Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Bitcoin is Still in a Good Position
Crypto thought leader and founder of the largest exchange gives his insights on Bitcoin after ist 70% drop from the currencies high.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder and CEO at the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance, has said that bitcoin is still in a positive position after its 70 percent fall since early 2018, especially considering its strong rally throughout 2017.
Crypto Market is Better in Every Way
From January to December of 2017, the price of bitcoin increased from $890 to $20,000, by more than 2150 percent. In comparison to mid-2017, the volume of bitcoin has increased by five-fold, signifying a significant surge in demand and interest towards cryptocurrencies as an emerging asset class from investors in the public market.
In an interview with Bianca Chen, a cryptocurrency researcher and reporter in Zug, Switzerland, CZ said that the cryptocurrency sector is in a better position than a year ago, in terms of infrastructure, price, volume, and mainstream interest.
“Just checked, btc price was $2500 a year ago, today $6800. Trading volume for btc was 780m a year ago, today is 3.4b. There you go,” CZ said.
In mid-2017, the cryptocurrency sector did not have any proper infrastructure in place for both retail and institutional investors. As of July, the crypto market has an institutional platform called Coinbase Custody established, with which hedge...
Peering Through the #FUD About #Crypto
Bitcoin has thrust cryptocurrencies into mainstream consciousness by shaking up the financial world in the past 9 years.
Since its inception in 2009, the preeminent cryptocurrency has thrown a spanner in the works of traditional banking and financial institutions and has paved the way for the creation of a plethora of industry-shaping virtual currencies and blockchain-based innovations.
With that being said, it’s been far from smooth sailing for Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Dramatic highs and soul-shattering lows have been part and parcel of the past nine years.
The volatility of cryptocurrencies has created more than a few detractors and we’ve seen a number of headlines exclaiming the ‘death’ of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.
These obituaries have come from a wide variety of industry experts and commentators. While they’re almost always subjective, they portray a negative, fear-mongering mentality that detracts from the technological breakthroughs that have been sparked by blockchain technology.
Let’s take a look at some of the instances that have led to mainstream media outlets signaling the death of Bitcoin and examine where the industry is at midway through 2018.
It’s not difficult to find articles slamming Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies — just look at 99bitcoins.com, which has a compendium of Bitcoin obituaries that has now surpassed the 300 mark.
The earliest headline heralding the end of Bitcoin, according to the website, is an article entitled ‘Why Bitcoin can’t be a currency’ published in a blog entitled The Underground Economist in 2010. In essence, the writer pointed to Bitcoin’s constantly fluctuating value as the main reason why it shouldn’t be considered a currency.
“While Bitcoin has managed to bootstrap itself on a limited scale, it lacks any mechanism for dealing with fluctuations in demand. Increasing demand for Bitcoin will cause prices in terms of Bitcoin to drop (deflation), while decreasing demand will cause them to rise (inflation).”
Since then, the number of headlines suggesting that Bitcoin was doomed to fail has increased year on year. In 2017, there were a total of 118 Bitcoin obituaries articles.
These obituaries are any articles that predict the demise of Bitcoin, based on assumptions or quotes from a wide range of commentators. This includes mentions of fraud, ponzi schemes and money laundering and frankly anything that is negative enough to cast aspersions on the future of Bitcoin.
While the sheer number of articles that have predicted the death of Bitcoin may be humorous, a glance down the list of headlines from various publications tells a different story altogether.
Small scale blogs like the one that is credited for the first Bitcoin death article have a limited reach and aren’t likely to have a profound effect on the sentiment of a large group of people.
However, as the number of these articles increases, so too has the caliber and profile of the publications producing this content.
Mainstream mania
CNBC has covered cryptocurrencies extensively over the last few years, with content that is fairly objective in terms widespread coverage of both positive and negative sentiments towards the industry,
With that being said, CNBC has been the source of numerous interviews quoting various sources that have labelled Bitcoin a bubble and ponzi scheme, while speculating on how it would crash.
The most telling example of this was JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon comparing Bitcoin to the Dutch Tulip Mania before predicting it would blow up on CNBC. Perhaps more telling was the effect Dimon’s statements had on Bitcoin’s value, which fell after the American executive’s comments:
"It's worse than tulip bulbs. It won't end well. Someone is going to get killed. Currencies have legal support. It will blow up."
In November 2017, Bloomberg published an article that speculated on a number of different factors that could potentially derail Bitcoin as it headed to that $20,000 high in December.
The article quoted several sources that point to the number of altcoins, regulations, cyber attacks and the launch of derivatives as pitfalls to Bitcoin’s rise in price and popularity.
Bubble talk
The Guardian published an editorial in November 2017 that labelled Bitcoin’s price as a bubble, and pointed to the costs of mining, slammed the endorsements by celebrities and made strong statements about Bitcoin’s primary use as means to buy drugs and pay ransoms online.
Forbes contributor Jay Adkisson wrote an op-ed which went on to describe the way Bitcoin is currently sold as a scam. The writer boiled down Bitcoin to a core existence as a number, without an intrinsic value.
He went on to suggest that cryptocurrencies lack ‘uniqueness,’ pointing to the sheer number of cryptocurrencies in existence.
The Telegraph also published a number of articles last year, drumming up ‘bubble’ rhetoric as the 2017 wound to a close. Abhishek Parajuli took a mighty swipe in his own op-ed on the platform, citing wild volatility, poor utility as a medium exchange as well as slow transaction speeds:
“So, hype aside, Bitcoins are lottery tickets. They have no underlying utility. When the music stops, those left holding them will be burned.”
Wall Street Journal contributor James Mackintosh weighed in on the value of Bitcoin in mid-September 2017. In essence, the writer delved into the notion of Bitcoin having become digital gold as a store of value.
Going on...
Current Bear Trend ‘By No Means’ Funeral for Bitcoin says CNBC’s Brian Kelly
Key insights on the Bitcoin markets and trading from Brian Kelley.
The current bear market is not a funeral for Bitcoin (BTC) “whatsoever,” CEO of BKCM LLC investment firm Brian Kelly said on CNBC's Fast Money segment June 22.
We tried to have a funeral for #Bitcoin as it fell below $6K, but @BKBrianKelly is still a believer. Here's why he thinks the cryptocurrency will resurrect pic.twitter.com/B8ozbzPsfJ
— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) June 22, 2018
To back up his statement, Kelly provided three key factors. First, he pointed out that the market sentiment is “approaching lows,” implying that a trend reversal is likely to follow.
Bitcoin, trading at $5,881 as of press time, has been in an almost continuous decline since hitting its all-time-high of $20,000 in December 2017.
The Regulatory System(S) And Cryptocurrencies
Source oneQube by Christopher Faille
Edmund Mokhtarian and Alexander Lindgren have written a fascinating discussion of “operational issues and best practices” for cryptocurrency traders. As part of this broader discussion, they have provocative things to say about the regulatory system in the U.S. and about where, if anywhere, bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies fit into it.
The regulatory system in the United States is both fragmented and functional. There is no single administrative body whose job it is to oversee the capital markets as a whole, working toward efficiency on the one hand and working against fraud on the other. Instead, there are several agencies involved in this task or these tasks, the most important of which (the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission) are distinguished from each other by the sort of investment vehicle they oversee. As the names suggest, the CFTC oversees commodities trading, the SEC securities trading.
The fragmentation is “functional” in character in that the distinction is defined by the function the two types of instrument perform. Commodities and securities have much in common. They are both traded on markets, they are both quite liquid, and they both serve both profit seekers and risk hedgers. But what distinguishes them? Seventy years ago the Supreme Court gave the following ffunction definition if a security: it is an instrument by which “a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party.”
The Function of a Security
By design, that definition is very broad, in order to make it difficult for security fraudsters to escape responsibility by saying that they aren’t really securities fraudsters. The function of a security, whether called a stock or bond or something else, is to allow an investor to gain exposure to the gains of an enterprise (commonly a listed corporation) without making any further ‘effort’ other than the infusion of the money itself.
Stealth Project ICO Review
- Multi-cryptocurrency STEALTH WALLET is developed with strong emphasis on anonymity. It will offer a built-in mixer and users will be able to earn passive income while using it. STEALTH WALLET is a software product developed for managing and storing cryptocurrencies. It aims to simplify the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday life as well as offer convenient and secure way of storing your assets in the new financial reality, where STEALTH WALLET features Supports the following cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Bitcoin Cach Etherium Litecoin Ripple Monero Dash Zcash Stelz coin Complete anonymity Highest known level of security Built-in coin mixer (for the currencies that are not initially supported) The possibility of passive, constant income simply by the ownership of cryptocurrency (Participation in a built-in mixer program is required) Private node system similar to TOR, network of private anonymous servers worldwide Instant payments within STEALTH WALLET system Р2Р exchange within STEALTH WALLET ecosystem (similar to ShapeShift)
- Self-sufficient anonymous and autonomous network infrastructure is built, similar to Tor. How STEALTH Browser works Our browser will be integrated into STEALTH WALLET with the network designed to operate in the following way: High-level protection and not – Deanonymization through administrative means Deanonymization using malware Deanonymization via timing attacks Deanonymization via vulnerable connection-chain elements Deanonymization via web browser vulnerabilities This is the most reliable part resistant to both active approaches to deanonymization and deanonymization through administrative means. Low speed due to Tor limitations is its main disadvantage. However, we are going to solve this problem by using our own nodes. In the end, any solution will include a proxy for changing IP address periodically. No logs are saved, either known or hidden. A master password is used...
South Africa: Gang Kidnaps 13 Year Old Boy, Demands Ransom of 15 Bitcoins
The kidnappers of a 13-year-old boy in South Africa have demanded a ransom of 15 bitcoins (BTC) - around $120,000 - for his release, The Guardian reported Tuesday, May 22.
Local police stated that on Sunday, May 20, three gang members pulled up in a car near to where the teenager, Kathlego Marite, was playing with two friends close to his home in the town of Witbank. Witnesses said the men dragged him into the vehicle, leaving their ransom note at the scene. The “non-negotiable” note reportedly threatens to kill the boy if the demands are not met, with the first deadline for payment passing...
Crush Crypto Weekly – May 20, 2018
The cryptocurrency market was relatively flat during the past week. The overall market cap dropped by 3% to $389 billion. Bitcoin is up 1% to $8,500 while ether price increased 3% to $720.
A lot of investors expected that the blockchain week, which happened last week, would provide a positive catalyst to the market. However, it didn’t happen and the market was actually dropping while the Consensus conference was ongoing.
It goes to show that when most people in the market expect something to occur, the opposite usually happens because the event/news is already priced in. This is a typical “sell the news” type of price movement.
However, from attending the conference, I can see that a lot of institutional investors are very interested about getting into the space. It takes a while before such investors are cleared to take...
Taxation Reinvented by Bitcoin Miners in Hong Kong?
At the Coingeek Conference in Hong Kong recently a prominent group of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) miners got together to discuss the funding of BCH development. Attendees included Jerry Chan from SBI Bits and Jonald Fyookball of Electron Cash.
Press reports indicate that most of the attendees agreed that it makes sense for miners denote a (small) portion of block rewards, between 1% and 5%, to fund community proposed initiatives. The initiatives could be adopted by a supermajority of miners (75% was discussed) then supported automatically by the mandated percentage from every block found.
This created a moment of what one might call ideological discomfort. Jamie Redman wrote about this informal meeting, and that consensus, in a post at Bitcoin.com. The commenters on Redman’s piece proceeded to debate whether the BCH miners were reinventing taxation. The crypto community harbors a number of anarcho-capitalists and other anti-statists and “taxation” is a dreaded word.