Report: Crypto Miners Bought 3 Million GPUs Last Year

More than 3 million graphics cards have been sold to cryptocurrency miners in 2017, with sales reaching $776 million, a new report revealed. According to a major manufacturer, prices of GPUs will continue to increase in 2018, despite expectations of decreasing demand in the mining sector.  

Rising Mining Costs to Slow Down Demand

Over three million Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have been sold to cryptocurrency miners last year, Jon Peddie Research announced in its latest report. The total sales of video cards have reached $776 million, according to the market research firm, which does not expect prices to go down in the near future.

The study covers data from the top three producers of GPUs – AMD, Nvidia and Intel. Recently, Advanced Micro Devices acknowledged shortages of its Radeon cards because of their use in mining applications. The company plans to increase their production, as news.Bitcoin.com reported.

AMD’s main competitor, Nvidia, admitted the demand by miners had exceeded its expectations in the last quarter of 2017. In an attempt to guarantee that gamers would be able to get their share, the company asked retailers to limit the number of graphics cards that can be purchased at a time. Miners usually buy the latest GPU’s in bulk, leaving empty shelves.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has said that the company is working to address supply issues. It has been reported that Nvidia may reveal a new “Turing” card dedicated for mining. GPUs are mainly utilized in mining altcoins like ethereum and monero, as bitcoin requires more powerful, specialized hardware.

The report also says that overall GPU shipments in Q4 have decreased by 1.5% from the previous quarter and 4.8% year on year, mainly due to lower sales in desktop and notebook applications. However, the indicator is still above the ten-year average of -3.40%. While the market shares of Nvidia and Intel have shrunk by 6% and 2%, respectively, AMD has seen an 8.1% increase.

GPU Prices to Go Up This Year

According to the president of the market research company, “gaming has been and will continue to be the primary driver for GPU sales, augmented by the demand from cryptocurrency miners.” Dr. Jon Peddie expects a decrease in that demand, as margins drop with increasing utilities costs, while the prices of GPU’s go up because of short supply. He also said that gamers can offset those costs by mining when not gaming, but prices will not drop in the near future.

Nvidia has also stated that GPU prices will continue to go up in 2018, according to some publications. The hardware marketplace Massdrop claims the manufacturer informed them to expect prices to continue rising through the third quarter of the year, as reported by many tech sites.

The availability of memory for the graphics units is another major factor that can influence supply and price rates. Shortages of RAM have already been reported. AMD has announced it would work with suppliers to overcome the deficit, as the two main types of memory used in its RX cards, GDDR5 and HBM2, are in short supply.

Source from: Bitcoin.com 

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Sixth Grader Writes a 57-Page Book About Bitcoin

An 11-year old named Andrew Courey from Massachusetts just published a book on bitcoin so the younger generation can grasp this emerging technology that’s been sweeping the globe. The sixth-grader considers himself an expert on bitcoin, and his 57-page book describes cryptocurrencies in a way his peers can understand.

A 57-Page Book About Mastering Bitcoin Written By a Sixth Grader

Andrew Courey is a middle school student from Massachusetts, and he hopes to earn $20Mn by the age of fourteen. Courey made an agreement with his parents who said if he earned $20Mn by then, he could drop out of school much like the bitcoin millionaire Erik Finman’s deal with his parents. So after countless hours of research and Youtube videos covering the subject of bitcoin Courey decided to write a book on the topic. The book called “Early Bird Gets The Bitcoin: The Ultimate Guide To Everything About Bitcoin,” is available on Amazon in both e-book form or as a paper copy.

The introduction states:

Today we will be learning about an online currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto, and by the end, you will become a master of bitcoin.

Courey’s dad is a tech investor and prompted Andrew to put his studies to good use by publishing a book about bitcoin in a more simplified manner.

“Anyone can learn about cryptocurrencies if they’re willing to spend 70 to 80 hours researching every source until they find a couple sources that make sense,” Andrew explains in a recent interview with CNBC. “The whole book, in the simplest terms, is very easy to read and simple to understand.”

Relatable Analogies

The sixth grader’s book tries to use relatable analogies to describe cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In order to explain a distributed ledger, Courey explains that a blockchain is similar to a public Google document that’s “shared with everyone and that can only be edited by buying or selling bitcoin.” Additionally, Courey says a digital currency wallet is comparable to a mailbox where only the owner has the keys. Courey describes a bitcoin wallet in his book noting:  

Imagine there is a mailbox — the mailman can drive the mail to any mailbox, but only the person with the key can access the mail.

The book covers concepts like wallets, mining, and other technologies tied to cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the book discusses the history of bitcoin, Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), and the ethereum protocol as well. At the end of each chapter Courey concludes with a fun fact about the specific subjects discussed in that section.

Source from: Bitcoin.com

Poll: Bitcoin More Popular With Czechs than the Euro

Czechs are more inclined to store value in cryptos than in euros, according to a new poll gauging attitudes toward currencies other than the koruna. When asked about their intentions to acquire foreign cash, twice as many respondents said they were interested in buying bitcoin than purchasing US dollars.

Cryptos Considered Hard Currencies

Like many other nations, which do not have the luxury of emitting a “hard” national currency, Czechs may consider investing some of their savings in foreign, “convertible”, legal tender, like the dollar or the euro. Surprisingly, a new survey shows neither of these two is the number 1 choice for investment. The study, quoted by local media, was conducted among 525 people this month.

Czechs are still wary of cryptocurrencies, according to the survey. Nevertheless, cryptos, like bitcoin and ethereum, have become the most popular currencies, when it comes to investment opportunities. Almost 11% of the respondents in an Ipsos poll admitted they were thinking about acquiring digital coins. Fewer Czechs said they would consider buying euros – 10.3%.

Since its “liberalization”, the Czech koruna (CZK) has been fairing pretty well. It appreciated against the euro after the Czech National Bank lifted the cap last April. Almost a third of Czech people (30%) trust their free-floating fiat now, the survey found out. The second most trusted traditional currency in Czechia is the Swiss franc (26%).

Left unchecked, however, the koruna may depreciate at some point. When a national currency goes down, prices of imported goods inevitably go up. With floating koruna, Czechs may start to look around, more often than before, for alternatives to diversify their investments and spread the risk for their savings.

Bitcoin Also Wanted As Cash

The euro might sound like an obvious choice, but it has never been very popular with the Czech people. Several years ago, the government in Prague suspended indefinitely plans to adopt the common European currency. Multiple surveys have indicated a very low public support for entering the Eurozone, well below 20%. The Ipsos poll for Topforex also found that the euro has slipped to third place among trusted fiat currencies in the Czech Republic.

When respondents were asked if they planned to purchase foreign currency in cash, more than half said they had no intentions to do so. A third of those who want to buy said they would acquire euros. Many of their country’s neighbors, like Slovakia, have adopted the euro and visiting Czechs would need the European cash. 8.4% of the interviewed, however, stated they were planning to acquire digital cash in the form of cryptocurrencies – twice as many as those who said they were going to buy US dollars in the near future (4.2%).

Last year the Czech National Bank tried to downplay the importance of cryptocurrencies and their potential to marginalize traditional money. The financial authority claimed there was no reason for banks to fear bitcoin. A “good currency”, CNB argued, has a stable purchasing power. All bitcoin transactions in the world amount to only 16% of the electronic transactions conducted in the Czech koruna, the bank noted.

Source from: Bitcoin.com

Some Major Canadian Banks Still Allow Cryptocurrency Credit Card Transactions

While TD Bank has revised its policies and stopped allowing customers to purchase cryptocurrencies using its credit cards, some major banks in Canada still allow crypto credit card transactions, the banks reportedly confirmed on Friday.

TD Bank Halts Crypto Credit Card Purchases

Canada’s largest bank by assets as of April of last year, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank), said on Friday that it is “halting the use of its credit cards to buy cryptocurrency as it conducts a review of the ‘evolving market’,” Financial Post reported. The bank explained in an emailed statement:

At TD, we regularly evaluate our policies and security measures, in order to serve and protect our customers, as well as the bank.

TD Bank’s Friday announcement reverses its stance earlier this month when the bank said it permitted cryptocurrency purchases using credit and debit cards “as long as the merchant is authorized to accept Visa, Mastercard, Interac or Visa debit and the transaction isn’t determined to be fraudulent,” according to the bank’s spokeswoman Julie Bellissimo.

Some Banks Still Allow Crypto Credit Card Purchases

Some banks in Canada, however, still allow their customers to buy cryptocurrencies using their credit cards currently.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the country’s second-largest bank by assets, said on Friday that “it does allow its credit and debit cards to be used for transactions involving cryptocurrency in limited circumstances,” Financial Post noted. Nonetheless, the bank cautioned clients about the volatility of cryptocurrencies which “could expose them to substantially higher debt levels than they are able to repay.” An RBC spokesperson said in an emailed statement:

The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), the third largest bank in Canada by asset, is also looking closely at its cryptocurrency transaction policy, the news outlet added. The bank’s spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “We understand that regulatory and risk factors related to cryptocurrency continue to evolve and as a result, we are closely reviewing our policies with respect to cryptocurrency transactions.” At the time of this writing, the bank has not announced any changes in its policies.

Additionally, the National Bank of Canada, the country’s sixth-largest lender, said earlier this month that it allows crypto transactions, the publication further noted.

A Global Trend

Globally, an increasing number of banks are halting the use of their credit cards for cryptocurrency transactions. In the US, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup have stopped allowing customers to use their credit cards to purchase bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

In the UK, Britain’s largest banking group, Lloyds Banking Group, has banned its customers from using credit cards from any of its subsidiaries to buy cryptocurrencies including Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, and MBNA.

In Australia, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) announced last week that it would no longer allow customers to purchase cryptocurrencies with credit cards. “We have made this decision because we believe virtual currencies do not meet a minimum standard of regulation, reliability, and reputation when compared to currencies that we offer to our customers,” the bank explained.

In Asia, Thailand has asked all commercial banks in the country to disallow cryptocurrency purchases using credit cards. In India, while SBI is allowing the use of its credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies for the time being, Citibank has banned the use of its debit and credit cards for crypto purchases.

Source from: Bitcoin.com

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Crypto-Backed SALT Claims $1.3 Billion Backlog, Suspends New Memberships

Secured Automated Lending Technology (SALT) has an enviable problem if its recent Medium post is to be believed. The membership-based crypto-as-collateral loan platform has declared “a demand of over $1.3b in loan requests” is forcing it to suspend “new membership registrations, loan requests, and purchases of SALT.”

SALT Comes to a Halt

Colorado-based SALT has only been around since late 2017, but during that time it claims to have issued “over $23m in blockchain-backed loans.” If that wasn’t enough, “there is still a demand of over $1.3b in loan requests that we are diligently working to address,” a recent communication from the company explained.

Using a member’s cryptocurrency holdings as collateral for cash loans, enthusiasts are able to leverage their gains in decentralized currency markets in the event they’d like to pay off debt or whatever financial spirit moves them. And they’re able to do it without giving up crypto holdings.

Evidently, it’s catching on. “Due to the enormous demand and loan requests we will be temporarily suspending new membership registrations, loan requests, and purchases of SALT on our platform. Existing members will still be able to deposit SALT on the platform and upgrade their membership in the interim. We plan to begin adding members and turn on all associated features as soon as we have satisfied the automation of our current loan process and have served the current pending loan requests.”

SALT’s business model is essentially larger loans floated by accredited investors; those with a net worth of more than a million dollars or with six-figure salaries. The minimum loan is 5,000 USD, and it does seem to be working well – maybe too well – to the tune of over 60,000 members. 

Alternatives to SALT

“The process of scaling and automating our processes and technology,” SALT continues, “has been progressing well but we’ve recognized an opportunity to focus our team’s time and resources on this important goal and on addressing the existing demand before we continue to add new memberships and loan requests.” 

While SALT figures out how to scale, other lending programs abound within the ecosystem. Coinloan is a crypto asset collateral lending program that offers significantly smaller loans and easier access. Ripio’s RPN Global Lending is more peer-to-peer in its approach. Ethlend of Switzerland works off of the Ethereum blockchain, and touts its decentralized features.

Source from: bitcoin.com

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Markets Update: BTC Prices Dip Below $10K

BTC prices and a vast majority of other cryptocurrencies have taken a significant dive over the past 24-hours as the entire crypto-economy shaved $75Bn from its recent highs this week. BTC/USD markets dropped to a low of $9,730.

Crypto-Markets See Losses Between 3-20 Percent

Two days ago BTC/USD markets reached a high of $11,780 across global trading platforms, but bulls seem to have lost some of the momentum. Presently bulls are trying to get the price back above the $10K region after dipping well below that range on February 22. Trade volume is a bit thinner today as $8.5Bn has been traded over the past 24-hours. The top five exchanges swapping the most BTC today includes Binance, Bitfinex, Okex, Upbit, and Bithumb. All of these trading platforms are trading less than $1Bn in trade volume per exchange. The Japanese yen is still leading the pack when it comes to currency by volume with the nation’s money dominating by 39 percent. This is followed by the USD (28%), tether (USDT 17%), the Korean won (5.9%), and the euro (5.4%).

Overall Digital Asset Market Performances

In general, the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem is suffering from losses between 3-20 percent. Ethereum (ETH) markets are down 3.9 percent today with a price of around $810 per ETH. The third highest capitalization held by ripple (XRP) is down 8.8 percent as one XRP is trading for $0.93. Bitcoin cash (BCH) prices are seeing markets lose 7.9 percent and the price per BCH is roughly $1,208. Lastly, the fifth highest market valuation held by litecoin (LTC) is down 7.6 percent. Litecoin’s price is hovering around $196 per LTC at the time of publication. The entire cryptocurrency market cap is about $430Bn with bitcoin core (BTC) markets dominating by 39 percent.

The Verdict: Crypto Traders Are Still Optimistic

Currently, traders and enthusiasts in chat rooms and forums are discussing how far this dip will go after experiencing a significant downturn over the first five weeks of the new year. Some believe the current correction may just be a ‘bear trap’ where the price pulls down low enough to where traders can get better entry points. Typically a trap doesn’t last long and reverses soon after the lowest or highest (bull trap) price point. Some speculate crypto-prices are being affected by the tumultuous global stock markets. There’s been some recovery in traditional stock and equities markets today, so some traders may have moved from digital assets to different markets. Prior to the recovery stock markets suffered a lot yesterday after a six-day winning streak. Stocks worldwide dropped significantly in value especially in the U.S. For instance, well-known companies like Walmart suffered from the most profound price declines since 1988. Overall even with the current dip, cryptocurrency traders are optimistic the bull run is just getting started.

Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice.

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How South Korean Government Prevents Officials from Insider Crypto Trading

No Applicable Law Currently

The issue of insider trading using the knowledge of the government’s cryptocurrency regulations became prominent last month when an FSS employee was accused of crypto insider trading. The FSS has an active role in creating crypto regulations as well as inspecting banks for crypto-related money laundering measures.

The employee invested about 13 million won on July 3 of last year and sold more than half of his holdings on December 11, Chosun described. Then, on December 13, the government announced a set of strict regulations, including a ban on crypto trading for minors and foreigners.

Guilty or not, there is no law to punish government officials for insider trading of cryptocurrencies. While employees are prohibited from stock trading using insider knowledge, a senior FSS official was quoted by Edaily explaining:

Currently, there are no provisions in the regulation on virtual currency.

New Code of Conduct Could Help

The rules applicable to stocks do not apply to cryptocurrencies since they are currently not recognized as financial assets in Korea. To prevent future insider trading, Korean prime minister Lee Nak-yeon ordered the creation of a new Code of Conduct to address crypto trading by public officials.

The Korean Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission issued the “Code of Conduct Guide to Cryptocurrency” to the government and public agencies last week. It adds cryptocurrency to Article 12 of the Civil Servant Code of Conduct which, according to Tokenpost, states that:

Public officials shall not use the information learned during their duties to assist in trading or investing in property related to securities, real estate, etc., or providing such information to others to help them trade or invest.

However, the FSS Did Not Get the Memo

The FSS, however, is not bound by the new Code of Conduct. According to Edaily, the document was not even sent to the FSS. “This guidance document was sent to the central administrative agency, metropolitan area, basic local autonomous body, city and provincial office of education,” an FSS official detailed. A senior official of the FSS Inspectorate confirmed to the publication, “We did not receive any letters of interest.”

The news outlet explained that this is due to the FSS being under the supervision of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Securities and Futures Commission under the current law.

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Leading Australian Banks Allow Customers to Purchase Cryptocurrencies

Three of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks have issued comments regarding their respective policy positions with regards to their customers’ ability to purchase cryptocurrency using accounts issued by said banks. The statements come weeks after reports surfaced detailing an apparent banking embargo on the part of Australian banks targeting cryptocurrency businesses.

ANZ and Westpac Allow Customers to Purchase Cryptocurrency for Now

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a spokesperson representing Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) stated that the bank “does not prohibit customers buying digital or cryptocurrencies, or accepting them as a form of payment.” ANZ’s spokesperson added that the bank “monitors transactions for unusual behavior to protect against potential fraud and in line with our regulatory responsibilities.”

ANZ however, does not provide banking services to “businesses that operate as issuers, dealers or exchanges of digital or cryptocurrency,” with the spokesperson stating that “these businesses are currently unregulated and therefore not within ANZ policy”.

Westpac has indicated a permissive stance with regards to its customers’ ability to purchase virtual currencies, with a spokeswoman stating “We currently have no restrictions on credit card use to purchase cryptocurrency.” However, the representative refused to comment on whether the bank is considering introducing a prohibitive policy in future like those currently enforced by Westpac’s U.K. and U.S. based counterparts.

NAB and CBA Restrict Customer Access to Cryptocurrencies

National Bank of Australia (NAB) has taken a more cautionary tone, with a representative stating that “[the Australian Securities and Investments Commission] advises that, as most of the virtual currency exchange platforms are generally not regulated, customers may not be protected or have any legal recourse if the platform fails or is hacked.” As such, NAB stated: “To reduce the risk for our customers, and to help protect their money, some card transactions may not be processed,” adding “We take the protection of our customers’ information and accounts extremely seriously.”

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) declined to respond to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s request for comment, however anecdotal reports have long indicated that CBA has prevented its customers from conducting wire transfers to major cryptocurrency exchanges.

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Markets Update: BTC Prices Suffer from a 65% Loss Since December

Bitcoin prices and cryptocurrency markets, in general, have been declining in value for the past six weeks straight with a few bounces here and there. Currently, BTC/USD markets have reached the lowest price in weeks touching $6,600 on February 5, 2018, erasing the past three months worth of gains.

The -65 Percent Bitcoin Dip

Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and traders are in search of the cryptocurrency ‘bottom’ — the price position where the asset will go no lower and is usually followed by a price rise. Today BTC hit a low of $6,600 across most global exchanges around 2 pm EDT. At the moment the BTC/USD global average is hovering just above the $7,000 region after passing through the $9-8K territories two days prior. At the time of publication BTC markets are down -65 percent since the December 16 all-time high. Over the past 12-hours, trade volume has been weak at under $6Bn traded over the past 24-hours, but that metric has increased since the dip. The top five exchanges trading the most BTC at the moment include Bitfinex, Okex, Binance, GDAX, and Bitstamp. The Japanese yen is the most dominant currency traded right now with BTC as the yen captures 40 percent of global trading. This is followed by the USD (36%), tether (USDT 10%), the euro (7%), and the Korean won (2%).

Digital Asset Markets, In General, Are Suffering Deep Losses

The top ten cryptocurrencies are all suffering from extreme losses today. The second largest market cap held by ethereum (ETH) is down 11 percent, and one ETH is trading at $737. Ripple (XRP) markets are down 8 percent as one XRP is $0.74. Bitcoin cash (BCH) prices dropped 16 percent to a low of $947. Lastly, Cardano (ADA) dropped to $0.33 today seeing an 11 percent loss over the past 24-hours.

Most traders in forums and Telegram chats have been trying to call the ‘bottom’ for a while now. Some still believe we could even touch lower bound prices around $4.5K per BTC in the near term. Some think a reversal will take place soon and prices between $13-15K could be reached by March. Overall the bearish sentiment has eclipsed most signs of positivity and the euphoric feelings traders felt just six weeks ago.

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