JPMorgan Launches Interbank Payments Platform on Quorum Blockchain

Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan Chase is launching a new interbank payments platform powered by blockchain, the firm announced today.

With the participation of two other banks – Australia-based ANZ and the Royal Bank of Canada (Australia) – the Interbank Information Network (IIN) will be built on Quorum, the ethereum-based blockchain network first unveiled last fall. Additional institutions are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, with a specific focus on the correspondent banking market.

Emma Loftus, head of global payments and foreign exchange for JPMorgan Treasury Services, said in a statement:

"IIN will enhance the client experience, decreasing the amount of time – from weeks to hours – and costs associated with resolving payment delays. Blockchain capabilities have allowed us to rethink how critical information can be sourced and exchanged between global banks."

It's a notable application for the bank, given that its treasury services clear trillions of dollars in transactions per day. Previous reports, including a February 2016 story from the Wall Street Journal, indicated that cross-border payments had emerged as a key use case area for the bank.

And in spite of its CEO's anti-bitcoin stance, the cryptocurrency's underlying tech has been an area of growing focus for the bank in the past year, as seen in its work with Quorum as well as initiatives like the Hyperledger Project and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Source: Coindesk

Read More

Priced In? Ether Sees Cautious Boost as Blockchain Upgrade Underway

Ether prices rose to a six-week high of $350 today as ethereum, the second largest blockchain by total value, appears to have successfully executed a widely anticipated software upgrade.

The first part of a larger technology update called "Metropolis," the "Byzantium" code was enacted this morning Eastern Standard Time with minimal contention as anticipated by developers. For now, this means ether's price has put a serious headwind behind it – the next so-called hard fork, a risky software upgrade that opens up the possibility new blockchains will be created, isn't expected until 2018.

In response, the ether-US dollar (ETH/USD) exchange rate surged in value in the run-up to the event.

Prices rose from $298 to $345 on Oct. 13 reportedly due to a high degree of confidence among investors, though the record rally in bitcoin could have pulled ether prices higher as well.

At press time, however, indications are the upgrade is unlikely to be winning new market interest. Despite the smooth implementation, ether prices are struggling to break above $350 levels. The loss of bullish momentum indicates the market may have priced-in the implementation.

Furthermore, ETH bulls might be staying on the sidelines in search of more evidence the software has achieved stability.

Still, the price action analysis favors upside in ether. At press time, ether is trading at $342; up 5.5% in the last 24 hours. Week-on-week, the cryptocurrency is up 13.15%, while month-on-month, it is up 30%.

Dayli Chart

The chart shows:

Dip demand: Sunday's candle had a long lower body (also known as lower shadow or wick). Prices usually move in the opposite direction after a long wick makes an appearance. No wonder, ether rose to $350 levels today.

Bullish break of the sideways channel.

Bullish 14-day relative strength index.

View

The outlook remains constructive – it may be only a matter of time before ether breaks above $350 and extends the rally to $370-380 levels.

On the downside, only an end of the day close below $320 (previous day's low) would abort the bullish view on the daily chart. 

Source: Coindesk

Read More

Bank of America Report: Bitcoin's True Value 'Impossible to Assess'

A potential move by global brokerages to offer products around cryptocurrencies could have a big impact on the wider market, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote.

In an Oct. 16 research note entitled "Introducing cryptocurrencies – what are they good for?", the analysts tackle bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and XRP. The note both covers the basics of the market and dives more specifically into the growing galaxy of open blockchain networks in operation today.

Notably, the report touches on the possible factors that could shape the cryptocurrency market's future progression – including financial products based on the tech.

On this point, the bank's analysts suggest that a move by brokerages to begin offering such services to their clients could affect both the overall liquidity of the market as well as the market capitalization for the relevant cryptocurrencies.

 "The coin universe is dynamic and innovative and volatile; while a true value for cryptocurrencies may be impossible to assess, one factor which we believe could affect their liquidity and market capitalisation would be if one or more global broker/dealers decided to offer institutional-like products," they wrote.

The past year has seen a number of high-profile efforts to build cryptocurrency-tied investment products, and firms like CBOE have described plans to take part in what is still a nascent ecosystem. Even so, regulators in the U.S. have reacted coolly to such proposals thus far.

And according to the Bank of America analysts, it remains far from certain how the market will develop in the months to come.

"At present, these impacts are too far off, and too unpredictable, to form part of an estimate or an investment recommendation," they wrote.

Source : Coindesk

Read More

Crypto Mining Makes Millions for Gold Mining Maverick

Frank Giustra, a well regarded Canadian mining magnate who created one of the world’s most successful mining companies is now moving his operation digitally to mine Cryptocurrency.

Giustra has backed a Blockchain technology company called Hive Blockchain Technologies, which is among the first publicly traded stocks to provide exposure to crypto mining, and for Giustra, he is seeing huge returns.

Six fold returns

The mining mogul has seen rapid growth since entering the Bitcoin market, backing Hive which was previously known as Leeta Gold Corp.

The decision to dig for data servers has paid off as Hive’s shares have soared about 633 percent, giving it a market value of $443 mln since it took over the listing.

Giustra’s foray into the crypto space has been a successful one as he has help drive Hive to be one of the pioneers in terms of a listed crypto mining company.

Hive paid Hong Kong-based Genesis Mining, builder of the world’s largest Ether mining facility, $9 mln and gave it a 30 percent stake to acquire a new data center in Reykjanes, Iceland.

Major mining operation

Hive’s mandate is to expand into other colder countries, such as Iceland and Sweden, in order to mine different coins and amass an inventory which they hope will appreciate. It is with the help of Giustra that they hope to achieve this.

Giustra helped build the company that would become Goldcorp Inc., then founded film studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. He counts Bill Clinton and George Soros among his close connections. Those connections may position him to grasp a nascent corner of finance and navigate Bitcoin’s uncertain regulatory waters.

Still a niche market

Despite the visible success seen from Giustra, companies like Hive are still very much in the minority, and while their pioneering moves are believed to make the market more open and available, there are still those who believed it is niche.

“I suspect the vast majority of accounts aren’t contemplating an investment in virtual currencies right now,” said Jeff Klingelhofer, managing director of Thornburg InvestmentManagement Inc.

Source : Cointelegraph

Read More