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1,308,740,160 | 2011-06-22 10:56:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [0, 967, 1184, 1227]} | {"Bitcoin": [37]} | Compromised account leads to massive Bitcoin sell off, EFF reconsiders use of currency | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2011-06-22-compromised-account-leads-to-massive-bitcoin-sell-off-eff-recon.html | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Bitcoin, for those not aware, is a completely digital currency -- one where exchanges between individuals are largely anonymous and secured through cryptography, and one that has seen its hype-meter go off the charts in recent months. That, inevitably, has had some people waiting for a fall, and it took a big one this week. While things have since bounced back, the value of the currency on the so-called Mt. Gox exchange dropped from around $17.50 to just one cent in a matter of moments during the early hours of June 20th -- a drop that's since been attributed to a compromised account. Thanks to a daily withdrawal limit, however, that apparently only resulted in $1,000 actually being stolen, and a claims process has now been set up for those affected. While not directly related to the sell off, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (or EFF ) also dealt a bit of a blow to the upstart currency this week, when it announced that it would no longer be accepting Bitcoin donations. According to the organization, that's both because it doesn't "fully understand the complex legal issues involved with creating a new currency system," and because it doesn't want its acceptance of Bitcoins misconstrued as an endorsement of Bitcoin. Head on past the break for an account of the aforementioned plunge as it happened. [Thanks, Zigmar; image: Wikipedia ] |
1,328,119,352 | 2012-02-01 18:02:32+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [18, 195, 1871, 2827, 3683]} | {"Bitcoin": [0]} | Bitcoin May Be The Currency Of The Future | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-may-currency-future-180232983.html | Investopedia | http://www.investopedia.com/ | Have you heard of Bitcoin? If you're a fan of the NBC legal drama The Good Wife , then you may have learned of it for the first time there. But if you're like most, you probably didn't know that Bitcoin existed or even what it is. You know of the dollar, the euro and the peso as ways to buy items and get paid for your service, but these fiat currencies as they are called may someday be replaced by a virtual currency that is only in digital form. So, how does it work? History The mechanics behind digital currency appear complicated, but the major problem facing it is easy to understand. What would keep you from using it more than once? Assuming your digital currency was placed in your digital wallet, why couldn't you send it out to multiple people at the same time? With traditional currency, there is a physical exchange and unless you have exceptional resources that allow you to counterfeit, you can only use it once until you earn it back. Because of that, digital currency has to be encrypted and just like with a credit card, there has to be some kind of clearing facility that keeps track of when a currency is used and who owns it. The early digital currencies were based around this idea, but having one central place seemed like a recipe for corruption to the creators. So they made the clearing house a process that happened on computers all over the world instead of just one place. They also didn't want the value of the currency to be controlled by a central bank, the way traditional currencies are controlled. The bitcoin system releases a set amount on a certain schedule. In order to earn bitcoins, they have to be mined, much like gold but in a digital format. A complicated cryptographic puzzle has to be solved in order to activate the bitcoin, and the first person to solve it was the successful miner of the bitcoin block and now owns it. Bitcoins started with pennies in value in April of 2010, but quickly rose thereafter. As the value rose, more bitcoin miners set up powerful systems to unlock the new bitcoin codes. As bitcoins gained popularity in 2011 the price rose beyond parity, and after Forbes ran a piece describing bitcoins, the exchange rate hit a peak of $29.57 to purchase one bitcoin. People who had held bitcoins from the beginning were millionaires in less than one year. The Problems As bitcoins rose in popularity, problems developed. This was not a mainstream currency with mainstream businesses adopting it. Who would want to accept payment in a currency without a guaranteed value? Next, people without advanced computer skills weren't interested in the hassle of mining or digital wallets, so the system has never reached beyond a relatively small amount of technologically savvy group of people. Then, a series of online attacks sent the currency plummeting in value. Bitcoins were stolen from exchanges and in one instance, hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of bitcoins were mistakenly deleted. The current value sits around $6, but with demand faltering and less merchants excited about this 21st century currency, some believe that bitcoins may have a shorter life than previously thought. One of the ideas behind digital currency is to remove the market effects of traditional currency, but quite the opposite happened. As the popularity rose, currency speculators were able to manipulate the price making this currency even more volatile than commodities like gold and silver, and much more volatile than the dollar. There's also the problem of trustworthiness. Although traditional or fiat currencies may not be based on an underlying asset like gold, they have an implied value due to their universal adoption. Bitcoins aren't backed by a hard asset or a large government, so there is no guarantee that bitcoins will hold any value in the future. The Bottom Line Those who try to develop digital currency will face many of the same problems that have plagued paper currencies for generations. Because currency is not only a means to buy and sell but also an investment product, the currency may have to be regulated in some form. Although popular venture capitalist Fred Wilson believes that a digital currency not controlled by governments will make a large scale emergence in his lifetime, he still isn't sure if that's a good thing or not. More From Investopedia Are $1 Coins A Better Option Than $1 Bills? 6 Currencies With A Bright Future How The Triffin Dilemma Affects Currencies |
1,332,444,236 | 2012-03-22 19:23:56+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [562, 705, 981, 1064, 2068, 2221, 2340, 2399]} | {"Bitcoin": [56]} | Should Africa Adopt a Shared Currency? And Should It Be Bitcoin? | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/africa-adopt-shared-currency-bitcoin-192356678.html | The Atlantic | http://www.theatlantic.com/ | Dekstop /Flickr I wrote on Monday about Sweden's move toward an ever-more-cashless society: The country is pointing the way -- with other European and North American countries following its lead -- toward ever-more-digital financial transactions. Rüdiger Koch, a German software developer, wants to expand the cash-reduction trend to Africa. But he wants to take things a step further, too: Koch -- who is also a consultant to the bitcoin exchange Intersango -- argues that Africa should adopt a euro -style shared currency. And that that currency should be the Bitcoin . An article in Technology Review explores the validity of Kock's arguments. "In the United States and Europe," Tom Simonite reports, "Bitcoin's meteoric rise was mostly driven by speculators; hardly anyone used the currency to actually pay for goods and services." The currency's exchange value has plummeted -- from $30 last summer to around $5 right now. In February, Tradehill -- the largest exchange where Bitcoins could be traded for dollars -- closed , citing "increasing regulation." A Bitcoin economy might have better luck in Africa, though, Koch argues. The countries of Africa, after all, tend to differ from the U.S. and those of Europe in two significant ways: First, their centralized banking systems are (generally) weak. Despite quick growth in nations like Kenya and Nigeria, cash transactions are still standard -- "particularly," Simonite notes, "in rural areas where there are no ATMs and few people have bank accounts." Second, mobile phones are on the rise in Africa. The number of mobile subscribers has grown almost 20 percent year-over-year for the past five years, the GSM Association reports, leading to expectations that there will be more than 735 million subscribers on the African continent by the end of 2012. "It may seem unlikely, given its track record in technological development," The Guardian's Killian Fox wrote last year , "but Africa is at the center of a mobile revolution." Story continues So people are already carrying the tools that could facilitate Bitcoin-based exchanges, Koch notes. From there -- and particularly as prices for the phones that use Google's Android software continue to drop -- "the Bitcoin community," Koch argues, could create open-source technology that builds on mobile operating systems to create Bitcoin-based apps. Koch imagines "a design similar to the Bitcoin for Android app, which allows one person to transfer bitcoins to another by using a phone to snap a photo of a 2D bar code or QR code on the screen of another phone" -- creating a society and an economy in which "people could exchange money when they meet on the street." Or, well, "money." More From The Atlantic Who Loves Inflation? Wall Street Loves Inflation! Chart of the Day: A Short History of 200 Years of Global Energy Use Goldman: This Awful Decade Could Be the Century's Best for Global Growth |
1,345,679,880 | 2012-08-22 23:58:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [450]} | {} | MasterCard denies BitCoin card rumors, BitInstant says it's still on track | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2012-08-22-mastercard-denies-bitcoin-card-rumors.html | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | MasterCard shoots down BitCoin debit card rumors Well, BitInstant is insistent that it will launch a BitCoin debit card , but MasterCard is claiming it will not be part of the plans. After a mock up of the plastic made the rounds featuring the company's logo, the financial powerhouse felt it necessary to reach out to us, clarifying its non-involvement. "MasterCard has no relationship with BitInstant. There are issuers who allow the conversion of Bitcoins to US dollars and other currencies, delivered on prepaid cards. However, we're not aware of this particular programme from BitInstant." Of course, if you read the transcript of Charlie Shrem's chat announcing the plans, he never actually names MasterCard. The logo was likely meant as a placeholder -- one that some outlets took a little too literally. Interestingly, this doesn't actually mean that MasterCard won't be involved... just that the company isn't at this point in the process. BitInstant released its own statement, just hours after the card house contacted us, saying that it has been working with MasterCard affiliates, but had yet to submit to the financial firm directly. "The card program is moving forward and the arrangement with MasterCard will be handled in due time at the proper stage of the process by the partners who work directly with that company." So, what have we learned today? Not a whole heck of a lot actually, other than the fact that putting out a debit card is a complicated business. You'll just have to stay tuned to see how this shakes out. |
1,347,025,081 | 2012-09-07 13:38:01+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1231, 5352]} | {} | Claim of Romney taxes theft a puzzling whodunit | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/claim-romney-taxes-theft-puzzling-whodunit-223541746.html | Associated Press | https://apnews.com/ | WASHINGTON (AP) — Assuming it's not a hoax, the purported theft of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's tax returns has all the trappings of a high-tech whodunit: a politically themed burglary, a $1 million demand in hard-to-trace Internet currency, password-protected data and a threat to reveal everything in three more weeks. But can it be believed? The Secret Service and FBI were investigating the case Thursday after someone claimed to have burglarized a PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting office in Franklin, Tenn., and stolen two decades' worth of Romney's tax returns. The claimed theft, made in an anonymous letter sent to the accounting firm and political offices in Tennessee, has surfaced a critical moment during the 2012 presidential campaign amid the Republican and Democratic conventions. The ransom target in the case — Romney's tax returns — was carefully selected: Romney, worth an estimated $250 million, has steadfastly declined to make public more than one year's tax returns so far, and Democrats have sought to portray him as so wealthy he is out of touch with middle class voters. Authorities are studying computer thumb drives that were delivered with an unusual demand: a $1 million payment in "Bitcoin" Internet currency. The letter said the tax returns delivered on the thumb drives were encrypted, and more copies would be sent to "all major news media outlets." It promised to reveal the password to unlock the tax returns on Sept. 28 if payment is not made. PricewaterhouseCoopers has said there was no evidence that anything was stolen. The alleged culprit suggested an insider helped in the burglary and theft from the firm's network file servers, knowingly or unwittingly: "We are sure that once you figure out where the security breach was, some people will probably get fired, but that is not our concern," the letter said. The plot in this mystery has enough holes that it could be an elaborate hoax. But it comes at a critical moment during the 2012 presidential campaign. In its broadest outlines, the case might be compared to Watergate, the 1972 political break-in that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. But unlike Watergate, which started with the arrest of bungling burglars traced to Republicans, the Tennessee case is a baffling mystery so far, without any clear suspects. There is no evidence Democrats were involved. Story continues "I looked at the letter and thought, 'Who on earth thinks we're gullible enough to fall for this?'" said Peter Burr, chairman of the Williamson County Democratic Party, which received one of the thumb drives and a copy of the extortion letter last week. He kept the letter and data device, growing curious about them as days passed. He rightly feared the thumb drive might be infected with a computer virus. "I had reached the point of seriously considering putting it in an old computer we have here in the office where we weren't worried if the hard drive got trashed or not," Burr said. "But by then we had received recommendations from our attorneys and word from the Secret Service. So we didn't look at it." It was unclear even among experts whether the purported theft might be a hoax. The alleged culprit so far has provided no evidence that Romney's tax returns actually were stolen, such as a scan of a partial page from one of the documents. But for seasoned and committed hackers such a theft was described as entirely plausible, especially for someone who could gain physical access to a company's keyboards. "So far, there's just zero proof. It's like every bad Hollywood plot, which makes me think this is fishy," said Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer for BeyondTrust Software Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif. "But any competent hacker, any good penetration-tester, if they wanted to get Mitt Romney's tax returns, it wouldn't be that hard to do. These breaches are absolutely possible. If you can sit at the computer it would take two minutes to bypass the log-in information." "The only time you're going to hold something over someone's head is if they're trying to keep stuff secret," Maiffret said. A former FBI cyber-crime expert, Michael J. Gibbons, said the unusual ransom demand sounded similar to popular email fraud scams. "This sounds more like a Nigerian letter scam than an organized hacking attempt," said Gibbons, former chief of FBI computer crimes investigations and now a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal in Washington. "It doesn't pass the smell test." There was no sign a thumb drive had been delivered to The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for the New York Times, Eileen Murphy, said the newspaper had not received one, either. The Wall Street Journal declined to comment. Politicians previously have found themselves targets in burglaries, thefts and hacking. Candidates and political parties have reported dozens of break-ins across the U.S. In 2007, for example, Barack Obama's Iowa field office reported a burglary that netted two laptop computers and campaign literature. The next year, a University of Tennessee student was arrested for hacking into Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal email account. He was later convicted of obstruction of justice and unauthorized access to a computer. He served an 11-month prison sentence. The demand in the latest case for $1 million in Bitcoin currency would complicate efforts to trace any payments over the Internet, but U.S. authorities have successfully uncovered such trails in other cases. "It's definitely harder than normal to uncover someone's financial identity," Maiffret said. "But our government, we find a lot of bad guys in the world in cyber-crime and terrorism cases by following the money trails." Gibbons agreed: "It's an ineffective cloak of anonymity," he said. Even if the latest case were a hoax, hackers have been alerted to intense public interest in Romney's personal finances. "You've got every hacker in the world thinking, 'Wouldn't that be awesome to do?'" Maiffret said. "I have a feeling this is going to be a hoax, but you're going to have copycats who are going to try to do this." While the extortionist's demand for $1 million appears to preclude political motivations, a prosecutor in the original Watergate burglary said motives aren't always apparent. "In the Watergate case, it wasn't clear at the outset what the motivation was," said Earl J. Silbert, a former U.S attorney in the case. "Even today there are differences of opinion over what was behind it." ___ Associated Press writers Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., and Ted Bridis in Washington contributed to this report. |
1,347,025,081 | 2012-09-07 13:38:01+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1232, 5353]} | {} | Claim of Romney taxes theft a puzzling whodunit | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/claim-romney-taxes-theft-puzzling-133801037.html | Associated Press | https://apnews.com/ | WASHINGTON (AP) -- Assuming it's not a hoax, the purported theft of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's tax returns has all the trappings of a high-tech whodunit: a politically themed burglary, a $1 million demand in hard-to-trace Internet currency, password-protected data and a threat to reveal everything in three more weeks. But can it be believed? The Secret Service and FBI were investigating the case Thursday after someone claimed to have burglarized a PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting office in Franklin, Tenn., and stolen two decades' worth of Romney's tax returns. The claimed theft, made in an anonymous letter sent to the accounting firm and political offices in Tennessee, has surfaced a critical moment during the 2012 presidential campaign amid the Republican and Democratic conventions. The ransom target in the case — Romney's tax returns — was carefully selected: Romney, worth an estimated $250 million, has steadfastly declined to make public more than one year's tax returns so far, and Democrats have sought to portray him as so wealthy he is out of touch with middle class voters. Authorities are studying computer thumb drives that were delivered with an unusual demand: a $1 million payment in "Bitcoin" Internet currency. The letter said the tax returns delivered on the thumb drives were encrypted, and more copies would be sent to "all major news media outlets." It promised to reveal the password to unlock the tax returns on Sept. 28 if payment is not made. PricewaterhouseCoopers has said there was no evidence that anything was stolen. The alleged culprit suggested an insider helped in the burglary and theft from the firm's network file servers, knowingly or unwittingly: "We are sure that once you figure out where the security breach was, some people will probably get fired, but that is not our concern," the letter said. The plot in this mystery has enough holes that it could be an elaborate hoax. But it comes at a critical moment during the 2012 presidential campaign. In its broadest outlines, the case might be compared to Watergate, the 1972 political break-in that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. But unlike Watergate, which started with the arrest of bungling burglars traced to Republicans, the Tennessee case is a baffling mystery so far, without any clear suspects. There is no evidence Democrats were involved. Story continues "I looked at the letter and thought, 'Who on earth thinks we're gullible enough to fall for this?'" said Peter Burr, chairman of the Williamson County Democratic Party, which received one of the thumb drives and a copy of the extortion letter last week. He kept the letter and data device, growing curious about them as days passed. He rightly feared the thumb drive might be infected with a computer virus. "I had reached the point of seriously considering putting it in an old computer we have here in the office where we weren't worried if the hard drive got trashed or not," Burr said. "But by then we had received recommendations from our attorneys and word from the Secret Service. So we didn't look at it." It was unclear even among experts whether the purported theft might be a hoax. The alleged culprit so far has provided no evidence that Romney's tax returns actually were stolen, such as a scan of a partial page from one of the documents. But for seasoned and committed hackers such a theft was described as entirely plausible, especially for someone who could gain physical access to a company's keyboards. "So far, there's just zero proof. It's like every bad Hollywood plot, which makes me think this is fishy," said Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer for BeyondTrust Software Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif. "But any competent hacker, any good penetration-tester, if they wanted to get Mitt Romney's tax returns, it wouldn't be that hard to do. These breaches are absolutely possible. If you can sit at the computer it would take two minutes to bypass the log-in information." "The only time you're going to hold something over someone's head is if they're trying to keep stuff secret," Maiffret said. A former FBI cyber-crime expert, Michael J. Gibbons, said the unusual ransom demand sounded similar to popular email fraud scams. "This sounds more like a Nigerian letter scam than an organized hacking attempt," said Gibbons, former chief of FBI computer crimes investigations and now a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal in Washington. "It doesn't pass the smell test." There was no sign a thumb drive had been delivered to The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for the New York Times, Eileen Murphy, said the newspaper had not received one, either. The Wall Street Journal declined to comment. Politicians previously have found themselves targets in burglaries, thefts and hacking. Candidates and political parties have reported dozens of break-ins across the U.S. In 2007, for example, Barack Obama's Iowa field office reported a burglary that netted two laptop computers and campaign literature. The next year, a University of Tennessee student was arrested for hacking into Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal email account. He was later convicted of obstruction of justice and unauthorized access to a computer. He served an 11-month prison sentence. The demand in the latest case for $1 million in Bitcoin currency would complicate efforts to trace any payments over the Internet, but U.S. authorities have successfully uncovered such trails in other cases. "It's definitely harder than normal to uncover someone's financial identity," Maiffret said. "But our government, we find a lot of bad guys in the world in cyber-crime and terrorism cases by following the money trails." Gibbons agreed: "It's an ineffective cloak of anonymity," he said. Even if the latest case were a hoax, hackers have been alerted to intense public interest in Romney's personal finances. "You've got every hacker in the world thinking, 'Wouldn't that be awesome to do?'" Maiffret said. "I have a feeling this is going to be a hoax, but you're going to have copycats who are going to try to do this." While the extortionist's demand for $1 million appears to preclude political motivations, a prosecutor in the original Watergate burglary said motives aren't always apparent. "In the Watergate case, it wasn't clear at the outset what the motivation was," said Earl J. Silbert, a former U.S attorney in the case. "Even today there are differences of opinion over what was behind it." ___ Associated Press writers Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., and Ted Bridis in Washington contributed to this report. |
1,351,512,372 | 2012-10-29 12:06:12+00:00 | {"BTC": [1540]} | {} | The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Hess, Royal Dutch Shell, Apache, Visa and MasterCard | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zacks-analyst-blog-highlights-hess-120612596.html | Zacks | http://www.zacks.com/ | For Immediate Release Chicago, IL – October 29, 2012 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Hess Corporation ( HES ), Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A), Apache Corporation ( APA ), Visa Inc. ( V ) and MasterCard Incorporated ( MA ). Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513 Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog: Hess to Divest North Sea Fields U.S. energy company Hess Corporation ( HES ) entered into an agreement with Europe’s largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A) to sell its interest in the Beryl area fields and the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation System. Shell will pay $525 million for this deal. The fields, which are located in the North Sea near Aberdeen, Scotland, are jointly operated by Hess Corp. with Apache Corporation ( APA ). During the first nine months of 2012, the Beryl field produced 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Shell’s current interest in the Beryl field yields 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Following the acquisition, the company plans to increase production to up to 24,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Shell’s interest in the fields will increase in a range of 9–65%. Last month, Hess Corp. sold its interest in Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli fields ( ACG ) in Azerbaijan and the BTC pipeline to ONGC Videsh Ltd. for $1 billion. Earlier this year, the company offloaded $2.4 billion worth of assets, including this transaction. The sale is anticipated to complete in the first quarter of 2013, subject to regulatory approval. New York City, New York-based Hess Corporation, previously known as Amerada Hess Corporation, is an integrated energy company engaged in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) and refining as well as marketing. Hess’ new strategy of concentrating on high-impact exploration areas compared to low risk areas; its exposure to areas with high resource potential (such as Brazil, Ghana, Libya and offshore Australia), strong growth throughout the Bakken oil shale play, along with robust holdings in the Eagle Ford Shale and the Utica Shale are expected to raise its earnings, cash flow and valuation. However, we believe that future asset sales will likely hamper the company's production and bring down its profitability levels. Considering the situation, we expect the stock to perform in line with other industry players and the broader market and maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Hess. The company retains a Zacks #3 Rank (equivalent to a short-term Hold rating). Story continues Visa Hikes Dividend 50% Earlier this week, Visa Inc. ( V ) announced a 50% hike in its quarterly dividend to the holders of its class A, B and C equity shares. Consequently, the company will pay a quarterly dividend of 33 cents per share, up from 22 cents paid in the prior quarter. This takes the annual cash dividend of Visa to $1.32 per share, compared with 88 cents paid earlier. Considering the closing share price of $136.49 on October 24, 2012, the increased dividend translates into a dividend yield of 97%, substantially higher than 64% paid earlier. The increased dividend will be paid on December 4, 2012 to shareholders of record as of November 16, 2012. Visa’s strong balance sheet and ample free cash balance allowed it to increase the quarterly dividend amount. The company believes in sharing its returns with shareholders to enhance shareholder value. Consequently, it has been increasing its dividend annually over the past four years. In October 2011, Visa hiked its annual dividend by 47% to 88 cents per share from the prior dividend payout of 60 cents per share. Before that, in October 2010, the company increased its annual dividend by about 20% from the 2009 level, when it had raised the dividend by 19% over 2008. Earnings Precap Visa is scheduled to release its fourth quarter and fiscal 2012 on October 31 after the closing bell. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Visa’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2012 (ended September 30, 2012) earnings is currently pegged at $1.50 per share, up about 18% year over year. Of the 26 firms covering the stock, one revised the estimate upward while no downward revisions were witnessed in the past 30 days. For fiscal 2012 (ended September 30, 2012), Visa’s earnings are expected to be $6.16 per share, which surged about 23% over 2011 level. Visa’s fiscal third-quarter 2012 (ended June 30, 2012) operating earnings of $1.56 per Class A common share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.45. Additionally, the earnings substantially exceeded prior-year quarter’s earnings of $1.26 per share, primarily based on lower share count. Visa, which competes with MasterCard Incorporated ( MA ), currently carries a Zacks #2 Rank, implying a Buy rating for the short term. We maintain a long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock. Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515 . About Zacks Equity Research Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term. Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons. Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517 About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leon Zacks. As a PhD from MIT Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518 . Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com http://www.zacks.com Read the analyst report on HES Read the analyst report on RDS.A Read the analyst report on APA Read the analyst report on V Read the analyst report on MA Zacks Investment Research More From Zacks.com Read the analyst report on HES,RDS.A,APA,V,MA |
1,354,314,715 | 2012-11-30 22:31:55+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [4, 789, 1345, 1732, 1896, 1969, 2220]} | {"Bitcoin": [21]} | Why virtual currency Bitcoin can’t save the Iranian economy | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-virtual-currency-bitcoin-t-223155414.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | Got Bitcoin? Probably not. AP Photo / Vahid Salemi After decades of sanctions on Iranian trade , sanctions restricting the flow of money in and out of Iran have inflicted significant damage on the Iranian economy. That owes much to the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide International Financial Transfers (SWIFT), which in March agreed to block any Iranian banks blacklisted by the European Union from using its international payment systems. Not long after the SWIFT cutoff, things started going rapidly downhill for the Iranian rial, suggesting that it has become much tougher for Iran to get hold of the hard currency it has used to prop up the rial. Now Bloomberg Businessweek has an interesting take on how a few Iranians are looking at using the anonymous electronic payment system Bitcoin to poke holes in the curtain of sanctions that separates the Iranian economy from most of the world. Iranian-American bitcoin consultant Farzhad Hashemi recently traveled to Tehran and talked up bitcoin to his friends. “They are instantly fascinated by it,” he says. “It’s a flash for them when they realize how it can solve their problems.” Iranians working or living abroad can send bitcoins to their families, who can use one of the online currency matchmaking services to find someone willing to exchange bitcoins for euros, rials, or dollars. Bitcoins are useful to Iranians wishing to move their money abroad, either to children studying in Europe or America or simply to stash cash in a safe place. Very useful—if you can use it. But that’s easier said than done for Iranians. As this report from Forbes outlines, software downloaded from US sites is subject to US export controls, and software that uses the kind of encryption Bitcoin does is banned from export to countries covered by sanctions. There are ways to get around the blockage, but you have to be pretty technically savvy: Other Bitcoin “experts” have alluded to alternative methods of downloading the Bitcoin client such as using non-U.S. independent mirrored sites, Virtual Private Network (VPN) for IP address masking, Tor if your country has an exit node, or BitTorrent file sharing. And more in the same vein. The short version: for most Iranians, Bitcoin isn’t a way out. |
1,355,040,540 | 2012-12-09 08:09:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [0, 30, 110, 160, 252, 457, 911, 1133]} | {"Bitcoin": [0, 30]} | Bitcoin-Central becomes first Bitcoin exchange licensed to operate like a bank | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2012-12-09-bitcoin-exchange-bitcoin-central-licensed-bank.html | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Bitcoin-Central becomes first Bitcoin exchange licensed to operate like a bank BitInstant may be aiming for a Bitcoin debit card , but it looks like a European Bitcoin exchange will beat it to the punch. After working with French financial regulators, Bitcoin-Central has hammered out a deal with French payment processor Acoba and France's Credit Mutuel bank to become a payment service provider, which allows it to function much like a bank. According to Bitcoin-Central, it's the first exchange of the digital currency to be licensed to operate as a bank and function within the framework of European regulations. Customers will now have funds held under their name -- rather than that of the exchange -- at Credit Mutuel and insured by the Garantie des dépôts , the French analog of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Soon, users of the service will be able to order debit cards that can use Bitcoins and Euros for purchases and cash withdrawals. Yearning for some direct deposit action? In a few months, the organization will be able to accept direct deposits and even automatically convert hard-earned cash into Bitcoins. The virtual bullion has taken its lumps , but this is a development that fans of the currency can be proud of. For more details, tap the bordering source link. [Image credit: Zach Copley, Flickr ] |
1,359,420,420 | 2013-01-29 00:47:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [3072]} | {} | SMART INVESTOR: Women-Owned Hedge Funds Are Blowing Away The Competition | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/women-owned-investment-firms-blowing-163500354.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | No matter how you slice and dice the numbers, there's little that hedge funds have going for them these days. Last year was particularly brutal for the industry, which performed just 1.3 percent better than the S&P 500 and saw hundreds of offices shuttered as a result of poor returns. But there were at least a small fraction of firms that had something to smile about –– those owned by women. A new report by financial services firm Rothstein Kass shows female hedge fund managers netted an average 8.95 percent return in the third quarter of 2012, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index (released by Hedge Fund Research) showed a 2.69 percent net return through September. “Our report certainly displays the dichotomy facing women in the alternative investment industry,” said Kelly Easterling, principal-in-charge of Rothstein Kass’ Walnut Creek office. “We definitely see increased demand for women-owned and -managed funds from institutional investors, although the pace of investments is not as fast as many of the women we polled would hope." As investors, women have time and again proven they have one weapon in particular that sets them apart from the opposite sex: patience. “The fact that women-owned or managed hedge funds have been able to handily outperform their male counterparts is not particularly surprising,” said Meredith Jones, director at Rothstein Kass and author of the study. “There have been a number of studies that show women investors to be more risk adverse, and therefore potentially better able to escape market downturns and volatility. ” And yet, there's still a glaring imbalance between female and male leadership roles in the investment business –– with fewer than 20 percent of C-level positions at hedge funds filled by women. Women are even scarcer at venture capital and private equity firms, where they make up 13 percent and 12 percent of C-level desks, according to the index. The reason? Rothstein asked 366 senior-level women in the alternative investment industry for their points of view, and nearly half admitted their gender made it "more difficult to succeed" in the business. More specifically, in an industry where reputation and track record weigh so heavily on moving up, there aren't enough open positions for women to get their feet in the door. And it doesn't help that not many women grow up dreaming about working in finance. "While there are signs of increased interest in women-owned and -managed alternative investment funds, the pace of asset flows, combined with the historical lack of supply of women in the industry, has not yet kicked off a revolution," said Jones. Still, there has arguably never been a better time for women to take the reins. Story continues "It seems as if the right ingredients are in place," she added. "Strong performance, generally positive investment outlook and emerging manager mandates ... there can be little doubt that women should become more commonplace in finance." SEE ALSO: These are the 10 worst mistakes individual investors can make > More From Business Insider Bitcoin Is Crashing HTML5 vs. Apps: Where The Debate Stands Now, And Why It Matters Here's Why I Have No Problem Traveling To 'Dangerous' Places For Women View comments |
1,361,479,019 | 2013-02-21 20:36:59+00:00 | {"BTC": [72, 441, 510, 822, 949, 1874]} | {"BTC": [0]} | BTC Marketing Group Is Recreating the Marketing Game in 2013 | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/btc-marketing-group-recreating-marketing-203659818.html | Marketwired | http://www.marketwired.com/ | HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire - Feb 21, 2013) - In the last year and a half, BTC Marketing Group has done a great deal of expansion. They have opened up to new locations on the East Coast as well as added 58 new clients to their portfolio in Houston, TX. Even more impressive is that all this is happening when Groupon and LivingSocial just announced the firing of over 1200 employees, which is about 8.9% of their total workforce. We spoke with BTC Marketing Director of Operations, Doug Ascher, about the keys to BTC Marketing Group's success over the last year. "In all honesty, it's as simple as work ethic. Our team is the hardest working team in the business in my opinion," explains Doug Ascher. When we took an inside look at the company's day-to-day operations, we got a firsthand look at what Doug was talking about. BTC Marketing Group puts together packages for professional sports teams, high end spas, national restaurant chains, and more. BTC Marketing Group takes unused inventory and repackages it. Then takes those packages, and markets and sells them to the clients target market by going out and dealing with small and medium sized businesses that their clients are trying to attract. Essentially, it is what Doug Ascher calls a "win, win, win" strategy. "For example, a sports team knows it won't fill all of its seats at the stadium, so rather than let them sit empty, they give us access to an allotted amount of tickets for certain games throughout the year. We take those tickets and develop a mini-season ticket package that we can market to the right target market. By giving the target market a huge discount for a great product, we help our client win by filling their seats, the customer wins because they get unbeatable deals that they can't get anywhere else, and we as a company win because we reap the profit," explains Doug Ascher. When seeing BTC Marketing Group operate in person, it is easy to see how they have had so much growth over the last year. We asked Doug why he thinks they are having so much success when places like Groupon are starting to struggle. "Person to person marketing is, always was, and always will be the most effective marketing strategy. The positive is it is what we do best. The negative is that if a person is going to be successful with us, they have to have an unbelievable work ethic. And in today's world, work ethic is a characteristic that is slowly disappearing." Oh, and if you want to see a perfect example of the 'work ethic' that Doug is talking about, you don't need to look any further than Doug Ascher himself. A little over a year ago, Doug was hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury. After months of hospital stays and rehab sessions, he is now back to leading his company from the front lines. When we asked him how he has been able to make such an amazing and quick comeback, he simply says, "If I am going to ask my office team to give me 100% work ethic, then I have to be the first one out there leading from the front and doing it myself." |
1,361,987,994 | 2013-02-27 17:59:54+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2211]} | {} | 31% of Kenyas GDP is spent through mobile phones | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/31-kenya-gdp-spent-mobile-175954101.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | Pundits like to talk about how developing countries can leapfrog rich countries by skipping certain stages of developmentfor example, by going straight to an economy based on renewable energy without first passing through a phase of messy fossil-fuel based industrializationbut it rarely happens. M-Pesa, the system of mobile payments first launched in Kenya, is an exception . Begun in 2007 as a way to send people their microloans, M-Pesa has since become the countrys dominant method of sending remittances from workers in the city to relatives in Kenyas rural areas. Safaricom, the mobile telecommunications company that launched M-Pesa, has 19 million customers, which is nearly every adult in Kenya. Of those, 15 million use M-Pesa, which processes 80 transactions a second and handles transactions responsible for 31% of the $33.62 billion GDP of Kenya, reports the Financial Times (paywall). There are more than 700 million cell phones in Africa, and 70% of the population has one. Coincidentally, 70% of the population also has no access to a bank. The runaway success of M-Pesa can be attributed to the collision of these forces, though it hasnt been equally successful in every country in which its been introduced, notes Vanessa Clark at TechCrunch . For example, M-Pesa never took off in South Africa, possibly because banks there learned a lesson from what happened in Kenya and began offering similar mobile payment services before it even arrived. In South Africa, mobile payments are dominated by Fundamo, which was acquired by Visa in 2011 for $110 million and is now the basis of mobile payment systems being rolled out in India (where M-Pesa is also establishing a foothold ) and Rwanda. In the US and other rich countries, payments via cell phone are still languishing behind a tangle of standardsNear Field Communication, countless apps and various failed efforts at mobile wallets . In Africa, though, the lack of existing banking and other types of infrastructure have propelled many countries into the payments future that smartphones were supposed to enabledespite the fact that the overwhelming majority of phones in Africa remain low-end feature phones. More from Quartz Bitcoin is trading at a record high Filipinos like overseas relatives to deliver cash to their doors, and Mexicans prefer it in-store This heat map from Square shows how local commerce exploded around the Super Bowl |
1,363,020,265 | 2013-03-11 16:44:25+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1877, 2205]} | {} | Winning the future: Alternatives to InTrade | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/winning-future-alternatives-intrade-164425747.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | Who could have seen this coming? The Dublin-based online prediction market InTrade announced late Sunday that it was closing down immediately, citing possible financial irregularities . It was an unexpected eventironically just the kind of thing that sites like InTrade are supposed to foresee. There is little consensus about whether prediction markets (or futures markets, or bookmakers, which provide much the same function) actually do a good job of predicting the future. And the various markets can vary widely in their predictions, giving rise to lucrative arbitrage opportunities for those who know how to exploit the spreads . InTrade is down, possibly for good. But alternatives for those interested in placing a wager on the futureor tapping into the collective wisdom of those betsare proliferating in friendly legal jurisdictions: Betfair Based in Gilbraltar, it is the new favorite of prediction market expert Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan. He said on Twitter that Betfair has even deeper markets (though no US traders). Sample wager: Front-runners for the 2016 US presidential election . Paddy Power Based in Ireland, naturally, the company is known for its controversial advertising and politically incorrect predictions, like the possible assassination of President Obama and the date of extinction of the polar bear. Sample wager: First country to leave the euro Pinnacle Based in Curaçao, a Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela, Pinnacle is a traditional bookmaker, rather than an exchange that aggregates the opinions of many bettors. Sample prediction: Frontrunners to be the next pope iPredict Based in New Zealand and co-owned by Victoria University, iPredict was established in 2008 and offers wagers on domestic politics and world affairs. Sample prediction: Will North Korea violate the border with South Korea in 2013? Bets of Bitcoin This new site takes bets in the electronic currency of bitcoins, which could make it more feasible for users in the United States to participate. InTrade closed its site to US bettors in November after it was sued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly violating trading rules. Many wagers on Bets of Bitcoin are centered around the price of bitcoins themselves. Story continues Sample prediction: The movie Oz the Great and Powerful will gross at least $125 million in the US by April 8th, 2013. More from Quartz Introducing our new obsession: Congress only has 16 working days to prevent the fiscal cliff I grew up Gangnam Stylebut the South Korea of my youth had none of Psy's irony Even if China reverses its one-child policy it's too late to make a difference |
1,363,975,628 | 2013-03-22 18:07:08+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2073, 2172]} | {} | We’re heading for a world with more smartphones than bank accounts | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heading-world-more-smartphones-bank-180708611.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | Bank accounts are out, smartphones are in. In 2011, some 2.5 billion people in the world were “unbanked ” (pdf), as the lingo goes, according to the World Bank. By 2016, more people will have bank accounts, but in regions like the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, even more will have smartphones, research and consulting firm Analysys Mason predicts in a report today. As we’ve written before, the increasing availability of cheap smartphones in emerging markets is one of the most important consumer trends today. Smartphone penetration should reach 46% in Asia by 2017 from 23% in 2012, and 29% in the Middle East and North Africa from 7% last year. The International Data Corporation forecasts that 70% of all smartphones shipped will be destined for emerging markets by 2017. That quick growth means that smartphone owners should surpass bank-account holders by 2016 in most emerging Asian countries (Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) as well as in the Middle East and North Africa, Analysys Mason estimates. In 2011, more residents had smartphones than credit cards in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt—an indication, Satvik Singhania, an author of the report says, of how many people lack access to financial institutions. Smartphone and credit card ownership in China, Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Thailand in 2011. Analysys Mason Yet these new smartphone users don’t all use their phones the same way as their counterparts in more developed economies. Many don’t go on the internet because of expensive data plans and poor service. But given the lack of access to formal banking, there’s more opportunity for the mobile money industry in these markets than there has been in the US and other wealthy countries. In Kenya, considered a leader in the mobile money world, the value of transactions done via phones reached over $16 billion last year. It would be a huge boost for the industry if the same happens in countries with massive populations like China, Indonesia or Egypt. More from Quartz Bitcoin is out of control, soaring 57% this week 31% of Kenya's GDP is spent through mobile phones Bitcoin is trading at a record high |
1,364,482,495 | 2013-03-28 14:54:55+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1837]} | {} | Kenyans and poor Americans have this in common: mobile banking | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kenyans-poor-americans-common-mobile-145455177.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | We’ve reported on how people in emerging markets residents are opening bank accounts and paying for things with their mobile phones, transforming business in those countries. But the US Federal Reserve would like you to know (pdf) that the changes aren’t all in other parts of the world. Poor people in the US are some of the most avid users of mobile banking and mobile payment systems. In fact, they’re likely to be the first adopters. And when you look at why, it turns out to be for similar reasons to why people in emerging markets have embraced mobile banking and payments: a lack of access to traditional banking. Around 9.5% of Americans said they were completely “unbanked,” meaning they didn’t have a savings, checking, or money market account. (In Kenya, for comparison, the proportion is 70%.) Meanwhile, 10% are ”underbanked”—which the Fed defines as “people with bank accounts but who use check cashers, payday lenders, or payroll cards.” But despite being among the poorest, most of these people—59% of the unbanked, and 90% of the underbanked—have mobile phones, and around half of them are smartphones. And this makes them pretty different from the rest of the US: Of underbanked consumers with phones, 49% use mobile banking, versus just 28% of all people in the US with mobile phones. 30% of underbanked residents have used mobile payments in the last 12 months, compared to 15% of the total population of mobile phone users. Also intriguing is that the percentage of the population without a bank account is slowly declining, from 10.8% in 2011 to 9.5% in 2012. Whether that’s because prosperity is returning, banks are reaching more people, or mobile banking is encouraging more people to sign up for accounts, the Fed doesn’t say. More from Quartz We're heading for a world with more smartphones than bank accounts Bitcoin is out of control, soaring 57% this week 31% of Kenya's GDP is spent through mobile phones |
1,364,498,580 | 2013-03-28 19:23:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [0, 434, 832, 1390]} | {"Bitcoin": [36]} | As Cyprus' Woes Deepen, Interest in Bitcoin Soars | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/on-cyprus-bank-crisis-bitcoin-soars.html | AOL.com | https://www.aol.com/ | Bitcoin and Cyprus Getty Images Steve Jurvetson, Flickr.com The recent decision by the government of Cyprus to shut down the island's banks and limit the amount depositors can withdraw from their accounts reveals just how real the country's financial woes are. Yet even as Cypriots are most keen to get their hands on cold, hard cash, some investors are placing their bets on the virtual currency known as bitcoin. %VIRTUAL-pullquote-Bitcoin in some senses is a financial island, operating at a safe distance from the traditional banking system.%Used primarily to buy goods and services online, bitcoin is a recent invention, created just four years ago by an Internet hacker (or group of hackers) known as Satoshi Nakamoto. As Bloomberg BusinessWeek notes , even by Web standards, bitcoin "is a strange and supergeeky phenomenon." Bitcoins operate on a network that somewhat resembles a typical exchange on the capital markets. As CNBC reports , buyers can exchange national currencies for bitcoins and use them wherever they are accepted, and sellers can exchange bitcoins for traditional national currencies. As the financial crisis has deepened in Cyprus, and holders of euros and Russian rubles become increasingly anxious, the value of the bitcoin has surged. As ABC News reports , the exchange rate for 1 bitcoin has soared to nearly $80 from $40 just two weeks ago. Sponsored Links Bitcoin is "clearly having a breakthrough moment here, and a deeply surprising one given its novelty and nascent infrastructure," Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group, told the network. As DailyFinance reported last year , bitcoin in some senses is a financial island, operating at a safe distance from the traditional banking system. It's neither controlled by central banks nor governments, and thus not vulnerable to larger-scale shifts like changing interest rates, nor the rampant inflation of countries in decline. It's that isolation from geopolitical turmoil that has been its true selling point for people in Europe. How does it work? As Motley Fool reports , instead of relying on a central bank or other regulatory body, bitcoin transactions are verified through peer-to-peer interactions. If a user sends bitcoins to another user's "wallet" file, that transaction is verified through other users, and is written into a collective transaction log. Transactions are easy, and fees for transfers are minimal. As with any currency, however, there are risks, including volatile swings in the value of bitcoin, which makes it difficult for businesses to accept them with any degree of confidence. Currency analysts, however, are at least willing to give bitcoin the benefit of the doubt as a legitimate trading vehicle as situations like Cyprus continue to crop up. As Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX, told CNBC. "Right now, it seems safe, [though] it wouldn't be my preferred vehicle to trade money because it's unregulated." |
1,364,532,971 | 2013-03-29 04:56:11+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2872]} | {} | Quartz Daily Brief—Europe Edition—North Korea armed and ready, an S&P 500 record, looming doom for OPEC | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quartz-daily-brief-europe-edition-045611612.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | What to watch for today North Korea’s rockets are on standby. The US flew two stealth bombers from Missouri to South Korea and back in a show of force against Kim Jong-un’s sabre-rattling, prompting North Korea to raise its military readiness . US consumer checkup. Updates on personal income and consumer confidence are due. Good Friday. Pope Francis will lead services at the Vatican. Financial markets are closed in Hong Kong, Europe and the US. Thai economy numbers. Current account, trade balance, and foreign reserves are due for one of southeast Asia’s hotter economies. While you were sleeping Abenomic indicators. Household spending in Japan was up 0.8%, performing better than the expected 0.2%. Unemployment also fell. On the flip side, industrial output unexpectedly fell 0.1% , suggesting a bumpy start to Shinzo Abe’s stimulus plans. More gloom for South Korea. Industrial output in South Korea also dipped unexpectedly last month, down 0.8% from January . The government announced yesterday that it was preparing a package of stimulus measures. India broke a new record. Its current-account deficit hit an eye-watering $32.6 billion , or 6.7% of GDP, in the last quarter of 2012, up from $20.2 billion the previous year and from $22.3 billion in the third quarter. Nothing happened in Italy. More specifically, the center-left coalition couldn’t form a government. Now it’s up to president Giorgio Napolitano to figure out another option , which could include naming an outsider to run a technocratic government similar to that of previous prime minister Mario Monti. Cypriot bank runs didn’t happen. There were long lines, but relatively few overt signs of panic . The country’s foreign minister said, somewhat optimistically, that capital controls would probably last a month . The S&P 500 hit a new record. It beat the closing high set in 2007, even though its most important stock, Apple, has been a real slacker lately . BackBerry? The troubled smartphone maker posted a profit in its fourth quarter . Story continues Quartz obsession interlude Steve LeVine on why Russia and OPEC could be looking at a tough next decade if oil demand craters as much as some expect. “The result of this for the countries would be intensified Arab Spring-style political volatility, as governments cut back on social spending and other sweeteners to the population. As for industry, some smaller oil companies currently living off the fat of the land would vanish, and Big Oil at best would seriously shrink. Countries like gas-rich Qatar would be winners; Saudi Arabia, reliant on oil, would be in trouble.” Read more here . Matters of debate Seriously Cyprus, get out of there. Why the island nation should leave the euro zone immediately . And let’s face it: The Cyprus “crisis” was phony . Somebody should make a video game out of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice . Bitcoin bugs. The 21st-century cousins of goldbugs are proliferating, as some argue that the electronic currency is the world’s last safe haven , and its total value tops $1 billion . The short view . Looking for a market to bet against? May we direct your attention to France . What happens to Chinese tycoons who fall out of favor? They go missing . Surprising discoveries Wei up. The number of Chinese government Weibo accounts was up 250% in 2012 . Synergies. Wal-Mart apparently wants its customers to deliver packages to other customers . The Nazis had absurd rules for jazz musicians . For instance , “Plucking of the strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality.” Why helium is like mortgages. The helium market doesn’t work without the active involvement of the US government. North Korea isn’t the least-visited country in the world. It’s number 16 . Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, bitcoins, and North Korean travel plans to hi@qz.com . You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief here , tailored for morning delivery in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. More from Quartz Quartz Daily Brief—Asia Edition—Abenomic indicators, Italy's non-government, bitcoin bugs, Nazi jazz rules Quartz Daily Brief—Americas Edition—Cyprus banks open, cybersecurity theater, black swan omens Quartz Daily Brief—Europe Edition—Cyprus banks reopen, Chinese bank stocks fall, and UK banks could use a few billion quid |
1,364,828,460 | 2013-04-01 15:01:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [132, 354, 423, 644, 695, 872, 1314, 1351]} | {"Bitcoin": [4]} | The Bitcoin Economy Is Going Through A Massive Bout Of Hyperdeflation That Could Be Devastating | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-now-seeing-massive-hyperdeflation-150137370.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | The price of a bitcoin -- the uber-buzzy digital currency -- is surging. A few weeks ago it was at $40. This morning the price of a Bitcoin hit $100. It's now over $104, as this pretty chart from Clarkmoody.com shows . All of this is stoking an incredible amount of interest in the currency. The media is obsessed. Businessweek recently wondered whether Bitcoin was the last safehaven . But there's a downside to this. The Bitcoin economy is now in a terrible state of hyperdeflation. You know what Hyperinflation is, it's when prices surge. Hyperdeflation is when prices violently collapse. So a few weeks ago, a pizza might have cost you one Bitcoin. Today it might only cost you a fifth of a Bitcoin, which sounds great, but then if you're looking at the above chart, why would you spend anything? Why would you buy a pizza (or pot or anything else) when tomorrow your Bitcoin will be worth more? With this kind of chart, you'd be insane to do anything but horde your coins. So yes, all the hype is great for some folks in the ecosystem, but ultimately there's a reason that over time, government prefer to see their currency slowly depreciate. A surging currency leads to hoarding which kills real transactions. More From Business Insider Programmer Robert McNally Put Together An Awesome Presentation On What Bitcoin Really Is This Story About A Bitcoin ATM Coming To Cyprus Is Almost Certainly Nonsense Folks Who Used To Be Fanatical About Silver And Gold Have Now Got A New Obsession... |
1,364,849,700 | 2013-04-01 20:55:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [22, 230, 612]} | {"Bitcoin": [47]} | CHART OF THE DAY: The Insane Parabolic Rise Of Bitcoin | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chart-day-insane-parabolic-rise-205522683.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | The parabolic rise of Bitcoin has caught a lot of people off guard this year and is generating a ton of investor interest. Nick Colas at ConvergEx Group, the only Wall Street strategist we know of so far who has written about the Bitcoin market, says all of his clients think the virtual currency is in a bubble . When one looks at a chart, going all the way back to 2010, it's easy to see why the word "bubble" is being tossed around among investors. Whether it continues to go up is anyone's guess, but Colas thinks there are five broad themes converging to create a "perfect storm" behind the current rise of Bitcoin. Click here to read his take > More From Business Insider CHART OF THE DAY: How People Use Facebook On Smartphones CHART OF THE DAY: Game Makers Are Picking Mobile Devices Over Consoles CHART OF THE DAY: Yahoo Shares Are Quietly Soaring Under Marissa Mayer |
1,364,882,411 | 2013-04-02 06:00:11+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2875]} | {} | How to short bitcoins (if you really must) | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/short-bitcoins-really-must-060011082.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | The rise of bitcoin, an electronic currency traded on an online exchange, has generated a media frenzy. Once scoffed at, its value has risen by 631% (denominated in dollars) since the start of 2013. Lots of people think that means were in a bitcoin bubble and it will eventually pop. But if youre one of these bitcoin bears, the company doesnt make it easy for you to short iti.e., bet that its value will go down. The usual way to short a currency is to use a currency pairsomething like EUR/USD, the value of a euro denominated in dollarswhich trades as a single unit. For example, if the euro was trading at $1.3000, you would borrow a currency pair from your broker, which you have to return within a certain period of time, and sell it on the open market, pocketing $1.30. If after an hour EUR/USD is trading at $1.2950, you can buy the currency pair at that price and return it to your broker, making a profit of $0.0050. (If youre wrong, you lose out.) Most of the exchanges which allow you to trade bitcoins, however, dont currently offer anything like currency pairs, nor any other futures or derivatives. Which means you would have to amass a stock of actual bitcoins to bet on them. That gets expensive. One day, if bitcoin becomes well established, institutional foreign exchange dealers could make markets in bitcoins. (Among the current obstacles: There are only 11 million bitcoins in existence, and there can never be more than 21 million, so its not a very liquid market. If a way ever emerges to break bitcoins up into small fractions, that might solve the problem.) But for those looking to short bitcoins right now, there are two notable ways to do it: Bitfinex : A Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange based in Hong Kong, Bitfinex allows ordinary bitcoin holders to act like brokers and lend bitcoins to people who want to trade them. The exchange does a lot of this automatically. ICBIT : ICBIT allows traders to make bets using futuresfinancial contracts in which a buyer agrees to buy a security, in this case a bitcoin, at a future date at a predetermined price. Futures contracts can be bought and sold, so you can make money without buying the actual bitcoins themselves. This platform will also let you trade commodities, such as oil, in bitcoins. Story continues Still, do you really want to short bitcoins? The market is still pretty volatile, and because its an unfamiliar mix of currency and equity, its likely to stay that way for a while. Remarks Cullen Roche, the founder of Orcam Financial Group, Youd probably be better off just going to Vegas though. Youll have more fun, about the same odds, and the drinks in the casino will be free. If youd like to make us aware of any other means of shorting bitcoin, please email sf@qz.com. More from Quartz The psychology of bitcoin captured in one bizarre, catchy Cypriot anthem Bitcoin, up 152% this month, tops $1 billion in total value Poor Americans are the ones dragging the country into 21st-century banking |
1,364,902,680 | 2013-04-02 11:38:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [91, 436, 508]} | {"Bitcoin": [76]} | WALL STREET CURRENCY ANALYST: One Hour Ago, I Had My First Client Ask About Bitcoin | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-currency-analyst-one-113800724.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | SocGen currency analyst Sebastien Galy has just received his first request for analysis on Bitcoin, the red-hot digital currency that's become the obsession of the media and parts of the internet. In an email to Business Insider , Galy says he's been besieged with questions from journalists in recent weeks, but that his first actual client inquired about an hour ago. So anyway, Galy felt obliged to email some comments about valuing Bitcoins, and where they could be going. Here are some of his comments: Bitcoins have a money supply that is theoretically increasing following an algorithm approximating the effort of mining. With far more rapid advances in the technology of processing than mining, the rules have already been changed to stop some form of mining. This is effectively a form of revaluation of the currency. “Monetary Approach” - One way to value bitcoins would be to compare the money supply of the US vs bitcoins. That simplistic approach would make bitcoins very valuable if they end up being able to buy the same USD asset. This is a supply approach and easily insolvable. ... Techinicals - From a trading point of view, we broke out of the upward trending channel in an exponential upswing typical of aggressive bubbles. As all bubbles there is a good story behind it, the trick would be to measure both the supply side and more importantly demand side value of bitcoins. More From Business Insider Arianna Huffington Accused Of Trashing The Chelsea Loft She Rented For 2 Years HTML5 vs. Apps: Where The Debate Stands Now, And Why It Matters Climate Change Will Turn The Arctic From White To Green |
1,364,912,340 | 2013-04-02 14:19:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [813, 1999, 2086, 2446]} | {"Bitcoin": [34]} | Why The Feds Aren't Shutting Down Bitcoin — At Least Not Yet | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-bitcoin-doesnt-worry-fed-140949477.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | It's illegal to make your own money in the United States, but that doesn't mean the feds will shut down the digital currency bitcoin anytime soon, financial services lawyer Dan Friedberg tells us. That's because the feds don't consider bitcoin — a virtual currency that's being used around the globe — to be "tender," or official bills or coins that look like they've been issued by the U.S. government. Instead, it's considered "virtual currency." The federal government made that distinction clear in a recent announcement that it was applying money-laundering rules to bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) didn't mention bitcoin by name, but the new rules applied to "convertible decentralized virtual currency" exactly like bitcoin, Friedberg says. Bitcoin enthusiasts were a little on edge before FinCEN issued its notice. "This is a a very new area, and you really never know how the Treasury Department is going to react ," Friedberg says. Here's what Friedberg had to say in an email message: "Prior to the FinCEN release, a significant concern was that the US government might assert that bitcoin constitutes illegal tender . Indeed, the United States Constitution delegates to Congress the exclusive power to mint coin within the United States to insure a singular monetary system for purchases and debits. The Department of Treasury therefore could have taken the position that bitcoin constitutes an illegal competing currency that violates this fundamental constitutional power, but chose not to do so. Instead, FinCEN distinguished a 'virtual currency' from a 'real currency,' and noted that a 'virtual currency lacks all the real attributes of real currency .'" It's possible that the federal government is letting bitcoin stick around because it's not much of a threat to U.S. currency. Right now, bitcoin's only worth about $1 billion compared to the $1.18 trillion in U.S. currency that's in circulation. Story continues Bitcoin is also relatively unstable, Internet law attorney Mike Young points out. " If Bitcoin exchange rates stabilize, and the digital currency becomes preferred over the U.S. Dollar at some point, that would be the probable tipping point for banning it within the United States ," Young tells us. For now, bitcoin is able to exist in part because it's in the "gray area" of international currency that's based overseas, according to Young. "If Bitcoin were purely a U.S. domestic currency," Young says, "it would have been shut down a long time ago." More From Business Insider The Assassination Of Two Texas Prosecutors Is Unprecedented And Terrifying Supreme Court's Right Wing May Be Behind Push To Hear Gay Marriage EX-LAWYER: I Was Tainted Forever After Getting Laid Off From A Big New York Firm |
1,364,926,920 | 2013-04-02 18:22:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [13, 311, 588, 801, 1601, 2374, 2855, 3562, 3722, 3753, 3802]} | {"Bitcoin": [31]} | Still Nobody Knows Who Created Bitcoin — But There Are A Few Big Theories | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/still-nobody-knows-created-bitcoin-182200171.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Who invented Bitcoin? Given that the crypto-currency's value has skyrocketed in recent weeks thanks to the crisis in Europe and a spate of good publicity, you'd think we'd know the answer. But the identity of its creator — or creators — remains one of the Internet's great mysteries. Recap: Introduced in 2009, Bitcoin is really just a series of decrypted code that's been cracked by super-industrial computers (the "brute force" required to process the code can take weeks to achieve). Today, Maria Bustillos writes on the New Yorkers' new tech page, "Elements," that it's widely agreed Bitcoin emanated from an individual calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto. Until his disappearance from the Web, around the spring of 2012, Nakamoto was a visible participant on cryptography forums, where he discussed Bitcoin freely, and published a nine-page paper outlining the details of the project. These posts reveal that even in 2008, Nakamoto was able to respond to concerns regarding the scalability of bitcoin with remarkable prescience; he clearly understood the ramp-up of computing power that would be required for producing bitcoins as the system grew. But there's near universal consensus that "Satoshi Nakamoto" doesn't exist. Instead, a worldwide guessing game has sprung up over who's behind the Nakamoto handle. In 2009, the New Yorker's Joshua Davis set out to answer the question, and may have come close. He narrowed it down to a man named Michael Clear, a grad student at Trinity College, Dublin who'd been named the school's top computer science student as an undergrad. Davis noted Nakamoto's Bitcoin treatises included numerous Britishisms. Among Clear's achievements, Davis says: He was hired by Allied Irish Banks to improve its currency-trading software, and he co-authored an academic paper on peer-to-peer technology. The paper employed British spelling. Clear was well versed in economics, cryptography and peer-to-peer networks. Davis eventually forces Clear to say, "I'm not [Nakamoto], but even if I was I wouldn't tell you." Story continues Clear later denied on his personal website — since taken down — that he was Nakamoto. And there is now no real trace of him on the Internet. Meanwhile, other theories have sprung up. Fast Company 's Adam Penenberg wrote about the question in 2011 and came up with the names of three men who'd filed a patent for a Bitcoin-related technology: The three inventors listed on patent #20100042841 are Neal King, Vladimir Oksman, Charles Bry, and all three have filed numerous patent applications over the years. Neal King (he also goes by Neal J. King from Munich, Germany) is listed on a number of patent applications, notably "UPDATING AND DISTRIBUTING ENCRYPTION KEYS" (#20100042841) and "CONTENTION ACCESS TO A COMMUNICATION MEDIUM IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK" (#20090196306), both of which seem Bitcoin-y to me. Earlier this morning on CNBC , Rick Santelli said many believe it to be Grigory Perelman, a Russian mathematician. Perelman is perhaps most famous for having solved a centuries-old mathematical dilemma. That was the first time we'd heard that name, and the only places we could find it were on message boards and Russia Today. We've performed our own cursory search. Via email, security researcher Dan Kaminsky said the consensus among his colleagues is that Nakamoto is... a small group of quants from New York or London, who are deeply experienced software developers. As of deadline, he had not provided further information. It's possible we'll never know who Nakamoto really is. But if Bitcoin's value keeps going up, it may be hard for its inventor to stay low for long. More From Business Insider CHART OF THE DAY: The Insane Parabolic Rise Of Bitcoin Major VC Declares That Bitcoin Represents The 3rd Great Era Of Currency Bitcoin Prices Have Gone Utterly Nuclear In The Last Two Days |
1,364,930,280 | 2013-04-02 19:18:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [11, 394, 494, 682, 902, 935, 1127, 1176, 1221, 1380, 1504, 1721, 1765, 1805, 2069, 2163, 2308, 2451, 2888, 3005, 3335, 3397, 3594, 3806, 4004]} | {"Bitcoin": [35]} | Yes, You Have To Pay Taxes On Your Bitcoin Profits | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yes-pay-taxes-bitcoin-profits-191857023.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Demand for Bitcoins, a completely anonymous digital currency that can be used like real cash, has never been higher. The so-called "crypto currency" is now valued at $115 USD –– triple what it was at the beginning of March. Analysts have likened its rise in value to the ebb and flow of finite commodities like gold. At this point, there hasn't been any real enforcement of federal tax laws on Bitcoin users for one simple reason: Until recently, they weren't worth much. Now that a "Block" of Bitcoins is valued at more than $2,500 today (with its value only rising), there's a good chance Uncle Sam could finally start to take notice. Opponents of that conclusion will argue that Bitcoins aren't recognized anywhere as legal currency but online. No federal government backs them and anyone who owns them isn't protected if the coins are "lost" or stolen. And if the U.S. government doesn't recognize Bitcoins as legal tender, should Bitcoin miners have to report their stash on their taxes? The short answer is yes. We reached out to David D. Stewart, an international tax reporter for Tax Analyst who has widely reported on Bitcoin use, to give us the low down. For casual Bitcoin miners looking to cash in: Plenty of Bitcoin miners have likely been tempted to sell their coins for cash as the value soared in recent weeks. There are a few online currency exchange sites where Bitcoin holders can trade their coins for a number of different currencies, including U.S. dollars. Per Stewart, exchanging Bitcoins for cash is a source of income like any other and should be reported on your taxes. "As soon as you go to exchange them for dollars, you definitely have a tax obligation on that," he said. "There is value in Bitcoins, whether or not people outside the Bitcoin community believe it." Think of Bitcoins like stock. You wouldn't use your Facebook shares to pay for a new car or your monthly groceries, but you still have to report your investment gains on your taxes. The same goes for a home you've sold at a profit. Story continues For businesses accepting Bitcoins as tender: While they are few and far between, there are some businesses that accept Bitcoins like any other legal tender. For example, BitBrew.net is a San Antonio, Texas-based business that sells locally sourced coffee beans to Bitcoin holders exclusively. The owner, who goes by the pseudonym Edd, previously owned a dry cleaning business and told Stewart he treats his Bitcoin cash flow on his taxes the same as he would any other profit. "It would be the same if you had a business that did transactions in gold or Euros," Stewart explained. "You are receiving something of value in exchange for the goods. In the simplest terms, the value of what you receive less the cost of what you sell is reportable as the profit of the business and is taxable as income to the business owner." After converting the Bitcoins into U.S. dollars, you would just write it in as part of your revenue. The bottom line: Folks hoping to use Bitcoins to skirt tax laws have a couple of things going for them. First, there isn't a simple way to track down individual miners. The system tracks each and every transaction but doesn't divulge miner identities. Second, like a little kid with a lemonade stand, the IRS isn't going to go after someone who's earning a few extra Bitcoins on the side. Most of the legal attention surrounding Bitcoins has been on the system's propensity to attract money launderers and drug traffickers. "The system of tracking money is based on banking," Stewart said. "I could transfer $100,000 worth of Bitcoins to someone and no one would know about it really." Still, that's a gamble we wouldn't recommend taking. Say the IRS drops by for a traditional audit of your taxes. If they dig around and find a stash of Bitcoin revenue you failed to report, you'll only cause more trouble for yourself. When in doubt, it's wise to consult a tax professional. More From Business Insider Don't Bank On Digital Currency 'Bitcoin' Replacing The Dollar These Are The Worst States To Make A Living Take A Tour Of Graham Hill's Remarkably Tiny SoHo Apartment |
1,364,932,800 | 2013-04-02 20:00:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1283, 1396]} | {} | STOCKS RALLY, GOLD TUMBLES, BITCOIN GOES BONKERS: Here's What You Need To Know | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-rally-gold-tumbles-bitcoin-200009244.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Stock market sell-offs continue to be short-lived. First the scoreboard: Dow: 14,662, +89.1 pts, +0.6 percent S&P 500: 1,570, +8.0 pts, +0.5 percent NASDAQ: 3,254, +15.8 pts, +0.4 percent And now the top stories: It was a relatively quiet day for U.S. economic data. The stock market recovered most of yesterday's losses, which shows that this bull market still seems to have legs. U.S. factory orders rose by 3.0 percent in February, which was a tad higher than the 2.9 percent gain expected by economists. Nevertheless, the report reinforced the idea that the U.S. economy is in better shape then most think. U.S. auto sales data continues to roll out. Ford, GM , and Chrysler all reported mid-single digit growth in their March sales. Economists expect that the final tally will show that automakers sold 15.4 million vehicles on a seasonally-adjusted annual rate. Gold , on the other hand, took a nasty tumble falling over 1.5 percent. In a new note to clients, the analysts at Societe Generale declared " The End Of The Gold Era ." From the note: "Professional sentiment, as evidenced by heavy redemptions in ETFs and the increasing willingness of managed money investors to trade from the short side, confirms our view that gold may have had its “last hurrah”." In other news, Bitcoin prices exploded higher. The bizarre digital currency has been getting a ton of press lately . Currently, Bitcoin is trading at around $115, up from around $40 just two months ago . Don't Miss: The 25 Stocks Investors Are Shorting Like Crazy > More From Business Insider STOCKS FALL, APPLE DIVES, CORN GETS DESTROYED: Here's What You Need To Know FINALLY, S&P 500 CLOSES AT NEW ALL-TIME HIGH: Here's What You Need To Know STOCKS MAKE BIG COMEBACK: Here's What You Need To Know |
1,364,978,040 | 2013-04-03 08:34:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [77, 512, 997, 1089, 1158, 1290, 1693, 1788, 1825]} | {"Bitcoin": [4]} | Why Bitcoin Is Like No Other Bubble We've Seen Before | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-bitcoin-no-other-bubble-083417339.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | It's hard for any rational human to look at this chart and not conclude that Bitcoin is on an utterly parabolic rise, fueled by greed, speculation, and fascination, while being completely divorced from any "fundamentals." We have no idea when the music will stop (it could go to $500 or $1000!) but at some point there will be a moment when it ends in tears, and people will wonder why they paid 40% more for something than it was selling at the day before. Here's what's really fascinating and unique about the Bitcoin boom. This isn't the first time we've seen a bubble in something in a privately created thing that's off the traditional financial markets. For example, in the early 2000s, there was a legitimate bubble in the stuffed animals called Beanie Babies . It's not clear why suddenly people started paying through the nose through them, and why whole industries were created around them, but it happened, and then they died. In the 90s there was something of a baseball card bubble . Bitcoin is somewhere in the middle: A privately created financial instrument. But what sets Bitcoin apart is the real-time data on it. You can go here and watch Bitcoin trade tick-by-tick , which is not something you could ever do with these other unconventional micro-bubbles. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin advocates (like all bubble apologists) have great stories (this is a response to Cyprus and wild central banks!), but in reality that's just an excuse. This is a fascination that people have, and the market is incredibly tiny, so it doesn't take too many new people wanting to dabble to make the price go nuts. That's all. And it's enjoyable watching it in real time. More From Business Insider Bitcoin Just Broke $100 Programmer Robert McNally Put Together An Awesome Presentation On What Bitcoin Really Is This Story About A Bitcoin ATM Coming To Cyprus Is Almost Certainly Nonsense |
1,364,988,420 | 2013-04-03 11:27:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [321, 587, 634]} | {} | 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-know-opening-bell-112714723.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Good morning. Here's what you need to know. Markets in Asia were mixed in overnight trading. The Japanese Nikkei surged 3 percent, but the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1 percent. European markets are in the red across the board, with Italy currently down 1.2 percent. In the United States, futures point to a positive open. Bitcoin, the digital currency that has gone parabolic this year, extended its wild surge overnight . It moved to $145 from yesterday's levels around $115 before dropping back down to $126. Wall Street analysts are now beginning to field questions from clients about Bitcoin. Click here for a presentation on what Bitcoin is > China's official services PMI index, which measures economic activity in the country's services sector, rose to 55.6 from 54.5 last month. The HSBC measure of China services PMI also posted strong gains, rising to 54.3 from 52.1. Any reading over 50 on the index indicates increasing activity, so these numbers suggest that the pace of expansion in China's services sector accelerated in March. Australia said its trade deficit shrank to $178 million in February from $1.22 billion in January, marking the smallest deficit in 14 months. The numbers were boosted by a rise in the value of exports, which were in turn boosted by rising commodity prices. Economists had only expected the deficit to narrow to $1.0 billion. North Korea blocked entry for South Korean workers to a shared industrial complex on the border between the two countries for the first time since 2009. Strategists are beginning to warn that the escalation in rhetoric between the two countries is having an effect on the market . " Demand for South Korean assets has taken a backseat ever since North Korea’s ‘state of declaration’ over the weekend and its decision to restart the Yongbyon nuclear site, which was shut down by the February 2007 disarmament accord," writes Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid this morning. "Korea’s 5-year sovereign CDS has come off its recent wides but still about 5bp wider on the week." Global auto makers reported total vehicle sales (at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate) in March of 15.22 million, below the 15.33 million-unit pace observed in February and the 15.3 million figure predicted by economists. Domestic vehicle sales ticked up slightly to 12 million from 11.99 million, but missed estimates for a slightly larger rise to 12.04 million. Click here to see the 19 best selling vehicles in America > Luxury electric-car maker Tesla yesterday unveiled a new financing scheme designed to allow people to lease a Tesla for just $500 a month. However, the hybrid leasing/ownership plan seems fraught with assumptions unworkable for most people , which means the $500-per-month figure is a bit of a stretch. The Obama administration is pressuring U.S. banks to relax lending standards that have become more restrictive in the wake of the financial crisis and recession of 2008. The idea is to allow more people to participate in the housing recovery, but the fear is that it could lead to the same risky lending behavior that contributed to the crisis in the first place. ADP's monthly employment report is due out at 8:15 AM ET. Economists expect the report to show that 200,000 private jobs were created last month, up slightly from the 198,000 reported last month. The ADP number gives us a preview of the official jobs data out on Friday. A March update to the ISM non-manufacturing index, which measures activity in the American services sector, is released at 10 AM ET. Economists expect the index to moderate slightly to 55.6 from 56.0 the month before. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. Follow the data LIVE on Business Insider > BONUS: Former Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl Brooklyn Decker says she was "awestruck" with Jennifer Aniston's body and was thus too "intimidated" to do yoga with her on the set of their movie together, Just Go With It, so she "chickened out." More From Business Insider 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning |
1,364,993,400 | 2013-04-03 12:50:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [0, 170, 431, 869, 4034, 4359, 4454, 4491], "BTC": [1125, 1173, 1637, 1861]} | {"Bitcoin": [44]} | Wall Street Analyst Explains How To Value A Bitcoin, And Why It's Better To Buy Them Than To Mine Them | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-analyst-explains-value-125000271.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Bitcoins are getting more and more attention in mainstream financial circles. Sebastien Galy, a currency analyst at SocGen has put out a note to clients on the nature of Bitcoins and how one might go about valuing them. The analysis is pretty rough, but for the financially minded this is a good introduction to thinking about the economics of the currency. The middle part offers to ways one might go about thinking about valuing Bitcoins. Galy has kindly let us run his whole note, which is below the dotted line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This proved an interesting subject from a central bank/regulatory point of view. Please find below a more comprehensive view on bitcoins. I thank the many who gave me some info, in particular Steve, my super-quant (ex)colleague from MIT. Bitcoins have a money supply that is theoretically increasing, following an algorithm approximating the effort of mining. As more hashing/solving power from miners appears on the network, the difficulty of solving the next problem increases. Right now the BTC/USD is tightly following the mining cost of BTC. It tracks how many people are getting involved into it (the more people mining it, the higher cost to get it because of fixed weekly supply). Some smart investors started to realize that under this situation, you really should buy and hold rather than mining it (obviously). As more buyers come in=>higher prices=>more miners=>more buyers creating a positive feedback loop, whose nature is quite questionable. I was told that However, with confidence in this BTC potentially increasing, the market actually starts building up its intrinsic value as a means of exchange, which might eventually make it potentially more stable in the long-term. Some professional investors believe the BTC thing is going to rise, though through a very bumpy road in the next few months. How can we value bitcoins intrinsic value? Story continues -- Monetary Approach. One way to value bitcoins would be to compare the money supply of the US vs bitcoins (1bn USD or so). That simplistic approach would make bitcoins very valuable if they end up being able to buy the same USD asset. This is a supply approach and easily solvable. -- Law of one price approach. On the demand side, a dollar is used to purchase, say, a piece of software, or game tokens within a game, or to pay someone for watching a video. There the reality meets the rubber. As far as I can see within a game, the value [of] the bitcoin is devalued as games introduce their own tokens (e.g. Metal storm has now three different levels of tokens depending on whether it is externally tradable, internally). If the bitcoin becomes too expensive it loses its usefulness as a numeraire used for exchange. Structure of the currency: -- Monetary Policy. With far more rapid advances in the technology of processing than mining, the rules have already been changed to stop some forms of mining which were too effective. This was effectively a form of revaluation of the currency. -- Legal framework. From a technical point of view, the bitcoin is not yet a currency in the sense that the currency is not anonymous. Volume is low and hence it is easy to influence the price. There is no certainty that the supply of bitcoins will follow the original rules, these rules have already been changed and presume a trust in the ones able to issue the currency. In many countries, printing money is a state privilege that will come to bite in the future as this, like gambling, is regulated for good reasons. In the U.S., the government introduced rules to cover electronic moneys. -- Technicals. From a trading point of view, we broke out of the upward-trending channel in an exponential upswing typical of aggressive bubbles. As [with] all bubbles, there is a good story behind it, the trick would be to measure both the supply side and more importantly demand side value of bitcoins. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2013/mar/22/bitcoin-currency-video http://goo.gl/xcVc5 article on bitcoin in the Australian press http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Satoshi's whitepaper Quips from the market: “perhaps we should all move to second life...no bonus caps I am aware of” More From Business Insider Bitcoin Just Broke $100 Programmer Robert McNally Put Together An Awesome Presentation On What Bitcoin Really Is This Story About A Bitcoin ATM Coming To Cyprus Is Almost Certainly Nonsense |
1,364,994,060 | 2013-04-03 13:01:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1171, 1231]} | {} | simplehoney Acquired by Ripple Developer OpenCoin | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/simplehoney-acquired-ripple-developer-opencoin-130100629.html | Marketwired | http://www.marketwired.com/ | SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 3, 2013) - Simple Honey Inc. today announced its acquisition by OpenCoin, the company building the Ripple protocol for a new virtual currency and distributed open source payment network. The simplehoney team will form the core of OpenCoin's consumer engagement team, and will focus on usability -- making all virtual currency and the Ripple network easy for people to understand and use. "Our team shares a vision for creating simple, accessible tools that breakdown big consumer problems," said Joyce Kim, co-founder of simplehoney. "We believe that the world economy is on the cusp of a major evolution, and we want to make it easy for anyone, anywhere to be a part of that change through Ripple." The simplehoney team has successfully launched targeted vertical applications for the travel and shopping categories. At OpenCoin, they will help build a new open source, distributed payments network and virtual currency called Ripples. Founders Joyce Kim and Eric Nakagawa and their team will join a talented OpenCoin team that includes Chris Larsen, the founder of E-LOAN and Prosper.com ; Jed McCaleb, the founder of eDonkey and Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox; and Stefan Thomas, the creator of BitcoinJS. More information can be found at http://blog.simplehoney.com/usability-for-all-we-are-joining-the-wave-of-change . |
1,365,002,955 | 2013-04-03 15:29:15+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1653]} | {} | Retail Employees Who Are Accused Of Stealing Could Be Blacklisted Forever | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/retail-employees-accused-stealing-could-152915226.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Retailers are keeping track of employees suspected of stealing in databases that could keep them from ever working in the industry again. These databases are used my major retailers including Family Dollar , Target, and CVS , report Stephanie Clifford and Jessica Silver-Greenberg at The New York Times . The databases usually don't involve criminal charges, and most employees aren't aware that they've been put on the list until it's too late, according to the Times . "But the databases, which are legal, are facing scrutiny from labor lawyers and federal regulators, who worry they are so sweeping that innocent employees can be harmed," the Times reported. "The lawyers say workers are often coerced into confessing, sometimes when they have done nothing wrong, without understanding that they will be branded as thieves." Employee thefts cost retailers about $15 billion a year, according to the National Retail Federation. The Times spoke to several people who are suing the database companies after being turned down for jobs. Some had not even admitted guilt for the alleged thefts. Proponents of the databases say that it's important for companies to weed out potential thieves in the struggling economy. But consumer attorneys say the system is full of abuses, since the database entries generally stem from statements obtained by a store's security force, which are not subject to due process, and employees may not even know such records exist. More From Business Insider Waffle House Employee Gets Arrested For Allegedly Pulling A Stupid April Fool's Prank 8 Reasons It's Great To Work At The Apple Store Why The Feds Aren't Shutting Down Bitcoin — At Least Not Yet |
1,365,016,740 | 2013-04-03 19:19:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2569, 2917, 2951, 3063]} | {} | 5 Smart Insights For Financial Advisors | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-smart-insights-financial-advisors-191951405.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors. Cheap Stocks Outperform The Stock Market Over Time (Smead Capital) Buying cheap stocks at the start of the year is a good investment strategy, according to Smead Capital. "To those investors who agree that valuation matters dearly, we believe there are two choices. The first choice is to buy all 100 of the lowest quintile stocks. The other choice is to have some qualitative screens to find individual securities off of this undistinguished list. Almost every company on the list has warts and/or some newsworthy problem either from exterior circumstances or through self-affliction." Successful Investors Need To Possess Six Key Traits (Advisor Perspectives) Kendall Anderson of Anderson Griggs Investments, drawing on former NYU professor Doug Bellemore writes that for investors to be successful, they need to possess six key traits. 1. Patience - Investors need to identify and purchase cheap stocks and wait for five to eight years. 2. Courage - The investor should have the courage to ignore those who disagree with him/her. 3. Intelligence and common sense. 4. Emotional stability - To not be overwhelmed by emotions on Wall Street and to be able to carve out the facts. 5. Hard work - Do meticulous research. 6."Willingness to sacrifice the investment protection of diversification." Two Advisors Leave Morgan Stanley For Prospera ( Reuters ) Stephen Shipley and John Rubottom have left Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to join independent Prospera Financial Services. The duo managed $121 million in assets. Morgan Stanley "has lost at least 68 veteran advisers who managed more than $10 billion at the firm," according to Reuters. We Are Seeing Cracks In The Stock Market (Business Insider) Stock markets ended the first quarter on a high. But some experts say if you look below the surface, you're already beginning to see cracks. Here are some key signs from Doug Kass : 1. "The Russell 2000 underperformed on Monday (-1.3%) and was down (-0.5%) on an up day on Tuesday." 2. "The advance/decline line is eroding as the market's rise narrows." 3. "The number of new 52-week highs is narrowing." 4. "Transports trailed, down 1.5% and 1.2% on the first two days of the week, respectively -- check out the chart of FedEx (FDX)." Story continues Kass goes on to point out that it is unusual when defensive stocks lead the market during new highs. We Are Witnessing The Tulip Bubble In Real-Time ( Art Cashin ) UBS ' Art Cashin thinks the Bitcoin craze is like the Dutch tulip bubble of the 17th century. "It is rare that we get to see a bubble-like phenomenon trade tick for tick in real time. Usually it's kind of regional aggregate pricing like real estate reports. But, all that may be changing before our very eyes quite literally. The bubble du jour may be something called a 'Bitcoin'." Aggressive bidding for Bitcoins has caused prices to double to over $100 in two weeks. "Last night trading turned a bit whacky and the Bitcoin spiked above 145 before plunging in a few trades back to $126," wrote Cashin. "Just what the world needs a "safe" currency." More From Business Insider 5 Smart Insights For Financial Advisors 5 Smart Insights For Financial Advisors 5 Smart Insights For Financial Advisors |
1,365,019,200 | 2013-04-03 20:00:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1749]} | {} | STOCKS FALL, OIL AND GOLD TANK, BITCOIN GOES CRAZY: Here's What You Need To Know | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-fall-oil-gold-tank-200007746.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Two disappointing economic reports seemed to rattle markets. Meanwhile, tensions are rising in North Korea. First the scoreboard: Dow: 14,550, -111.6 pts, -0.7 percent S&P 500: 1,553, -16.5 pts, -1.0 percent NASDAQ: 3,218, -36.2 pts, -1.1 percent And now the top stories: North Korea, the isolated rogue nation, continues to threaten South Korea and the U.S. " North Korea rhetoric presents real, clear danger, threat to US, allies," said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel earlier today. The Pentagon said that it would be deploying anti-missile systems to Guam in response to the threats. In today's sell-off, defense contractors managed to rally. The rationale for the sector's outperformance is pretty intuitive. Stocks like Lockheed Martin , General Dynamics , and Northrop Grumman all surged today. However, Stifel Nicolaus ' Dave Lutz pointed out an interesting discrepancy. The South Korea ETF (EWY) and the country's credit-default swaps didn't break down today. Lutz argued that this means the sell-off was about more than North Korea. Perhaps the sell-off was due to the disappointing ADP jobs report, which showed U.S. companies only created 158k jobs instead of the 200k expected. Or perhaps it was the disappointing ISM services report. After all, the U.S. is a services-based economy. Gold prices fell for no obvious reason. In his commentary today, Lutz pointed to the massive outflows from gold ETFs. This was a point that the analysts at Societe Generale made when they declared " The End Of The Gold Era ." Oil prices also tumbled. According to a new supply report from the Department of Energy, inventories jumped by 2.7 million barrels, which was way above analysts' estimates. Meanwhile, the price of controversial digital currency Bitcoin ripped higher . And then it plunged . Don't Miss: This San Jose House Got Multiple Bids And Sold For More Than Its Asking Price Within 24 Hours Of Going On Sale > More From Business Insider STOCKS RALLY, GOLD TUMBLES, BITCOIN GOES BONKERS: Here's What You Need To Know STOCKS FALL, APPLE DIVES, CORN GETS DESTROYED: Here's What You Need To Know FINALLY, S&P 500 CLOSES AT NEW ALL-TIME HIGH: Here's What You Need To Know |
1,365,021,660 | 2013-04-03 20:41:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [39, 316, 615, 772, 1056, 1158, 1227, 1319], "BTC": [659]} | {"Bitcoin": [20]} | The World's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Just Went Out For A Lot Of People | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/largest-bitcoin-exchange-just-went-204119029.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Mt. Gox, the world's first and largest Bitcoin exchange, appears to be down . Below is a screenshot of what it looks like for us when we try to access the site. We are seeing a lot of others tweeting about the same problem. aaand Mt Gox goes down mtgox.com — felix salmon (@felixsalmon) April 3, 2013 Earlier today, Bitcoin service Instawallet said it had been hacked and was shutting down until further notice. These outages highlight the fundamental problem with the virtual currency that has seen its price surge in 2013 – confidence. ConvergEx Group strategist Nick Colas touched on this in a recent note about Bitcoin : What’s interesting to note is why BTC prices plummet, which they did in the back half of 2011. The cause was a very short-lived hack attack on one Bitcoin “Wallet” company out of Japan, which caused the price to drop from $27 down to $2 in a few months. Confidence in money as a store of value is the ultimate driver of its value, both in the cyber and real worlds. These are definitely key issues that will need to be overcome if Bitcoin wants to go mainstream. More From Business Insider ANALYST: All Of My Clients Think There's A Bitcoin Bubble, But A 'Perfect Storm' Is Causing Prices To Surge The Bitcoin Economy Is Going Through A Massive Bout Of Hyperdeflation That Could Be Devastating Bitcoin Just Broke $100 |
1,365,069,632 | 2013-04-04 10:00:32+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2336]} | {} | Quartz Daily Brief—Americas Edition—Japan kicks off central bank day, a Facebook phone, China gets better at bird flu | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quartz-daily-brief-americas-edition-100032294.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | What to watch for today It’s central bank day, as the world’s setters of monetary policy struggle to keep ahead of a soft global economy: - The Abenomics train charged out of the station. Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda announced an aggressive monetary easing program , doubling the current rate of government bond purchases. Japanese stocks rose almost 1% and the yen fell on the news, which will boost profits for the country’s exporters. - Next to London, where observers expect a newly-empowered Bank of England to make no big moves before new governor Mark Carney takes over in July. - Then comes Frankfurt, where European Central Bank president Mario Draghi is expected not to cut rates despite the mess in Cyprus, since they can’t go much lower than their current 0.75%. - Finally, US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke speaks at an investors conference. Perhaps more importantly, so will his potential successor Janet Yellen. Investors will be watching for clues on how long the Fed will keep up quantitative easing. - Relevant digression: Read an excerpt from Neil Irwin’s new book on how central bankers saved the world during the financial crisis. North Korea tiptoes toward doomsday . North Korea is moving a mid-range missile to its east coast, as the US deploys an anti-missile battery in Guam. The US military wants to dial back its shows of force . Facebook unveils something, probably a phone. If you don’t understand why anyone would buy a Facebook phone, you probably don’t live in India . China is getting better at bird flu. But it has a long way to go as H7N9 cases mount. While you were sleeping The UK dodged a recession. The services PMI climbed to 52.4 in March from 51.8 in February, giving the government a sigh of relief amid fears of a triple dip. China’s exports surged. Unfortunately, the data are probably fraudulent . Egypt and the IMF want to make a deal . The Egyptian government says a $4.8 billion loan should be secured within two weeks. Story continues Quartz obsession interlude Lily Kuo on Chinese firms doing well on bird flu fears: ”Even though there is no vaccine for the virus (part of the reason authorities are so worried) investors appear to be anticipating a run on medicines and rice wine, which is believed to prevent or even cure bird flu.” Read more here . Matters of debate Bitcoin isn’t the future. But just because the trendy digital cash won’t work for long doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it. Business books are useless. Why would you want to emulate Circuit City, Fannie Mae and Atari ? Born at the right time. PIMCO’s Bill Gross admits that he and fellow investing legends like Buffett and Soros might just be lucky . Surprising discoveries Are you old enough to read the news? If you’re 12 or under, you’re probably breaking the law . Studying abroad. Chinese students make up a quarter of the population at some US boarding schools— but there are pitfalls . Yelp! reviews for prisons. Two stars for the ambience, minus one star for the inflexible check-out policy . Fat is a life-saver. At least if you get hit by a car . A lucrative show about nothing. Seinfeld has generated $3.1 billion in re-run fees (paywall)—not that there’s anything wrong with that. Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, non-useless business books and favorite Seinfeld quotes to hi@qz.com . You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief here , tailored for morning delivery in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. More from Quartz Quartz Daily Brief—Europe Edition—Central bank day, a Facebook phone, bird flu profiteering Quartz Daily Brief—Asia Edition—Global central bank rodeo, Facebook's phone, Dangerous tourism Quartz Daily Brief—Americas Edition—Korea gets scarier, Indian brotherly love, America's most productive export |
1,365,074,580 | 2013-04-04 11:23:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [2541]} | {} | 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-know-opening-bell-112332939.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Good morning. Here's what you need to know. Markets in Asia were mixed in overnight trading. The Japanese Nikkei jumped 2.2 percent, but the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1 percent. European markets are mostly higher, with Spain and Italy leading the way, both up 1.6 percent. In the U.S., futures point to a positive open. The yen has resumed its downward trajectory after the Bank of Japan gave markets a big positive surprise overnight at new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's first meeting. The BoJ said it would double its holdings of government bonds and ETFs in order to reach its 2 percent inflation target within two years. Euro zone services PMIs painted a bleak picture of the state of the services sector in March. The euro zone composite index fell to 46.5 from 47.9 in February, indicating an accelerating pace of contraction (any number below 50 on the index signals contraction mode). France's services PMI fell to 41.3, a 49-month low, and Germany, the outperformer in Europe, saw its services PMI fall sharply to 50.9 from 54.7 in February. Italy's services PMI actually rose to 45.5 from 43.6, but still indicates a moderate contraction. The French government issued 10-year debt at a record low yield of 1.94 percent this morning. Despite the bleak economic data out of France in recent months, government bonds have staged a big rally since late February, sending yields plummeting. The Bank of England elected to leave the benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.5 percent and the target size of the asset purchase program unchanged at £ 375 billion at its monthly policy meeting today. Not much more is expected of the central bank until incoming Governor Mark Carney takes over this summer, which is likely to usher in significant changes to BoE monetary policy. The ECB left the benchmark refinancing rate unchanged at 0.75 percent and the deposit rate unchanged at 0 percent at today's monetary policy meeting. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a press conference at 8:30. Observers will be listening for his thoughts on the crisis in Cyprus, a potential bailout of Slovenia in the future, and the recent deterioration in economic data around the euro zone. Follow the presser LIVE > Australia reported strong retail sales for the month of February, up 1.3 percent. Economists had predicted sales would rise only 0.3 percent after a 1.2 percent advance in January. Building approvals also surprised to the upside, rising 3.1 percent in February versus the 2.5 percent gain expected by economists. Mt. Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, has come under a massive distributed denial of service attack on its servers , causing an outage for users. The episode highlights one of the biggest problems with the anonymous, virtual currency: confidence . According to the monthly Challenger, Gray & Christmas job cuts report, layoffs in the United States were 49,255 in March, down from 55,356 in February. Year over year, however, job cut announcements were up 30 percent. Initial jobless claims unexpectedly jumped to 385,000 last week . Economists predicted initial claims would fall to 353,000 in the week ended March 30, down from 357,000 new claims the week before. Continuing claims rose to 3.063 million from 3.05 million in the previous week. BONUS: Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey says she has less than $5 in her bank account, according to TMZ . Story continues BI Intelligence, a new subscription research service from Business Insider , provides in-depth insight, data, and analysis of the mobile industry. Access all reports, research updates, presentations, data and chart libraries plus much more with your free trial. Click here to start your subscription>> More From Business Insider 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning View comments |
1,365,076,620 | 2013-04-04 11:57:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [41, 1077, 1119, 2044, 2105, 2251, 2336, 2441, 3660, 3815, 6456, 6675, 6781, 6850], "BTC": [1169]} | {} | WORLD'S LARGEST BITCOIN EXCHANGE: We Are Suffering A Massive Attack On Our Servers | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/worlds-largest-bitcoin-exchange-suffering-115751202.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Yesterday, the world's first and largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, had an outage, and users couldn't access the trading platform . Today, Mt. Gox issued a press release on what happened. Apparently, the exchange has been subjected to a massive "distributed denial of service" attack. " Since yesterday, we are continuing to experience a DDoS attack like we have never seen," the company said on its website. "While we are being protected by companies like Prolexic, the sheer volume of this DDoS left us scrambling to fine-tune the system every few hours to make sure that things don’t go beyond a few 502 error pages and trading lag." A distributed denial of service attack occurs when a large network of computers, usually controlled by a single operator, floods a website with traffic to the point where the website can't make new connections with other users trying to access the site. Below is the full press release from the Mt. Gox website. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOKYO - JAPAN - April 04, 2013 Dear Mt.Gox users and Bitcoiners, It’s been an epic few days on Bitcoin, with prices going up as high as $142 per BTC. We all hope that this is just the beginning! However, there are many who will try to take advantage of the system. The past few days were a reminder of this sad truth. Mt.Gox has been suffering from its worst trading lag ever, 502 errors, and at one point some users were not able to log in their account. The culprit is a major DDoS attack against Mt.Gox. Since yesterday, we are continuing to experience a DDoS attack like we have never seen. While we are being protected by companies like Prolexic, the sheer volume of this DDoS left us scrambling to fine-tune the system every few hours to make sure that things don’t go beyond a few 502 error pages and trading lag. Why has Mt.Gox become the target of a DDoS attack? It is not yet clear who is behind this DDoS and we may never know, but these actions seem to have two major purposes: Story continues • Destabilize Bitcoin in general. It is not a secret Mt.Gox is the largest Bitcoin exchange with more than 80% of all USD trades and more than 70% of all currencies. Mt.Gox is an easy target for anyone that wants to hurt Bitcoin in general. • Abuse the system for profit. Attackers wait until the price of Bitcoins reaches a certain value, sell, destabilize the exchange, wait for everybody to panic-sell their Bitcoins, wait for the price to drop to a certain amount, then stop the attack and start buying as much as they can. Repeat this two or three times like we saw over the past few days and they profit. What can be done? Believe it or not, there is pretty much nothing that can be done. Large companies are frequently victims of these kinds of attacks. Even though we are using one of the best companies to help us fight against these DDoS attacks, we are still being affected. There are a few things that we can implement to help fight the attacks, such as disconnecting the trade engine backend from the Internet. By separating the data center from the Mt.Gox website, we will continue to be able to trade. What can you do? Like our favorite author here at Tibanne says… Don’t Panic! “Panic-selling is a wide-scale selling of an investment which causes a sharp decline in prices. Specifically, an investor wants to get out of an investment with little regard of the price obtained. The selling activity is problematic because the investor is selling in reaction to emotion and fear, rather than evaluating the fundamentals.” (Source: Wikipedia ) I understand that many of you have a lot at stake here, but remember that Bitcoin, despite being designed to have its value increase over time, will always be the victim of people trying to abuse the system, or even the value of Bitcoin decreasing occasionally. These are not new phenomena and have been present since the beginning of time when humans first started trading. Trade Engine Lags Lag affects everyone, not only us, but also major, world-renowned exchanges like the NASDAQ and NYSE. We can fix lag, but we cannot eradicate lag. Only small exchanges with low volume and liquidity are immune to lag. Does this mean that we are giving up fighting lag? Hell, no. We are working on it by creating a new trade engine that will solve many problems, but it’s not a magic bullet. We can always try to scale our servers, but we cannot predict what happens from external sources: DDoS, panic selling, immediate increase of buyers, etc. Lag will always be there, but our mission is to make lag as small as possible. Account Verification As if a major DDoS attack was not enough, we at Mt.Gox are victim of our own success! Last year, Mt.Gox saw an average of 9,000 to 10,000 new accounts created every month. This number doubled in January, tripled in February, and sextupled in March. In this month alone (March), over 57,000 new accounts were created! Our support and account verification team went from four people in January 2012 to twenty-two people working every day of the week. We are now hiring even more people to solve this problem by finalizing some deals with external companies. Remember that even if you are waiting for your account to be verified, you can still deposit or withdraw funds via our Japanese account and make your trades! (Only accounts that we pro-actively required to be verified are limited to deposits and trade only.) Finally We have seen a significant amount of comments on the web (various forums, Reddit, etc.) that portray Mt.Gox as a company held by “idiots” and other rather rude words, complaining about inability to deal with lag and other system issues, without understanding the magnitude of work and attacks we are facing every day. I understand the frustration many of you feel. We hate this situation as well. Since we took over Mt.Gox, we have been through Hell and back and we are still here. We are still the largest exchange with over 420,000 trades per month and USD $121 million monthly trade volume. We have worked our way through all the requirements needed to run our exchange legally. Now, there are some things we can improve, but so far we are doing an incredible job that no other exchange has been able to do so far. While I understand a certain amount of frustration, realize what we have accomplished. I appreciate all the work you are doing everyday to push things forward and to help secure the future of Bitcoin. And to all of you who are supporting us on a daily basis, thank you! We could not have done any of this without your help! Regards Mt.Gox Co. Ltd Team. Mt.Gox Contact press@mtgox.com More From Business Insider Bitcoin ATM Founder: We Already Have Orders From 30+ Countries ANALYST: All Of My Clients Think There's A Bitcoin Bubble, But A 'Perfect Storm' Is Causing Prices To Surge The Bitcoin Economy Is Going Through A Massive Bout Of Hyperdeflation That Could Be Devastating |
1,365,411,634 | 2013-04-08 09:00:34+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [21, 345, 741, 1307, 1611, 1775, 2364, 2637]} | {} | Malware turns hacked computers into slaves that “mine” new digital currency | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/malware-turns-hacked-computers-slaves-090034575.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | The digital currency Bitcoin is having a bit of a moment , which is drawing the attention of cybercriminals. They don’t want to steal your money (though there is some of that too ). Instead they want to hijack the processing power of your computer to create more bitcoins out of thin air. There is no company, central bank, or government behind Bitcoin—there is only math. The currency, created by a pseudonymous researcher and governed by computer code, is slowly adding more coins to circulation. New bitcoins are distributed to users with access to hugely powerful computers, which compete to process fiendishly complicated math problems. The system gives new coins to the winner as a reward; the process is known as “mining.” The newest Bitcoin scam was discovered last week by security firm Kaspersky Lab, which found a type of computer malware that hijacks computers and uses them to mine new bitcoins. The computers are infected through links within Skype—users click on an link that installs software on their machine, and they become unwitting slaves in the bitcoin mines. Kaspersky’s Dmitry Bestuzhev found infected computers in Italy, Russia, Poland, Costa Rica, Spain, Germany and Ukraine that have been brought to a crawl as nearly all of their processing power is stolen. This isn’t the first Bitcoin botnet, as massive networks of hacked computers that are controlled by cybercriminals are known. A botnet called ZeroAccess was estimated to be earning $2.7 million a year by using infected computers to mine new coins, even offering bounties for new infected computers. And as the media hype and Bitcoin’s valuation rises, there will undoubtedly be further exploits. As Felix Salmon explained in his deep-dive last week, botnets are the logical outcome of the Bitcoin system: The way that the money supply grows, in the bitcoin system, is by people harnessing the power of hundreds or thousands of computers to solve very complicated mathematical tasks, earning bitcoins for doing so along the way. And the easiest and cheapest way of doing that is to do so illegally, by stealth: set up a “botnet” of hacked computers to do your bidding for you. The incentives, here, are very bad indeed. Story continues An FBI report last year detailed several incidents in which cybercriminals bought and sold botnets, with bitcoin as the medium of exchange. So Bitcoin may have inadvertently given birth to an insidious new business model: Pay bounties to build a botnet, use the botnet to mint bitcoins, sell botnet for more bitcoins, and repeat. More from Quartz Forget bitcoin, this virtual currency doubles your money every month Bitcoin's largest market crashes after wild price swing How to short bitcoins (if you really must) |
1,365,419,014 | 2013-04-08 11:03:34+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [589]} | {} | 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-know-morning-110300598.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Facebook The Facebook commercial Good morning! News: A version of Facebook's new homescreen skin for Android phones, "Facebook Home," is available early in beta after leaking. Michael Arrington responded to accusations of rape and physical abuse from his former girlfriend , saying: "All of the allegations are completely untrue." Microsoft will reveal details about its next Xbox at an event in May. Jim Cramer thinks Microsoft should buy Netflix for $13 billion. HTC posted terrible, record-low profits. More than a dozen of Stanford students quit school to go work on the same startup. Bitcoin went up to $170. Facebook made an ad for "Home." It takes place in an airplane, and it is strange. There's a new Samsung Galaxy phone out with a 4.7 inch screen. A cool feature from Facebook Home is that you can use it to chat while still using another app. More From Business Insider 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning View comments |
1,365,432,951 | 2013-04-08 14:55:51+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [3010]} | {} | Forget bitcoin, this virtual currency doubles your money every month | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-bitcoin-virtual-currency-doubles-145551328.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | To produce bitcoins, processors must hum away solving mathematical problems . But mavros, another virtual currency, are simpler. They exist because Sergey Mavrodi, their creator, says they do. And while the recent spike in bitcoin value is the result of speculation on the open market, the rate for mavros is “ established personally by Mr. Sergey Mavrodi…. twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” Their value doubles every month , in fact. That’s because mavros are actually a pyramid scheme by design, existing only within their own world of what its founders call a “mutual aid fund.” The idea goes something like this : Put your money into the pool so that when somebody needs help, he can draw on the fund. After a gestation period, you can ask for your own money back and whatever else you need. The company that runs mavros is called Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox , or MMM. It flies under the regulatory radar by claiming to be neither an investment fund nor a business. Instead, MMM calls itself “a voluntary informal network of millions of people across the earth, who rose up against the financial slavery” and “decided to declare war against the Federal Reserve and the bankers.” MMM’s slogans are “We are changing the world!” and “Together we can do a lot!” The company’s disclaimer is particularly colourful: Participating in the MMM, you are extremely at risk and can lose at any time, all your money. Do not forget this! There are no investments! No business activity! There is no company! In short. We urge you, convince, beg and plead with everyone: YES YOU DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS MMM! Yet MMM is spreading. According to the Business Standard, Mavros are winning over India’s small towns . Some 75,000 people have already put their money into the virtual currency, and its website lists a hectic schedule of “seminars” and “workshops” across India almost every day for the next few weeks. Its existing members are almost cult-like in their support. They organise blood-donation drives and rant against detractors on MMM’s Facebook page . Story continues Mavrodi has a colourful history. In the early 1990s, he established a financial pyramid scheme in Russia under the MMM name. In 1994, he was arrested for tax evasion, and MMM found itself unable to repay depositors. The following year, Mavrodi was elected to Russia’s parliament on the promise that he would repay investors with government funds. His parliamentary immunity was soon revoked, and he was eventually arrested again in 2003, serving a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Mavrodi reappeared in 2011 with schemes in India, Indonesia, and Thailand, this time using every loophole in the book, including the use of a virtual currency. Despite that, Mavrodi may be in trouble again. MMM is now the subject of an investigation by the economic offences wing of the Mumbai police. Read this next : How to short bitcoins (if you really must ) More from Quartz Yes, people are hoarding bitcoins Paul Volcker is "too old" for bitcoin Bitcoin's largest market crashes after wild price swing |
1,365,439,136 | 2013-04-08 16:38:56+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [506, 699, 1014]} | {} | Paul Volcker is “too old” for bitcoin | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paul-volcker-apparently-nonplussed-bitcoin-163856016.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | For all you bitcoin nerds predicting the surge of the online currency: Paul Volcker doesn’t care. In fact, it would seem that the eminent former chairman of the Federal Reserve—known for bringing US inflation under control in the early 1980s—doesn’t even know what bitcoin is. We asked him today at a conference put on by NYU’s Stern School of Business what his thoughts were about the electronic currency—a currency which (some believe) challenges the modern system of central banking . Volcker replied, “Bitcoin? What’s that?” (Paul, if you’re reading this, Cullen Roche of Pragmatic Capitalism has a good explanation .) He added, seeing my incredulity, “I’m too old to know anything about that.” Bitcoin traders, take note. A prominent figure of central banking really doesn’t care about what you’re trading. At least, not yet. (If you change your mind, Mr Chairman, do shoot me an email .) More from Quartz Yes, people are hoarding bitcoins Forget bitcoin, this virtual currency doubles your money every month Bitcoin's largest market crashes after wild price swing |
1,365,451,200 | 2013-04-08 20:00:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [21, 554, 581, 2043, 2158, 2290, 2449, 2486, 4633, 5306, 5806]} | {"Bitcoin": [31]} | A Short Guide to Understanding Bitcoin | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2013-04-08-short-guide-understanding-bitcoin-virtual-currency.html | AOL.com | https://www.aol.com/ | Zcopley, Flickr.com "Bitcoins" either sound like a futuristic, implantable, laser-guided and rocket-pack equipped form of money, or the latest coin-shaped chocolate snack. In reality, it's probably a bit of both. The bitcoin, a digital currency, started the year worth about $15. Less than four months later, one bitcoin now trades above $70. While this past performance may be enticing and a sign of its legitimacy as a future currency, the bitcoin market is full of risks -- risks that may make bitcoins worth as much as a foil-wrapped piece of sugar. Bitcoin: A Crypto-Currency Bitcoin is based around the idea of a currency created and transacted through cryptography instead of issued and tracked through a central bank. And to add to its mystique, the creator of bitcoin only goes by a pseudonym and has never been positively identified. Instead of any legal authority, bitcoin transactions are verified through peer-to-peer interactions. If a user sends bitcoins to another user's "wallet" file, that transaction is verified through other users, and is written into the collective transaction log. And given the ease of transactions, any fees for transfers are minimal. Instead of a mint, bitcoins are created through a process called "mining," where computers attempt to solve for a certain number, and once found, are rewarded with new bitcoins. The rewards decrease with time, however, and there will only ever be about 21 million bitcoins created, three-quarters of which by 2016, and all by 2140. Even if you don't understand any of the above, the recent jump in valuation probably still has your interest. But there are plenty of reasons to continue to educate yourself before attempting to trade in bitcoins. bitcoincharts.com Glitches Not having any legal regulation, bitcoin has attracted plenty of thieves through the websites that create trading markets: In 2011, the third-largest trading site, Bitomat, lost its wallet file, which held 17,000 bitcoins worth more than $200,000 at the time. In the same year, the exchange MyBitcoin lost 51% of its users' deposits, amounting to 78,000 bitcoins worth over $1 million at the time . In 2012, Bitcoinica was hacked and lost $220,000 worth of customer funds. Two months later, it was hacked again and lost another $90,000. As Bitcoinica attempted to repay claims, the company was hacked a final time for another loss of $320,000. In the fall of 2012, in what might have been the first Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, the creator of Bitcoin Savings and Trust promised returns to investors. The founder has since disappeared with 500,000 bitcoins. Story continues Price Instability The market forces behind the bitcoin are far from solid and predictable. There is a large demand from speculators while actual use of bitcoins for trading goods and services is small. Just last week, a young Canadian became the first to list his home in exchange for bitcoins, and most other places that accept bitcoins remain small online businesses. And as bitcoin's value continues to swing wildly, it makes it hard for businesses to accept bitcoins with confidence. Meanwhile, established companies have taken notice of bitcoin. The popular blogging platform WordPress announced last November that it would accept bitcoins, while deriding eBay Inc.'s ( EBAY ) PayPal platform for blocking access from over 60 countries: "Some are blocked for political reasons, some because of higher fraud rates, and some for financial reasons. Whatever the reason, we don;t think an individual blogger from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere because of payment issues they can't control." If bitcoin ends up taking the role of PayPal in those blocked countries, future growth for eBay could be limited. Other companies have been fighting to become the consumer's digital wallet. Visa Inc. ( V ) launched its V.me platform last November, which allows users to pay online without repeatedly entering in credit card and shipping information. Google Wallet breaks away from purely digital shopping, and allows users to use their phone, if it has near-field communication technology, to pay for goods in-store. Unfortunately, many phones -- like the iPhone -- have yet to come equipped with NFC, and less than 10% of retailers are estimated to use NFC. Legality As bitcoin has gained popularity, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network recently issued a statement clarifying that even virtual currencies like bitcoin are subject to regulation. As bitcoin can be exchanged between anonymous parties, it could be used for illicit activities with little trace. Bitcoin is already a popular currency on what's called Silk Road, a website accessible only through anonymous Internet connections that acts as a marketplace for many illegal substances. In addition, bitcoin is the first major digital currency with no backing from a state nor physical presence. Unlike gold, which exists in physical form and has some actual applications, bitcoin is made up of data, and all value is solely what we perceive. If world governments decide to fight the currency, it could severely hurt any value bitcoin holds. If humans begin to change their mind on what these bits of data are worth, then it could also hurt bitcoin's value. Worth Watching Bitcoins are fascinating, for mathematicians, economists, traders, investors, politicians, regulators, and anarchists. And while watching the currency develop is entertaining, the experimental currency is no place for serious investing given the risk versus reward. Attempting to trade in established currencies is difficult enough. --- Fool contributor Dan Newman owns shares of eBay. The Motley Fool recommends eBay, Google and Visa. The Motley Fool owns shares of eBay and Google . Cyber-Currency Bitcoin Continues Massive Growth |
1,365,456,015 | 2013-04-08 21:20:15+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [754, 1243, 4109]} | {} | Yes, people are hoarding bitcoins | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yes-people-hoarding-bitcoins-212015039.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | The total value of outstanding bitcoins surpassed $2 billion today, another milestone for the experiment in decentralized currency that was worth $1 billion just 11 days ago . It’s up about 1,300% since the beginning of the year. So how high can this go? Well, first we have to know what’s driving the current surge, and my best explanation, as I’ve detailed before , is that bitcoin is going through a “demand crisis” or “ deflationary spiral .” To put it simply, demand for bitcoins on the open market is going up, but the supply is also falling, which leads to wild deflation. That’s great if you’re investing in bitcoin as though it were a commodity, but not so great if you want to use it like an actual currency, that is, to buy and sell things. Bitcoin is, in fact, deflationary by design: Only 21 million bitcoins can ever be minted, and the rate at which they are created slows over time. In December, for instance, the number of bitcoins created every 10 minutes dropped to 25 , from 50, though the recent rise in value has more than made up for it . All that is well known, and the fixed supply should be priced into bitcoin’s value. The question is what else would affect the currency’s supply and demand. Demand is easy to see: Bitcoin is unusually sensitive to attention, and journalists like myself have been giving it plenty of that. ( So have bitcoin believers .) Here’s a chart of Google searches for “bitcoin” over the past year: Supply is a trickier question, however. We know exactly how many bitcoins are in circulation: 11,008,300 as of this writing. All transaction are also carried out more or less in public, so we should be able to tell whether people are actively using the currency or hoarding their bitcoins. When researchers examined the bitcoin universe last year, they found that between 55% and 73% of bitcoins, depending on how you count, were being held in dormant accounts (pdf) rather than being traded or used to buy things. Story continues For normal currencies, there is a concept known as “ velocity of money ,” or the rate at which it is used to purchase goods, which is seen as a measure of the currency’s health. But that can’t be calculated for bitcoin , so the community developed an alternative metric meant to get at the same notion: “bitcoin days destroyed.” Say I have 10 bitcoins, and I do nothing with them for 100 days, then use them to buy myself a car . That would count as 1,000 bitcoin days destroyed at the moment the transaction occurs, making it a measure of both hoarding and selling. For instance, if I had bought 100 bitcoins a year ago—lucky me—and decided today to cash out of the entire investment, that would show up today as 36,500 bitcoin days destroyed. OK, got it? Here’s a chart of bitcoin days destroyed, per day, over the past year: Again, it’s not only showing people hoarding bitcoins, though that’s definitely part of it. The chart also shows people who were hoarding bitcoins and are now cashing out, like the “ bitcoin millionaire ” who posted on Reddit this weekend that he’s moving his investment into metals, a house, and some mutual funds. Either way, what you’re looking at is the result of bitcoin hoarding, which is not great for its future as a currency, and affects the supply of available bitcoins on the open market. Lower supply makes the price go up, which should make people even less inclined to part with their bitcoins, reducing supply even further, and on and on. That’s happening at the same time demand just keeps going up and up. It’s a spiral or a crisis or whatever you want to call it. A bubble, perhaps? To review: As bitcoin receives attention, demand for it goes up, which pushes the value higher, drawing still more attention, which should lead people who already own bitcoins to expect the price to rise even further, causing them to hold onto those bitcoins, reducing the available supply, sending the price up, and so on. Which should work just fine until it doesn’t. More from Quartz Paul Volcker is "too old" for bitcoin Forget bitcoin, this virtual currency doubles your money every month Bitcoin's largest market crashes after wild price swing |
1,365,515,100 | 2013-04-09 13:45:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [678]} | {} | JCPenney Is Getting Destroyed | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jcpenney-getting-destroyed-134515160.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Flickr/Dov Harrington JCPenney is the biggest loser of the S&P. The retailer opened down more than 6.5 percent on Tuesday. News broke last night that CEO Ron Johnson , who joined the retailer from Apple, had stepped down. The stock initially rose on the news, but tumbled after the retailer said that form CEO Mike Ullman would step in during the interim period. Johnson, who came one as JCPenney's CEO 16 months ago, was trying to turn around the retailer, but was unsuccessful. More From Business Insider Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Actually Had A Solid First Quarter REPORT: Soros Has Asked To Pull Hundreds Of Millions From Bill Ackman How A Hedge Fund Could Get Into The Bitcoin Game |
1,365,517,560 | 2013-04-09 14:26:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [40, 294, 861, 930, 1189, 1302, 1361, 1625, 1770, 1999, 2203]} | {"Bitcoin": [29]} | The Secret Weapon That Makes Bitcoin Impervious To Super-Powerful Quantum Computers | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/not-even-super-powerful-quantum-142646598.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Flickr / zcopley If you don't know what Bitcoin is, you should. This digital currency has captured lots of attention as the value of a single unit recently surged to over $200. Venture capitalist Chris Dixon points out in a tweet that the emerging field of quantum computing might totally ruin Bitcoins, but this doesn't seem to actually be the case. To simplify the idea dramatically, a quantum computer effortlessly outperforms a conventional computer by operating in a totally different way. Your personal computer interacts with data by representing it as "bits" ones and zeroes. But a quantum computer deals in "qubits," which represent data as ones, zeroes, or the quantum state between the two. With the ability address more data at a time, quantum computers become tremendously powerful tools for a number of fields. This might sound troubling to the Bitcoin world, as it's built upon cryptography to function properly. Bitcoins are generated only as computers break codes to unlock them, and the time required to break these codes is figured in to controlling inflation and stability. But it seems that if these super-powered quantum computers started crunching numbers to earn Bitcoins, they could throw the currency out of balance. Furthermore, there's the idea that they could even break Bitcoin security entirely. But this isn't so, according to Bitcoin . True quantum computers are so tremendously specialized that consumer access just isn't feasible yet. The D-Wave quantum computer that's often written about ( and that Lockheed Martin just paid $10 million for ) is usually touted as proof of concept, but Bitcoin says it's "not a quantum computer of a kind that could be used for cryptography." And when there are quantum computers for cryptography, Bitcoin will still be okay . Its security "was designed to be upgraded in a forward compatible way and could be upgraded if this were considered an imminent threat." Even if or when quantum computing should somehow catch up with Bitcoin security, there's already a field called post-quantum cryptography , which exists solely to encrypt data such that quantum computers can't crack it. Story continues So mine away. The value of the Bitcoin may fluctuate greatly, but it won't have anything to do with security threats. More From Business Insider 8 Sleeper Hits From The Apple App Store Here's What A Curved Glass iPhone Would Look Like In Real Life Apple Just Kicked A Popular App Out Of The App Store |
1,365,519,060 | 2013-04-09 14:51:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [53, 159, 264, 320, 395]} | {"Bitcoin": [4]} | Get Bitcoin Value Every Hour By Following This Twitter Account | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/want-stay-top-bitcoin-value-145151506.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | flickr / Zach Copley The rising and falling value of Bitcoin has done a lot of rising lately. If you want to stay up to date on the current price for a single Bitcoin, be sure to follow @bitcoinprice on Twitter. The account automatically tweets out the value of a Bitcoin once an hour, using data pulled from the Mt.Gox Bitcoin exchange . More From Business Insider The Secret Weapon That Makes Bitcoin Impervious To Super-Powerful Quantum Computers 8 Sleeper Hits From The Apple App Store Here's What A Curved Glass iPhone Would Look Like In Real Life |
1,365,526,352 | 2013-04-09 16:52:32+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [44, 310, 515, 808]} | {"Bitcoin": [27]} | This Trippy Video Explains Bitcoin in Under 4 Minutes | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trippy-video-explains-bitcoin-under-165232729.html | The Atlantic | http://www.theatlantic.com/ | Launched in 2009 by an anonymous developer, Bitcoin is an intriguing technological and financial experiment. Now it's making headlines, as Quartz reports, with a recent spike in value (approximately 1,300% since the beginning of the 2013). The Atlantic 's Derek Thompson looked at the existential weirdness of Bitcoin , noting that starting your own currency is "not as complicated as it sounds. All you need is a system other people can understand and, most importantly, trust." That may be easier said than done: Bitcoin is baffling but this video, above, tries its best to shed some light on the concept. Created by Duncan Elms , an animator, and Marc Fennell , a radio host and self-proclaimed tech geek, the short video describes the currency in a nutshell, from "mining" to currency exchanges, and how Bitcoin is poised to change the way we think about money. "This is a personal project done between other jobs," Elms writes on Vimeo , explaining that as a result, not all of the data is up to date. Still, it's a handy overview of how the system works. Via Vimeo Staff Picks. More From The Atlantic The 37 Percent Mystery: Where Did All the Workers Go? The Jobs Crisis at Our Best Law Schools Is Much, Much Worse Than You Think Watch Margaret Thatcher Explain Why the Euro Is a Terrible Idea in 1990 |
1,365,533,153 | 2013-04-09 18:45:53+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [3552], "BTC": [2799, 3421]} | {} | I moved all my Second Life Linden dollars into bitcoin | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moved-second-life-linden-dollars-184553341.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | With all the chatter lately about bitcoin’s surge in value , I figured it was time to try it out for myself. But rather than setting up a “mining” operation to create new bitcoins or investing US dollars, I realized I could transfer some money from one virtual currency into another. As an early user of the virtual world Second Life , I had amassed a few thousand Linden dollars , which is the currency used for transactions within the game. Second Life used to pay basic users a stipend of L$50 a week simply for logging in. Not having used it in years, I was pleasantly surprised to find over L$5,000 Linden dollars sitting in my account, just waiting to be converted into bitcoins. I started the day with L$5,203 in my Second Life account, which is worth about US$20. To move my money, I created an account at VirWoX , a virtual currency exchange originally created to exchange Linden dollars for real-word, government-issued money. You can trade US dollars, euros, pounds, and Swiss francs into and out of Linden dollars, Avination (used in a virtual world of the same name), and Open Metaverse Currency (used in several virtual worlds). You can also now exchange between Linden dollars and bitcoin. In order to initiate the transfer, I had to visit one of VirWoX’s terminals inside Second Life, where I deposited L$5,195. That’s me in the image above, with what appears to be some sort of cat behind me. The terminal works kind of like an ATM, except that instead of punching in a PIN, the terminal showed me a PIN I created in VirWoX, to prove that it was legitimate and not some rogue ATM trying to rip me off. Having transferred the funds into my VirWoX account, I needed to convert them into bitcoins, which means dealing with exchange rates. Even though I work in an office filled with financial journalists, not everything sinks in, and I managed to commit a rookie mistake of buying in with the market price of bitcoins at an all-time high. I executed a trade at an exchange rate of about 49,000 Linden dollars for 1 bitcoin. VirWoX took a commission of L$50 plus 2.9% of the transaction. After a nearly instantaneous trade, I was the proud owner of one-tenth of a bitcoin, worth about US$18 at the time of trade. Story continues The final step was simply to get the money out of my VirWoX account and into a bitcoin “wallet,” a secure address that acts as my public identity on the bitcoin network. This turned out to be, by far, the most time-consuming step. After downloading the recommended bitcoin client , I needed to wait about five hours for it sync with the network. Once that was done, I initiated a transfer from my VirWoX account to my newly created bitcoin wallet. VirWoX charged a fee of one-hundredth of a bitcoin to make the transfer. That left me with a grand total of BTC 0.09, worth about US$18.20 at the time of this writing. Or at least that’s what I hope. After clicking to transfer the funds, I got a somewhat cryptic response saying my withdrawal now requires a “manual step” by VirWoX that can take up to 48 hours to complete. As I wait for my bitcoin client to synchronize with the network, this is the perfect time to see how much my time is actually worth. And what better way then by running an ever-so-slightly absurd Tesla cost-of-ownership calculator in reverse? Assuming my final transfer eventually completes, my time is apparently worth around US$3.44 per hour, or roughly BTC 0.018 an hour. I think I’ll stick with software development and leave the investing to the professionals. More from Quartz Why Bitcoin “millionaires” could accidentally become tax felons Yes, people are hoarding bitcoins Paul Volcker is “too old” for bitcoin |
1,365,537,600 | 2013-04-09 20:00:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1392]} | {} | STOCKS RALLY, BITCOIN GOES BONKERS: Here's What You Need To Know | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-rally-bitcoin-goes-bonkers-200020388.html | Business Insider | http://www.businessinsider.com/ | Flickr / libraryman Stocks staged a nice rally today. First the scoreboard: Dow: 14,673, +59.5 pts, +0.4 percent S&P 500: 1,568, +5.5 pts, +0.3 percent NASDAQ: 3,237, +15.6 pts, +0.4 percent And now the top stories: Aluminum giant Alcoa kicked off earnings season yesterday afternoon. The company reported Q1 revenue that was a bit light, but earnings beat expectations. The implication is that profit margins held up, which is a very important and bullish signal for the markets. One of the biggest debates on Wall Street right now is whether record high profit margins are sustainable . "Company managers are lowering estimates at a frantic pace," said UBS 's Art Cashin in a note this morning. "Wall Street skeptics, thinking the managers are playing possum, are holding to higher estimates." If profit margins were to revert to a historic mean, then profits would quickly crumble and ultimately take the legs out from under the stock market. Read More About Profit Margins Here > The National Federation of Independent Business reported that small business optimism fell 1.3 points to 89.5. "Job creation in the small-business sector was perhaps the only bright spot in the March report," said the NFIB. "The fourth consecutive month of positive job growth, owners reported increasing employment an average of 0.19 workers per firm in the month of March." Meanwhile, the digital currency Bitcoin continues to surge in value. This morning it jumped to $200 and then rocketed to $230 by the afternoon. Shares of JC Penney tanked today. Yesterday afternoon, the company announced that Ron Johnson would be stepping down as CEO . JCP had hired Johnson from Apple to revamp its stores. However, Johnson's plans quickly turned into a flop. Former CEO Myron Ullman will be taking over until they can find a permanent replacement. Don't Miss: The American Manufacturing Renaissance Is A Flop > More From Business Insider STOCKS MAKE STUNNING COMEBACK AFTER UGLY JOBS REPORT: Here's What You Need To Know STOCKS RALLY, EURO SURGES, YEN TANKS: Here's What You Need To Know STOCKS FALL, OIL AND GOLD TANK, BITCOIN GOES CRAZY: Here's What You Need To Know |
1,365,537,907 | 2013-04-09 20:05:07+00:00 | {} | {"Bitcoin": [4]} | Why Bitcoin “millionaires” could accidentally become tax felons | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-bitcoin-millionaires-could-accidentally-200507219.html | Quartz | http://www.qz.com | If you’re an American who bought bitcoins at around $80 less than a month ago and sold them today for around $237 , congratulations! You may be on your way to accidentally committing tax fraud. That’s because you’ll run afoul of authorities if you don’t report what you made on bitcoin as capital gains , the same way you report gains made on most assets sold at a profit, argues Karl Denninger , who is sometimes credited as one of the founders of the Tea Party movement . Since there isn’t a field in TurboTax for “bitcoin earnings,” many fans of the cryptocurrency are likely ignorant of this wrinkle in the tax code of the United States and many other countries . Meanwhile, newly minted bitcoin millionaires are revealing themselves—or at least their Reddit handles— left and right . Even those who are staying quiet about their newfound riches are liable, basically forever, for whatever capital gains they fail to declare and pay taxes on come tax season. That’s because bitcoin, far from being an “untraceable” currency, relies for its very existence on a global record of every transaction ever conducted with a bitcoin. Using the right forensic tools, tax authorities could plausibly figure out exactly where every one of your bitcoins came from and where it went. And, as Denninger notes, because there’s no statute of limitations on tax avoidance, people who are cashing out now could be prosecuted for not paying capital gains taxes at any point in the future . Well, I’ll just use a throw-away wallet, some bitcoin users might be saying. Except, gotcha, doing so for the purposes of hiding capital gains or criminal transactions is itself a felony! Denninger: In all jurisdictions “structuring” transactions to evade money laundering or reporting constraints is a separate and unique crime and usually is a felony. Therefore, the very act of trying to split up transactions or use of “throw-away” wallets in and of itself is likely to be ruled a crime, leaving any party doing that exposed to separate and distinct criminal charges (along with whatever else they can bust you for.) Story continues All of which means that tax lawyers and accountants might be about to score a bitcoin windfall of their own. More from Quartz I moved all my Second Life Linden dollars into bitcoin Yes, people are hoarding bitcoins Paul Volcker is “too old” for bitcoin |
1,365,543,112 | 2013-04-09 21:31:52+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [1768]} | {} | Classified Report Shows America's Drones Aren't Just Killing Al-Qaeda Members | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/classified-report-shows-americas-drones-213152415.html | The Atlantic | http://www.theatlantic.com/ | pakistandrone.jpg An anti-drone protest in Pakistan (Reuters). The Obama administration's drone attacks have not just targeted Al Qaeda leaders, but a wide variety of groups and individuals in Pakistan, according to classified intelligence documents obtained by McClatchy's Jonathan Landay. "At least 265 of up to 482 people who the U.S. intelligence reports estimated the CIA killed during a 12-month period ending in September 2011 were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were "assessed" as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists," Landay writes in the story, published today. This is despite the administration's rhetoric about how the CIA is using its drones solely to go after high-ranking Al Qaeda officials. Landay notes that when John Brennan gave the longest defense of the program on record, he "referred to al Qaida 73 times, the Afghan Taliban three times and mentioned no other group by name." While my colleague Conor Friedersdorf has repeatedly questioned the moral and legal logic of the drone war, Micah Zenko of the Council of Foreign Relations ponders another dark possibility in the McClatchy article. The United States is leading the creation and adoption of drone technology and forming the norms for their deployment in ad hoc, hypocritical way. So what's going to happen when other countries get their own large drone fleets ? Other governments "won't just emulate U.S. practice but (will adopt) America's justification for targeted killings," said Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations. "When there is such a disconnect between who the administration says it kills and who it (actually) kills, that hypocrisy itself is a very dangerous precedent that other countries will emulate." More From The Atlantic This Trippy Video Explains Bitcoin in Under 4 Minutes The 37 Percent Mystery: Where Did All the Workers Go? The Jobs Crisis at Our Best Law Schools Is Much, Much Worse Than You Think |
1,365,592,203 | 2013-04-10 11:10:03+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [0, 200, 279, 427, 763, 796, 863, 1267, 1292, 1459, 1843, 1913, 2062, 2100, 2248, 2411, 2470, 2552]} | {"Bitcoin": [5]} | Is a Bitcoin ETF Next? | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-etf-next-111003758.html | ETF Trends | http://www.etftrends.com/ | Bitcoins, a type of highly encrypted digital currency, are surging on a wave of speculation and demand for alternative currencies as central banks continue to print. Could we soon see the launch of a Bitcoin ETF? Its an interesting idea, but experts say dont hold your breath. Bitcoins, which trade hands online, have surged over 14% in the past week, reports Jeff Cox for CNBC . The digital currency has jumped to $250. The Bitcoin is a type of decentralized digital currency based on a peer-to-peer network and can be exchanged through computers internationally without a financial intermediary. The system was first introduced by developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Complex computers act as miners that would confirm transactions between two parties using Bitcoins, and they would receive Bitcoins as compensation. This helps serve to expand the supply of Bitcoins, which can not exceed 21 million, Minyanville reports. It got traction because its decentralized, its not subject to government meddling, its considered safe and theres limited supply, Alan Safahi, CEO of Zip Zap, said in the CNBC article. So that drives value in kind of a commodity-type perception. As the digital currency gains momentum, some have floated the idea of a ETF backed by Bitcoins. Alternatively, Bitcoins could be a candidate for the exchange traded note structure, but the sponsoring bank would have to be willing to back the appreciation or depreciation of the Bitcoin currency. What started off as a joke, may not seem like a joke at all. With global BitCoin exposure north of $2 billion and global currencies on the verge of a valuation war one has to wonder how this new asset is going to make its way into our lives, said Chris Hempstead, director of ETF execution services at WallachBeth Capital. Nevertheless, Hempstead does not believe Bitcoins can be structured to fit the ETF vehicle. For instance, if a Bitcoin ETF were to act like another currency offering, it would require futures contracts. Story continues Youd need securities that are based in Bitcoins, Hempstead said. Since the Bitcoin is unregulated and no futures exist, an ETF is not possible today. Nevertheless, there are some fervent supporters who are trying to bring Bitcoins to Wall Street. For instance, Peter Vessenes, CEO of Coinlab, is trying to develop a safe way for U.S. and Canadian investors to do large block trades of Bitcoins and protect them from loss, reports Teri Buhl for Bitcoin Magazine . Vessenes has argued that whoever can figure out a way to store Bitcoins in large trading blocks can help clients feel safe and entice large money investors into the digital currency. For more information on ETFs, visit our ETF 101 category . Max Chen contributed to this article. The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product. |
1,365,598,800 | 2013-04-10 13:00:00+00:00 | {"Bitcoin": [286, 1094, 1308, 1452, 1536, 1979]} | {"Bitcoin": [69]} | Fortinet(R)'s FortiGuard Threat Landscape Research Team Reports That Bitcoin Botnet, ZeroAccess, Was the Number One Threat This Quarter | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fortinet-r-fortiguard-threat-landscape-130000990.html | Marketwired | http://www.marketwired.com/ | SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 10, 2013) - Fortinet® ( NASDAQ : FTNT ) -- a world leader in high-performance network security -- today announced the findings of its FortiGuard threat landscape research for the period of January 1 - March 31, 2013. FortiGuard® Labs observed that the Bitcoin mining botnet, ZeroAccess, was the number one threat this quarter as reported by FortiGate devices worldwide. The report also reveals analysis of the South Korea cyberattacks and two new Android adware variants that have climbed the watch list in the last 90 days. ZeroAccess Shows No Signs of Slowing "In the first quarter of 2013, we have seen owners of the ZeroAccess botnet maintain and expand the number of bots under its control," said Richard Henderson, security strategist and threat researcher for Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs. "In the last 90 days, the owners of ZeroAccess have sent their infected hosts 20 software updates." Based on reporting from FortiGate devices worldwide, ZeroAccess is the number one botnet threat the team is seeing. ZeroAccess is used primarily for click fraud and Bitcoin mining. The value of the decentralized, open source-based digital currency continues to skyrocket, which likely means the amount of money being made by ZeroAccess is in the millions of dollars or more. "As Bitcoin's popularity and value increases, we may see other botnet owners attempt to utilize their botnets in similar fashions or to disrupt the Bitcoin market," Henderson continued. In March and into April, Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin Exchange in the world, battled a continued Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack in an attempt to destabilize the currency and/or profit from it. FortiGuard Labs' analysis of ZeroAccess, which has the capability to load DDoS modules onto infected machines, revealed that the botnet does not currently have a DDoS module attached to its arsenal. This suggests other botnet owners are attempting to profit from fluctuations in the Bitcoin currency. Story continues The growth of new ZeroAccess infections has remained constant in the last 90 days. Since FortiGuard Labs began actively monitoring ZeroAccess in August 2012, the team has seen a virtually linear amount of growth in new infections. Most recently, the team is seeing a staggering 100,000 new infections per week and almost 3 million unique IP addresses reporting infections. It's estimated that ZeroAccess may be generating its owners up to $100,000 per day in fraudulent advertising revenue alone. Wiper Attack Hits South Korea Companies A massive malware attack on South Korean television networks and financial institutions in March caused wide-scale damage, wiping thousands of hard drives. FortiGuard Labs, leveraging its partnerships with both the public and private sector in South Korea, has uncovered information relating to the nature of the attack and how the malware was spread. The team's research shows the attackers were able to seize control of patch management systems and use the trusted nature of those systems to distribute malware within their targets' networks. "During out investigation of the attacks, we discovered that a version of the wiper malware was able to infect internal security management servers and use the trusted nature of that internal server to spread infections inside the victim's network," said Kyle Yang, Senior Manager of Antivirus at FortiGuard Labs. Cleanup and restoration continues, and the perpetrators responsible remain unidentified. Two New Adware Variants Propagating on Android Two new Android adware variants, Android.NewyearL.B and Android.Plankton.B have seen a large number of global infections in the past 90 days. "The new advertising kits we are monitoring suggest that the authors behind this are working very hard to remain undetected," said David Maciejak, senior researcher for Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs. "It's also possible that Newyear and Plankton are being written by the same author, but being maintained separately in order to generate more infections." Both pieces of malware are embedded into various applications and have the ability to display advertisements, track users through the phone's unique IMEI number, and modify the phone's desktop. "The surge in Android adware can most likely be attributed to users installing what they believe are legitimate applications that contain the embedded adware code," said Guillaume Lovet, Senior Manager at FortiGuard Labs. "It suggests that someone or some group has been able to monetize these infections, most likely through illicit advertising affiliate programs." Users can protect themselves by paying close attention to the rights asked by an application at the point of installation. It is also recommended to download mobile applications that have been highly rated and reviewed. Q1 Threat Recap: NBC.com In February, using a popular cybercrime toolkit available in the cyber underground, attackers were able to leverage recently patched exploits in Oracle's Java and Adobe's PDF platforms to install the Citadel banking Trojan and ZeroAccess botnet onto systems that visited a number of NBC's digital properties. At the time of the attack, only three out of 46 popular antivirus applications were able to detect and mitigate this threat, and Fortinet's FortiClient was one of them. "The reports of signature-based antivirus' death have been greatly exaggerated," said Derek Manky, global security strategist for Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs. "A signature is often used loosely to refer to a simple pattern to match a virus. But, as we've seen recently, that's not always the case. Fortinet signatures, for example, are highly intelligent, as they work with our antivirus engine to identify the intent of a virus. In a case like the NBC.com attack, advanced signatures are proven to be proactive and can help in the fight against advanced persistent threats (APTs) and zero-day attacks." Today's APTs are able to defeat many technologies, including next generation firewalls. Building a network defense strategy that includes multiple layers of security is the best way to protect an infrastructure from attack. In the case of NBC, layers of security beyond traditional NGFW apply here -- Webfiltering, antivirus, intrusion prevision and application control all were involved. Spamhaus In March, global spam fighter The Spamhaus Project placed CyberBunker on their spam blacklist, which caused some groups sympathetic to the Dutch Web hosting provider to launch a sustained DDoS attack on Spamhaus. Content delivery provider CloudFlare was recruited to assist Spamhaus to help keep their blacklisting services available, but they, too, came under attack. At its peak, the attack on Spamhaus, CloudFlare and other groups reached a whopping 300 billion bits per second (Gbps), the largest online attack ever recorded. In what is referred to as a DNS Amplification attack, an attacking bot sends a spoofed request to an open DNS server and asks it to send back a large DNS file. "As long as misconfigured or intentionally left open DNS servers exist, these types of attacks will continue and be difficult to protect against," Henderson maintained. "As botnet owners grow the size of their armies and diversify the ways in which they launch attacks, we're likely to see even larger attacks like this in the future," Henderson said. About FortiGuard Labs FortiGuard Labs compiled threat statistics and trends for this threat period based on data collected from FortiGate® network security appliances and intelligence systems in production worldwide. Customers who use Fortinet's FortiGuard Services should be protected against the vulnerabilities outlined in this report as long as the appropriate configuration parameters are in place. FortiGuard Services offer broad security solutions including antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering and anti-spam capabilities. These services help protect against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are updated by FortiGuard Labs, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. For customers with a subscription to FortiGuard, these updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail ™ and FortiClient ™ products. Ongoing research can be found in the FortiGuard Center or via FortiGuard Labs ' RSS feed . Additional discussion on security technologies and threat analysis can be found at the FortiGuard Blog . Follow Fortinet Online: Twitter at: www.twitter.com/fortinet ; Facebook at: www.facebook.com/fortinet ; YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SecureNetworks . About Fortinet ( www.fortinet.com ) Fortinet ( NASDAQ : FTNT ) is a worldwide provider of network security appliances and a market leader in unified threat management (UTM). Our products and subscription services provide broad, integrated and high-performance protection against dynamic security threats while simplifying the IT security infrastructure. Our customers include enterprises, service providers and government entities worldwide, including the majority of the 2012 Fortune Global 100. Fortinet's flagship FortiGate product delivers ASIC-accelerated performance and integrates multiple layers of security designed to help protect against application and network threats. Fortinet's broad product line goes beyond UTM to help secure the extended enterprise -- from endpoints, to the perimeter and the core, including databases and applications. Fortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices around the world. Copyright © 2013 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet's trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, FortiGate, FortiGuard, FortiManager, FortiMail, FortiClient, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiReporter, FortiOS, FortiASIC, FortiWiFi, FortiSwitch, FortiVoIP, FortiBIOS, FortiLog, FortiResponse, FortiCarrier, FortiScan, FortiAP, FortiDB, FortiVoice and FortiWeb. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties, and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments. This news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve uncertainties and assumptions. Changes of circumstances, product release delays, or other risks as stated in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, located at www.sec.gov , may cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this press release. If the uncertainties materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Fortinet assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, and expressly disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. FTNT-O |
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Columns:
time_unix the UNIX timestamp of the news (UTC)
date_time UTC date and time
text_matches the news articles are matched with keywords "BTC", "bitcoin", "crypto", "cryptocurrencies", "cryptocurrency". The list is the posititions the keywords appeared.
title_matches keyword matches in title
url the Yahoo Finance URL that the article from
source the source if the news is cited from other source, not originally from Yahoo Finane
source_url the outer source cited
article_text article body
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