Our website is in all cases simple, fast, and safe transactions for US dollars. Sell now! Basic, fast, and special. There is no recruitment. The highest rate is insured. Moment and confidence in strong security. We operate credit or other forms of cash and in addition, we offer how to cash out bitcoin anonymously get BTC money online. Get money from these split Bitcoins. Use the exchange stages to convert BTC into money. Convert bitcoins into money using cash converters. Use the direct electronic payment framework. We learn about some simple ways to convert BTC into USD, INR, EUR, or GBP, you can use BTC to add machine changes to Bitcoin in any global currency using the Bitcoin price index including USD, GBP, EUR, CNY, Japanese Yen. If you really need to change bitcoin to dollars, store it on a computer with your bitcoins at a rate of 1 to 5,000 USD and other proposals to convert 1 Bitcoin into $ 5,200. Currency conversion gets high rates. We offer high prices for digital money without any hassle, and with the best possible prices in the market, in this article, I will describe how to sell bitcoins for USD or convert BTC to USD. Convert Bitcoin into cash. Make sure you check out Living at bitcoincashout.com. Bitcoin Cashout is the leader in the mining scene equipped with ASIC rigs. Simply start measuring, enter your Bitcoin address, and start mining. Free cloud mining program. Moment Free online device to convert BTC to USD or vice versa. The conversion table of BTC Bitcoin to USD [US dollar] and the exchange steps are also very simple and you can buy BTC in US dollars, with a credit card, and how to transfer bitcoins between wallets , but there is no deal for 100 Bitcoins constantly, convert it into USD. It will end up being an exchange of monetary benchmarks, like the US dollar, which will not once again be important for Bitcoin to replace paper monetary standards in the long run. If you are looking for the latest cost of BTC in USD, the trading segment will reflect the market conditions in a split second.
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Scam Warning
Hey guys. There have been numerous scammers lately who have been private messaging redditors. Their goal is for you to send Litecoins to their address. So far, they've followed the same writing template. It looks something like this: https://imgur.com/0UZczuz If someone is telling you to send to a Litecoin address they are providing, DON'T. They're trying to steal your Litecoins. If you're not sure, read the wealth of knowledge below or comment below and I will eventually get to you.
(Re-post of u/Sparkswont cuz it was archived) Whether you're new to cryptocurrency and have no clue what a 'litecoin' is, or a seasoned investor in cryptocurrencies, the resources below will answer all your questions. If you still have questions, feel free to ask below in the comments!
What is Litecoin?
Litecoin (LTC or Ł) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Litecoin is one of the largest, oldest, and most used cryptocurrencies in the world. Similar to Bitcoin, Litecoin uses blockchain technology to process transactions. So what's the difference? To process a block, Litecoin takes 2.5 minutes rather than Bitcoins 10 minutes. This allows for faster processing times. Litecoin also has the capability to produce a total of 84 million units, compared to Bitcoins 21 million. In addition, Litecoin uses scrypt in its proof-of-work algorithm, a sequential memory-hard function requiring asymptotically more memory than an algorithm which is not memory-hard. Still confused? Take a look at this video!
Where can I buy Litecoin?
There are many websites and applications where you can buy and sell Litecoin, but make sure the exchange you are using is trusted and secure. Here are some exchanges that are trusted in the cryptocurrency community:
Litecoin (and other cryptocurrencies) is stored in a digital wallet. When storing Litecoin, you want to make sure you trust the place you store them. This is why it is best to store them yourself through the electrum wallet. It is highly suggested to not store your Litecoin in an exchange (such as Coinbase, Poloniex, Bittrex, etc.) because you don't control the private keys. If the exchange ever goes offline, or becomes insolvent, your Litecoin essentially disappear. Some other options are:
If you're a fan of mobile devices, then Loafwallet is the wallet for you. Developed by a Litecoin Foundation Dev, losh11, this mobile wallet works great! And remember to always make sure to write down your seedkeys.
Hardware wallets are another great option, in fact, they are said to be the most secure way to store cryptocurrencies. Below is a list of the litecoin flexible hardware wallets.
Litecoin is in the top ten of all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Websites are rapidly adopting Litecoin as a method of payment as well. If you yourself want to accept LTC as a business, you can refer to these merchant manuals. Alternatively, if you would like to explore websites that accept Litecoin, head over to /AcceptingLTC. Here are also several of our favorite merchants accepting Litecoin.
Where can I discuss Litecoin?
The Litecoin community is extremely kind and robust. There are many forums and places where you can discuss Litecoin with others who are interested in the currency. Here are the main ones:
If you have more questions, or are genuinely interested in learning more about Litecoin then be sure to read this series. If you have a specific question that you can't seem to find the answer too, ask below and someone will help you out!
XRP Wallets You need 20 XRP to activate a XRP wallet. Fees can be changed by the validators through the voting process. The reserve requirement protects the XRP Ledger from spam or malicious usage.
When you are sending XRP to an exchange, destination tag is very important. Destination tag is not needed when you transfer XRP to your own wallet address.
● XUMM by XRPL Labs | Developers XUMM is a free app (iOS and Android) that makes sending, receiving and interacting with the XRP ledger easy & secure.
Tools Check XRP wallet balance - Bithomp | Graph | Transactions Print raw information about an account, a transaction or a ledger - RPC Tool
Exchanges The best way to support XRP is to buy/sell XRP directly with your local currency, not with USDT, ETH, LTC, or BTC. Available XRP pairs - AUD, BRL, CAD, CNY, EUR, GBP, IDR, INR, JPY, KRW, MXN, PHP, RUB, THB, TRY, UAH, USD, ZAR. You can find the complete list of XRP exchanges and supported XRP/fiat pairs Here.
Bitcoin as the Ultimate Haven from Hyperinflation: A Country By Country Analysis Of Worldwide Fiat Currency Inflation
https://cryptoiq.co/bitcoin-as-the-ultimate-haven-from-hyperinflation-a-country-by-country-analysis-of-worldwide-fiat-currency-inflation/ Bitcoin was created during the Great Recession that started in 2008, when the governments of the world printed trillions of dollars to bail out banks and corporations. Satoshi Nakamoto intended Bitcoin to be a decentralized form of money that could not be printed by governments at will. In the the Genesis Block Satoshi included the message “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of the second bailout for banks.” Fiat currencies continue to be the dominant form of global currency, but it seems logical that, if fiat currencies were to hyperinflate and collapse, Bitcoin would become the dominant global currency. This is because Bitcoin can be sent instantly anywhere in the world and is cryptographically secure. It is easy enough to integrate Bitcoin into any e-commerce store or physical store, and the customers of the future will be able to send Bitcoin from their smartphones via QR codes. Therefore, if fiat currency becomes obsolete, Bitcoin could seamlessly take its place and keep the global economy running. There has been plenty of hype that fiat currencies are collapsing, but this article will explore the current state of major fiat currencies in the world to ascertain the true situation. This is important information since the rate of fiat currency inflation by country is an important factor that will determine Bitcoin adoption rates and ultimately Bitcoin’s price. United States’ Inflation Rate The United States is perhaps the best place to start an analysis of global fiat inflation, since the USD is the world’s dominant fiat currency and perhaps the most stable long term. That being said, there is 2-3 percent annual inflation in the United States. If we split the difference at a 2.5 percent annual inflation rate, it means $100,000 stored in a bank will lose a whopping $22,400 of value over the course of 10 years, corresponding to 22.4 percent inflation per 10 years. Therefore, even in the United States, saving money long term seems impractical, and this essentially forces people to risk their savings by investing in the hopes that the money earned from investing will outpace inflation. It appears inflation will only worsen in the United States since the national debt is approaching $22 trillion, with a budget deficit of $1 trillion per year and growing. This situation will likely lead to increased money printing, which would increase the inflation rate. Therefore, saving money in USD long term does not make financial sense. Bitcoin is an alternative way to store money long term, although Bitcoin has yet to mature and can be extremely volatile from year to year. Euro (EUR) Inflation Rate Is 37.5 percent Relative To USD During The Last 10 Years One of the primary global currencies besides the USD is the Euro (EUR). For the rest of this global analysis, fiat currencies will be compared to the USD exchange rate to determine inflation, but it must be kept in mind that the USD itself is inflating at the rate of 2 to 3 percent per year. When the EUR launched in 1999, the exchange rate was one USD per 0.85 EUR. By 2002 the EUR weakened to 1.16 EUR per USD. The EUR then entered a period of vigorous strengthening, and the exchange rate fell to 0.64 EUR per USD by 2008. The Great Recession caused the EUR to begin weakening versus the USD long term, and currently each USD is worth 0.88 EUR. This represents 37.5 percent inflation relative to the USD in roughly 10 years. Back to the storing money in a bank analogy, $100,000 of EUR stored over the past 10 years would have lost the EUR inflation rate + the USD inflation rate. With this sort of inflation rate it seems dangerous to store money in EUR long term. It gets worse. The EUR is one of the top global fiat currencies, and there are many currencies doing worse than the EUR. United Kingdom’s Pound Has 65 Percent Inflation Relative to USD in 11 Years The United Kingdom (UK) is one of nine European Union (EU) countries that does not use the EUR, and eventually, the UK will leave the EU via the Brexit. However, the native Great Britain Pound (GBP) has done far worse than the Euro, with the exchange rate going from 0.48 GBP per USD in 2007 to 0.79 GBP per USD currently. This is 65 percent inflation relative to the USD during the past 11 years. Canada’s Inflation Rate Is 45.2 Percent Relative to USD During the Last 7 Years The United States’ neighbor to the north is similar to the United States in many respects. It is a fully developed and industrialized first world country. However the native fiat currency, the Canadian Dollar (CAD), has been experiencing severe inflation since the Great Recession. In 2011 1 USD was worth 0.95 CAD, and now the exchange rate is 1.36 CAD per USD. This represents 43.2 percent inflation relative to the USD since 2011, and of course, the USD has an underlying inflation rate as well of 16.2 percent during the last 7 years. Even in the first world country of Canada, it is becoming impossible to save cash for retirement or even for short-term goals like buying a house, forcing people to invest in the risky stock market. Mexico’s Inflation Rate Is 97.6 Percent Relative to the USD During Past 10 Years Since the 2008 financial crisis, the exchange rate of the Mexican Peso (MXN) has gone from 10.12 MXN per USD to 20 MXN per USD. This represents 97.6 percent inflation relative to the USD, and USD inflation means the true Mexican inflation rate is well over 100 percent per 10 years. This sort of inflation rate ensures that people have to work their entire lives and can never retire, and overall, this sort of inflation can cause the entire economy of Mexico to struggle. Bitcoin seems like an obvious alternative to holding MXN long term. It is quite shocking that a country bordering the United States has such high inflation, yet the mainstream media never mentions it. Russia Has 194 Percent Inflation Relative to USD Since the 2008 Great Recession Russia is a global superpower, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.58 trillion versus the United States’ $19.39 trillion GDP. Despite being a superpower, the native currency of Russia, the Russian Ruble (RUB), has gone from 23.48 RUB per USD in 2008 to 69.08 RUB per USD currently. This yields a 194 percent 10 year inflation rate relative to the USD. Clearly, the Great Recession that started in 2008 is a common point when fiat inflation accelerated in many countries around the world. Japan’s Inflation Rate Is 46 Percent Relative to USD Over the Past 7 Years Japan is a first-world country and has one of the most important stock markets in the world. The GDP of Japan is ranked number three in the world at nearly $5 trillion. However, its inflation rate is far higher than the United States, at least since 2011. In 2011, the exchange rate was 76 JPY per USD, but it has now risen to 111 JPY per USD, a 46 percent inflation rate relative to the USD over the past 7 years. This is actually almost exactly the same as Canada’s inflation rate. China’s Inflation Is Only 14.4 Percent Relative to USD Since 2013, but China Tightly Controls the CNY China is the second ranking economy in the world with a $12 trillion GDP. Its position as the number one trading partner of the United States gives it power to manipulate the exchange rate of its native currency the Chinese Yuan (CNY). The CNY actually strengthened greatly versus the USD until 2013, when China relaxed its control over the CNY exchange rate to make it more competitive in the global import and export markets. Chinese control over the CNY and therefore, control over the profitability of Chinese imports, is a primary reason for the “trade war” between China and the United States. Since allowing the CNY to lose value relative to the USD, the exchange rate has gone from 6.04 CNY per USD in 2013 to 6.91 CNY per USD currently, a 14.4 percent inflation relative to the USD in 5 years. China is an outlier and has one of the lowest inflation rates relative to the USD. Switzerland Has One Of The Lowest Inflation Rates At Less Than 5 percent Relative To The USD In 7 Years Switzerland has remained independent of the European Union and does not use the EUR. Instead, it uses the Swiss Franc (CHF). The CHF actually strengthened greatly relative to the USD during the Great Recession, but the trend reversed in 2011. There was a rapid devaluation of the CHF relative to the USD from 0.76 CHF per USD to 0.94 CHF per USD during 2011. In The 7 years since then, the CHF has roughly five percent inflation relative to the USD and sits at 0.99 CHF per USD currently. That being said, it cannot be forgotten that the USD itself is experiencing 2.5 percent inflation per year, so even countries that have low inflation rates relative to the USD have a significant inflation rate overall. India Has Seen 79 Percent Inflation Relative to USD Since the Great Recession Began India has the sixth highest GDP in the world at $2.6 trillion, and the second highest population at 1.34 billion. Since the Great Recession began, the Indian Rupee (INR) has gone from 39.18 per USD to 70.14 INR per USD, a 79 percent inflation relative to the USD in 11 years. Unfortunately, India is slowly making Bitcoin more illegal and could fully outlaw it, so citizens may have to break the law in the future in the event that inflation accelerates and Bitcoin becomes a preferred way to store money. Indonesia Has 76 Percent Inflation Relative to the USD in Seven Years Indonesia has a population of 265 million, not far behind the United States, but its GDP is 20 times less than the United States at $1 trillion. Part of the reason Indonesia’s economy is weaker may be that the native fiat currency, the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) has gone from 8,250 per USD in 2011 to 14,550 IDR per USD currently. This is 76 percent inflation relative to the USD in 7 years, around the same rate as India. However, Indonesia has banned Bitcoin as of 2018, which would make it difficult for citizens to use Bitcoin in the event inflation spirals out of control. Brazil Has 152 percent Inflation Relative To USD In Past Seven Years, Despite Being the Strongest Economy In South America Brazil has the most powerful economy in South America with a $2 trillion GDP. However, South America as a whole is experiencing out of control hyperinflation, and Brazil seems to be feeling the effects. The Brazilian Real (BRL) has gone from 1.55 per USD in 2011 to 3.91 BRL per USD currently. This is 152 percent inflation relative to the USD in 7 years. There does not appear to be any inflation safe haven in South America, and this could make South America a Bitcoin adoption hotspot. Venezuela Has Ridiculous Inflation Around One million percent Per Year; Bolivar Collapsing The end game of fiat currency inflation, if left unchecked, is currency collapse. A classic example of currency collapse is the situation in Venezuela, where the Cafe Con Leche Index suggests 400,000 percent inflation per year, although if a shorter term average is used it is 1 million percent per year or more. It would be shocking if the native fiat currency of Venezuela, the Sovereign Bolivar (VES), is still usable one year from now. Bitcoin is legal in Venezuela, and there is plenty of news which indicates people are abandoning the VES for Bitcoin. South Korea Has Zero Inflation Relative to the USD South Korea is considered a powerful economy relative to most of the world, with a GDP of $1.5 trillion despite the country’s small size. The South Korean Won (SKW) has essentially zero inflation relative to the USD long term aside from an exchange rate shock during the 2008 Great Recession. That being said, inflation is still a reality in South Korea since the USD has average inflation of 2.5 percent per year. Australia Has 53 Percent Inflation Relative to the USD in Seven Years Australia essentially has a continent to itself, but it is not isolated from the global fiat inflation crisis. The AUD actually strengthened massively versus the USD from 2001 to 2011. However, the trend reversed, and the exchange rate has gone from 0.93 AUD per USD in 2011 to 1.42 AUD per USD currently. This is 53 percent inflation relative to the USD in seven years. Israel Has Zero Inflation Relative To USD Long Term Israel is in the Middle East but does not have strong connections to the economy of the rest of the Middle East and, apparently, a different monetary policy than most of the rest of the world. Israel is only comparable to the United States, South Korea, and perhaps Switzerland when it comes to fiat currency since the Israeli New Shekel (ILS) has practically zero inflation relative to the USD long term although there are shorter term oscillations. Like the other countries listed with zero USD relative inflation, inflation still exists because the USD itself is inflating. In total, there are 180 fiat currencies in the world, and here, we’re covering just 16 of them. We could keep going, but the trend is already clear. Even in major countries with powerful economies, inflation has become a serious issue, with some major countries experiencing 50-200 percent inflation relative to the USD over the past decade, and those numbers don’t even take in the 2.5 percent per year USD inflation underlying them. It is possible that worldwide fiat inflation will accelerate due to the growing global debt crisis. That’s especially true if an economic recession occurs since that would force a rapid increase in money printing. So we’re in a global situation that needs to be actively monitored. Even if the status quo is maintained long term, most of the world’s population cannot realistically save money for the future because it’s going to lose value over time. This is a major shift from our parents’ generation when saving money was the smart thing to do. The good news is Bitcoin is waiting on the sidelines. It’s ready to become the global currency if fiat currency collapses worldwide. Even if fiat does not totally collapse, perhaps once Bitcoin matures and becomes more stable, it will be a good option for saving money long term since its value is independent of fiat inflation.
Russian government discovers new horizons for crypto projects of domestic origin.
Nowadays, the blockchain together with a cryptocurrency is one of the most popular areas of the economic system and business development along the world. Despite the long existence of the established industry, legal regulation has not been fully formed yet. Governments of different countries continue to monitor the rapidly developing market trends. At the present time, we can track the interest of Western audiences to technologies of Russian origin. Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering the questions of the journalist, stated the growing interest of the government to the technology itself, at the same time the head of state made it more than clear that “Russia cannot have its own cryptocurrency, by definition, just as any other country cannot have its own cryptocurrency, a cryptocurrency is something that goes beyond national borders. ” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/01/14/russia-plans-tackle-us-sanctions-bitcoin-investment-says-kremlin/ The latest public rumors about plans of the Russian government to invest in Bitcoin to bypass sanctions agreements and the need to invest in additional digital assets to enter the market and diversify funds reinforces assumptions about government interest in projects of Russian origin that have already become important players of the cryptocurrency market and are the most prominent representatives of the region with great potential for the development of digital interconnections around the world. We cannot say that the Russian market of crypto is oversaturated with successful crypto projects with a developed infrastructure, a built-up strategy for implementing the project's goals, a final concept of product, many thousands of audience and unique technical characteristics. Among them, we can single out two projects, Waves and Credits, which have the greatest growth potential in the international market, as a result of which these projects may be under the watchful eye of the Russian government. Waves Waves are a proof of stake blockchain and the cryptocurrency that fuels that blockchain. Waves enable you to make custom tokens, which means you can launch your own cryptocurrencies. You can also decentralize trading and crowdfunding, as it has integrated fiat currency gateways like USD/EUCNY right in your wallet. Via Waves, you can also launch ICOs to fund your projects from around the world in a matter of minutes, without going through intensive cryptocurrency coding. This will make life easier for startups and open up a new era of community-backed projects. The Waves cryptocurrency (WAVES) has real-world tradable value on various exchanges. Waves Smart Contracts are not as complex as they are in Ethereum. They are Non-Turing complete, but powerful and secure. Recently Waves has raised funds worth $120 million which is allowing them to expand, pushing towards the launch of a project called Vostok. Waves is an ideal solution for crowdfunding and private schemes of interaction. Wavesplatform Credits Credits is technological platform for the development and execution of decentralized applications based on the blockchain technology and smart contracts. Project provides an extensive list of solutions as decentralized data, smart contracts, crypto payments, high speed of transaction operations, low cost of transactions, issuance of financial assets, private blockchain solutions. Credits offers capabilities to industries, applications, and users who require unmatched scalability. The addressable market for these services is estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. Credits smart contracts are created with Java, a cross-platform object-oriented programming language that has a variety of advantages enabling it to solve practically any tasks. The usage of Java allows to implement "Turing completeness", or the ability to implement any computable function. Recently, groups of banks from India and authorities of Asian countries have shown interest in company technology. Credits is the best solution for any type of business as Credits is aimed to facilitate blockchain products integration on different levels such as public and private chains, which provide peer-to-peer access to an unlimited number of people when using a public network, meanwhile private solutions provide different levels of access to key management, adding documentation, making changes and viewing data within one company with a structured hierarchy. CreditsOfficial Conclusion A conservative approach to the analysis of the cryptocurrencies subject and the issues of their control by Western regulators creates favorable terms for Russia to become a global center of activity for companies in the represented sector. The main advantage of new digital assets is the independence of their transfers around the world, which, in turn, may have a positive impact on attracting investments during the period of sanctions. Let’s see what will future bring!
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) ETH - 0x0181D1C82229BAD741BB6c302ae523aE6DC9a1EE BTC - 14Wz4SCuKwa81UBh1U7mcaCTxMsYLLuGZK BCH- 16uby9gW79tjn5guQG8v5mTsdu6V6cYyKF
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) BCH- 16uby9gW79tjn5guQG8v5mTsdu6V6cYyKF
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(Re-post of u/Sparkswont cuz it was archived) Whether you're new to cryptocurrency and have no clue what a 'litecoin' is, or a seasoned investor in cryptocurrencies, the resources below will answer all your questions. If you still have questions, feel free to ask below in the comments!
What is Litecoin?
Litecoin (LTC or Ł) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Litecoin is one of the largest, oldest, and most used cryptocurrencies in the world. Similar to Bitcoin, Litecoin uses blockchain technology to process transactions. So what's the difference? To process a block, Litecoin takes 2.5 minutes rather than Bitcoins 10 minutes. This allows for faster processing times. Litecoin also has the capability to produce a total of 84 million units, compared to Bitcoins 21 million. In addition, Litecoin uses scrypt in its proof-of-work algorithm, a sequential memory-hard function requiring asymptotically more memory than an algorithm which is not memory-hard. Still confused? Take a look at this video!
Where can I buy Litecoin?
There are many websites and applications where you can buy and sell Litecoin, but make sure the exchange you are using is trusted and secure. Here are some exchanges that are trusted in the cryptocurrency community:
Litecoin (and other cryptocurrencies) is stored in a digital wallet. When storing Litecoin, you want to make sure you trust the place you store them. This is why it is best to store them yourself through the electrum wallet. It is highly suggested to not store your Litecoin in an exchange (such as Coinbase, Poloniex, Bittrex, etc.) because you don't control the private keys. If the exchange ever goes offline, or becomes insolvent, your Litecoin essentially disappear. Some other options are:
If you're a fan of mobile devices, then Loafwallet is the wallet for you. Developed by a Litecoin Foundation Dev, losh11, this mobile wallet works great! And remember to always make sure to write down your seedkeys.
Hardware wallets are another great option, in fact, they are said to be the most secure way to store cryptocurrencies. Below is a list of the litecoin flexible hardware wallets.
Litecoin is in the top ten of all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Websites are rapidly adopting Litecoin as a method of payment as well. If you yourself want to accept LTC as a business, you can refer to these merchant manuals. Alternatively, if you would like to explore websites that accept Litecoin, head over to /AcceptingLTC. Here are also several of our favorite merchants accepting Litecoin.
Where can I discuss Litecoin?
The Litecoin community is extremely kind and robust. There are many forums and places where you can discuss Litecoin with others who are interested in the currency. Here are the main ones:
If you have more questions, or are genuinely interested in learning more about Litecoin then be sure to read this series. If you have a specific question that you can't seem to find the answer too, ask below and someone will help you out!
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) ETH - 0x0181D1C82229BAD741BB6c302ae523aE6DC9a1EE
The biggest announcement of the month was the new kind of decentralized exchange proposed by @jy-p of Company 0. The Community Discussions section considers the stakeholders' response. dcrd: Peer management and connectivity improvements. Some work for improved sighash algo. A new optimization that gives 3-4x faster serving of headers, which is great for SPV. This was another step towards multipeer parallel downloads – check this issue for a clear overview of progress and planned work for next months (and some engineering delight). As usual, codebase cleanup, improvements to error handling, test infrastructure and test coverage. Decrediton: work towards watching only wallets, lots of bugfixes and visual design improvements. Preliminary work to integrate SPV has begun. Politeia is live on testnet! Useful links: announcement, introduction, command line voting example, example proposal with some votes, mini-guide how to compose a proposal. Trezor: Decred appeared in the firmware update and on Trezor website, currently for testnet only. Next steps are mainnet support and integration in wallets. For the progress of Decrediton support you can track this meta issue. dcrdata: Continued work on Insight API support, see this meta issue for progress overview. It is important for integrations due to its popularity. Ongoing work to add charts. A big database change to improve sorting on the Address page was merged and bumped version to 3.0. Work to visualize agenda voting continues. Ticket splitting: 11-way ticket split from last month has voted (transaction). Ethereum support in atomicswap is progressing and welcomes more eyeballs. decred.org: revamped Press page with dozens of added articles, and a shiny new Roadmap page. decredinfo.com: a new Decred dashboard by lte13. Reddit announcement here. Dev activity stats for June: 245 active PRs, 184 master commits, 25,973 added and 13,575 deleted lines spread across 8 repositories. Contributions came from 2 to 10 developers per repository. (chart)
Network
Hashrate: growth continues, the month started at 15 and ended at 44 PH/s with some wild 30% swings on the way. The peak was 53.9 PH/s. F2Pool was the leader varying between 36% and 59% hashrate, followed by coinmine.pl holding between 18% and 29%. In response to concerns about its hashrate share, F2Pool made a statement that they will consider measures like rising the fees to prevent growing to 51%. Staking: 30-day average ticket price is 94.7 DCR (+3.4). The price was steadily rising from 90.7 to 95.8 peaking at 98.1. Locked DCR grew from 3.68 to 3.81 million DCR, the highest value was 3.83 million corresponding to 47.87% of supply (+0.7% from previous peak). Nodes: there are 240 public listening and 115 normal nodes per dcred.eu. Version distribution: 57% on v1.2.0 (+12%), 25% on v1.1.2 (-13%), 14% on v1.1.0 (-1%). Note: the reported count of non-listening nodes has dropped significantly due to data reset at decred.eu. It will take some time before the crawler collects more data. On top of that, there is no way to exactly count non-listening nodes. To illustrate, an alternative data source, charts.dcr.farm showed 690 reachable nodes on Jul 1. Extraordinary event: 247361 and 247362 were two nearly full blocks. Normally blocks are 10-20 KiB, but these blocks were 374 KiB (max is 384 KiB).
ASICs
Update from Obelisk: shipping is expected in first half of July and there is non-zero chance to meet hashrate target. Another Chinese ASIC spotted on the web: Flying Fish D18 with 340 GH/s at 180 W costing 2,200 CNY (~340 USD). (asicok.com – translated, also on asicminervalue) dcrASIC team posted a farewell letter. Despite having an awesome 16 nm chip design, they decided to stop the project citing the saturated mining ecosystem and low profitability for their potential customers.
Integrations
bepool.org is a new mining pool spotted on dcred.eu. Exchange integrations:
Changenow announced the option to buy DCR with fiat.
Two OTC trading desks are now shown on decred.org exchanges page. BitPro payment gateway added Decred and posted on Reddit. Notably, it is fully functional without javascript or cookies and does not ask for name or email, among other features. Guarda Wallet integrated Decred. Currently only in their web wallet, but more may come in future. Notable feature is "DCR purchase with a bank card". See more details in their post or ask their representative on Reddit. Important: do your best to understand the security model before using any wallet software.
TokenPride: "We are seeking feedback on the general setup of our payment processor. We have tried to make it simple and user friendly. 10% of all purchases made in Decred will be donated to the Decred Development fund - and we will be releasing original Decred designs in the future".
BlueYard Capital announced investment in Decred and the intent to be long term supporters and to actively participate in the network's governance. In an overview post they stressed core values of the project:
There are a few other remarkable characteristics that are a testament to the DNA of the team behind Decred: there was no sale of DCR to investors, no venture funding, and no payment to exchanges to be listed – underscoring that the Decred team and contributors are all about doing the right thing for long term (as manifested in their constitution for the project). The most encouraging thing we can see is both the quality and quantity of high calibre developers flocking to the project, in addition to a vibrant community attaching their identity to the project.
The company will be hosting an event in Berlin, see Events below. Arbitrade is now mining Decred.
Campus Party in Brasilia, Brazil. @girino, @Rhama and @matheusd talked about Decred. Matheus was interviewed by a TV channel. Check this quick report about the event, click "Show newer" to continue reading. (photos: 123)
Blockchain Summit in London, UK. This was not a full blown presence with stand but rather investigation of opportunities by @kyle and @Ani. The resulting detailed report is a good example of a document advising to stakeholders whether it is worth spending project funds.
Upcoming:
Meetup in Berlin, Germany on July 18. @jz will give a talk and Q&A about Decred and chat with Ele from @oscoin about incentivizing developers. Hosted by BlueYard Capital.
O'Reilly Open Source Convention in Portland, USA on July 18-19. People wishing to attend this developer focused event can use Decred25 discount code when registering to save 25%. For any questions join #event_planning and contact @Jesiki, she can also invite you to any gatherings in the area.
Hey guys! I'd like to share with you my latest adventure: Stakey Club, hosted at stakey.club, is a website dedicated to Decred. I posted a few articles in Brazilian Portuguese and in English. I also translated to Portuguese some posts from the Decred Blog. I hope you like it! (slack)
@morphymore translated Placeholder's Decred Investment Thesis and Richard Red's write-up on Politeia to Chinese, while @DZ translated Decred Roadmap 2018 to Italian and Russian, and A New Kind of DEX to Italian and Russian. Second iteration of Chinese ratings released. Compared to the first issue, Decred dropped from 26 to 29 while Bitcoin fell from 13 to 17. We (the authors) restrain ourselves commenting on this one. Videos:
Decred Assembly - Ep20 - Governance: Driving the Future (youtube) @cburniske and @traceagain discuss the importance of governance protocols being foundational and problems with delegated proof of stake
"I think that developers in the future are going to base their decision on where to build on the basis of governance and community. And so I look for good governance mechanisms and strong communities in blockchains." (@decredproject)
Featured articles:
What is on-chain cryptocurrency governance? Is it plutocratic? by Richard Red (medium)
Apples to apples, Decred is 20x more expensive to attack than Bitcoin by Zubair Zia (medium)
What makes Decred different and better from other cryptocurrencies? (cxihub.com)
Community Discussions
Community stats: Twitter followers 40,209 (+1,091), Reddit subscribers 8,410 (+243), Slack users 5,830 (+172), GitHub 392 stars and 918 forks of dcrd repository. An update on our communication systems:
Matrix chat logs are nowviewable on the web with the exception of some channels that are not bridged. The new web logs means our chats are now fully public and indexed by search engines.
Slack had an outage on Jun 27 that disturbed communications for a few hours, discussions continued on Decred's bridged platforms.
Jake Yocom-Piatt did an AMA on CryptoTechnology, a forum for serious crypto tech discussion. Some topics covered were Decred attack cost and resistance, voting policies, smart contracts, SPV security, DAO and DPoS. A new kind of DEX was the subject of an extensive discussion in #general, #random, #trading channels as well as Reddit. New channel #thedex was created and attracted more than 100 people. A frequent and fair question is how the DEX would benefit Decred. @lukebp has put it well:
Projects like these help Decred attract talent. Typically, the people that are the best at what they do aren’t driven solely by money. They want to work on interesting projects that they believe in with other talented individuals. Launching a DEX that has no trading fees, no requirement to buy a 3rd party token (including Decred), and that cuts out all middlemen is a clear demonstration of the ethos that Decred was founded on. It helps us get our name out there and attract the type of people that believe in the same mission that we do. (slack)
Another concern that it will slow down other projects was addressed by @davecgh:
The intent is for an external team to take up the mantle and build it, so it won't have any bearing on the current c0 roadmap. The important thing to keep in mind is that the goal of Decred is to have a bunch of independent teams on working on different things. (slack)
A chat about Decred fork resistance started on Twitter and continued in #trading. Community members continue to discuss the finer points of Decred's hybrid system, bringing new users up to speed and answering their questions. The key takeaway from this chat is that the Decred chain is impossible to advance without votes, and to get around that the forker needs to change the protocol in a way that would make it clearly not Decred. "Against community governance" article was discussed on Reddit and #governance. "The Downside of Democracy (and What it Means for Blockchain Governance)" was another article arguing against on-chain governance, discussed here. Reddit recap: mining rig shops discussion; how centralized is Politeia; controversial debate on photos of models that yielded useful discussion on our marketing approach; analysis of a drop in number of transactions; concerns regarding project bus factor, removing central authorities, advertising and full node count – received detailed responses; an argument by insette for maximizing aggregate tx fees; coordinating network upgrades; a new "Why Decred?" thread; a question about quantum resistance with a detailed answer and a recap of current status of quantum resistant algorithms. Chats recap: Programmatic Proof-of-Work (ProgPoW) discussion; possible hashrate of Blake-256 miners is at least ~30% higher than SHA-256d; how Decred is not vulnerable to SPV leaf/node attack.
Markets
DCR opened the month at ~$93, reached monthly high of $110, gradually dropped to the low of $58 and closed at $67. In BTC terms it was 0.0125 -> 0.0150 -> 0.0098 -> 0.0105. The downturn coincided with a global decline across the whole crypto market. In the middle of the month Decred was noticed to be #1 in onchainfx "% down from ATH" chart and on this chart by @CoinzTrader. Towards the end of the month it dropped to #3.
Relevant External
Obelisk announced Launchpad service. The idea is to work with coin developers to design a custom, ASIC-friendly PoW algorithm together with a first batch of ASICs and distribute them among the community. Equihash-based ZenCash was hit by a double spend attack that led to a loss of $450,000 by the exchange which was targeted. Almost one year after collecting funds, Tezos announced a surprise identification procedure to claim tokens (non-javascript version). A hacker broke into Syscoin's GitHub account and implanted malware stealing passwords and private keys into Windows binaries. This is a painful reminder for everybody to verify binaries after download. Circle announced new asset listing framework for Poloniex. Relevant to recent discussions of exchange listing bribery:
Please note: we will not accept any kind of payment to list an asset.
Bithumb got hacked with a $30 m loss. Zcash organized Zcon0, an event in Canada that focused on privacy tech and governance. An interesting insight from Keynote Panel on governance: "There is no such thing as on-chain governance". Microsoft acquired GitHub. There was some debate about whether it is a reason to look into alternative solutions like GitLab right now. It is always a good idea to have a local copy of Decred source code, just in case. Status update from @sumiflow on correcting DCR supply on various sites:
To begin with, none of the below sites were showing the correct supply or market cap for Decred but we've made some progress. coingecko.com, coinlib.io, cryptocompare.com, livecoinwatch.com, worldcoinindex.com - corrected! cryptoindex.co, onchainfx.com - awaiting fix coinmarketcap.com - refused to fix because devs have coins too? (slack)
About This Issue
This is the third issue of Decred Journal after April and May. Most information from third parties is relayed directly from source after a minimal sanity check. The authors of Decred Journal have no ability to verify all claims. Please beware of scams and do your own research. The new public Matrix logs look promising and we hope to transition from Slack links to Matrix links. In the meantime, the way to read Slack links is explained in the previous issue. As usual, any feedback is appreciated: please comment on Reddit, GitHub or #writers_room. Contributions are welcome too, anything from initial collection to final review to translations. Credits (Slack names, alphabetical order): bee and Richard-Red. Special thanks to @Haon for bringing May 2018 issue to medium.
188 RMB. Shipped using EMS as part of a 1.6kg haul which was approx $42 AUD and $4.97 AUD for rehearsal shipping. And a few dollars went towards a tip to the agent.
Shipping:
Ordered: 29 August
Arrived at SuperBuy: 3 September
(Was waiting for a pair of Vans and BLACKPINK merch, to arrive at my warehouse before shipping the haul\*******)*
Shipped from warehouse: 7 September
Arrived in Melbourne/Tasmania: 10 September
Received in Sydney: 12 September
This took a while for EMS compared to my past hauls but no complaints here because it only took 2 days longer than it usually takes. However I wanted to note it seems using an AusPost parcel locker followed a different route to what happens when I use my home address. I live in nothern Sydney and the domestic route usually is: ends up in the international clearance centre about 25km away from me gets sent to a local distribution facility ends up in my lap about half a day later. This time around though it went to Melbourne for clearance, then to Tasmania to sit and chill, and then finally to my loving arms (or just my left arm, in this case). TL;DR: this package travelled a further 1500km more than my EMS packages from TS usually do. I’ll keep experimenting with parcel lockers and let you Aussie ladies know how it goes (unlike my regular orders from The Iconic, I probably shouldn’t get cheeky counterfeits delivered to my work address)
Agent: 8.5/10
-1: As an Aussie RL member, SuperBuy charging in USD instead of CNY means I go through two currency conversions: CNY > USD (on SuperBuy’s exchange rate) and then USD > AUD (on my credit card or Paypal’s exchange rate) every time I purchase an item. Unfortunately no way around this AFAIK. -0.5: I have bought two bands from this TB seller through SuperBuy (one still in warehouse), and both times they have messaged me to say it’s an incorrect size because the band itself isn’t 42mm long (38mm / 42mm / 40mm / 44mm refers to the Apple Watch screen size, not the width of the actual watch). The first time I thought this was going above and beyond from SuperBuy’s part, which I appreciated, but now they’ve asked again I’m assuming they’re going to do this every time I order. This item is low-key popping off on Reddit so I’m hoping they’ll learn and won’t make this an additional step for everyone ordering.
Quality: 8/10
Locks right into the Apple Watch perfectly and as good as their official bands. There’s no fear of my watch going flying like on the cheap Amazon/eBay third party bands. -2: This “leather” may as well be sandpaper compared to the buttery smooth feel of the auth. That’s probably a bad analogy – it’s perfectly fine for wear (as long as you’re not using it at the gym of course), comfy enough and not irritating to the skin in the slightest. Here's a better analogy: the quality of the “leather” (not entirely sure what the material is tbh) would be low/mid-tier DHGate rep as opposed to what we’d be getting from a high-end TS.
Accuracy: 8.5/10
The colour and stitching are on point compared to the product shots on Apple’s website. I can only report on the single tour orange band I bought, but there are a couple of reviewer’s shots in the review section of the listing on TB of the traditional brown one too. No idea how good the double tour one is. It doesn’t come with a branded box but I’m not deducting a point for that because it meant I could ask SuperBuy to chuck it out and save on shipping. -1: Hermes logo is engraved on auth, on this rep it’s just printed. But there’s no way for anyone to tell unless they’re studying your wrist extremely closely. -0.5: The leather being different to the auth is not an immediate giveaway. This rep fooled a friend who works at Apple until he looked closer and felt the leather.
Communication: 10/10
The seller was very prompt to respond to SuperBuy’s request for exchange (at first when SuperBuy informed me that the seller sent me the wrong size, I thought they meant the seller sent me the 38mm instead of the 42mm, so I filed for an exchange). The seller replied to SuperBuy and within a day I was told no exchange was required because the watch band was the right size for me.
Happiness: 9/10
Definitely my best TB purchase thus far into my one month RL career. Can’t go wrong with this if you don’t mind the mid-tier DHGate-level materials used. A friend who is generally a bit snobby towards reps was impressed by this and is gonna make an exception and wants me to order them one! It would be a dream for a high-end rep one day (especially of the new bands they've just announced) but I'm thrilled to have this to spice up my watch band rotation.
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) BTC - 14Wz4SCuKwa81UBh1U7mcaCTxMsYLLuGZK
USD (DXY) up 0.15%, EUR down 0.23%, GBP up 0.10%, JPY down 0.01%, CNY Onshore down 0.16%, CNH Offshore down 0.19%, AUD down 0.18%
VIX up 4.16% to 10.01
Gold up 0.02% to $1,304.78
Silver up 0.17% to $17.44
Copper up 2.46% to $321.05
WTI Crude up 1.42% to $52.18
Brent Crude up 1.35% to $57.94
Natural Gas down 1.40% to $2.96
Corn down 0.28% to $3.52/bu
Wheat up 0.06% to $4.40/bu
Bitcoin up 0.51% to $5,643.07
Treasuries 2yr yields are up ~1.6bps at 1.509%, 10yr yields are up ~1.6bps at 2.289% and 30yr yields are up ~0.9bps at 2.814%
Japan 10yr yields 0.054%, up ~0.0bps on the day
France 10yr yields 0.805%, down ~0.8bps on the day
Italy 10yr yields 2.051%, down ~1.9bps on the day
Spain 10yr yields 1.577%, down ~1.8bps on the day
Germany 10yr yields 0.392%, down ~0.9bps on the day
Trading Update
What’s happening this morning? There were a bunch of headlines but the broader US narrative isn’t changing dramatically (US S&P futures are flat-to-up 1 point). The main eco highlight this morning was the China Sept inflation numbers (CPI was inline while PPI firmed by more than expected). Recall it was the China Aug inflation numbers back on 9/11 that kicked off the recent reflation trade. Central bank messaging was very mixed over the weekend as a slew of officials spoke on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank meetings; the coming meetings are likely to bring tightening rhetoric/actions (ECB tapering guidance 10/26, BOE hike 11/2, FOMC hike 12/13) but officials remain concerned about the state of global inflation (and Draghi emphasized on more than one occasion how ECB ZIRP would likely stay in place for some time after the end of the LSAP). A Bloomberg article this morning talks about how the ECB may run out of QE capacity soon (the limit may be EU2.5T but the ECB will have bought EU2.3T by the end of this year). On the political front, US Sen. Susan Collins said she would likely vote “yes” on this week’s budget resolution (passage is necessary for tax but this is a relatively minor step in the overall process), the Catalonia situation remains unresolved as the region failed to clarify whether it intended to declare independence (it faces a new deadline this Thurs morning), tensions flared in Iraq as gov’t forces moved to recapture Kurdish-held oil fields and a military base near Kirkuk (this news has oil up ~1% this morning), and polls in Japan point to a strong victory for Abe’s coalition (the election is Sun 10/22). Stocks in Asia generally did well – TPX +0.62%, NKY +0.47%, Hang Seng +0.76%, HSCEI +0.72%, SHCOMP -0.36%, Taiwan +0.47%, Korea +0.26%, Australia +0.56%, and India up ~60bp. Tech stocks in Korea continued to bleed lower (Hynix -2.2%, Samsung Electronics -0.15%) while they generally saw gains in Taiwan (Largan +4.05%, Hon Hai +1.4%, Quanta +7%, TSMC +0.21%, etc.). Europe’s major indices are flatto- up small; basic resources are the big upside standout (SXPP +1.6% - it was bolstered Fri on the China import numbers and the PPI figure out of the country is helping this morning) while chemicals, media, healthcare, and energy are all doing well too; industrials, staples, tech, and utilities are small laggards. Convatec Group PLC is down ~20% after issuing a profit warning and Kuehne + Nagel is weak on earnings. o Tactically fade reflation as narrative begins fraying at the margin; 2-10 TSY spread just a few BPs from hitting 52w tights – the reflation narrative has enjoyed several weeks of uninterruptedly favorable news, including firming inflation, solid real growth, expansionary fiscal policy announcements, and hawkish CB rhetoric/decisions. However, the news is beginning to turn more neutral at the margin and this could cause pro-reflation themes to consolidate (at least).
Calendar of events for the week of Mon 10/16 – the main focus this week will be on earnings, China, and US taxes. The China National Congress kicks off Wed 10/18 and the country will be publishing a lot of eco data (inflation out Mon morning 10/16 and Q3 GDP along w/Sept retail sales/IP/FAI out Thurs morning 10/19). Investors will keep an eye on North Korea as media reports suggest the country could fire off some missiles around the China Congress. In the US investors will be digesting earnings (the week of 10/16 is the first busy one of the CQ3 season) and macro news should be limited aside from some Fed speakers (including Yellen who speaks Fri 10/20 after the close). The US tax process will continue w/the Senate voting on a budget resolution (likely Thurs 10/19) - passage is expected but the final vote will likely be close; Rand Paul seems a hard “no” while McCain and a few others are question marks; investors will be watching to see if any Democrats cross the aisle. Keep in mind that the Senate budget resolution will need to be reconciled w/the one from the House. Finally, the EU Leaders Summit runs 10/19-20 and the Japanese snap election takes place Sun 10/22.
Calendar for Mon 10/16 – the focus will be on earnings (SCHW pre-open and BRO, CE, IEX, NAVI, NFLX, Rio Tinto, RT, and SONC after the close).
Top Headlines for Monday
Economic data/monetary policy recap for Mon 10/16 – the main highlight this morning were China inflation numbers and the figures were generally solid (http://bit.ly/2yk55wf). CPI for Sept was largely inline (+1.6%) while PPI firmed by more than anticipated (+6.9% vs. JPM +6.3% and vs. the St +6.4%). o Central bank leadership uncertainty – Reuters discusses how the world’s major central banks may all see leadership changes over the next 1-2 years. The Fed, BOJ, and PBOC may all have new leaders in early ’18 while Draghi is due to depart the scene the following year. Reuters http://reut.rs/2yqVWkJ o Central bankers adopt dovish tone regarding policy at weekend IMF/World Bank meetings given tepid inflation trends – “central bankers cling to stimulus amid weak inflation” – WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2gIt6TW o Rosengren said in an interview Friday that a Fed rate hike in Dec remained likely. “A failure to tighten would risk both the labor market and financial prices getting into an area where we would have to react more quickly, and that would increase the probability that we end up having a recession” (WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2ieTh88); Rosengren added that he anticipates 3-4 hikes next year (Reuters http://reut.rs/2xIze41). o ECB running out of QE capacity – total ECB bond purchases will hit EU2.28T by the end of ’17 and some within the central bank think the ultimate limit is only EU2.5T (meaning it may only be able to purchase an additional ~EU200B worth of bonds in 2018) – Bloomberg. https://bloom.bg/2xIiBFP o China’s central bank governor said growth in the country could accelerate slightly to +7% in H2 – Reuters http://bit.ly/2xIsRTa
US taxes – while Republican deficit hawks aren’t nearly as assertive as they once were, disagreements over the fiscal implications of the GOP’s tax plan risk imploding the entire initiative. Politico http://politi.co/2idPsjK
US taxes – mortgage interest deduction to stay but become worthless? The GOP blueprint would double the standard deduction for individuals and couples, making the mortgage interest deduction worthless for anyone who doesn’t itemize. WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2ieCnGC
Thy God Emperor Trump privately predicts he will appoint four Supreme Court justices by the end of his first term – Axios http://bit.ly/2yr549d
Spain – Catalonia’s leader failed to clarify by a Mon morning deadline whether he declared the region independent. Spain has warned that anything but an unequivocal statement would be taken as a declaration of secession and invite reprisal from Madrid. Catalonia now has until Thurs morning to provide additional clarity. WSJ. http://on.wsj.com/2gdue15
Iraq tensions escalate - Iraqi forces moved to recapture Kurdish-held oil fields and a military base near the city of Kirkuk; the Iraqi gov’t was looking to recapture terrain it held prior to 2014 (when it abandoned the territory in the face of an ISIS assault) – Washington Post. http://wapo.st/2zc0aKL
Japan – Abe’s ruling coalition is on track for a big win in the upcoming election (the election takes place Sun 10/22) – Reuters http://reut.rs/2ynu7Io
Brexit – two of the world’s largest banks are now planning for a hard “Brexit” and will seek to protect their access to the EU once the UK departs in 2019 – Bloomberg https://bloom.bg/2xK2xZ6
S/TMUS – the companies will announce merger plans by the end of Oct or early Nov and the agreement won’t call for immediate asset sales (the companies want to engage w/regulators rather than volunteer asset sales) – Reuters http://reut.rs/2hJizrc
CHTR, VIA’b – the companies agreed to a short-term carriage extension so as to avoid an immediate blackout of Viacom channels on CHTR’s systems – Reuters http://nyti.ms/2yr561e
FB is looking to hire people w/national security clearance as it looks to battle against foreign operators looking to exploit its social network – Bloomberg
GE – the WSJ thinks GE should be aggressive in resetting expectations and capitalized on neg. investor sentiment; by frontloading the bad news now, GE could dramatically reset the bar and begin delivering upside surprises for investors down the road – WSJ. http://on.wsj.com/2zcVUuD
GE – the FT speculates on a dividend cut at GE – “GE is failing to cover its dividend payments from its core operating cash flows, a position that is ultimately unsustainable”; GE reports earnings Fri 10/20 and will update investors on 11/13; if the 11/13 restructuring plan isn’t aggressive enough, GE’s new mgmt. team could face pressure to break the company apart – FT http://on.ft.com/2kStpzO
Bombardier – the co is seeking investors for its aerospace businesses and is considering the sale of some operations; Airbus could buy certain assets from Bombardier – Bloomberg. https://bloom.bg/2gedsPc
ARMK will buy two private companies (Avendra and AmeriPride) for a combined $2.35B. WSJ. http://on.wsj.com/2ylUDUY
Brooklyn Nets – Mikhail Prokhorov is seeking a valuation of ~$2B for the team as he pursues a sale – NY Post. http://nyp.st/2wXryeB Top Headlines from the Weekend
Sentiment – the cover article in this week’s Barron’s, entitled “Echoes of the 1987 Crash” (http://bit.ly/2gjdXeu), can hardly be accused of optimism (it focuses on the market’s structural changes and the rise of technology, including quant-based strategies and ETFs, and how this could sow the seeds for an ’87-like crash) but its sentiments aren’t necessarily unique either. The recent Economist title (from 10/7) lamented elevated asset valuations (“The bull market in everything” http://econ.st/2xVXOjv) and warned of what will happen once central banks begin withdrawing liquidity. BLK’s Larry Fink on Friday warned that risks in the financial system at present are comparable to 2007 levels (http://reut.rs/2zmk5ax). o Investors are right to be nervous but not necessarily because of technology or central banks. Rather, the fact the economy is late-cycle with valuations near peak levels is the main source of risk when it comes to equities. However, late-cycle doesn’t mean end-cycle (as discussed in this JPMorgan note http://bit.ly/2wTZRCK) and the absence of gross imbalances suggests a downturn isn’t imminent while multiples can easily expand a few additional turns (and each turn means ~140 SPX points given current earnings estimates while tax may add ~$7-10+ to EPS). o Flow vs. stock – central bank liquidity. The Wall St narrative when it comes to central banks and LSAPs tends to emphasize the “flow” piece of the equation (i.e. the actual buying of assets) but it is in fact the ownership of assets (“stock”) that acts as the mechanism for accommodation. Therefore rather than focus on central bank buying to gauge the appropriation of liquidity it is more critical to assess balance sheet size and on that basis central banks don’t appear on the cusp of an acute liquidity withdrawal (as discussed in this JPMorgan note – G4 CB balance sheets will be little changed over the next 3-4 years http://bit.ly/2xAACJL).
Yellen delivered comments Sun 10/15 in conjunction w/the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington. Overall her speech echoed many of the same sentiments she’s expressed in recent communications and the a rate hike on 12/13 still seems likely. “Economic activity in the United States has been growing moderately so far this year, and the labor market has continued to strengthen”. Yellen says the recent storms will likely depress economic activity but only temporarily (she thinks jobs growth will rebound from the depressed -33K pace of Sept). “Wage indicators have been mixed, and the most recent news, on average hourly earnings through September, was encouraging”. Yellen thinks inflation will firm from the current soft trend (“my best guess is that these soft readings will not persist, and with the ongoing strengthening of labor markets, I expect inflation to move higher next year”) although she does acknowledge that something more structural may be occurring (“the fact that a number of other advanced economies are also experiencing persistently low inflation understandably adds to the sense among many analysts that something more structural may be going on…. we will be paying close attention to the inflation data in the months ahead”). http://bit.ly/2ykNjZM o Kuroda spoke over the weekend in Washington and said the BOJ would continue pursuing an aggressive monetary easing policy. “Achieving the 2% target is still a long way off”. WSJ. http://on.wsj.com/2kPwAZ3 o Draghi spoke positively about Eurozone growth but he reiterated a cautious view on inflation; Draghi said underlying inflation remains too weak and as a result the ECB would need to continue providing large degrees of monetary accomodation. WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2yLTeb9 o Central banks – tightening actions/rhetoric expected from three of the four major central banks before the end of the year: EBC 10/26 (media reports suggest the LSAP will be extended by 9 months w/the purchase pace tapered down from EU60B to ~EU30B), BOE 11/2 (market expects a hike), and FOMC 12/13 (market expects a hike).
Global central bankers and fin mins watch Fed chair process very closely – the identity of the next Fed chair was as key topic of conversation at the weekend IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington according to the WSJ (http://on.wsj.com/2gbzPor). o Why will be the next Fed chair? All the media reports suggest the race is still between Warsh and Powell (with the former person having a small edge) although John Taylor’s name is being mentioned more (Thy God Emperor Trump interviewed Taylor at the White House on Wed according to multiple media reports); of all the chair candidates (Warsh, Powell, Yellen, Cohn, and Taylor), Taylor would likely cause the most market disruption (at least initially). Larry Kudlow spoke on CNBC Fri afternoon (after the market close) and said Thy God Emperor Trump’s decision could wind up being a Warsh/Taylor combination (chaivice chair).
Budget resolution vote coming up in the Senate (likely Thurs 10/19) - Larry Kudlow on CNBC (at 4:40pmET Fri afternoon) reiterated that 50 GOP votes don't exist right now for the budget resolution in the Senate (the vote is tentatively scheduled for Thurs 10/19). Republican Sen. Thad Cochran's health issues (which could keep him from Washington) will complicate things for Republicans (Cochran was discussed in Politico Fri morning http://politi.co/2i8Plpu). o Sen. Collins said she would likely vote “yes” on the budget resolution this week (passing the budget resolution is a necessary, but rather minor, step in the tax process) – Reuters http://reut.rs/2wWzOvv
Taxes – passing a budget resolution is the easy part o Republicans are still struggling to reach a consensus around the most controversial pieces of the 9/27 blueprint. This week’s budget resolution vote is a necessary but rather easy part of the tax process. The harder parts of the tax debate are still waiting awaiting resolution – rates, brackets, income thresholds, deduction changes, deficit tolerance, etc. BAT and SALT were supposed to be the key incremental sources of revenue to pay for reduced rates but one is already scrapped (BAT) and the other (SALT) is facing enormous resistance. Some media reports suggest Republicans may reach a SALT compromise (whereby individuals with annual incomes of ~$400K+ will lose the ability to deduct SALT) but this doesn’t raise a whole lot of revenue. Even with reasonable dynamic scoring, it gets very difficult to lower rates meaningfully without any incremental revenue. o Tax – what will pass and when? Investors still think “something” can happen but that something will likely be much less ambitious than the 9/27 GOP blueprint (corporate rate to ~25-30% w/some lowemiddle-income individual relief). Nearly no one expects tax action in 2017. o Tax – what is priced into stocks? This question is being asked w/increased frequency but providing a precise answer is difficult. Roughly speaking, the St is penciling in ~$138-143 in tax-free 2018 SPX EPS w/a tax bill adding ~$5-15. At the middle of the tax-free range (i.e. $140) the SPX PE is ~18.2x – assuming investors would try and keep the PE around ~17.5x that would imply a 2018 EPS expectation of ~$145 which suggests stocks are assuming some benefit from tax (albeit a relatively small one).
Thy God Emperor Trump risks overloading Congress – Thy God Emperor Trump has thrown several contentious issues in the lap of Congress just as Senate and House Republicans undertake the most dramatic overhaul of the tax code since ’86. Between immigration/DACA, the Iran nuclear pact, and healthcare/ACA, Congress will be forced to act over the coming months while also juggling the tax debate. WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2wUhTFF o Thy God Emperor Trump’s move to end ACA exchange subsidies raises the risk of a gov’t shutdown on 12/8; Democrats may demand the funds be authorized legislatively or threaten a shutdown – Washington Post. http://wapo.st/2z7C7MT
Thy God Emperor Trump backs Bannon on pledge to primary insubordinate Republicans – Thy God Emperor Trump called Bannon and offered words of encouragement to the former strategist over his pledge to oppose any Republican not actively backing the president’s agenda – WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2wUhTFF o Bannon reiterates his disgust w/”Establishment Republicans” and vows “war” against McConnell – Bannon spoke over the weekend at the Values Voter Summit in Washington. http://politi.co/2ig3Mby o Bannon thinks Thy God Emperor Trump will be reelected with 400 electoral college votes in 2020 – ABC http://abcn.ws/2ylNJge
Thy God Emperor Trump vs. Corker feud continues – Sen. Corker spoke to the Washington Post on Friday and criticized Thy God Emperor Trump for “castrating” Sec. of State Tillerson. http://wapo.st/2hGgbkN o Tillerson says he's 'fully intact' despite Corker's 'castrate' comment – CNN http://cnn.it/2wXD6yy o Tillerson won't say if he called Thy God Emperor Trump a 'moron' – CNN http://cnn.it/2yn9CM5
Health insurers were preparing for the ACA subsidies to end and many signaled an intent to stay in the exchanges – WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2znlnlL o Healthcare - Thy God Emperor Trump would oppose any legislative attempt to "fix" the ACA exchanges and restore subsidy payments unless he got something in return – Politico http://politi.co/2ggN3nJ o Drug price battle shifts from Washington to the states – pharma companies are fighting a host of drug price-control measures being adopted by states across the US. FT http://on.ft.com/2yLrcwp
NAFTA talks aren’t going well – demands made by the US last week have increased the odds of NAFTA’s demise (at the least the demands make it unlikely an agreement on NAFTA changes will be reached by the end of the year) – Reuters http://reut.rs/2zaxZM4 o NAFTA demise emerging as a new risk for investors – the risk of NAFTA collapsing is rising and this is something investors are beginning to consider. WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2yniIs8
China economic growth – China’s money supply statistics were released over the weekend and they came in strong. M2 money supply rose 9.2% in Sept (vs. the St +8.9%) while new yuan loans came in at CNY1.27T (vs. the St CNY1.2T); see JPMorgan’s takeaways here: http://bit.ly/2wXModQ. The head of China’s central bank spoke over the weekend and said economic indicators show “stabilized and stronger growth” (https://bloom.bg/2xHjYJy).
German coalition gov’t unlikely to form until 2018 – Reuters http://reut.rs/2yJ2JYo o Merkel’s CDU suffered a defeat in Lower Saxony state elections (the SPD secured 37.5% compared to 35% for the CDU) – Bloomberg https://bloom.bg/2gkmJZJ
Austria – Sebastian Kurz looks set to become the next chancellor of Austria although his People’s Party (OVP) failed to win an outright majority (it secured 57 out of 183 seats). The OVP is widely expected to form a coalition with the Freedom Party (FPO) which secured 51 seats. CNN. http://cnn.it/2ykzIlo
North Korea – the US and South Korea will hold joint navel exercises this week; media reports suggest a NK missile test could come at any time – Bloomberg/WSJ. http://on.wsj.com/2yozsPY o The book Mattis reads to be prepared for war w/North Korea. T. R. Fehrenbach’s This Kind of War, a 54-year-old history of the Korean War – Politico.
Pentagon reaches out to HFTs and quant hedge funds to help identify market vulnerabilities; the Pentagon is concerned about hackers sowing instability and chaos on US financial markets. Some of the scenarios thought up by the group of Pentagon advisors include flooding the market w/false information and/or fake sell orders or hacking a key cog in the system (such as a credit-card company, payment processor, or payroll processor). WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2wWBULZ
Passive investors are becoming the market’s bad guys – the FT highlights the “passive aggression” occurring in the market as criticism rises around ETFs due to their price insensitivity and lack of interest in company mgmt. http://on.ft.com/2gaiCfn
Jim Grant says he was wrong to imply something suspicious was going on at Bridgewater – CNBC http://cnb.cx/2z7A4bF
Nestle, HSY – HSY is among the companies expected to submit a bid for Nestle’s US confectionery business according to sources cited by CNBC. The US unit is expected to sell for $2-2.5B. CNBC. http://cnb.cx/2gHDfA5
GOOGL, WDAY, CRM: Barron’s discusses how the easiest way for GOOGL to catch up to AMZN and MSFT in cloud technology would be through M&A. The article highlights WDAY and CRM as two attractive takeover candidates for Google. https://goo.gl/tg15mz
Shire – Sachem Head Capital is urging Shire to explore a sale or spin-off of several of its assets – Sky News. http://bit.ly/2zawtcN Calendar of events for the Week of Mon Oct 16
Calendar of events for the week of Mon 10/16 – the main focus this week will be on earnings, China, and US taxes. The China National Congress kicks off Wed 10/18 and the country will be publishing a lot of eco data (inflation out Mon morning 10/16 and Q3 GDP along w/Sept retail sales/IP/FAI out Thurs morning 10/19). Investors will keep an eye on North Korea as media reports suggest the country could fire off some missiles around the China Congress. In the US investors will be digesting earnings (the week of 10/16 is the first busy one of the CQ3 season) and macro news should be limited aside from some Fed speakers (including Yellen who speaks Fri 10/20 after the close). The US tax process will continue w/the Senate voting on a budget resolution (likely Thurs 10/19) - passage is expected but the final vote will likely be close; Rand Paul seems a hard “no” while McCain and a few others are question marks; investors will be watching to see if any Democrats cross the aisle. Keep in mind that the Senate budget resolution will need to be reconciled w/the one from the House. Finally, the EU Leaders Summit runs 10/19-20 and the Japanese snap election takes place Sun 10/22.
Calendar for Mon 10/16 – the focus will be on earnings (SCHW pre-open and BRO, CE, IEX, NAVI, NFLX, Rio Tinto, RT, and SONC after the close).
Calendar for Tues 10/17 – the focus will be on Eurozone Sept auto registrations (2amET), German ZEW survey results for Oct (5amET), US import prices for Sept (8:30amET), US industrial production for Sept (9:15amET), the US NAHB housing index for Oct (10amET), and earnings (CMA, CSX, GS, GWW, HOG, JNJ, MS, Pearson, PLD, Remy Cointreau, SNV, and UNH pre-open and ADTN, BHP, CP, CREE, IBM, LRCX, and NAVI after the close).
Calendar for Wed 10/18 – the focus will be on the start of the China National Congress (begins 10/18), US housing starts for Sept (8:30amET), US building permits for Sept (8:30amET), the US Beige Book (2pmET), Fed speakers (Dudley, Kaplan), and earnings (ABT, Akzo Nobel, ASML, MTB, MTG, NTRS, Reckitt Benckiser, SVU, and USB pre-open and AA, AXP, BDN, BHE, BXS, CCI, CCK, EBAY, GHL, HXL, KALU, SLG, SLM, STLD, TCBI, and URI after the close).
Calendar for Thurs 10/19 - the focus will be on China eco data (Q3 GDP and Sept retail sales/IP/FAI out Wed night/Thurs morning), the EU Leaders Summit (10/19-20), the US Leading Index for Sept (10amET), and earnings (ADS, BBT, BK, BX, DGX, DHR, DOV, GPC, KEY, Nestle, NUE, Pernod Ricard, PM, PPG, Publicis, RCI, Roche, SAP, SNA, SON, Thales, TRV, TSMC, TXT, Unilever, VZ, WBC, and WGO pre-open and ASB, ATHN, ETFC, ISRG, LHO, MXIM, NCR, PBCT, PFPT, PYPL, WDFC, and WERN after the close).
Calendar for Fri 10/20 – the focus will be on comments from BOJ’s Kuroda in Japan, the EU Leaders Summit (10/19-20), US existing home sales for Sept (10amET), comments from Yellen (7:15pmET), and earnings (Assa Abloy, BHGE, CFG, CLF, Daimler, DST, GE, GNTX, HON, InterContinental Hotels, KSU, MAN, PG, SLB, STI, SYF, and Volvo).
Catalysts – big events to watch over the coming months
North Korea provocations - South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said he expected Pyongyang to act around Oct. 10 and 18 (Reuters).
CQ3 earnings – the week of Mon 10/16 is the first busy week of the CQ3 reporting season.
Fed chair decision during the week of 10/16? Based on Thy God Emperor Trump’s “two to three” weeks comment (on Fri 9/29), his decision on a Fed chair could come as soon as the week of 10/16. Media reports suggest the Fed chair frontrunners are Warsh and Powell followed by Yellen and Cohn.
China - the National Congress of the Communist Party of China starts Oct 18.
China Q3 GDP and Sept retail sales, IP, and FAI (Wed night/Thurs morning) – Thurs morning 10/19.
EU leaders hold summit in Brussels. Oct 19-20. Brussels.
Yellen speaks to National Economists Club in Washington. Fri 10/20. 7:15pmET.
Japan – the country will hold snap elections on Sun 10/22.
Flash PMIs for Oct – Tues 10/24
ECB meeting/press conf. Thurs Oct 26. The ECB is expected to provide guidance on LSAP tapering at this meeting (St assumes LSAP drops from EU60B now to ~EU30B w/9 month extension).
Fed meeting – decision Wed 11/1 (no press conf. or supplemental).
FB/TWTR testifying before Senate on Russia and the election – Wed 11/1.
BOE decision – Thurs 11/2. The BOE is expected to hike rates at this meeting.
Thy God Emperor Trump trip to China – he is scheduled to travel through Asia in early/mid-November (this trip will include a stop in China).
GE – the co will likely hold an analyst meeting 11/13 at which it will provide a refresh of its long-term financial guidance.
US inflation – the Oct CPI will hit on Wed 11/15.
Fed meeting minutes (from the 11/1 meeting) – Wed 11/22.
Flash PMIs for Nov. Fri 11/24.
OPEC meeting – the next formal OPEC leaders meeting is Nov 30 (a decision on extending the production agreement beyond Mar ’18 could be reached at this gathering).
US gov’t funding/debt ceiling – current legislation funds the gov’t and suspends the debt ceiling until 12/8 (the debt ceiling is unlikely to become binding again until “well into” 2018).
Alabama special Senate election – Tues 12/12.
Fed meeting – decision Wed Dec 13. There will be a press conf. and supplemental. The Fed is expected to hike rates at this meeting.
ECB meeting/press conf. Thurs Dec 14.
BOE decision – Thurs 12/14.
Full catalyst list
Mon Oct 16 – China CPI/PPI for Sept (Sun night/Mon morning)
Mon Oct 16 – Eurozone trade balance for Aug. 5amET.
Mon Oct 16 – earnings before the open: Kuehne & Nagel, MNI, SCHW
Mon Oct 16 – earnings after the close: BRO, CE, IBKR, IEX, KMG, NAVI, NFLX, Rio Tinto, RT, SONC.
Tues Oct 17 – Eurozone Sept auto registrations. 2amET.
Tues Oct 17 – ECB speakers: Constancio
Tues Oct 17 – German ZEW survey results for Oct. 5amET.
Tues Oct 17 – US import prices for Sept. 8:30amET.
Tues Oct 17 – US industrial production for Sept. 9:15amET.
Tues Oct 17 – US NAHB housing index for Oct. 10amET.
Tues Oct 17 – earnings before the open: BMI, CMA, CSX, GS, GWW, HOG, JNJ, MS, Pearson, PLD, Remy Cointreau, SNV, TTS, UNH
Tues Oct 17 – earnings after the close: ADTN, BHP, CP, CREE, IBM, LRCX, NAVI.
Wed Oct 18 – Fed speakers: Dudley, Kaplan.
Wed Oct 18 – US housing starts for Sept. 8:30amET.
Wed Oct 18 – US building permits for Sept. 8:30amET.
Wed Oct 18 – US Beige Book. 2pmET.
Wed Oct 18 – earnings before the open: ABT, Akzo Nobel, ASML, MTB, MTG, NTRS, Reckitt Benckiser, SVU, USB
Wed Oct 18 – earnings after the close: AA, AXP, BDN, BHE, BXS, CCI, CCK, EBAY, GHL, HXL, KALU, LLNW, SLG, SLM, STLD, TCBI, URI.
Thurs Oct 19 – China Q3 GDP and Sept retail sales, IP, and FAI (Wed night/Thurs morning)
Fri Oct 27 – China Sept industrial profits (Thurs night/Fri morning).
Fri Oct 27 – US Q3 GDP, personal consumption, and core PCE for Q3. 8:30amET.
Fri Oct 27 – US Michigan Confidence numbers for Oct. 10amET.
Fri Oct 27 – earnings before the open: B, MRK, PSX, SC, TRU, Volkswagen, WY, XOM.
Mon Oct 30 – US personal income/spending and PCE for Sept. 8:30amET.
Mon Oct 30 – US Dallas Fed index for Oct. 10:30amET.
Mon Oct 30 – analyst meetings: CSX
Mon Oct 30 – earnings before the open: HSBC
Mon Oct 30 – earnings after the close: AVB, CGNX, RE, RTEC, VNO
Tues Oct 31 – BOJ rate decision (Mon night/Tues morning).
Tues Oct 31 – US Employment Cost Index for Q3. 8:30amET.
Tues Oct 31 – US Case-Shiller home price index for Aug. 9amET.
Tues Oct 31 – US Chicago PMI for Oct. 9:45amET.
Tues Oct 31 – US Conference Board Sentiment readings for Oct. 10amET.
Tues Oct 31 – earnings before the open: ADM, AET, Airbus, AMT, Barclays, BNP, CMI, ECL, FIS, GGP, K, MA, OSK, PFE, XYL.
Tues Oct 31 – earnings after the close: APC, CHRW, CXO, PLT, WFT, X
Wed Nov 1 – US ADP jobs report for Oct. 8:15amET.
Wed Nov 1 – US Markit Manufacturing PMI for Oct. 9:45amET.
Wed Nov 1 – US Manufacturing ISM for Oct. 10amET.
Wed Nov 1 – US construction spending report for Sept. 10amET.
Wed Nov 1 – US auto sales for Oct.
Wed Nov 1 – FOMC meeting decision. 2pmET.
Wed Nov 1 – earnings before the open: AGN, APO, CEVA, CLX, EL, GRMN, HFC, LFUS, Novo Nordisk, ORBK, Standard Chartered, TAP, TRI.
Wed Nov 1 – earnings after the close: ALL, BHF, BXP, CACI, CAVM, CSGS, EGOV, FB, LNC, MANT, MET, MUSA, OXY, PRU, QCOM, ULTI, XPO.
Thurs Nov 2 – BOE rate decision. 8amET.
Thurs Nov 2 – US nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs for Q3. 8:30amET.
Thurs Nov 2 – earnings before the open: ADP, AN, BCE, CI, Credit Suisse, DISCA, H, ICE, LDOS, Royal Dutch Shell, Sanofi, Swiss Re, WRK.
Thurs Nov 2 – earnings after the close: AAPL, AIG, ATVI, CBS, CRUS, FLR, HLF, JCOM, RMAX, SBUX, UNIT.
Fri Nov 3 – US jobs report for Oct. 8:30amET.
Fri Nov 3 – US trade balance for Sept. 8:30amET.
Fri Nov 3 – US factory orders and durable goods orders for Sept. 10amET.
Fri Nov 3 – US non-manufacturing ISM for Oct. 10amET.
Mon Nov 6 – Fed’s Dudley speaks at The Economist Club of New York.
Tues Nov 7 – RBA rate decision. Mon night/Tues morning.
Tues Nov 7 – US JOLTs jobs report for Sept. 10amET.
Tues Nov 7 – US consumer credit for Sept. 3pmET.
Thurs Nov 9 – US wholesale trade sales/inventories for Sept. 10amET.
Fri Nov 10 – US Michigan Confidence preliminary numbers for Nov. 10amET.
Tues Nov 14 – US PPI for Oct. 8:30amET.
Wed Nov 15 – US CPI for Oct. 8:30amET.
Wed Nov 15 – US Empire Manufacturing for Nov. 8:30amET.
Wed Nov 15 – US retail sales for Oct. 8:30amET.
Wed Nov 15 – US business inventories for Sept. 10amET.
Thurs Nov 16 – US import prices for Oct. 8:30amET.
Thurs Nov 16 – US industrial production for Oct. 9:15amET.
Thurs Nov 16 – US NAHB housing index for Nov. 10amET.
Fri Nov 17 – US housing starts and building permits for Oct. 8:30amET.
Mon Nov 20 – US Leading Index for Oct. 10amET.
Tues Nov 21 – US existing home sales for Oct. 10amET.
Wed Nov 22 – US durable goods for Oct. 8:30amET.
Wed Nov 22 – US final Michigan Confidence numbers for Nov. 10amET.
Wed Nov 22 – FOMC 11/1 meeting minutes. 2pmET.
Fri Nov 24 – US flash PMIs for Nov. 9:45amET.
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