Blockchain News

  • Ex-Fortress Billionaire: Crypto Market Will Be 'Largest Bubble of Our Lifet... (coindesk.com)
    A former principal at Fortress Investment Group is reportedly moving to establish a $500 million hedge fund focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain.

    Bloomberg News, citing a source with knowledge of the plans, reports that Mike Novogratz is investing $150 million of his own, with an additional $350 million expected to be raised from outside sources by the end of 2017.

     Novogratz opted not to confirm or deny his plans when asked directly, according to the outlet.    If true, the initiative would represent the billionaire hedge funder's most aggressive move in the space to date. 

    Novogratz previously made headlines earlier this year when he revealed that 10% of his net worth has been invested in bitcoin and ethereum. Speaking with Bloomberg, Novograts said that his stake in the market has since grown.

    Even if he isn't setting aside funds to back a cryptocurrency-specific hedge fund, Novogratz made it clear that he intends to take part in what he called "the largest bubble of our lifetimes.

    "He told Bloomberg:

    "This is going to be the largest bubble of our lifetimes. Prices are going to get way ahead of where they should be. You can make a whole lot of money on the way up, and we plan on it."

    Discover even more stories on CoinDesk here: 
    https://www.coindesk.com/ex-fortress-billionaire-crypto-market-will-largest-bubble-lifetimes/
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      Maria Gimeno I agree with Taner. I also agree that for investors this is a very exciting time. Now, let me save money to invest on crypto!
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      Taner Worker: AD6CYJRPVJ86O at Amazon Mechanical Turk Novogratz is a smart man. If people understood the way the blockchain operates, I believe that they would all be jumping on the investment opportunities of BTC, as well as (potentially) etherium and litecoin. Because BTC and cryptocurrencies are decentralized, people who are uneducated on the topics seem to view them as illegitimate currencies; however, these currencies are just as legitimate as centrally-controlled currencies like USD and CAD, or Euros. Since there is no central authority holding power in Bitcoin, it is confusing to many individuals as we are all used to a society reliant on central-authorities controlling the production and distribution of capital; we don't see virtual currencies are real currencies, yet we do see stocks and bonds as holding monetary value. As the general public becomes more and more educated on the true value and legitimacy of cryptocurrencies, the prices will not only continue to raise but potentially skyrocket as these decentralized cryptocurrencies become increasingly used as an alternative to centralized currencies. As Novogratz states: "Prices are going to get way ahead of where they should be" and "You can make a whole lot of money on the way up, and we plan on it." Bitcoin's volatility makes it the investors dream, as it consistently maintains plateaus and stability while having enough daily volatility making it perfect for day trading, and easy to understand in terms of investing (when to buy, when to sell, how to watch the charts). Bitcoin is what got me into investing in the first place due to its understandability, and I completely agree with Novogratz, except for the idea that Bitcoin is a bubble. A bubble implies a crash — I don't believe that bitcoin will crash, I believe that it will rise for years (indefinitely really), and come to a general plateau from which it will have slight increases and decreases like a stable stock in the stock exchange, without the risks associated with investing in a company.
  • The EU Has Now Invested Over €5 Million in Blockchain Startups - CoinDesk (coindesk.com)
    The European Union has invested more than €5 million (around $6 million) in startups that are working on various projects involving blockchain.So far, six startups developing or researching applications of the tech have received funding through the Horizon 2020 innovation initiative, according to publicly available data.

    Last week, the European Commission's Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Group detailed the work being done by three startups – Signaturit, Authenteq and The Billon Group – to develop services around digital identity and payments, among other use cases.    Horizon 2020 data indicates that the EU has contributed €5,471,131 in funding to the group of startups. Of those, three startups received more than €1 million apiece, while three others received €50,000 each.

    The initiative has become one of the focal points for the bloc's work with blockchain. Last month, the European Commission (the EU's executive arm) said that it was planning to create a "Blockchains for Social Good" competition that would operate in conjunction with Horizon 2020. 

    Researchers in Europe have also looked to the program to fund cryptocurrency-related projects.    Earlier this year, the European Commission also began laying the foundation for a so-called Blockchain Observatory that would act as a research and outreach office for its work with the tech...continue reading: https://www.coindesk.com/the-eu-has-now-invested-over-e5-million-in-blockchain-startups/