Artist inflates giant "Bitcoin Rat" in front of the Federal Reserve headquarters in NYC...

Nelson Saiers formerly helped manage a $600 million hedge fund, since then he's left the offices of Wall Street for an art studio, where he produces works based on the financial system. 

His latest piece, an inflatable a "Bitcoin rat" set up in front of the Federal Reserve building mocks Warren Buffet's now infamous quote that Bitcoin was 'probably rat poison squared'.

“There’s a lot going on and I’m hoping to at least illuminate some of the issues and some of the complexity involved in Wall Street” says Saiers.

The piece isn't permanent and will be removed later this week.  

You can check out more of Nelson Saiers's art at http://www.nelsonsaiers.com

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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk


Bitfinex goes to war with their critics, claiming they DO have the funds to back up their holdings - but the critics aren't satisfied with their story...

Back in November of last year I published an article titled 'Did Tether FAKE a hack to cover up crimes? We dive into the conspiracy theory.' (Link)

It outlined the theory that Bitfinex, through their stablecoin "Tether" (USDT) had been 'printing money' and the claims some were making that they faked being hacked - as a creative way to balance their books.

Things reached a new level of anger, when a couple days ago an anonymous blog post on Medium claimed to have the inside information - that Bitfinex was in fact committing fraud.

Now - that Medium account is suspended, the post deleted - and Bitfinex is fighting back. Sharing this post to their blog...
"Bitfinex is not insolvent, and a constant stream of Medium articles claiming otherwise is not going to change this. As one of only a very few exchanges operating since 2013, with a small team and low operating costs, we do not entirely understand the arguments that purport to show us to be insolvent without providing any explanation about why." says the company.

They then went as far as sharing their wallet addresses for everyone to audit:


Adding "The wallets represent a small fraction of Bitfinex cryptocurrency holdings and do not take into account fiat holdings of any kind."

This is just the latest move from Bitfinex where they claim they're providing transparency - the critics however want more, and are wondering why they're avoiding conducting a Tether and Bitfinex full-scale audit by an independent outside firm.

"Yes, we’re going to trust someone that flees friendly jurisdictions like Japan that simply want transparency, that they will be transparent." says their most vocal critic, who goes by "Bitfinexe'd" on Twitter.

Until that audit happens, they say they'll remained convinced Bitfinex has something to hide.
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Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


These guys are accused of posting pic with Binance's CEO saying their coin's getting listed - now, they're blacklisted for life!

Update: Apology from CZ - "Need to apologize here.  Jumped the gun.  This will not decrease or improve their chances of listing.  Still fair review.  The publicity probably helps them more than it hurts. Apologies regardless."

Wow - this is probably the stupidest move we've seen in a awhile! If what they're accused of is true.

Binance's CEO who goes by "CZ" is seen in the photo posting with two executives from "XinFin" a token that trades under symbol XDCE.  Under it, a caption that they're about to be listed on Binance.

They aren't - and now they never will. "Fast way to get blacklisted.  You won't see this coin on Binance" CZ tweeted out when he discovered what the XFin folks posted.

We've seen the effect getting listed on Binance has for a token - but now we'll see what effect being publicly banned from it could have.

Note from the editor: We still do not know CZ's original source for the photograph. "It was in their telegram group" are the only details given, we covering his accusation, not confirming it.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk


The "Reddit of Crypto" launches following startup financing from Binance - but is it already doomed to fail?

Aiming to become the Reddit of cryptocurrency - the site recently launched at www.Pivot.one, touting a start-up investment from exchange giant Binance.

It’s a business model others have had a challenge turning into a success - rewarding users for interaction.

But doing so has been a magnet for spam, junk content and bots for those who've tried this model before. For an example of those challenges look no further than Steemit, a site that at one point was off to a great start.

But, it only took a few months for their business model to become exploited.  Now, the content posted there is generally low quality - or straight up stolen.  In fact, you can find pretty much everything Global Crypto Press has published, re-published there without permission.

Pivot is rewarding users a little differently, splitting a "Bitcoin Bonus" daily between it's members - a hefty one too, on top of rewarding them with their own native coin PVP.

"The primary task of the community is to screen valuable information. Everyone has the right to freedom of information release and effective questioning. Eliminating capital shuffling behavior is the basis for the empowerment by PVT Community. Therefore, PVT Community will not seek simple and crude growth but will work together with community members to initiate full discussions on new events. What PVT Community will do is completely free information sharing. PVT Community also provides a set of irreversible and permanent data storage mechanisms that leaves capital shufflers nowhere to hide."  says the company.

The problems that plagued Steemit are already slowly appearing there.  Responses to posts are often nothing but "follow me" instead of a discussion of the actual topic at hand.

It's long term success will come down to one thing: moderators.   If spammers arn't swiftly shut down, expect them to fully take over, chase out the real users, and the whole thing is over.

You can check it out for yourself now at www.Pivot.one

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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk

Yale University's wise investing put their $29 billion endowment fund at the top of the nation - and now, they're betting big on cryptocurrency...

The man making the decisions has been called "Yale University's Warren Buffet" and his eye to spot wise investments has Yale's portfolio valued at a massive $29 billion. 

His name is David Swensen - and he just decided cryptocurrency is the next big thing. He's so sure of it, Yale has now invested into two cryptocurrency-focused funds.

The first of those funds is "Paradigm" which was started by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang.

The second is a fund controlled by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Swenson's ability to predict what's next currently has Yale's endowment fund out performing every other university in the nation.

"The University’s endowment is now valued at a record $29.4 billion — a $2.2 billion increase from last year’s previous record of $27.2 billion. Yale’s Investments Office has traditionally been the top performer among its peer institutions." according to Yale's official school newspaper.

Also important to note, where Swensen goes - others follow!

It's reasonable to expect this will trigger other large investments into the cryptocurrency markets from other university endowments.
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Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland: Crypto Event in the Fintech Capital of Europe...

On October 9, 2018, the international company Smile-Expo will host the second Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland – large event about DLT and cryptocurrencies. The conference will unite top professionals from the DLT sphere, as well as investors, developers and market analysts.

Guests can expect:
- top international speakers from leading companies;
- discussions of topical blockchain issues and use cases;
- pitch sessions with unique ideas from innovative startups;
- exhibition of new DLT-based solutions;
- new business contacts;
- productive networking.

Only 3 days, from 03.10 to 05.10, you can buy 2 tickets for the price of 1. Buy 1 ticket for 240 EUR and get 2 tickets to enjoy the event together with your friends. No promo code is needed.

See you in Geneva!

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Information provided via press release


Mega Moolah’s €18,589,210 jackpot is waiting, will you win it all?

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Information provided via sponsored press release


Stock giant TD Ameritrade becomes the latest to set their eyes on the cryptocurrency market...

Online stock brokerage firm TD Ameritrade touts $38.627 Billion in assets held for their investment clients - now they're the latest to want a piece of the emerging cryptocurrency sector.

They're doing this a little differently from other stock brokerage firms which are looking to add cryptocurrency options to their clients using their existing platforms.  TD Ameritrade instead has invested in a little-known new exchange called ErisX.

“We wanted to find a platform that would be fully regulated, and something that has that capital markets feel” said JB Mackenzie, the head of futures and foreign exchange trading at TD Ameritrade.

ErisX supports trading, deposits and withdrawals for bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, and litecoin.

"We listened to our customers — what we continued to hear was that they wanted access to trade digital currency products." added Mackenzie.

ErisX is also soon planning to offer Bitcoin futures, pending approval from the CFTC.
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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk

Inside the US cryptocurrency mining epicenter, that's disrupting a small town with cheap power in Washington state...


As cryptocurrency mining evolves into a global industry, the gold rush for cheap energy is disrupting a small town in Washington State—home to some of the lowest electricity rates in the country. Here, two of the biggest Bitcoin mining operations in the U.S., Giga Watt and Salcido Enterprises, reveal their new and rapidly expanding mining operations, and explain the potential of super-computing—from blockchain to artificial intelligence.

But not everyone in town is on-board. Fearing their power rates will go up, and the culture of their town would change forever, many want to put the brakes on this new, disruptive industry.

Video Courtney of CBS News.


October Crypto Outlook: What to Expect After a Wild September...

October is here and it’s time for your Crypto Outlook provided by Contentworks, an agency specializing in financial services marketing.

September was a mixed month for cryptocurrencies. The month started with the major currencies falling sharply against the dollar. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple dropped to monthly lows of $6,100, $167, $47, and $0.2545 respectively. They then recovered substantially and BTC, ETH, XRP, and LTC ended the month at $6,500, $228, $60.19, and $0.55 respectively.

The market capitalization of the 100 biggest currencies shrank to a monthly low of $186 billion and ended the month above $220 billion. The biggest news of the month was the hacking of a major exchange in Japan where more than $60 million was lost. September will be an important month for the currencies because traders will want to see whether the upward trend will continue.

As always, traders will focus on the security of their cryptocurrencies. Every day, hundreds of people are trying to find a way of breaching the security of major exchanges. This year, cryptocurrencies worth more than $731 million have been stolen from major exchanges. This is major news for cryptocurrencies because the blockchain technology behind them was created to increase speed and safety. As such, when cryptocurrencies are hacked easily, people and businesses lose trust in them.

Traders will also focus on regulations. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin were created to be autonomous. This means that unlike fiat currencies, it is difficult to track the transactions made by cryptocurrencies. With the US midterm elections nearing, traders will want to hear what US politicians have to say about crypto regs.

Crypto-related events are also major source of news for cryptocurrency traders. This week, the annual Swell Conference started in the United States. This is an event organised by Ripple, the company behind the popular product known as Ripple (XRP). XRP is different from Bitcoin in that it is not a currency alternative. Instead, it is a product that helps in international funds transfer. On the first day, the event was headlined by former US president Bill Clinton. The CEO of the company behind it revealed that three companies - MercuryFX, Cuallix and Catalyst Corporate Credit Union - have started using it. Last year, other large players like MoneyGram and Western Union announced that they were testing it.

Later this month, the Texas Bitcoin Conference will take place at Austin. The event will feature some of the biggest names in blockchain in the United. They will include policymakers, founders, and researchers in the sector. Another important event will be the Money 20/20 event which will happen in Las Vegas. The event will also feature some of the most prominent people in business like Richard Branson, Patrick Gauthier of Amazon, and Naureen Hassan of Morgan Stanley. It will also be sponsored by the Federal Reserve where a few representatives will speak. Representatives from the CFTC will also be present.

The other major event will be the World Crypto Con, which will be held at Las Vegas. This one too will see major speakers who are drawn from different sectors including business and government. Interestingly, one of the speakers will be Lyn Ulbricht, who is the mother of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road. Other speakers will be the founder of EA Sports and the Bitcoin Foundation.

At Contentworks, our team of financial professionals closely follows market movements for FX, Crypto and other tradable instruments. We are proud to serve some of the biggest crypto and fintech companies in the world by delivering high-impact articles, videos, PR and white papers.
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Information provided via press release


Bank Of America thinks the blockchain industry presents a new multi-billion dollar opportunity...

As more companies move to a variety blockchain-enabled business services, Bank Of America is seeing a massive opportunity for companies to help make it happen.

The first and best example is Walmart's announcement last week, where they're requiring food suppliers to use blockchain technology to track food to prevent contamination.

Now - all those food companies will need to the tech do it. Creating an inevitable boom for companies like Amazon, Microsoft and IBM, who can help these suppliers meet Walmart's new requirements.

"Amazon will benefit from incremental cloud services demand from Blockchain implementation, while improved supply chain tracking should make Amazon's retail operations more efficient" says Bank of America research analyst Kash Rangan, coining the term 'BaaS' for "Blockchain As a service" he continued "BaaS on Azure offers services such as smart contracts and other third party apps, and should benefit as use of blockchain on Azure increases".

This is just the beginning too - Rangan thinks blockchain becoming up to a $7 Billion industry is in the near future, acknowledging that all it's use cases have yet to be identified.
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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk