Subscribe to my DTube channel and earn cryptocurrency rewards for your best comments at: https://d.tube/#!/c/marketingmonk and https://steemit.com/@marketingmonk Click on a video and then click 'subscribe'. Today's episode is sponsored by Binance. Signing up to Binance using my link helps fund the production of the show and at the same time you get to use one of the best exchanges around: https://www.binance.com/?ref=10890655 ---------- Story - The TL:DR On Major VeChain News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfAEir7uT_g Yesterday the VeChain project released this recording of their event in which they made a number of announcements. The first thing I’ll say is that this launch looks a lot more elaborate than the launch event for the PETRO but no surprise there. The first announcement was a rebrand which was a 6 month process. They are calling it VeChain Thor. The idea is that it will be a two token system with VeChain core token which will produce the VeThor token which will power transactions. That to me sounds exactly like NEO and it’s associated GAS token, which is most likely where they got the idea. But hey, like I always say you have to go with what works. What is also similar to NEO is their focus on regulations and compliance. This is something that NEO is maintaining as a priority. The NEO team specifically intends to build a compliant smart contract system. Another announcement was that BitOcean are going to launch their own token on VeChain Thor. BitOcean being a crypto ATM and exchange company, Japanese I believe. Another announcement was a partnership with the mathematical institute at Oxford University. Specifically they are going to be contributing to VeChain research projects and to help VeChain refine it’s economical model. Another thing they announced was that DNV GL are going to build a food sourcing system on VeChain. Another one was their plan to build a Carbon Bank to reduce carbon emissions. They’ll be working on that alongside DNV GL, universities and governments. They also confirmed rumours that Vechain was working with BMW however I am not privy to the details of this partnership. I have learned to suspend judgement whenever a new ‘partnership’ is announced because once it was discovered announcing a ‘new partnership’ boosted the token price, everyone started using it. If anyone has any details on this I’d appreciate if you would post them in the comments below. Story - Israeli Supreme Court Forbids Bank From Denying Service to Bitcoin Exchange https://news.bitcoin.com/israeli-supreme-court-forbids-bank-denying-service-bitcoin-exchange/ The back story is that the Bits of Gold Bitcoin exchange has been operating in Israel for about 5 years with a good track record. They are even a licensed currency changer in the country. Despite Bits of Gold running a tight ship, in 2015 Leumi Bank decided to close their account. Apparently dealing in Bitcoin exposes the bank to some kind of risk that they do not wish to be exposed to. Bits of Gold decided to take the bank to court and that case has been ongoing. However they got an injunction that allowed them to continue business in the meantime. The problem came when (a few months ago) a district court said the bank was OK to block Bits of Gold from trading Bitcoin. That decision by the district court was immediately countered with a temporary injunction that allows the exchange to continue dealing in virtual currencies until the original case is settled. So this is an excellent example of a legitimate cryptocurrency business being harassed by a bank. I think it is fair to say that cryptocurrency exchanges are the new breeds of banks, and that this fiat currency bank is a bit scared. Let me know what you think in the comment. Can you think of anything else that would motivate Leumi bank to act in this way? I always look forward to learning from you all. Story - Meme Of The Day https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/80i9p9/i_work_at_a_major_electronics_store_its_been_like/ Someone posted on reddit saying they works at a major electronics store and it has been like this for nearly a month. They then show a photo of the full length shelf where the graphics cards are supposed to be displayed and it’s completely empty. There is not a single graphics card left. What does that tell us? That tells me that people have sufficient confidence that cryptocurrencies are going to be around for a while because they have just spent hard cash on some graphics cards that will take a little time to pay off as they are used to mine cryptocurrencies. And if you are interested in learning more about mining I will refer you to a man who can take credit for most of my success on YouTube, Linus Sebastian. I highly recommend watching his series on crypto mining. Episode 4 was released just yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmuvuZ9Yfrw Story - Market Notes Charts provided by Coinigy https://www.coinigy.com/?r=16171fe8