?” Aquino made the statement following the cease-and-desist order (C

Bubbletone aims to do away with international roaming via a blockchain-powered platform for the telecom market. Bubbletone, the creator of the Bubbletone Blockchain in Telecom, is partnering with the mobile virtual network operator Allo Incognito to offer greater connectivity to their customers. Bubbletone is introducing vast improvements to its mobile messenger app, including, in the future, blockchain components, to power Allo Incognito’s advanced call management capabilities.  With the Bubbletone messenger integration, mobile subscribers can expect to see a greater selection of affordable plans, especially when traveling internationally.  Bubbletone's own robust messaging application was developed for the needs of both mobile operators and their subscribers, expanding connectivity and providing tools to boost customer loyalty. It is designed to offer a secure connection with end-to-end encryption, video conferencing, voice calls and smart features like scheduled messagin

Viberate, a blockchain-powered music platform has seen a surge in price following news of a partnership with the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance. Viberate’s token, VIB, has nearly doubled in price over the past 24 hours as a massive trading volume of $332,516,000 pushed the price up 95% from $0.33 to $0.65. This trading volume is 3x the alt coin’s current market capital, reflecting a huge surge of new support in light of its upcoming partnership with the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. Viberate is the only blockchain-based music platform that connects musicians to venues without the need for an agent, or other middlemen. Its native VIB token is used to reward fans for promoting their favourite artists across social media and referring new artists or venues to the space; creating an engaging community that has live music at the heart of it. Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is a non-profit group of developers that connects with over 500 tech startups, enterprises and academics to advance

Online brokerage announces launch of commission-free crypto trading next month. Popular online brokerage platform, Robinhood, favored by millennials interested in trading stocks, ETFs and options, has announced support for 24/7 commission-free cryptocurrency trading. Commenting on what is being considered a major development for the crypto market, co-founder and co-CEO Baiju Bhatt told  Forbes : “Now in Robinhood, for the first time, consumers will be able to invest in and trade stocks, ETFs, options and cryptocurrencies all in one place. You don’t need to have different apps, or be checking stocks on Robinhood and then logging into some exchange in Asia to trade your cryptocurrencies. It’s all consolidated.” The development is being lauded by the crypto community for numerous reasons. By offering zero-commissions, Robinhood has the potential to emerge as direct competition for Coinbase; the latter charges between 1.5% to 4% per transaction, and has recently been facing

The Stellar project has made a claim to fame, with the most prominent position among assets set to build ICO platforms. The end of January seems like a good time for Stellar (XLM), as the price has not stopped growing despite setbacks in the market. As the mood for both Bitcoin and most of the altcoins remains heavy, XLM seems to be having a run up from recent lows. And while XLM can quickly wipe out the gains, the asset has achieved a prominent position on CoinMarketCap, and may see renewed interest in the next few days. The big news behind Stellar's recent rise is the technical roadmap for 2018. And yet, the real force behind Stellar is the grass-roots popularization. XLM is becoming one of the coins "famous for being famous", mentioned more on social networks. According to the team, this seemingly unrelated chatter signals an inflection point of popularity, which may also lead to more active trading and adoption. As a somehow tongue-in-cheek quick calculat

Еврото се повиши до нов тригодишен връх вчера, след като ръководителят на ЕЦБ – Марио Драги, заяви, че данните сочат към стабилен ръст на икономиката на еврозаната, а инфлацията най-вероятно ще се повиши в средносрочен план. Единната валута поскъпна с около 1% до ниво от 1.2536, или най-високата й стойност от декември на 2014-та година. След това обаче, еврото загуби част от спечеленото и се върна под 1.2500, като рано тази сутрин се търгува при нива от 1.2450 долара. Драги предупреди, че поскъпването на еврото, се очертава като сериозен източник на несигурност и заяви още, че ЕЦБ може да се наложи да ревизира стратегията си, ако щатските коментари за ползите от слабия долар, доведат до промяна в монетарните условия. Доларът поевтиня спрямо еврото в сряда, след като щатският финансов министър Стив Мнухин, заяви че приветства слабостта на щатската валута. Някои пазарни участници очакваха Драги да е много по-твърд в коментарите си по отношение на еврото и потенциалното му пагуб

Richard Thaler, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2017, thinks Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies represent a bubble in an irrational market. Yet another Nobel prize winner thinks Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a whole are irrational and represent a bubble. Richard Thaler, of the University of Chicago, who won the Nobel prize in economics last year, spoke about the debt market, but went on to single-out cryptocurrencies as irrational markets, in a written statement given to  ECO : “I can see that there is a bubble in the debt markets, with interest rates close to zero or even negative, and even in the indices, which are at record highs. But the market that strikes me the most is bitcoin and its sisters.” The economist then went on to cite examples such as that of Long Island Iced Tea, a company which changed its name to Long Blockchain, and saw its share price rise by more than 200%. He also spoke about the increased volatility experienced by cryptocurrencies, calling the

TRON Labs, in an official post, has announced the launch of its first beta version – Exodus, which is scheduled to roll out on March 31 this year. According to Chen Zhiqiang, TRON’s technical head, the main network will offer several advantages over existing blockchain systems, including improved performance, over 1,000 transactions per second and ultra low fees. Additionally, the launch will also include the TRON virtual machine (TVM), which will allow smart contracts development in multiple languages, including Java, which will then by compiled into byte-code by the TRON compiler. Network monitoring tools will also be released with the update, along with an Application Blockchain Interface for developers. Commenting on the upcoming launch, Justin Sun, TRON’s founder, said: “First, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you, for your attention and support to TRON and for your trust in our team; and to our developers as well, for their strenuous development work.

Prime Minister of Baltic nation urges caution but does not dismiss the proposal for a national Estcoin. Estonia’s Prime Minister has advised caution but displayed a willingness to consider the controversial possibility of launching a national crypto token, dubbed the Estcoin. As per a   report by Bloomberg , Prime Minister Juri Ratas stated during an interview in Tallinn that his cabinet has yet to seriously consider the Estcoin, which was proposed last year by a junior government official. However, he stated that while Estonia is “open to challenges”, such a venture would require the proper classification of the proposed financial instrument, as “financial regulation must be very thoroughly considered”. The Estcoin was proposed last summer by Kaspar Korjus, who serves as managing director of the country’s e-Residency program. However, it drew sharp criticism from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in September, who stated that the only currency of the Euro zone was th

This is a sponsored press release and does not constitute the publication’s endorsement or support of the material, views and opinions shared in it. The pace of technological innovation has increased dramatically over the last fifty years. A small handheld device now has more computing power than the earliest computers that took up entire rooms. Paying exorbitant amounts of money for long distance phone calls is a thing of the past as people can now video chat with friends who live on the opposite side of the world. Of course, we still don't have flying cars or jet packs, but the digital age is fully upon us as is evident by the rise of cryptocurrencies. Is the promise of the future here as people look to use cryptocurrency in their everyday life? Cryptocurrency is the Future For hundreds of years, the economic systems of the world were controlled by national governments, corporations, and banks. Now the power of blockchain technology has unleashed many different cryptocurr

A study published by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies reveals that under 1% of Bitcoin transactions are of an illicit nature. A memorandum written by the Center on Sanctions & Illicit Finance for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies reveals information that contradicts the perspective that Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency chiefly used by criminals. Using Elliptic’s foreign analysis tool, which peeks through blockchain data looking for addresses known to belong to criminals, researchers found that a grand total of 0.61% of all Bitcoins around the world are used for these types of activity. Europe had an unusually high rate of illicit transactions, at 0.77%, while North America had a much smaller rate, sitting at 0.26%. “Our study, the first of its kind, indicates that while most types of conversion services have received some Bitcoins from illicit activity, the vast majority of the funds they receive do not appear to be illicit. However, two types of services in

Валутните пазари, стигнаха до момент, когато е налице реална опасност, Марио Драги да сигнализира опасенията си свързани със скъпото евро, на срещата на ЕЦБ през следващата седмица. Драги, вече направи това през септември на миналата година. В момента еврото се търгува във възходящ бичи канал, от 7-ми ноември насам, като долната граница на този канал е при ниво от около 1.1900, където е разположена и 55-дневната пълзяща средна величина на единната валута. Ако това ниво обаче, бъде преодоляно в посока надолу то инвеститорите биха могли да преосмислят възходящите си очаквания за еднинната валута. Нещо повече, все повече стават трейдърите, които очакват именно срещата на ЕЦБ да инициира в поевтиняване на еврото. На нея Драги, се очаква да се опита сериозно да въздейства върху нивата на търговия на единната валута. Междувременно, неговото протеже вицепрезидента на ЕЦБ – Витор Констансио, вече отправи подобно предупреждение за рисковете от прекомерно поскъпване на еврото, което не с

CFTC sues company that allegedly took in money, including Bitcoins, with the promise of dispersing advice, and never did so. In a ruse designed to capitalize on the price rises in the crypto space, Cabbage Tech Corp. offered all kinds of advice to those willing to part with their Bitcoin and Litecoin for it. Allegedly, they never planned to produce anything of value to those who forked over their cryptos, and on Friday the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged the runner of the company with committing fraud. Specifically, the CFTC filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Patrick K. McDonnell and his CabbageTech, which does business as Coin Drop Markets. He is charged with fraud and misappropriation in connection with purchases and trading of Bitcoin and Litecoin. McDonnell faces having to pay restitution to the defrauded customers, as well as civil monetary penalties, and trading