Category Archives: Bitcoin
Bitcoin, despite its ups and downs, had a monster decade of growth – American Banker
Emerging out of the financial crisis, bitcoin was created as a bypass to the banks and government agencies mired in Wall Streets greatest calamity in decades. The cryptocurrency was slow to break into the market at first, muddied by a slew of scandals. But since joining the mainstream, its proved to be the decades best-performing asset.
The largest digital token, trading around $7,200, has posted gains of more than 9,000,000% since July 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bitcoin really captured that wild technology enthusiasm that this time is different, said Peter Atwater, the president of Financial Insyghts and an adjunct professor at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The performance over the past 10 years, even with its huge run-up and subsequent mega-crash, leaves all others in the dust. Its a massive windfall for those who held on through its ups and downs, even as it continues to provide fodder for get-rich-quick schemes. For some, the never-ending fantasy of continually hitting that payoff still helps to keep bitcoins momentum going.
Nothing else comes even close to beating it. The S&P 500 merely tripled in that period. An index that tracks world markets has more than doubled. Gold is up 25%. Some of the best-performing stocks in the Russell 3000 including Exact Sciences and Intelligent Systems are each up about 3,000%. Those gains pale in comparison to the finance worlds latest and one of its most controversial marvels.
Partly, the monster return is a reflection of the calculus behind bitcoins jumping-off point: The token wasnt worth anything when someone named Satoshi Nakamoto launched it on Halloween 2008.
Designed as a method of exchange that can be sent electronically between users around the world, it did not have a centralized control network. Bitcoin, instead, is run by a network of computers that keep track of all transactions on the blockchain ledger. For many, that technology was reason enough to buy into the idea.
On the other side of the equation are bitcoins devoted enthusiasts who saw in its technology a promising way to change the global financial system.
This is the first time that theres a real separation just like church and state you have a separation of money and state, said Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius Network, a crypto lending platform. Thats the innovation, thats the excitement.
But bitcoin was slow to take off, notching its first transaction two years after its creation, when someone used it to buy pizza. Since then, the first-born tokens price has catapulted, doubling many times over, and hundreds of imitators have cropped up some with more success than others.
Many of those who got in early stayed faithful, watching as it made its way through a boom and bust cycle unrivaled by almost anything else over the last decade.
At the beginning of 2017, bitcoin jumped above $1,000. By midsummer, it had more than doubled. By year-end, it hovered above $14,000. But as swiftly as it ran up, it fell even faster. By the end of 2018, bitcoin barely budged above $3,000. Yet shortly after its crash, it embarked on another huge rally, this time reaching as high as $13,800 in the summer of 2019.
Certainly the numbers are what appeals to investors, said David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital. The next 10 years need to be a totally different stage of growth based on totally different factors than the first stage.
As much as its made a fortune for speculators and some thieves, bitcoins survival will rest on further adoption. Its not being used as a widespread medium of exchange. A few large retailers are accepting payment in bitcoin, but it hasnt been the large-scale embrace so many had predicted. Scams are still running rampant. Interest is waning and consolidation among large owners is at a higher level than it was during the height of the 2017 bubble, which means that their influence over prices could be increasing.
Projections for the next decade abound. In the 2020s, mass adoption is surely to take off, they say. On the other hand, regulatory scrutiny is likely to intensify, with central bankers paying closer attention than ever before.
In the more immediate term, some speculators forecast 2020 might be less fraught with volatility given its upcoming halving, whereby the number of coins awarded to so-called miners who process transactions is cut by 50%. Thats set to happen in May. The coins previous cut, about four years ago, coincided with a run-up in its price, pushing many crypto evangelists to believe in a repeat.
To Andy Bromberg, co-founder and president of CoinList, the halving is already priced in. Maybe its been overpriced in and everyones bought into this thesis and we see a dip post-halving, Bromberg said in an interview. That would not shock me.
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Bitcoin, despite its ups and downs, had a monster decade of growth - American Banker
2010s In Bitcoin: The Year 2017 – Forbes
Im reviewing the 2010s in Bitcoin. This is the story about 2017 in Bitcoin. Read about 2016here.
The price of Bitcoin reached in December 2017 nearly $20,000 per bitcoin. The bitcoin price traded between $930 and $978 on December 29, 2016, and surpassed $1,000 on New Years Day 2017, then $5,000 in October, and $10,000 in November.
On the news front, the year didnt start out so hot for Bitcoin. The Peoples Bank of China met in January with major bitcoin exchanges and advised them to adhere to the relevant laws and regulations.
Bitcoin saw a drop in trading volume due to new trading fees implemented by Chinese exchanges Huobi, OKCoin, and BTCC. OKCoin and Huobi would soon thereafter halt withdrawals for an entire month, in order to undergo an upgrade.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected in March the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, an exchange-traded fund, for which the twins had first filed in 2013. Bitcoin immediately sold off, with the price falling 18%, from almost $1,300 to $1,060.
"[T]he Commission is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest,the SEC stated.
Organizer David Bailey concludes Bitcoin Conference 2019.
The agency said a Bitcoin ETF would need "surveillance-sharing agreements with significant markets for trading the underlying commodity or derivatives on that commodity. And second, those markets must be regulated."
The twins didnt sweat it. "We remain optimistic and committed to bringing COIN [the proposed ticker] to market, and look forward to continuing to work with the SEC staff, Tyler Winklevoss, chief financial officer of Digital Asset Services, stated. We began this journey almost four years ago, and are determined to see it through. We agree with the SEC that regulation and oversight are important to the health of any marketplace and the safety of all investors."
Just days after the ruling, the Bitcoin price had climbed back to its pre-ETF decision price.Then, between May and September, the Bitcoin price rocketed. Bitcoin set a new all-time high after all-time high before a brief correction.
At the end of May, Bitcoin increased to more than $2,000 for the first time ever, and weeks later it broke through $3,000.But, one day after Bitcoin surpassed $3,000, the price fell $300 in one hour.
The Bitcoin price eclipsed $5,000 the first week of September, but fell below $3,400 on September 14. One day later, the price fell below $3,000.
Amid the price increase, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in September that Bitcoin is a fraud.
Its worse than tulip bulbs, Dimon said at CNBC-Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha. It wont end well. Someone is going to get killed.
He added: Its just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed.
By mid-October, the price of Bitcoin had yet again surpassed $5,000. In November and December, the price went even more parabolic. Bitcoin hit nearly $18,000 on December 15, which was a more than 1,700 percent increase since the start of the year and an 80% increase in December alone.
Between December 16-17, the price of Bitcoin increased 5% in 24 hours to it's all-time high of $19,783.06, a 1,824% increase since Jan. 1.
One of the biggest market corrections Bitcoin has seen to date followed, as the price fell below $11,000. The Bitcoin price swiftly increased yet again to more than $16,000, but, by Dec. 28, had fallen to about $13,500. It ended the year 2017 at just above $14,000.
Thats 2017 in Bitcoin. Coming soon: 2018.
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2010s In Bitcoin: The Year 2017 - Forbes
Bitcoin Price On Verge of Long-Term Doom; Heres Why – Ethereum World News
Over the past few days, analysts have begun flipping bullish on Bitcoin (BTC), claiming that the asset is on the verge of bursting higher after the brutal bear market that has destroyed bulls over the past few months.
Despite this shift in sentiment, a prominent analyst has asserted that it is wise to keep a close eye on the cryptocurrency charts, for he is observing that BTC is on the verge of doom due to a confluence of historical technical factors. Doom, he suggests, means Bitcoin will collapse all the way to $1,000, as the maintaining of current levels will indicate that BTC still has long-term upward momentum.
Velvet, a trader who called the latest decline to the $6,000s weeks ago when Bitcoin was trading at $8,000, recently noted that BTC is on the verge of doom.
In the tweet seen below, through which Velvet conveyed his analysis, it was depicted that Bitcoin is trading just a smidgen above the 100-week moving average (currently at $7,000), which is a level that the cryptocurrency has always trended above during bull markets. Thats not to mention that the one-week Relative Strength Index and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence are sitting on key historical supports, which acted as barriers to bear markets.
He claims that if these levels are lost on a macro basis and Bitcoin drops to the $5,000s as a number of cryptocurrency traders expect, it will confirm we have lost momentum to the upside, confirming an Elliot Wave analysis C-Wave that will bring the asset to $1,000 with time.
If Bitcoin holds the current levels, he expects the asset to rally to $20,000 170% higher than current levels by March as illustrated in a previous report from this outlet.
Unfortunately for bulls, there is some evidence to suggest that bears could gain the upper hand if they dont already have it that is.
Analyst CryptoThies recently noted that despite the strong nearly 15% recovery from the depths of $6,400, his indicator, dubbed MarketGod, is still printing a sell signal on the December candle.
He notes that MarketGod has called these macro trends 4/4 in the past six years of Bitcoin prices history, making the latest sell signal rather potent, for it implies that there are months more downside ahead.
Thats not to mention that the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) a much-used trend following indicator used to determine directionality in markets on the one-month Bitcoin chart recently crossed bearish, with the blue (MACD) line crossing below the orange (signal) line.
This bearish crossover was last seen in June/July of 2018, preceding and predicting the abovementioned 50% decline seen at the end of last year.
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Bitcoin Price On Verge of Long-Term Doom; Heres Why - Ethereum World News
Whats in Store for Bitcoin as the Year Draws to a Close – Market Realist
Could bitcoin soon touch $8,000? Although its hard to say what could happen in the near future, I think its likely bitcoin (or BTC) will rise in the long term. Famous investor Tim Draper made a similar long-term bitcoin price prediction. His bold prediction has been the center of discussion among many crypto communities. Do you think his prediction will create tailwinds for the cryptocurrency?
BTC prices are gaining once again. In this years first half, bitcoin was on a bull run and touched $13,000. BTC started the year at $3,739.36 and grew by almost 3.5 times from January to June. The trend reversed in the second half of the year, and the price sank to $6,600 by the second week of December. Even after the recent bear run, bitcoin is still up close to 98% year-to-date.
The tide is changing again, and bitcoin could close 2019 on a higher note. BTC crossed $7,200 on December 18, and then moved above $7,500 on December 22. Since December 17, bitcoin is up 15%, and some market veterans believe it could rise further. As of the end of Decembers third week, bitcoins market cap had doubled through 2019, from $65 billion to $135 billion.
Tim Draper expressed bullish views on bitcoin in an interview. Draper is a venture capitalist and the founder of Draper University, Draper Venture Network, and many other ventures. Draper is known for picking good investment opportunities. Some of his investments include Tesla, Twitch, Baidu, Twitter, and cryptocurrency portal CoinBase. Many sources reported on Drapers 2014 crypto investments. In 2014, Draper bought 30,000 bitcoins during an auction by the US Marshals office. CNN reported that Draper made the deal above the prevailing market rate. At the time, he invested around $19 million, which rounds off to approximately $630 per bitcoin.
During an interview on The Daily Exchange, Draper made a bold prediction about bitcoin prices based on several fundamental and technical factors. Industry experts Brian Kelly and Tom Lee corroborated his predictions on CNBCs Fast Money with technical analysis of their own. Kelly is the founder and CEO of BKCM, a crypto investment company, and Lee is the co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors. Lets look at the industry experts comments in detail.
Draper made a bold prediction that bitcoin could cross $250,000 by 2023. Reaching this price would mean an increase of around 33 times and compound annual growth of around 222% in three years. Speaking on Fast Money, Kelly agreed with Drapers prediction of $250,000 per bitcoin. After accounting for the approximate 18 million bitcoins in circulation globally, Kelly stated that, at this rate, bitcoins market cap could touch $4.5 trillion,around half the value of gold worldwide.
Most of these analytics are geared toward veteran crypto investors. Coders or developers might seek more clarity on crypto investings technology, while venture capitalists may rely solely on technical charts and price patterns.
Even though the above predictions look rosy, there are huge risks. Past bitcoin price trends are a primary factor in making forecasts. The fundamental functioning of the exchange and trading volumes also affect cryptocurrency estimates. Investors should have some understanding of what drives crypto pricing before investing in cryptocurrencies to make informed investment decisions. Do not fear missing out. Unfortunately, the dissemination of information isnt streamlined, and many crypto exchanges are unregulated, another area of concern for investors. To understand Drapers bold prediction, we need to understand how bitcoin works and how bitcoin prices move.
How would you react if I told you that the bitcoin supply is going to fall with each passing year? Im not talking about bitcoins trading volumes but its supply. Lets untangle this confusion. A cryptocurrency is mined by crypto miners, and these mined currencies are then traded on crypto exchanges. Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto designed the cryptocurrency to adjust its supply over time.
Theres an upper cap for the number of cryptocurrencies in circulation. In the case of bitcoin, mining will stop after 21 million coins are in circulation. One reason for this capping is that the infinite supply of a resource tends to affect the assets price. Commodities such as gold and other precious metals, base metals such as iron and steel, and oil and natural gas have a finite supply. The value of these natural resources increases as their reserves reduce. Bitcoin works on the same fundamentals.
Unlike mining for commodities, bitcoin mining takes place virtually, on a blockchain network. Network participants, or miners, solve complex calculations and execute algorithms to create new digital coins. All stored transactions on the blockchain network are encrypted and then clustered in blocks.
When a miner finishes computations for one block, a new block is added to the network. The network links the new block to the previous one to form a chain, called a blockchain. In simple terms, mining new blocks and encrypting transactions manage the supply of bitcoin.
In return for solving complex calculations, miners are rewarded with bitcoins. The mining reward works as an incentive for mining new blocks in the network. Initially, the computations in the bitcoin network were elementary. Over time, the calculations became more complex, and the bitcoin mining process more difficult. However, rewards were halved.
Halving happens when 210,000 new blocks are added to the bitcoin blockchain network. I would rather not get into the math here, but in simple terms, we can compare the process to commodity mining. When a new gold reserve is found, the mining output is high. But as we keep mining, the output deteriorates, as the mine has a limited supply.
Similar is the case with bitcoin. When bitcoin mining started, miners received 50 BTC for mining one block. When the number of blocks reached 210,001, the mining reward halved from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. After 420,001, the prize further halved, to 12.5 BTC, which is the current mining reward. The number of blocks is nearing 630,000, and when this number is reached, the reward will reduce to 6.25 BTC. BitcoinBlockHalf.com estimates the next halving could happen in May 2020.At that time, smaller miners might merge or leave the mining pool altogether.
The whole process of bitcoin mining is changing. As the bitcoin supply is capped at 21 million, miners could take several years to mine all of these bitcoins. According to Investopedia, BTC mining could continue until 2140.
While mining rewards are halving, bitcoin prices are rising, keeping miners going. As we said before, supply scarcity drives commodity prices higher.
The first time the bitcoin blockchain reached 210,000 blocks was back in November 2012. At the time, bitcoin prices were around $11. But within a year, the value of one bitcoin rose by 100 times. In the first week of December 2013, bitcoin prices crossed $1,000 for the first time. After this milestone, prices dropped, but BTC was still trading 2530 times higher than it was in 2012. As the price of one bitcoin rose significantly, miners found it lucrative to continue mining even though the bitcoin reward had halved. As new miners contributed to the network, supply fell as demand increased, stabilizing the price of bitcoin.
The next wave came in July 2016, when the block count touched 420,000, and the bitcoin reward halved for the second time. This time, bitcoin was trading above $650. Over the next six months, bitcoin prices rose, crossing $1,000 again in February 2017. From there on, the digital currency kept climbing and touched an all-time high of $19,783 on December 17, 2017. The price rise, equivalent to 133% compound annual growth (or 30x) between November 2013 and December 2017, was so monumental that it seemed bitcoin could reach $20,000.
As weve discussed, the complexity of computations for bitcoin mining become more tedious with time. Another important point in understanding mining is processing power. Solving these complex problems needs more computation power, and therefore faster processors and graphics cards. Graphics cards designed for gaming became scarce as miners began using them to mine virtual currencies. In fact, Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) faced a graphics card supply shortage.
As new processors and hardware are expensive and consume a lot of power, miners face increasing overhead costs. These increasing costs have made bitcoin mining more expensive, forcing smaller or part-time miners to step out of the mining pool. People still interested in mining have consolidated and mobilized their resources to reduce their individual overhead costs. In such cases, miners share their mining rewards on a pro-rated basis. For miners who have continued mining independently, the cost per bitcoin has increased. To compensate for the higher costs, these independent miners ask for a higher price per bitcoin on the exchange.
Therefore, bitcoins fundamental design keeps shifting its price higher. Demand and supply determine the virtual currencys transactional price.
Now that we understand the correlation between crypto mining and the need for processing power, lets look at how Moores Law applies to crypto mining. Moores Law, named after Intel chairman emeritus Gordon Moore, has to do with processor speeds and computational powers. The law suggests that every two years, the number of transistors on a chip doubles, thereby increasing performance and power efficiency. It also suggests the cost of processors will decline as nodes shrink. In a nutshell, you pay less for a faster processor.
Furthermore, when generational shifts in processor technology improve processing power by 50%100%, a crypto wave comes. The last big wave came in 2017, a year after Nvidia and AMD launched 14nm (nanometer) GPUs (graphics processing units). Nvidias Pascal GPU jumped two generations ahead. It delivered twice the performance as its Maxwell-based predecessor, the Titan X. However, it consumed one-third of the power and cost 40% less.
Tech companies will continue to innovate to satisfy the neverending demand for computing power. As computing power improves, bitcoin mining will increase. Their complexity will grow, and so will the price per bitcoin.
In a way, 2019 has been rewarding for the crypto community. And Im not just talking about BTC or ethereum prices. Federal governments are accepting the popularity of virtual currencies among Millennials, studying cryptocurrencies application and impact on domestic economies.
In October, CoinDesk reported that US regulators had approved the Bakkt crypto exchange, which will support bitcoin futures trading. Also, on December 21, Forbes reported that the US Congress decision to finalize the Cryptocurrency Act of 2020 could attract more crypto investors. Forbes got its hands on a draft of the bill, which splits digital assets into three categories:
The bill is still in the early phases but marks a significant development for the virtual currency realm.
For the first time, regulators seem to be looking at cryptos with an open mind. They have approved a regulated BTC futures trading platform, and are now defining the crypto spaces fundamentals. These developments are undoubtedly a big leap toward crypto acceptance among other mainstream asset classes. The upcoming halving event in May 2020 could repeat the crypto bubble in 2017. Could trading volumes jump as they did with the halving in 2012 and 2016?
Investors should definitely keep an eye on bitcoin in 2020. Considering bitcoins dynamics, I think Drapers prediction of BTC reaching $250,000 by 2023 could come true.
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Whats in Store for Bitcoin as the Year Draws to a Close - Market Realist
Why Bitcoin Price Is Likely to Gain Momentum After New Years – Ethereum World News
Could Bitcoin Rally After New Years Eve?
Last years holiday season wasnt the best time for Bitcoin holders. For those who missed the memo, in November and December of 2018, the leading cryptocurrency tanked, falling off a proverbial cliff as investors capitulated, liquidating their BTC holdings in search of greener pastures. In fact, within a four week period, Bitcoin had entirely capitulated, losing half of its value faster than you could say Satoshi Nakamoto.
But, according to a recent analysis, the holiday season or at least the next few days will favor bulls.
Cryptocurrency analyst Joel recently posted the below chart, in which the historical price data of Bitcoin before, during, and after New Years was conveyed.
Joels analysis found that Bitcoin rallied by an average of 3% higher during 71.43% of the first weeks of January (January 2nd to the 7th), implying that there is a good historical likelihood that BTC could carry strength into 2020.
Of course, this is just an average, though the post-New Years positive directionality seems to exist, for it would line up with an analysis done by crypto exchange SFOX which found that the leading cryptocurrency performs better around the times of holidays.
Holiday cheer isnt the only thing that may boost Bitcoin in the coming days and weeks.
Hodlonaut, a prominent Bitcoin proponent and commentator, recently argued that the sentiment existing in the industry is the perfect place, by traditional industry standards, for Bitcoin to start a rip your face off rally.
The technicals seemingly corroborate this.
According to digital asset manager Charles Edwards, who has popularized the talk around Bitcoin miner capitulation over recent months, a buy is rapidly forming on the Hash Ribbons indicator just a few days after recovery was signaled.
This is notable. Previous buy signals by the Hash Ribbons came shortly after macro bottoms, followed by fully-fledged bullish reversals. Case in point, the Hash Ribbons printed a buy in the middle of January of this year.
On the fundamental side of things, Willy Woo, partner at Adaptive Capital, recently asserted that BTC is in the midst of a re-accumulation phase of bull markets that always proceeds the blow-off top rally, one that brings Bitcoin an order of magnitude or two higher than where it started.
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Why Bitcoin Price Is Likely to Gain Momentum After New Years - Ethereum World News
Bitcoin to Benefit More from Trade War in 2020 than Halving – newsBTC
A misguided euphoria rising from the phase one deal between the US and China could help bitcoin becoming one of the most profitable investments in 2020.
The offbeat asset has been pursuing a flat trajectory ever since Washington and Beijing reached an initial agreement. It spent its entire December in a tight range defined by $7,000 and $7,600, barring a short-term dump-and-pump action that took the price below $6,500.
Price has been fluctuating in an 8% range all December | Source: TradingView.com
The bitcoins price sideways action came against the backdrop of a cheerful equity market. Global stocks hit their historic highs on the news of a positive mini-deal with the US benchmark S&P 500 reaching its highest level since 2013.
The initial agreement between the US and China appeared modest, for Beijingpromised to address two of the major concerns raised by President Donald Trump. First, they increased imports of certain US goods, including energy and agricultural products; and second, they agreed to take a tougher stance on intellectual property rights.
In return, Washington suspended December tariffs on Chinese goods. It decorated the deal further with a partial rollback of the September tariffs.
The huge upside moves in the equity market that followed the phase one deal showed investors faith in a long-term positive outlook. But so it appears, the agreement between the two global superpowers is no less than a soft landing.
Gregory Draco, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics, believes that both the US and Chinas efforts cannot compensate for the damages that have been done to the economy in the past 18 months.
He wrote that removing US tariffs on Chinese goods would boost growth only by small margins anywhere between 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent.The thinktank further noted that Chinas decision to avoid extra stimulus programs will limit its growth rate to about 6 percent.
Financial trend reader Nordea Markets also iterated the same in its latest analysis, noting that the phase one deal could at best minimize downside risks. Excerpts from their investor note:
The most important outcome of the deal is that both sides promised not to raise tariffs further, as was initially planned. This clearly removes one downside risk in the global economy for 2020, although Chinas unwillingness to move forward with structural reforms implies that its challenges with trade relations will continue.
The risks attached with a positively perceived mini-deal was also visible in the recent gains of a so-called benchmark haven.
Gold surprised traders in the past weeks after rising in tandem with equity markets. According toRBC Wealth Management managing director George Gero, the yellow metals surge is a reminder of investors huge appetite for hedging assets.
You had creeping up interest rates, record stock markets and the dollar index trading close to 97. When gold is not responding to the usual headwinds, it is a positive sign for the price, Gero told Kitko News. Its a hedge against a possibility of surprising negative news. By ignoring negativity in technicals, gold has turned somewhat positive.
The phase one deal has not minimized prevalent market risks. That means bitcoin could still gain a small piece as capital starts shifting from overbought equities to hedging assets like Gold.
The money does not have to come from institutional investors. Speculation within the industry alone could drive money into the bitcoin markets. That includes capital coming from neighboring, overhyped alternative cryptocurrencies (or altcoins).
The bitcoins 200 percent price rally during the 2019s second quarter has shown the cryptocurrencys capability as an asset that can behave as a hedge against the trade war. And it is not ending soon, as long as the US and China fight with each other for the top global positioning in the economy, politics, and technology.
Overall, it is one of the best recipes for making bitcoin more bullish. Even halving cannot promise that.
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Bitcoin to Benefit More from Trade War in 2020 than Halving - newsBTC
Bitcoin, Ethereum are most profitable investments of the decade – Decrypt
As the decade draws to a close, it's time to look at the investments that were the most successful. And, unsurprisingly, cryptocurrencies top the list of the most profitable investments of the decade.
Up first, is Bitcoin. The first cryptocurrency, built by an anonymous programmer known as Satoshi Nakamoto, it led to the creation of many Bitcoin forksalternative versions running on similar codeand thousands of altcoins, either using the same code or trying out new features. But, if you got in early, you had the chance to make a quick buck.
Since the first bitcoin was available for trading, its price has accelerated 62,500 percent. Outshining many traditional stocks, it even spawned an entire culture built around prices "mooning" and the promise of lovingly labelled "lambos." Due to the extreme rise, many critics have called it a Ponzi Scheme and say that its price pumps are bubbles that keep popping. But despite the criticism, an entire industry has been built around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, leading many countries around the world to start adoption blockchain technology.
Much of the promise of blockchain technology can be seen with Ethereum. It offers features known as smart contracts, which allow for the creation of decentralized apps. These have interesting applications, particularly in the world of finance.
The price of Ethereum has shot up too. Even though the price has dropped heavily since its all-time high in January 2018, the price of Ethereum is still up by 17,900 percent. One ETH is currently worth $132.
However, some traditional stocks have not been far off. Netflix had a strong performance this decade, rising 4,280 percent. It's not too surprising given how ubiquitous it now is. Even new films are now launching on Netflix instead of heading to the cinema. But it's epic rise has led to an increase in the number of competitor video streaming companies. Will it be able to fend off the competition going into 2020?
Along with the rise of Netflix, and watching TV at home in general, another company did particularly well. Domino's Pizza saw an increase in share price of 3,000 percent. Who knew pizza and TV were a winning combination?
In line with the trend of not needing to go outside, Amazon grew considerably in the last decade, rising 1,250 percent. It's worth noting that not only does Amazon ship products to your door but it also offers a TV streaming service. What's next, Amazon pizza?
Those doing yoga, trying to work off the 1,000 calorie pizzas, helped to boost the price of Lululemon shares, a retailer known for creating activewear and clothes for "most other sweaty pursuits." They rose by 1,300 percent.
On a different track, healthcare company Abiomed saw a 2,000 percent rise in the last decade. It creates medical devices, such as artificial hearts.
Shotly behind Amazon is NVIDIA, known for creating computer chips. Interestingly, it pulled in $1.95 billion in revenue from its crypto mining business. But it wasn't without controversy. In September, critics accused it of surreptitiously influencing the development of an upgrade to the Ethereum network. But nothing was ever proved.
Other profitable investments of the decade were payments processors, including Mastercard and VISA, up 1,100 percent and 760 percent respectively. Google shares rose by 350 percent and Apple shares went up by 840 percent.
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Bitcoin, Ethereum are most profitable investments of the decade - Decrypt
TronWallet Fires Away Updated Version with Bitcoin Transactions and TRX to BTC Swap Feature – U.Today
The crypto wallet and digital exchange TronWallet has been in the market for two years already, competing with its rivals to be the best wallet for the community. Now, the team announces that the latest version of their product gets rolled out TronWallet 3 - with Bitcoin operations finally added to its mobile app. Ethereum will be the next coin to come on the platform, they say.
TronWallet has exclusively shared data on its recent upgrade with U.Today.
After the upgrade, TronWallet 3 supports the flagship crypto asset Bitcoin (that is now supported for both PC and mobile versions of the product). The upgrade now allows the 160,000 users from over 180 countries to keep Bitcoin and perform operations with it inside their TronWallet.
The wallets team has been intending to integrate Bitcoin for a long time already, since numerous customers have been continuously requesting the integration of BTC support.
The projects team now intends to expand the circle of its users and lure Bitcoin fans into using TronWallet 3.
Bitcoin will be the first crypto on the wallet listed apart from TRX andTron-powered tokens. This way TronWallet will take a step towards becoming a multi-currency wallet. Other coins will be listed in the near future as well, with their vast community voting for which coin to add next.
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TronWallet 3 is also about to introduce a brand new SWAP option that will make exchanging crypto assets simpler for the users. The team is going to start with launching a TRX to BTC swap, adding other coins and tokens later on.
The goal is to improve the process of token exchange for the platforms customers, make it faster and easier.
The platform will also introduce a new feature in TronWallet 3 dubbed Portfolio, which allows keeping wallets for each coin in the portfolio in one place and provide customers with an easy way to manage those coins.
The official Twitter page of TronWallet announced that on December 27 itconducted a token burn of 136 mln TWX coins that it had bought back from the community by that time.
This was made to make the TWX coin more stable and reduce its supply.
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TronWallet Fires Away Updated Version with Bitcoin Transactions and TRX to BTC Swap Feature - U.Today
Bitcoin Alchemy: BTC Turns 100 Grams of Gold into Eight Tons – U.Today
Both Ethereum and XRP, the two biggest alternative cryptocurrencies, are about to end 2019 in the red zone.
Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency trader Michaelvan de Poppe believes that 2020 could start on a high note for alternative cryptocurrencies that have been struggling throughout the previous year.
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Van de Poppe points to the fact that Ethereum historically tends to rally at the beginning of the year. For instance, the ETH price skyrocketed by more than 52 percent in February while Bitcoin was in limbo.
Hence, there is every reason to believe that Ethereum could continue its Q1 winning streak in 2020. Other top altcoins might piggyback off Ether's strength and post significant gains.
As reported by U.Today, XRP and Stellar (XLM) turned out to be the worst-performing coins of2019, shedding 39 percent and 50 percent of their value respectively.
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The trader also states that the dominance of altcoins usually bottoms in Q1. That means that Bitcoin could cede ground to smaller cryptocurrencies.
At press time, BTC is changing hands at$7,215 with its dominance index hovering just above the 68 percent mark, CoinStats data shows.For comparison, the leading cryptocurrency was responsible for only 52 percent of the total market capitalization at the beginning of 2019.
However, Wall Street vet Tone Vays is certain that the dominance of Bitcoin could reach up to 98 percent.
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Bitcoin Alchemy: BTC Turns 100 Grams of Gold into Eight Tons - U.Today
Bitcoin in 2019: Positive BTC Performance Across the Board – Bitcoinist
With 2019 ending in a number of hours, here is a look at the positive performance for Bitcoin (BTC) across several network and market parameters.
At press time, the Bitcoin price is up by about 95% year-to-date (YTD). After a difficult 2018 that saw the top-ranked crypto drop 72%, BTC began the year slowly before entering a massive bull phase in Q2 2019.
This bullish run saw Bitcoin surpass $13,000 in late June 2019 for the first time since January 2018. BTC would, however, fail to maintain these heights as the expected Summer decline interrupted the developing parabolic advance, with Bitcoin unable to sustain a push beyond the $10,000 price mark.
Despite the bearish market conditions of 2018, network fundamentals were on the up until a Bitcoin Cash civil war triggered a hash rate death spiral that saw many mining nodes capitulating.
12 months on from that period and the picture is significantly different, with the BTC network hash rate growing by more than 120% throughout 2019. As previously reported by Bitcoinist, the network hash rate was approaching 120 million TH/s.
This rapid increase in hash rate continued unabated even during periods of price slumps in the Bitcoin spot price. On the layer 2 side of things, Lightning Network (LN) capacity grew from 515 BTC to 850 BTC.
The argument for LN as Bitcoins optimum scaling solution also gained more ground in 2019 with further increases in public nodes from 4,800 to 10,900. LN public channels also more than doubled in 2019 from 16,000 to 35,000.
LN also saw adoption on Blockstreams Liquid via the c-lightning implementation back in July 2019.
On the institutional side, CME Bitcoin Futures set numerous records in 2019, even as Cboe discontinued its BTC Futures offering. After navigating regulatory hurdles, Bakkt finally launched its physically-settled Bitcoin Futures in late September 2019.
Despite a slow start, Bakkts BTC derivatives product did eventually begin to post record numbers with the exchange announcing plans to roll out Bitcoin options. However, as reported by Bitcoinist, the hope that Bakkts physical BTC delivery would lead to more institutional Bitcoin ownership hasnt exactly panned out.
In its 2019 market report, Santiment a crypto data tracking and analysis firm revealed that the number of Bitcoin daily active addresses (DAA) increased by about 7% in 2019. The report also stated that more than 60% of the BTC circulating supply remained inactive during the year as against 54% in 2018.
These figures may indicate more Bitcoin hodling or an increase in the number of lost BTC. Earlier in the year, Bitcoinist reported that whale wallets were seeing more inflows than outflows, suggesting a deliberate hodling trend.
While Bitcoin enjoyed a stellar 2019, the same cannot be said for the altcoin market. Apart from exceptions like Tezos (XTZ), Chainlink (LINK) and Binance Coin (BNB), the bulk of the altcoin market saw further declines in 2019.
Will Bitcoins 2020 performance surpass all the growth figures seen in 2019? Let us know in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, Tradingview, Blockchain.com, and Santiment.
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Bitcoin in 2019: Positive BTC Performance Across the Board - Bitcoinist