Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The creator of $17 billion cryptocurrency litecoin has sold his entire stake

The creator of $17 billion cryptocurrency litecoin has sold his entire stake

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charlie lee litecoinLitecoin founder Charlie Lee. Screenshot/YouTube/Money & Tech
  • Litecoin founder Charlie Lee said in Reddit post he has sold his entire holding of the cryptocurrency.
  • Lee pins his decision on criticism that his Twitter posts about the currency were attempts at personal enrichment.
  • Lee says he will remain involved in litecoin and cryptocurrencies more broadly.

LONDON — The creator of one of the largest alternative cryptocurrencies has exited his entire stake in the digital currency, citing a "conflict of interest."
Charlie Lee announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days. He said the move was motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
Lee wrote: "Whenever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bad news, I get accused of doing it for personal benefit. Some people even think I short LTC! So in a sense, it is [sic] conflict of interest for me to hold LTC and tweet about it because I have so much influence."
Lee, a former Google and Coinbase employee, created litecoin in 2011 as a quicker and cheaper alternative to bitcoin. As of Wednesday morning, it is the fifth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $17 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com.
"Litecoin has been very good for me financially, so I am well off enough that I no longer need to tie my financial success to Litecoin’s success," Lee said in his Reddit post.
Lee didn't disclose how many litecoins he had sold at what price but said his actions had not affected the price of the asset.
Litecoin is down over 6% against the dollar at 10.00 a.m. GMT (5.00 a.m. ET) on Wednesday morning. However, the cryptocurrency was already falling prior to Lee's announcement and his post does not appear to have affected the price.litecoinMarkets Insider
Lee said he will remain committed to the Litecoin project and cryptocurrencies more generally.
"I’m not quitting Litecoin," he wrote on Reddit. "I will still spend all my time working on Litecoin. When Litecoin succeeds, I will still be rewarded in lots of different ways, just not directly via ownership of coins. I now believe this is the best way for me to continue to oversee Litecoin’s growth."

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Senate passes the biggest tax code overhaul in a generation, Trump expects to close it out Wednesday

Senate passes the biggest tax code overhaul in a generation, Trump expects to close it out Wednesday

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mitch mcconnell donald trumpSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
  • The Senate passed Republicans' tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, just after midnight on Wednesday.
  • The vote puts the bill on the edge of success, with only a technical vote in the House needed before it can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk.
  • The bill is set to make sweeping changes to the tax code for both businesses and households.

Senate Republicans passed their sweeping tax bill just after midnight on Wednesday, putting the GOP and President Donald Trump a hair's breadth away from a signature legislative victory that has been missing from their first year in control of the federal government.
The bill passed by a 51-48 vote, with no senator crossing party lines. Sen. John McCain was not present for the vote while he recovers in Arizona from complications of treatment for brain cancer.
The passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the Senate leaves a technical vote in House as the last remaining obstacle before the bill can be sent to Trump's desk.
"After eight straight years of slow growth, America is ready to take off," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a press conference after the vote.
President Donald Trump also cheered the bill's passage, and he laid out the timeline for a celebration on Wednesday.
"The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed," Trump tweeted. "Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M."
Senate rules forced three minor provisions to be stripped from the bill after it passed the House on Tuesday. The House will now need to vote on the revised version of the bill.
Since the bill passed the House by a comfortable margin, the vote on Wednesday is considered a formality.
The bill is set to make sweeping changes to the tax code for businesses and, on average, American taxpayers.
On the business side, the biggest change is the lowering of the federal corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. A series of new rules would make it easier to deduct new investments and cheaper to bring back assets held overseas and would carve out exemptions for individual industries like craft brewers.
On the individual side, the bill would keep the same number of tax brackets but lower the rates on different income levels. According to analyses, this would result in the bulk of Americans — roughly 80% — getting a tax cut next year, while a handful of people would see their taxes increase.
But unlike the corporate tax cuts, the individual tax cuts would expire after 2025. Republicans say a future Congress will extend these cuts, but given the level of disagreement in Washington, critics argue that is not guaranteed.
Overall, the bill is expected to provide a modest boost to the US economy but less than grandiose promises from Republican leaders.
The new economic growth is expected to fuel more tax revenue. But all independent analyses have estimated that the final version of the bill will add $448 billion to over $1 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, rejecting GOP claims that the legislation would pay for itself.
Members of each party quickly put their spin on the bill's passage.
Republicans used the opportunity to tout what they say will be the positive effects for average people and the US economy.
"For years, Republicans and Democrats alike have called for middle-class tax cuts and a more competitive tax code for American workers and businesses, and today Republicans are delivering on that promise," GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said in a statement. "This bill will cut taxes for middle-class families, reform our business tax code to create more jobs and higher wages for Ohio workers, and update our international tax code to encourage jobs and investments in America."
On the opposing side, Democrats decried the bill as a handout to the rich and large corporations.
"This bill will exacerbate inequality, not ameliorate it," Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said in a statement. "It's irresponsible, reckless, unjust, and just plain cruel — and for these reasons and more, today is one of my most disappointing days as a US senator. I look forward to the day — and it will come — that we reverse this devastating piece of legislation and bring real tax reform that truly helps working families and small businesses across the country."

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More: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Tax Reform tax reform 2017 Senate GOP Tax Bill 
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Here's what America's biggest companies plan to do with all that cash coming back to the US

Here's what America's biggest companies plan to do with all that cash coming back to the US

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wells fargo bank vaultThe door to the vault at a Wells Fargo bank.AP
  • Republicans' tax plan, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is expected to be signed into law as early as Wednesday.
  • The bill would lower the federal corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and allow a one-time repatriation of overseas cash.
  • Sixty-five percent of companies responding to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey say they would use at least some of the repatriated cash to pay down debt.

Republicans' tax plan, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, could be signed into law as soon as Wednesday. And while the bill would lower taxes for the lion's share of Americans, it would also provide benefits to America's biggest companies. The measure would slash the federal corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and allow a one-time repatriation of overseas cash.
That's a big deal considering that Goldman Sachs estimates S&P 500 companies hold $920 billion of untaxed cash overseas. US companies as a whole have $2.5 trillion stashed overseas, according to Citigroup.
So what will the biggest companies in America do with all that money they'll most likely be able to bring back to the US?
In 2004, when a so-called tax holiday most recently occurred, roughly 80% of the cash brought back into the US went to fund stock buybacks. But this time around would most likely be different, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of 302 US companies.
When asked how they would use the proceeds of repatriated earnings, 65% of respondents said they would pay down debt. US corporate debt issuance has risen every year but one since the financial crisis, and it is on pace for a record year in 2017.
corporate debtS&P Dow Jones Indices
"The only reason why a lot of these companies issued so much debt was that they could not touch the overseas cash - when they now gain access to this cash, it makes sense to use some of it to take out the debt," Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a recent note.
With the Federal Reserve expecting three more interest-rate hikes in 2018, paying down debt could save companies exposed to floating interest rates billions of dollars in interest expensesover the next few years.
At the same time, corporate America still has plans to use the cash to buy back shares. Just less than half of the respondents, 46%, said at least a portion of the repatriated money would be spent on buybacks, which are a good way to achieve immediate share appreciation and signal to investors that a company views its stock as undervalued.
Even less responded saying they would spend the money on mergers and acquisitions (42%) and capital expenditures (35%).
12 19 17 using tax savings COTDBank of America Merrill Lynch

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