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http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/bitcoin-gets-a-cautious-nod-from-chinas-central-bank/Speaking at an economic forum on Wednesday, Yi Gang, the deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China and director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said that it would be impossible for China’s central bank to recognize the Bitcoin as a legitimate financial instrument in the near future. But, Mr. Yi added, people are free to participate in the Bitcoin market and he would personally adopt a long-term perspective on the currency.
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http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303789604579195773841529160Bitcoin's price vaulted above $400 on the Mt. Gox exchange on Wednesday, touching a record as the virtual currency continues to be buoyed by growth in China, limited supply and new investment products driving demand.
Bitcoin is a four-year-old virtual currency that isn't backed by a central bank and can be traded on a number of exchanges or swapped privately. A growing number of merchants also accept bitcoin as payment for goods and services, because the transaction costs associated with the currency are generally cheaper than those with credit cards or debit cards.
Bitcoin's price has been extremely volatile. The virtual currency started the year trading at $13.55. In April, it touched a then-record high of about $265 as interest in the currency continued to build. But in early October it fell back to about $90 in the wake of the bust of an online drug-trafficking website that used the currency. On Wednesday morning, it was recently trading at a high of $419.99.
There are a number of factors driving the virtual currency, according to Nicholas Colas, a market strategist at New York based global brokerage company ConvergEx Group.
He says Bitcoin's price is continuing to benefit from a bitcoin investment trust started in September by Second Market, the New York-based business known for trading pre-IPO company stock. Mr. Colas notes the trust has been "very popular."
The trust invests solely in the digital currency, and according to Mr. Colas is beginning to help lend bitcoin credibility among more traditional investors.
Another factor driving bitcoin's price higher is more interest from China, says Mr. Colas, who notes the biggest bitcoin exchange is now in China. The currency continues to see a boost from Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc., BIDU +1.02% which started accepting bitcoin as a payment method for its online security and firewall services in mid-October.
In a note to clients earlier this month, Mr. Colas also highlighted bitcoin's limited supply as further driving interest in the virtual currency. "Why is bitcoin seemingly minted on Teflon?" he wrote. "There will never be more than 21 million bitcoins, and there are only 12.0 million currently."
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For all its weird politics and bad press, Bitcoin may just be the most ingenious system ever created for settling online transactions. Done right, it could put small ecommerce sites on a level playing field with the likes of Amazon and Apple. Instead of running from Bitcoin, we should commandeer it from the radicals and make it work for the rest of us. http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/10/bitcoin/ |
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The bitcoin industry still has some way to evolve and some “adult supervision” in the form of regulation is necessary to bring digital currencies to the mainstream – they were the main points of agreement between a panel featuring CoinDesk’s own founder Shakil Khan, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt Europe 2013 Conference in Berlin from October 26-29.
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Joining Khan on the panel were investor Michael Jackson of Mangrove Capital and Nejc Kodrič, co-founder and CEO of popular bitcoin exchange Bitstamp. Bitcoin companies were all part of a three-wave or generation process. The first wave of bitcoin-related businesses has already been shut down, and some operators may even go to jail. The second generation is the current one, with Mt. Gox and upstarts arriving to challenge its dominance.
The third generation would arrive soon, said Khan, predicting Q1 next year or or even in the next couple of months. This wave would see the entry of serious and seasoned startup professionals, who have already experienced big companies and big exits.
“I’m looking more forward to the next wave of companies. There are teams of entrepreneurs with tier A VCs, with lawyers, with regulators, sitting in rooms around the world, thinking how do we launch the next generation of digital currency companies. I think that’s where the opportunity is. We’re still very, very early in this journey.” http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-third-wave-startups-regulation/ |
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Article with a current overview on bitcoin. http://www.theweek.co.uk/prosper/55774/bitcoin-booms-again-could-you-still-coin-itDigital currency has had ups and downs, but more investors are taking the plunge
Clearly, this is a highly speculative market - don't risk punting anything you cannot afford to lose - but it's probably worth a taster. Given the strength of the current price, it might make sense to hold back for a drop. But if we're in for another bout of brinkmanship on Capitol Hill in January, you might be in a position to bank a nice little New Year profit.
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http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/bitcoin-could-become-viable-currency-163337407.htmlThe decentralized electronic crypto-currency has risen 15 fold relative to the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year, from $13.30 on December 31 to $205.50 on October 22, its highest price since April.
This extreme momentum is fueled by speculators betting on huge upside in the event bitcoin continues to get adopted by more businesses and over time evolves into an accepted means of exchange. The resulting bullish price behavior has then attracted traders who observe the rise and pile in, expecting the trend to continue. Finally, the upside is exacerbated by illiquidity, or the limited bitcoin supply.
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Article with a small interview with the CEO of BTC China. http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/10/btc-china/The exchange, called BTC China, has been growing rapidly for the past few months as demand for bitcoins has surged. Today, BTC China accounts for just under 33 percent of trades. That’s ahead of long-time bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox (23 percent) and another rival, the Slovenia-based BitStamp (25 percent). Mt. Gox has long been the most popular exchange — and the most well known — but it has now fallen behind not one but two rivals. |
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