Bitcoin just broke the $4800 mark today, and usually when this happens alt-coins (at least established ones) follow closely behind. But this time they aren't. Why?

Bitcoin's hard forks.
Two new forks, Bitcoin Gold and SegWit2x are coming soon, and owning bitcoin means you automatically get these. In other words, people who would normally be buying alt coins are basically viewing these new types of bitcoins as if they are new alt coins. But instead of participating in an ICO, all you need to do is buy some BTC now, before the fork.

Stability. 
It's been a roller coaster for alt coins lately, pump and dump schemes and ICO's promising the moon and delivering nothing abound.  Sure, it's a thrill ride for those investing for fun.  But for serious investors, waking up to being 40% up or down on any given day is a stressful ride, and bitcoin's stability relitive to alt coins is becoming more and more appealing.

As 2017 comes to an end, it's safe to say we'll have an exciting few months ahead.

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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk

Rumors are swirling after a statement from China's official press agency Xinhua News stating:

 "Virtual currencies have become the top choices of underground economies. We shall adopt ‘0-tolerance policies’ towards crimes hidden underneath and take measures such as record-keeping, licensing, AML processes, real-name, limiting large transactions."

Without reading too much into this short statement, it does seem likely that we could see the return of Chinese exchanges soon. However, specific requirements and whether exchanges will need to go through a licensing application/approval process is yet to be seen.

We'll be watching as this story develops.

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Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk

Rapper Ghostface Killah of The Wu-Tang Clan is starting a cryptocurrency.

His company, named after the album is called "CREAM Capitol" - with a slight update, now meaning "Crypto Rules Everything Around Me".

Their ICO is set for Nov 11th and aims to raise $30 million.

Ghostface Killah's role however seems to be more about drawing attention to the project.  With no experience in cyrpto, he is one of four co-founders, and will serve as "Chief Branding Officer".

More information will be announced soon on their official website.
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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

The UAE announced today that Dubai will launch an official government sanctioned cryptocurrency, called "emCash".

Dubai has gone all out on adopoting blockchain based tech, and is already working with a UK company to develop blockchain a based passport system.

There is no date set yet for it's official launch, but the government has already said all 38 of Dubai's government agencies will accept the cryptocurrency for payment.

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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

The KIN ICO is complete, and trading began today on EtherDelta.

The ICO results were impressive, even though slightly below their target they still managed to pull in $98 million, which they state "came from over 10,000 participants in over 100 countries."

There was a lot of hype surrounding KIN.  It was the first time such a well established name in tech (Kik Messenger App) launched a cryptocurrency of their own.

So, the ultimate question is - what now?

All that hype means nothing if Kik doesn't use their active users to push the Kin currency.

From 2014 to 2016 Kik experimented with something called "Kik Points" which rewarded users for things like watching ads, a concept that could now be re-started to get Kin moving, using ad revenue to justify depositing KIN into users wallets.

The Kik messenger app has over 15 million active users per month, and with proper hype, and actual incentive for using/earning KIN, they could potentially leverage this into something huge.

But Kik will have to be bold!  Risk *slightly* annoying their users, pushing them into the marketplace, convince them KIN is something they NEED.

Something is already stirring though, today Kik users spotted something new...

"Kin" wallet is already showing in the app as of today.

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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

Bitcoin reached a new high today, in Zimbabwe.

Today, on Zimbabwean exchange BitcoinFundi, BTC reached highs of $7200, remarkably higher than it's currently trading on other global exchanges ($3912 as the the publishing time of this article).

While at first glance it sounds insane it may not be. After near total economic collapse in 2008 (with their currency experiencing 11.2 million percent hyperinflation) and fear of it happening again, the government has taking a "full control" stance on everything financial, even locking their citizens out from using any credit card transactions.

This has sent people flocking to bitcoin for financial security, all while at the same time, fears of new rounds of hyperinflation circulate.

In other words, after being locked out from Visa and Mastercard, and a government providing totally untrustworthy paper FIAT cash that could become worthless at any time, Bitcoin is a shining beacon of hope.

A similar dynamic is happening in Venezuela, it's being called "Bitcoinization" - basically, when a government screws up so badly, people stop looking towards them all together, and turn to the blockchain.

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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

The Singapore cyrptocurrency world was rocked today, with firms facing sudden closure of their accounts.

Monetary Authority of Singapore, (their official central bank) stated it was a commercial decision taken by the banks themselves, and that they are not involved in such account closures “including those in relation to the establishment and termination of business relationships.”

Yusho Liu, co-founder of CoinHako released a statement explaining the tough position they find themselves in “We understand that banks also have their concerns on anti-money laundering and know-your-customer issues,” and “We do not fit anywhere in the current regulatory framework.”

Their bank (DBS) has declinded to comment on this specific case, but stated however “We remain open to exploring banking relationships with companies working with cryptocurrencies”.

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Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk

Monetha's ICO has finished after raising 37 million.  With an impressive team behind it, including former PayPal executive Eric Duprat.

Monetha like many recent ICO's outlines a bold vision.  The difference is, theirs seems possible, the tech to make it work is virtually already existent (what they must do is combine these existing technologies seamlessly) and their timeline is realistic.

It's fairly simple - allow merchants to accept ether based cryptocurrency through the Monetha payment gateway, and most importantly, exchange that cyroptocurrency into FIAT cash and deposit it into the merchants account.

In other words, a full service for merchants from point of purchase to final deposit of funds.

Monetha is likely on the verge of hitting some of the larger exchanges soon, and is worth keeping an eye on.
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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

Charlie Lee, best known at the creator of LiteCoin and (formerly of Coinbase) tweeted today that his 'trusted source' for info on China has said the ban is even worse than false rumors of fear, it's an organized conspiracy - spread by those cashing in by shorting the market!

3/ Take it for whatever it's worth, but I have not traded this and have no plans to buy or sell in the near future. /End

— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) September 22, 2017

He makes an important point as well - China is so unpredictable, the rumors are easy to believe, and almost impossible to disprove. China doesn't openly debate such issues like we may be used to in America or the UK - they meet behind closed doors and quickly implement whatever they decide.

If true, these last few weeks of extreme volatility will have been for nothing more than a scam, as market manipulators cash in on traders panic.

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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

Tech Crunch may have gone a bit too far in their excitement for Ethereum.  Following an interview with its creator Vitalik Buterin, Tech Crunch launched tweets and articles that caught some eyes.

The claim was: Vitalik made the bold prediction of Ethereum not just becoming a foe for Visa, but completely overthrowing it, or in their words, it would "replace visa".

Vitalik took to twitter, noticeably frustrated to clarify:

For the record: I said ethereum (+plasma et al) *will have Visa-scale tx capacity*, not that it will "replace Visa". Sigh.

— Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) September 18, 2017

Tech Crunch has now issued a correction.

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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Bill Gates talks Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency VS fiat cash.