Former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges filed against him by the US Attorney’s office in relation to a speech he gave at a blockchain conference in North Korea in April 2019. Griffith was arrested on Thanksgiving at Los Angeles International Airport after the FBI alleged that he breached the
Month: January 2020
Economic growth has taken a firm hold in North Las Vegas, Nevada, leading Fitch Ratings to upgrade the suburb’s rating an investment grade BBB-minus. Fitch follows Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global, both of which had restored the city’s ratings to investment grade by April 2018. The Fitch Ratings upgrade makes North Las Vegas investment-grade
Energy companies have taken a beating to start off the year, with the double whammy of plunging crude oil (USO) and natural gas (UNG) leading to the energy sector (XLE) having the worst performance (-8% YTD) among all S&P sectors. The MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF (MLPX) could not escape unscathed either with a -3%
An Aramco employee walks near an oil tank at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia. Ahmed Jadallah | Reuters OPEC and its allies could meet soon to discuss deepening their production cuts, in an effort to stem the sharp decline in oil prices due to a demand scare from
This reporter attended his first bitcoin meetup in sunny Scotland on Thursday. It took place in the Bayes Centre – Edinburgh University’s snazzy artificial intelligence and data science hub. It also happens to be the spot where IOHK, the creators of the Cardano cryptocurrency, helped establish a Blockchain Technology Laboratory. The topic of the meetup,
Richard Rosenblum is co-founder and co-head of trading at crypto liquidity provider GSR. The opinions below are the author’s and do not reflect the position of CoinDesk. Like futures, the launch of bitcoin options on major exchanges has been met with anticipation. Hopeful observers believe the CME’s and Bakkt’s entry into the burgeoning options market
The United States First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling against bondholders of the Puerto Rico Employees Retirement System. The First Circuit released the opinion authored by Associate Judge Sandra Lynch Thursday. Judges Jeffrey Howard and Kermit Lipez concurred with the opinion. Chapman Strategic Partners Managing Director James Spiotto, center, said the First Circuit
Note: This article was originally released to CEF/ETF Income Laboratory members on December 29, 2019. This month, I’d like to take a quick look at Western Asset High Income Opportunity Fund (HIO), the 4th-ranked D x Y x Z fund from our most recent “High-High-Low” screen. This high-yield fund last closed with a discount of
Traders signal offers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index options pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on September 18, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson As stocks enter the month of February, worries about the coronavirus that slammed stocks in January could continue to
Bitcoin Blast, a mobile game that gives users small amounts of bitcoin for playing, has been reinstated to the Google Play store. The game was yanked from the app distribution venue last week with little explanation, said Amy Wan, CEO of Bling, the company behind the app. Google reinstated the game on Jan. 30, shortly
Not everyone is totally excited about DeFi. Volatile crypto is nurturing its fixed-income side. Crypto lending activity is growing on decentralized finance (DeFi) networks. Staking, where investors reap payments for locking up assets in functions essential to network protocols, is moving into crypto’s mainstream, with large crypto exchanges offering staking services for users. Chart of
Municipal bond issuers are taking note after tax-exempt yields have been been falling to historic lows. Twice in the past week, yields on Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s AAA benchmark scale set record lows. Primary marketIHS Ipreo estimates the week’s volume at $7.06 billion in a calendar composed of $5.80 billion of negotiated deals and $1.26
Four technology giants now sit on top of the list of most valuable U.S. companies, each worth more than $1 trillion — and there’s a familiar theme to each of their stories. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet have all looked to services and cloud businesses for growth in the past couple of years. In
One of the products that have become particularly important to the continued growth of the crypto industry is Bitcoin futures. The derivative product has become one of the most heavily traded crypto-based securities. Key Drivers The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) revealed its actual figures with regard to this particular product yesterday. The futures contracts have
Hankering for a Ferrari? Well, the only licensed stock exchange in Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is listing tokenized collectible cars worth over $200 million for retail and institutional investors. MERJ said Friday it is partnering with CurioInvest, a tokenization platform building on ethereum, to create tokens representing shares in “supercars” like
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has recommended in his first budget a $36.9 billion total spending plan for fiscal 2021, a plan the new Democratic governor may have trouble defending in the Republican-controlled Legislature even though it’s a small increase. Beshear’s budget represents a 1.8% increase over the current fiscal year. His spending proposal for the
A worker assembles a box for delivery at the Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, April 30, 2019 Clodagh Kilcoyne | Reuters Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Amazon — Amazon jumped nearly 9% in midday trading after the e-commerce giant reported fourth-quarter earnings well ahead of Wall Street consensus expectations. The
Yesterday Chainlink released price reference data for 25 of its decentralized oracle networks which, together, power more than $100m in DeFi. On this special interview episode, @nlw talks with Sergey Nazarov and Kain Warwick, the founders of Chainlink and Synthetix respectively about: To see Chainlink’s newly released decentralized price feeds, visit: feeds.chain.link Disclosure Read More
Major League Baseball’s plan to eliminate dozens of minor-league affiliates may leave governments that subsidized their ballparks holding the bag. Relations between Major and Minor League Baseball turned acrimonious at the end of 2019 as the two sides tried to iron out a new 10-year affiliate agreement. The current deal expires after the 2020 season.
Kobe Bryant, the investor, could have one day found more success than Kobe Bryant, the basketball player, billionaire entrepreneur and Philadelphia 76ers partner Michael Rubin told CNBC on Friday. “What made him successful on the court, that absolutely working harder than anybody else, is the same thing I saw from him in business,” said Rubin, executive chairman of
We’ve got the “hawt” new single from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and, as bitcoin ends its best January ever, traders eye a price move above the psychological level of $10,000. Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict
A panel convened to overhaul New York City’s byzantine property tax system laid out a blueprint while acknowledging the long road ahead. The city’s Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform issued its preliminary report on Thursday with 10 recommendations that if enacted could change 90% of homeowners’ bills. The seven-member panel, which held several public
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Friday he’s done with fossil fuel stocks because young investor’s concerns about climate change are holding them down. On “Squawk Box,” Cramer compared oil and other fossil fuel stocks to the sigma attached to investing in tobacco companies, saying they are in the “death knell phase.” He added, ”They’re tobacco. I think
Home concept,Businessmen holding home keys krisanapong detraphiphat Many people entering the traditional home-buying years already have debt – student loans, of course. And those loans can make landing in a new house trickier. “Although many Americans have student loans, mortgage companies will still evaluate these outstanding debts while making their decision to approve or deny
Ethereum miners are hoarding ether tokens, and this could indicate high confidence in the project. The number of ether tokens held by all ETH mining pools is back near its all-time high of 1.69 million ETH set in October, according to crypto market data platform Santiment. The rise from November’s low of 1.64 million has happened in
It is exasperating to be enticed by positive talk coming out of Washington once again on infrastructure. We have been disappointed so many times that it’s almost not worth counting the total. Should we have more hope this time? I want to believe in the possibility, but I am having trouble getting there. Bond Buyer
Bitcoin startup Casa is charging into 2020 with a new look – by winding down its hardware product and shuffling its front office. CEO Jeremy Welch is stepping down from the role with current head of product Nick Neuman taking the helm. CTO Jameson Lopp will remain in his current position but will join the
New Haven, Connecticut’s second-largest city, has hired PFM Financial Advisors to perform a comprehensive review of the city’s financial position. PFM has performed comparable services to other cities in the Northeast. “It is imperative that we have a deep and honest assessment of our fiscal situation,” said Mayor Justin Elicker, a Democrat who took office
While physicist Sir Isaac Newton is widely viewed as the leading authority on gravity and motion, economist Benjamin Graham (1894-1976) is lauded as a top guru of finance and investment. Known as “the father of value investing,” Graham excelled at making money in the stock market without taking big risks, by evaluating companies with surgical
UK cases treated in Newcastle The FT’s Bethan Staton has been at a UK government briefing on the coronavirus, and has the latest: Two members of the same family are being treated for coronavirus at a specialist unit in Newcastle. It is not known how many people they have been in contact with. Sharon Peacock,