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Mostrando entradas de marzo, 2018

Miami real estate market cannot escape bitcoin

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Moris Beracha.-  Bitcoin is an increasingly payment option in real estate in the United States. By the end of the year, some 75 properties in the United States, particularly in South Florida and California, were sold using cryptocurrency. "Bitcoin accepted" is a message now seen in the descriptions of homes for sale in Miami. The use of Bitcoin in the real estate market is still a bold idea. One of the reasons is that real estate agents are skeptical due to the volatility of the currency. The cryptocurrency is unpredictable, after hitting almost $ 20,000 a token in December and falling precipitously at Christmas, at the year’s start it was around $ 14,000 dollars. The trend in the real estate sector "seems to be led by international investors who are avoiding inefficient banking systems and exchange controls at home, as well as by American enthusiasts of the cryptocurrency," said Charles Evan, an economist and bitcoin expert of Barry University in Florida

50 Cent’s worst album made millions in bitcoins

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Moris Beracha.-  'Animal Ambition' is the fifth album by rapper 50 Cent released in 2014. Despite the successful record of the singer with the releases of GRDOT and TM (each album sold 10 million copies), 'Animal Ambition' failed to chart with only 150,000 copies sold. A year later the singer would declare bankruptcy. However, this would be the album that would make him a millionaire. At that time, when the Bitcoin was not yet popular, the rapper agreed to accept bitcoins as a payment method for the album on its sales pages. Some users bought ‘Animal ...' using the virtual currency, making about $ 400,000 in sales. At that time, each coin was worth about $ 662, which would be equivalent to 700 bitcoins. With the current value of Bitcoin, the sum for sales of this production can net about $ 7.7 million. According to the rapper, he had forgotten that he had a virtual wallet with 700 bitcoins. Now 50 Cent is backing up; 'Animal Ambition' ended up b

Davos panelists do not believe in Bitcoin

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Moris Beracha.-  The cryptocurrency and its rise are one of the topics discussed by politicians, economists and businessmen at Davos, after it dropped 30% of its value. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, and the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Steve Mnuchin were the first to criticize the digital currency. Also, funds were blocked by the main exchange in Japan. Coincheck kept his clients informed of the situation through its blog. First, it restricted the purchase and sale of NEM, the cryptocurrency of the New Economic Movement. Then, any currency withdrawal was blocked from its platform, including the Japanese Yen, according to news reported by La República, in Colombia. "My No. 1 focus in cryptocurrencies, whether digital currencies or bitcoin or other things, is that we want to make sure they’re not used for illicit activities," Mnuchin said in Davos. British president Theresa May agrees with Mnuchin and called to look at

What have we learned about mindfulness?

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Moris Beracha.-  The amount of benefits found by scientists and mindfulness practitioners has been increasingly popular. The Huffington Post reveals the most important findings. We have discovered how mindfulness improves health. Carnegie Mellon University published a study suggesting that 'mindfulness' positively influences health via stress reduction pathways. Scientists developed a model to demonstrate that Mindfulness increases activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for deliberation and planning and which can regulate the biological stress response. Meditation keeps the brain young. According to studies, Mindfulness practice is not limited to making practitioners feel good, but can keep them young. A study from the University of California, found that meditators’ brains seem to age at a slower pace than those of other people. Meditators showed less age-related reduction of gray matter volume. Gray matter is a layer of tissue cri

Facebook bans ads for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

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Moris Beracha.-  Facebook has announced a new policy banning ads for well-known digital currency exchange or nominations or for initial coin offerings (COI). Services that "promote financial products and services frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices" are also prohibited. With the publication of this announcement, Facebook sets a position on digital currencies, considering that ads are "deceptions". The new policies will be extended not only to the Facebook home page, but also to Instagram and Facebook Audience Network, a platform to display their ad campaigns on third-party sites. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, showed his willingness to explore the benefits of the blockchain, to see if it could help Facebook. Although Zuckerberg has not expressed a position against this technology, this decision has been taken before the wave of scams around this fever. Facebook has accompanied the announcement with its us

South Korea moves to regulate use of Bitcoin

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Moris Beracha.-  Currently, South Korea is the world’s third country in bitcoin trading, after Japan and the United States. However, the government moves to ban these transactions in an effort to limit speculative investing in cryptocurrency markets. There are "great concerns" regarding virtual currencies, according to national authorities. Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said that they are preparing "a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges." Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku said that "virtual currencies are currently unable to function as a means of payment and it is being used for illegal purposes, like money laundering, scams and fraudulent investor operations." This is why the Asian nation is preparing a new legislation that would include a ban on anonymous digital currency accounts and thus grant the opportunity to regulatory agents to close exchanges if deemed necessary. The law will also prohibit banks fr

North Korea uncovers cryptocurrency crimes

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Moris Beracha.-  The Customs Service of the Republic of Korea has uncovered cryptocurrency crimes worth about $ 600 million, which includes illegal foreign exchange trading. According to a statement released on its website, the institution said it seeks to keep "our society safer from illegal foreign transactions". Reports on the incidents mention South Korean investors gobbling up almost $ 2 billion won in cryptocurrencies (about $ 594.35 million). Supposedly, tokens and coins were sent abroad through "virtual wallets," only to be brought back in the form of fiat currencies "which amount to unrecorded capital outflows." The statement continues, "Customs service has been closely looking at illegal foreign exchange trading using cryptocurrency as part of the government's task force." Among other breaches, Customs said there were also cases where investors in Japan sent their yen worth 53.7 billion won (the official currency of Sout

How Mindfulness helps a congressman in Washington stay calm

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Moris Beracha.-   Tim Ryan, Representative for Ohio’s congressional district, has become one of the greatest advocates of practicing Mindfulness. The politician says that mindfulness can have benefits for veterans, schoolchildren and average Americans. Ryan indicates that the ordinary citizen is living under a lot of stress and anxiety and that the practice of Mindfulness is paying attention to the 'present moment'. "While your mind may try to go to the past or the future, you try to discipline your mind to increase your awareness of that present moment, what’s going on around you and, but also, what’s going on inside you," said the congressman. "So you can better understand your own habits, your own emotional states," Ryan said. Stress reduction, increase focus, the boost of the immune system and better decision making are some of the benefits mentioned by Ryan. In 2008, Tim Ryan's signed up for a mindfulness retreat to get a break from

How to meditate effectively

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Moris Beracha.-  Meditation brings all kinds of benefits and therefore more and more people have undertaken the mission to start with Mindfulness practice. Breathing, emotions and postures are some of the basic factors to help you start with meditation. When you meditate, breathing does not work to "calm your mind", but so you can appreciate the sensations you get during breathing. Concerning the posture, you should relax your arms and shoulders, and let your hands rest on your thighs. According to Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh it is advisable to alternate the position of the hands and let one hand rest on the other in your lap. If you are sitting in a chair, your feet should be flat on the floor and your back must be straight. If you meditate with your legs crossed, your knees should be below the hip. You can use a cushion to gain height. According to a research at UCLA, Los Angeles, regular meditation shows an increase in the regions of the brain associ