Private Equity Moris Beracha Wuani

By Nicholas Say  Latin America (LatAm) has a complex monetary history. Today it represents one of the biggest potential markets for cryptos. Venezuela made headlines when it became the first major nation to introduce a sovereign crypto, though the Venezuelan Petro probably isn’t going to be used for much anytime soon. The reason why the Petro is a non-starter is the same reason why LatAm crypto use is likely to rise. LatAm governments are notoriously corrupt and have a long history of abusing their national financial systems. Today there is more monetary trouble brewing in LatAm. Venezuela introduced the Petro as a part of a Remonetisation, and there is rampant inflation across LatAm especially in Argentina. Cryptos offer people everywhere an option when it comes to how they make payments and store value. Cryptos Make Sense in Latin America Most of the countries in LatAm already have two financial systems. The state financial system is difficult to use...

By Adrian Zmudzinski  Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence predict that Bitcoin ( BTC ) “has further to fall,” Bloomberg reported Nov. 16. “Bitcoin’s no longer boring” declares Bloomberg, before stating that analysts predict the price could fall as low as the $1,500 point, a further 70 percent drop in the coin’s price. Bloomberg cites hedge fund founder Travis Kling saying that he “didn’t sleep well” because of the potential turmoil in wider crypto markets due to the recent Bitcoin Cash hard fork : “There’s a small chance that, it’s difficult to estimate, that something really bad could happen related to Bitcoin Cash that could then impact the entire crypto market.” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone continued the argument, saying the recent market crash “was sparked by the pump for the Bitcoin Cash hard fork.” As Bloomberg reports, he explains that the “pump that began a few weeks ago, got the market a bit too offsides with speculative longs ...

By Omkar Godbole With signs of bull exhaustion showing on the technical charts, bitcoin (BTC) faces a return to the psychological support of $7,000. At press time, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $7,235 on Bitfinex – representing a 0.4 percent drop on a 24-hour basis. Prices found acceptance above $7,000 over the weekend, having cleared the resistance offered by the 50-day and 100-day moving averages (MAs) last week and rose to $7,429 yesterday – the highest level since Aug. 4. While the bull grip around BTC strengthened in the last seven days, prices failed to cut through the resistance of the trendline sloping upwards from the June 29 low and Aug. 12 low, possibly due to buyer exhaustion. This should not come as a surprise as BTC has rallied nearly 27 percent in the 2.5 weeks without notable price pullback.  As a result, BTC could feel the pull of gravity in the next 24 hours, although overall outlook remains bullish as long a...

By Moris Beracha Bitcoin has lost over 50% of its value in less than six months. Shortly before Christmas, each token was trading at over $ 19,000. Today it is worth a little over $ 8,400. Bitcoin investors predict a meteoric rise that will recommence any day now. However, Bitcoin has refused to cooperate, by staying stubbornly stuck below 10,000 for the last two months. According to Forbes, the "labor theory of value" essentially says that the price of a good or service is determined by the work required to produce it. But, other schools of economics say that the value of a good or service is whatever someone will pay for it. Moreover, if the producer values ​​the effort more highly than what the market will pay, they will stop producing it. So if prices fall, therefore, marginal producers tend to drop out. But as time goes by, more and more producers drop out until prices rise enough for the market to clear. Something similar h...

By   Hans Hauge Bitcoin under fire In a recent article from The Washington Post, Bitcoin (BTC-USD)(COIN)(OTCQX:GBTC) was called a Total Disaster. The Author of this piece, Matt O'Brien cites the high price volatility, price manipulation, and the insanity of Libertarians who seem to believe that it's possible to live in a society without trust. I'll save my criticism for now. In fact, let's run with this idea. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of things going on right now in the cryptocurrency space that are real issues, big issues. If you're an investor, then you should care about managing risk. After all, it was Warren Buffett who said:     “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Don’t forget rule No. 1”. - Fool.uk quoting Warren Buffett The problems with Bitcoin today Bitcoin is not an investment for the risk averse. In fact, for many people; investing at this stage might not make sense at all. Here's why:     Because ...

By  Alexandra Talty Bitcoin. Litecoin. Ethereum. Cryptocurrency. What was once seen as a tech fad is now being considered one of the top investment vehicles in the world. Kim Kardashian is even getting into BTC now. But as speculation drives prices high and low, a small group of enthusiasts are still dedicated to using these currencies for actual monetary exchanges. Call them the crypto nomads. The Rise of Traveling with Crypto The advent of “greater accessibility in the crypto financial system… helps travelers,” says Laura Shin, the host of crypto podcasts Unchained and Unconfirmed and former  Forbes  staffer. Shin has been covering the rise of cryptocurrencies for over three years. There’s a “network effect,” agrees RockItCoin CEO and Founder Michael Dalesandro. The 50-year-old first got into crypto in 2015. Since then, he estimates that he’s seen 60% year-over-year growth of Bitcoin ATM machine installations. “T...

By Rakesh Sharma Slowly, but surely, bitcoin is making its way out of the woods. After the sudden spike in its price last week, the original cryptocurrency experienced another sharp increase Monday morning to post a two-month high. Two months ago, bitcoin was trading at $7502.56, with the cryptocurrency on a downward slide since then. At 08:00 UTC Monday morning, bitcoin reached a high of $7745.99, representing an increase of more than $300 in less than a couple of hours. And that increase hasn't stopped, with bitcoin sitting at roughly $8200 at the time of writing. (See also: Bitcoin Price And Crypto Markets Shot Up Earlier This Week. Why?) What Is Causing Bitcoin’s Price Increase? Bitcoin’s technical fundamentals were primed for an increase in its price. Several technical analysts had called out the rise because they spotted an “inverse head and shoulders” pattern in its price. According to this pattern, the price of a security alternates between successive troughs before br...

By Mark Kovac, David Burns and Jason McLinn Private equity funds have historically leaned heavily on a combination of cost cutting and multiple expansion to underwrite future value projections. But today’s macroeconomic and competitive conditions challenge either approach. In most markets, slowing economic growth or the outright threat of recession suggests that multiples are more likely to retreat from current record highs than to expand even further. At the same time, the most obvious cost-cutting opportunities are typically baked into inflated asset prices or have already been captured by a previous PE owner. What’s typically not baked into the price is the ability to deliver profitable organic growth—and to do it quickly. As discussed in Bain & Company’s Global Private Equity Report 2018, that involves focusing value-creation efforts on the top line and developing commercial excellence capabilities to help portfolio companies sharpen how they approach their chosen ...