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Ethereum, XRP, and BCH: Why Traders are Optimistic on Altcoin Market – newsBTC

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

The precarious nature of Bitcoins recent price action does not lend itself to helping generate bullish price action amongst major altcoins, but one prominent analyst is noting that he believes Ethereum, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash are all decently positioned to see further upside against their USD trading pairs in the near-term.

Other analysts concur with this belief, with another prominent trader explaining that he believes 2020 will prove to be bullish for many major altcoins, as they could incur decent upwards momentum that outpaces that of Bitcoin.

Currently, most major altcoins are trading up a few percentage points, which comes concurrently with Bitcoins rise today to its near-term resistance level at $7,400.

Although BTC has yet to break above this level, bulls ability to defend the cryptocurrency from seeing further losses after its recent rejection at $7,700 points to the possibility that buyers are building strength that will help lift it higher in the coming days and weeks.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading up just under 4% at its current price of $133, which is notable as it had previously been struggling to break above $130. Similarly, Bitcoin Cash is also trading up just under 4% at its current price of $214.80, and XRP is trading up a mere 1% at just under $0.20.

DonAlt, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet that he believes the above-mentioned altcoins will all see some upwards momentum in the near-term.

Buying some alts against USD today and tomorrow. Namely BCH, LTC, ETH and I might even throw in some XRP if I particularly feel like losing money while pressing buttons. Current prices for reference: $BCH $208 $LTC $42.70 $ETH $129 $XRP $0.194, he explained.

DonAlt is not alone in being bullish on altcoins, as CryptoGainz, another popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet that he believes Bitcoin will slowly grind higher in the near-term, allowing altcoins like Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and XRP, to outpace this momentum.

Best play rn imo is to long dips on alt-btc pairs. Btc is going to underperform alts but slowly grind up I think. When btc stops going up but alts keep going up, altbtc pairs will have a short squeeze. Then short btcusd and alt-usd pairs, he noted.

Although these altcoins may be poised for some near-term upside, all eyes remain on Bitcoin, as where its price trends in the near-term will offer significant insight into where the aggregated market is heading next.

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Altcoin Apocalypse: Which Crypto Assets Will Survive Another Year – newsBTC

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

The past year has been an extension of last years bear market for most altcoins. All bar a few are set to end the year lower than they began it and there have been very few survivors from 2019.

While total crypto currency market capitalization is currently over 55% up this year, it is predominantly Bitcoins doing. The king of crypto has gained 95% in 2019 but the same cannot be said for its digital brethren.

Altcoins have had another annus horribilis and most of them have lost ground in 2019.

The second largest crypto asset in the world has been crushed again this year. Following a rally to over $350, Ethereum has dumped back to January levels around $130. This has left the asset 90% down from its peak and still buried under the crypto winter snow and ice.

If Ethereums story is bad then Ripples is even worse. XRP has plunged 45% this year dumping the cross border transfer token to its lowest level for over two years. Prices are currently back before they were before the 2017 bubble leaving XRP a painful 95% down from all-time high.

Bitcoin Cash is up marginally on January prices but the whole year has been pretty flat for the BTC fork. A pump to $500 has dumped back to $200 and there has been no independent movement for the fourth most popular crypto asset.

Litecoin had an epic halving surge of almost 400% to top out at $145 but has since crashed back to winter levels around $40. It is unlikely LTC will do much without its big brother in 2020.

The Ethereum killer EOS has itself been killed as the token fails to live up to the hype and crumbles under centralization concerns. EOS is currently trading lower than it was at the beginning of the year.

Bitcoin SV has been another under-performing altcoins with a year-end price of around $100 which is exactly where it was at the beginning.

Rounding out the top ten is Stellar which has been absolutely crushed this year following its big brother at Ripple. XLM has dumped a painful 60% over the course of this year extending its bear market to two years.

Nearly all of the higher market cap altcoins including Tron, Cardano, Cosmos, LEO and Monero have ended the year equal or lower than they started it.

Binance Coin is one of 2019s few productive altcoins with a surge of 560% for the first half of the year. BNB has followed the rest down into the digital doldrums by year end but is still trading 130% higher than it did at the start.

Tezos has been another darling of 2019 with a surge of 185% since January first. Major exchanges offering staking rewards has driven XTZ prices making it one of the best performing altcoins of the year.

Exchange based tokens have performed will this year and Huobi Token is another notching up triple digit gains in 2019. HT has cranked 160% over the past twelve months joining its bigger brother at Binance.

The final top twenty performer this year is Chainlink which has outperformed all other altcoins ending the year 530% higher than it began it.

Unless there is another massive alt-surge many of the crypto assets mentioned above will continue their decline in 2020 as interest, liquidity and volume wanes. Only the strongest will survive.

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2019: Alt-Season has comeand gone – Where is altcoin heading in 2020? – FXStreet

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

Overview

4Q19 was a rough ride for the prices of bitcoin and altcoin at large. On the one hand, BTC still able to maintain its almost 90% YTD gains as we wrap up the year. On the other hand, markets have seen a very different story in the altcoin space this year. Large-cap names like ETH and XRP suffered some double-digit losses this year, while the values of those smaller names, such as XTZ and LINK, have doubled or even tripled in some cases. Whats behind the altcoin performance divergence, and how will this play out in 2020?

The term Alt-Season has been one of the buzzwords in the crypto space throughout the year. The fact that the general altcoin space has a decent rally in the 1H19. The Crypto Total Ex-BTC Market Caphas surged from below 48 bln to142 bln in late June, and that was pretty much the "Alt-Season." As the prices of BTC peaked, altcoin has started its six-month-long correction and failed to reclaim its 365-day moving average.The Crypto Total Ex-BTC Market Cap has given up almost all its yearly gains and approachingto where it started this year.

Figure 1: Crypto Total Ex-BTC Market Cap - YTD Chart (Source: Tradingview)

In our October publications Altcoin Season: To Be or Not to Be? andPartys Over, weve gone against the markets and being skeptical about the new beginning of the Alt-season.However, our reports also highlighted the possible divergent performances between different altcoins and the importance of picking and choosing when it comes to altcoin investing.

Despite the overall weakness in the altcoin space, weve seen some smaller altcoin names outperformed their bigger peers and even BTC, and LINK and XTZ are some of the examples. Figure 2 underlines the massive gains that weve seen in LINK and XTZ. In comparison, the Crypto Total Ex-BTC Market Capis likely to end on a quiet note, while ETH and XRP have already in the red.

Figure 2: ETH/XRP/XTZ/LINK/Crypto Total Ex-BTC Market Cap Comparison YTD (Source: Tradingview)

We believe that the increasing popularity of bitcoin derivatives trading, investment appetite, and lack of institutional interest may have attributed to the performance divergence in the altcoin space.

1. Bitcoin derivatives trading has been one of the fastest-growing parts in the crypto space. Demand for futures, options, and swaps trading has been increasing across all client segments. The spectrum of derivative trading has been getting widerwith increasing product selections, such as the upcoming BTC options trading from OKEx. We believe that the growing derivative trading demand has beendrawing the overall crypto investing needsawayfromthe altcoin space, particularly from the institutional client group. This draw-away effect has beenmore noticeable in large-cap altcoins.

Figure 3a: OKEx BTC Futures Aggregated Daily Volume (Source: Skew)

Figure 3b: BitMEX XBTUSD Open Interest (Source: Skew)

2. That fact that the investment appetite for the overall altcoin space has been decreasing over time, and high volatility could be one of the blames. Generally, assets with low volatility usually more attractive to investors or HODLers, while higher volatility assets tend to get more attention from speculators.However, over-speculation often results in massive price fluctuations,and thats the last thing that long-term investors and institutions would like to see. We believe thats the case of some of the mid/small-cap altcoins.

Figure 4: BTC/Major Altcoins 30-Day Volatility vs. Daily Returns (Source: Coinmetrics.io)

3. Lack of institutional interest could be another reason behind the altcoin performance divergence. We know that one of the reasons why BTC has been gaining value is because institutions have been buying,and BTC has always been the very first step for traditional financial giants to step into the crypto space. Although firms like Fidelity Digital Assets expressed their intention to support ETH in 2020, however, Tom Jessop, President at FDAS, admitted that the demand for ETH custody remains subdued. Moreover, for institutions that would like to expand their crypto exposure beyond BTC, additional regulatory challenges and obstacles would like to follow suit, and that could be a hurdle, especially for large-cap altcoins.

Although altcoin names like ETH and XRP have been underperforming BTC and some small altcoins, the outlook of some of the large-cap altcoins is not as gloomy as the price suggested, one of them could be Ethereum. Weve noticed that markets narrative on ETH has quietly shifted from being a utility token to more of a high-value transaction settlement application, thanks to the rise of DeFi.

Figure 5: Total ETH Locked in DeFi (Source: DeFi Pulse)

Data from DeFi Pulse shows that the total ETH locked in the DeFi system has almost reached three mln. Digital assets, financial smart contracts, protocols, and DApps that built on the Ethereum blockchain are expected to proliferate in 2020. Although the current ETH DeFi lockup portion accounts for about 2.5% of the total ETH supply, the number is expected to increase gradually in the coming years.The prices of ETH could benefit from the growing ETH lock up.Ethereums open financial system has been taking shape, and we expect the impact of this system would be more imminentand evident to the markets in 2020.

Furthermore, other major altcoins have also started to show distinctive characteristics. Some of them further go into the payment world, while some others committed to serving enterprise transaction needs. In addition to the bitcoin halving, this increasing vibrant environment could bring new impacts to the altcoin space in 2020.

Looking forward, the bitcoin halving event is expected to happen in May 2020. It will likely be a dominant theme of the whole crypto space before and after the halving occurs, and the market dynamics will be likely to change inboth the BTC and the altcoin world. The way that how investors setting up for the halving could provide implications on the sentiment, and thats something that all crypto watchers should keep a close eye on. On behalf of the OKEx teams, may the New Year bring you happiness, peace, and prosperity.

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XRP, Bitcoin are the most bought coins on Coinbase – AMBCrypto

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

Looking back at 2019, altcoin XRP witnessed a major drop in its price throughout the year. Currently priced at $0.193, XRP is at its yearly low. Despite XRPs price, the altcoin stands as the third-largest coin with a market cap of $8.39 billion. Additionally, Grayscales report also suggested that XRP had gained momentum among both financial as well as individual users. CryptoDiffers latest report gave more insight.

CryptoDiffers latest report focused on the top coins held in prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase. As per the report, Bitcoin was the most held coin on Coinbase, with a typical hold time of 89 days, Ethereums ETH followed right behind and the typical hold time for the altcoin was about nearly 105 days.

Litecoin was ranked third with a hold time of over 125 days. Lesser-known coin ZRX had the highest hold time of about 142 days. Ethereum Classics ETC had the second-highest hold time of nearly 130 days.

Another notable aspect of the chart revealed trading activity of the cryptocurrencies. This is where XRP was ahead of other prominent currencies. As seen in the chart below, XRP was being bought more than it was being sold.

About 76 percent of XRP was being bought, making it the highest bought cryptocurrency and only 24 percent of the coin was sold. With 74 percent, Bitcoin was the second most bought coin on Coinbase and about 26 percent of the king coin was sold. ETH and LTC recorded a 66 percent and 56 percent of buying activity, respectively. A Twitter user also affirmed the same,

MakerDAOs DAI and Braves Basic Attention Token [BAT] were seen recording the lowest buying activity and the highest-selling activity.

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Heres Why XRP Price Could Soon Burst 60% Higher – Ethereum World News

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

XRP hasnt done too hot over the past few months, both in terms of its performance against the U.S. dollar and against Bitcoin. Even over the past year, the third-largest altcoin has collapsed by 50%, underperforming the leading cryptocurrency by a massive margin.

Despite this, analysts are starting to believe that the altcoin is showing signs of a bullish reversal and correction higher.

Trader CryptoWolf recently remarked that XRP is showing signs that it is in the midst of a massive falling wedge, which was formed months and months ago. (Falling wedges, for those unaware, are bullish charting pattern marked by falling and tightening prices, then a strong breakout to the upside that reverses some of the losses made while the asset was trading in the wedge.)

He noted that a possible outcome for XRP, with this falling wedge in mind, would be for the asset to begin to build breakout momentum heading into 2020, then potentially jump 60% back to $0.30 by the middle of next year.

It isnt only CryptoWolf who believes that XRP may be on the verge of surging higher.

Analyst Michael Van De Poppe, a contributor to CoinTelegraph and a trader at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, recently suggested that he believes XRP may be on the verge of posting 175% gains in the coming months.

The analyst posted the chart seen below, in which he notes that he believes XRPs current price action is very similar to the bottoming pattern seen in December of 2015 and January of 2016, which was followed by a massive spike to pre-crash levels.

He said should the current trend play out as it did in the previous cycle, meaning XRP will need to hold the $0.14-$0.17 range, it could surge as high as $0.473 175% higher than current prices by the middle of 2020.

Some are skeptical of this optimism, though.

Tone Vays, a former Wall Street analyst who turned to Bitcoin years ago, recently told BlockTV in an interview that he thinks the Ripple token itself has absolutely no place. It is now, more than ever before, just a security of the Ripple corporation Everything about XRP is bad.

Thats not to mention that the XRP price charts, some say, look horrible. A trader going by Moerecently noted that their use of the Richard Wyckoff schematics, used to determine market cycles, clearly shows that the distribution phase of the long-term XRP price trajectory is coming to an end,implying a strong long-term markdown will come next.

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Centilytics Becomes the First Cloud Management Platform to Introduce Flat Fees and Widget-Based Pricing – PRNewswire

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

DOVER, Del., Dec. 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --In the cloud management industry, Centilytics becomes the first management platform that offers widget-based pricing. It's a well-known fact that Cloud Computing has almost limitless benefits. Moreover, cloud vendors bring innovative benefits to attract customers; and this strategy is working quite well. Today, cloud computing is becoming a preferred choice by entrepreneurs, whether for a startup or a well-established enterprise.

It was all a walk in the park up until the first data breach, or an unexpected cloud bill that can shrink the numbers in the bank account, ergo the dawn of cloud management. Gartner was the first that advocated the importance of a cloud management platform. They acknowledge that a management platform is needed to see through the complexities of the cloud. It should be equipped to protect the user's data under industry defined regulations and provide solutions for any additional cost overhead.

Cloud Management Platforms (CMP) can safeguard the data and prevent cost leakages from the accounts.

Typically, a CMP charges a percentage fee on the cloud consumption; In other words, that's a part of savings.

Which seems to be a conflict of interest, doesn't it?

On a percentage pricing model, the CMP's revenue becomes directly proportional to cloud spending. It means they'll earn more when the cloud bill increases.

This conflict has been generalized and never been visible because users have gotten used to it.

Cloud already has a complex pricing model, and in no way, percent pricing going to ease that complexity.

When Centilytics (an Intelligent Cloud Management), noticed this conflict, it went ahead. It introduced a flat fee model for its customers.

Centilytics is the only CMP that eradicates the conflict of interest by charging one fixed amount, which is independent of increased bills.

The users have finally understood the conflict and are now moving away from the percentage pricing. Not only did the previous pricing take away a chunk of there savings but also that they had to pay for the whole platform, even for the services that they were not using.

Centilytics, yet again, disrupt the market by introducing a widget-based pricing model. To offer this pricing,The entire Centilytics platform was broken down to 5 products, 12 services, and 2200+ widgets.

With widget-based pricing, the users can pick and choose only those services which they require. They also get the capability to bundle widgets as per their unique infrastructure requirements.

This model eliminates the need to pay for the entire platform and genuinely save money.

About the company:

Centilytics is a fully-automated SaaS solution that helps organizations with the management and control of their infrastructure. It is an intelligent cloud management platform that enables public cloud users to gain 360-degree visibility, identify loopholes and deploy one-click fixes on their cloud infrastructure.

Saksham GoelCentilytics+1 302-924-5045email us here

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20 stocks to buy in 2020: Apple, Amazon and Disney are among favorites of Wall Street pros – USA TODAY

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

After a stellar 2019, investors look ahead to 2020 for stock picks.

Analysts are skeptical that the stock market's gains, which are at more than 20% in 2019, will remain in the double-digit percentage range next year. They expect volatility to return in the midst of a U.S. presidential election.

Some investors wait for stocks to get cheaper before they step in and scoop upbuying opportunities. Companies poised to outperform, they say, will be ones that can continue to grow their earnings even if the economy slows.

From iPhone maker Apple to beverage giant Coca-Cola to e-commerce titan Amazon, USA TODAY offers 20 stock picks for 2020 based on research reports and interviews withWall Street stock analysts.

'Tis the season: Santa Claus rally poised to give 401(k) plans a boost

Worried about the stock market?: How to shield your 401(k)in 2020

It's not just about the iPhone anymore.(Photo: Apple)

Strong anticipated demand for Apples 5G iPhone next fall is projected to boost the company in 2020, according toPiper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson.In December, Olson reiterated his "overweight" rating on the stock and raised his 12-month price target to $305 from $290, citing robustiPhone demand andbetter-than-expected performance in wearables such as the Apple Watch, AirPods and AirPods Pro. Apple shares finished Thursday at $289.91.

Analysts at Bank of America named Microsoft one of the firms top software picks for 2020, driven by growth in the software giants cloud-computing unit that offers data storage. Analysts at the bank bumped up their price target on the stock to $200 from $162. Shares closed Thursday at $158.67.The stock outperformed the broader market in 2019, rising more than 50% whilethe S&P 500 rose nearly 30%.

Amazons stock is expected to benefit from strong growth in its cloud-computing and advertising businesses. Investors have been concerned about a hit to profits from the costs of one-day shipping and investments in Amazon Web Services, but those worries arelargely priced into the stock, according to UBS analyst Eric Sheridan. He gave the stock a "buy" rating with a $2,100 price target over the next 12 months. Amazon's stock closed Thursday at $1,868.77.

Looking for a stock that pays steady dividends?Coca-Cola can satisfy investors thirst with its stable earnings growth and ability to ride out volatility, analysts say. Sean King, analyst at UBS, gave the beverage giant a "buy" rating with a$63 price target. Shares finished at $55.02Thursday.

Disney is among one of the top stock picks in media, largely driven by the success of its entrance into the streaming world with Disney Plus. In November, Bernie McTernan, an analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, reiterated a "buy" rating on the stock amid strong subscriber growth and increased his price target to $175from $170, up from Thursday's close of $145.70.

Wall Street expects Nikes solid digital sales growth to continue as the company transitions from a wholesale retailer to a digital direct-to-consumer model. In a note to investors, Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger reiterated the firms "overweight" rating on the athletic-apparel company and raised its price target to $118 from $108. Shares of Nike finished Thursday at $100.71.

T-Mobiles stock is projected to rise over the next year despite what happens with its pending merger with Sprint, experts say. Jonathan Atkin, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, maintained an "outperform" rating on the telecom giant and lifted its price target to $94 from $87, citing subscriber momentum. That's up from Thursday's closing price of $77.40.

Google parent Alphabet was among the worst-performing this year among its larger tech peers, but Wall Street keepsa close eye on the stock. The company was fined$1.7 billion this year for restricting rivals' adsin Europe, though some of its antitrust issues are beginning to wane. Jason Bazinet, an analyst at Citigroup,reiterated the firms "buy" recommendation and boosted its 12-month price target to $1,500 from $1,450. The stock ended Thursday at $1,362.47.

Investment banks and financial services companiessuch as Goldman Sachs are poised to benefit from the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates low next year because of the firm's lack of interest rate and credit risk, says Keith Horowitz, analyst at Citigroup. The bank upgraded shares of Goldman Sachs to "buy" from "neutral" and boosted its price target to $255 from $220.Thursday, shares closed at $231.21.

The slumping memory chip industry could be turning a corner. Analysts expectdemand for memory chips used in PCs, servers and USB drives to accelerate in 2020 as trade tensions thaw. Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson upgraded Micron to "outperform" from "neutral" and lifted his price target to $65 from $44, up from the stock's closing price of $55.11Thursday.

Shares of McDonalds underperformed the broader market in 2019, but its CEO shake-up, along with its innovative menu options and expansion of delivery capabilities, could drive revenue growth. Christopher Carril, an equity research analyst at RBC Capital Markets,initiated coverage on the stock in December with an "outperform" rating and target price of $218. The stock finished Thursday at $197.06.

PayPal is in the midst of winding down its financial ties to former parent company eBay, which some investors fear will be an earnings obstacle. Analysts say PayPal is in a strong position to drive account growth after forming partnerships with four high-growth platforms: Facebook, Uber, Paymentus and Mercado Libre. Mark Palmer, analyst at BTIG, reiterated a "buy" rating on PayPal with a price target of $130, up from Thursday's closing price of $109.75.

The production outlook for Diamondback Energy lookspromising. The driller, which has a strong balance sheet and reinvestsin growth, is based in Permian Basin in West Texas, the heart of the U.S. shale boom. The company is expected to grow oil volumes by double digits next year. Raymond James analyst John Freeman maintained a "strong buy" rating on the stock with a $110 price target. Shares ended Thursday at $91.31.

Visa headsinto 2020 on an upbeat note, driven by robust credit card spending during the busy holiday shopping season. Higher spending on credit and debit cards is forecast to drive profit and revenue growth in the coming quarters. Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette raised his price target for Visa to $220 from $207, up from Thursday's closing price of $189.16.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs are bullish on United Health, the parent of the nation's largest health insurer, because of the companys projected earnings growth. Analysts at the firm gave United Health a "buy" rating, with a $330 price target. Shares tradearound $295.

Netflix, which missed its subscriber-growth targets for two straight quarters,facesmore competition next year. Rival streaming services jumping into the fray include Disney Plusand Apple TV Plus, along with traditional media companies such as NBCUniversals Peacock and WarnerMedias HBO Max. Still, Wall Streets forecasts for the subscriber growth of Netflixare too low, according to Heath Terry, analyst at Goldman Sachs. He maintained his "buy" rating on the stock with a $400 price target. Shares finished Thursday at $332.63.

Teslas fourth-quarter profitability is on an upward trajectory, thanks to strong demand for its Model 3 sedan, experts say.Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush, raised theautomakers 12-month price target to $370 from $270. That's down from its closing price of $430.94Thursday. If Tesla is able to sustain its level of profitability and demand in Europe and China, it could open the door to a new chapter of growth for the company, he said.

Some analysts are bullish on Salesforce because of the cloud software companys long-term growth prospects. The company seeks to grow inareas beyond cloud applications such as data visualization tools with its $15billion acquisition of Tableau.This month, JPMorgan analyst Mark Murphy reaffirmed his "overweight" rating for the stock with a $200 price target, up from its closing price of $164.51 Thursday.

Investors eyeAmerican Electric Power because of the utility company's growing profits. The companybenefitsfrom investments in renewable generation. The company added wind facilities to its generation fleet, which is projected to contributeto earnings growth, analysts say.ScotiaBank changed the rating for the stock to "sector outperform" from"sector perform" and lifted its price target to $102 from $93. The stock ended at $93.88 Thursday.

Analysts grow more bullish on Uber, now that its embattled co-founder and former Chief Executive Travis Kalanick is leaving the companys board. Analysts at Wedbush gave the stock an "outperform" rating with a $45 price target, adding that Kalanicks exit will put management on a forward path. Shares closed at $30.67Thursday.

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Introduction of 5G-Enabled Value Added Services to Boost APAC Telecom Sector Revenues, finds Frost & Sullivan – PRNewswire

December 30, 2019 | Author: admin

Implementing 5G will unearth lucrative new use-case scenarios involving AI, cloud computing, and Cybersecurity

SINGAPORE, Dec. 30,2019 /PRNewswire/ --With stiff competition eroding margins in the telecommunications space, operators have been looking for additional revenue streams to boost their bottom line. The implementation of 5G gives operators the opportunity to offer new services to both enterprises and consumers. Recent research by Frost & Sullivan predicts that the new value-added services could potentially become a bigger contributor to sector revenues than basic connectivity services, driving the 5G market in the Asia-Pacific region to reach US$124.8 billion by 2025.

"Mobile operators are aggressively entering the 5G space to grasp opportunities presented by expanding their portfolio, in order to increase revenues and improve customer experience," said Sofea Zukarnain, Research Associate, Information and Communications Technology at Frost & Sullivan.

"To enjoy the full potential of 5G, mobile operators ought to focus on industry partnerships and collaborations, which will reduce overall costs and hasten the deployment of the new use-cases enabled by the introduction of 5G," she added.

Frost & Sullivan's latest research, 5G in Asia-Pacific, Forecast to 2025, discusses in detail the progress of implementing 5G in the APAC region, and presents an in-depth country-wise analysis of the market, along with comparisons against global benchmarks. The research also highlights the various use-case scenarios for 5G, identifies the upcoming growth opportunities in this space, and provides strategic recommendations and forecasts for the sector through to the year 2025.

For further information on this analysis, please visit:http://frost.ly/3xo

The 5G market in the APAC region is poised to start growing from H2 2019, following commercial deployment in South Korea, and the soft launch of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) in the Philippines. A majority of the developed countries in the region are expected to deploy 5G commercially in 2020, whereas developing countries are likely to launch 5G only after 2020, given the lack of available spectrum. Countries such as the Philippines and Thailand may be quicker in adopting 5G due to the efforts by local governments to expedite the process of spectrum allocation.

"Local government support will be critical for the success of 5G. Regulations need to cover new 5G use cases and should also be flexible enough to help drive the local economy in line with their respective digital nation initiatives," noted Zukarnain.

Telecom operators and other 5G market participants should explore the opportunities in:

5G in Asia-Pacific, Forecast to 2025, is part of Frost & Sullivan's Information and Communication Technology Growth Partnership Service program, which helps organizations identify a continuous flow of growth opportunities to succeed in an unpredictable future.

About Frost & Sullivan

For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

5G in Asia-Pacific, Forecast to 2025PA24-64

Contact:

Melissa TanCorporate Communications, Frost & SullivanE: melissa.tan@frost.comP: +65 68900926

http://ww2.frost.com

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Exposed databases are as bad as data breaches, and they’re not going anywhere – CNET

December 28, 2019 | Author: admin

Your personal data is all over the cloud, and it's not always secured the way it should be.

This year wasn't a good one for keeping sensitive information private: The names, addresses and demographic data of 80 million US households got revealed. So did the expected salaries of more than a million job seekers. And so, too, thousands of Facebook passwords, along with even more users' likes and comments.

Here's the galling part: None of this data was exposed by hackers with exceptional technical prowess. It was just left sitting on the internet, by mistake. Some database manager pressed the wrong button and left your most intimate information sitting on a cloud server somewhere. Often, as in the case of the Facebook data, a third-party company stored the information incorrectly.

The problem is pervasive, according to Chris Vickery, a researcher at security company UpGuard who tracks database exposures. "It is the ugly elephant in the room that every security professional knows about, but doesn't want to talk about," he said.

Companies are moving more and more user information to the cloud, putting it on remote servers owned by Amazon, Microsoft and Google that allow customers to rent both storage and computing power. That's good for everyone, lowering costs and raising the quality of service. But as with all new technologies, there's a learning curve. When a database manager forgets to password-protect data on the cloud, the information just sits there for anyone to see. And many organizations don't consider such cases data breaches or hacks, because there's no way to prove criminals accessed the exposed data.

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Still, the data can be very personal, like the nearly 5 million health care records that a researcher found for drug rehab patients in Pennsylvania in April. In addition to outing patients struggling with drug addition, the data could have made it possible for bad actors to find patient addresses and names of family members with a few Google searches.

Sometimes the exposed data is already public, like the caches of Facebook and Instagram user phone numbers and other information from profile pages that researchers found in separate incidents this year. That data was collected from millions of profiles by automated tools. The practice, called scraping, is against the terms of service of the social media companies, and all that data together can serve as a giant list of potential victims for spammers.

What's more, the databases can reveal proprietary information that companies like LexisNexis and Dow Jones charge businesses a premium to access. Both companies maintain lists of high-risk banking customers, and both sets of data were exposed on unsecured databases in 2019.

The problem is unique to cloud servers, which have revolutionized the way every organization stores data. Now instead of keeping information on racks of servers in a back room, businesses, schools and governments buy space on remote ones.

One common problem is database managers leaving default settings in place after they move information to a cloud server. Often those settings make the data public and require extra steps to enable password protection. Other times the database handlers seem to have gone out of their way to avoid putting a password on the data, perhaps not understanding the risk, said Troy Hunt, who tracks data breaches at the website Have I Been Pwned.

That's particularly worrying when the information involves children. In 2017, Hunt found recordings of children's messages to and from loved ones on an exposed database run by toymaker CloudPets, exposing the intimate back-and-forths to anyone with the search skills to find the recordings.

If your data is exposed in an unsecured database, experts say you have to treat the situation the same way you would if the data had been stolen.

"You need to engage proactively in minimizing your risk," said Eva Velasquez, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Medical service provider Tu Ora Compass Health said the same thing to nearly 1 million patients when it revealed that its poorly configured website had exposed patient health insurance data. Patients should "assume the worst" and act as though hackers had accessed the data, the company said.

What's the worst that can happen? Stolen information makes it easier for identity thieves to pretend to be you. When combined with what you share on social media, for example, your medical record number could allow someone else to use your health insurance.

The Identity Theft Resource Center hosts a service called Breach Clarity that helps you decide what steps to take after your data is compromised. The advice depends on what kind of information was involved.

If your log-in credentials are exposed, you'll want to reset your passwords. If it's your Social Security number, you'll want to watch your credit report for signs that someone's opening up new lines of credit in your name. You may also want to consider freezing your credit.

And if it's payment information, you'll want to look for unusual charges on your credit card statement and consider requesting a replacement card.

How many exposed databases are out there right now is an open question, in part because only a relatively small group of security researchers are searching for them. Some of those researchers treat the hunt, which usually involves manually sifting through search results from directories of cloud servers and any other device connected to the internet, as a hobby rather than a job. Others do it professionally, and security companies are building automated tools to find exposures.

That means we'll be hearing about them on a regular basis in the coming year.

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Exposed databases are as bad as data breaches, and they're not going anywhere - CNET

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From bookstore to cloud hosting: How Amazon ‘took the lead’ in the technology world – CBC.ca

December 28, 2019 | Author: admin

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Over the past decade, Amazon has found its way into your homes with Alexa, in your ears with Audible, on your screens with Amazon Prime Video, and maybe even in your fridge if you shop at Whole Foods.

But the tech giant's reach does not end with products and streaming services. With Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company now holds a 50 per cent share of the cloud hosting market, according to a Gartner report published in July 2019.

"Any website that you don't know where it's hosted might be on Amazon's servers or Microsoft's or Google's. That's the primary way in which you may be interacting with Amazon and not know it," says Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and The Age of Amazon.

The San Francisco-based tech reporter with Bloomberg started researching Amazon for his book a decade ago. Stone spoke to The Current's interim host Nil Kksal about the company's foray into cloud hosting and its future in the next 10 years.

Here's part of their conversation.

Tell us more about AWS Amazon Web Services.

Amazon has been a pioneer in the market to get companies, universities and government agencies to stop relying on the data centre in the back office or down the street and to move all their technology operations to the cloud hosted centrally by Amazon. Microsoft, Google, IBM and Oracle are also in pursuit of this market. It's been a massive change for all of computing over the past few years.

How much of that cloud does Amazon own?

I don't have the market share numbers handy but Amazon was the first player and it is the market leader with Microsoft hot on its heels. Microsoft recently scored a significant industry win by winning the very contested Jedi contract from the Pentagon a $10 billion contract. Amazon is now appealing that verdict and saying that the Trump administration made a political judgment in awarding the prize to Microsoft.

What sort of things might we be doing online that has us interacting with Amazon, but are unaware of it happening?

Any website that you don't know where it's hosted might be on Amazon's servers or Microsoft's or Google's. That's the primary way in which you may be interacting with Amazon and not know it. But just in terms of something like walking up to your neighbour's house they could have a Ring camera and doorbell that's recording your image. Alexa is no longer just in someone's home. They're increasingly moving into cars, hotel rooms and even workplaces. So that's another way in which Amazon's influence is being extended.

Most North American households are Amazon Prime members. There's no illusion about how often they use Amazon. They watch the movies and the TV shows, they order packages for one and two-day deliveries. A lot of people I know are relying on Amazon to make their holidays and to get gifts on time. So it's a company whose influence and impact we can't really avoid these days.

We checked the numbers Amazon owns nearly 50 per cent of the cloud. How much should we worry that this is the reality?

I think when it comes to AWS and the cloud business, it is a competitive market. You can make an argument that Microsoft and Google were more naturally positioned to pioneer and innovate in cloud computing. They didn't. Amazon took the lead there. Microsoft has caught up. In some respects, it's growing faster than Amazon now. I don't think there's any easy way to call that a monopoly.

In other parts of Amazon's empire, it does have a worryingly large impact. I think the book business Amazon's earliest business clearly has a majority of sales, both physical and digital. And it makes its influence known in very tough negotiations with booksellers. I think that could be a worry. The fact is that you know, Amazon plays in massive markets. It's still a single digit percentage of overall retail in the U.S., North America and around the world. And that's going to be a very strong argument when it comes to any kind of antitrust scrutiny of the company.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is looking into Amazon's influence and control over the market. Do you see a future where Amazon could be forced to break up?

It's certainly possible over the long term. I think it's fair to say in the short term that the federal government has more pressing priorities as we're entering into an election year. It's unclear what direction antitrust enforcement will take. It does seem like all the major presidential candidates agree on that one thing: the big tech companies are too big. But Amazon is now in a cluster of kind of worrying companies along with Google and Facebook and to some extent Apple, with the App Store. These are complex markets and complicated businesses. They're not going to be easy cases for the Department of Justice or the FTC to win.

So in talking about a breakup, it's kind of hard to imagine. You could see some regulation that requires the company to abandon some of its retail businesses so it doesn't end up competing with some of its customers. But again that's assuming there's a functional U.S. government, which we don't have right now. So I don't think anything will happen quickly.

On the issue of antitrust, we've got a statement from Amazon. They wrote, "We understand that success invites scrutiny and we aim to run our business so that when scrutinized we pass with flying colours."

That statement is interesting because there's a long record of companies like Microsoft responding to scrutiny more obstinately, stubbornly and combatively. Amazon clearly doesn't want to do that. They want to be submissive. But that's clearly not the nature of the company. So it will be interesting to see how transparent and amenable they are to regulation.

What is the Amazon of the next 10 years look like?

I think the opportunities and the possibilities are limitless and hard to predict. I don't think 10 years ago when I was starting to work on The Everything Store, I would have imagined Alexa, Echo or the extent to which AWS has grown. Part of what Amazon looks like in the next 10 years is going to be dependent on its ability to keep inventing and investing in the new thing. I think that the physical store initiative is very intriguing in the U.S. now.

We have these ghost stores where you can walk in, grab a package, walk out. Cameras track your every move and charge your account. We could be looking at a future where Amazon stores are on every corner and not just to buy groceries and maybe electronics, but to return packages that you get via online delivery. We could see the emergence of a kind of two-way fulfilment network where Amazon isn't just bringing things to you but it could also allow you to easily return products. Some of that already exists today.

But if that happens, then watch out. We're going to see FedEx, UPS. and the national postal services really suffer because Amazon is in a position to invest in that transportation capability. So there are all sorts of possibilities for disruption. Some we can imagine, some we probably can't yet.

Written by Tahiat Mahboob. Interview produced by Ben Jamieson.

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From bookstore to cloud hosting: How Amazon 'took the lead' in the technology world - CBC.ca

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