Our cryptocurrency news covers the week’s record bitcoin valuations, who’s bullish, who’s bashing bitcoin and who wants to control cryptocurrencies along with a cross-section of interesting news about the digital coins space.
Here’s a prediction that makes bitcoin bubble watchers nervous. Hedge fund manager Mark Yusko predicts bitcoin could someday reach $1 million. In Venezuela, exchange LocalBitcoins has seen coin trading volume grow four times since June because of demand and the negative impact of the poor economy on the Bolivar currency.
Regulations and a new “crypto ruble” could establish Russia as a big player in cryptocurrency globally. Congressional elections in China could block or re-establish bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading depending on the outcome. Bitcoin company Payment21 is the first to be licensed and regulated in Switzerland.
AdGuard estimates as many as 500 million consumers may have been impacted by unauthorized “pirate” cryptocurrency mining. Quartz provides a fascinating look inside Xapo’s ultrasecret Swiss mountain bitcoin vault. In another article, Quartz also tours Bitmain’s Mongolia bitcoin mining operation and the unusual life of young “miners” working there.
A new Bank of America report is optimistic about blockchain technology but says bitcoin’s value is “impossible to assess.” Investor and noted VC Fred Wilson says holding 3% to 5% in cryptocurrency is a reasonable amount an investment portfolio. MarketWatch poses seven questions bullish bitcoin investors must answer and they’re worth considering.
And now the bitcoin bashers. UBS calls bitcoin a “speculative bubble” while Brazil’s central banker goes further, saying bitcoin is a “bubble and pyramid scheme.” US Nobel Prize economist Robert Shiller calls bitcoin a “fad” as well. Bitcoin bulls are definitely looking forward to a better week, next week.
Stock Market Bear Sets $1 Million Bitcoin Price Target
Hedge fund manager Mark Yusko forecasts 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. Via cryptocoinsnews.com
Bitcoin Exchange LocalBitcoins Posts Fourfold Trading Volume Increase in Venezuela
Decentralized Bitcoin exchange LocalBitcoins announced a fourfold increase in its Bitcoin trading volume since June in Venezuela. This substantial increase reflects the phenomenal rise in demand for the digital currency in the country and in other emerging markets. According to the company, its trading volume of Bitcoin in the last three months has increased to 40 billion Venezuelan bolivars from about nine billion bolivars. Via cointelegraph.com
Smart Regulation Could Make Russia Next Major Bitcoin Market
Russia could evolve into the next major Bitcoin market, as the government continues to encourage Bitcoin mining and moves closer towards regulating its cryptocurrency exchange market. However, according to Putin, that is not the case and the Russian central bank has plans to regulate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. This is a big change from a week ago, when Putin condemned Bitcoin for its potential criminal uses. Via cointelegraph.com
China Could Make Bitcoin Buzz Again as National Congress Looms
It could be make or break for Bitcoin in China this week with the Communist Party elections. The congress begins on October 18, and its outcome could have a huge bearing on Bitcoin in the country – whether dooming it totally, or even lifting the regulatory bans. When China decided to ban, firstly, ICOs, and then exchanges, there was a tangible drop in price that was felt across the world. This sent the digital currency skidding from $5,100 down to close to $3,100. Via cointelegraph.com
Swiss Bitcoin company receives official license
Payment21 is a brand that encourages digital currency as a global medium of exchange. Payment21’s Bitcoin cashier system provides collection and exchange services to e-commerce merchants, multinational corporations, and financial intermediaries around the globe. The fintech becomes the first Bitcoin firm in Switzerland directly supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) for compliance with Anti-Money-Laundering (AML). Via thepaypers.com
500 Million Users Affected Every Month By Pirates to Mine Cryptocurrency
Experts at AdGuard have suggested that the new phenomenon that has seen a couple of sites caught using website visitor’s CPU power to mine cryptocurrency, may in fact be a bigger issue than first believed. However, the pirate mining pandemic seems to be much larger as AdGuard have suggested that over 220 sites are actively, and mostly secretly, doing it, affecting over half-a-billion users a month. In the last three weeks, AdGuard estimated that the people behind these schemes have made approximately $43,000. Via Cointelegraph
Xapo’s Swiss mountain bitcoin vault in photos
Kon is taking me to see one of the vaults where Xapo, the company he works for, stores its customers’ bitcoins. It’s no ordinary vault: I’ve been told it’s inside a decommissioned Swiss military bunker dug into a granite mountain. Its precise location is secret, and access is limited by security measures that would put a Bond villain to shame. Via qz.com
Mining bitcoin: How bitcoin miners work
Ordos (population 2 million) has emerged as a center of bitcoin mining, the process of approving transactions and creating new coins in the digital currency’s system. Over half the world’s major bitcoin mining pools – groups of miners who agree to add up their resources to improve their odds of finding bitcoin – are located in China, according to a research paper. Located in a decaying industrial park on the outskirts of town, the mine employs about 50 and consists of eight single-story, warehouse-like buildings, each 150 meters (492 feet) long. Via qz.com
Bank of America Report: Bitcoin’s True Value ‘Impossible to Assess’
In an Oct. 16 research note entitled “Introducing cryptocurrencies – what are they good for?”, the analysts tackle bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and XRP. The note both covers the basics of the market and dives more specifically into the growing galaxy of open blockchain networks in operation today. Notably, the report touches on the possible factors that could shape the cryptocurrency market’s future progression – including financial products based on the tech. Via coindesk.com
Fred Wilson Denies Crash Prediction But Stresses 3-5% Ideal Crypto Holdings
Serial investor Fred Wilson has hit back at press reports that traders should have “10-20%” of assets in cryptocurrency. In a blog post this weekend subsequently circulated by Bloomberg, Wilson, who is a famous advocate of crypto and has expressed caution on ICOs, said that around five percent is a more sensible upper limit. “I think that’s likely at the high-end of what the average person should have, but I also think it’s not a ridiculous number for the average person to have,” he wrote. Via cointelegraph.com
Bitcoin is ‘speculative bubble’ and unlikely to become a currency: UBS
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are in a “speculative bubble” and are unlikely to become mainstream currencies, according to UBS. “We think the sharp rise in cryptocurrency valuations in recent months is a speculative bubble,” UBS wrote in a white paper published last week. The investment bank said that it is “highly doubtful” that these will ever become mainstream currencies. Via cnbc.com
Bitcoin is a Bubble & Pyramid Scheme, Says Brazil Central Bank Chief
Get Trading Recommendations and Read Analysis on Hacked.com for just $39 per month. The president of Brazil’s central bank has rebuked bitcoin, comparing the cryptocurrency to a pyramid scheme. Brazilian central bank president Ilan Goldfajn has taken a dismissive stance against bitcoin and criticized the marked growth in the value of the cryptocurrency this year. Via cryptocoinsnews.com
Nobel-winning economist Shiller calls bitcoin a fad
Bitcoin is a fad, just like bimetallism before it, according to one Nobel Prize-winning economist. The observation came from American economist Robert Shiller, who compared the cryptocurrency to the bimetallism fad of the late 19th century when both gold and silver were accepted as legal tender. It went into a fad, everyone was talking about it for a while. Via cnbc.com
7 questions bitcoin bulls need to answer now
Bitcoin and other digital currencies are the future. They’re going to double in value, and double again, and double again. My own 2 cents — or my own 0.0000035606 bitcoins — is that digital currencies are a fascinating high-risk gamble right now. Never let a bubble go to waste. But long term? Call me old-fashioned. But if you’re going to convince me that digital currencies including bitcoin are “the future” and really are worth their $171 billion market value, you’re going to have to answer these questions. Via marketwatch.com
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