No wonder I see two Filipino fighters Jenel Kausa and Rolando Dy, the fight will be held at Singapore Indoor Stadium. I thought I am looking at a fight card assembled by Once FC. I hoe those two Pinoy fighters make it, its been quite sometime when I last see a Filipino fighter in UFC like Brandon Vera and Mark Munoz. Looking at the fight card is not really that stacked that might draw a huge crowd but I hope Cowboy Cerrone keeps his momentum after winning a fight with Yancy Medeiros via TKO in Round 1.

Life savings lost. Desperate cries for help. Allegations of fraud.

In the six years since its founding, the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase has established itself as one of the most trusted places to trade ether, bitcoin, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. It's also run up its share of critics: namely, its customers.

In 134 pages of complaints filed to the SEC and the California Department of Business Oversight obtained by Mashable following a five-month FOIA process, a picture emerges not of a responsible actor in the cryptocurrency space opening the market to new investors, but rather a company overwhelmed by and underprepared for its own success.

And the consequences — as expressed by Coinbase's own customers — are enough to give even the most diehard crypto-enthusiast pause.

Money gone and no one home
A recurring theme in the SEC complaint files Mashable obtained is the seeming disappearance of a would-be trader's money, and what is portrayed as an aggressive nonchalance on the part of Coinbase in response to the loss.

Notably, the SEC redacted the complaints to remove personally identifiable information. This, while an understandable privacy measure, makes it practically impossible to reach out to the complainants for follow up. As such, we'll mostly let their words speak for themselves.

And there are a lot of words.

***

(There are screenshots of individual complaints made against coinbase @ the source link below. All of the complaints look like coinbase freezing accounts or holding peoples money. All of the balances involved look to be larger customers with assets in excess of $5,000.)

https://mashable.com/2018/06/20/sec-coinbase-complaints-fraud/

in some countries, especially developing countries, the government just wants to rob your assets. They rob publicly, lawfully and as much as possible.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Washington-based law firm co-founded by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has attested that as of June 1 cryptocurrency firm Tether had enough U.S. dollar reserves to back its virtual coins in circulation, according to a report released by Tether on Wednesday.

The report by Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan LLP, comes a week after a University of Texas research paper alleged Tether’s token could have been used to manipulate bitcoin’s price last year during its meteoric rise.

Tether critics have raised concerns over the past year about whether it actually holds $1 dollar in reserve for every token called tether issued, as it claimed.

The FSS report is not a full audit of Tether, but states the law firm received sworn and notarized statements from Tether’s two banks which indicated the company had approximately $2.55 billion in its accounts on June 1.

“FSS is confident that Tether’s unencumbered assets exceed the balance of fully-backed USD Tethers in circulation as of June 1st, 2018,” the report said.

The day of the examination was selected by FSS, the law firm said in the report, adding that it conducted “comprehensive examinations and telephone interviews of key personnel at Tether and its banks.”

The report did not disclose the names of the banks and also stated “FSS did not, as part of the Engagement, arrive at any conclusions as to Tether’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations in any jurisdiction.”

Eugene Sullivan, a former federal judge and FSS cofounder, is an advisory board member of one of Tether’s banks, the report said.

FSS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tether shares investors and management with Bitfinex, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

“These allegations of manipulation are ... just completely misplaced,” Stuart Hoegner, Bitfinex’s general counsel, said in an interview.

Tether hired FSS in March and is in discussions with auditors for a full audit, Hoegner said.

Global regulators have been scrutinizing cryptocurrency markets following a rally in prices last year. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice are reportedly investigating whether the price of bitcoin is being manipulated.

In December the CFTC sent a subpoena to Tether and Bitfinex.

Hoegner declined to comment on whether Tether or Bitfinex were under investigation by the CFTC or the DOJ. He also declined to share the contents of the subpoena.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-cryptocurrencies-tether/cryptocurrency-firm-tether-releases-law-firm-report-attesting-to-u-s-dollar-reserves-idUKKBN1JG1SB

From their terms of service:


At Bitmex, there's no minimum account balance required for leveraged trading. You're good to go even with a few satoshis. However, I must say that you're lucky for being in a restricted region. It ruined my savings of whole year in a blink of an eye.

I'm never going to open that website again.

Authored by Arkady Savitsky via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The US Treasury Department report for April published on June 15 revealed that Russia sold $47.4 billion out of the $96.1 it had held in Treasury bonds (T-bonds). In March, Moscow cut its Treasury holdings by $1.6 billion. In February, Russia reduced its bond portfolio by $9.3 billion. Other holders did it too. Japan sold off about $12 billion, China liquidated roughly $7 billion. Ireland ditched over $17 billion.



The tariff wars unleashed by Washington stirred fears that financial markets may be in for a rough ride with American treasuries dumped by some partners, including such major holders as China and Japan, each holding over $1 trillion in bonds.

Russia has cut its holdings in American securities following numerous rounds of sanctions imposed by Washington against Moscow and amid the ongoing trade wars between the US and its allies and partners.

This is bad news and ominous warning for Washington. The foreign demand is critical to offset an expected surge in federal borrowing needs. The Treasury Department needs to finance the huge spending bill along with tax cuts that were passed by Congress in December 2017. It plans to auction off around $1.4 trillion in treasuries this year with a glut of sellers and a shortage of buyers in the bond market the government plans to add $600 billion to.

The companies buy back their own shares to boost capitalization. The stock prices are overvalued. The Fed's monetary policy does not spur economic growth amid the growing national debt. The bond market does not look attractive anymore. Looks like there is a big change on the horizon that nations will dump US debt in case of trade war.

And the supremacy of the US dollar is not as solid as many people believe it is. A sell-by date as a global reserve currency is looming. The process of de-dollarization is gradually gaining momentum.

Moscow and Beijing are making agreements to move away from the American currency. On June 8, their leaders signed an agreement to raise the share of trade settlements in national currencies. Last year, nine percent of payments for supplies from Russia to China were made in the Russian rubles. In October 2017, China launched a payment system for transactions in the renminbi and the Russian currency. The launch of the petro-yuan allows Moscow and Beijing to use national currencies for settlements.

Russian companies paid for 15 percent of Chinese imports in the renminbi. For comparison, only three years ago the respective figures were two and nine percent. The gradual shift away from the USD is on the agenda of BRICS. China and Japan started direct trading of their currencies as far back as 2012 to hedge the risk of the dollar's fall in the long run.

Stanley Druckenmiller, the billionaire investor, believes that this is the time when “all you need is gold and all other investments are rubbish”. Top money managers are also recommending gold. Other countries are repatriating their gold reserves from the US Federal Reserve.

Russia has increased its gold reserves in order to diversify away from the dollar. It has recently concluded a cooperation agreement with China on developing the Klyuchevskoye gold ore deposit in the Trans-Baikal region. It is expected to extract 12 million tons of ore to produce 6 tons of precious metal yearly. Gold is considered important by both countries. The Central Bank of Russia has been increasing its gold holdings for three years now. Today, it has the fifth largest gold reserves in the world to make Russia immune to fluctuations of global currency market. This is a good investment to fend off US sanctions, tariff impositions and dollar fluctuations.

The worse the US relations with other countries become, the more likely are other nations to reconsider their reliance on the dollar. The US bonds market is going through hard times, the dollar is facing uncertain future and gold is becoming the best investment one could think of. With sanctions constantly used as a tool of foreign policy, trade wars waged, and the huge debt growing, America’s economic prospects are clouded in doubt to make other countries gradually move away from its currency and T-bonds. It does not augur well for the US. Its policy of confrontation makes it weaker, not stronger. There are clear signs the American century is coming to an end.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-19/de-dollarization-escalates-russia-sells-record-amount-us-treasury-bonds

It depends on the country. Inflation of course is everywhere, but it is different. In some countries for $ 100 you can live a month, and in others to eat at a restaurant.

THE REAL REASON CHINATOWN PRODUCE IS CRAZY CHEAP

The Wall Street Journal doesn't find foreign imports or discounts for low quality vegetables, but rather a special network of suppliers selling especially fresh food

Produce prices at your local Chinatown are likely a fraction of what they cost at other supermarkets, and if you've wondered why, you're not alone. In an investigative report for the Wall Street Journal reporter Anne Kadet admits she always assumed the low prices were a reflection of subpar produce. But a deeper investigation of New York's Chinatown with author Valerie Imbruce led her to the opposite conclusion, and reveals the hidden truths behind the neighborhood's fruit and vegetable supply chain.

Imbruce, who's researched the Chinatown produce economy for over a decade, is the author of From Farm to Canal Street: Chinatown’s Alternative Food Network in the Global Marketplace. In the Journal she distills to Kadet the real reason Chinatown can keep prices low: “Chinatown’s 80-plus produce markets are cheap because they are connected to a web of small farms and wholesalers that operate independently of the network supplying most mainstream supermarkets.” While most of the rest of New York's markets get their produce from the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx, Chinatown sellers work directly with small neighborhood warehouses. Since they're operating in close geographic proximity, they can get fresh produce throughout the day from wholesalers, and therefore don’t need a store with refrigeration or a lot of storage space.

Markets also cut costs by eschewing extra technology and certain aesthetic choices—the Journal points out that shelves “are typically made of plywood and lined with newsprint,” prices are scrawled on cardboard instead of printed on stickers, and credit cards are not always accepted. Chinatown retailers also manage to cut costs by “negotiating bulk discounts from wholesalers,” Kadet notes.

“All this translates into low overhead for the retailers—and low prices for shoppers,” the article points out. “The typical Chinatown produce markup is just 10% to 12% over wholesale, said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp.”

And then there’s the variety. In Chinatown, Imbruce says, you can find anything from jackfruit to fuzzy squash and baby Shanghai bok choy, in addition to almost 200 other fruits and vegetables. Wholesalers in Chinatown source these interesting items from family farms growing Asian vegetables in Florida or Honduras. Imbruce mentions that she has visited more than 75 of these farms and saw very little exploitation; in fact, they were happy to be working for Chinatown wholesalers “because they could cultivate an array of crops, leading to economic and agronomic stability.”

https://www.saveur.com/chinatown-produce-prices

Damn… dude, you’re so confused and don’t even know what you’re saying. How do you think that your idea is good one? To me it makes no single sense. Tell me how you would like it when everyone start producing their own guns and drugs? Don’t you know that will cause people to be manufacturing fake drugs at home selling to others? As for guns, you think is a good idea if we are all to be allowed to be walking around with guns? ☹️Just think of what you have just said.

And by the way, Bitcoin does not give you freedom, the government is still in complete control. Seriously, people like you are the reasons why we need leaders. If everyone is allowed to do as they wish, I swear most of us would all be dead by now.

Gab, a social network messaging platform that describes itself as a place “where people, free expression, and individual liberty come first,” has announced that its Coinbase account was suddenly closed by the popular US-based crypto exchange.

Gab is a relatively young social networking platform launched in August 2016 as a response to censorship controversies involving major social media companies — such as Facebook and Twitter — which founder and CEO Andrew Torba calls “the entirely left-leaning Big Social monopoly.”

It has been battling this “Big Social Monopoly” in court with a legal fund that accepts donations in PayPal, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. In an email to Breitbart Tech, Torba claimed the Gab Legal Fund “will be used to directly explore any and all legal options against the anti-competitive actions of the Silicon Valley oligopoly.”

Now, the alternative social network announced that Coinbase has closed its account on the exchange — presumably used to send, receive and cash out cryptocurrencies — without providing any specific explanation.



Gab, meanwhile, slammed the move, calling the centralized cryptocurrency exchange “cancer,” saying:

Coinbase has banned Gab’s account. Centralized crypto exchanges/wallets are cancer and contradictory to everything crypto stands for.

Social commentator Kevin Pham, however, believes he may know why the San-Francisco based exchange decided to shutter Gab’s account. Pham pointed to a recent tweet from Gab that suggested “crony capitalism” could have been behind yesterday’s SEC announcement that Ethereum is not a security.



Torba created the alternative social network “after reading reports that Facebook employees suppress conservative articles.” His platform got a significant boost to its user base in November 2016 following permanent suspensions of conservative activist accounts such as Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos.

The platform, however, has been accused by critics of being supportive of white supremacists and the alt-right.

On its website description, Gab vehemently opposes suppression of online speech. “Censorship and closed systems are ultimately about two things: destruction and control,” it reads. “Censorship does not create value, it annihilates it.”

In line with its anti-censorship ethos, the social network has unsurprisingly embraced Bitcoin, which can be used to transact without trusting middlemen and third-parties. In fact, it even launched its own Gab Token ICO, raising over $5 million to date in an effort to build the next-generation social network focused on supporting free speech online.

“Gab Tokens will represent tokenized equity in Gab AI Inc and are not a ‘utility token’ of any nature,” its ICO website explains. “We believe that, like many of our users, investors in Gab will be supportive of a crowdfunding campaign that champions a truly democratic approach to raising capital.”

http://bitcoinist.com/centralized-crypto-coinbase-shuts-gab/

They fear the online platform will become less open, but other researchers say the buyout could make GitHub more useful.

GitHub — a website that has become popular with scientists collaborating on research data and software — is to be acquired by Microsoft for US$7.5 billion. In the wake of the takeover announcement on 4 June, some scientists and programmers voiced concerns about the deal on social media. They fear that the site will become less open, or less useful for sharing and tracking scientific data, after the buyout. But others are hopeful that Microsoft’s stewardship will make the platform even more valuable.

GitHub launched in 2008, and is now widely used to store, share and update data sets and software code. As of 13 June, more than 223,000 academic papers on Google Scholar cited the website, which is free to use for projects that release their code. One of the features that sets GitHub apart from many similar websites is its use of version-control software known as Git, which transparently records changes to files. This allows programmers in different locations to work on the same project in real time, and to track changes and merge updated data. During the 2014–16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, for example, researchers used the platform to share and cross-check daily patient counts.

Although Microsoft says GitHub will remain open to any project, some scientists are sceptical about that commitment. “Open Science is not compatible with one corporation owning the platform used to collaborate on code. I hope that expert coders in #openscience have a viable alternative to #github,” tweeted Tom Johnstone, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Reading, UK.

Björn Grüning, a bioinformatician at the University of Freiburg in Germany, says some researchers are wary of Microsoft because the company has been slow to make its own tools available in open-source code, or to make its services compatible with open-source projects. He has several projects on GitHub, but says he will move them to another service if the company makes the platform less open, forces Microsoft tools on users or changes its pricing model.

Mahmood Zargar, who studies open-source communities at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is more concerned that Microsoft will impose changes that make GitHub less efficient for him to use. He’s planning to move several projects to other services.

A spokesperson for Microsoft did not answer Nature’s questions about researchers’ concerns, but referred to a blogpost by company chief executive Satya Nadella. “We recognize the responsibility we take on with this agreement,” Nadella wrote. “We are committed to being stewards of the GitHub community, which will retain its developer-first ethos, operate independently and remain an open platform.” The post also states that the company will listen to developers’ feedback and invest in both fundamental features and new capabilities.

Unconcerned

Some researchers say that fears about Microsoft’s acquisition of the platform are overblown. “I’m not convinced that Microsoft owning GitHub is that big a deal to busy researchers,” says Arfon Smith, a data-science manager at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and a former GitHub programme manager. Smith, who began using the platform for his own research in 2009 and has more than 200 projects there, doesn’t think Microsoft will change the collaborative features that researchers care about, such as its ease of use.

Other scientists, such as Ruibang Luo, a bioinformatician at the University of Hong Kong, think Microsoft will use its resources to boost the platform’s user numbers, which would increase the number of potential collaborators. “Satya Nadella has done a good job opening up Microsoft’s products to competitors’ platforms,” he says. “So I’m willing to believe it’s a great deal, unless they prove me wrong.” Katy Huff, a nuclear engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also thinks GitHub will give Microsoft an opportunity to support science.

Decentralized systems

Daniel Himmelstein, a data scientist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, says that GitHub is problematic for researchers, but that this has nothing to do with the Microsoft acquisition.

GitHub hosts repositories of code or data created by the open-source Git, which can be distributed among users, so the repositories themselves can still have backups if a server dies. However, certain information, such as comments on projects and requests to add code, are stored on GitHub’s website. Some of these data are an important part of the scientific record, says Himmelstein, but they are at risk from outages, surveillance or censorship. “Regardless of the Microsoft acquisition, GitHub, as a centralized and closed company, possesses a dangerous level of control over the open-source ecosystem,” he says.

Scientists face fewer threats, says Himmelstein, if they put their work on decentralized hosting systems, such as the git-ssb project, which don’t have a single point of failure. “To the extent that the Microsoft acquisition makes people aware of the centralized nature of GitHub,” he says, “that’s a positive thing.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05426-0