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/
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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/ |
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Charlie Lee Criticizes Bitcoin Cash For Branding Itself as BitcoinOn 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 CommunityIn 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/
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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
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why we need three different version of bitcoin ??
there will always be one and only real bitcoin... forget the rest they are just altcoins no matter how they are called.  |
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We can't tell you if it's proper time for you to invest in cryptocurrencies. It should be your decision. There was a guy here recently who was blaming us that we told him to invest in Bitcoin and he took his grandmother's savings! After that the price of Bitcoin rapidly decreased and that's why he was angry at us. You should have your own mind, try to read and analise the market before your invest a lot of money.
I believe there is no better time to invest in bitcoin like the time you make your mind. Lots of people have money to invest but they're little contemplating just believe in yourself, your guts and invest. Nobody knows exactly when is the right to invest in bitcoin unless during panic period. Market correction drop the value of bitcoin and altcoins as well. Perhaps you should wait till that time you might buy bitcoins more cheaper. |
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why we need three different version of bitcoin ??
The original bitcoin is enough for us. Nobody need Bitcoin Cash (BCH) nor Bitcoin Gold (BTG)!! They are just made to scam newbie investors in cryptocurrency world. |
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Hi Sylon, Where is the tweet stakes?  I've made over 1500+ tweets about AirToken ICO on twitter. Twitted on daily basis for this one for week. Few twitted URLS: ============== -snip- And the list goes on... I've been working for this ICO for weeks! Let me know my stand about my tweet stakes. Thank you for understanding. Best regards, cybersofts Your task is just follow, retweet, and like.  Dude, read the twitter terms.  |
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Hey guys, my name is Thamos and I'm fairly new to Bitcoin. I've been reading up on Bitcoin for like, only, 2/3 weeks now. I was already planning on investing but I wanted to have a bit more knowledge about it all. I guess now I do.
I was just wondering, seeing how Bitcoin's price has increased by a lot over the last couple days, when would be best for me to hop in the pool. Should I buy now or should I wait till the price drops (even if it's only by a small percentage)?
I'm just looking for some advice. Thanks a lot!
I think it is still not too late to buy bitcoin because the value of bitcoin is still growing upward. You don't have to worry about the market ups and downs - that's also part of the bitcoin scope. The ups and down in the market are called market correction. And the bitcoin value normally recover in no time after the market correction. |
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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 BillionRecently, 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/
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Bitcoin Price Boom Built on Sound Fundamentals, Observers Tell NaysayersWhen 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 ContinueYonatan 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/
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Alleged Bitcoin Launderer BTC-E Admin’s Legal Future Thrown Into Turmoil A Greek court approved Russia’s extradition request for alleged BTC-e operator and bitcoin launderer Alexander Vinnik, throwing his judicial future into question. As CCN has reported, Vinnik — a 37-year-old Russian national — was arrested in July while vacationing in Greece in connection with alleged financial crimes he committed while operating bitcoin exchange BTC-e. Earlier this month, a three-judge panel approved a request to extradite him to the U.S., where a grand jury has indicted him on 21 counts, including orchestrating a $4 billion bitcoin laundering operation connected to the infamous collapse of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox. However, regional Russian media sources report that a separate panel of Greek judges met this week to consider a Russian request to extradite him to his native country, where he is accused of obtaining 667,000 rubles (~$11,500) through fraudulent means. Vinnik and his lawyers have argued that he should stand trial in Russia, not the U.S. Likewise, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rebuked the Greek court for agreeing to the U.S. extradition request. Vinnik has appealed the U.S. extradition order to the Supreme Court of Greece but has stated that he will voluntarily comply with the Russian request. Regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, the ultimate arbiter of Vinnik’s fate will be Nikos Paraskevopoulous, the Greek Minister of Justice, who has the unilateral authority to decide whether to sign extradition orders. That said, the Supreme Court ruling will likely play a role in Paraskevopolus’s decision. Either way, Vinnik denies the charges against him. He says that he was merely a technician hired by the exchange, while BTC-e denied he was ever employed by the company. In past interviews, Vinnik’s wife suggested that U.S. authorities hope to exploit his technical and intellectual abilities, which is why they have gone to such great lengths to extradite him to the U.S. Others have theorized the U.S. desires to make an example of out of him, much as they did with Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht. Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/alleged-btc-e-admin-and-bitcoin-launderers-legal-future-thrown-into-turmoil/
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Crypto Wallet Eidoo Trolls Jamie Dimon in the Wall Street Journal, Nets 20K Crypto startup Eidoo drew attention to its initial coin offering (ICO) by using a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal to troll JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, an ardent bitcoin critic. Last month, Dimon attracted a great deal of media attention by labeling bitcoin a “fraud” and threatening to fire any JPMorgan employee caught trading the cryptocurrency. “It’s just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed,” he said. “It’s worth nothing, he added in a separate interview a week later. Earlier this week, crypto startup Eidoo fired back at Dimon with a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. The ad, which was also posted on the news outlet’s website, said “Maybe Jamie will fire you. But you will be free to trade in the crypto world.”  “Maybe Jamie will fire you,” Eido told Wall Street Journal readers, “but you’ll be free to trade in the crypto world.” Below the fold, Eidoo included a QR code link to the smartphone app for its multicurrency wallet and hybrid exchange. The ad did not come cheap. Full page ads in The Wall Street Journal can cost more than $350,000. However, PR stunt paid off. “The response has been amazing,” an Eidoo spokesperson told CCN. “We have received more than 20,000 more downloads” since the ad ran. That’s a more than 65% increase since Monday when the startup reported it had reached the 30,000 download mark. Moreover, the ad earned the startup coverage in numerous mainstream media outlets, including Business Insider and CNBC. The ad also provided a shot in the arm to Eidoo’s initial coin offering (ICO), which is scheduled to end on October 16. At the time of writing, the Eidoo ICO has raised more than 81,700 ether, worth $26.5 million at current exchange rates. “Jamie has not replied yet,” though, the Eidoo spokesperson added. Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/crypto-startup-eidoo-nets-20k-downloads-after-trolling-jamie-dimon-in-the-wall-street-journal/
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 *The article was updated October 15 17:45 UTC “- I will have one Big Mac, large French fries and a Diet Coke please
- Sure, 1200 Satoshis please”Will there ever be such an exchange or is this just science fiction? In this hypothetical world, 1 Bitcoin is worth $1,000,000, 1 bit is worth $1.00 (1 millionth of a Bitcoin) and 1 Satoshi is worth 1 US Cent. There is no consensus on what the value of one Bitcoin is or should be. The spectrum of opinions ranges from Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, who thinks it is a fraud and therefore worthless, to Bitcoin maximalists who believe that the sky's the limit. Somewhere in the middle of that, Mohamed El-Erian recently said that “The current prices [of Bitcoin] assume massive adoption, which is not going to happen." He went on to say that Bitcoin should only be worth “a third” of its value at the time - $4,000. Mohamed El-Erian is a smart guy, he is the former billionaire CEO of PIMCO and former IMF economist, could he be right? Has Bitcoin already peaked? Bitcoin is still tinyUnlike other cryptocurrencies that may have more sophisticated uses, like smart contracts for Ethereum, Bitcoin’s main uses are being a store of value and a medium of exchange. Its competitors are therefore the established main fiat currencies (US Dollar, Euro, Yen) and Gold. If the Bitcoin price already assumed massive adoption, the market capitalization of all Bitcoins should be close to that of the US Dollar and Gold, right? It turns out that nothing could be further from reality. While the market capitalization of Bitcoin is currently $90 bln, the money supply of the US Dollar, i.e. M2, cash, deposits and money market funds, is $12,500 bln while the value of all the gold ever mined is close to $8,000 bln. This means that Bitcoin is only worth around 1% of the value of its two main competitors. I am not sure this would qualify as “massive adoption”, so I guess I have to respectfully disagree with Mr El-Erian on this one. Race to the trillion, race to the millionFor the Bitcoin price to assume massive adoption, its price should increase... a lot! The following charts illustrates what it would mean for Bitcoin to reach a market capitalization of $1 trillion ($1,000 bln) and for the price of a single Bitcoin to reach $1,000,000.  This illustration assumes that 16.5 million Bitcoins, the number of Bitcoins mined to date, are available. In reality, the pool of Bitcoins available is most likely much smaller. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of Bitcoins may have been lost in the early years, at a time when Bitcoins were basically worthless. Satoshi Nakamoto - Bitcoin’s enigmatic founder - never moved any of his one million Bitcoins (now worth more than $5 bln). So either he is the greatest hodler ever, or he disappeared and his private keys are gone with him. The head of the IMF said two weeks ago to a room full of Central Bankers that they should not “dismiss” cryptocurrencies as they may very well give Central Banks “a run for their money”. If this is indeed the case, then forget the price of one Bitcoin, the number that everyone will be quoting very soon will be the price of one bit. Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-has-barely-reached-1-of-its-potential-expert-blog |
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 There’s an old saying, “Don’t let the fox watch the henhouse.” This may well be true when it comes to crypto-industry insiders and their opinions about the price of Bitcoin. But whether anti-Bitcoin fanatics like it or not, the price is steadily climbing toward the $6,000 mark. Bitcoin liquidity, adoption With the price of Bitcoin climbing toward the elusive $6,000, the reasons behind this rise are a point of contention. With the industry in an uproar, some market leaders link the rise in price to the increase in Bitcoin liquidity. For example, Luis Cuende, cofounder of Aragon said: "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.” Not everyone thinks that Bitcoin is a good choice for currency, especially since prices fluctuate so rapidly and massively. Nevertheless, in countries like Argentina, where the fiat currency is effectively valueless, Bitcoin may well be the only option. According to David Henderson, Founder of Sweetbridge: “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. That said, it can provide an alternative in countries where the local currency is heavily controlled, restricted and subject to very high inflation.” Bitcoin vs. gold, other assets Additionally, beyond the liquidity issue, Bitcoin is also carrying its weight as an asset in itself, and has even been suggested as a reserve currency. According to Yonatan Sela, SVP Business Development, YouNow: “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. The main reserve currency in the world is gold, with a market cap of ~$7 trillion USD. 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.” Other leaders were quick to point out that the asset characteristics of Bitcoin are only just now becoming mainstream. As more and more people discover Bitcoin, the price will only trend higher. In fact, the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) caused by comments from Jamie Dimon, Larry Fink and others simply adds to public awareness, which in turn drives up prices. Per Serafin Lion Engel, CEO and Founder of DataWallet: “Bitcoin proves 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. 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. 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.” However, most industry experts see that the power of Bitcoin is not only in its technology, but in its longevity. As the oldest and most stable cryptocurrency, it has the trust of the digital currency community. Eyal Herzog and Galia Benartzi Co Founders of Bancor said: “What’s interesting here to remember is that Bitcoin has at least 4 years of momentum accumulation before Ethereum. This is a great reminder that real value networks don't just spike into existence. They take time and dedication to build and take real root. We should keep this in mind as we look at new alt coins and somehow expect them to skyrocket in days or weeks.” Bitcoin instability and volatility In spite of the huge run up in price over the last few days, the value of the cryptocurrency may well see substantial volatility. Even if Bitcoin does hit $6,000 (which appears quite likely), the price may see another massive drop, just as it did when the $5,000 price point was first touched. Further, any negative news may cause some unrest in the price. According to Bharath Rao, CEO of Leverj: “The Bitcoin price has moved from under $1,000 at the beginning of the year to around $6,000. The price should certainly be expected to fluctuate quite a bit, both due to the uncertainty and promise of new technology. 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 long term? Among experts, most see the strength of Bitcoin being assured, at least in the short term. While anti-Bitcoin pundits may critique the platform, the reality that Bitcoin has achieved some consensus for mainstream acceptance is clear. According to Rob Viglione, Co-Founder of ZenCash: "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. 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." However, many see fundamental flaws within the structure of Bitcoin technology - particularly with block creation. The continued production of blocks depends on substantial electrical use and huge output of resources. Some say that Bitcoin, with its Proof of Work (PoW) protocol, may well be overtaken by other altcoins with the Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol. Technical experts see a need for change, like Lior Yaffe Core Developer at NXT ARDOR: “The recent increase in Bitcoin's value is likely due to it being the de-facto exchange currency between the fiat and crypto worlds, much the same as the US dollar is between fiat currencies. It is quite obvious that Bitcoin is not going to replace any fiat currency any time soon due to scaling issues and the waste generated by the POW process. Going forward I predict that most innovation in the crypto world in the mid to long term will take place on POS based blockchains, but being the bridge between the worlds gives Bitcoin a huge short term boost.” The move toward $6,000 is not only encouraging because of the price point for Bitcoin holders. To some industry experts, the price shift is really reflective of the power of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology to truly change the world. According to Carl Bennetts Co-Founder of Status.im: "Reaching milestones against fiat currency certainly aren’t inconsequential, but what’s far more interesting to me is the long term trend at play, and what this signifies for the future of blockchain technologies. While 6,000 USD certainly reflects some market maturity, what’s truly exciting is that we’re slowly edging towards mass-adoption, a world of true financial self-sovereignty, and an open financial system that brings fair access the anyone with an internet connection." Generally, the consensus among industry leaders is that the Bitcoin bull will continue to run, and $6,000 will be achieved. Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/industry-experts-believe-bitcoin-headed-to-6000 |
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Hackers Use Amazon’s AWS Computing Resources to Mine BitcoinSecurity intelligence group RedLock has exposed hackers who were using Amazon Web Services (AWS) computing resources to mine bitcoin. In a report from the intelligence company it found that at least two companies were targeted: Aviva and Gemalto, both multinational corporations. RedLock were alerted to the situation after realizing that a number of administration consoles on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud platforms were not password protected. As a result, these presented opportunities for hackers to gain easy access. The report said: "Upon deeper analysis, the team discovered that hackers were executing a bitcoin mining command from one of the Kubernetes containers. Kubernetes is an open-source platform designed to automate deploying, scaling, and operating application containers. The report added: "The instance had effectively been turned into a parasitic bot that was performing nefarious activity over the Internet. According to RedLock, access keys and secret tokens were stored in plaintext within the unprotected consoles. The hackers were provided with easy access critical infrastructure where they had the opportunity to cause further damage if they wanted. This comes at a time when there is growing concern that nation-state hackers are stealing bitcoin. Earlier this month it was confirmed by South Korean authorities that North Korea had targeted bitcoin exchanges in the country to steal the digital currency. In September, cybersecurity firm FireEye initially reported that a state-sponsored North Korean campaign was taking place to steal bitcoin from South Korean exchanges. Authorities have said that the attacks were in the form of spear phishing attempts. Since July, 25 employees across four digital currency exchanges have been targeted. A report last month also indicated that digital currency mining malware is on pace to infect two million computers in 2017. Cybersecurity Labs Kaspersky Labs and technical support site Bleeping Computer found that in the first nine months of the year 1.65 million computers were infected by cryptocurrency mining malware. Known as botnets, cyberattackers often run mining software in the background with no indication from the computer owner that they are aware their computer is infected. Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/hackers-use-amazons-aws-computing-resources-to-mine-bitcoin/
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On October 13, the market cap of Bitcoin surpassed that of Goldman Sachs after a meteoric rise in the past three days. With a market cap of $95 billion, Bitcoin surpassed Goldman Sachs by more than $3 billion. Goldman Sachs, the second largest investment bank in the world, has sustained a market cap of $92 billion throughout the past 12 months but has struggled to demonstrate an increase in growth in terms of market cap. "Major milestone: #bitcoin market cap surpasses that of Goldman Sachs at $95 billion 🚀 Next: $100 billion & eventually $350 billion JPMorgan pic.twitter.com/3H93KtwBaP — Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) October 13, 2017 Since January of 2017, the market cap of Bitcoin increased from $15 billion to $95 billion, while the market cap of Goldman Sachs remained relatively stable at just over $90 billion. Surpassing Market Cap of Goldman Sachs was a Major Milestone, Potential Targets Surpassing the market cap of Goldman Sachs was a major milestone for Bitcoin and it is rapidly approaching towards the $100 billion mark. But, while Goldman Sachs is the second largest investment bank in the global finance sector, Bitcoin still needs to overtake large retail and commercial banks such as Citigroup and JPMorgan, which are valued at $159 billion and $350 billion respectively. In order for the market cap of Bitcoin to surpass that of JPMorgan at $350 billion, the price of Bitcoin needs to reach around $25,000, which happens to be the interim target of many prominent and highly regarded analysts including Tom Lee, a Wall Street strategist and Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder. On CNBC’s Fast Money, Lee emphasized that he sees the Bitcoin price reaching $25,000 by 2022, after refuting claims from bank executives such as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon that Bitcoin “is a bubble.” Lee stated: “There are only about 300,000 holders of at least $5,000 of bitcoin. That is like saying the iPhone was a bubble in 2007 four days into the sale because there were 500,000 iPhones sold. Bitcoin is a protocol. Meaning, the actual network itself is generating the value so that the Visa of bitcoin is not going to be as valuable as the blockchain network itself. And that is why, for instance, to make a fraudulent transaction on bitcoin today, it would cost almost $30 billion to create one fake bitcoin.” Bitcoin is its Own Economy and Financial Network, its Rise in Value is Proving That As Bank of Finland explained in its latest research paper, Bitcoin operates its own economy and decentralized financial network. It does not require the presence and involvement of intermediaries and third party service providers such as banks. At first, banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs dismissed Bitcoin due to its premature market. But, as the demand for Bitcoin from general consumers, institutional investors, retail traders, and bank clients rapidly increased, even major banks like Goldman Sachs moved toward embracing the digital currency. Last month, Paul Vigna of The Wall Street Journal, revealed that Goldman Sachs is preparing to launch Bitcoin trading, to address the increasing demand for the cryptocurrency. He wrote: “Goldman’s effort involves both its currency-trading division and the bank’s strategic investment group, the people said. That suggests the firm believes bitcoin’s future is more as a payment method rather than a store of value, like gold.” As the global demand for Bitcoin increases and major markets such as Japan demonstrate a rapid growth rate, the Bitcoin market will continue to outperform most assets and currencies. Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoins-market-cap-surpasses-that-of-goldman-sachs-at-95-billion/ |
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JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon, who earlier this year labeled bitcoin a “fraud” and stated that it would eventually be closed because it was “not a real thing,” was recently slammed by Bart Stephens, co-founder and managing partner of San Francisco-based venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, who said he should “do some homework” on bitcoin. Jamie Dimon’s initial comments, that included him saying he would fire any JP Morgan employee trading bitcoin because it was both “stupid” and against the bank’s rules, have been met with a lot of criticism. So much so, that a former JP Morgan executive told him to “STFU about bitcoin,“ and that a managing partner for a bitcoin market trading firm, UK-based Blockswater, filed a complaint with a Swedish regulator against him, as JP Morgan became one of the most active buyers of Bitcoin XBT, a bitcoin tracker fund listed on Nasdaq Nordic, following his comments. Dimon then swung at bitcoin again. Now, Bart Stephens sees Jamie Dimon’s comments as “hypocritical and ignorant” as, according to what he told Fortune’s Term Sheet newsletter, he was speaking to JP Morgan clients about cryptocurrencies, while Jamie Dimon was making those comments, as stated in his tweet: While Jamie Dimon of @jpmorgan was bashing #bitcoin, his SF office was hosting @blockchaincap @PanteraCapital @BoostVC and @polychainfund 🤔 pic.twitter.com/0D6Ul1YSdy — Bart Stephens (@pbartstephens) September 12, 2017 He further referenced that other Wall Street CEOs, like Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein and Fidelity’s Abigail Johnson, actually make constructive comments on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Stephens stated that blockchain and cryptocurrencies “elicited an emotional response from financial incumbents” and that the technology is, right now, controversial and misunderstood. That being said, he notably encouraged Jamie Dimon, and others, to “do some homework first,” he stated: “I would encourage Jamie Dimon and others to do some homework first. It is not a fraud. It is not a Ponzi scheme. It’s a robust technology that is going to impact multiple industries in an additive way. Don’t discount it.” To Stephens, Silicon Valley has been ignoring “the tsunami” for too long, as many of his friends who are at VC firms tend to dismiss cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology because they don’t spend enough time learning about its potential.
Bitcoin’s price isn’t a bubbleWhile speaking to Fortune’s newsletter, Stephens also addressed ICOs. To him, people are focusing too much on ICOs, and too little on the underlying idea of a tokenized network, which enables entrepreneurs to finance their businesses in new ways by producing a token on top of the Ethereum blockchain. He also added that, just like any other technology, ICOs can be misused: “Like all new technologies, ICOs can be misused. There will be fraud, just like there are frauds in the regular stock market. Just because a technology is misused or overheated doesn’t mean it’s not a really important technology. And again, the idea of tokenized networks is more important here, not the ICOs itself, the transaction which people tend to focus on.” That being said, Stephens added that he believes blockchain technology is additive to the existing infrastructure, and will allow startups to take market share away from companies that choose to ignore the technology. When asked how could a crash be avoidable if it was all just “one big bubble,” Stephens replied that, first, he didn’t think it was a bubble, and that if it was indeed a bubble, it wouldn’t hurt Wall Street and Main Street. He further added that scale matters and given bitcoin’s $70 billion market cap, about the same market cap as PayPal, we would be talking about one of the smallest bubbles ever seen, when compared to the scale of other financial crises. Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/tech-vc-says-jamie-dimon-should-do-some-homework-on-bitcoin/ |
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Bitcoin’s seemingly unstoppable surge to record highs isn’t deterring competitors. Former Silicon Valley developers are working on at least two new versions of the digital currency. Basecoin is seeking to solve bitcoin’s volatility with a team of former Google Inc. coders that are building what they hope will be a more stable version of the cryptocurrency. Cypherium has former Google, Amazon Inc. and Microsoft Corp. developers building a blockchain that aims to be able to handle an expanded workload more easily.  Competition isn’t new for bitcoin as there are over 1,000 different blockchains, the technology used for verifying and recording transactions that’s at the heart of bitcoin. While many rivals such as ethereum also provide applications, others like zCash and monero already say they’re trying to improve upon the first and biggest cryptocurrency. So far they haven’t succeeded in dethroning bitcoin. After briefly dipping below 50 percent of the total cryptocurrency market, bitcoin is back at its dominant position. “When you have a whole new industry, competitors within that industry aren’t really competing with each other, they’re competing with the old industry and generally all boats rise together,” said Peter Van Valkenburgh, research director at Coin Center. Basecoin’s investors include venture-capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, PolyChain Capital, Pantera Capital and Mark Cuban-backed 1confirmation, among others. The team aims to develop a central bank that’s based on algorithms, performing similar money supply regulation functions done by the Federal Reserve, except it’s on the blockchain, requiring no human discretion. The hope is to have a stable currency that will make commerce more viable than can be conducted given bitcoin’s wild price swings. In the Cypherium blockchain, developers write smart contracts and do governance work off-chain, so that all the power can be dedicated to transactions. The aim is for the cryptocurrency to handle thousands of transactions per second, compared with bitcoin’s fewer than 10. Newcomers will have a lot of catching up to do, as bitcoin continues to break new records, now towering above $5,000, as it shrugs off splits on its blockchain that stem from disagreements on fixing the very problems these new cryptocurrencies say they solve. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-13/bitcoin-competitors-are-being-built-in-ex-google-coders-laptops |
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