Blockchain

Law Decoded: Public companies, private markets, crypto offerings and you, Aug. 28–Sept. 4

In light of newly expanded qualifications for accredited investors, Law Decoded looks at recent interactions between crypto and public companies.

Published

8 months ago

September 4, 2020

Republished by Plato

Editor’s note

It is a cruel twist of fate that during the first hiatus week in Law Decoded’s existence, the SEC put out long-awaited updates to accredited investor qualifications. Upon reading the news, your faithful and ever-vigilant policy editor put down his phone, cast a wistful eye upon the sun’s reflection dancing in the midground of the Atlantic Ocean. Bracing himself with a deep quaff of Corona, he thought ‘Not today.’ Before the sorrow of not being the one to bring the news to you could overwhelm him, he grabbed a battered borrowed surfboard and made for the waves.

Never one to dwell on the past, I will keep most of this week’s newsletter focused on more recent events. In our continuing mission to boldly present you with only the freshest of takes etc. Last week’s accredited investor shift is too fascinating to pass up, but it ties in with some broader trends about the barrier between public and private markets.

This week has highlighted U.S. federal protection of publicly traded companies, while also amplifying discussion of what exactly public trading should and should not do. It’s an interesting debate in which crypto is a powerful case study. Aside from being a theoretical new monetary system, cryptocurrencies have a reputation for being among the most volatile investments accessible to the general public. In bringing them to heel, the SEC hopes to at least weed out overt frauds and scams.

The flip side is that even without the example of crypto many people criticize the SEC for curating walled gardens of private investment for rich insiders. Crypto evangelists harp on about crypto breaching these walls. They do indeed have a point. But so too does the SEC.

Accreditation rules the nation

Regarding the SEC’s announcement, the basic function of the commission for its nearly 90-year history has been to protect investors, full stop. A derived function is pruned investment markets are more attractive to investors. While everybody acknowledges that an overbearing regulator is bad for business, the commission has played a critical role in seeing the U.S.’s investment markets become the envy of the world since its Great Depression-era origins — though huge forces like the Second World War, decolonization and the collapse of old-world empires, Communism and even American innovation helped out over the years.

The accredited investor classification comes from Reg. D, an exemption to public filing that says some people don’t need as much protection. It dates to the Reagan years, though updates in the 2000s were a big part of ushering in the era of the “unicorn,” a company with a valuation of over $1 billion before its IPO — which doesn’t really happen without private investment. At the same time, recent years have seen private investment under Reg. D consistently dwarf IPO investment, which suggests that the rich can just get richer on the ripest returns while public investors are stuck waiting for companies who are in some sense already past their prime.

Largely due to high-profile attacks on crypto offerings using Reg. D in the U.S. (especially Telegram), 2020 has seen shifts to other exemptions that allow retail investors but have lower caps on how much total money can come in. The new rules are promising in that they open new avenues for people to demonstrate investment savvy rather than just resources to spare as a way of getting accreditation. But then again, will that just incentivize companies to stay private longer?

Remaining private saves firms from expensive disclosures and lets owners keep their power consolidated. But tilting the table further in favor of private equities runs the risk of cutting public markets off from new blood.

FBI raids teenager’s home in Bitcoin giveaway Twitter hack investigation

The FBI searched the home of a 16-year-old in Massachusetts, who they claim may have masterminded July’s twitter hack alongside Graham Ivan Clark.

Clark is standing trial in Florida, where he faces charges that could add up to centuries behind bars. It seems the second mastermind evaded authorities for a month longer thanks to encrypted messaging services Signal and Wire, which should do a lot to advertise for those services.

While this unnamed second mastermind has yet to face charges, a troubling component of the case is that it also seems like a really good advertisement for being a publicly traded company in the U.S. Very few murders see manhunts as far-reaching and efficient as this theft of some $117,000 at the expense of TWTR’s reputation.

On the other hand, murder is generally a state crime that doesn’t invoke federal investigation in the same way as fraud committed across state lines. Given Twitter’s role in modern political discourse, the hack was especially scary because it brought out honest fears that more malicious hackers could have used the same exploit to start wars, 280 characters at a time.

In defense of Tesla

In a case of a stitch in time saving nine, the FBI busted a Bitcoin ransomware attack aimed at Tesla.

Now-jailed Russian banker Pavel Kriuchkov allegedly spent a month in the U.S. trying to recruit a Tesla employee into a ransomware scheme that authorities say was aiming at extorting $4 million from the company.

Unlike the Twitter case, which saw the attackers hoodwink an unwitting employee into turning over critical access to accounts, a loyal Tesla employee flagged Kriuckhov to the company, which in turn called on the FBI. The details of the case remain hazy. The original case against Kriuchkov doesn’t even name Tesla; CEO Elon Musk had to do that.

Meanwhile, TSLA stock is seeing a plummet on the last few days, in step with the broader tech market.

Further reads

Jim Harper of the American Enterprise calls on Zcash’s grant committee to put more resources into philanthropic applications of its privacy technology.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies looks at what China stands to gain from a digital yuan.

Leaders at Coin Center argue that regulators are unlikely to demand that crypto exchanges restrict services to approved wallet addresses. For now.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/law-decoded-public-companies-private-markets-crypto-offerings-and-you-aug-28sept-4

Blockchain

Litecoin price prediction: Litecoin trades above $300, attempt to break below later?

TL;DR Breakdown LTC retests the $300 support overnight. Lower local low set at $320. Next support at $280. Today’s Litecoin price prediction is bearish as the market rejected further upside around $320 earlier today and currently moves lower to attempt to break below the $300 once again. The overall market trades in the red today. […]

Published

18 mins ago

May 16, 2021

Republished by Plato

TL;DR Breakdown

LTC retests the $300 support overnight.
Lower local low set at $320.
Next support at $280.

Today’s Litecoin price prediction is bearish as the market rejected further upside around $320 earlier today and currently moves lower to attempt to break below the $300 once again.

Litecoin price prediction: Litecoin trades above $300, attempt to break below later? 1 — Cryptocurrency heat map. Source: Coin360

The overall market trades in the red today. Bitcoin has lost more than 2 percent and trades around $48.900. Meanwhile, Ethereum is among the worst performers with a loss of more than 5 percent. Alternatively, Stellar (XLM) is among the best performers, with a gain of 5 percent over the last 24 hours.

LTC/USD opened at $300.11 today after a bearish close yesterday that resulted in another retest of the $300 mark. Over the past hours, LTC/USD rejected further upside, indicating that we should see another push lower over the next 24 hours.

Litecoin price movement in the last 24 hours

The LTC/USD price moved in a range of $297.59 – $323.76$, indicating a moderate amount of volatility. 24 hour trading volume has dropped by 7.15 percent and totals $5.2 billion. The total market cap stands at $20.6 billion, ranking the cryptocurrency in 12th place overall.

LTC/USD 4-hour chart – LTC prepares to break below the $300 support again

On the 4-hour chart, we can see moving lower over the past hours as bears attempt to finally break below the $300 mark.

Litecoin price prediction: Litecoin continues trading above $300, attempt to break below later? — LTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Overall, Litecoin price action momentum continues to be bearish as the market retraces after setting a new all-time high at $413 on the 10th of May. Previously, we saw Litecoin rally around 80 percent from the $220 major support area, indicating we could see a similar upswing over the following weeks.

First, Litecoin has to finish retracing from the current high. Support around the $300 mark was reached on Thursday. From there, Litecoin retested the $335 resistance and reversed to the $300 overnight.

Over the past hours, LTC/USD moved higher and established another lower high around the $320 mark. Therefore, we expect Litecoin to attempt to push below this support over the next 24 hours. Once the $300 support breaks, the next support is located around the $280 mark.

Since the $280 level previously acted as a very strong support, we should see the market price reverse back to the upside next week. From there, LTC/USD should move higher and try to establish another several-week upswing and set further all-time highs.

Litecoin Price Prediction: Conclusion

Litecoin price prediction is bearish as the market continues setting lower highs over the past few days. LTC/USD currently attempts to move lower once again to break the $300 support. Therefore, we expect further downside over the next 24 hours, with the next support target at the $280 mark.

While waiting for further Litecoin price action development, read our guides on how to buy Ripple, mine Monero, and long-term Ethereum Classic price prediction.

Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.

Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/litecoin-price-prediction-2021-05-16/

Blockchain

Why Uniswap, Cardano, Solana, and Dogecoin Could Become Best-Performing Cryptos Of 2021

Published

28 mins ago

May 16, 2021

Republished by Plato

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The year has been a good one so far for altcoins. There’s no denying Bitcoin’s pedigree and influence on the market as it is still the biggest cryptocurrency by far in the crypto space. Having said that, there are a lot of altcoins or relatively smaller and cheaper cryptocurrencies which have attracted investors and newbies looking to diversify their crypto portfolios. As crypto adoption continues to grow so has the interest in it which has been evident in the last few months. Institutional interest is at an all-time high as many traditional companies, firms and institutions are boarding the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

There are a lot of altcoins putting up impressive numbers guaranteed to give back good yields and this article sheds light on four of them.

Uniswap (UNI)

Uniswap is one of the dApps based on the Ethereum blockchain. The project allows users to trade Ethereum tokens through liquidity pools. The DeFi coin boasts of being the first decentralized exchange with the option of a margin and leverage trading.

The UNI coin has two main services, thus delivering and utilizing liquidity. Although it is new in the crypto space as it was released into the market last year, its performance has made it one of the leading DeFi coins on the market.

Uniswap v3 was released days ago, an upgrade of its protocol and aims to provide better oracles, new fee tiers as well as give users more control over the liquidity they provide. Many analysts believe the coin is expected to blow and with its price at $36, it would be a steal compared to others.

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Cardano (ADA)

Cardano has been one of the popular coins on the crypto market for some while. Its network has a smaller footprint which makes it flexible, more adaptable, and secure. Transactions are faster as it requires less energy, and have interoperability and scalability among its pros.

Cardano’s recent update has equipped it with the ability to build smart contracts which have attracted a lot of dApp developers, a sector that is blowing up this year. The coin is 4th on the crypto ladder with a trading price of $2.32 which has seen a 27.35% rise within the last seven days.

Solana (Sol)

Another coin that is making a name for itself in the fast-growing DeFi ecosystem is Solana.

Launched in March 2020, the digital project has enjoyed a steady rise, making its way up the crypto ladder with impressive runs. Sol is currently at 16 on the crypto ladder with an impressive market valuation of $14 billion.

Its Proof-of-History algorithm has the highest speeds of a transaction and offers relatively cheaper transaction fees as compared to other coins such as Ethereum. The digital asset currently trades above $50.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

DOGE has defied many odds to become one of the fastest-growing digital coins on the crypto market presently. Created as a meme coin back in 2013, it has seen a major resurgence taking its price from $0.0076 to an all-time high of $0.7 in less than 21 days led by Elon Musk’s never-ending endorsements.

Dogecoin has seen a surge of over 8000% so far this year and remains one of the cheapest coins to buy. It is currently trading at $0.5, and despite the many controversies surrounding DOGE, it does have what it takes to yield massive progress if adopted by Tesla for payments.

Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://zycrypto.com/why-uniswap-cardano-solana-and-dogecoin-could-become-best-performing-cryptos-of-2021/

Blockchain

Litecoin mining software: all you need to know

Published

29 mins ago

May 16, 2021

Republished by Plato

You cannot talk about cryptocurrency history without mentioning Litecoin; it is one of the first altcoins after Bitcoin was created. It was released in October 2011 by Charlie Lee, who developed it as an open-source software project. He announced Litecoin as the ‘lite version of Bitcoin through a message he shared on the famous bitcoin forum. Over the years, Litecoin now sits on the top as one of the world’s top digital currencies; it boasts a market capitalization of almost $3 billion and is expected to increase.

Since Litecoin’s creation, it was considered a reaction to Bitcoin, with its developers stating that their initial purpose is to create Litecoin as the “Silver” counterpart to Bitcoin “gold. Since Litecoin was a spinoff of Bitcoin, they share so many features. These include Bitcoin mining features. The only difference in the mining process is that while Bitcoin uses SHA-256, Litecoin uses a process called Scrypt mining.

Scrypt mining requires higher computing power, making it a lot more challenging to mine. This guide contains information on how to mine Litecoin.

What is Litecoin

Litecoin is a cryptocurrency that functions just like Bitcoin. It has some features which make it look very similar to Bitcoin. Transacting with Litecoin is far easier and faster. While Litecoin mining is a little more complicated than Bitcoin mining, they are both cloud mining and function similarly. They both use similar mining software, so a Litecoin miner will not find it difficult to use Bitcoin mining software and vise versa.

From a general perspective, Bitcoin and Litecoin can be considered decentralized cryptocurrencies which makes them different from how fiats like the U.S dollar are operated and governed.

Litecoin mining software: all you need to know 1

Why should you care about Litecoin?

Litecoin is profitable; mining Litecoin has proven to be a profitable venture, especially if you go about it the right way, using mining hardware like the asic miner and the correct mining software. Cryptocurrency mining as a whole has made different miners rich the same way it has made them go broke. However, it all comes down to your ability to take risks.

What is mining?

Mining is how a miner uses both mining software and mining hardware to mine cryptocurrency either as a solo miner or through a mining pool. There are different Bitcoin mining software available for miners to chose from. This software makes cryptocurrency mining possible.

Before a miner can successfully mine, he also needs some specific mining hardware; for Litecoin, he needs at least a CPU or a GPU device. The device you choose will go a long way to determine how easy the cryptocurrency mining process would be. For LTC mining to be successful, you need a Litecoin mining rig (Bitcoin mining software and Bitcoin mining hardware) and a litecoin wallet.

Best Litecoin mining software

After getting the proper Litecoin mining hardware, the next step is to get mining software (this could either mean a CPUminer, GPU miner, or a mining app). Your mining software will also determine if you are doing solo mining or as part of a mining pool. Determining a mining device is easy, but getting the best cryptocurrency mining software is complex as many other factors contribute.

Litecoin mining software: all you need to know 2

What is the best Litecoin miner?

There are numerous software available if you want to mine Litecoin. Some have different unique features like inbuilt wallets that serve as alternatives to the Bitcoin wallet. Here are some examples of mining softwares:

Easy Miner

Easy miner is a free cryptocurrency software miner. Although it was initially designed to mine Bitcoin, it can also be used for Litecoin mining. It is open-source, which means you can customize the software to suit your mining needs. Easy miner has an inbuilt wallet and a moneymaker mode, allowing the mining of Litecoin on its stratum pool. EasyMiner is also available for Android users making it one of the most widely used cryptocurrency mining software among Litecoin miners.

MultiMiner

This is regarded as one of the best cryptocurrency mining software out there. Although not as popular as the others on the list, it supports many devices, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. The best part is that it has automatic detection of network features. It also allows you to control and monitors a second MultiMiner mining rig simultaneously. It may not be as efficient as the others. However, it has some unique features that you will find interesting.

CGMiner Litecoin

CGMiner Litecoin is not new; it has been around for a while. Over this period, it has provided different unique features and a large user base. It supports almost all Operating systems making it easy to adopt. It is also open-sourced, allowing users to customize it to suit their mining needs. Other features that it comes with include: complete monitoring, fan speed controls, and remote interface capabilities.

Awesome Miner

Awesome miner is a great choice, especially if you are trying to mine on multiple mining rigs simultaneously as it supports FGPA, ASIC. His software also supports 25 mining engines, including XMRig, SRBMiner, BFGMiner, and SGMiner. However, it is not free; you will have to pay a fee of $4 monthly and $36 annually. The fee is worth the price because it comes with several other features like the status and temperature of all ASIC and FPGA miners and an inbuilt Litecoin mining calculator.

GUIMiner Scrypt

GUIMiner Scrypt is also a good mining software, but in reality, it is a GUIMiner fork. What makes it a better version is its user-friendly features. It was initially forked to allow new users. However, it was designed just for windows devices with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and computer processing unit (CPU). It allows Scrypt mining that makes Litecoin more seamless.

Litecoin mining pool

Mining cryptocurrency as part of a pool is better because it makes mining operation easier and improves your hash rate. This, in turn, means a better block reward. Litecoin cloud mining has a more complex mining program because of its use of the scrypt algorithm, making the pool mining option a better choice.

Litecoin has various Litecoin mining pools for miners to chose from. These pools have their pros and cons. Here are five pools I feel you should put into consideration when looking for a pool to join.

Litecoinpool
Multipool
Prohashing
viaBTC
NiceHash

Litecoin mining software FAQs

Is Litecoin mining still profitable?

Many people now doubt the profitability of mining cryptocurrencies primarily because of the competition involved. Today miners now compete with bigger mining establishments, making it impossible for solo miners to profit. However, as a Litecoin miner, you can consistently profit if you go about it the right way.

Litecoin mining is a task that you have to be prepared for; you need to be fully committed to it and tackle its risk. With this, you will be able to profit despite the considerable cost.

How long does it take to mine 1 Litecoin?

The time it would take to mine a Litecoin cannot be explicitly stated since it is primarily influenced by mining speed and the complexity of the computers you are using, the amount of time you spend mining, and the current difficulty factor. If you are mining with a computer CPU, you are bound to spend a long time mining a single LTC.

GPU mining is just a little better than CPU mining, no thanks to the competition on the ground. However, with the high-end ASIC mining, it won’t take you up to an hour to kine your first LTC. It is also way better if you are mining as part of a mining pool.

Final thoughts

Profiting from Litecoin is influenced by different factors. This means it is uncertain whether or not you are going to profit. However, it is still worth your time and resources full time. The best way to profit from Litecoin is to invest full-time in mining rigs and other equipment. If you decide to mine solo with just a CPU, you will still profit but not as much.

Crypto mining involves risk-taking. However, you cannot escape taking a risk if you want to make a profit. A Bitcoin miner who is mining Bitcoin takes a similar risk with an estate manager.

Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/litecoin-mining-software/