Bitcoin

Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash Record Large Gains, as Altcoins Fall

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FYI.

– Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash Record Large Gains, as Altcoins Fall:

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash, cryptocurrencies that are considered as reserve assets or safe investments in the highly volatile cryptocurrency market, has recorded large gains over the past 24 hours.

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Ethereum Hits Record High Above $1,000 As Ripple Sinks On Coinbase Denial

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– Ethereum Hits Record High Above $1,000 As Ripple Sinks On Coinbase Denial:

Whether it is Coinbase’s denial of plans to include Ripple on its network or simply a broader understanding of the asset, 2018’s high-flyer is lagging today as investors regain their appetite for Ethereum (record highs over $1000) and Bitcoin (over $16k) overnight.

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Long Blockchain Sells 1.6 Million Shares, Will Buy 1,000 Bitcoin Mining Machines

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With one name change, we can now confirm that the efficient market hypothesis is dead and buried.

– Long Blockchain Sells 1.6 Million Shares, Will Buy 1,000 Bitcoin Mining Machines:

The “blockchain” farce is now complete.

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Bitcoin Soars Above $15,000 After WSJ Reports (Bilderberger) Peter Thiel Makes “Monster Bet”

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– Bitcoin Soars Above $15,000 After WSJ Reports Peter Thiel Makes “Monster Bet”:

Update (1420ET) – Well that escalated quickly. Bitcoin just broke above $15,000, up $1200 since Thiel headlines hit.

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Bitcoin prices are soaring (following a disappointing start to the year) after reports that billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel has BTFD in recent months and amassed a massive position in the cryptocurrency.

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Russia’s Crypto Rules Betray Early Hopes

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“To give you an idea of how stupid these rules are. Russians would be allowed to own cryptocurrencies but they wouldn’t be allowed to use them for anything.”

– Russia’s Crypto Rules Betray Early Hopes:

Authored by Tom Luongo,

I’ve been pretty vocal about how Russia has seemingly embraced the crytpocurrency craze.  In announcement after announcement this year it looked like the state apparatus in Russia under President Vladimir Putin’s direction would be at the forefront of seeing the opportunities for Russia to utilize cryptocurrencies to avoid the worst of the hostility coming from the U.S.

With the draft legislation put forth by the the Russian Ministry of Finance  this week those hopes look to be dashed.

The ‘Crypto-Ruble’ we discussed at great length over the summer?  Nixed.

Integrating cryptocurrencies into day-to-day Russian life?  Nope.

Regulation of miners and mining as taxable profits?  Yes.

In short, this draft legislation is about as hostile to cryptocurrencies as it could possibly have been.  And it betrays who still has out-sized control over the Russian economy and state-apparatus.

Read moreRussia’s Crypto Rules Betray Early Hopes

Australian Banks Reportedly Freeze Accounts Of Bitcoin Users

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– Australian Banks Reportedly Freeze Accounts Of Bitcoin Users:

Adding to the pressures on bitcoin early this morning, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that bitcoin users across Australia are reporting that their accounts have been abruptly frozen by the country’s “Big Four” banks. And while the banks have remained largely tight-lipped about the closures, many angry account-holders are jumping to conclusions and blaming the banks for punishing them because of their involvement with bitcoin.

Bitcoin investors are claiming Australia’s banks are freezing their accounts and transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges, with a viral tweet slamming the big four and an exchange platform putting a restriction on Australian deposits.

According to the Herald, cryptocurrency trader and Youtuber Alex Saunders called out National Australia Bank, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation on Twitter for freezing customer accounts and transfers to four different bitcoin exchanges  – CoinJar, CoinSpot, CoinBase and BTC Markets.

Read moreAustralian Banks Reportedly Freeze Accounts Of Bitcoin Users

South Korea Not Ruling Out ‘Shutdown’ of Bitcoin Exchanges in the Future: Govt Official

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– South Korea Not Ruling Out ‘Shutdown’ of Bitcoin Exchanges in the Future: Govt Official:

South Korea is not banning bitcoin, but a top government official says that regulators “will consider” shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges in the future if proposed regulations fail to cool off what they consider to be “irrationally overheated” markets in the country.

South Korea Will ‘Consider’ Shutting Down Bitcoin Exchanges, Says Govt. Official

According to multiple local media reports, Hong Nam-ki, minister of South Korea’s Office for Government Policy Coordination, said that regulators will consider shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges if new measures intended to curb cryptocurrency speculation fail to have the desired effect.

“We are planning to consider every possible measure in the future, including the shutdown of exchanges,” Hong told reporters, according to BusinessKorea, an English-language news service based in Seoul.

A report from fellow Seoul publication The Korea Times added that Hong said that Korea’s Ministry of Justice had already proposed shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges, although the government has yet to follow-up on this proposal.

Read moreSouth Korea Not Ruling Out ‘Shutdown’ of Bitcoin Exchanges in the Future: Govt Official

Rotation Continues – Ripple Tops Ethereum As 2nd Largest Cryptocurrency

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– Rotation Continues – Ripple Tops Ethereum As 2nd Largest Cryptocurrency:

For a brief period overnight, Ripple overtook Ethereum as the 2nd largest cryptocurrency (topping $71 billion in market cap) as the recent rotation from Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum into Ripple continued overnight.

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$105 Million in Bitcoin… in a Landfill: Council Denies Owner to Recover Missing Hard Drive

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– $105 Million in Bitcoin…in a Landfill: Council Denies Owner to Recover Missing Hard Drive:

James Howells, the IT worker who unwittingly discarded a hard drive containing what is now estimated to hold $75 million worth of bitcoin, knows where the missing hard drive is, but he can’t try to retrieve it. That’s because the city in which the fortune is buried won’t allow him to dig in the landfill.

The missing hard drive is sitting somewhere under 200,000 tons of garbage in a Newport, South Wales landfill.

Hard Drive Gets Trashed

Howells used an old laptop to mine a total of 7,500 bitcoins in 2009. Shortly thereafter, he sold the parts to the Dell M1710 on eBay after his girlfriend complained about the mining’s noise. He kept the hard drive in a drawer, just in case the bitcoins did increase in value. But he forgot about the hard drive, and four years later, he discarded it with the trash.

Read more$105 Million in Bitcoin… in a Landfill: Council Denies Owner to Recover Missing Hard Drive

While Bitcoin Implodes, This Rival Cryptocurrency Has Grown Yy A Jaw-Dropping 22,000%

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Ripple, also known as the bankster coin…

– While bitcoin implodes, this rival cryptocurrency has grown by a jaw-dropping 22,000% :

Bitcoin is continuing to lose its dominance over the cryptocurrency market, losing over 14 percent of its value in the last 24 hours. At the same time, rival virtual currency ripple surged almost 20 percent to its all-time high.

Ripple’s gains followed the news that Japanese financial services company SBI Holdings and its subsidiary SBI Ripple Asia are to launch a “consortium” with Japanese credit card companies to use blockchain technology, CNBC reported.

The advantage of ripple is that it is not just a cryptocurrency. It is also used as a digital protocol that acts as a bridge to other currencies and doesn’t discriminate against peers whether they are using digital money, fiat currencies or even mobile minutes.

Read moreWhile Bitcoin Implodes, This Rival Cryptocurrency Has Grown Yy A Jaw-Dropping 22,000%

Bitcoin is Eating Itself

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– Bitcoin is Eating Itself:

Fees keep going up. And every time they go up, more of the money stored on the blockchain becomes worthless.

Over 3000 BTC, worth over $4M, is stored in “coins” (or “utxos”) whose value is too low to be spent in a normal transaction without incurring fees greater than the value of the “coin”.

If fees were back at January 2017 levels, only half as much stored BTC would be worthless. Bitcoin is eating itself.

When you send bitcoin, you destroy some of the coins in your wallet and create new coin(s) for your recipient. All ~16 million existing BTC live in coins that each hold anywhere from 0 BTC to thousands of BTC:

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3 Cryptocurrencies to Consider Buying Over Bitcoin

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– 3 Cryptocurrencies to Consider Buying Over Bitcoin:

Ethereum

There’s a good reason why Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap: It has a really popular blockchain. Formed earlier this year, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is comprised of 200 organizations that are currently testing a version of Ethereum’s blockchain in demo, pilot, and small-scale projects. These testers include governments, financial-service companies (which are expected to be the biggest benefactor of blockchain technology), and tech and energy companies.

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Ripple

Another cryptocurrency that’s been very impressive of late is Ripple. Its token, the XRP, has galloped higher by more than 12,000% since the year began.

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Stellar

Sticking with the theme that blockchain is king, one under-the-radar cryptocurrency you should be following is Stellar (formerly Stellar Lumens), and its coin, the XLM. This is a virtual currency that holds true to its name, as the XLM has been “stellar” this year with a 10,400% year-to-date gain.

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H/t reader kevin a.

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Cryptocurrencies Rip Higher As Dip-Buying Replaces Panic-Selling

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FYI.

– Cryptocurrencies Rip Higher As Dip-Buying Replaces Panic-Selling:

Yesterday’s triple-legged panic-selling across the crypto-space, which saw Bitcoin and Ethereum down 30 and 40% respectively at their worst ended around 10amET and while the mainstrea media was happy to declare (once again) the death of Bitcoin et al., the entire crypto world has soared since – almost erasing the entire day’s losses.

Across the board, cryptocurrencies are soaring…

Which has pushed Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin back to almost unchanged from Thursday…

Interestingly the collapse in cryptos appears to have been stalled by the limit-down halt in CME Bitcoin Futures – ironic really given the mainstream view that futures trading would be the end of cryptos.

Now, let’s not get too carried away as Bitcoin remains well off its record highs, but on the other hand a 45% bounce off the lows is nothing to shrug off…

Read moreCryptocurrencies Rip Higher As Dip-Buying Replaces Panic-Selling