Today’s cryptocurrency news roundup includes the latest blockchain technology news, bitcoin investor perspectives and market trends.
If you thought interest in cryptocurrency is cooling off, take a look at this stat: more than one million have registered to take online cryptocurrency courses at Stanford, CMU and several other leading universities.
Could bitcoin be coming to Amazon soon? DomainNameWire reports Amazon registered three domains on Oct 31: “amazonethereum.com,” “amazoncryptocurrency.com” and “amazoncryptocurrencies.com.” Bounties are growing in popularity in marketing ICOs, both for the inexpensive, virtual promotion as well as community building.
Cointelegraph has a thoughtful look at ICOs, greed and growing signs of a bubble building. The author cites one prospective Singapore VC asking to get an investor pitch to him by text message. Dangerous indeed! Bloomberg highlights plans by CME Group, the world’s largest exchange owner, to introduce trading in bitcoin futures by year end. Gadfly’s Stephen Gandel calls it “capitalism distilled.”
The move by CME Group no doubt contributed to the record values for bitcoin trading in recent days. Bloomberg’s Aaron Brown looks at three possibilities when futures trading in bitcoin begins. No matter the naysayers, when bitcoin futures trading starts, get ready to fasten your seatbelts as the roller coaster ride begins.
Crypto classes popular at Stanford, CMU, thanks to bitcoin craze
Dan Boneh, co-director of the Stanford Computer Security Lab, said cryptography classes are red-hot. Over one million people have signed up for his online class. Carnegie Mellon hired a cryptography expert from Microsoft Research to help build out its program. Cryptocurrencies are surging in value, and university students want in on the action. Via cnbc.com
Amazon Subsidiary Registers Cryptocurrency and Ethereum Domains
E-commerce giant Amazon has registered three cryptocurrency-related web domains, online records show. Phone numbers listed on the registration documents connect to Amazon’s legal department, though a representative of that office could not be reached by press time. The registrations were first reported by industry news site DomainNameWire. Via coindesk.com
Bounty Hunters Heavily Utilized in Bitcoin, Altcoin World
A bounty is a reward paid out for the completion of a certain task. In the crypto world, bounty rewards are almost exclusively paid in Bitcoin and ICO tokens. Back in 2009, Bitcoin faucets used to pay up to three Bitcoin per hour. With today’s Bitcoin prices, that would net around $19k. It’s important to note that back then the Bitcoin price was just a fraction of a cent. Nowadays, faucets pay rewards in “Satoshis,” which is a hundredth of a millionth Bitcoin. Via cointelegraph.com
Hacking the ICO: How Greed Defeats the Industry
Nowadays from 30-50 offerings are being announced for launch on a daily basis. The offerings are being conducted both by clear Blockchain-based projects with related IT projects and a traditional business industry that views tokenization not only as a new opportunity for capital-raising but also optimization of its services. Whitepaper by SMS Crypto veterans and sudden bloated crypto funds can hardly puzzle out in such a chaotic stream. Via Cointelegraph.com
Bitcoin Growing Up as Futures Open Floodgates to Wall Street
Bitcoin is going legit, for better or worse. The move by the world’s largest exchange owner will up the game for the software-created asset and finally bring it some regulatory cover. Just a month ago, a top CME Group executive said he didn’t foresee listing bitcoin futures any time soon. CME Group Inc. has announced it will introduce trading in bitcoin futures by the end of the year. The move by the world’s largest exchange owner will up the game for the software-created asset and finally bring it some regulatory cover. Via bloomberg.com
If Goldman Sachs Won’t Trade Bitcoin, Someone Else Will
Yet here we are. As the currency soars to a record, financial firms’ attitudes are softening. On Tuesday, CME Group Inc. said it will start a Bitcoin futures contract. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is reportedly weighing a trading desk for virtual currencies, while Morgan Stanley’s CEO says Bitcoin isn’t inherently bad and more than just a fad. At a time when big investment banks are finding regular financial markets hard going, as Gadfly’s Stephen Gandel has noted, Bitcoin seems to offer old-school, volatile thrills. Or, as one expert describes it: “Capitalism distilled.” Via bloomberg.com
CME’s Bitcoin Foray Has Three Plausible Outcomes
CME Group announced plans to offer a bitcoin futures contract this year. This brings it in line with Cboe Global Markets, which announced similar plans in August, and LedgerX, which began trading in bitcoin options and day-ahead swaps two weeks ago. These contracts are important steps toward integrating bitcoin with the global financial system. I suggest three plausible scenarios. Via bloomberg.com
Bitcoin Dips a Toe Into the Mainstream
The status of bitcoin as a legitimate financial asset may be rising even faster than its price. On Tuesday, the CME Group announced that it plans to list bitcoin futures contracts by the end of the year. Right now, if investors want to bet on the price of bitcoin, the only real way to do it is to buy bitcoin. Via bloomberg.com
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