If breaking levels, we can see a decent correction...
Even as it has grown into a new type of digital money worth billions of dollars, Bitcoin has always retained an air of mystery.
Central to its cachet has been the mythic status of the system’s creator. Its developer went by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, but that is all that Bitcoin’s adopters seemed to know — or wanted to know. After all, Bitcoin was a project dedicated in part to making it easier to avoid the all-seeing gaze of the government and corporate America.
But the inventor of the virtual currency may not be quite the international man of mystery that some aficionados imagined him to be. Could he in fact be a model-train fanatic living with his mother in a modest house in Southern California?
That, at least, was what Newsweek, with a newly revived print version, reported on Thursday. But the man the magazine claimed to be behind the Bitcoin curtain has a similar name — Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto — which raised questions about why he had not been discovered sooner. Many digital currency aficionados said they doubted the veracity of the report.
The Mr. Nakamoto identified in the article denied involvement in Bitcoin on Thursday after a car chase involving a crowd of reporters. He told The Associated Press that he had not heard of the virtual currency until his son told him about being contacted by a reporter three weeks ago.
On Thursday evening, an online Bitcoin forum account long believed to belong to the real Satoshi Nakamoto posted a one-sentence denial that he was the man identified in California. It was the account’s first activity in more than three years.
If the identification is wrong, it would not be the first time that a reporter had incorrectly determined the identity of Bitcoin’s creator.
Yet even if the report proves correct, virtual currency proponents at Bitcoin conferences in Texas and Barbados said that identifying Mr. Nakamoto would be a violation of the privacy the currency was intended to protect.
Whatever the conclusion, the furor on Thursday laid bare just how far Bitcoin had moved beyond its humble origins five years ago — and just how much it still relied on the mystique of those beginnings.
“In reality, a lot of people didn’t want to know,” said Arianna Simpson, a Bitcoin entrepreneur. “Not knowing and thinking that maybe it had been a community project, again, I think was very well tied to the essence of Bitcoin. To have it exposed in this way I don’t think does anybody a particular service.”
For Mr. Nakamoto, Newsweek’s outing was clearly an unwelcome event. On Thursday, a team of journalists was camped outside his house in Temple City, Calif. When a reporter knocked on his front door, an older woman answered, but Mr. Nakamoto quickly came to shut the door, shouting, “No, no, no,” as he did.If Mr. Nakamoto, 64, is Bitcoin’s creator, he is thought to own hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money. Because Bitcoin are generally stored on computer hard drives, many Bitcoin users say that Mr. Nakamoto has been made into a target for criminals who might look to steal his coins.
The magazine’s report comes at a turning point for the Bitcoin industry. Last week, the virtual currency world was rattled by the collapse of Mt. Gox, once the dominant exchange for buying and selling Bitcoin. The company filed for bankruptcy in Japan last Friday, claiming to have lost about 750,000 customer coins, or nearly $500 million. The bankruptcy sent users scrambling to figure out where their money had gone, and it prompted renewed calls from lawmakers and others to increase government oversight of an industry that has no official regulator.
The Newsweek article did not do any immediate damage to the currency itself. The price of a Bitcoin dipped a bit early on Thursday, but it recovered most of the losses, trading at around $650 by evening.
Still, Bitcoin watchers said that the creator’s supposed anonymity had played a vital role in the growth of a virtual currency that has become a potent symbol for privacy advocates and critics of government power.
“Having this level of mystery allowed people to project their optimism and their hopes onto the currency,” said Richard Peterson, the chief executive of MarketPsych, a research company that has studied virtual currencies. “If it’s true and people start to believe it, it undermines that mystique.”
What is known for sure about the creator of Bitcoin is that the person or group of people going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto posted a paper on an obscure mailing list in the fall of 2008 describing a new type of digital money. Bitcoin, as the creator called it, would be run according to a set of rules that would be downloaded on all the computers that joined in. One of the rules determined that only 21 million Bitcoins would ever be created, through a process known as mining.
In the months after the system went live, Satoshi Nakamoto emailed with his fellow collaborators but never gave any private details, and he refused to talk on the phone or meet in person. The only information came from a programming website, where a profile described him as a 38-year-old man in Japan.
Mike Hearn, who became involved with Bitcoin a few months after it was created, said that initially, Bitcoin was too small and insignificant for the identity of its creator to be a concern. But as it grew, Mr. Hearn went back and looked at his emails with Satoshi Nakamoto and found that they had been sent through an encryption service that obscured their origin.
Previous investigations by journalists have suggested that Satoshi Nakamoto might have been, variously, a young British banker, a Finnish programmer and an American law professor. But in each case, the people under suspicion have denied being Bitcoin’s creator.
In the absence of any hard evidence, many Bitcoin users have built Satoshi Nakamoto into a sort of hero, imagining him as a selfless genius who created a system that would allow for greater economic freedom.
The Mr. Nakamoto in Southern California confirms at least a part of that story. He is a physicist who graduated from California State Polytechnic University. A neighbor, Andrew Kent, said Mr. Nakamoto was “quiet and easygoing” and “clearly smart.”
But given the sophistication of the original Bitcoin idea, some experts have doubted it could be the creation of one person, even a genius. At a conference on cryptography in Barbados on Thursday, many attendees discussed the evidence, or lack of evidence, linking Mr. Nakamoto with Bitcoin.
“My personal opinion, I don’t think this is the right person,” said Stefano Zanero, assistant professor at the computer engineering department of Politecnico di Milano in Italy. “It just doesn’t add up, and quite honestly, I think that there were a lot of assumptions.”
Social networks, meanwhile, compared the polished writing of Bitcoin’s creator with online writings apparently posted by Mr. Nakamoto, some of which were written in imperfect English.
“I think it is very clear the writings are not made by the same person,” Roger Ver, a Bitcoin enthusiast and investor, said in an email. “I hope the real Satoshi is never found.”
The real Satoshi Nakamoto could prove his or her identity fairly easily by making changes to an original Bitcoin account or by providing the security code that was attached to emails shared with a small group of Bitcoin’s earliest programmers.
Proving someone is not Satoshi Nakamoto, however, is tougher.
In Texas, at a Bitcoin conference that began on Wednesday, Brian Page, the director of communication for a company called Bitshares, said that initially, he was shocked by the apparent unmasking, but then he reflected.
“I have no idea if it’s the guy or not, but it doesn’t matter,” he said. “He created something historic but it doesn’t matter if he is found. Bitcoin is launched and it’s not under his control or anyone’s control.”
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Orange The Key Beneficiary if Numericable Buys SFR: Bernstein 2014-03-07 07:43:46.897 GMT
By Sam Chambers March 7 (Bloomberg) -- An SFR/Numericable tieup would have fewer regulatory barriers, create a more rational mkt and leave Orange as mkt. leader, Bernstein says. * Bernstein: an Iliad/Bouygues deal may subsequently be possible, would probably end price wars * Bouygues/SFR combination would hold 47% share of French wireless subscribers, which would probably require asset sales and/or MVNO remedies * Iliad would be beneficiary in either of these outcomes; Bouygues wouldn’t be able to sustain its broadband price cuts due to increase in its customer base * NOTE: Yday, Orange shrs closed 11% higher, Iliad +7%, Bouygues +6.6%, Vivendi +0.9%, Numericable -5.3% * NOTE: Kepler Cheuvreux says Bouygues’s offer for SFR is superior to Numericable’s. Story * NOTE: In 3Q, Orange had 40% share of French wireless subscribers, SFR 32%, Bouygues 17%: Bloomberg Industries data * NOTE: In 3Q, Orange had 44% share of broadband subscribers, Iliad 24%, SFR 23%, Bouygues 9%: Bloomberg Industries data
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To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Chambers in London at +44-20-7673-2021 or schambers7@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or jludden@bloomberg.net Sam Chambers, Brian Lysaght
Dragon Oil makes approach to Circle Oil about possible takeover bid
Dragon Oil, a Dubai-based oil exploration company, was rumoured to have approached listed Irish rival Circle Oil about a takeover bid, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper's market report section did not cite a source for the rumour.
Circle Oil’s share price closed 0.625p down at 23.24p in London yesterday, 6 March, giving the company a market capitalisation of GBP 130.9m (EUR 158.0m).
Financial Times
A Japanese American man thought to be the reclusive multi-millionaire father of Bitcoin emerged from a modest Southern California home and denied involvement with the digital currency before leading reporters on a freeway car chase to the local headquarters of the Associated Press.
Satoshi Nakamoto, a name known to legions of Bitcoin traders, practitioners and boosters around the world, appeared to lose his anonymity on Thursday after Newsweek published a story that said he lived in Temple City, California, just east of Los Angeles.
Newsweek included a photograph and a described a short interview, in which Nakamoto said he was no longer associated with Bitcoin and that it had been turned over to other people. The magazine concluded that the man was the same Nakamoto who founded Bitcoin.
Dozens of reporters, including a sprinkling of Japanese media, encircled and camped outside the man’s two-story house on Thursday morning, accosting the mailman and repeatedly ringing the doorbell, to no avail. Police cruisers drove by several times but did not stop.
Several times, someone pulled back the drapes on an upstairs window.
In the afternoon, the silver-haired, bespectacled Nakamoto stepped outside, dressed in gray sport coat and green striped shirt, with a pen tucked in his shirt pocket. He was mobbed by reporters and told them he was looking for someone who understood Japanese to buy him a free lunch.
Newsweek estimates his wealth at $400 million.
“I’m not involved in Bitcoin. Wait a minute, I want my free lunch first. I’m going with this guy,” Nakamoto said, pointing at a reporter from AP.
“I’m not in Bitcoin, I don’t know anything about it,” the man said again while walking down the street with several cameras at his heels.
He and the AP reporter made their way to a nearby sushi restaurant with media in tow, before leaving and heading downtown. Los Angeles Times reporter Joe Bel Bruno followed the pair and described the chase in a running stream of tweets. Eventually, the pair dashed into the Associated Press offices in downtown Los Angeles, where reporters are still waiting for Nakamoto to emerge.
Weird
Fans see Bitcoin as a digital-world currency beyond the government interference, while critics, whose ranks swelled with the recent close of major Bitcoin exchanges Mt. Gox, see a risky investment whose anonymity aids drug dealers and other criminals.
Nakamoto kept a low profile in part to avoid attention of authorities, Newsweek said, and indeed on Thursday the office of Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, was keen on speaking with him, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Bitcoin is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Its value soared last year, and the total worth of Bitcoins minted is now about $7 billion.
In the Newsweek article, Nakamoto was credited by Bitcoin’s chief scientist, Gavin Andresen, in working out the first codes behind the currency.
A man of few words who refused to discuss anything beyond the currency or even communicate outside of email, Nakamoto was described by his brother in the Newsweek article as “fickle and has very weird hobbies,” including a penchant for model trains.
The Japanese-born Nakamoto displayed an unusual aptitude for math as a child. He immigrated with his mother to California in 1959. He was worked for defense and electronics company Hughes Aircraft, but never discussed work because much of it was classified, according to Newsweek interviews with several friends and relatives.
“He’s very focused and eclectic in his way of thinking. Smart, intelligent, mathematics, engineering, computers. You name it, he can do it,” Newsweek quoted Arthur Nakamoto, his younger brother, as saying.
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Solocal Capital Increase Big Positive, Raised to CL Buy: Goldman 2014-03-07 07:31:49.921 GMT
By Blanche Gatt March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Solocal’s announced EU440m capital increase is “significant positive,” Goldman says in note dated yday; adds to Conviction Buy list from sell. * Goldman says capital increase will erase debt overhang, allow co. to focus on expanding its digital business * Main online business is resilient, diversification strategy creating new rev. streams, while print only 35% of rev. * New investment to increase growth 1%-2% a year; may affect S/T margin * Sees approval of debt extension, prepayment by lenders at end-March * Sees AGM approving final terms of capital increase at end-April * Shares rose 25% yday after Goldman’s rating change was announced * Up 75% YTD, after falling 41% in 2013 * NOTE March 3: Solocal Lenders Given Extra Time to Agree to Extension Request
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To contact the reporter on this story: Blanche Gatt in London at +44-20-7392-0351 or bgatt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or jludden@bloomberg.net
MORE: Italcementi to Bid for Ciments Francais Remaining Shares
2014-03-06 19:42:20.482 GMT
By Louisa Fahy
March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Italcementi starts voluntary public
tender offer for shares it doesn’t already own at EU78/shr,
aimed at delisting Ciments Francais shares from Paris Stock
Exchange.
* NOTE: Italcementi held 83% of shrs at end-2012: Bloomberg
data
Link to Statement:NSN N212BU3PR6RK <GO>
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
--Editor: Andrea Snyder
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louisa Fahy in Washington at +1-202-624-1942 or
lnesbitt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrea Snyder at +1-202-624-1831 or
asnyder5@bloomberg.net
2014-03-06 19:42:20.482 GMT
By Louisa Fahy
March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Italcementi starts voluntary public
tender offer for shares it doesn’t already own at EU78/shr,
aimed at delisting Ciments Francais shares from Paris Stock
Exchange.
* NOTE: Italcementi held 83% of shrs at end-2012: Bloomberg
data
Link to Statement:NSN N212BU3PR6RK <GO>
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
--Editor: Andrea Snyder
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louisa Fahy in Washington at +1-202-624-1942 or
lnesbitt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrea Snyder at +1-202-624-1831 or
asnyder5@bloomberg.net
The board of Safeway has agreed to a more than $9bn offer from an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management in the latest takeover of a US supermarket chain by the private equity group.
The consortium – which also includes Kimco Realty, Klaff Realty, Lubert-Adler Partners, and Schottenstein Stores – will pay around $40 per share for Safeway, including
The group, which already owns the Albertsons supermarket chain, plans to combine those roughly 1,000 stores with Safeway’s more than 1,300, the companies said on Thursday. The combined company would create the third largest grocery retailer by revenues after Walmart and Kroger.
The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, includes a “go-shop” period, during which California-based Safeway can actively solicit other offers. Kroger has been reported as a potential rival.
A successful competing bidder which makes a superior proposal during the go-shop period would have to pay a $150m termination fee. For a counter offer that does not qualify during that period, the fee would be $250m. Kroger executives declined to comment on acquisition plans on an earnings call also on Thursday.
Industry watchers have raised antitrust concerns about the deal, which the companies said they would address in negotiations with the Federal Trade Commission.
The Cerberus-led offer represents a 17 per cent premium over Safeway’s stock price on February 18, the day before the company disclosed that it was in sale talks. Shares in Safeway, which have risen 28 per cent in a month, fell 3 per cent to $38.10 in after-hours trading.
The deal will be financed with $7.6bn in debt, equity contributions of $1.25bn and cash.
If successful, the bid will continue the consolidation that has changed the landscape for traditional supermarket operators amid greater competition from upscale chains such as Whole Foods Market, warehouse club operators like Costco and retail giant Walmart.
“As competition heats up and customer needs change we have to adapt,” said Bob Miller, chief executive of Idaho-based Albertsons on a conference call. “This transaction offers us the opportunity to better serve customers by adapting more quickly to evolving shopping preferences in diverse regions across the country.”
The companies said there were no planned store closures at this time, but did not elaborate on future plans or cost savings.
Safeway has been under pressure from investors including Jana Partners to improve earnings. Last year it sold 72 stores in Chicago to focus on more profitable markets. Safeway last year also divested its Canadian business and spun off Blackhawk Network Holdings, a business that provides gift cards.
Robert Edwards, chief executive of Safeway, said Safeway had boosted sales trends by focusing on a local and relevant assortment of goods, offering shoppers better value and improving the shopping experience. “We are excited about continuing this momentum as a combined organisation,” he said.
Last year Cerberus lost out in an auction for Harris Teeter Supermarkets to Kroger, which paid $2.4bn for the grocery chain. The private equity group and its partners also own other chains including Chicago’s Jewel-Osco and New England’s Shaw’s.
Safeway was taken over in a leveraged buyout by a group led by KKR in 1986 for about $4.3bn, before the supermarket chain went public in 1990.
Safeway reported fourth-quarter sales of $11.3bn, up from $11.2bn in the same period last year.
US Market closed slightly higher ahead of today NFP, BOE & ECB Comments help the market to open higher but escalation in Ukraine started to weight again on the market... Financial continue to OP...Some disapointements in the US retail sector was also a reason for weakness in the second part of the trading day...this wekaness push VIX higher, VIX @ 14.20 +2.23%...Volumes were below avergae @ 580mil shares...China Commerce Min sais he was confident 7.5% GDP target would be achieved despite overnight remarks that 7.2-7.3% range would be the more realistic estimate...Nikkei +0.92% HS +0.01% Shanghai -0.07%
Eur$ 1.3860 S&P Fut +0.16% European fut +0.16%
Macro :
- Fitch Affirms European Stability Mechanism at AAA, Outlk Stable {NSN N21VKY6TTDS4 <go>}
Keep an eye on :
- BKIA SM : Spain could sell more Bankia stock this year
- EN FP : Bouygues Tells Echos Regulator May Demand Concessions Over SFR
- CDI FP : Christian Dior Explores Converting Legal Status to European Co.
- CMA FP : Ciments Francais Net Profit 2013 EU 48.1m Vs Loss EU141.7m
- CPR IM : Campari Improving Outlook Over-Reflected in Valuation: BofAML
- DTE GY : Deutsche Telekom CEO says no hurry to divest T-Mobile US
- EDN IM : Edison in talks with Noble Energy, Delek Energy to buy Karish and Tanin gas fields
- EVK GY : Evonik 4Q Adj. Ebitda Beats Ests, Sees Positive Volume Trend
- FRA GY : Fraport 2013 Ebitda Misses Est., Sees 2014 Passengers Rise 2%-3%
- FUR NA : Fugro Reports 2013 Revenue of EU2.42b; Analysts’ Est. EU2.63b
- GLPG BB : Galapagos Sees 2014 Rev. of EU180m vs Est. EU173m
- ISP IM : Intesa Sanpaolo Says Selling About 1.5% Stake in Pirelli
- IT IM : Italcementi 2013 Rev. EU4.24b Vs Est. EU4.28b, Italcementi Approves Cap. Increase of Up to EU450m to buy remaining shares of Ciment Francais @ 78/sh. (vs 69,31 ) +12,54% vs yest. close
- NDA SS : Nordea Bank Gets Public Warning From Finland’s Market Watchdog
- NK FP : Min. Tech increased bid for Amcol to $45.75, amcol sent notice to end pact
- NOVN VX : Novartis Reports Positive Phase 3 Study for Jakavi
- ORA FP : Orange CEO Richard Says He Has No Preference on SFR Bids
- PC IM : Pirelli Shrs Offered at EU12.2 to Market in Placing: Terms
- SFL IM : Safilo on Track to Meet Plan Targets, Solstice Not for Sale: CFO
- TNTE NA : TNT Express and Qatar Airways considering merger of air freight divisions
- TIT IM : Telecom Italia 2013 Net Loss EU674m, Est. EU425.4m Loss, Scraps Dividend as FY Sales, Net Miss Ests.
- VOLVB SS : Cevian Continues to Buy Volvo Shares, Says DI
- VK FP : Vallourec Awarded $100m Contract in Brunei by Total
- ZEH SW : Zehnder 2013 Sales Little Changed From 2012; Ebit Falls 16%
>>> Up
*GEOX RAISED TO BUY VS REDUCE AT KEPLER CHEUVREUX
*KRONES RAISED TO BUY FROM NEUTRAL AT UBS
*MERSEN RAISED TO BUY VS HOLD AT SOCGEN
*PANALPINA RAISED TO OUTPERFORM VS SECTOR PERFORM AT RBC
*WIENERBERGER RAISED TO HOLD VS SELL AT BERENBERG
>>> Down
*ALCATEL-LUCENT CUT TO SELL VS HOLD AT BERENBERG
*COLOPLAST CUT FROM CONVICTION BUY AT GOLDMAN, STILL BUY
*DIASORIN CUT TO NEUTRAL VS OUTPERFORM AT MEDIOBANCA
*DRAX CUT TO SELL VS HOLD AT SOCGEN
*EIFFAGE CUT TO UNDERPERFORM VS OUTPERFORM AT RAYMOND JAMES
*ERSTE CUT TO EQUALWEIGHT VS OVERWEIGHT AT MORGAN STANLEY
*PGNIG CUT TO SELL VS BUY AT ING
*SGL CARBON CUT TO SELL VS HOLD AT BANKHAUS LAMPE
>>> PT Change
*AZIMUT PT RAISED TO EU28.5 VS EU26 AT CITI; KEPT AT BUY
*YOOX PT RAISED TO EU37 VS EU30 AT CITI; KEPT AT BUY
>>> Initiation
*WM CAPITAL RATED NEW BUY AT INTEGRAE SIM; PT EU1.22
>>> Call
>> Stock
*NOKIA ADDED TO CREDIT SUISSE’S EUROPE/U.S. FOCUS LIST
*PHILIPS ADDED TO CITI FOCUS LIST EUROPE
*SOCGEN ADDED TO CITI’S EUROPE FOCUS LIST, REPLACES BARCLAYS