The one month graphs of the Dow Jones, Bitcoin, Ethereum and the Crypto market in general, are looking a bit alike. There seems to be a general feeling of a need for further correction. What do you think?

Go big or go home. That’s the motto of one mysterious investor who put his chips on the table, buying close to $400 million of the No.1 digital currency, bitcoin.

The purchase comes as cryptocurrencies are making a comeback after a dreadful start to 2018. Major digital currencies lost as much as 50% to start the year as growing regulation and security fears crippled the market, seeing traders bail on their positions. However, the tide has turned.

The price of bitcoin BTCUSD, +7.89%  has increased more than 60% since trading under $6,000 on February 6, pushing back above $10,000, helped by signs of growing recognition of digital currencies from officials in Washington.

“Not sure who that big buyer was but many have bought this dip and have added since the rebound and additional regulatory clarity in the U.S. and Asia,” Alex Sunnarborg, Founding Partner of Tetras Capital said.

The unknown trader with the bitcoin address 3Cbq7aT1tY8kMxWLbitaG7yT6bPbKChq64 purchased the coins between Feb. 9 and Feb. 12, taking his bitcoin balance from 55,000 coins to more than 96,000.



(Link to image: https://ei.marketwatch.com/Multimedia/2018/02/16/Photos/NS/MW-GD955_bitcoi_20180216113501_NS.png )

The transaction, which was blasted all over social media and online chat forums emboldened bulls who had argued that $6,000 was a bottom.

“In the meantime, the $400 million whale is fuel for the Telegram channels where traders lay out their conspiracy theories,” said Jeff Koyen, president of 360 Blockchain USA.

“However, I am willing to believe that, seeing bitcoin bottom around $6,000, Wall Street smelled blood and jumped back in,” he said.

With bitcoin back above $10,000, the owner of the address is closing is on the bitcoin billionaires club.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/anonymous-trader-buys-400-million-of-bitcoin-2018-02-16

I don't know what banks you're talking about reducing withdrawal terms or engaging in crackdowns as they go into insolvency. The banking sector is thriving in the US and bank profits have been high for several years. The banks are healthy in that they routinely pass stress tests and even the most at-risk banks have improved to the point where the Fed is approving expanded dividend and capital repurchase plans. Derivatives remain a systemic risk, but that has nothing to do with Bitcoin. There are Bitcoin derivatives as well (futures are derivatives).

I don't see he connection between Bitcoin and national debt. If the economy was denominated in btc, it would still be possible to have a national debt. That wouldn't solve anything. The fact that the government any control Bitcoin is why the economy will never be denominated in btc. Pretty sure it would be a bad idea anyway. We left the gold standard because it hampered economic growth.

Forget the joystick. Atari SA -- perhaps best known for 1980s video-games “Pac-Man” and “Space Invaders” -- is now jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

Shares in the Paris-based company have soared more than 60 percent since it gave further details of its crypto push on Feb. 8, after first mentioning some of the plans in December. Atari is taking a stake in a company that’s building a blockchain-based digital entertainment platform and, as part of that agreement, it will create its own digital currency called Atari Token. The company is also expanding its online casino-gaming partnership with Pariplay Ltd. to allow gambling with digital currencies.



(Link to image: https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iNDH0IN2pKnI/v2/800x-1.png )

“Blockchain technology is poised to take a very important place in our environment and to transform, if not revolutionize, the current economic ecosystem, especially in the areas of the video game industry and online transactions,” Atari Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frederic Chesnais said in the statement. “Our aim is to take strategic positions with a limited cash risk, in order to best create value with the assets and the Atari brand.”

Atari isn’t the only stock that has benefited from links with cryptocurrencies. Shares of Eastman Kodak Co. jumped 245 percent in two days after it said last month it’s working with a company that promotes paparazzi photos to offer a blockchain-based service for paying photographers. And, in perhaps the most bizarre of such moves, the unprofitable iced-tea company formerly known as Long Island Iced Tea Corp. gained 183 percent in a day after re-branding as Long Blockchain Corp. in December.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-15/pac-man-video-game-maker-atari-is-now-a-cryptocurrency-play

(CNSNews.com) - The federal government this January ran a surplus while collecting record total tax revenues for that month of the year, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today.

January was the first month under the new tax law that President Donald Trump signed in December.

During January, the Treasury collected approximately $361,038,000,000 in total tax revenues and spent a total of approximately $311,802,000,000 to run a surplus of approximately $49,236,000,000.

Despite the monthly surplus of $49,236,000,000, the federal government is still running a deficit of approximately $175,718,000,000 for fiscal year 2018. That is because the government entered the month with a deficit of approximately $224,955,000,000.



(Link to image: https://www.cnsnews.com/s3/files/styles/content_100p/s3/januaryrecord1.jpg?itok=M4Ywba_W )

The $361,038,000,000 in total taxes the Treasury collected this January was $11,747,870,000 more than the $349,290,130,000 that the Treasury collected in January of last year (in December 2017 dollars, adjusted using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator).

The Treasury not only collected record taxes in the month of January itself, but has now collected record tax revenues for the first four months of a fiscal year (October through January).

So far in fiscal 2018, the federal government has collected a record $1,130,550,000,000 in total taxes.

However, despite the record tax collections so far this fiscal year, and despite the one-month surplus in January, the federal government is still running a cumulative deficit in this fiscal year of $175,718,000,000.

That is because while the Treasury was collecting its record $1,130,550,000,000 in taxes from October through January, it was spending $1,306,268,000,000.

The levels of federal taxes and federal spending fluctuate from month to month, and it is not unusual—but not always the case—for the federal government to run a surplus in January.

Over the last twenty fiscal years, going back to 1999, the federal government has run surpluses in the month of January 13 times and deficits 7 times. Six of the Januaries in which the federal government ran deficits overlapped President Barack Obama’s time in office—including January 2009, the month Obama was inaugurated, and the Januaries in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

The federal government also ran a deficit in January 2004, when President George W. Bush was in office.

According to an analysis published on Dec. 21 by the New York Times, a "majority of provisions" in the tax law President Trump signed in December would "go into effect" in January. However, according to the Times' analysis, February "is the earliest that most will see changes in their paychecks."

The Internal Revenue Service released its new withholding tables, based on the tax-cut law, on January 11.

“The Internal Revenue Service today released Notice 1036, which updates the income-tax withholding tables for 2018 reflecting changes made by the tax reform legislation enacted last month,” the IRS said that day in a press release. “This is the first in a series of steps that IRS will take to help improve the accuracy of withholding following major changes made by the new tax law.

“The updated withholding information, posted today on IRS.gov, shows the new rates for employers to use during 2018,” said the IRS release. “Employers should begin using the 2018 withholding tables as soon as possible, but not later than Feb. 15, 2018. They should continue to use the 2017 withholding tables until implementing the 2018 withholding tables.”

The record total federal taxes the Treasury has collected in the first four months of this fiscal year have included $606,726,000,000 in individual income taxes; $75,533,000,000 in corporation income taxes; $371,931,000,000 in Social Security and other payroll taxes; $27,738,000,000 in excise taxes; $7,550,000,000 in estate and gift taxes; $12,634,000,000 in customs duties; and $32,637,000,000 in miscellaneous other receipts.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/feds-collect-record-taxes-first-month-under-tax-cut-run-surplus

Yesterday morning, several banks in Australia started rolling out a new payment system they’re calling NPP, or “New Payments Platform.”

Until now, sending a domestic funds transfer in Australia from one bank to another could take several days. It was slow and cumbersome.

With NPP, payments are nearly instantaneous.

And rather than funds transfers being restricted to the banks’ normal business hours, payments via NPP can be scheduled and sent 24/7.

Across the world in the United States, the domestic banking system has been working on something similar.

Domestic bank transfers in the Land of the Free typically transact through an electronic network known as ACH… another slow and cumbersome platform that often takes 2-5 days to transfer funds.

It’s pretty ridiculous that it takes more than a few minutes to transfer money. It’s 2018! It’s not like these guys have to load satchels full of cash onto horse-drawn wagons and cart them across the country.

(And even if they did, I suspect the money would reach its destination faster than with ACH…)

Starting late last year, though, US banks very slowly began to roll out something called the Real-time Payment system (RTP), which is similar to what Australian banks launched yesterday.

[That said, the banks themselves acknowledge that it could take several years to fully adopt RTP and integrate the new service with their existing online banking platforms.]

And beyond the US and Australia, there are other examples of banking systems around the world joining the 21st century and making major leaps forward in their payment system technologies.

It seems pretty clear they’re all playing catch-up with cryptocurrency.

The rapid rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies proved to the banking system that it’s possible to conduct real-time [or near-real-time] transactions, and not have to wait 2-5 days for a payment to clear.

Combined with other new technologies like Peer-to-Peer lending platforms, fundraising websites, etc., consumers are now able to perform nearly every financial transaction imaginable– deposits, loans, transfers, etc.– WITHOUT using a bank.

And it’s only getting better for consumers… which means it’s only getting worse for banks.

All of these threats from competing technologies have finally compelled the banks to innovate– literally for the FIRST TIME IN DECADES.

I’m serious.

When the CEO of the company launching RTP in the US announced the platform, he admitted that the “RTP system will be the first new payments system in the U.S. in more than 40 years.”

That’s utterly pathetic. The Internet has been around for 25 years. Even PayPal is nearly 20 years old.

Yet despite the enormous advances in technology over the past several decades, the last major innovation in bank payments was back when Saturday Night Fever was the #1 movie in America.

Banks have been sitting on their laurels for decades, enjoying their monopoly over our savings without the slightest incentive to improve.

Cryptocurrency has proven to be a major punch in the gut. The entire banking system keeled over in astonishment over Bitcoin’s rise, and they’ve been forced to come up with an answer.

And to be fair, the banks have reclaimed the advantage for now.

NPP, RTP, and all the other new protocols are faster and more efficient than most cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin, for example, can only handle around 3-7 transactions per second. Ethereum Classic maxes at around 15 transactions per second. Litecoin isn’t much better.

By comparison, there were 25 BILLION funds transfers in 2016 using the ACH network in the US.

Based on the typical holiday schedule and the banks’ 8-hour working days, that’s an average “throughput” of roughly 3500 transactions per second.

So, now that banks have finally figured out how to conduct thousands of transactions per second in real-time, they clearly have superiority.

But that superiority is unlikely to last.

It takes banks decades to innovate. They have enormous bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. They have endless committees to appease, including the Federal Reserve’s “Faster Payments Task Force.”

And most importantly, given that most banks are still using absurdly antiquated software, any new systems they develop have to be carefully designed for backwards compatibility.

Cryptofinance and other financial technology companies have no such limitations.

As my colleague Tama mentioned in the podcast we released yesterday, the cryptocurrency space sort of exists in ‘dog years’.

Things move so quickly that one year in crypto is like 7 years for any other industry.

Right now there is almost a unified push across the crypto sector to solve the ‘scalability’ problem, i.e. to securely transact a near limitless number of transactions in real time.

Those solutions will almost undoubtedly come from technologies that you haven’t heard very much about yet.

Hashgraph and Radix, for example, are two such ventures working on extremely elegant payment solutions that break the mold of previous cryptos.

Rather than build upon standard cryptocurrency concepts like blockchain, Proof of Work, and Proof of Stake, both Hashgraph and Radix have created their own algorithms from scratch.

This is the bleeding edge of the bleeding edge of a massively disruptive sector that has existed for less than a decade.

And there are literally dozens of other companies and technologies aiming for similar heights.

Some of them will undoubtedly succeed. And still other ventures that won’t even be conceived for years will have yet more disruptive power in the future.

The banks don’t stand a chance. The future of finance absolutely belongs to crypto.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-14/terrified-bitcoin-banks-forced-innovate-first-time-40-years

Were the NBA to receive 1 percent of all bets made on NBA games, it would be a massive revenue source for the league. According to Windhorst, Nevada alone collected $4.5 billion on sports wagers in 2016, and that figure could climb higher than $5 billion in 2017 when the totals are calculated.

Tether is only $2b of the $420b market, right?

GMB union highlights huge gap as top earnings soar ahead of worst paid workers’ wages

The disparity in pay between those at the top and bottom of the earnings ladder is revealed by analysis showing the national minimum wage would be £5.24 an hour higher if it had risen at the same rate as a FTSE 100 chief executive’s pay over the last two decades.

With 2018 marking the 20th anniversary of legislation that heralded the minimum wage, research by the GMB union underscores by just how much the statutory pay floor has failed to keep pace with executive earnings.

It shows that if increases in the national minimum wage had kept pace with a chief executive it would be £12.74 an hour compared with £7.50 now for those 25 years and older. For a worker aged over 25 on 40 hours per week this would equate to £26,000 a year compared with the £14,664 they are currently paid.

The disclosure will intensify the debate about the yawning gap between the best and worst paid. Analysis published last week by the Vlerick Business School, based on 2016 data, found that chief executives of FTSE 100 companies receive on average 94 times more than the average employee. The average FTSE 100 company chief saw an 11% rise in their median total pay between 2015 and 2016.

Calculations by the High Pay Centre confirm that the average FTSE 100 chief is now paid £4.35m a year – compared with £1.23m when the national minimum wage came in – an increase of 354%.

“The national minimum wage was a hugely important step for working people in this country and its anniversary should be a cause for celebration of how far we’ve come,” said Tim Roache, GMB general secretary. “But this 20th birthday risks being marred by the growing pay gap between workers and company bosses.”

Every year the High Pay Centre highlights “fat cat day” when the average FTSE 100 chief executive will have already been paid the same as the average UK worker earns in a whole year. In 2018 the day falls on 4 January.

Stefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre, said: “It’s striking that the national minimum wage came in just as executive pay really started to spiral up and out of control. The pay gap has grown ever since, with terrible consequences. There are two ways to close this unacceptable and unjustifiable gap: one is to have more restraint at the top, and the other is to have the long overdue pay rise that lower paid workers deserve. We need rapid progress at both ends of the income scale.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/31/minimum-wage-26000-pounds-if-rises-matched-executive-pay

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, stated that international regulatory action on cryptocurrencies is "inevitable." Lagarde, also said that the IMF's concerns over cryptocurrencies stem largely from their potential use in illicit financial activities. In an interview with CNNMoney on Feb. 11, she said:

"We are actively engaging in anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. And that reinforces our determination to work on those two directions."

1) The economy is already stable. There is nothing to stabilize.
2) Why would bitcoin have any effect on the economy when it's such a minor blip in terms of nominal value compared to the overall economy?
3) Why would bitcoin have any effect on the economy considering it's an unstable store of value and a transactionally-limited currency?
4) What interest does a bank have in using Bitcoin, as opposed to Ripple (a crypto created for use by banks) or when they're only really interested in blockchain, and not even Bitcoin's blockchain, but a private one for internal use?

Answering these last three questions should help you determine that the answer to your question is that Bitcoin doesn't work with traditional banks to stabilize the world economy. Nor should anyone expect it to.

Almost said that bitcoin will affect the existence of traditional banks. Is it true?

Just put things into perspective. This is a long term race. Bitcoin protocol is TCP/IP, secondary layers like LN are HTTPS. We will scale and and we will be all over the world. Beware of scammers claiming otherwise, specially when they sell you some altcoin.

People believe bitcoin is backed by nothing. I think that is not the truth. I believe bitcoin is actually backed by people themselves. It is backed by none other than just you. We all witnessed the price has been fluctuating by all those FUDs and bad news. The price changes by emotion and non logical facts. I believe you hold bitcoin no matter what happened and would happen, and believe it is backed by all of us, it would make a history.