Blockchain Daily News - Dec.6

Fans’ Section

John McAfee Sets $1 Million Price Target For Bitcoin

Garrett Baldwin - Money Morning

John McAfee isn't afraid of making bold predictions, and he upped his Bitcoin price target from $500,000 to $1 million by 2020. There's speculation on whether McAfee believes it's Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash that will reach this value. Businessman Craig Wright, though, believes McAfee is referring to the value of Bitcoin and its forks combined.

DNT: Whoa...Cybersecurity legend strikes again! He said several times that he is willing to “bet his manhood” on BTC growth. Anyone interested? :))

FAO: I also think he referred to Bitcoin and its forks combined... BUT, you never know....

Hedge Fund Manager Novogratz Worried Surging Bitcoin Price May Attract Government Regulation

Evelyn Chang - CNBC

Former Fortress hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz says that bitcoin's sharp price gains could result in more government regulation.

Novogratz: "I've got concern that if price movements go higher we're going to get more regulation. But "I think it's hard to shut down. ... I don't think that's a probability."

DNT: Recently, Michael Novogratz made a prediction about BTC, saying it could “easily” be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. Details here, Fans’ Section.

FAO: Shutting down bitcoin, hmm...better find that Satoshi Nakamoto guy fast and tell him to pack his toys and leave this town.

PayPal's Levchin On Bitcoin: 'I'm Still Trying To Figure It Out'

Jillian D'Onfro , Megan Hawkins - CNBC

PayPal co-founder Max Levchin believes in blockchain technology, but isn't quite so sure about bitcoin.

Levchin: "It's a brilliant mathematical idea, fantastic technology, interesting commodity to speculate on," .."TBD on whether it's a currency or just a way to make money fast. I invest in things that I have a strong, long-term point of view on and bitcoin I'm still trying to figure out."

FAO: Well looks like Levchin already figured it out, he said it’s a “commodity”, n’est-ce pas?

Deals, Investments & M&As

Blockstack Raises $52 Million To Build A Parallel Internet Where You Own All Your Data

Mo Marshall - Venture Beat

USV, Winklevoss Bros Invest In $50 Million Blockstack ICO

Brady Dale - CoinDesk

Blockstack's ICO has officially closed, with the company announcing it has raised $50 million through the sale of 440 million tokens.

FAO: One success after another. Blockstack was CoinList’s second ICO, after Filecoin, which raised $205m in a month - more details here in one of our September’s bulletins.

Bankera ICO Is Live Now: Become The Part Of Banking Revolution

Maria  Konash - Coinspeaker

Bankera, a digital banking platform that plans to accept both fiat and cryptocurrencies, has announced the beginning of its token sale event. This follows Bankera’s pre-sale, which raised over 25 million Euros from 16,000 unique contributors, becoming one of the biggest ones in terms of total money collected.

FAO: Interesting project. What’s even more interesting is that it isn’t a blockchain-based project...thus targeting “classic” investors too. Right? ;)

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin Climbs To $12,000 As Futures Move Closer To Reality

Dave Liedtka - Bloomberg (subscription)

Bitcoin surpassed $12,000 for the first time amid speculation that the widespread use of futures will help lead to digital currencies being viewed as a legitimate asset class for mainstream investors.

DNT: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $13k.

FAO: Speaking of the devil, oh, pardon me, bitcoin futures...a Tokyo exchange is already planning a contract…

Tokyo Financial Exchange Planning Bitcoin Futures Launch

Stan Higgins  - CoinDesk

Tokyo Financial Exchange has formed a working group as part of an early effort to start listing futures contracts based around the cryptocurrency.

Venezuela Jumps On Cryptocurrency Bandwagon With Bitcoin-Like ‘Petro’

Victor Reklaitis - Market Watch

Cryptocurrencies are enjoying a boom, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wants to get his cash-strapped nation involved. The authoritarian leader announced plans for a bitcoin-like virtual currency named the “petro.”He expects the new cryptocurrency will provide ways for his country to sidestep U.S.-led sanctions.

FAO: Now this is an interesting project. Don’t you think? How to use cryptos in order to survive, as a NATION! We will keep a close eye on “Petro” since its birth and evolution could represent a “chapter” in any manual of modern economics, in a not so distant future...

*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.

Exchanges & Trading Venues

Commentary: The Overlooked Actor That Could Crash Bitcoin

Sarit Markovich - Fortune

Bitcoin’s recent rise raises important questions around risk and transparency for investors and exchanges alike, and whether a crash is looming. The issue is that, like any investment vehicle, the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is subject to manipulation by large entities that have a stake in it, especially large-scale traders. The cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is the main actor to think about here.

Bitfinex Hires Law Firm To Challenge Critics

Marc Hochstein  - CoinDesk    

Bitfinex has hired the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson and is threatening legal action against a pseudonymous blogger who it says have made false claims about the bitcoin exchange.

In a statement, Bitfinex said it hired Steptoe to respond to such claims with "appropriate action," including "possible litigation" against "various parties." Jason Weinstein, who leads the blockchain practice at Steptoe, confirmed its hiring by Bitfinex in an email.

FAO: Pretty important stuff to ignore. Better read both stories...

*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.

Latest Developments & Agreements

UBS Files Patent For Blockchain Validation

Jon Buck - Cointelegraph

In a recently released patent office filing, UBS, the 935 bln CHF Swiss banking giant, has sought approval for a Blockchain technology-based validation platform for users. The patent indicates that UBS is pursuing Blockchain technology as a solution for client IP and user validation.

Regulation

After China, India’s Central Bank Warns: Beware Of Bitcoin

Nupur Anand - Quartz

The Reserve Bank of India warned investors against betting on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Bank Indonesia To Ban Bitcoin Transactions Next Year

The Jakarta Post

Bank Indonesia plans to issue a regulation prohibiting transactions using Bitcoin. he regulation would take effect starting next year, an official has said.Bank Indonesia head of transformation Onny Widjanarko said the regulation on e-money would be issued in the near future.

FAO: No change in our Crypto-Teams BDN Global Outlook

Team “Pro”: Japan, Hong Kong + Singapore, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Catalonia, Argentina (latest entry)

Team “Against”: China, India, Russia, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Lebanon, Taiwan and Zimbabwe (latest entry).

Team “Neutral”: EU (FOR NOW), USA, Canada

*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.

Bitcoin Is Only The Beginning Of A Global Blockchain Revolution

The Australian (subscription)

The price of a Bitcoin has risen tenfold in 10 months. Yet whether and when the bubble will burst is beside the point, which is that Bitcoin works.

*More content in this section on our Blockchain Daily Newswebsite.

FAO: Florin Adrian Oprea, Editor-in-chief Blockchain Daily News

DNT: Decebal Nicolaie Todarita, Editor Blockchain Daily News

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