Category Archives: Bitcoin
Here’s Why Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Is Rising Today – Motley Fool
What happened
Thursday has been a strong day for cryptocurrencies. As of 3 p.m. EDT, bitcoin had risen by about 14% over the past 24-hour period, and most other major cryptocurrencies also made double-digit moves to the upside.
So, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC) is rising as well. Shares of the trust, which essentially holds a stockpile of bitcoin that back its share price, were nearly 15% higher on the day.
Image source: Getty Images.
There isn't much in the way of bitcoin- or cryptocurrency-specific news that appears to be propelling prices higher. Instead, this looks more like a relief rally, as bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies have taken a nosedive along with the stock market as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has spread across the globe. Even after today's move, bitcoin is only about 5% higher over the past week and is roughly 33% lower than it was a month ago.
Before you decide to invest in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, it's important to point out that its shares trade at a huge premium to the value of the bitcoin owned by the trust. According to Grayscale's website, each share represents 0.00096524 bitcoins. At the current price of just over $6,100 per bitcoin, this translates to a per-share value of $5.89, about $1 less than the trust's current share price. Plus, Grayscale charges a high 2% annual management fee for maintaining the trust.
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Here's Why Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Is Rising Today - Motley Fool
Bitcoin (BTC) Bulls Say It’s Time for ‘Plan B’ as Fed Ramps Up Repo Operations – U.Today
The U.S. Federal Reserve has made an announcement about injecting more than $1 trln into the repo markets every dayat least until the end of March. The move, which is meant to help banks weather the ongoing crisis, didn't go well with the crypto community that was quick to unleash its 'money printer' memes.
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Banks are supposed to provide collateral in the likes of U.S. Treasurys to receive cash from the Fed. This liquidity is needed for short-term operations.
The U.S. central bank made started repo operations of $500 bln on March 16 before bumping up its aggregate offered amount to the above-mentioned $1 trln figure.
As reported by U.Today, the Fed also cut interest rates to virtually zero and started a $700 bln QE program.
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Barry Silbert, the CEO of Digital Currency Group, was seemingly shocked by the fact that the Fed is going to funnel that much cash into the struggling economy every day, tweeting the #PlanB hashtag.
Meanwhile, famous Bitcoin proponent Anthony Pompliano predicts that the Fed will not stop there with its repo operations.
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Bitcoin (BTC) Bulls Say It's Time for 'Plan B' as Fed Ramps Up Repo Operations - U.Today
All You Need to Know About Bitcoin Wallets in… – Coinspeaker
A cryptocurrency wallet is almost equivalent to a bank account, and just as it is important to be familiar with a bank of choice, it is just as important to be intentional in choosing a digital Bitcoin wallet.
A crypto wallet contains private keys that allow you to manage and spend your coins, as your wallet address is an ingenious hash of your public keys. With Bitcoin wallets providing the perfect custodian and interaction between these two key pairs, it is only important that every bitcoin trader or holder has a trusted wallet.
Thus, in reality, wallets do not store your BTC or any other cryptocurrency, instead, the private keys are the ones stored, which inadvertently gives you accessibility to your bitcoins. Regardless of this, it is still important that you are particular and intentional about the wallets you use.
Here, we will go over the categories of wallets available to you, and go in-depth into available types on market in 2020. Interfaces, as easily predicted, are the major differences between the categories of wallets we have, as well as the range of security particular to each category.
The three classes of wallets you should know are:
Here are the top Bitcoin wallets in 2020 by their category.
Best Online/Web Wallets in 2020
Strongcoin has been around for a while and is one of the most popular web bitcoin wallets available on the internet. They offer a hybrid wallet, which allows you to encrypt your private address keys before they are sent to the servers.
Lumi wallet is not only available on the web, but it is also compatible with android and iOS versions. While Lumi supports BTC private keys, it also caters to other wallets different from Bitcoin such as Ethereum. It is free, user-friendly, and has a single wallet capable of supporting BTC, ETH and many ERC20 tokens.
Like Lumi, Freewallet is one of the most famous Bitcoin web wallets that is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It supports more than 30 digital currencies including Bitcoin. It is also free, but it is in the custodial wallet category which means its users dont have control over their private keys, unlike other wallets.
Blockchain.com was launched in 2011 and is widely known. Bitcoin web wallet has provided over 23 million wallets for users and can boast of over 100 million transactions. They have an intuitive user interface, and their users can store and receive BTC without any hassle.
Atomic wallet is an open-source desktop wallet that allows safe and secure storage and management of digital assets. The crypto wallet is decentralized, this means that users have access to private keys for each coin stored on the platform. Other laudable features include anonymity and the capacity to swap tokens without the involvement of a centralized exchange.
Mycelium: Majorly for Android. It was launched in 2008 and was an early player in the crypto wallet field. It is one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets available. It has a friendly user interface for people that dont understand the technicalities of some other wallet.
The reported con of this app as suggested by some users is its bad customer service and unstable transaction fee.
Electrum: It is also one of the earliest Bitcoin wallets. It was introduced towards the end of 2011. It supports a hardware Wallet. The electrum is not as user-friendly as other apps, but it has maintained a high level of security and has a well-grounded reputation in the crypto ecosystem.
Other common mobile wallets include Edge, Freewallet, Blockchain Wallet and Jaxx.
Hardware wallets are generally considered to be the most secure wallets. They are also known as cold storage wallets. Their major con is their pricey nature, but they are the most secure wallets around. Below are examples of some hardware wallets.
The Ledger Nano S (58 ), and similar storage, Ledger Nano X are two of the most popular hardware wallets around. Ledger Nano S has a screen and two buttons you need to press at the same time to verify your transaction, which serves as a hedge against attacks. It also has an anti-tampering seal.
Trezor ($99) is a hardware crypto wallet used to store, send and receive digital assets conveniently. Trezor is similar to the Ledger Nano in its security measures and two-button screens.
KeepKey ($99) has a digital screen and a metal body. Its security measures include a 24-word password and the option for PIN code, as well as number randomization. Might come at a slightly higher price but like all hardware wallets, it is certainly worth it.
These are some wallet samples available to you in 2020. However, whatever your choice of wallet, it is also important to keep in mind that safety and security are more defining than any other plausible factors.
Be secure.
Damola is a crypto enthusiast, marketer, and writer who is seeking to achieve career excellence through positive contribution to the organization that aspires for excellence.
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All You Need to Know About Bitcoin Wallets in... - Coinspeaker
Bitcoin [BTC] Gains Expected as Unemployment Claims Soar in the US – Coingape
Week-to-date, Bitcoin is up double-digits.
After a cataclysmic and depressing fall, BTC price is up 68% in the last trading week and looking likely to breach $7,000 amid high trading volumes.
However, with the negative impact of coronaviruswhich from general observation, is resistant to massive quantitative easing efforts from Europe, the UK, and the United States, Bitcoin could add to their gains if the number of unemployment claims from Ohio is leading.
There, reports reveal, the number of claims in the last week reached 160,000, an anomaly, as workers are encouraged to work from home to prevent another wave of contagion. Some have even lost their jobs.
According to Antony Pompliano, the Co-founder & Partner at Morgan Creek Digital, the situation could get really bad veryquickly and is instead asking the community to act with kindness.
Ohios unemployment claims are almost 140,000 from last Sunday till yesterday. 140,000 in 5 days. From one state. This could get really bad veryquickly.
Employment in the US under President Trump is at an all-time high and peaking.
The latest Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), a tracker for non-farm employment levels on a monthly basis, for instance, exceeded expectations in February.
Last month, the number of new jobs added to the economy was 235,000 against a consensus of 175,000. Also, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, down from the expected 3.6% while average earnings increased by 3%.
The performance was despite the effects of coronavirus in China and Europe and an announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will slash rates and intervene in the Repo market for liquidity. The above-average performance saw USD rally and crash the market.
However, as it is, the situation could quickly change. If unemployment rises amid billions of dollars injected into the market, Bitcoin and gold, two of the leading safe haven assets, stand to benefit.
Inflation will be factored and a re-pricing considering a grim reality of low purchasing power and governments scrambling to contain a hampering virus, there seems to be more headroom for Bitcoin in days ahead.
Traders are also looking at the emissions shock of May 2020 when rewards will be slashed by half.
Such an event is the added fuel for better BTC prices going into the second half of the year when the asset often outperforms.
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Bitcoin (BTC) Bulls Propped as Unemployment Claims Soar in the US
Description
Bitcoin will likely soar and BTC rally to February 2020 highs in the next few weeks as the number of unemployment claims in Ohio rise to 140,000 in 5 days.
Author
Dalmas Ngetich
Publisher Name
CoinGape
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Bitcoin [BTC] Gains Expected as Unemployment Claims Soar in the US - Coingape
Heres Why Bitcoins 15% Rally Could Fail Near The Key $6,500 Barrier – newsBTC
Bitcoin is up more than 15% and it broke the $6,000 resistance against the US Dollar. However, BTC price is now facing a huge barrier near the $6,400 and $6,500 levels.
After a massive decline, bitcoin found support near the $4,000 level. BTC price started a decent recovery above the $4,500 and $5,000 resistance levels. Later, it started consolidating in a range above the $5,000 support.
Recently, it gained pace above the $5,500 and $5,800 resistance levels. The price even surpassed the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last key decline from the $9,203 high to $3,919 low.
It is now trading nicely above the $6,000 resistance level. However, there are a few key barriers near the $6,400 and $6,500 levels (the previous breakdown zone). The 50% Fib retracement level of the last key decline from the $9,203 high to $3,919 low is also near the $6,550 level.
Bitcoin bulls are likely to face a strong selling interest near the $6,400 and $6,500 levels. If they succeed in gaining pace above the $6,500 level, the price could recover further towards the $7,000 resistance.
Bitcoin Price
There is also a major bearish trend line forming with resistance near $8,000 on the daily chart of the BTC/USD pair. A close above $8,000 is needed for a medium term trend change.
The recent 15% could be just another correction in bitcoin. If it fails to gain strength above the $6,500 resistance, there are chances of a fresh decline.
An initial support is near the $6,000 level (the recent breakout zone). The main support is now near the $5,500 level, below which the bears are likely to aim a test of the $5,000 support.
Overall, the price is reaching a huge barrier near $6,500 and it could either continue towards $8,000 or start a fresh decline towards $5,000.
Technical indicators:
Daily MACD The MACD is likely to move into the bullish zone.
Daily RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is now recovering towards the 40 level.
Major Support Levels $6,000 followed by $5,500.
Major Resistance Levels $6,400, $6,500 and $7,000.
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Heres Why Bitcoins 15% Rally Could Fail Near The Key $6,500 Barrier - newsBTC
Heres What Caused Bitcoins Extreme Price Plunge – Forbes
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets were shocked last week when the bitcoin price briefly plunged to under $4,000 per bitcoin, sparking fears of a crypto wipeout.
The sudden fall was led by Seychelles-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, with the bitcoin price dropping to a low of $3,600 on the exchange before it was closed for "maintenance."
The bitcoin price recovery to back over $5,000 per bitcoin was led by U.S.-based exchange Coinbase with BitMEX lagging far behind the other major exchanges and now crypto analysts have warned so-called leveraged trades, where investors can open positions much larger than their own capital and are popular on BitMEX, can lead to "extreme corrections."
The bitcoin price crashed last week, losing about half its value and causing panic among the bitcoin ... [+] and cryptocurrency community.
"On March 12th, bitcoin fell below $4,000. At one point, due to a backlog of liquidations, the price of bitcoin on BitMEX was over $300 below the price on other exchanges," said Geoff Watts, senior data scientist at U.S.-based Digital Assets Data, which has analysed last week's bitcoin sell-off.
"We're seeing a lot of leveraged trades in the crypto markets and that leverage can lead to extreme corrections during periods of high volatility."
On BitMEX users can borrow against their deposits up to a ratio of 100:1, providing traders the opportunity to amplify their gains, as well as potential losses.
During last week's crash, BitMEX users saw $750 million in bitcoin liquidated in a matter of minutes.
BitMEX has claimed its outage was caused by a planned DDoS attack against the exchange.
"At 02:16 UTC a botnet began a DDoS attack against the BitMEX platform," BitMEX chief executive Arthur Hayes wrote in a blog post this week.
"We discovered shortly afterward that this botnet had been responsible for a similar, yet unsuccessful, attack a month ago on 15 February."
Deribit, a smaller bitcoin and crypto exchange in the Netherlands, also experienced outages during bitcoin's flash crash last week, one during the sell-off and another after the recovery began.
BitMEX and Deribit, acting as two of the largest liquidity providers, experienced technical issues which may have likely contributed to the extreme volatility, Digital Assets Data researchers found.
Last year, the chief executive of the world's largest bitcoin and crypto exchange by volume, Binance, Changpeng Zhao warned the bitcoin price was potentially being inflated by the increased use of leveraged trades.
The bitcoin price continued to fall on Bitmex after it stabilized on other exchanges.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets have fallen sharply over the last few weeks, plummeting along with traditional markets in the face of coronavirus chaos.
Bitcoin and and other major cryptocurrencies saw some $100 billion worth of value erased in just a week, with some senior figures in the crypto community warning confidence in digital assets has "evaporated"potentially leaving bitcoin and crypto vulnerable.
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Heres What Caused Bitcoins Extreme Price Plunge - Forbes
Bitcoin Sees 9% Gain as Turmoil Hits the Forex Markets – CoinDesk – CoinDesk
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Bitcoin is on the rise Thursday morning (UTC), showing resilience in the face of a global dash for dollars seen in the foreign exchange markets.
At time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading near $5,670, representing a 9.4 percent gain on a 24-hour basis. Bitcoin found bids near $5,260 during the Asian trading hours and has been climbing since, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.
While bitcoin is flashing green against the U.S. dollar, most fiat currencies are currently trading in the red. For example, the British pound-to-dollar exchange rate is hovering near 1.1555, the lowest level since 1980. The currency pair has dropped by nearly 8 percent this week.
The Australian dollar fell to a 20-year low of 55 U.S. cents early on Thursday and is currently reporting a 0.6 percent drop on the day.
The greenback has gained in the past six trading days against all major currencies, as noted by macro analyst Holger Zschaepitz.
The surge indicates many investors are selling everything, even safe havens like Japan's yen and Swiss francs, to move their money into dollars over fears of a coronavirus-led recession in the global economy. If cash is king, then dollar cash is currently being world president," according to ING's head of global markets.
Bitcoin, however, isn't bowing down to the new cash overlord, and could see bigger gains if the U.S, equity markets put in a good performance in line with rising European stocks. At press time, the Euro Stoxx 50 the eurozone's benchmark index has added 1.3 percent to its value.
A risk reset on Wall Street cannot be ruled out, as central banks from Australia to Canada have launched easing programs to inject massive amounts of liquidity into the system.
Bitcoin's technical charts, too, are suggesting scope for a stronger recovery rally.
Daily chart
Bitcoin defended the psychological support of $5,000 on Wednesday and ended up producing a small hammer candle, validating seller exhaustion signaled on Monday.
A hammer candle occurs when sellers fail to keep prices at the lowest point of the day and is widely considered an early sign of a trend reversal.
The MACD histogram is printing higher lows below the zero line, indicating a drop in bearish momentum.
Hourly chart
Bitcoin produced a green marubozu candle in the 60 minutes to 10:00 UTC, which comprises a big body and small or no wicks. The bullish indicator shows buyers were in control from the session's open to its close.
The odds appear stacked in favor of a rise to the top of the ascending triangle at $5,926. A high-volume break above that level could cause more bargain hunters to join the market, producing a stronger rise to the next resistance at $6,425 (December low).
Conversely, a triangle breakdown would open the doors for a re-test of the March 16 low of $4,446.
Disclosure:The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
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Bitcoin Sees 9% Gain as Turmoil Hits the Forex Markets - CoinDesk - CoinDesk
Bitcoin loses half of its value in two-day plunge – CNBC
Omar Marques | LightRocket | Getty Images
Bitcoin lost its allure as a safe-haven asset this week.
The world's first and most widely held cryptocurrency dropped 50% over the past two days. Bitcoin sometimes referred to as "digital gold" fell more than 30% Friday to its weakest level since March 2019, according to data from CoinDesk.
The cryptocurrency briefly dropped below $4,000 Friday after starting the week above $9,000. It later recovered to roughly $5,400 as of the close of U.S. markets.Bitcoin Futures, meanwhile, were on pace for its worst week since debuting in December 2017.
The digital currency had been trading near the $10,000 level in mid-February. The slide began later in the month alongside global markets reeling from the quickly spreading coronavirus.
"Bitcoin's recent price action is primarily a result of the coronavirus outbreak affecting global markets and driving investors towards the safety of cash," said Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto investment firm BitBull Capital. "With this sharp decline, Bitcoin's potential as a safe-haven asset is being questioned, but we believe it is too early to seek any correlations between Bitcoin and other asset classes."
The bitcoin nosedive came amidst volatile trading on Wall Street this week. On Thursday, stocks saw their worstsince the "Black Monday" market crash in 1987. Stocks rose sharply Friday afternoon on the possibility of fiscal stimulus from governments around the world.
Other cryptocurrencies also dropped this week. The world second largest digital currency, ethereum, fell 46% this week while XRP lost nearly 40% of its value.
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Bitcoin loses half of its value in two-day plunge - CNBC
Here is the real reason behind Bitcoin price drop – Cryptopolitan
Bitcoin price drop witnessed recently is one of the worst beatings in months while the cryptocurrency sphere as a whole sits tight. Well not just the cryptocurrency sphere, but the world is sitting tight as the Bitcoin price chart movement has correlated with the stock market in a weird movement.
Bitcoins recent massive selloff has made the analyst wrap their heads around the question that is this third sell-off a sign that Bitcoin has fewer chances to survive.
Among others, the crypto research firm Coin Metrics tried to decode the whole episode and have come up with this conclusion that those holders that held the currency for a short period are the reason that contributed to this.
CoinMetricsin its latestState of the Network reportstated that the long-term holders remained chose to stay on sidelines in this whole episode. The coins that were held for twelve months or less than that were responsible for driving out the thirty-eight price route.
This tends to explain the reason for Bitcoins one-year revived supply not having any major spike in the month of March.
The short-term holders were reportedly selling their coins at a loss.
The report also highlights the fact that the market value of Bitcoin to realized value (MVRV) slipped under 1.0. On 12th March, MVRV experienced its biggest drop since the year 2013. The Coin Metrics report explains:
an MVRV above one can signal that speculators have a higher average market valuation than holders. An MVRV below one, on the other hand, can signal that holders have (or had) a higher market valuation than current speculators.
Speculators now do not value Bitcoin more than the holders, and this could be the potential indicator that the leading cryptocurrency is moving closer to bottoming out.
Coronavirus is affecting everyone and everything and not just causing Bitcoin price drop. But this is an indirect effect of the market that is killing the coin at the moment. Truth be told, investors are also putting away their money in stable coin and other assets on account of extreme volatility.
Coronavirus effect on Bitcoin price drop has been observed on the market already in the correlation study with the stock market, where the two markets almost shadowed each other. The world is on lockdown and that means less retail trading, less of buying and less of business everywhere and not just in the cryptocurrency sphere.
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Here is the real reason behind Bitcoin price drop - Cryptopolitan
Bitcoin, Not Governments Will Save the World After Crisis, Tim Draper Says – Cointelegraph
Amid some notable recovery of Bitcoin (BTC) after a number of subsequent market crashes last week, billionaire investor Tim Draper delivered another optimistic forecast about Bitcoin.
In a March 16 interview with 415 Stories podcast, Draper outlined decentralization powered by Bitcoin and other new technologies as a major tool that has the ability to transform the biggest industries in the world.
According to Draper, Bitcoin will be one of the most crucial tools in the times of the recovery of the ongoing global financial crisis, opposing the major cryptocurrency to centralized structures like banks and governments. Referring to the interview, Draper tweeted:
Entertainment for while you are holed up. When the world comes back, it will be Bitcoin, not banks and governments that save the day.
In the interview, Draper expressed confidence that new technologies like Bitcoin and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to completely transform all the industries from banking to healthcare and real estate, tapping trillions of dollars of their value. As an example, Draper cited a use case in the insurance industry, arguing that the combination of AI, blockchain-powered smart contracts and Bitcoin is a perfect start for an insurance company.
Draper said:
"For example, I could start an insurance company with an actuary AI to determine fraud and a smart contract with Bitcoin and put it all on the blockchain."
A pioneer of business ventures in the U.S. and a co-founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Venture Company, Tim Draper has emerged as one of the major advocates for the crypto industry. Alongside prominent Bitcoin bulls like Morgan Creeks founder Anthony Pompliano and former antivirus software magnate John McAfee, Draper is known for making some big predictions for Bitcoin. After predicting that the price of Bitcoin will hit $250,000 by the end of 2022, Draper upped the ante, saying his own prediction may be understating the power of Bitcoin. In February 2020, Draper revealed that he quit stocks for crypto in late August 2019.
Apart from being bullish on crypto, Draper is also investing in technology developments. As reported by Cointelegraph, the investor is now seeing major potential in technologies like decentralized finance. As such, on March 16, Draper invested in DeFi Money Markets DAO, purchasing a stake in the form of the upcoming governance token DMG.
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Bitcoin, Not Governments Will Save the World After Crisis, Tim Draper Says - Cointelegraph