MIT students build algorithm to predict price of Bitcoin, and the Dogecar made its final appearance. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 43:
- In July the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) published a draft proposal for a BitLicenses. It also marked the start of a period in which public commentary on the proposal could be submitted. Reactions from the industry have mainly been negative, as the proposal is widely seen as overreaching regulation. The comment period ended this week on Monday October 21, 2014. It is now up to the NYDFS to decide whether the proposal should be amended based on the received feedback. If significant changes are made, this would be accompanied by another comment period.
- There is an increasing chance Moolah CEO Ryan Kennedy will have to face prison time. After his company’s sudden insolvency Kennedy disappeared, including the 750 Bitcoins Syscoin entrusted to Moolah’s escrow service. This prompted Syscoin to file an urgent injunction against Moolah, which was granted yesterday. It means that Kennedy will be imprisoned if he tries to sell any of the coins that belong to Syscoin.
- Also cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy is facing a lawsuit by a Florida law firm. Silver Law Firm stated that Cryptsy failed to provide critical information regarding security risks and customer fund management protocols. Cryptsy responded by stating the lawsuit was nothing but a “PR campaign”, but multiple operational failures were the main reason why Digiconomist even published a warning on using the exchange in March this year. Cryptsy should thus fear even more legal actions against the exchange if Silver Law Firm is successful.
- Two students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claim they have built an algorithm that can be used to predict the price of Bitcoin. The first results over a short 50 day period look promising, as the algorithm managed to get a return of 89% and a Sharpe Ratio of 4.1. The latter number indicates how much additional return is received for the additional risk of holding Bitcoins, compared to a risk-free asset such as government bonds. A ratio of more than 3 is considered excellent.
- The Dogecar has made its final appearance on Sunday October 19 last week in the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Even though a large part of the doge4nascar campaign that helped launching the project was funded by Moolah, it did not stop the Dogecoin community from enjoying one of their biggest successes one last time (for now).
