[Ross Ulbricht’s 144,336 Bitcoins]

Ross Ulbricht’s 144,336 Bitcoins

Ross Ulbricht attorney, Paul Grant, refers to stipulation of federal government seizure as a “sad day for justice” and a “boon for the federal government’s on-going war against privacy and civil rights.”

48 Million USD Released to Federal Law Enforcement

From Colorado, Paul Grant, criminal and civil defense attorney for Ross Ulbricht, sighed when reached by phone Monday afternoon, “It’s over. This part of Ross’ struggle, his fight, is over.”

Mr. Grant is referring to a United States District Court Southern District, New York, online publication of the civil asset and forfeiture stipulation and order agreed to by Mr. Ulbricht.

On it is Ross Ulbricht’s signature just below that of Assistant United States Attorney Christine Magno’s (Ms. Magno declined comment by phone, referring Bitcoin News to the division’s formal press office), and both rest below the heading “AGREED AND CONSENTED TO,” effectively ceding nearly 50 million USD to the federal government.

Questions to Acting United States Attorney Joon H. Kim’s press representative, Nicholas Biase, were unanswered as of publication time.

Mr. Kim’s press release, touting its windfall, clumsily recounted widely disseminated basics of the case while managing to spell Mr. Ulbricht’s last name incorrectly just prior to listing “statements made during other public proceedings, and other court documents.”

Curiously, there was no mention of the two undercover federal agents serving time for their crimes committed during the Ulbricht case.

“And there is no reason to believe that all of their illegally obtained assets have been recovered,” Mr. Grant incredulously laughed. “There is also no reason to think that all of the government corruption in this case has been revealed or that it will ever be known.”

No Goodwill Earned

Readers wondering why Mr. Ulbricht would cooperate in such a manner, especially considering the extremity of his sentence, his attorney stresses how “Ross needed to get this behind him. He has so many other battles at the moment, not least of which is appealing to lessen his time.”

        “Ross agreeing to settle this case makes it go away,” Mr. Grant emphasized. “He has too many other battles to fight at this point, battles to find some way to recover his liberty.”

When asked if Mr. Ulbricht’s concession might gain him preferable consideration in higher courts, Mr. Grant answered, “Absolutely not. Not even in the slightest. What this does is free up resources and energy for the larger picture.”

“Ross’ family,” Mr. Grant continued, “is seeking all possible avenues” to get Mr. Ulbricht out from under a life term. He urged readers interested in supporting Ross Ulbricht’s appeal efforts to patronize a website run by the Ulbricht family, FREE ROSS.

Not Giving Up

“It’s a sad day. Sad day for justice anytime the federal government takes away private property under the color of law,” Mr. Grant said.

“Ross agreeing to settle this case makes it go away,” Mr. Grant emphasized. “He has too many other battles to fight at this point, battles to find some way to recover his liberty.”

From the initial prosecution to the sentencing and to now the civil order, every aspect of Ross Ulbricht’s case seems exaggerated, unusually large.

Asked where all that money would eventually end up, Mr. Grant explained it “will be used by various law enforcement agencies to further efforts to surveil citizens, enforce the drug laws, and provide agencies with the latest in technology.”

The Supreme Court appeal will be handled by another firm, as yet named.

“No one is giving up. Ross is not giving up. The Ulbricht family is not giving up,” Mr. Grant emphatically declared by phone.



Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/ross-ulbrichts-144336-bitcoins/

[With Bitcoin’s Price Above $6000 USD, Satoshi Nakamoto Should Be on Forbes’ Rich List]

With Bitcoin’s Price Above $6000 USD, Satoshi Nakamoto Should Be on Forbes’ Rich List

Bitcoin’s recent spike above $6000 USD has elevated the estimated value of Satoshi Nakamoto’s holdings to more than $6 billion USD, qualifying the anonymous creator of bitcoin for Forbes’ list of richest individuals. At current bitcoin prices, Satoshi Nakamoto’s estimated 1,000,000 bitcoins would place bitcoin’s founder at number 237 on Forbes’ list.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Stash Is Worth Approximately $5.978 Billion USD

The value of Satoshi Nakamoto’s estimated 1,000,000 bitcoins would place the anonymous creator on Forbes’ list of wealthiest individuals. Based on the estimated value of Satoshi’s holdings, which at the time of writing is approximately $6.1 billion USD, Nakamoto would be ranked number 237 on Forbes’ list.

Satoshi would be tied for 237th with South African business tycoon Johann Rupert, and Swedish heir and businessman Jorn Rausing. Nakamoto would be ranked higher than Alibaba’s Joseph Tsai, Australian mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forest, and Walmart heiress Ann Walkton Kroenke.

Satoshi is estimated to own approximately 5.89% of the more than 16.6 million bitcoins that are currently in circulation. The largest single bitcoin wallet is Bitfinex’s cold storage wallet, which currently holds over 168,000 bitcoins, or 1% of the total supply. The largest bitcoin wallet was previously owned by the U.S. government, after the FBI seized 144,336 bitcoins from anonymous free market The Silk Road.
With Prices Above $6000 USD, the Total Market Capitalization of Bitcoin Has Surpassed $100 Billion USD

At the time of writing, Bitcoin boasts a market cap of approximately $102 billion USD. If bitcoin were a company, it would be the 73rd largest by market cap, ranking higher than Goldman Sachs, China Petroleum & Chemical, and Bayer.

With Bitcoin's Price Above $6000 USD, Satoshi Nakamoto Should Be on Forbes' Rich List

Whilst bitcoin’s total market capitalization has grown by more than 8% since October 15, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has contracted by approximately 1% – having fallen from $175.2 billion USD to $173.4 billion USD during the same period. This decline in the market capitalization of all cryptocurrency markets indicates that bitcoin is regaining its market dominance relative to altcoins, with bitcoin currently accounting for more than 59.1% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization – compared to 54.4% on October 15. This regained market dominance may have been caused by traders shifting their capital into bitcoin following bitcoin’s establishment of new all-time highs above the preceding resistance of $5000 USD.





Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/with-bitcoins-price-above-6000-usd-satoshi-nakamoto-should-be-on-forbes-rich-list/

One of the operators of the now-defunct bitcoin exchange Coin.mx has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.

According to a Reuters report, Florida-based software engineer Yuri Lebedev had been found guilty of helping run the unlicensed bitcoin exchange. His sentencing – handed down by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan – came more than two years after he was initially arrested and charged with violating U.S. money laundering statutes.

Along with Lebedev, Pastor Trevon Gross was convicted in March, though in the case of Gross, he was charged with bribery in connection with a now-shuttered New Jersey credit union that was allegedly used to channel funds from Coin.mx overseas.

According to the prosecutors in the case, Lebedev helped arrange bribes to Gross, including $150,000 in donations to his church. Gross is expected to be sentenced later this month.

Bloomberg reports that Judge Nathan said Lebedev used his "impressive technology skills" in order to avoid detection. Lebedev's attorney, Eric Creizman, described him in court as an "unlikely criminal defendant."

The Florida-based bitcoin exchange Coin.mx was operated as a so-called "Collectibles Club" in order to obscure its exchange activities. Prosecutors had previously tied the exchange to a broader cybercrime enterprise, arguing that Coin.mx served as as a clearing house for funds derived from various criminal activities including a hack on JPMorgan Chase.

Another Coin.mx operator, Anthony Murgio, was arrested and charged, along with Lebedev, in 2015. Murgio pled guilty earlier this year on three charges, including one count of wilfull failure to file a suspicious activity report, and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison in June.



Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-exchange-operator-given-16-month-prison-sentence/

[Abra founder and CEO Bill Barhydt]

Bitcoin startup Abra has completed a $16 million Series B led by manufacturing giant Foxconn.

Announced today at the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas, the new capital brings Abra's total funding to more than $30 million. Other participants in the round include new investors Silver8 Capital and Ignia, as well as previous Abra backers Arbor Ventures, American Express, Jungle Ventures, Lehrer Hippeau and RRE.

However, just as notable is that the round marks Foxconn's first investment in a bitcoin-focused firm.

While, previously, Foxconn has tested blockchain technology for supply chain management, its investment in Abra shows a new willingness for the company – best known as the manufacturer of Apple's iPhone – to embrace other potential use cases. Since Abra is a purveyor of a bitcoin remittance app, the investment could be read as a business-to-consumer and financial inclusion play.

Still, Abra founder and CEO Bill Barhydt was quick to note that he envisions his company's technology as having broader implications, including those that might be of interest to large manufacturing firms.

Armed with a platform that enables bitcoin micropayments and smart contracts, Barhydt went so far as to project that Abra's technology can underpin a new type of consumer credit product. In this vision, makers of refrigerators, televisions and more could lease appliances to people who may not want to pay the full value upfront – with blockchain technology giving consumers an incentive to make installment payments.

Barhydt told CoinDesk:

    "We foresee a whole new market growing in this area of consumer asset finance."

To be sure, the idea of smart contract-connected IoT appliances has been talked about for years, with little to show for it so far. Further, Foxconn's investment is just that, and no manufacturer has yet committed to testing out Barhydt's idea.

But Foxconn finds it compelling. Jack Lee, a founder and managing partner at HCM International, the manufacturer's venture capital arm, said he believes that Abra could usher in what he called a "new era" of financial inclusion via solutions like credit services.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Lee added that, from a business perspective, "companies can make more money from delivering the [financial] service than just from making margins on the hardware."

Also boding well for the leasing concept is the fact that, in addition to its contract work for companies like Apple, Foxconn also owns Sharp, the consumer home appliance brand.

"I'd hope they'd be one of the first [to try it]," Barhydt said.

Broader horizons

But while ambitious, the plans are not without precedent.

Barhydt's new vision was inspired by his travels in Africa, where he saw how solar companies were integrating products into mobile money systems like Kenya's M-Pesa by embedding cellular modems in hardware. If the consumers made weekly payments, solar lanterns worked; if not, they would be remotely shut off.

This pay-as-you-go "jukebox model," as Barhydt calls it, has made solar more widely affordable.

Bitcoin, Barhydt contends, enables replication of that consumer financing model on a global scale, for a broader range of consumer asset purchases – particularly when used in the background the way Abra does. While consumers who use Abra's flagship payment app can hold balances in local fiat currencies (it's actually bitcoin, hedged with smart contracts), transfers between wallets ride on bitcoin's rails, which know no borders.

That global reach would enable manufacturers to offer this kind of digitized credit to consumers in more places, Barhydt said.

"If I want to ship a device anywhere in the world without having to modify the device or create limitations on where the device can be shipped, I need a guaranteed payment vehicle that would work in any country," he said, adding:

    "I believe Abra and the way we use bitcoin solves that problem. The alternative is to figure out a country-by-country payment model."

Tech uncertainty

Of course, this new consumer credit use case depends on bitcoin being able to resolve its longstanding scaling challenges and hold down network transaction fees so that regular, small payments become viable.

Barhydt readily acknowledged this big "if."

"Everything I’m saying assumes that bitcoin scales correctly," he said.

In the short term, this means Barhydt believes bitcoin needs the capacity benefits from a block size increase, and that he favors the contentious Segwit2x hard fork expected in mid-November.

Still, despite the uncertainties surrounding bitcoin, Barhydt said he considers the protocol "uniquely qualified" to execute the kind of smart contracts Abra already uses for payments and investment products and that it now hopes to pioneer for consumer asset finance.

Even though ethereum, unlike bitcoin, was designed specifically for smart contracts, "there's still a lot of security issues" with that protocol, he said.

Moreover, Abra's smart contracts basically boil down to moving value from A to B under certain conditions, which is simple enough for bitcoin to handle, Barhydt said.

"If I needed some Turing-complete smart contract to fill my vision, then bitcoin would probably be hard to do," he said. "The reason we trust bitcoin in the scenario I described is that it doesn’t require bitcoin to do a lot, it just requires it to do it really well."

Barhydt concluded:

    "Bitcoin is not hacked because it doesn't do much. And that's a good thing”



Source: https://www.coindesk.com/abra-bitcoin-16-million-series-b-foxconn/

[Protecting money]

Hard forks have earned a bit of a bad name.

Long portrayed as dangerous (or at least disruptive), the mechanism is also one of the more intuitive for upgrading blockchains. Quite simply, since blockchains are built on common rules, it can seem like the easiest way to improve them is to introduce new rules (or change existing ones) – and that's exactly what hard forks, one type of a wider variety of forks, seek to do.

But as developers have learned the hard way, executing them is a challenge.

So, while best practices have come a long way since a hard fork unexpectedly split ethereum's blockchain in two last summer, developers are still seeking a better understanding of the process, studying its nuances and testing how to execute safely.

That said, not all blockchains struggle with the transition. The anonymous cryptocurrency monero carries out hard forks on a regular schedule and even cryptocurrency developers who some view as more conservative agree the mechanism might have a place in the future.

Bitcoin cash, for example, successfully split off from bitcoin in August, with relatively few problems for the network's many users. Now, at least two bitcoin hard forks are on the way – both of which will take place in the next two months.

But while hard forks are growing more common, developers haven't stopped debating under what conditions they are safest to use – and how to mitigate their less-than-desirable side effects.

In ethereum's case last year, users and companies lost money because of the resulting "replay attacks" that exploited the sudden creation of two chains.

So, with demand for the mechanism increasing, developers from across the ecosystem are working to make hard forks smoother and safer, in an effort to ensure that users don't lose any funds or faith in the networks that protect them.

Protecting money

One issue is that the "right" way to execute a hard fork isn't so cut and dry.

The problem is that when a blockchain splits in two, users – and the software they use – can get confused about which cryptocurrency to follow. One example of this confusion is referred to as a "replay attack," where users can accidentally send cryptocurrencies on two blockchains when they only meant to send funds on one.

Bitcoin cash, bitcoin's first hard fork in August, made a change that protects against this problem and bitcoin gold, another upcoming hard fork with goals opposite to bitcoin cash, claims it will add replay protection also.

Still, different developers have different ideas of the best way to deal with these attacks. The developers behind Segwit2x, perhaps the best-known proposed hard fork (since it's garnered support from many bitcoin industry leaders), have flipped back and forth on the topic.

Developers behind the controversial proposal maintain that the hard fork will become the new bitcoin and that implementing protection would deter the project since users will have to take the extra step to upgrade their software.

Post-fork confusion

Meanwhile, others argue that adding protection against replay attacks will ensure users don't get confused and accidentally lose money.

BitGo engineer Mark Erhardt (aka Murch) explained that since bitcoin cash is a copy of bitcoin in many ways, it uses the same address format. Since the addresses are of the same type, it's possible to send bitcoin between the two networks, where they then get stuck.

Murch, who leads moderation of Bitcoin Stack Exchange, an active forum to ask technical questions about the protocol, mentioned that he's seen "numerous questions" about this issue from users who accidentally sent funds to the wrong network.

If users send bitcoin cash to a bitcoin address, it's possible to recover funds by importing the corresponding bitcoin private key into a bitcoin cash wallet. On the other hand, if a bitcoin cash user sends bitcoin cash to a bitcoin SegWit address, it might be "lost altogether," he said.

Murch said that he thinks this confusion with bitcoin cash is a sign of what could come in future hard forks, like the one in November.

"There will be numerous incidents of users sending funds accidentally on both chains or from addresses of one chain to the other," he told CoinDesk, adding that one way to get rid of this problem would be for future forks to use a different address format.

"I am expecting a significant increase in support requests," he added.

Governance questions

Still, what's been less discussed is that there might be a way of wiping this attack vector away entirely.

Bitcoin Core contributor Luke Dashjr recently reintroduced a proposal that would make bitcoin naturally resistant to replay attacks, "hopefully ending the whole argument," he wrote.

This sort of development takes time, though, and will require a couple of different changes to bitcoin.

Dashjr told CoinDesk that he thinks the change is "not likely" to be implemented in time for the Segwit2x fork in November, although it might be implemented some day in the future. At least, if the bitcoin hard forks continue.

Then there are also broader governance questions and concerns.

You could say that this makes up the bulk of the argument around Segwit2x, as each side frames the debate as a power struggle for control of the technical direction of bitcoin. And there is a broader worry that hard forks could make certain groups more influential in systems where no one is supposed to have power.

These questions came to light in recent discussions among developers of MimbleWimble, as its developers plan to finally put its novel cryptographic tricks into practice by launching a new blockchain next year.

In the early stages, the developers are still working out the code and cryptography, so they are mulling over the idea of allowing hard forks for a short grace period, as a safeguard against unexpected technical problems that might pop up soon after the launch.

"We're a young project and we may make mistakes both with technical and governance rules," MimbleWimble lead developer Igno Peverell told CoinDesk.

The developer suggested a novel approach, though: putting an end to the upgrading mechanism after two years.

Some were skeptical of the idea. Blockstream mathematician Andrew Poelstra, one of the earliest MimbleWimble advocates, argued that hard forks pose a "centralization" risk and there's "rarely a need" to use one.

After expressing those concerns, though, he hinted that the best approach might not be so black-and-white, seeming open to the idea of limiting developers' ability to execute the type of upgrade to a shorter time frame.

He wrote:

    "I like the idea of being clear upfront that the 'early days' won't last forever."



Source: https://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-forks-rage-will-ever-safe/

[What is bitcoin gold?]

Anyone who owns bitcoin will soon be able to receive a new cryptocurrency.

As of block 491,407 on the bitcoin blockchain, another alternative version of the protocol will be launched, resulting in a variant that's being branded bitcoin gold (BTG).

The project, which seeks to improve bitcoin's technology by changing how its competition for rewards is conducted, is the second to launch since August via an increasingly common process called a "hard fork."

Readers may remember the term from the launch of bitcoin cash, the alternative version of the bitcoin protocol that spurred global headlines for unexpectedly creating billions of dollars in value, seemingly out of thin air.

Looking ahead, many industry observers are expecting the same results this time around, though there may be reasons for enthusiasm to be tempered.

What is bitcoin gold?

In short, bitcoin gold aims to achieve two goals:

    First, bitcoin gold wants to change how mining works by making it so the most powerful mining machines (called ASICs) can no longer be used.
    Second, by attracting more people to this system over time, it hopes to free the bitcoin network from the large companies that offer these products, and it argues, command undue influence on the network.

Instead of scaling bitcoin to support more users, bitcoin gold tweaks bitcoin in an effort to "make bitcoin decentralized again." This, proponents argue, will make the network, designed to offer an egalitarian way to send payments digitally around the globe, more accessible to users.

And while created via the same mechanism, bitcoin gold differs from bitcoin cash in a few ways, most notably in its distribution.

Differences include:

    The bitcoin gold cryptocurrency is set to be created in advance (prior to the code being open-sourced to the public).
    About 1 percent of the total cryptocurrency tokens mined before the blockchain goes public will be used to pay the bitcoin gold development team.
    Once this distribution is over, the team claims it will launch the cryptocurrency so that users can redeem their coins.

Of course, while it aims to become the de-facto version of bitcoin, others might consider bitcoin gold an "altcoin" – the term has long been used to denote any cryptocurrency launched using bitcoin’s existing code, but that has an alternative market or use case.

Do I have bitcoin gold?

All bitcoin owners will receive the cryptocurrency at a rate of 1 BTC to 1 BTG, setting the stage for possible market activity.

But, that's not to say it's totally intuitive to retrieve.

One quirk is that it'll be easier to redeem the funds from wallets or exchanges that recognize the cryptocurrency. The easiest way, then, to retrieve the bitcoin gold is to move bitcoin to a wallet or exchange that supports bitcoin gold, or to hold bitcoin in a wallet where you own your private keys (rather than holding them with an exchange).

To date, 20 exchanges and wallets promise to support bitcoin gold once it launches, according to the project's website.

Although one of the most popular U.S.-based exchanges, Coinbase stated on October 20 that it does not support bitcoin gold due to skepticism about how developers have made project information available to others.

"At this time, Coinbase cannot support bitcoin gold because its developers have not made the code available to the public for review. This is a major security risk,” the post reads.

This is perhaps something to keep an eye on as the project progresses. Although the project will officially fork on Monday night, it's not yet open to anyone and everyone, and there’s still plenty left on the developers' to-do list.

Who is behind bitcoin gold?

The team behind the hard fork appears to be a relatively small group.

Hong Kong-based LightningAsic CEO Jack Liao, who's an outspoken critic of the state of bitcoin mining, first broached the idea of bitcoin gold back in July.

His company LightningAsic sells mining equipment, including GPUs, the type of computing hardware bitcoin gold is supposed to rely on.

Since first introduced earlier this summer, the team has expanded to include pseudonymous lead developer h4x3rotab, as well as a team of five other volunteers who are now working on developing and promoting the cryptocurrency in their spare time.

The project can be tracked on Github and on the community Slack group.

How do people feel about bitcoin gold?

All that said, for those interested in exploring or using bitcoin gold, it's worth noting that it has generated its share of controversy.

Satoshi Labs CEO Marek Palatinus, who launched bitcoin's first ever mining pool, is skeptical the project will actually work to decentralize mining as planned.

And he's not the only one to throw shade at the new project.

Bitcoin developer Rhett Creighton is working on alternative bitcoin gold "protest fork" software that seeks to pursue the same idea but without setting aside some of the new cryptocurrency for development.

If more than 51% of miners choose to use his software, the so-called pre-distribution to developers will be erased, he told CoinDesk. "It's up to the miners to decide what they want," he added.

All in all, it's unclear if business and mining groups will ultimately support the project, and if they do, how much value the alternative blockchain could create.

For example, while a list of roughly 50 businesses and miners support the so-called Segwit2x fork, similar support hasn't been seen for bitcoin gold. Likewise, though bitcoin cash began with support from vocal miners and exchanges, bitcoin gold has arguably yet to benefit from such early activity.



Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-gold-know-blockchains-next-split/

[Bitcoin Price Lingers Below $6k As Post-Fork Altcoin Rally Expected]

Bitcoin Price Lingers Below $6k As Post-Fork Altcoin Rally Expected



Bitcoin prices were back below $6,000 Monday amid talk of an imminent altcoin rally to shelve protracted losses.

Bitcoin’s honeymoon above the latest significant barrier remained chequered over the weekend as momentum appeared to cool.

After recrossing $6,000 several times, rates on the majority of exchanges were settling around $5,800 at press time with some volatility.


Chart: The move downwards has so far failed to breathe new life in altcoin markets, which have seen little by way of recovery or more in recent weeks.

As Bitcoin climbed from $5,000, investors broadly opted to continue stockpiling the virtual currency ahead of the two hard forks due Tuesday and Nov. 18.

Following the network snapshot for the first of the forks, Bitcoin Gold, money could quickly flow back into altcoins, traders are suggesting.

    I reckon there would be some altcoin mini rally after the BTC gold snapshot in ~22 hours
    — Squeeze (@cryptoSqueeze) October 23, 2017

A repeat of the phenomenon could occur next month, when SegWit2x - a much more highly debated hard fork - comes into being.

Bitcoin Gold meanwhile, having remained largely undebated, is now receiving mixed reviews as exchanges and other parties give notice of their position.

    Can't wait for #Bitcoin Silver, Bitcoin Platinum and Bitcoin Palladium.
    — WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) October 23, 2017

Bittrex has said it will credit users with equivalent Bitcoin Gold (BTG) balances while warning against the fork’s technological limitations. Others such as hardware wallet TREZOR have said tech improvements are necessary before support will be introduced.

A lack of replay protection is a particular aspect of both hard forks receiving attention from industry businesses reluctant to interact with new chains and credit users with coins where applicable.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-price-lingers-below-6k-as-post-fork-altcoin-rally-expected

[Why Investors are Going All-In on Bitcoin: Major Japanese Crypto Exchange CEO]

Why Investors are Going All-In on Bitcoin: Major Japanese Crypto Exchange CEO



Yuzo Kano, the CEO at Bitflyer, Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange with over 800,000 active users, explained how conservative Japanese investors have started to “go all-in” on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

The vast majority of investors in Japan, South Korea, and China are extremely conservative with their investments and skeptical toward allocating capital to new asset classes. But, over the past three years, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have become mainstream assets in the Japanese market and consequently, Japan has evolved into the largest Bitcoin exchange market ahead of the US.

Currently the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market accounts for 61.23 percent of global Bitcoin trades, more than twice of the trading volume of the US market.

Investors ready

In an interview with The New York Times, Kano explained that upon the legalization of Bitcoin as a digital currency and the authorization of cryptocurrency exchanges by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), conservative Japanese investors have started to “go all-in” on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments.

Kano stated:

    “Japanese people tend to be very conservative with their investments, but once they get triggered they go all in.”

A similar trend has emerged in South Korea, as Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have become the norm. Tony Lyu, the founder and chief executive of Korbit, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange that was acquired by the $10 billion gaming company Nexon at a $140 million valuation, explained:

    “Word just spreads really fast in Korea. Once people are invested, they want everyone else to join the party. There’s been this huge, almost a community movement around this.”

In consideration of the rapid growth rate of the Japanese and South Korean Bitcoin markets, prominent investors and analysts including Tuur Demeester have noted that the mid-term trend of the Bitcoin price would likely depend on the performance of two markets.

Already, high profile, institutional, and retail traders have started to engage in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading. Companies like BitFlyer and Korbit, that are backed by multi-billion dollar investment firms and technology conglomerates, will continue to develop necessary infrastructures for large-scale investors and provide sufficient liquidity for retail traders.

Services to traders

Particularly, the demand for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in South Korea is increasing exponentially due to the emergence of offline exchanges and in-person customer service for investors and traders exploring the cryptocurrency market. At the CoinoneBlocks offline exchange in South Korea, beginner and casual traders can purchase Bitcoin through offline methods such as ATMs and USB drives.

The New York Times has also revealed the in-person customer service of Korbit, which provides services to traders and investors that are not familiar with cryptocurrencies. Investors can receive assistance in creating wallets and accounts on trading platforms.



Source: https://www.cointelegraph.com/news/why-investors-are-going-all-in-on-bitcoin-major-japanese-crypto-exchange-ceo

[Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Believes Bitcoin Unlikely to Succeed]

Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Believes Bitcoin Unlikely to Succeed



Ben Bernanke, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, made his views against Bitcoin clear at a conference organized by Ripple in Toronto.

Undermining the Government not a Recipe For Success

Echoing the views of J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Bernanke feels that the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, which puts it outside government control, will trigger its downfall. Speaking at Swell, a three day conference organized by Ripple in Toronto, Bernanke said:

    “Bitcoin is an attempt to replace fiat currency and evade regulation and government intervention. I don’t think that’s going to be a success.”

He attributed the current run up in price of Bitcoin to its speculative nature and felt that Bitcoin hasn't proven itself as a transactional currency. In his opinion the government will eventually step in to prevent Bitcoin from rivalling fiat currency.

Blockchain, not Bitcoin

While dismissing the possibility of Bitcoin becoming a successful alternative to fiat currency, Bernanke was all praise for the Blockchain. As reported by Fortune, Bernanke said:

    "The Fed, the Bank of England, and Japan are very supportive of these technologies because they’ll improve payment systems."

He praised Ripple for working with regulators and observed that a Blockchain-based system might have prevented hackers from robbing $80 mln from the Central Bank of Bangladesh.

Flip Flop Views on Bitcoin

Ben Bernanke's views on Bitcoin have changed over the years. In 2013, during a Senate Committee hearing, he called virtual currencies 'innovative payment systems' and said that the Fed had no plan to regulate them. In 2015, he said that Bitcoin's volatility and anonymous nature were serious problems. The market however, seems to be ignoring Bernanke and Dimon's views on Bitcoin and pushing it to scale ever higher peaks.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-fed-chairman-ben-bernanke-believes-bitcoin-unlikely-to-succeed

[$25,000 Bitcoin Price Prediction is ‘Conservative’: Wall Street Strategist]

$25,000 Bitcoin Price Prediction is ‘Conservative’: Wall Street Strategist

FundStrat Global Advisor co-founder Tom Lee turned heads when he first predicted that the bitcoin price could reach $25,000 by 2022, but he has maintained this bullish stance even amid the severe downturn that immediately followed China’s ban on initial coin offerings and bitcoin exchanges.


One-Year Bitcoin Price Chart from Coinbase

In the first episode of Business Insider’s web segment “the bit”, Lee explained his methodology in arriving at the $25,000 number — which he says is a conservative estimate. He revealed that FundStrat values bitcoin similarly to how it would value a social network — using a principle known as Metcalfe’s law. He says that, according to Metcalfe’s law, the value of a network is the square number of its users:

    “And so if you build a very simple model valuing bitcoin as the square function number of users times the average transaction value. 94% of the bitcoin moved over the past four years is explained by that equation,” Lee explains.

He adds that, in the digital age, “personal information is our gold”, and because bitcoin is essentially a database with an unprecedented level of security, it is digital gold. He uses this comparison quite literally; he expects that younger investors who have never known a world without the internet will increasingly use bitcoin as a store of value in place of precious metals, as their parents and grandparents did:

    “And if personal information is our gold, bitcoin is our digital gold. So we think that the gold market, which is 9 trillion, and for a generation of investors gold was their store of value. I think this next generation of young people view bitcoin as their store of value.”

He estimates that if bitcoin captures 5% of the gold market, it should achieve a fair market value of $25,000. “It’s actually the most conservative collection of elements to get to [that number],” he asserts, as it ignores inflation and assumes that investors will hold a smaller percentage of alternative currencies in their blended portfolios than most cryptocurrency investors currently do.

    “You could easily get to $100,000, $200,00 numbers,” he adds, stating elsewhere that, “I think you can easily see a liquidity-based move in bitcoin that’s much beyond our target prices” if institutional investors enter the crypto markets.

Indeed, hedge fund manager Mark Yusko — relying on similar analysis to that of Lee — believes there is a 75% chance that the bitcoin price will reach $500,000 within two decades and states that it could rise as high as $1 million.

For the short-term, meanwhile, Lee has set a mid-2018 bitcoin price target of $6,000 — a forecast that initially appeared optimistic but increasingly appears quite conservative.


Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/25000-bitcoin-price-prediction-conservative-wall-street-strategist/

[Bitcoin Price Holds at $5,900]

The cryptocurrency markets dipped below $170 billion on Monday, with traders expressing tepidity about a potential Japanese initial coin offering ban. Consequently, the ethereum price dropped below $290, and the majority of altcoins returned negative performance for the day. The bitcoin price, however, ticked up to $5,900, further solidifying its dominant hold on the markets.
 

Chart from CoinMarketCap

The total cryptocurrency market cap had been positioned near $175 billion late last week as bitcoin scaled the charts to reach $6,000 for the first time, but it ebbed over the course of the weekend, eventually reaching $170.6 billion on Sunday. The decline continued on Monday, bringing the combined value of all cryptocurrencies to a present mark of $168 billion.


Chart from CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin Price Holds at $5,900

The bitcoin price touched $6,200 on Saturday to set a new all-time high, but on Sunday it fell into decline, dipping as low as $5,795. On Monday, however, the bitcoin price experienced a slight uptick, bringing it back across the $5,900 threshold. At present, the bitcoin price is trading at a global average of $5,906, which translates into a market cap of $98.3 billion.


Bitcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Following last week’s rise to $6,000, many average investors are wondering if it is too late to invest in bitcoin. However, these same fears have kept investors on the sidelines at almost every stage of bitcoin’s growth, and yet the markets have continued to defy critics’ expectations. This is why even Mark Cuban — a long-time bitcoin skeptic — has begun advising “true adventurers” to allocate up to 10% of their investments in bitcoin and ethereum.

Ethereum Price Dips Below $290

The ethereum price continued its post-Byzantium decline on Monday, dipping below $290 for the first time in two weeks. At present, the ethereum price is trading at $288; this represents a 7-day decline of 15% and translates into a $27.4 billion market cap.


Ethereum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

At present, much of the demand for ethereum is derived from investors who wish to participate in initial coin offerings (ICOs), which have recently surpassed a year-to-date fundraising total of $3 billion. As ICO contributions have increased, so has attention from regulators, and some industry observers expect that more nations — including bitcoin-friendly Japan — will follow China’s lead and ban the practice altogether. It’s likely that these fears are placing downward pressure on the ethereum price.

Altcoins Trend Down

Ethereum was joined in its decline by virtually every top-tier altcoin, although most of these pullbacks were minor.


Altcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

The ripple price declined 3%, pushing its price below $0.200 and its market cap to just $7.6 billion. The bitcoin cash price dipped 2% and is now trading at $322. The litecoin price dropped 4%, which was enough to reduce its market cap to $2.9 billion, while dash’s 3% decline lowered its price to $269. The NEM and monero prices each dropped about 1%, while NEO posted a top 10-worst decline of 5%. Bitconnect, ranked eighth, was the lone top 10 altcoin to experience a single-day price increase; it is currently trading at $203, which represents an increase of about 1%.




Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-holds-at-5900-as-ethereum-altcoins-contract/

[Jamie Dimon told by CEO of start-up to ‘come down to earth and learn’ about cryptocurrencies]

Jamie Dimon told by CEO of start-up to ‘come down to earth and learn’ about cryptocurrencies


Jamie Dimon - Investors could get hurt by bitcoin: Wamda Capital CEO
 
JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon has been told to learn some more about cryptocurrencies before making negative statements.

In recent weeks Dimon has derided digital currencies such as bitcoin as a "novelty" and claimed they are "worth nothing."

Now the head of a major Middle East-based tech investment firm said Monday that the banking boss needs to better educate himself about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

"It is here to stay. Jamie Dimon need to recognize that before he talks about it from a fraudulent point of view," said Fadi Ghandour, CEO of Wamda Capital.

Ghandour added that traditional financial industry stands to gain a lot from the new era of fintech.

"Talk to them, understand them, find a way to regulate them. Let's not make big statements about something we don't understand."

"Be humble, calm down, come down to earth and learn," the investor added.

Ghandour said the founder of the Middle East's biggest cryptocurrency, BitOasis, gave a speech at the World Bank last week in a further sign of how the technology is being embraced.
'People could get hurt'

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, hit a new record high on Saturday, and has seen a huge price rally year.

On the risk of a sudden crash, Ghandour said people should be left to take their own investment decisions.

"People could get hurt but also people are mature and can make their own decisions. If you want to be part of a bubble, you are part of a bubble. You understand the risk," Ghandour said.

The tech investor noted that when Silicon Valley tech stocks crashed after a rapid rise in value in the late 1990's, no one questioned the internet as an essential future platform.

Ghandour said his own firm might consider using an initial coin offering (ICO) as a method to either invest or raise capital.

"As a venture capital fund I am worried that the way we conduct our own business is being disrupted.

"ICOs are something to learn about, to see how you can embrace it and so that you are becoming part of it rather than thinking of it as something that is going to disrupt us," he said.



Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/23/jamie-dimon-told-to-learn-about-bitcoin-before-making-statements.html

[Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal: Bitcoin will 'implode' one day]

Al-Waleed bin Talal, Saudi Prince, Saudi billionaire and founder of Kingdom Holding Co.


 "It just doesn't make sense. This thing is not regulated, it's not under control, it's not under the supervision" of any central bank, Alwaleed says.
  Bitcoin has surged about 500 percent this year.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal: Bitcoin will 'implode' one day 
 
Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said Monday that bitcoin will "implode" one day.

"It just doesn't make sense. This thing is not regulated, it's not under control, it's not under the supervision" of any central bank, Alwaleed said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"I just don't believe in this bitcoin thing. I think it's just going to implode one day. I think this is Enron in the making," Alwaleed said.

The billionaire investor was referring to the massive accounting fraud that took Enron, a U.S. energy-trading and utilities giant, into bankruptcy in late 2001.

Alwaleed runs Kingdom Holding, a massive conglomerate whose investments include Citigroup, Apple and Twitter. The company is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Digital currency bitcoin has surged about 500 percent this year and hit an all-time high above $6,100 on Saturday. Bitcoin traded 2 percent lower around $5,847 Monday, according to CoinDesk.

Bitcoin has shaken off an August split into bitcoin and bitcoin cash, and a Chinese crackdown in September on digital coins.

The massive gains are fueled by growing interest from some institutional investors and Japanese investors. Trading in Japanese yen accounted for about 62 percent of total bitcoin trading volume Monday, according to industry website CryptoCompare. Trading in U.S. dollars accounted for roughly 21 percent, the site showed.

But most major investors remain skeptical of bitcoin.

Alwaleed said Monday he agrees with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who last month called bitcoin a "fraud" that will eventually blow up.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has also called the digital currency an "index of money laundering" for its ability to facilitate illegal commerce on the internet.

However, JPMorgan and other financial institutions are investing in blockchain, the technology that enables bitcoin to transfer value nearly instantly without a third-party intermediary.

The development of digital currencies has also spawned the growth of token sales, or initial coin offerings, which have taken off this year. The coin sales have raised $3.04 billion, according to financial research firm Autonomous Next.

Jordan Belfort, the infamous "Wolf of Wall Street" penny stock broker, told The Financial Times in an interview published Sunday that initial coin offerings are the "biggest scam ever."



Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/23/prince-alwaleed-says-bitcoin-will-implode-enron-in-the-making.html

[First World Fat Cat Jamie Dimon Doesn’t Understand Poverty, Bashes Bitcoin]

First World Fat Cat Jamie Dimon Doesn’t Understand Poverty, Bashes Bitcoin



It’s said how little Jamie Dimon knows about the needs of people who live in the countries of South America, Central America, Africa and Asia.

Dimon keeps finding new ways to show his lack of understanding of Bitcoin, and of the economic realities of most of the world’s population. He recently said:

    “If it can be done digitally with the Blockchain, so be it. But it will still be a dollar cryptocurrency. What I have an issue with is a non-fiat cryptocurrency. So crypto sterling, euro, yen, they are all fine. I don't personally understand the value of something that has no actual value.“

Fat cats

For an American millionaire with a narrow view of the world, he may be right. But for the inhabitants of more than 170 countries that do not have strong fiat currencies like sterling, euro, yen or dollars, Bitcoin definitely has value. An example from Brazil clearly demonstrates the benefits of transacting internationally with Bitcoin.

Developing countries are often saddled by their governments with capital controls, to prevent money from leaving the country.

Cost savings

A Brazilian who buys a product from Amazon pays a 6.5% “IOF Tax” retained directly on his credit card. This tax is levied on any international purchase or remittance of securities. In addition, this user is at the mercy of the exchange rate that will be applied by the operator of the credit card. Combined, transactional costs can exceed 10% of the purchase price, and that’s not even considering the import taxes that must be paid.

Now imagine a Brazilian who has decided to study the magnificent world of Blockchain and needs to buy a $100 item from Amazon. This person can use one of several Bitcoin-based websites to get a 15% discount on his purchase. Thus a $100 purchase, instead of costing $110 as it would by using his credit card, actually only cost $85. That’s a huge savings.

 Does Bitcoin have any value to the mega-rich like Dimon? Probably not. But in the developing world, where a few dollars can literally make the difference between feast and famine, Bitcoin has real value.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/first-world-fat-cat-jamie-dimon-doesnt-understand-poverty-bashes-bitcoin

[Bitcoin Overcomes Roadblocks and Takes Off: Germany’s Public International]

Bitcoin Overcomes Roadblocks and Takes Off: Germany’s Public International

Bitcoin may have had a tough September, but it appears to be turning a corner and is demonstrating its resilience in the face of obstacles.

That’s according to Germany’s public international broadcaster. In a report from DW, experts are claiming that the digital currency may be in for a ‘sustained record run as it overcomes key obstacles.’

Last month, Chinese regulators cracked down on the market in addition to critics such as Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, calling bitcoin ‘a fraud‘ and that it’s ‘worth nothing.’ Yet, despite these set backs, that saw bitcoin’s price drop below $3,000, it has rallied back.

Jonathan Gérardin, IT manager at Wavestone, a consulting firm, said:

    "Bitcoin has been able to overcome that and continue to progress, it has shown its resilience.

To date, the cryptocurrency’s price has been within touching distance of reaching $6,000, making its market value bigger than Goldman Sachs at one point. Yet, while the market appears to be moving in the right direction, DW questions whether this period of uncertainty is over.

According to Kenneth Rogoff, professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University, while governments are allowing the sector to grow he thinks that digital currencies will eventually be regulated.

Japan is one example of where this could happen. In April, the country made changes to its legislation acknowledging cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as a legal form of payment. However, Rogoff believes Japanese authorities could change those laws due to money laundering risks.

He added:

    "Governments cannot and will not tolerate large-scale anonymous transactions indefinitely through any virtual currency.

Instead, he thinks that governments will issue their own digital currencies.

Russia is one country that is considering its own national cryptocurrency. On Monday it was reported that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, had called for a state-issued digital currency, called the CryptoRuble. This comes at a time when Putin has said that the market poses ‘significant risks‘ and that Russia will regulate the mining and supply of cryptocurrencies.

Dubai has also revealed that it will be developing its own blockchain-based cryptocurrency, called emCash.
Where to Now?

With reports circulating that China will resume digital currency trading by licensing bitcoin exchanges, it’s possible the the currency’s value could rise to new heights. For now, all we can do is wait and see where the market heads to next.

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-overcomes-roadblocks-takes-off-germanys-public-international-broadcaster/

Hedge fund manager Mark Yusko forecasts that the bitcoin price has the potential to reach $1 million over the long term as the network effect leads increasing numbers of investors to use it as a store of value in place of traditional commodities such as precious metals.

Yusko, who founded Morgan Creek Capital Management and serves as the firm’s chief investment officer, is noted for his bearish outlook on the stock market. Earlier this year, he predicted that the U.S. economy is “going to have a crash and it will be massive.”

Anticipating a coming recession, he believes actively-managed funds will outperform passive index funds that track the S&P 500 or other major indices, which is one reason why he accepted Warren Buffet’s offer to conduct a decade-long wager pitting an S&P 500 index fund against a basket of hedge funds, even though the last investor who took that bet is slated to lose by a considerable margin. Buffet, 87, has since withdrawn the offer for a second wager, citing his age.

One alternative investment that Yusko believes provides hedge funds a leg up on index funds is bitcoin. In a recent tweet, he revealed that his long-term bitcoin price target is $1 million. He explains that this is a best-case scenario that will take more than a decade to reach, and he says a more conservative “base case” scenario for the bitcoin price is $500,000 — which would represent an 8,800% increase from its current level. Based on current factors, including the assumption that privately-managed blockchains will not supplant the role of public blockchains like bitcoin, he believes there is a 75% likelihood that the bitcoin price will reach $500,000 within the next 20 years.

This forecast is one of the most attention-grabbing bitcoin price predictions made by a mainstream investment officer, as most have preferred to set short- and mid-term price targets. However, Yusko feels comfortable that the network effect — the phenomenon whereby a commodity’s value increases as more people use it — has already begun to set bitcoin on the path to a six-figure valuation. Specifically, he points to the increasing trend to use bitcoin as a store of value that is easier to manage than a stockpile of precious metals.

Because this bitcoin price target provides investors with such tremendous upside, he encourages them to invest 1% of their assets into bitcoin today and allow that percentage to increase as the network effect “works its magic”.


Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/stock-market-bear-sets-1-million-bitcoin-price-target/

[Charlie Lee Criticizes Bitcoin Cash For Branding Itself as Bitcoin]

Charlie Lee Criticizes Bitcoin Cash For Branding Itself as Bitcoin

On October 17, Bitcoin.com released a controversial statement which claimed that Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin. In response, leading industry experts including Litecoin creator Charlie Lee offered harsh criticism.

Bitcoin.com Claims Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin, Angers Bitcoin Community

In September, Bitcoin Cash was launched through a hard fork executed by a few major mining pools including ViaBTC and Bitmain. Since then, the support and demand for Bitcoin Cash have significantly decreased, which is evident in the hash rate and market cap of the cryptocurrency.

At the time, even Bitmain, which first introduced Bitcoin Cash in July as Bitcoin ABC, was caught off guard with the statement of ViaBTC to pursue the hard fork in September. But, within the past two months, Bitcoin Cash has not been able to come close to the original Bitcoin blockchain by any indicator, such as user base, hashrate, market cap, and developer activity.

Still, this week, Bitcoin.com released a controverisal statement that read:

“Based on the above comparisons between the various versions of Bitcoin, the whitepaper, and the years of common understanding that Bitcoin was always meant to be an electronic cash system, it is the position of this website that Bitcoin Cash is the version of Bitcoin that most closely adheres to the original design. The position that Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin is based on its adherence to the design goals and intended purpose that Bitcoin was created to fulfill.”

Industry Experts Respond, Charlie Lee Offers Criticsm

Earlier this month, some of the largest Bitcoin wallet platforms and exchanges including Coinbase and Bitfinex have announced that the upcoming SegWit2x hard fork in November will not be considered as “Bitcoin” or “BTC” even if it surpasses Bitcoin in terms of hash rate. If 75 percent of miners do pursue the SegWit2x hard fork in November, there is a very high probability that SegWit2x launches with higher hash rate than Bitcoin. But, there is also a high probability that miners switch back to Bitcoin upon its first difficulty adjustment, if the demand from the market, users, and investors is not met.

So far, Bitcoin Cash has not even come close to contention with Bitcoin in any of those indicators. As such, Litecoin creator Lee stated:

“A lot of newcomers are going to be misled by Bitcoin.com . This article is so full of lies and FUD. Not having replace-by-fee does not make unconfirmed transactions safe. Also confirmed transactions are irreversible even with SegWit. SegWit signatures are not removed from the transactions. It’s just the transaction data structure that’s different. It’s just as secure. More Pretty much every other line in that article is FUD and misleading. It’s very much a hit piece on Bitcoin Core and SegWit. Shame.”

As Lee explained above, Bitcoin Cash is not Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the original Bitcoin blockchain which is currently known as “Bitcoin” and “BTC.” Even after SegWit2x debuts in November, there is a higher probability of the current version of Bitcoin remaining as the majority chain, as miners do not decide the value and market cap Bitcoin, users and investors do.

Lee further emphasized that the end result is not important. It is not morally and ethically correct to deliberately confuse newcomers in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets.

“It’s not about who wins. Confusing newcomers to bitcoin is not good,” he said.



Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/charlie-lee-criticizes-bitcoin-cash-branding-bitcoin/

[Caveat Emptor? Black Monday 30th Anniversary Sees Bitcoin Beating Bubble Fears]

Caveat Emptor? Black Monday 30th Anniversary Sees Bitcoin Beating Bubble Fears



Thursday marks the thirtieth anniversary of the infamous Black Monday on Wall Street, but for the crypto industry it’s “just Monday.”

Oct. 19, 1986 still strikes fear into the hearts of die-hard bankers as the date of the single biggest one-day stock market collapse in history.

‘Suffering’ 23 percent losses, legacy finance quickly understood what happens when automated trading goes wrong. For Bitcoin and altcoin markets, however, 23 percent is an almost daily occurrence for one investor or another.

As serial investor Alex Tapscott noted this week, any Monday could be a far worse Black Monday for Bitcoin, but the panic is comparatively negligible.

    "30th anniversary of Black Monday, when markets dropped 23% in a day. In #crypto we just call that Monday https://t.co/vqYlF11aey
    — Alexander Tapscott (@alextapscott) October 19, 2017

The multiple major crash episodes Bitcoin has experienced since 2013 have seen near 50 percent losses, while investors become more and more resilient, and rebounds more and more stable.

“The first lesson I learned was that these things happen,” one trader at the time, Nicholas Taleb, told Bloomberg in a commemorative article.

“The second lesson I learned was that when they happen, what you make everywhere else disappears. Unless you’re hedged for events like Black Monday, whatever alpha you think you’re going to get, you’re not going to get.”

While traders had seen “signs” prior to the crash, Bitcoin investors are still headstrong despite the multiple warnings from traditional finance that the cryptocurrency is in a bubble.

Opinions on the phenomenon are split down the middle, with steadfast advocacy facing off against those who deem Bitcoin more unreliable than Tulip Mania.





Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/caveat-emptor-black-monday-30th-anniversary-sees-bitcoin-beating-bubble-fears

[Woo’s Law: Bitcoin Users Double Every 12 Months; Major Factor For Long-Term Price Surge?]

Woo’s Law: Bitcoin Users Double Every 12 Months; Major Factor For Long-Term Price Surge?

Willy Woo, a highly regarded Bitcoin and cryptocurrency researcher, recently revealed that the number of Bitcoin users approximately doubles every 12 months.

Utilizing Google Trends as one of the main indicators of Bitcoin user growth, Woo formed the following infographic to demonstrate the exponential growth rate of the Bitcoin userbase.




More importantly, Woo emphasized that through a steady growth rate and periodic peaks which usually depend on the price trend of Bitcoin, the Bitcoin network will continue to demonstrate a consistent increase in user base in the long run.

“What we have here is a steady exponential growth baseline with periodic peaks. These peaks are are inline with price bubbles where more users start checking the price of their precious coins. Taking readings from the baseline results in an order of magnitude growth every 3.375 years. Or expressed in terms of time to double the user base it’s approximately 12 months,” wrote Woo, in an analytical blog post entitled “Bitcoin users double every 12 months.”

User Base: Major Factor For Long-Term Price Surge of Bitcoin

In May, Cryptocoinsnews reported that Trace Mayer, a long-time Bitcoin investor and analyst, listed Bitcoin transactions, price, hashrate, wallets, trading volumes, and volatility as the six main long-term indicators of Bitcoin growth.

The Bitcoin price is a practical indicator of Bitcoin’s real-world value, relative to other assets and currencies. While many factors affect the Bitcoin price in varying periods, user base, developer activity, and global adoption have been the three key factors behind the long-term increase in the price of Bitcoin for the past eight years.

As an increasing number of users start to use Bitcoin, the demand for the cryptocurrency and speculation around the cryptocurrency market will further rise at a rapid rate. Woo noted in his report that 26 years from now, if the user base of Bitcoin continues to grow at this pace, nearly everyone in the world will use Bitcoin.

“If I was to assume Bitcoin’s adoption curve will be a symmetric S-curve, we’ll reach 50% adoption in 9 more years, however to complete the last half of the S will take 17 more years – 26 years from today. This is roughly one human generation from today. Children today by the time they reach adulthood, will transact in a world where everyone uses Bitcoin,” Woo explained.

The Market Cap of Bitcoin: $100 Billion

Recently, the market cap of Bitcoin surpassed that of Goldman Sachs at $95 billion. It is moving closer to the $100 billion mark, which would be a major milestone for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency sector.

But, the comparison of market caps between investment banks like Goldman Sachs and financial networks such as Bitcoin was not structured to compete with existing banks and financial systems. Bitcoin was introduced to operate as its own economy, store of value, and digital currency, competing against assets like gold and reserve currencies such as the US dollar.

In the long run, if the adoption rate of Bitcoin in major regions such as the US, Japan and South Korea can be sustained, the market cap of Bitcoin would likely surpass that of JPMorgan, the largest retail bank in the world valued at $350 billion, and achieve the trillion dollar mark. Experts in the sector including billionaire investors Tim Draper and John McAfee have reaffirmed their long-term price targets of Bitcoin at above $200,000.



Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/woos-law-bitcoin-users-double-every-12-months-major-factor-for-long-term-price-surge/

[Bitcoin Price Boom Built on Sound Fundamentals, Observers Tell Naysayers]

Bitcoin Price Boom Built on Sound Fundamentals, Observers Tell Naysayers

When bitcoin price reaches new heights, the critics raise their voices. As the price approached the $6,000 benchmark Friday, it didn’t take long for critics to warn of impending doom.

Wall Street banker Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, unleashed another one of his diatribes against bitcoin Friday in response to a CNBC moderator question at an event hosted by the Institute of International Finance, reiterating that he believes blockchain technology is useful but that non-fiat cryptocurrency “has no value.”

Financial analyst Gary Shilling called bitcoin a ‘black box’ and that he won’t be investing in the digital currency. Shilling, president of A. Gary Shilling & Company, said bitcoin is “too opaque and complicated for him to invest” in.

But many cryptocurrency observers believe the rise in bitcoin price is built on solid fundamentals and are optimistic about bitcoin’s future.

Publicity Boosts Bitcoin

“As bitcoin gets more attention in whatever form, positive or negative, the hard fact remains that there are only 17 million bitcoins in existence (with a 21 million limit in total),” said Sol Lederer, blockchain director at Loomia, a technology company creating smart products secured through blockchain technology. “So if everyone just wants a little if only to play with, the price needs to keep going up. We won’t see real change in price direction until there is a real scare to the security of the technology.”

Serafin Lion Engel, founder and CEO of DataWallet, a blockchain technology-based data exchange that allows data producers to reclaim data they create from those who use it for their own profit, thinks critics like Dimon are drawing attention to bitcoin and ultimately contributing to its perceived importance.

“Comments, such as Jamie Dimon’s, drive the bitcoin hormesis we are currently witnessing, where adversarial comments by renowned beneficiaries of the current centralized system simply add to the strength of the bitcoin ecosystem,” Engel said.

“Furthermore, it also simply boils down to exposure: The more people hear that about bitcoin, the more people will adopt bitcoin since its benefits over the past financial system are so abundantly clear,” he said.

Engel said bitcoin has proven to be an antifragile asset which, due to its characteristics of immutability, transparency, and disintermediation, thrives in a world of ever-increasing political and socio-economic uncertainty.

Progress Expected To Continue

Yonatan Sela, senior vice president of business development at YouNow, which serves as an ecosystem for video applications, also expects bitcoin price to continue to rise.

“The soar in the price of bitcoin isn’t surprising, and I expect that while price fluctuations will continue, in the long-term bitcoin will continue to rise in price far beyond $6,000, especially if you buy into the thesis that bitcoin could become the prominent digital reserve currency,” Sela said. “The main reserve currency in the world is gold, with a market cap of ~$7 trillion. Bitcoin is currently at ~$94 billion, which is less than 1.5% of that. Even if it stays just 2% of gold, it will surpass the $6,000 price point.”

Simon Yu, CEO of StormX, a gamified micro-task platform, thinks there are several factors contributing to bitcoin’s growth.

“Although this recent boom is largely caused by the October 25th Bitcoin Gold Fork, as users will receive a free Bitcoin Gold for every bitcoin held, 2017 has been a phenomenal year for cryptocurrency with the boom in ICOs,” said Yu. “I expect the industry to grow even further next year as institutional funds are only now starting to join the cryptocurrency boom.”

Demand for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies also continues to gain momentum, Yu said, especially as more countries recognize it as a legitimate form of payment and acknowledge its value.

“I expect the price of bitcoin to continue to rise as cryptocurrencies become increasingly mainstream,” Yu said.

Progress on the scalability front also gives reason for optimism, observed Luis Cuende, co-founder and project lead at Aragon, a cryptocurrency exchange that provides decentralized, leveraged trading. “I think the rise in bitcoin prices reflects the enthusiasm that the public has into bitcoin being a digital currency and new technical solutions like SegWit, that enable more scalability and new solutions for instant payments,” Cuende said.

Mainstream Acceptance Grows

Rob Viglione, co-founder of ZenCash, a privacy coin for borderless, decentralized communications and transactions, said there is no question bitcoin is becoming more mainstream.

“It’s always tough to say what’s driving prices, but what we do know is that there’s more demand for bitcoin now than ever,” Viglione said. “A big part of that is due to the fact that it has steadily achieved more mainstream credibility and that there’s now a robust global conversation. For those of us who study cryptocurrency characteristics, there’s growing consensus that we’re witnessing the birth of a new asset class, and that’s huge.”

Further price fluctuations are to be expected, according to Bharath Rao, CEO of Leverj, a decentralized platform for cryptocurrency derivatives trading.

“The price should certainly be expected to fluctuate quite a bit, both due to the uncertainty and promise of new technology,” Rao said. “We believe that bitcoin is not yet mainstream and will continue to grow in value as more financial use cases move to crypto. Buying and holding bitcoin has outpaced every single traditional investment since 2009 and is likely to continue to do so for several years.”

Bitcoin’s use in markets where the local currency is heavily controlled will also contribute to its growth, said David Henderson, founder of Sweetbridge, a blockchain alliance seeking to launch projects in industry ecosystems, including protocols for commerce, supply chains and interest-free loans.

“A quick look at bitcoin’s price history (the two pizzas famously ordered by a developer for 10,000 BTC in 2010 would be worth about $30 million each today!) shows the challenges in using this as a transactional currency or as collateral, as the fluctuations are significant and frequent, unlike most fiat currencies,” he said. “That said, it can provide an alternative in countries where the local currency is heavily controlled, restricted and subject to very high inflation.”

The bitcoin price continued its meteoric rise on Friday, climbing as high as $5,840 to make $6,000 seem like a near-term possibility. The price was $5,756.11 Saturday morning.


Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoins-price-boon-sound-fundamentals/