WEEKLY ANALYSIS: THE TRUMP SAGA CONTINUES, SO DOES ETHEREUM’S SURGE

Asset	Current Value	Weekly Change
S&P 500	2344	-1.44%
DAX	12064	-0.55%
WTI Crude Oil	48.10	-1.39%
GOLD	1243.50	1.07%
Bitcoin	926	-13.57%
EUR/USD	1.0798	0.56%

5 THINGS TO WATCH NEXT WEEK

1. The Dollar: Will the weakness continue?

The US Dollar has been in trouble since the recent Federal Reserve meeting, despite the fact that the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate. The rate hike, in theory, should help the currency, but this time, the bank’s cautious outlook, together with the preceding rally in the Dollar, the reaction was the exact opposite. A classic “buy the rumor sell the news” situation.

As the Dollar has been pushing higher against most of the major currencies since the election, there is still more room for correction in the reserve currency.

EUR/USD, Daily Chart Analysis

2. The US GDP print and the CB consumer confidence Index: The Fed is watching

Arguably the two most important economic releases of the week could have profound effects on financial markets following the latest Fed meeting, as the rate hike schedule of the bank remains a mystery.

3. Ethereum: New highs ahead?

Ethereum has been the star of the recent period, as it kept on delivering new highs on almost a daily basis. Although the cryptocurrency might be getting overheated, the next week could hold more fireworks for traders. The recent break-out that we correctly anticipated carried Ethereum above the resistance zone that held the currency back all week.

Ethereum on the rise, Daily Chart

4. Oil: An industry in turmoil

Oil producing countries and companies are spooked once again by the movements of crude oil, as a 3-month long consolidation concluded with a bearish break-down two weeks ago. As US shale production is on the rise and the OPEC, especially Saudi Arabia, is cornered by the new market pressures, it’s likely that oil will experience violent moves in the coming days.

5. Trump: Will there be a healthcare deal?

The media covered the Republican Party’s debate regarding a new healthcare bill that supposed to replace “Obamacare”. The new president was forced to retreat at the end of the week, pulling the bill ahead of a risky vote. It’s hard to imagine that Mr. Trump will not try to reach a deal again in the near future. We expect continued focus on the story, although the real impact of the bill on financial markets is questionable.

In Focus: Cryptocurrencies

 

The performance of the main cryptocurrencies in March

March has been a very active month for cryptocurrencies so far, and while Bitcoin had a highly volatile and mixed period, some of the other majors gained significant ground. Ethereum and Dash surged higher more or less in tandem, bagging close to 200% in just three weeks. Monero is also on the rise with a commendable 60% gain.

The recent week was Ethereum’s without a doubt, as Dash and Monero remained below their previous highs and Bitcoin plunged back below 1000 on Friday. Litecoin has been the most stable of the major cryptocurrrencies, although the 8% gain could be interpreted as a positive sign, given the weak performance of Bitcoin.

Monthly trading volumes reflect the price action, as Ethereum has experienced a huge jump in interest and Dash also so significant inflows.

Currency	Weekly Volume	Monthly Volume
Bitcoin	2116	9325
Ethereum	929	3796
Dash	181	919
Monero	69	319
Litecoin	36	180

Key Economic Releases of the Week

Day	Country	Release	Expected	Previous
Monday	EUROZONE	German Ifo Business Climate	111.2	111
Tuesday	US	CB Consumer Confidence	113.9	114.8
Wednesday	US	Pending Home Sales (monthly)	2.30%	-2.80%
Wednesday	US	Crude Oil Inventories		5.0 million
Thursday	GERMANY	Prelim CPI	0.40%	0.60%
Thursday	US	Final GDP	2.00%	1.90%
Thursday	US	Initial Jobless Claims (weekly)	244,000	261,000
Friday	GERMANY	Retail Sales	0.70%	-0.80%
Friday	UK	Current Account	-16.3 bil	-25.5 bil
Friday	UK	Final GDP (quarterly)	0.70%	0.70%
Friday	CANADA	GDP (monthly)	0.30%	0.30%
Friday	US	Chicago PMI	57.2	57.4

From : Hacked.com 

Apple Rubbishes Breach Claims from Hackers Demanding Bitcoin and Ethereum

Apple has announced that their system has not been breached by a hacker or hackers, after it was reported earlier this week that they were attempting to use an alleged store of iCloud accounts and Apple emails to extort thousands of dollars worth of digital currency from the company.

On Tuesday, Motherboard reported that the hackers, who identified themselves as ‘Turkish Crime Family’, were demanding $75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum, or $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards in exchange for deleting the supposed horde of data.

The hackers claimed they had access to more than 300 million Apple email accounts; however, this number was then changed to 559 million accounts.

Now, though, in a report from Fortune, Apple have stated that their systems have not been breached, but that if the list is authentic, it was not obtained through an Apple hack.

An Apple spokesman said:

There have not been any breaches in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud and Apple ID. The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained from previously compromised third-party services.

According to Fortune, a person aware of the contents of the unproven data set said that many of the passwords and email accounts are those that match data that was leaked in a previous breach at LinkedIn.

With hackers typically recycling past hacked data for future scams, there may be reason to be skeptical of this alleged hack.

Criminals Turn to Ether for Ransom

Interestingly, in the past, hackers have tended to demand their ransom payments in bitcoin.

A report in December found that hackers are using mobile phone numbers to steal millions in bitcoin. While universities have also found themselves paying hackers ransoms in the digital currency.

Now, though, in what may be the first incident, hackers are turning their attention to Bitcoin’s rival: Ethereum.

For years Bitcoin has been the prominent currency of choice for criminals, but in recent weeks Ethereum is gaining ground and distinction, which is positioning itself as a viable alternative when it comes to ransom demands.

Last week it was reported that Ethereum’s price rose above $57 on Coinbase before dropping down to $35. It has since risen to just below $45 with a market cap value of just over $4 billion.

In what is considered the first high-profile extortion case seeking Ether, this could mean that more criminals will eventually demand payments in it as its value steadily rises, gaining ground on Bitcoin.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Brave Browser Will Reward Users with Ethereum-Based Tokens for Switching on Ads

Brave, a browser that improves browsing speed by eliminating unwanted ads, has announced a new blockchain-based digital advertising platform using an Ethereum-based unit of exchange called the Basic Attention Token (BAT) to support a more efficient, transparent and decentralized Internet advertising marketplace.

BAT will allow publishers, advertisers, and users to connect in an online environment that reduces fraud, privacy violations and “malvertisements” while increasing publisher revenue.

The Brave browser was developed as a solution for web users frustrated with the pervasive advertising that slows data connections and clogs web pages with tracking pixels, scripts and ads. Many users also appreciate the fact that the Brave browser does not track their online activity.

BAT is positioned to reform the ad-tech ecosystem because it can privately monitor and anonymously confirm user intent at the browser level which allows for the development of rich metrics for user attention. The token will also enable users to be rewarded for their engagement.

Speaking to CCN, Brendan Eich, founder, president and CEO of Brave said:

The user deserves a share because their attention is being used up a little bit by ads . We’re working on better advertising that is truly private.

Tokens For User Attention

BAT marks the newest stage in the Brave browser ecosystem. BAT values are based on user attention.

“The BAT is the token for remonetizing the user’s attention, including the user in a fair play system,” said Eich. “That (BAT) is what denominates attention in the sense of user engagement in a way that is not likely to be abused and rewards the users.” Users will opt in to participate in the system.

BAT is what Eich calls an “in-game currency,” a token on top of the Ethereum blockchain. “The game is user browsing Brave,” he said.

Attention is measured as viewed for content and ads only in the browser’s active tab in real time. The attention value for the ad will be calculated based on incremental duration and pixels in view in proportion to relevant content, prior to any direct engagement with the ad.

For placement, ads will be matched with user interests using local machine learning algorithms to judge the content to which the user is paying attention, in the context of tabs, viewability and other variables not available to remote trackers.

The matching will be done privately, on the device only, without any signal out. This means fewer, but more relevant and valuable ads. Several scoring algorithms have been tried with the Brave donation ledger system, which automatically donates an amount proportional to the attention given to a website.

Users To Be Rewarded

When users opt-in to receive advertising, their attention will be privately monitored on-device in the Brave browser, without tracking.

Publishers will be rewarded based on BATs. Users will also receive a share of BATs for participating.

By keeping the data on the device, encrypting the data and shielding the identities of users, BAT validates the users’ data. Such value has been ignored and exploited by the middlemen in the existing industry model, according to Brave.

BATs will be made available for crowdsale in the near future.

A Broken Ecosystem

The Internet advertising ecosystem has become overrun by “middleman” ad exchanges, complex behavioral and cross-device user tracking, and opaque cross-party sharing through data management platforms, according to Eich.

“A host of third-party intermediaries evolved to help millions of publishers fill their ad spaces and make revenue to pay their journalists and writers,” Eich said. “Those intermediaries inevitably opened the door to too many hands taking a cut of the pie.”

As a result, advertisers face poor reporting and targeting. Publishers lose revenue while fraud has increased.

Users have lost their privacy, face growing malware risks, pay high charges to download trackers and ads, and suffer slow speeds. This has driven the adoption of ad blocking software, which is now on over 600 million mobile devices and desktops.

Brave is using what Eich calls and “anti-cloud approach” in being able to trust their browsers. “We believe very strongly that there should be a company aligned with your interests and not operating against your interests,” he said.

“Brave is trying to turn this whole surveillance system inside out,” Eich said. “Users can have their own private Google on their devices, firewalled, so that their data stays on their device.”

The big commercial browsers are owned by companies that want to advertise directly or indirectly, Eich said. Hence, they have a conflict of interest with their users.

“Brave wants to eliminate that conflict,” he said. “We want to tie our destiny entirely to our users’ happiness. With us as not only their ad watcher but possibly their personal data platform that gives them a revenue share.”

Brave provided the following statistics:

• Over the last 12 years, publishers have lost approximately 66% of their revenue.

• In 2016, ad fraud created by Internet bots cost advertisers $7.2 billion, up from $6.3 billion in 2015.

• Up to 50% of the average user’s mobile data is used for ads and trackers, costing up to $23 a month.

• Users face slow page loads and as much as 21% less battery life.

• Google and Facebook, which together claim 73% of digital ad revenue and 99% of all growth, are exacerbating the crisis.

Anonymous Machine Learning

The BAT exchange will be rolled out in phases over the coming months.

Brave already has an anonymized ledger system for making donations and payments to publishers based on user attention. The secure vault uses the ANONIZE algorithm to ensure customer privacy. Brave is already measuring user attention at the browser and distributing donations to the publishers using this system.

A BAT wallet will be integrated with the Brave browser. Verification and transactions will be handled by Brave’s internal ledger system to protect individual user anonymity from advertisers, publishers and third parties. Ad inventory will be valued, and transactions will be calculated from reported data.

The transfer and verification process will be entirely distributed on Ethereum using a state channel scheme with zero knowledge proof protocol for ensuring user privacy. Alternate metrics will be added based on advertiser feedback. This will allow for full user privacy as well as a decentralized audit trail for advertisers, users and publishers to ensure they received correct payments for the advertising delivered through the BAT network.

There is no plan to make the BAT tokens fungible at the present time.

As Brave moves to a fully decentralized micropayment system, other developers will use its free and open source infrastructure to develop their own use cases for BAT, according to Eich.

Brave’s BAT whitepaper can be found here.

Featured image from Brave.