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Bitcoin’s trajectory of the last year has been nothing short of incredible. The continued record highs have attracted the attention of the media, the public, governments, banks, and many more. As more and more cryptocurrency millionaires popped up, more investors wanted a piece of the action, until we found ourselves in the midst of a massive crypto hype. However, it’s not just bitcoin that captured the attention of millions around the world. Ripple quietly grew to prominence until a few weeks ago, when it spiked with over 36,000%, more than doubled in its price and quickly became one of the new darlings of the crypto world. Ripple’s boom followed shortly after several international banks, as well as Korean and Japanese credit card firms, stated that they would use Ripple technology to pilot test projects. At the time of writing, ripple (XRP) is w...

Security in the cryptocurrency space needs a closer look   12 Hours Ago | 03:09 South Korean regulatory plans to tackle cryptocurrency speculation spooked investors earlier this month. But as the new rules take effect on Tuesday, participants in the market are sounding a pos...

Jeet Singh, a cryptocurrency portfolio manager for the last six years, says it is common for virtual currencies to fluctuate by 70 or 80 percent. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he compared cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ripple to early tech giants like Microsoft. He said: "If you look at Microsoft or Apple, when they went public their stocks were very volatile because the market wasn’t mature." The volatility of the market may have worried newer cryptocurrency traders, but long-time investors are less concerned, as they are used to some fluctuations, Mr Singh explained.  As the market for bitcoin becomes more mainstream, and traders begin to better understand cryptocurrencies, some of this volatility is likely to calm down. Mr Singh predicts: "Bitcoin could definitely see $50,000 in 2018." However, he added: "We will probably go through a suffering period of volatility" around the time of Bitcoin’s next $10,000 landmark. B...

The US is concerned that the rise of bitcoin is being used for "illicit activity", according to the US government. Donald Trump's most senior financial policymaker has urged for international regulation to stop the use of cryptocurrencies for crime and other problem behaviour. The Davos meeting of economic leaders has seen a number of statements about the future of cryptocurrency. Theresa May, for instance, said she was taking "very seriously" the prospect of cracking down on the use of bitcoin and other digital money . US treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said that he shared those concerns, and suggested that the world needed to work together to focus on cryptocurrencies to make sure that financial markets are safe. "My number-one focus on cryptocurrencies, whether that be digital currencies or bitcoin or other things, is that we want to make sure that they're not used for illicit activities," he told the World Economic Forum in ...

If it's true that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, then cryptocurrencies have been gearing up for a tremendous decline. But, then again, maybe this is just the start for the great crypto bull market. As of Monday, the entire cryptocurrency market stands at approximately $563 billion, according to industry site CoinMarketCap, which represents a more than 3,400 percent increase from the beginning of 2017. With some cryptocurrencies soaring several thousand percent, Google search results for the space coming in at all-time highs and lots of people hoping for overnight riches in nascent markets, it begs the question: Just how far can this growth be sustained and are we in a crypto currency bubble? I'm not going to argue whether or not the space is dangerously overinflated, but I am in the business of considering worst-case scenarios. My company, TenX, provides debit cards that people can use to spend their cryptocurrencies, so I want to always be prepared for wh...

Bitcoin’s price limbered up slightly from yesterday but still failed to break the $12,000 barrier. According to Coindesk’s index, a single bitcoin could set you back by $11,222.71, an increase of 3.53% from its price 24 hours ago, at 13:55 UTC. The mostly sideways movement in bitcoin’s price occurred even after UBS Chairman Axel Weber told Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum that the bank will not offer bitcoin investing services to clients as government regulation of the cryptocurrency might result in a “massive correction” and an implosion in its price. Gains for other cryptocurrencies outpaced that of bitcoin. Among the top 10 most-traded coins, Stellar’s Lumens was the biggest gainer, rising by 26.13% to trade at $0.57. The cryptocurrency, which shares technology with Ripple’s XRP, might soon be on payments processor Stripe's network. At 14:09 UTC, the overall market capitalization for cryptocurrencies was $552.7 billion, up from a low of $515.5 billion ear...

Fund manager Brian Kelly has insisted claims cryptocurrency is dead have been hugely exaggerated and revealed key tips for investing in the current environment. He said: “Now when everyone is saying… it's over, that's it, bitcoin is dead, for the 175th time. Now's the time you start looking at it, on the buy side.” Prices of all major cryptocurrencies plummeted after China and South Korea made regulatory moves to restrict their use.  Mr Kelly claimed market was in a transitional “hand-off” phase moving from retail investors in Asia to institutional investors in the US, Europe, and Japan. Following the regulatory roadblock, the price of bitcoin plummeted to $10,772 after sitting at $17,135 earlier this month before the news broke. In the last week, the price has remained relatively stable at between $10,000 and $11,000 after rocketing to its highest ever value last month when it smashed $19,000. Despite the gloomy market, Mr Kelly insists the prices are "incredib...

The plan would make sure local banks only allow accounts headed by the users’ real name when they are making cryptocurrency transactions. Real names will have to be used starting from January 30. Kim Yong-beom, the vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated that the names on a virtual coin exchange wallet and bank account must be the same for a user to be able to make deposits. The push is part of a series of demands from South Korea to clampdown on bitcoin - President Moon Jae-in recently warned that virtual currencies are causing mass “confusion” across the nation.  Following moves from the Seoul earlier this month, cryptocurrencies went into free fall as investors fled major digital coins. Bitcoin temporarily fell below its $10,000 milestone on some tracking websites while ethereum fell below $1,000 in a further sign of volatility. However, both coins did recover a small amount of their value. The actions from South Korea come after the US Securitie...

There's a compelling reason to consider what's going on with cryptocurrencies a purely speculative boom-and-bust roller-coaster: Over a three-month period, the prices of all the top coins and tokens are rather strongly correlated, going up and down in unison. What does that make them if not the 21st-century incarnation of tulip bulbs?  FacebookTwitterEmailPrintShare CURRENCY Cryptocurrency Markets Aren't All the Same Different flavors of digital money reflect emerging bets on promising applications. It's not just mindless speculation anymore. By Leonid Bershidsky 15 January 21, 2018 11:00 PM GMT+01:00 Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry ...  Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg There's a compelling reason to consider what's going on with cryptocurrencies a purely speculative boom-and-bust roller-coaster: Over a three-month period, the prices of all the top coins and tokens are rather strongly correlated, going up and down in unison. What d...

Bitcoin “has no value unless there is some common consensus that it has value” amid the cryptocurrency’s volatile nature, which has seen its value skyrocket toward $20,000 before plummeting below $10,000 in as little as a few months. Speaking ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Shiller questioned the cryptocurrency, claiming he “doesn’t know what to make of bitcoin ultimately”. Ahead of his Davos address, he told CNBC: “It has no value at all unless there is some common consensus that is has value. “Other things like gold would at least have some value if people didn’t see it as an investment.  It reminds me of the tulip mania in Holland in the 1640s, and so the question is did that collapse? “We still pay for tulips even now and sometimes they get expensive. Bitcoin might totally collapse and be forgotten and I think that’s a good likely outcome but it could linger on for a good long time, it could be here in 100 years.” Tulip mania was a craze ...

Bitcoin will not survive but that does not mean the entire cryptocurrency craze is dead with useful cryptos like Ripple and ethereum surpassing bitcoin, Benjamin Quinlan, chief executive officer and managing partner at Quinlan and Associates revealed. Speaking to Bloomberg , he said: “We think that various forms of cryptocurrencies will survive and will do very well. “We think that cryptocurrencies with potential applications and utilities such as ethereum or ether, smart contracts can be built on top of it, decentralised applications. “Bitcoin in its current form can’t do that. Other cryptocurrecnies have anonymity functions and privacy that far surpasses the level of bitcoin and some have transaction processing times that also surpass bitcoin.”Quinlan compared bitcoin to early social media platforms which were overtaken but newer, more functional sites. He said: “If we look at, and we drew an analogy and I’ve spoken about this before to our clients, it really is if you...

Major digital currencies edged higher on Thursday, after a two-day sell-off saw the world's biggest cryptocurrency bitcoin lose more than 50 percent from its December high. Bitcoin and ethereum — the first and second largest virtual currencies by market value — appeared to recover after Wednesday's lows. Bitcoin fell as low as $9,199.59 on Wednesday morning, but bounced back to $11,702.74 as of Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, according to CoinDesk, which tracks prices from cryptocurrency exchanges including Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit and Bitfinex. It was up 5 percent in the last 24 hours. The red-hot digital asset also broke the $12,000 level, hitting $12,045.10 at about 10:14 a.m. Ethereum on the other hand dived below the $8...

Bitcoin is now valued at $11,008 compared to $20,000 on December 17. Ethereum is priced at $983.98 when just earlier this month it was $1,200. Ripple breached the $3 mark and made its ex CEO Chris Larsen the fifth wealthiest person in the US. Today it comes in at $1.17. But despite the fall and fears the bitcoin bubble has burst, crypto investors suggest cryptocurrencies could surge. Francesco Nazari Fusetti, CEO of AidCoin a charity built on the Ethereum blockchain said: “At present, prices in the cryptocurrency market could, of course, be better, however, the sharp correction that we see now is nowhere near a collapse.  The drop in price is actually beneficial for the industry, as investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts will be more incentivised to educate themselves about the space. As people become more educated it will, in turn, limit fear surrounding further price drops, as this is the nature of the volatile cryptocurrency market. “The recent drop in prices ...

Bitcoin could hit $100,000 in 2018, an analyst who correctly predicted the cryptocurrency's rally at the start of last year told CNBC on Tuesday. Kay Van-Petersen, an analyst at Saxo Bank, added that other rival digital coins could also outperform. Van-Petersen forecast in December 2016 that bitcoin would reach $2,000 in 2017. At the time, bitcoin was trading below $900, according to CoinDesk, a website that tracks the price of digital currencies on a number of different exchanges. Bitcoin blew past the $2,000 figure in May. Van-Petersen said Tuesday that bitcoin could hit between $50,000 and $100,000 in 2018. "First off, you could argue we have had a proper correction in bitcoin, it has had a 50 percent pull back at one point, which is healthy. But we have still not seen the full effect of the futures contracts," Van-Petersen said. The CME and Cboe both launched bitcoin futures trading contracts last year. The move was seen as a way to get more institutional ...

LONDON — The 10 biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation are plunging on Tuesday morning, with all suffering double-digit percentage losses. Bitcoin fell as much as 14% in early trade, breaking through both $13,000 and $12,000 levels, but has recovered slightly since then. The decline appears to have spooked the market, with other coins selling off in at the same time. Here's the scoreboard as of 10.30 a.m. GMT (5.30 a.m. ET) and per Markets Insider : Bitcoin is down 12.9% against the dollar to $ 11,860.01 ; Ethereum is down 18% against the dollar to $1,041.00; Ripple is down 19.9% to $1.32 ; Bitcoin Cash is down 17.3% to $1,971.70 ; Cardano is down 23.5% to $0.61; Litecoin is down 15% to $196.73; Neo is down 22% to $145.54; Nem is down 17.7% to $1.20; Stellar is down 26.4% to $0.45; IOTA is down 21% to $2.87. Cryptocurrenc...

BITCOIN and other cryptocurrencies like Ripple and ethereum are taking markets by storm and a trader has revealed why ethereum is having an amazin Ethereum is just one of many digital tokens which make up the cryptocurrency craze, but trader Brian Kelly has revealed why the currency is here to stay along with other investor favourites, Bitcoin and Ripple . Ethereum is a blockchain platform which allows developers to build on and hosts smart contract which can be used to transfer money. The network is powered by an underlying cryptocurrency, ether. Speaking to CNBC , he said: “Ethereum really has been a big performer so what do we have here? “Why, since the first of the year do I think there has been a driver. We have a software upgrade, for those of you who know what’s going on, it’s the Caspar Tesnet came out on January 1st. "What does that mean? It’s an upgrade to the ethereum software in a sense, what does it do? “It’s the first step toward moving away from energ...

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing lows across the board today, Jan. 14, with only three of the top 20 coins on CoinMarketCap in the green. The total market cap remains around $692 bln, still recovering from the Jan. 11 drop to around $630 bln. Big drops Altcoin Ripple (XRP), which had been up 18 percent as recently as Jan. 12, showed about a 10 percent loss over a 24-hour period to press time.  Altcoin IOTA has experienced a similar drop in early December after clarifying that Microsoft was not officially their partner, as the altcoin’s blog had indicated, but rather a participant in their marketplace. Altcoins Cardano and Tron have both seen about 13 and 17 percent drops respectively over 24 hours, with Cardano selling for about $0.76 at press time and Tron selling for about $0.092. The largest drop today is altcoin RaiBlocks, down around 16 percent over 24 hours and in 20th on CoinMarketCap, selling for $21.19 at press time. RaiBlocks was also one of the only tw...

Bank Indonesia issued a press release on Jan. 13, warning its citizens against the use of selling, buying or trading cryptocurrency and reiterating that virtual currency is not legitimate within Indonesia. This statement comes after the September reassertion that Bank Indonesia will not acceptBitcoin (BTC) as payment, leading to thevoluntary closure of two Indonesian-based crypto exchanges, BitBayar and TokoBitcoin. Bank Indonesia cites concerns over potential use in money laundering and funding terrorism as reasons behind their anti-cryptocurrency campaign: “Virtual currencies are vulnerable to bubble risks and susceptible to be used for money laundering and terrorism financing, therefore can potentially impact financial system stability and cause financial harm to society.” While there is no official ban on Bitcoin within the country, per Wikipedia, the press release forbidding all activity relating to cryptocurrency takes a harsher tone than previous statements that merely adv...

BANGKOK — The government of Malaysia and an American ocean exploration company began a new effort on Wednesday to solve one of history’s greatest aviation mysteries: the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 nearly four years ago. Ocean Infinity, a Houston-based company, could receive as much as $70 million if it finds the plane’s debris field or two data recorders within 90 days, Transportation Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Wednesday at a signing ceremony with company officials at Putrajaya, Malaysia’s federal administrative center. But under the agreement, the company will receive nothing if it does not find the missing Boeing 777, which disappeared over the Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014, with 239 people aboard. Mr. Liow called it a “no cure, no fee” agreement. Under the contract, Malaysia will pay Ocean Infinity $20 million if it finds the wreckage or data recorders early in the search. The potential fee rises in staggered amounts to as much as $70 mil...

Ripple  creators have split and developed a new cryptocurrency called Stellar, which is similar to Ripple and expected to be the next big cryptocurrency, trader Brian Kelly has said. Speaking to  CNBC , money manager Mr Kelly said: “Stellar is one that is very similar to Ripple. It is created by one of the creators of Ripple. “Effectively, the company split and they went out and created Stellar. They are already working with IBM, they are beginning to deal with them to do cross-border payments.  “So IBM has a payment system similar to kind of what Moneygram wants to do. “It’s faster and cheaper than Bitcoin and what I mean by that is you can move stuff around faster and it’ll cost you less than Bitcoin at this point in time.”  Moneygram announced in January that it will trial Ripple’s XRP digital currency, which Mr Kelly said was a “watershed event” for the industry. Mr Kelly said Stellar is “very similar” to Ripple and has a deal with IMB but is...