The IoT Sizzle, Wells Fargo Fizzles (Again) And Bitcoin — Does Some Of Both

While many weather-related witticisms are falsely attributed to Mark Twain, he did actually and famously remark on the very changeable climate patterns on display in the Northeast.

“If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

And while anyone who has spent any meaningful amount of time in Boston can attest to the truth of that statement, it seems this week the aphorism could be just as easily applied to bitcoin this week. Or — for a less witty, but more direct appropriate historical quote — there is always Issac Newton’s classic:

“What goes up, must come down.”

And up was where bitcoin started this week. As of Sunday, bitcoin’s price had either broken $3,000 per unit, or it came within spitting distance of doing so — depending on which particular index one favors.

Bitcoin’s big surge continued on Sunday when the price per unit of the digital currency briefly broke the $3K mark.

The $3K hit (or near hit) capped what was called a six-week run for the cryptocurrency — starting in early May when bitcoin’s price hit $1,400 and began its rapid ascent.

The bitcoin tide was strong enough to carry along a few other cryptocurrency boats — the tide being awash with blockchain-based currencies like Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin, which also saw their prices on the incline with bitcoin. The price hike even survived some tweets from billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who was one of many speculators warning investors off a bubble.

And that popping noise you heard this week was the sound bitcoin buyers and sellers seeming to take some of that advice.

After flirting with $3,000 early in the week, bitcoin crashed 19 percent, putting the digital currency on pace for its worst week since January 2015.

And the sinking tide is having the expected reciprocal effect on other digital banking coins, which are losing value right along with bitcoin. Ripple, NEM and monero have also have all fallen in the last week. It is interesting, however, that the price of ethereum — the second-largest cryptocurrency — has been increasing, though it too fell victim to the cryptocurrency crash yesterday (July 15). Ethereum, for those keeping track at home, is Vladimir Putin’s favorite cryptocurrency.

Adding to bitcoin’s woes were a major outage at Coinbase during high volume trading and reports out of rival exchange Bitfinex that it was under DDoS attack.

The cryptocurrencies’ prices bounced back later in the day. As of 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Bitcoin was down less than 3 percent, and Ethereum was down 8 percent.

As for what’s next with bitcoin? Not sure. But we do know one thing. If you don’t like the price of bitcoin? Give it a few minutes.  Maybe it will have stopped fizzling.

Sizzle

Zara: A retail success story? That has bricks-and-mortar as part of the success story? It just might be so, as Zara’s parent company Inditex posted an 18 percent gain in net income, while Zara saw its top line grow by 14 percent in the latest quarter. The company’s focus on quick responses to fashion changes and small batch production helped minimize merchandise lingering on the shelves — and it is all integrated with eCommerce. Goes to show not everything is doom and gloom in the transition from physical to online (and the two can coexist).

IoT: Nearly 17 percent growth is nothing to sneeze at, and that’s the annual rate that research firm IDC has pegged for this global deluge of connected devices. The drive is due, in part, to manufacturing and infrastructure demand, as IDC says that the Internet of Things market worth $800 billion now will be worth more than $1.4 trillion in overall, global spend by 2021. That comes in tandem with the “How We Will Pay” study that finds 66 percent of consumers would look to buy things online using a connected device. Now if only the smart home could remember to put the cat out…

Look better, all by bot: You got the look. Because, baby, you’re all ‘bout the bot. Mode.ai shows that smart technology like bots can help the style-conscious and fashion-forward even while helping retailers log more sales, with Facebook Messenger as a conduit. Look sharp, because tech is, like, totally checking you out.

Fizzle

Potcoin: Live by the fad currency, die by the fad currency. We’ve heard of “toke”n’zation, but this is ridiculous. How about 23 percent losses after a 97 percent leap, in roughly the space of two trading days? Bummer, dude. But then again, who would’ve thunk that a cryptocurrecy that made its bones on Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea would be, well, stable? Now at $0.13, one wonders whether the coin will hit a dime before ever being able to buy a dimebag. The losses, to be … blunt? Chronic.

More malware, more problems: Researchers find vulnerability in Mac’s OS, widely thought to be relatively safer than other operating systems. Two types of malware are lurking out there, and though its no WannaCry, maybe the name should be WannaKvetch. No one is safe, really…

Wells Fargo: Just when you thought it might be all quiet on the Wells Fargo front, the news comes that the firm may have improperly adjusted mortgages … which may be among the last bastions of retail products that were yet to be found to be tainted at least in some way. As they say, sometimes there is no way to go but up after a crisis, but for Wells: Has the latest snafu meant it has mortgaged away the rest of its reputation?