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Wrong. Outside of financial considerations, Charlie did not want himself to be a central figure like roger and jihwan are. Btrash is very centralized. The new age we’re About to enter doesn’t want that. Btrash will try to copy Litecoin but will fail because it isn’t decentralized.
Just like there’s multiple fiats, there will be multiple cryptos. BCH wants to be used for daily transactions while btc wants to be used as a store of value while having another crypto such as Litecoin handle the daily transactions. Who knows who will win out in the end but I’m on the side of Andreas and Charlie over roger and jihwan. Not to say you can’t money trading/investing in all. I bought a shitload of BCH last specifically for a trade but I won’t be holding long term because I’m not a believer of their vision. BCH too centralized especially with jihwan owning bitmain.
LN is great technology to implement atomic swaps
I’m not a supporter of BCH, roger, or jihwan but this is ez $
Going to $2k+ easily by May 15
BCH hardfork May 15
Details of the hardfork:
https://www.bitcoinabc.org/may15hardfork
Details of the hardfork:
https://www.bitcoinabc.org/may15hardfork
Bitcoin Cash hardfork announced for May 15. Gonna be a huge day/week
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bitcoin-cash-price-soaring-ahead-of-hard-fork-2018-4-1021688852
Bitcoin Cash hardfork announced for May 15. Gonna be a huge day/week
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bitcoin-cash-price-soaring-ahead-of-hard-fork-2018-4-1021688852
$99 million transaction done on Litecoin’s blockchain executed in 150 seconds for a transaction fee of 44 cents.
https://insight.litecore.io/tx/30393d5c265ab46731bfb9642e295f2e9661dbfd95cea0e501cedc02745bdc83
Yawn. Zzzzzzzzzzz
To remain anonymous, buy here: https://localbitcoins.com
Current numbers are crazy. Extremely undervalued
I’m looking forward to the next 8 years and beyond but to each their own. Very exciting times ahead of us.
I’ve said this before but imagine if price was the least interesting thing about this space.
People don’t realize the grand shift we are all about to embark on. It won’t be overnight and it won’t take months. It’s gonna take many years. May 15 is the start of this shift. Hopefully some will be enlightened then and start seeing the grand picture
May 15 is just the start
Less than 5 weeks now.
The next bull run will start May 15 and last til November. There’s a high probability of a mini breakout next week. Falling wedges tend to do that.
US investment fund Soros Fund Management, which currently operates about $26 bln in assets, will reportedly be investing in cryptocurrencies, despite the fact that the head of the fund George Soros earlier claimed that crypto is a “bubble”, Bloomberg reported Friday, April 6.
According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Adam Fisher, who is responsible for global macroeconomic investing at Soros Fund Management, has already received internal approval for cryptocurrency operations, but he has not started trading yet.
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 25, Soros argued that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) cannot be considered currency due to their volatility, and that their value is speculative:
“Bitcoin is not a currency because a currency is supposed to be a stable store of value and the currency that can fluctuate 25% in a day can’t be used for instance to pay wages because wages drop by 25% in a day. It’s a speculation. Based on a misunderstanding.”
While criticizing the major cryptocurrency in January, the legendary macro trader did not provide any price predictions. Meanwhile, crypto markets have lost almost 50 percent by the end of the first quarter 2018.
Soros became involved in cryptocurrency activity earlier last year. In 2017, George Soros’ investment fund became the third-largest shareholder in Overstock.com, the first major retail company to accept Bitcoin as a payment option.
Launched in 1969, Soros Fund Management made its name in 1992 for its drastic bets against the British pound, which made Soros “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England."
Wyoming Exempts Cryptocurrencies From Taxes
https://www.investopedia.com/news/wyoming-exempts-cryptocurrencies-taxes/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons
Venrock, a venture capital firm created by John D. Rockefeller’s family is investing in cryptocurrencies.
The three billion dollar firm will be investing in the cryptocurrency market and projects. Founded in 1969, the grandson of John D. Rockefeller brought his siblings together to form the company. The company started with a one million dollar capitalization, but after multiple successes, they’ve grown into a huge three billion dollar firm.
Venrock is known for its abilities to find extremely successful start-ups. Their long list of clients is very impressive. They’ve invested in Intel and Apple before they were household names. Even recently, they’ve had prominent success. Nest and the Dollar Shave Club are clients of Venrock, and they’ve grown to be multi-billion dollar firms.
Since Venrock has such impressive success, cryptocurrencies being added is a huge sign. They’ve done their research and have found crypto to be a huge space in the future. This is an extremely bullish sign. Many venture capital firms will follow in Venrock’s footsteps, investing in crypto.
When asked about cryptocurrencies, David Pakman, a Venrock partner, had an interesting response. He said Venrock wasn’t interested in short-term gains, but rather the long-term future of crypto. Venrock is making a multi-million dollar bet on cryptocurrencies being part of our daily lives in the future.
Venrock will be partnering with CoinFund, a fund that specializes in the cryptocurrency industry. CoinFund is a venture capital firm that invests in companies that use blockchain technologies. One of CoinFund’s greatest successes is Kik, a widely-used chat platform that recently created its own cryptocurrency. They’ve also invested in Telegram’s multi-billion dollar ICO.
Falling wedge pattern on daily chart. High probability of a breakout soon. If it happens, this will be nothing compared to May 15-18.
Another day closer to May 15. The days after as well will be extreme fireworks
Line in the sand is drawn. Shorts scared or can’t pass it
Well, that didn’t work shorts. What’s next?
LN atomic swaps are much better than on-chain ones because it's instantaneous, low fees, and preserves privacy. 2nd layer off-chain solutions like LN are only practical with a transaction malleability fix like SegWit.
I’d like to thank the ihub trading group for injecting so much capital to Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies over the past 3 months or so. It’s nice to see. Looking forward to the rest of the year and beyond. Thanks again from everyone in the Litecoin community. Very much appreciated..
Dow plummeting hard. Greatest transfer of wealth in our lifetimes is upon us
Such exciting times ahead of us! I can’t wait
Four Cryptocurrency Futures: How Bitcoin, Blockchain Could Transform The Financial System
Cryptocurrency future disrupts financial system
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have the potential to rupture the financial establishment.
JED GRAHAM 4/02/2018
Imagine being told one day that your paychecks would be in Bitcoin. Pretty cool, right? Except your liquid assets could tumble in value at any moment in this cryptocurrency future. And you'd have to convert your cryptocurrency to dollars to buy groceries at Walmart (WMT), coffee at Starbucks (SBUX) or books on Amazon (AMZN).
The surge in value of Bitcoin and its digital currency rivals has not been matched by their everyday utility. Payment processor Stripe cut off Bitcoin support in January, citing slow transaction times and high fees.
"We've seen the desire from our customers to accept Bitcoin decrease," explained Stripe product manager Tom Karlo.
Bitcoin and other digital rivals are nowhere near ready for prime time. They might never match the utility of today's financial-system incumbents, the banks and payment companies that facilitate the flow of funds over tens of millions of merchant locations.
Yet much like millennials will never have a landline, a coming generation might do without bank accounts thanks to secure, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions. Blockchain technology and the vast new crypto wealth have opened the door to four cryptocurrency futures that could usher in a new financial order.
Four Cryptocurrency Future Scenarios
What are these possibilities?
The Federal Reserve could issue its own digital currency, as some global central banks are exploring.
Large companies such as Amazon, Walmart and Starbucks might issue digital coins that inspire trust and gain wide acceptance.
Retail giants, by accepting payments in the currency, could elevate Bitcoin, Ethereum or another cryptocurrency above the others vying to offer safety, soundness and utility.
Finally, if trust is lost in government-backed, or fiat, currencies, a cryptocurrency future could come about by default. That may be a risk not only in places like Venezuela, but in the U.S., where federal deficits are spiraling.
"Virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money," International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde predicted last fall. "Citizens may one day prefer virtual currencies, since they potentially offer the same cost and convenience as cash — no settlement risks, no clearing delays, no central registration, no intermediary to check accounts and identities," she said.
That explosive potential helps explain why so many tech entrepreneurs and investors turned cryptocurrencies into a 21st Century gold rush, even as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon has trashed Bitcoin as "a fraud."
Dimon and other titans of finance voice certainty that commercial banks will remain indispensable, cryptocurrencies will stay on the fringe, and governments will want to keep it that way.
FedCoin? Central Banks Mull Future Of Cryptocurrency
Blockchain's potential to revolutionize the financial system has some central banks studying whether to issue their own digital currency. Yale University scholars have proposed the FedCoin. In this cryptocurrency future, FedCoin could make monetary policy more flexible and forceful, even allowing for negative interest rates.
If a cryptocurrency acted as a reliable, widely accepted store of value, people could cut ties to their banks. They could keep some crypto cash in digital wallets, with other liquid assets in mutual funds, stocks and government bonds.
A Bank of England study concluded that a central-bank cryptocurrency could boost GDP by 3%. Gains would come, in part, from shrinking "monetary transaction costs that are analogous to distortionary tax rates."
Yet FedCoin looks far-fetched at present because of the massive disruption it could cause. Central bank crypto dollars "could endanger the economically and socially important financial intermediation function of commercial banks," JPMorgan analysts warned.
The contribution of fractional reserve banking to global growth — turning each $1 of deposits into $10 in loans — could fade. "We would expect that central banks would think twice before disturbing this source of capital to the private sector."
Bitcoin Crash Or Cryptocurrency Revolution?
Dimon is surely right about one thing: The cryptocurrency future will depend heavily on government. That could mean smothering it with regulation, stealing its thunder via FedCoin or cultivating it with a light regulatory touch.
Bitcoin hit its 2018 low early on Feb. 6, the morning of a key Senate cryptocurrency hearing, briefly undercutting $6,000. The chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission both urged stronger oversight. But the financial regulators stopped short of sounding an alarm. Nor did they call for any legislation to rein in cryptocurrencies. In the weeks after that hearing, Bitcoin rebounded to around $11,000 but it has retreated yet again to below $7,000.
Bitcoin had doubled in the first half of December, hitting a peak above $19,000 just as Bitcoin futures began trading on Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) and CME (CME). The anticipation of futures trading, touted as validation from U.S. regulators, stoked speculation.
At the Senate hearing, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who earned his fortune as an early investor in the cell phone industry, said he sees a parallel between mobile phones then and cryptocurrencies now. "The same kind of transformation is about to take place," he said.
Could Bitcoin Raise Systemic Risks?
Warner criticized the CFTC for embracing Bitcoin options at this stage. He fretted that total cryptocurrency market capitalization could hit $20 trillion — vs. $300 billion now — with another 2017-like surge.
"This rises potentially to the level of a systemically relevant event," Warner said.
Yet there's reason to doubt that cryptocurrency frenzy will return. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) — Ma Bell in Warner's analogy — banned credit-card purchases of cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, the SEC and foreign governments have cracked down on initial coin offerings. And lately, Alphabet (GOOGL)-unit Google, Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) have banned cryptocurrency ads.
Even Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin warned via Twitter not long ago that cryptocurrencies "could drop to near-zero at any time." He added that "traditional assets are still your safest bet."
The Bank for International Settlements, the central banker for global central banks, has warned that cryptocurrencies in the future could become a "threat to financial stability" if regulators aren't vigilant. U.S. regulators appear to be playing catch-up. As of Feb. 6, the cryptocurrency working group put together by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had held a single meeting.
Politicians and central bankers worry that cryptocurrencies won't hold value in a panic. "When things really go bad, where do Americans turn?" Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker asked a fintech conference last fall. "Well, they're going to come back to the government. That's the history of the country."
Another 'Large Player' For Cryptocurrencies
Harker did allow that other currency models might work if another "large player" besides the government provided trust.
Who could fill that role? Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz offered some thoughts on the coffee chain's January earnings call.
"I personally believe that there is going to be one or a few legitimate, trusted digital currencies off of the blockchain technology," Schultz said. He doubted that Bitcoin would be one of them.
Cryptocurrencies "will have to be legitimized by a brand in a brick-and-mortar environment, where the consumer has trust and confidence in the company that is providing the transaction."
Starbucks wants to play a role but isn't making a big investment in a cryptocurrency future right now, Schultz said.
Amazon, Cryptocurrency Kingmaker — Or Central Bank?
Cryptocurrency investors have speculated that Amazon might accept Bitcoin or one of its digital rivals. That specific cryptocurrency would vault past competitors as a trusted store of value and useful medium of exchange. Amazon even registered the domains AmazonEthereum.com, AmazonCryptocurrency.com and AmazonCryptocurrencies, kicking such talk into high gear.
Alternatively, Amazon, Walmart — or a consortium of large companies — might issue their own cryptocurrency. Doing so could let them save on transaction costs and act as a competitive weapon.
But Amazon has also been cozying up with JPMorgan. Recently, Amazon and JPMorgan have partnered in a health care venture and in creating a new type of bank account.
Yet imagine if Amazon or Walmart rewarded loyal customers with tokens that could escalate in value. The tokens would jump to the head of the cryptocurrency pack with potential for broad acceptance as a currency. Customers would likely hoard the tokens, rather than spend them. The effect on sales and profits might be electric.
For a digital currency to gain wide acceptance from outside businesses, the issuer would have to act like a central bank. Governing a currency requires trust, so some functions might need independence from corporate issuers.
Those milestones could ease fears of a massive cryptocurrency crash. The Fed shouldn't need to rush in and save the day if AmazonCoin or WalmartCoin crashed.
Currencies rely on conservative and predictable rules to assure the public that massive money printing won't destroy value. Could people trust the central bank of Amazon?
Then again, will people always be able to count on the Fed?
Cryptocurrency Future: Competition For Central Bank Fiat Money
The Fed controls the creation of money, but central bankers seem to be losing their grip. Any loss of faith in the dollar and the Fed bodes well for a cryptocurrency future as dollar-skeptics look for an alternative store of wealth — besides gold.
Bitcoin's peer-to-peer electronic payment system, first proposed in 2008 to verify transactions through a decentralized public blockchain, arrived on the scene as the global financial crisis triggered bailouts of one big bank after another.
Bitcoin fulfilled famed economist Friedrich Hayek's idea of denationalizing money. He believed competition could help keep central banks honest and prevent runaway inflation.
Doubts fueled by "ballooning balance sheets of the major central banks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis" motivated early cryptocurrency investors, JPMorgan analysts wrote. Yet the lack of any upsurge in inflation since "has surely reduced concerns about fiat (legal tender issued by a central bank) money."
A Fiscal Train In Cryptocurrency Future?
Yet the Fed now faces a much different challenge: a runaway federal deficit even amid a strong U.S. economy. The deficit will top $1 trillion in fiscal 2019 and $2 trillion by 2027, and there's no fix in sight. Republicans have overseen big deficit-financed tax cuts and increased government spending. Democrats want more generous Social Security benefits, Medicare for all and debt-free college.
"The continued growth of public debt raises eventual sustainability questions if left unchecked," Goldman Sachs economists warned recently.
The Fed seems on track to suffer the same fate as the Bank of Japan. The BoJ has been forced to accommodate sky-high government deficits with easy money and asset purchases. Japan, with a falling working-age population, hasn't had a whiff of inflation. But the U.S. might be a different story.
Deutsche Bank global credit strategist Jim Reid put this shocking headline on a November report: "The Start of the End of Fiat Money?" Reid argued high debt levels will keep the Fed and other central banks too accommodative, putting fiat currencies at risk.
"The fiat currency system may be seriously tested over the coming decade and ultimately we may need to find an alternative," Reid wrote. "Cryptocurrencies are all the rage at the moment and are as much about blockchain as anything else, but there could be an increasing desire for alternative" mediums of exchange in the years to come."
Keep in mind that fiat money is a relatively young innovation. It's only truly been the norm since President Nixon ended the dollar's quasi-gold standard in 1971.
Cryptocurrencies and other blockchain assets are what I and others like to refer to as “smart money.” They are designed to remove the need for intermediary third parties such as banks and replace them with a consensus protocol. This allows a group of anonymous parties to build a trustworthy network and ledger, cutting out the need for a centralized authority figure.
The goal of blockchain is to create a self-serving, self-governing ecosystem. It incentivizes participants (miners in the simple case) to be truthful by rewarding them transaction fees as income and block rewards, which are additional respective coins. Cryptocurrencies aim to provide improvements to obsolete interactions and solutions. This can be accomplished with a few lines of code and an ecosystem.
Cryptocurrencies are customizable assets that can function as a store of value, a transfer of wealth, and a self-executing smart contract. Smart contracts automate the rules of a contract onto the blockchain and execute when conditions of the contract are met. These features, coupled with the fact that they are highly speculative investment vehicles, make cryptocurrency an exciting new opportunity for the innovative investor. Blockchain is here to stay as it is a revolutionary solution of making the outdated interaction of data and wealth smarter, by trusting a network of unknown individuals to maintain and update a ledger, that is blockchain, through the reward incentivization, that is cryptocurrency.
Charlie Lee’s vision about Litecoin [LTC]’s ‘bright future’
John Carvalho recently conducted an interview with Charlie Lee, the Founder of Litecoin on his Youtube channel called ‘Bitcoin Error Log’.
John mostly concentrated on topics related to both Bitcoin and Litecoin and the recent changes which are occurring in both the platforms.
Some of the points which Charlie mentioned, in the beginning, was about the place of Litecoin in the blockchain ecosystem. According to him, Litecoin can be considered as complementary Bitcoin and that they are aiming to implement better payment methods. Bitcoin concentrates more on storing the values and he thinks that both the firms can work side by side.
Both the coins act separately and he believes that Litecoin is helping in the improvement of the ecosystem in multiple ways and that he does not want to be detrimental about Bitcoin.
Cheaper fees and faster transactions are the two best features of Litecoin. He mentioned that Litecoin will always be cheaper than Bitcoin because of its larger capacity.
He was also asked about the Litecoin Foundation further. The Litecoin Foundation was formed last year and is run by Charlie Lee who is the current Managing Director along with three other Directors. They hired developers to improve the functioning of Litecoin and make it more user-friendly. They are presently working on Litecoin’s core reference client and on increasing Litecoin network by introducing new marketing techniques.
During the chat, he described the entire issue regarding LitePay scandal. He stated that the initial idea behind introducing LitePay was to make payment methods easier for its users by using a consumer credit card facility. The firm had invested $50,000 for the same. But the LitePay team failed to deliver the project and they noticed that the team did not have the potential to execute the project. Later, LitePay team sold their assets and checked out.
Regarding Abra’s involvement with Litecoin, he said that the firm decided to migrate from Bitcoin’s smart contracts to Litecoin’s network due to the higher trading rates.
While comparing Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, he said that both the technologies are almost the same except that all the Bitcoin holders will have Bitcoin Cash by default due to which the BCH supporters are more. He also mentioned that the security for Bitcoin Cash is very low because it shares the same hashing function as Bitcoin, making it more exposed to hacks.
Charlie believes that the price variation of any coin is only due to the market rates and the underlying technology should not be responsible for the same.
Towards the end of the session, he stated that Fungibility is the main feature which all the transactions that involve money are lacking. He says that we can expect ‘bulletproof and confidential transactions’ to be implemented based on the Lightning Network within a year.
And finally, he mentioned some of the reasons why somebody should hold or buy Litecoin; It provides much value and one can use their money without being censored and the transactions can be done quickly and effectively.
Johnny T, a cryptocurrency enthusiast tweeted:
“Charlie great interview! When will confidential transactions be added to litecoin? Also will that be enabled by default? ”
Another Twitterati says:
“@SatoshiLite I use #litecoin bitcoin as my store of values, my investments, my daily transactions. Personally I’m more comfortable with #litecoin. I tend to believe in you and litecoin more then I do bitcoin and the longterm future I see better with ltc how does that make u feel?”
Coty Cech, a Litecoin supporter says:
“Awesome interview, tone is hella monotonous lol but questions were quite detailed and relevant. Big supporter of Litecoin, I’m glad you had Charlie on “
Litecoin [LTC] and Aliant Payments partnership – Offers ‘well-rounded solutions for merchants’
Aliant Payment which had been in news for offering merchants solutions on small business money on credit and debit card processing and merchant processing fee has finally confirmed that it is entering into an official partnership with Litecoin Foundation.
CEO of Aliant, Eric Brown commented:
“Our merchants look to us for innovative ways to transfer money safely, securely, and cost-effectively…. Cryptocurrency allows us to move money in all of these ways, while also offering consumers more payment options.”
This partnership has come amidst the chain of disasters hounding LitePay, some of them including the scrapping of LitePay followed by the news that the LitePay debit card, a feature that allows Litecoin investors to spend their currency, has been put on hold indefinitely.
Charlie Lee, Managing Director of the Litecoin Foundation, in a comment, added:
“The Litecoin Foundation is pleased to partner with Aliant Payment Systems for Litecoin payment processing. Aliant offers a well-rounded solution for merchants to accept Litecoin easily with physical point of sales terminal (via Poynt), virtual sales terminal, and custom API integration”
The partnership allows Litecoin Foundation to provide merchants who make inquiries about cryptocurrency by providing them with an option to seek a ‘vetted and approved payments processor’. Merchants will have access to convert payments received in Litecoin and also to convert them to fiat currency.
This news was received with fanfare by merchants and users.
A Twitterati tweeted:
“Wow! Thanks for the great job you guys are doing. Huge news, does it means that all merchants working with your company would be able to receive payments in Litecoin if they want?”
Stephen Landry commented:
“Let the world know how many existing merchants use Aliant payment systems and whether or not those merchants can accept Litecoin in a turn key manner at point of sale.
Pedro Espindola tweets:
“That’s amazing!! Good job! More than 7000 merchants in the US right? Do you guys have plans on working in Brasil too? Or availability for processing transactions in BRL?”
Shorty can fight all they want. They’ll be forced to transform. Everyone will. Or be left behind
You better Short the Dow and long cryptos
Your current beliefs of value and freedom will drastically change in the coming months and years.
Bitcoin, Litecoin, and cryptocurrencies will grow larger and faster than anyone expects. The change that is upon us will make some extremely wealthy and will cripple others beyond belief. The greatest transfer of wealth in our lifetimes has already begun. Don’t be fooled.
Retail is scared shitless and shorts scares to break past the line in the sand.