Bitcoin (BTC): Another Big Bull Run is Coming

$8,000 mark as traders and investors fret over coming tax crackdowns and blockchain-based applications being adopted by the traditional financial institutions.

Bitcoin hit lows of $7,675 at pixel time, down from daily highs of $8,168, according to CoinDesk data.

Meanwhile, other cryptocurrencies are suffering — and many of them haven’t had quite the bull run bitcoin has over recent weeks to cushion the fall.

Whatever the reason, there are a few reasons to be Bullish once again about BTC.
To begin with, Coinbase has just showcased its new service by the name of Coinbase Custody. This new service is geared towards institutional investors and high net individuals who want a secure place to store their digital assets. Coinbase will provide cold storage for such institutions and individuals at a fee that will cover additional benefits such as insurance. This means that the billions, if not trillions of dollars from Wallstreet, is headed towards the crypto markets and Coinbase providing a secure avenue for that.

A second reason to be bullish about Bitcoin is the ongoing regulatory progress with regards to the King of Crypto. The American SEC has already declared it is not a security. Therefore, this paves the way for institutional investors to buy it in the regular crypto markets. The country of Malta has also passed 3 bills to regulate crypto and their exchanges in the country. This is why Binance is planning on opening a crypto exchange there. Other countries that have shown an interest in regulation are Japan, Australia, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia as well as Kazakhstan

The bitcoin price has today climbed above the $8,000 mark for the first time since mid-May — leading many to predict a return to the bull run that last year powered bitcoin to almost $20,000.

The latest boost for bitcoin comes after a week that saw it add almost 20% to its price on the back of news that established financial giants are looking to get in on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and a raft of positive regulatory news around the world.

Meanwhile, the so-called bitcoin dominance rate — a measure of how much of the total cryptocurrency market is controlled by bitcoin — rose to 47% this week, the highest level since December last year, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Here’s what’s pushing the bitcoin price higher right now…

Many have attributed the recent bullishness around bitcoin to the expected approval of a bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF).

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is mulling whether to approve the ETF, which was filed through the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE) by New York-based VanEck and blockchain platform SolidX.

If approved a bitcoin ETF would mean people are able to buy into bitcoin without having to deal with clunky exchanges that often struggle with cumbersome regulation and lack of public trust.

It would now appear the bitcoin ETF is likely to get approved, according to an unconfirmed report by the ICO Journal late last week.

The website reports that two sources, one at the SEC and the other at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), have said they are ”nearly certain” that the bitcoin ETF will get approval — a decision that many are expecting around August 15.

“I would call [the likelihood of approval] 90% at this point. The crypto markets have moderated and regulators have watched the lack of drama surrounding bitcoin futures across several global exchanges,” one of the ICO Journal’s unnamed sources, from the CFTC, reportedly said. “The price moderation and adoption of a peer product is what the conversations have centered around. In January we were justifiably concerned about a bubble and the harm a quickly approved product could attract speculators and create losses that led to significant lawsuits. Now, those factors seem to be mitigated significantly.”

The ICO Journal’s second source, from the SEC, expects the decision to come in September but is still upbeat: “I would expect a positive outcome in September – or if it gets strung out a little further it is simply a few ‘dotted i’s and crossed t’s’ are being finalized on larger regulatory language in the crypto space.”

Elsewhere, news that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is keen on bitcoin and cryptocurrency is still powering bitcoin onwards, with investors hoping a surge of institutional money will drive fresh demand for the digital coins.

Bolstering the BlackRock news was the appointment of David Solomon as the new chief executive of Goldman Sachs last week, who in June said the New York-based investment bank is looking in to adding further bitcoin and cryptocurrency services to its portfolio.

According to Solomon, Goldman Sachs is already offering clients publicly-traded derivatives tied to bitcoin but in an interview with Bloomberg he said the bank must “evolve its business and adapt to the environment.”

In regualtory news, last week international financial watchdog, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), released a report that found bitcoin and cryptocurrencies do not currently pose a material risk to the global financial system — which was taken as a sign that global regualtors are likely to take soft touch on bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation.

Meanwhile, the FSB — which has members from the G20 major economies ��� said it planned to monitor cryptocurrency assets at banks and the world’s largest financial systems.

However, the boom for bitcoin — the world’s largest cryptocurrency by some distance — has so far failed to bleed across to the world’s other big digital tokens.

Ether is down some 1% in the last 24 hours, while ripple is down 2.6% and bitcoin cash is down by 3%.

You can follow me on Twitter @billybambrough and read my other Forbes posts here Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

211,821 views |Jun 25, 2018,12:00 pm
Google's IT Support Professional Certificate Goes To Community College
Natalie Van Kleef ConleyBrand Contributor
Grads of LifeBRANDVOICE
There are over 150,000 open positions in the field of IT support in the US. The professionals in these jobs are the ones that come to the rescue when your computer breaks, video conferencing fails, systems go down, and so much more. Needless to say, it’s a vital role, as most companies rely on technology every day. I’ve seen firsthand how work in IT support can open doors to new opportunities and careers for those interested in technology.

For several years, I led our internal IT Support program and the efforts to hire Google’s IT support staff, which wasn’t easy. I often struggled to find qualified candidates. But I knew that candidates didn’t need traditional four-year college degrees to be successful in the role.

In 2014, we partnered with Year Up to create a program aimed at training and ultimately hiring non-traditional talent for IT support internships and full-time roles at Google. The foundation of this effort was a full scholarship program we launched for those from Year Up to get their associate degree in IT. This model gave us proof of concept that IT support is a really teachable field. We saw that program graduates were thriving in their career, and it inspired us to think about how we could make a bigger impact beyond Google.

In January, we launched the Google IT Support Professional Certificate — a new program inspired by our initial success with Year Up. With no previous experience needed, learners in the program can go from beginner to entry-level job ready in about eight months. In addition to being available on Coursera, we are now bringing the certificate to 25 community colleges in seven states across the country.

To build pathways to jobs, those who complete the certificate can choose to share their information directly with over 20 top employers looking to hire entry-level IT Support Specialists.

Since its launch, almost 40,000 people have already enrolled in the program on Coursera and over 10K of those have received scholarships from Google.

One scholarship recipient, Taslim Mahamud, has already started his new job in IT support. As a first-generation American from Bangladesh, Taslim was determined to learn programming and to find ways to use technology for good, especially for those back home in Bangladesh. After graduating high school, Taslim enrolled in the CUNY Grove School of Engineering, but after his first semester of programming courses, he started to struggle. Without the support system he had relied on to excel in high school, Taslim’s grades plummeted and he decided to take a year off.

Taslim was without a plan, so his counselor suggested he look into Year Up. After six months of training in IT Support, the Year Up program placed him in an internship at the Ford Foundation.

As the end of his Year Up experience neared, Taslim knew he was going to have to find work – and fast. He picked up a contract job, but it was only temporary. When Taslim found out about Google’s IT Support Professional Certificate, he applied for a scholarship from Google and a week later he started the program.

Taslim continued to move through the coursework, and started to interview for jobs. When he applied for an IT Associate position at Poppin, an office furniture and supply company, his qualifications from the IT Support training helped him land the job. He has been working at Poppin ever since.

Stories like Taslim’s are why we created this program: training opportunities can transform people’s careers and lives. To further its impact, we’re expanding our IT Certificate Program to community colleges across the United States.

Community colleges have unparalleled reach in their communities. Of the country’s nearly 18 million undergraduates, almost 40% go to community college, and of those, only 62% can afford to go to college full time. Given their innovative nature, adaptability, and focus on creating bridges between students and employers, community colleges play a powerful role in creating economic opportunities for Americans. By making the IT Certificate available to these learners, we hope it will provide them with another valuable tool to help them thrive in today’s rapidly changing economy.

Google.org is providing a grant to JFF, a workforce development nonprofit, to help community colleges better align their IT offerings with employer needs by integrating the Google IT Support Professional Certificate into their curriculum, providing students an opportunity to jumpstart their careers in IT Support.

As more students enroll in this IT certificate program, more employers are signing on to consider hiring learners like Taslim who complete the certificate. We’re excited that fourteen more organizations are joining Bank of America, Walmart, Sprint, GE Digital, PNC Bank, Infosys, TEKSystems, UPMC, and of course, Google to recruit graduates of the program. They include Hulu, Cognizant, RICOH USA, MCPc, and Walmart family companies: Sam’s Club, Shoes.com, Jet, Allswell, Bonobos, Hayneedle, Modcloth, Moosejaw, Store N o 8 , and Vudu.

The Google IT Support Professional Certificate is just one example of the programs available through our Grow with Google initiative. We’re honored to be a part of Taslim’s journey and hope to bring economic opportunity to many more Americans through this new partnership with Community Colleges.

Launched in October of 2017, Grow with Google aims to help people across the United States grow their skills, careers, and businesses by offering free tools, training, and events. Learn more at google.com/grow.
Natalie Van Kleef ConleyBrand Contributor
Natalie Van Kleef Conley is a Senior Program Manager on Grow with Google, an effort designed to help further economic opportunity in the US. She conceived and launched Google's IT Support Professional Certificate Program that launched on Coursera in January '18, and included…Read More

If approved a bitcoin ETF would mean people are able to buy into bitcoin without having to deal with clunky exchanges that often struggle with cumbersome regulation and lack of public trust.

It would now appear the bitcoin ETF is likely to get approved, according to an unconfirmed report by the ICO Journal late last week.

The website reports that two sources, one at the SEC and the other at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), have said they are ”nearly certain” that the bitcoin ETF will get approval — a decision that many are expecting around August 15.