NexChangeNOW Daily Briefing – Wednesday Nov 20, 2019

    Listen to the audio:

    What Moved Global Markets
    President Donald Trump threatens higher tariffs on Chinese goods if the country does not make a deal on trade. Financial markets, which have proven reactive to developments in the ongoing trade war, shrugged off the president’s latest warning.
    – The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes retreated from record levels on Tuesday as dour forecasts from Home Depot and Kohl’s eroded confidence that the U.S. consumer will support the economy. Home Depot Inc fell 5%: the company cut its 2019 sales forecast for the second time this year. Kohl’s Corp slumped 17.6% as the department store operator slashed its annual profit forecast after falling short of quarterly comparable sales and earnings estimates. Shares of Macy’s, TJX, Rocu, Nordstrom and many more stores in the US fell amid that sentiment: check the list here.

    Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
    Bitcoin: Down 0.93% to $8,211.05
    Total trading volume (24h): $21.27+ billion USD

    Ethereum: Down 1.28% to $177.31
    Total trading volume (24h): $7.57+ billion USD

    3 biggest movers 24 hours
    Biggest Mover 1: BitBall is up 1,565.67% to $0.047089
    Biggest Mover 2: EXMR is up 399.43% to $0.091637
    Biggest Loser: Origin Sport is down 40.50% to $0.007985

    What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
    – Fidelity Digital Assets, the cryptocurrency company of Boston-based Fidelity Investments, has been granted a license by New York’s financial regulator.
    – Galaxy Digital Holding Ltd. announced today that it is launching two Bitcoin funds— the Galaxy Bitcoin Fund and the Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund— to provide accredited and institutional investors access to low-fee and institutionally secure bitcoin exposure.
    – “Focus Report” released a full episode on the prevalence of fraud in China’s blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Titled “Blockchain is not an ATM Machine,” the episode delves into how companies misuse the concept of blockchain to “further their money-grabbing schemes.”
    – Data by China’s National Internet Emergency Center (CNCERT) reveal that there are over 755 tokens on the market that are not backed by real initiatives or have hit zero after inception. The centre has also identified 102 coins that allegedly swindled consumers with Ponzi schemes. Moreover, by November 15th, the number of legal rulings related to blockchain has reached a record high of 566 and many of them involve digital currencies, data from China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) shows.

    Other Specialties
    Fintech: CB Insights published Q3 Fintech Report
    Healthtech: Okay, Google, now that’s nasty. Google cancelled a project to publish more than 100,000 human chest X-rays online days before the data was supposed to go live after realizing they contained personally identifiable information, reports The Washington Post.The incident took place in 2017 and was part of a joint project conducted with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). But it’s particularly relevant at a time when Google is moving quickly into health care and stealthily gathering medical data from millions of patients.
    Al: Scientists from Japan have used machine learning for the first time to identify a new figure among the ancient motifs of Peru’s Nazca Lines. The illustration, known as a geoglyph, is thought to date to between 100 BC and 500 AD. It’s small, just five meters in height, and it shows a humanoid figure grasping something that looks like a cane. Over a decade, using a combination of on-site surveying and aerial imagery, archaeologists manually identified 142 new designs in the desert. Then, working with researchers from IBM Japan, they used machine learning to scan the data for designs missed in earlier studies. This revealed geoglyph number 143, our fellow with the cane.
    Smart cities: Tesla got a Chinese rival and it’s growing stronger! Chinese electric carmaker WM Motor is seeking up to $1 billion in funding within the next six months as it targets one new model a year.

    NexChangeNOW Pick of the Day
    The People’s Liberation Army Could Get Blockchained. The PLA could reportedly use the technology to store military personnel data including basic information, career path, and missions undertaken.