Category Archives: Bitcoin
Bitcoin’s appeal is at an all-time high – New York Post
Global stock indexes are not the only asset class making new highs on a daily basis. Cryptocurrencies specifically bitcoin are soaring to fresh levels as well.
Despite two major setbacks for bitcoin in 2017, it has soared nearly 55 percent from its year-to-date lows as Asian investors flock to the new-age currency.
Bitcoin prices are now trading at previously uncharted levels as the value of the cryptocurrency reached a high of $1,588 on CoinDesk on Friday morning.
In January the Peoples Bank of China, the countrys central bank, launched a crackdown on bitcoin, believing that citizens were using it to move wealth out of the country. Prices fell as low as $750 on Jan. 12 before recovering.
In March the cryptocurrency had a run-up on anticipation that the Securites and Exchange Commission would decide in favor of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund driven by the Winklevoss brothers. Bitcoin prices reached a high of $1,350 before the feds nixed the proposal, sending prices to a low of $891 soon afterward.
Prices began to recover as Japan officially acknowledged the use of cryptocurrencies and passed legislation allowing retailers to accept payment in digital form.
Russia and India have also loosened restrictions on cryptocurrencies, leading to wider acceptance within their borders as both countries India especially struggle with their own internal currency crises.
The SEC announced in April that it would take a second look at a bitcoin ETF by reviewing its ruling in the Winklevoss brothers application. No timetable has been released on when that may happen.
Bitcoins market cap is now north of $23 billion, which is chump change for any asset class. But with more acceptance and wider appeal, the digital currency can be divided into smaller units such as decibits, millibits and centibits to make smaller transactions possible.
Ethereum, which is the second-most prominent cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, struck a new all-time high Tuesday as well, trading at $85.
It now has a market cap of $7 billion on the strength of its acceptance in gaming circles in Asian countries.
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Bitcoin's appeal is at an all-time high - New York Post
Litecoin Value Increases by 700% As Politics Still Prevent Bitcoin From Scaling – newsBTC
A lot of people will keep an eye on the SegWit malleability fix and how it affects Litecoin.
The past few weeks have been quite remarkable for Litecoin. Although a lot of people assumed this currency to be dead in the water, that is not the case. In fact, things are heading in a very bullish direction. The Litecoin value increased by over 700%. This is due to SegWit locking in and the Coinbase listing. The futures looking bright for Bitcoins silver, that much is evident.
Litecoin has come a very long way these past few weeks. Earlier this year, one LTC was valued at US$4. That is quite a ways from its previous ATH of around US$48 in 2013. Ever since that time, a lot of people have forgotten about LTC. Things have an odd way to work itself out, though, as Litecoin is on everybodys mind right now.
The popular cryptocurrency locked in the activation of SegWit not too long ago. That in itself is quite a major boon for this popular currency. Bitcoin is trying to get SegWit activated too, yet keeps meeting opposition from miners. However, the impending activation of Segregated Witness has done wonders for the LTC price. In fact, the Litecoin value has increased by 700% so far.
That gain cannot only be attributed to the SegWit activation locking in, though. Coinbase, a very popular US-based cryptocurrency exchange, enabled Litecoin support as well. This, in turn, has given the Litecoin value another boost upward. It looks like LTC is well underway to surpass US$30 again. It is hard to tell where this will end, although a value of US$50 is not out of the question.
At the same time, one has to keep in mind Litecoin does not have the same issues bitcoin has. Litecoin never had full blocks to begin with, whereas it is very common on the Bitcoin network. There is also a lack of demand when it comes to Litecoin, especially from a merchant and consumer point of view. These are all issues that can be addressed quickly, though. However, the question becomes whether or not the Litecoin value can maintain this trend in the long run.
In the end, a lot of people still look at Litecoin as a Bitcoin testbed. Any development changes failing to gain traction can be ported to Litecoin to see how well they do. A lot of people will keep an eye on the SegWit malleability fix and how it affects Litecoin. These are still exciting times to be involved in altcoins, though. Anyone holding LTC may see the Litecoin value increase a bit further these coming weeks.
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Litecoin Value Increases by 700% As Politics Still Prevent Bitcoin From Scaling - newsBTC
Florida criminals who use bitcoins could now face money laundering charges – Miami Herald
Miami Herald | Florida criminals who use bitcoins could now face money laundering charges Miami Herald Criminals who use the virtual currency known as Bitcoin can be convicted of money laundering under a Florida law passed by lawmakers late on Friday. Both houses approved the bill, which now heads to the desk of Gov. Rick Scott for approval. Lawmakers ... Florida Legislators Pass Bill that Targets Bitcoin-Wielding Cyber Criminals |
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Florida criminals who use bitcoins could now face money laundering charges - Miami Herald
Bitcoin breaks records again, this time above $1500 – Mashable
Mashable | Bitcoin breaks records again, this time above $1500 Mashable The price of the cryptocurrency broke $1,500 this week a huge milestone for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The $1,500 price put the total value of the cryptocurrency market above $40 billion, MarketWatch reported. Bitcoin started off 2017 ... 'Digital Gold': Cryptocurrencies Soar as Investors Swap Dollars for Bitcoins The Present and Future Growth of Bitcoin Industry in India Brexit And French Election Uncertainty Is Boosting Bitcoin Higher |
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Bitcoin breaks records again, this time above $1500 - Mashable
The Second Wave of Bitcoin Price Growth May Just Be Beginning – CoinDesk
Willy Woo is an entrepreneur, investor, trader and cryptocurrency enthusiast.
In this guest feature, Woo breaks down recent developments in the bitcoin markets, arguing that with a trading band broken, the cryptocurrency could be entering a new phase of maturity.
Something interesting has been happening the last couple of weeks.
I'm pretty well connected to a lot of veterans in crypto, and independently, we've all been fielding inquiries from smart money investors, the non-technical types who are now ready for a hedge instrument against global uncertainty.
Our basic conclusion is that what we're seeing right now is a whole lot of new money coming into the cryptocurrency markets.
Some have been perplexed with thisunprecedentedrise, and it's easy to see why. Thetotal market cap of the space is now $46.5bn, a figure that's up roughly 50% over the last few weeks.
That might seem simplistic, but it's also coinciding with a lot of uncertainty in Europe.
On Sunday, 7th May, we will see the outcome of elections in France. Of the two candidates, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, Len Pen is for France leaving the European Union. Should this happen, it could signal the start of an EU breakup.
Now, Le Pen is considered a long shot, similar to President Donald Trump in the US elections last year, but we know what happened there. Savvy investors have been looking for hedges, and now new money is moving into cryptocurrency. But, new money is also flowing from bitcoin intoalternative cryptocurrencies.
So-called "altcoins" are getting the benefits of bitcoin's two-year stalemate on scaling, so the amount of money fallingout significant. Now, it's important to understand that altcoins markets, with the exception of ethereum's ether token, are thinly traded. This means that for every $1going into altcoins, their markets rise disproportionally compared to bitcoin's deeply traded market.
This adds an amplifier to the altcoin market cap rise.
Really, the big clue to this situationis bitcoin and ethereum are both rising at the same time when we typically see asee-saw action. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is evidence that new money is coming into the system.
Another less-discussed development is that bitcoin broke out of its long-time trading channel yesterday.
This is significant, as the channel has held for a multi-year timeframe.
It's now carving out new all-time highs without a channel resistance to hold it down. In this situation, all bets are off.
Since there are no historical resistance points, we default to Fibonacci levels,derived off the golden ratio numbers that traders use to find support and resistance levels. Our next Fibonaccilevel is $1,717, which will act as resistance. While it is entirely possible that we could see a run up to this price if the buying frenzy continues, we are seeing a dip as the market overheats.
I suspect some of the current dip may have been from election speculators taking profits before the final outcome.
So, we are faced with a situation similar to our March ETF decision.
If Le Pen wins, bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets will have a very strong run ahead of it. On a Le Pen defeat, I suspect we may get a moderate retrace and consolidation before resuming its upward momentum. (I can't see the new influx of new money slowing down, a Le Pen defeat does not solve the EU's financial uncertainty.)
Further, looking back at Google search trends, we are not in a hype cycle as yet.
This further supports the notion that it's a moderate population of high net-worth investors entering with sufficient money to push these markets up significantly.
I would say wave two of bitcoin has begun. In wave one, investors were technically proficient. In wave two, investors will be non-technical, but savvy in traditional markets. Wave three will be the general public.
I've estimated this will begin in two years when bitcoin's peak 60-day volatility dips below 5%. At this level, it will begin to compete with national currencies in price stability.
And who wouldn't consider bitcoin as an alternative cash account that generates a relatively smooth return of 100% per annum? This is the long-term historical price trend driven by a doubling of users per year.
So, despite the confusion, the fundamental drivers of this bitcoin rally are solid. Unlike in 2013, we may not see a pullback this time around.
New beginning image via Shutterstock
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, CoinDesk.
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The Second Wave of Bitcoin Price Growth May Just Be Beginning - CoinDesk
Bitcoin surpasses $1500 milestone – MarketWatch
Bitcoin sailed past the $1,500 mark on Thursday, pushing the total value of the digital-currency market above $40 billion for the first time.
Litecoin, another prominent bitcoin rival, advanced 22% to $25, its highest level in more than three years, after Coinbase, one of the most popular digital-currency exchanges in the U.S., enabled trading in the cryptocurrency.
The top 14 most heavily traded digital currencies have all realized astounding gains over the past month as investors who have booked large profits trading bitcoin and rival Ethereum have sought to diversify and increase their chances of cashing in on the next big cryptocurrency rally, according to Chris Dannen, founder of Iterative Instinct a New York-based cryptocurrency venture fund.
Not only are the smaller coins obscure and cheap, but they represent a chance to get those huge returns all over again, Dannen said.
The price of a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +3.59% has more than tripled since the beginning of 2016, when it traded around $450. It peaked at $1,589 on Thursday, according to the CoinDesk bitcoin price index. One ether token traded at $90.95. Dash, the fifth most popular token, traded at $96.
Bitcoins advance has coincided with its growing acceptance by regulators. A law passed by Japanese lawmakers earlier this year that allows financial institutions to participate in the digital-currency market took effect in April.
Also, regulators in Russia and India have signaled their willingness to legalize bitcoin and its peers.
However, bitcoin trading volume in China, once its largest market, plunged after authorities forced the largest exchanges in the country to institute transaction fees and halt withdrawals until they could upgrade their anti-money-laundering systems. New rules require exchanges based in China to verify customers identities.
In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected two proposals that would have led to the creation of bitcoin-focused exchange-traded funds. But the decision elicited only a brief dip in the bitcoin price.
The SEC has since said it would review its March 10 decision that effectively killed the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust. Grayscales proposal to allow its Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchanges ETF platform is currently being reviewed, but a decision isnt imminent.
The value of cryptocurrencies, however, have varied dramatically between exchanges, prompting Charles Hayter, the chief executive officer and founder of Cryptocompare, to worry about a possible pullback.
On Bitfinex, one of the largest digital currency exchanges in the world, customers paid a $100 premium as they scrambled to move their assets off its platform. The exchange announced two weeks ago that it would temporarily suspend dollar withdrawals after it was effectively cut off from the financial system.
Cryptos have hit a period of volatility as the markets have become dislocated. Prices on exchanges are showing huge discrepancies in terms of pricing and arbitrage is rife, Hayter said.
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Bitcoin surpasses $1500 milestone - MarketWatch
Bitcoin just soared to a new $1,600 high but the first investor in … – Yahoo Finance
(Jeremy Liew.Getty) Bitcoin has been the top-performing currency in the world in six of the past seven years, climbing from zero to a new high value of about $1,600.
But the cryptocurrency isn't anywhere close to its potential, according to Jeremy Liew, the first investor in Snapchat, and Peter Smith, the CEO and cofounder of Blockchain.
In a presentation sent to Business Insider, the duo laid out their case for bitcoin exploding to $500,000 by 2030.
Their argument is based on increased interest in bitcoin, thanks to:
Remittance transfers, or electronic money transfers to foreign countries, have almost doubled over the past 15 years to 0.76% of gross world product, data from the World Bank shows.
"Expats sending money home have found in bitcoin an inexpensive alternative, and we assume that the percentage of bitcoin-based remittances will sharply increase with greater bitcoin awareness," the two said.
Liew and Smith said increased political uncertainty in the UK, US, and developing nations would help elevate the level of interest in bitcoin.
"We believe bitcoin awareness, high liquidity, ease of transport, and continued market outperformance as geopolitical risks mount will make bitcoin a strong contender for investment at a consumer and investor level," the two said.
Liew and Smith said the percentage of noncash transactions would climb from 15% to 30% in the next 10 years as the world becomes more connected through smartphones.
The global smartphone penetration rate is 63%, and the total number of smartphone users is expected to increase by 1 billion by 2020. The GSMA, a trade body that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, says 90% of these users will come from developing countries.
This would make it possible for nearly everyone to have a bank in their pocket, and that should provide a boost for bitcoin as well. Liew and Smith say bitcoin could account for 50% of all noncash transactions.
Here are the basic model drivers Liew and Smith used:
Bitcoin's user network grew from 120,000 users in 2013 to 6.5 million users in 2017, or by a factor of about 54, and this could be just the beginning. Growth of that magnitude would mean 400 million users in 2030.
But a lot could go wrong, too. News surrounding bitcoin has been rather negative as of late.
China, which is responsible for nearly 100% of trading in bitcoin, has been cracking down on trading. The three biggest exchanges recently announced a 0.2% fee on all transactions and blocked withdrawals from trading accounts.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission also rejected two bitcoin exchange-traded funds and will rule on another one in the future. It's not expected to be approved.
However, Smith says bitcoin is still in its early stages.
"The SEC's ruling wasn't a surprise to us," he told Business Insider. He said that "getting that sort of approval" could take a long time.
"In the meantime, bitcoin is already simple to buy and hold, and as the asset continues to mature, we'll continue to see an increase in the development and deployment of surrounding products," he said.
(Markets Insider)
And while bitcoin hasn't been granted regulatory approval in the US, it is catching on elsewhere. On April 1, the cryptocurrency became a legal payment method in Japan.
Another threat to its future is developers who are threatening to set up a "hard fork," or alternative marketplace for bitcoin. This would result in the split of into bitcoin and bitcoin unlimited. However, Smith isn't worried.
"Bitcoin has strong economic incentives to prevent this," he said. "If the last two years of healthy contention and debate lead to a conclusion, it's that bitcoin is incredibly resilient and stable. In fact, the bitcoin blockchain has operated for seven-plus years with no downtime, a feat no other back-end system operating at this scale can claim."
But the cryptocurrency sees violent price swings uncommon among the more traditional currencies. Bitcoin rallied 20% in the first week of 2017 before crashing 35% on word that China was cracking down on trading.
The cryptocurrency has regained those losses and is trading up about 67% so far this year.
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Bitcoin just soared to a new $1,600 high but the first investor in ... - Yahoo Finance
Coinbase adds support for Litecoin – TechCrunch
TechCrunch | Coinbase adds support for Litecoin TechCrunch At the time, the reasoning was that Coinbase saw Ethereum's focus on smart contracts as a tangible improvement over Bitcoin, and not just another alt-coin that doesn't serve any real function. So why Litecoin? Interestingly, Litecoin's creator, Charlie ... |
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Coinbase adds support for Litecoin - TechCrunch
The Surprising Reasons For Bitcoin’s Rising Price – Investopedia
Investopedia | The Surprising Reasons For Bitcoin's Rising Price Investopedia The price of Bitcoin went up by over 210% during the past year, trading from about $450 in mid-2016 to record-breaking levels of $1,400 in May 2017. In the eight years since its founding, Bitcoin has braved skepticism, rejection, and experienced ... Here's Why Russia Opens The Door To Cryptocurrencies |
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The Surprising Reasons For Bitcoin's Rising Price - Investopedia
Did Sean Spicer Tweet a Nefarious Bitcoin Address in January? – Gizmodo
Press Secretary Sean Spicer had a tough day today. If you listen to the feckless mainstream media, he ran from the White House press corps this afternoon in order to avoid questions about bizarre interviews Trump has been giving. But, if you listen to the #russiagate sleuths, he ran because the lid had been blown off of his bitcoin conspiracy.
Back in January, Spicer was widely ridiculed for tweeting and quickly deleting two strings of characters that looked like they might be a password. Because Spicer is such a bumbling joke, the press shrugged and moved on. Until yesterday, that is. Conspiracy theorist Louise Menschs blog Patribotics ran a story by Laurelai Bailey that asserted the characters werent a password but a bitcoin address. Or, at least thats what the headline said, the body of the post used the term, identity confirmation code.
Bailey found the text of one of the tweets (n9y25ah7) was actually connected to a bitcoin transaction that occurred on the same day that Spicer sent out his non-sensical second tweet. She found that an account numbered 19FkmhHEzgCXKfALXhahuCTDVcRnxT41MK sent $1.13 worth of bitcoin to an account numbered 1MNDjuPfXt3B66cWPaC17qFLkwd3usufT5 on January 26th. If youre like me, as soon as you saw those long strings of numbers you zoned out and youd pretty much believe anything anyone said about the transaction.
Heres what Bailey believes this means:
The money came to the sending account 3 days before, for the exact sum of 1.14 USD at the time of this writing, .01 USD was used for the transaction itself.
So Sean Spicer bought something with bitcoin, as himself. He wanted the people selling to him to know exactly who he was. It was probably some kind of verification code.
What he was buying with the bitcoin is anyones guess at this point. The low amount of money involved makes it seem extra strange. The address that received the bitcoin to also gained 3 more payments on march 3rd, very large payments. Over $22,000 dollars worth.
Bitcoin is confusing as heck, but this seems weird at the very least. Luckily, some people who understand bitcoin have taken to their blogs to clarify whats going on here.
Jimmy Song and Christopher Boule both have histories with bitcoin development and regularly write about cryptocurrency. They separately wrote up posts with the same explanation following the publication of Baileys theory. Id say Songs write up is the clearest. He starts by explaining that the page that Bailey is pointing to which contains the cryptic text from Spicers tweet is a service called Bitsig. You can read about how Bitsig works right here, but in a nutshell, its a service that allows you to timestamp data utilizing the bitcoin block chain. Song explains:
The purpose of Bitsig is simply to record some data and prove that such data existed at a certain point in time. They do this a little differently than proofofexistence.com by utilizing brain wallets. Essentially, they take a string, do some deterministic process on it to generate a private key. That private key then can generate a Bitcoin address which anyone can send money to. The company sweeps the money out of the address afterward.
The most important thing to understand is that Bitsig is a service that allows you to use bitcoin to record a timestamp. In this case, someone wanted to record a timestamp for the characters n9y25ah7. The thing is, the timestamp on this Bitsig record was 21:57:19 UTC or 5:57pm EST. Spicers tweet went out at 8:42am that day and quickly went viral. The point is that this was most likely someone having a laugh or trying to create some sort of false evidence or god knows what. As Song puts it, Baileys analysis is akin to finding that someone played last nights winning lottery numbers today and extracting meaning from it. Just to prove that anyone could do this, Bouzy recreated the transaction himself yesterday with the same characters. Its also worth noting that there is no Bitsig record for Aqenbpuu, Spicers other random tweet.
So, yeah, the bitcoin lead is probably nothing and well probably never know what that whole butt dial tweet thing really was. Personally, I like a good conspiracy theory, but this ones so simple that people might believe it and complicated to the point that they wouldnt understand it. The theory is already picking up and others are hot on the trail of this mystery. Check out this PDF I found that follows the bitcoin address that sent the Spicer tweet string through numerous other transactions and accounts. It basically plays six degrees of separation until it lands on an account that has received $5 billion.
The real question is, is it just a coincidence that all of this went down two days after someone created a website that lets you send Sean Spicer Dippin Dots and pay with bitcoin?
[Patribotics, Christopher Bouzy, Jimmy Song]
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Did Sean Spicer Tweet a Nefarious Bitcoin Address in January? - Gizmodo