Max Keiser now eyes $10,000 target as Bitcoin price surges past $6,400

Bitcoin price has blasted through the $6,400 level as Max Keiser says that $10,000 now is “chip shot” from the current levels.

Bitcoin price back at $6,400

Bitcoin price $6374.59 -0.14% doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down. Its price continues to increase. Over the past 24 hours, BTC/USD has gained nearly 6 percent, blasting through the $6,400 level.

As Bitcoinist reported on May 9th, Bitcoin reclaimed the $6,000 price level for the first time in 6 months. However, the cryptocurrency doesn’t seem to be losing any steam, gaining yet another 5.6 percent after that.



In the last month alone, Bitcoin price $6374.59 -0.14% has gained over $1,000 to its value. Year-to-date, things are looking even better as the cryptocurrency managed to almost double up its price from January 1st when it was trading at around $3,750.

It’s not just Bitcoin’s price that’s increasing, however. We can also see that the BTC Dominance index which measures the cryptocurrency’s relative share in the entire market cap is also surging.

At the time of this writing, BTC Dominance is 58.4 percent, which is the highest it has been since the all-time high price of $20,000 back in late 2017.

'$10,000's a chip shot from here'

Naturally, the positive development in Bitcoin’s price is also triggering positivity in the cryptocurrency community, as we’ve already seen a lot of people to turn rather bullish.

Mark Keiser, a long time Bitcoin bull commented quickly after the price hit $6,400 that “10,000’s a chip shot from here.”

https://twitter.com/maxkeiser/status/1126892573035986951

Bitcoinist reported Houston-based economic analyst Jesse Colombo, popular for his warning about the US housing and credit bubble back in 2008, identified the $6,000 level as an important one to watch. He said that in order for the positive trend to be confirmed, Bitcoin needs to break through the $6,000 resistance in a “decisive manner.” Well, it’s safe to say that it has blasted through that resistance.

Riding on the bullish bandwagon is also the prominent investor and ex-Goldman Sachs investment banker Mike Novogratz. He’s recently said that BTC/USD is already in a bull market and that Bitcoin’s price “should” be $20,000 by 2021.

https://twitter.com/VinnyLingham/status/1126869259336814592

Elsewhere, Civic CEO Vinny Lingham stated that he’s becoming increasingly bullish on BTC if it maintains current levels for the next few days.

https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-price-max-keiser-6400-10000-target/

Dash Core Group CEO Introduces New Funding Model for the Cryptocurrency

The developers of Dash (DASH) have announced the launch of “Dash Ventures,” a dedicated investment fund to support the ongoing development of the privacy-oriented cryptocurrency. As mentioned in an official blog post, published by Ryan Taylor, the Dash Core Group CEO,  on May 9, 2019, the newly introduced investment initiative’s legal name is “Dash Investment Foundation.”

Dash Investment Foundation

According to Taylor, the Dash Investment Foundation was “incorporated on March 21st, 2019 as a Cayman Islands foundation company limited by guarantee.” The Dash Core Group CEO claims it is the “world’s first ownerless and memberless” investment fund. He explained the fund’s managers will be tasked with “strengthening the Dash network” via investment operations” which will be funded by the cryptocurrency network itself.

It will no longer be required that “distributions from the proposal system be grants,” Taylor wrote. He added that the Foundation will help in creating a bridge between Dash’s core network protocol and the traditional financial and legal system. Moreover, the newly introduced capabilities may benefit software architects who are developing applications on Dash’s Evolution platform.

Investing In “High-Risk Opportunities”

First proposed in June 2018 by the Dash Core Group (the main organization responsible for the development of the Dash protocol), the “network-controlled” investment fund aims to allow Dash network participants to make investments in “higher-risk opportunities.” This is achieved by permitting proposal owners to “issue equity or other assets in consideration of the network funding,” Taylor explained.

As noted by the Dash Core Group CEO, the results from the preliminary legal research were “promising,” as the Foundation’s management was reportedly able to acquire additional funding from the network in August 2018, in order to establish a “legal entity” to support Dash’s ongoing development.

Dash Masternodes To “Elect” Six Supervisors

Dash masternode operators, or transaction validators, will now “elect the six supervisors” that oversee the operations of the Foundation. Moreover, important organizational and operational decisions will be “put to the supervisors for approval” by the Foundation’s board of directors.

The Foundation’s everyday operations will still be handled by the board and Dash Core Group’s investment managers. The supervisors may “consist” of “anyone trusted by the network to carry out supervisory duties,” Taylor explained. He also noted that the directors for the initiative would “consist of experts” with the relevant skills to manage the Foundation.

https://twitter.com/Dashpay/status/1126521511005827072

Glenn Kennedy, a partner and General Counsel of Paradigm Governance Partners Limited, a Cayman Islands-operated provider of “governance and fiduciary services,” has been appointed to the Foundation’s board of directors. Casey McDonald, an independent director at Calderwood, a Cayman Islands-based fund governance firm, has also joined Dash Investment Foundation’s board. Both Kennedy and McDonald are expected to serve as supervisors for the Foundation as well.

Currently, the Foundation’s management is looking to appoint four additional supervisors, who will reportedly be “elected by the network.” For the second year, the Foundation is planning to appoint all six supervisors through the election process facilitated by the network.

Dash Ventures May Operate Independently Of Dash Core Group

Taylor also mentioned the Foundation’s managers are planning to allow Dash Ventures to “operate completely independently” from Dash Core Group. This, Taylor said, would “ensure a smooth handover” and that he intends to offer his services to the Foundation during the first year as a “non-voting” participant. His role as a participant will be to answer questions and provide “any expertise, direction guidance, and counsel” to supervisors.

According to Taylor, this will “ensure all intents of the Foundation’s constitution are clear.” Moreover, fully operationalizing the entity will require that an election be held for the four vacant supervisor positions; the Dash Network’s approval of a proposal aimed at funding the Foundation’s day-to-day operating expenses (for first two years); and the Network will require funding for an additional proposal which will “allocate assets” to Dash’s ongoing development.

Elections For Supervisors To Begin Later This Month

As Taylor explained, elections for the supervisors will begin on May 23rd, 2019 and have been scheduled to “conclude” by June 16th, 2019. Details regarding the election process such as eligibility requirements will be announced shortly, Taylor noted. He added that the Foundation will “run the election leveraging the same process and technology as previously used for the trust protectors election.” Notably, Dash Watch will be auditing the results.

For the next proposal cycle, a “multi-month” proposal for funding the day-to-day operations of the Dash Investment Foundation will reportedly be prepared and submitted to the network. The proposal will “request funding for the estimated costs” for the “first two years of operations,” Taylor wrote.

Funds Required To Pay “Directors’ Fees, Corporate Fees”

He explained that funding acquired will be used to pay “directors’ fees, corporate fees, disbursements, certain legal fees, bookkeeping services, custody and banking services. There will also be a “contingent reserve for incidentals or closure if continuation funding is not secured at the end of the first two years,” the Dash Core Group CEO noted.

After acquiring and allocating adequate funding to cover operating costs and the election process, the Dash Investment Foundation will “finalize” the “appointment of an investment manager”; ratify an “overarching mandate for the foundation and internal governance and operational protocols”; ratify “a mandate for investment objectives” which may include strategies for “maximizing returns” in relation to growth of Dash Network usage.

Other objectives outlined by the Foundation include establishing appropriate “investment funding processes” such as those used by “proposal owners to enter legal agreements.”

https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2019/05/dash-core-group-ceo-introduces-new-network-based-funding-model-for-privacy-coin/

Large Governments Already Buying Bitcoin, A. Pompliano Guesses

Morgan Creek co-founder, and prominent Bitcoin and crypto evangelist, Anthony Pompliano, has tweeted that “at least one large government has already bought a significant amount of bitcoin”,

https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1126660387930296320

“Pomp”, as he is often called, is not wrong. Both the Bulgarian and Israeli government hold a lot of bitcoin, and the former especially has a lot, approximately 213,000 BTC according to digital asset management firm Blocktown Capital,

https://twitter.com/BlocktownCap/status/1116008088337776642/photo/1

https://twitter.com/BlocktownCap/status/1116008088337776642

In May 2017 the Bulgarian government seized 213,519 bitcoins from 23 individuals, and these individuals reportedly created a virus that affected government systems.

https://www.investinblockchain.com/large-governments-already-buying-bitcoin-a-pompliano-guesses/

Bitcoin-Bashing Democrat Calls for Blanket Ban on Cryptocurrencies

By CCN: Bitcoin-bashing Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman is urging his colleagues to pass a law that would ban cryptocurrencies in the United States.

“I look for colleagues to join with me in introducing a bill to outlaw cryptocurrency purchases by Americans, so that we nip this in the bud.”

Congressman Sherman, who’s from California, made the remarks May 9 at a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee.

Sherman says the ban is necessary because crypto threatens to undermine the U.S. dollar and is only useful for criminal activities like money-laundering, drug-dealing, and tax evasion.

Sherman: crypto fans want to supplant us dollar

Moreover, Sherman notes that crypto evangelists have made no secret of their desire to replace fiat currency. And that is unacceptable to him.

“An awful lot of our international power comes from the fact that the U.S. dollar is the standard unit of international finance and transactions. Clearing through the New York Fed is critical for major oil and other transactions.”

“It is the announced purpose of the supporters of cryptocurrency to take that power away from us, to put us in a position where the most significant sanctions we have against Iran, for example, would become irrelevant.”

“So whether it is to disempower our foreign policy, our tax collection enforcement or traditional law enforcement, the advantage of crypto over sovereign currency is solely to aid in the disempowerment of the United States and the rule of law.”

https://twitter.com/coincenter/status/1126574631605997569

Sherman: Hamas used Bitcoin, case closed

Notably, Congressman Sherman says he’s alarmed by the spike in the use of cryptocurrencies for criminal activity.

He pointed to the example of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which has been soliciting bitcoin donations due to the financial isolation it’s suffering as a result of US economic sanctions.

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist network that is largely funded by Iran. However, Iran is in the midst of a financial crisis due to harsh U.S. sanctions that have crippled its economy.

As a result, Iran has begun using cryptocurrencies and even started mining bitcoin to circumvent the sanctions.

To Congressman Brad Sherman, this is a clear-cut example of how crypto is being used by criminals to disempower American foreign policy.

https://twitter.com/CCNMarkets/status/1090668470331719680

Sherman: crypto is mostly used be criminals

Sherman conceded that cryptocurrencies have legitimate purposes, but it “is singularly a benefit for those who wish to commit crime.” This is not the first time that Congressman Sherman has railed against crypto.

On May 3, Sherman slammed Facebook’s foray into crypto. He tweeted:

“Desperate to show it believes in privacy, Facebook will build a cryptocurrency platform to protect the privacy of drug dealers, tax evaders, and terrorists.”

“The worldwide use of the U.S. dollar strengthens the U.S. economy and allows us to sanction rogue nations. Those desperate to weaken the U.S. pray for a crypto-alternative to the U.S. dollar.”



Many Trump officials are pro-crypto

For those who are politically aware, it’s not surprising that Congressman Sherman vehemently opposes cryptocurrencies. Many Democrats are, although there are some that are open-minded.

In contrast, Republicans — who are generally pro-business — are far more open to promoting entrepreneurial ventures. For example, Hester Peirce, one of five SEC commissioners, is so pro-bitcoin that she has been nicknamed “Crypto Mom” (an ironic moniker considering she has no children).

Peirce is a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump. Trump has a number of top aides that are pro-crypto, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

Similarly, CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo has earned the title of “Crypto Dad” for his pro-bitcoin positions. Giancarlo is also a Republican.

Unfortunately for crypto fans, he’s retiring soon. But his presumptive replacement, Heath Tarbert, will probably be open-minded about crypto given Trump’s hiring track record.

https://twitter.com/CCNMarkets/status/1124307419314757634

https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-democrat-ban-cryptocurrencies

Litecoin Core v0.17.1 Upgrade Now Live



Litecoin, the blockchain project in charge of the fifth largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap, has announced the release of Litecoin Core version 0.17.1. The update will enable users to send cost-efficient and fast payments, according to Medium blog post on May 6, 2019

Litecoin Upgrades

As stated in its blog post, Charlie Lee’s Litecoin has launched the latest version of the Litecoin Core client, with new features, numerous bugfixes, performance improvements, and updated translations.

With the latest Litecoin version now functional, the team has stated that it is important for all node operators to upgrade to v0.17.1 as soon as possible. To upgrade to Litecoin Core v0.17.1, users are required to completely shut down the older Litecoin version, then proceed to run the installer (on windows).

However, Mac and Linux users are required to copy and paste the /Applications/Litecoin-Qt or litecoind / litecoin-qt commands on their machines respectively.

“If your node has a txindex, the txindex db will be migrated the first time you run version 0.17.1 or newer,” stated the team, adding that the process may take several hours to get completed and the node will not function until the migration is done.

Node operators who currently run 0.15 and are interested in downgrading it to older versions for one reason or the other, will need to run the old release using the -reindex- chainstate command to “rebuild the chainstate data structures in the old format.”

While the Litecoin Core v0.17.1 is compatible with multiple operating systems including the Linux kernel, macOS 10.10+, and Windows 7 or newer versions, the client does not support Windows XP.

Additionally, the team believes that Litecoin Core should also work on other systems powered by a Unix-like OS, though it has not tested them extensively.

Some of the known issues that have been encountered by users trying to carry out the upgrade include memory blow-up during the roll-back of blocks to SegWit activation point (when upgrading from 0.13.2 or older versions), and minor GUI glitches in the new MacOS dark mode.

While wallets could only be loaded or created during startup in the older versions, the latest Litecoin Core enables users to dynamically create, and unload wallets at runtime. 

The default minimum transaction fee has also been slashed to 0.0001 LTC/kb and the partial spend avoidance command has been added to increase privacy.

https://btcmanager.com/litecoin-core-v0-17-1-upgrade-now-live

Above $6,000: Bitcoin’s Price Spikes to 6-Month High

Bitcoin’s price rose above $6,000 on most cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time today in nearly six months.

At 00:57 UTC on Thursday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which accounts for more than half of all other cryptocurrencies combined, picked up a bid and saw its price reach as high as $6,076 – its highest price since Nov. 14, 2018.

At the time of writing, bitcoin’s surge has slightly cooled off, now trading across exchanges at an average price of $6,045, according to CoinDesk’s price data.



In another first since last November, bitcoin’s market capitalization rose above $100 billion, $1.45 billion or 1.39 percent of which entered the market in the last 24 hours.

Further still, bitcoin’s dominance rate, a measure of its market share versus that of other cryptocurrencies, hit its highest point in nearly eight months at 56.8 percent – its biggest reading since Sept. 13, 2018, based on data from CoinMarketCap.

According to data from Messari.io, bitcoin’s total trading volume across exchanges today exceeded $15.5 billion, yet its “Real 10” volume – a metric that takes into account trading volume from the only 10 exchanges reporting honest volume figures as identified in a report by Bitwise Asset Management – reveals a seemingly more accurate 24-hour volume figure may be closer to $502 million.

When bitcoin’s price moves emphatically in a particular direction, the U.S. dollar value of most other cryptocurrencies tends to follow suit, and the developments today were no exception.

Other highly ranked cryptos in terms of market cap like Ether (ETH), EOS (EOS), and Cardano (ADA) are all reporting 24-hour gains above two percent, while bitcoin is leading the top 10 cryptocurrencies, currently boasting an increase of 3.64 percent.

Overall the total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market increased roughly by $5.4 billion during today’s rally to where it now stands now at a value of $189.1 billion. Indeed, the value of the broader market is making substantial progress in recouping the losses endured throughout 2018, but is still down 78.1 percent from its all-time high of $835 billion recorded on January 7, 2018.

Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.

https://www.coindesk.com/above-6000-bitcoins-price-spikes-to-6-month-high

PayPal Skips Bitcoin While ‘Clearly Working on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency’

By CCN.com: Online financial services firm PayPal believes it is too early to pronounce Bitcoin as the future of payments. Nevertheless, the $128 billion financial services firm is pursuing blockchain and cryptocurrency projects, Yahoo Finance reports.

PAYPAL DOESN’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON BLOCKCHAIN AND CRYPTO REVOLUTION

According to John Rainey, PayPal’s chief financial officer, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology could be disruptive and the financial services firm doesn’t want to miss out:

"We have teams clearly working on blockchain and cryptocurrency as well, and we want to take part in that in whatever form that takes in the future — I just think it’s a little early on right now [on bitcoin]."

PayPal’s CFO is not alone in the company’s top management ranks with regards to Bitcoin skepticism. The firm’s CEO, Dan Schulman, earlier this year took a swipe at bitcoin saying ‘we’re not seeing many retailers at all accept any of the cryptocurrencies’.



However, he acknowledged that the underlying technology of bitcoin is ‘interesting’. Last year Schulman had noted that the reason retailers were averse to accepting bitcoin was because of its volatility.

BITCOIN TRANSACTIONS MAY BE SLOWER, BUT STILL CHEAPER THAN PAYPAL

According to Amsterdam Stock Exchange trader who goes by Crypto Michael, bitcoin is up to 80 times cheaper than PayPal. This is especially when making cross-border payments of large amounts.

https://twitter.com/CryptoMichNL/status/1124605719725137921

Despite PayPal’s C-suite being crypto skeptic, one of the members of the company’s board begs to differ. Last month PayPal director Wences Casares said that bitcoin’s chances of succeeding exceed 50 percent, as earlier reported by CCN.

According to Casares, if the cryptocurrency succeeds it could shoot to over $1 million in ‘7 to 10 years’. Casares is also the CEO of bitcoin wallet firm Xapo.

USING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

As PayPal’s CFO noted, the financial services firm is pursuing blockchain projects. Just last month, the payments firm invested in a blockchain technology startup known as Cambridge Blockchain, according to Forbes. The startup focuses on empowering individuals to decentralize the storage of their online digital identities without requiring intermediaries.

https://twitter.com/EthereumNetw/status/1113095745538789376

One of the ways PayPal could use Cambridge Blockchain’s technology is giving users a new way of proving without sharing privileged personal information unnecessarily.

In March last year, PayPal also filed a patent on blockchain technology designed to enhance cryptocurrency payment speed. The filing noted that one of the major factors hindering the adoption of cryptocurrencies was transaction speeds. Due to the wait times being as long as 10 minutes, users instead preferred traditional payment methods, the filing observed.

https://www.ccn.com/paypal-skips-bitcoin-while-clearly-working-on-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency

'You can't buy Bitcoin' - is how Banks promote Bitcoin, says economist

Economist Saifedean Ammous was recently interviewed on Stephan Livera’s Podcast. Ammous explained the best way government can defeat Bitcoin and why banning it actually helps the opposite.

As per the original podcast, Ammous was asked to comment on his most recent research on the potential strategies that could be employed by governments to shut down Bitcoin.

Ammous stated that a government banning Bitcoin could actually be beneficial for the currency, stating:

If your bank tells you, ‘You can’t buy bitcoin with your bank account.’ That’s really just an advertisement for Bitcoin.

Government 'BAN' good for Bitcoin

Ammous gave two reasons for why such a ban could help, and not terminate Bitcoin’s existence. The first reason the economist gave was the fact came down to the risk and reward factor of using the coin in the first place. If the coin were illegal to use, that would mean there would be a very high risk of using it, thus justifying the coin’s value.

The second reason Ammous gave was that such a restriction on buying bitcoin would be a significant step by the government in restricting people’s freedoms. In both cases, the demand for Bitcoin and other pseudonymous currencies would increase due to public backlash and underground markets, thus leading to a ‘Streisand effect.’

Could governments kill Bitcoin?

Following these arguments given by Ammous, Livera asked what then, were some viable strategies that governments could use to compete with Bitcoin?

Ammous suggested that governments could compete with Bitcoin’s technology, thereby making it obsolete in terms of practical usefulness. Besides offering individuals more monetary privacy and freedoms, his other suggestion was to “return to a classical gold standard.”

Ammous was apparently adamant on his gold standard approach as he stated in the interview:

If you had that kind of monetary system, and if you had it worldwide, I think that would seriously undermine the demand for bitcoin

Bitcoinist recently reported that “Bitcoin has superior physical properties and market utility” to gold. This also includes the Winklevoss twins who believe Bitcoin will surpass the $7 trillion gold market.

Being unconfiscatable and cheaper to store value, being just some of the reasons why.

Meanwhile, a new campaign, started by Grayscale Investments,  is embracing this by proclaiming gold an obsolete store of value. The firm has launched a social media campaign using the hashtag #DropGold as its moniker.

https://twitter.com/GrayscaleInvest/status/1123664985312378880

Specifically, Greyscale Investments compares Bitcoin favorably to gold in terms of its “verifiability, durability, portability, divisibility, fungibility, recognizability, and scarcity.”

https://bitcoinist.com/you-cant-buy-bitcoin-is-how-banks-promote-bitcoin-says-economist/