Did A Manipulator Drive Bitcoins $20,000 Peak? Plus, Why Bitcoin Trumps Gold. – Forbes

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Researchers have cast fresh doubt over whetherbitcoin's epic bull runhappened organically, suggesting it may have been caused by a single, large playermanipulating the bitcoin market.

According to a new report,an unidentified Bitfinex accountusedtetherto manipulate the bitcoin price between March 2017 and March 2018 by creating unprecedented demand for the digital token. Over that period, the total market value of bitcoin soared from$16 billionto$326 billion.

Microsoftis taking its secret platform for creating crypto tokens out for a test drive. The tech giants new crypto-assets mint lets enterprisesdesign, issue and manage a wide range of digital assets. Several companies, including a video game outfit and a virtual reality platform, have already used the platform to create experimental tokens, while others likeGeneral Electricare waiting in the wings to create their own.

Big picture: Major companies like JPMorgan have already minted similar tokens, and Facebook is working with a group of companies like Uber, Spotify and Vodaphone on the Libra Project. Microsofts work, using the same standard as the other participating blockchain developers, could pave the way for an explosion of similar enterprise-grade tokens.

Stellar, the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, saw its price soar this week after the Stellar Development Foundation "burned" more than half the digital token's supplyworth a staggering $4.7 billion.

Bitcoinremained largely flat following the news, while other smaller tokens, including Ripple'sXRP, rose slightly.

Plus:one reasonwhy bitcoin is better than gold.

Source: Messari. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on November 8, 2019.

Recent data gathered by popular employment site Indeed shows that over the past year, the share of blockchain andcryptocurrency job postings is up more than 25%, while the share of searches for those jobs hasfallen by more than half. For the same period two years ago, Indeed saw a 14% bump these types of job searches.

The companies with the most job blockchain and crypto job postings on Indeed over the past year were mainstream powerhouses likeDeloitte,IBM,AccentureandCisco.

Cryptocurrency Bank Vanished, Leaving Customers in a $16M Hole [Daily Beast]

Biglaw Powerhouse To Accept Bitcoin As Payment [Above The Law]

The Bitcoin Rich List Has Grown 30% in the Last Year, But Why? [CoinDesk]

From Pigs to Party Fealty, China Harnesses Blockchain Power [Bloomberg]

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Did A Manipulator Drive Bitcoins $20,000 Peak? Plus, Why Bitcoin Trumps Gold. - Forbes