Bitcoins creation story borders on the mythological. A life-changing technology created by the pseudonymous, anonymous genius Satoshi Nakamoto, who then vanished out of sight.

With that in mind, is it any surprise that much of the bitcoin hopium continues to be fuelled by well-meaning fantasy?

Here are five Bitcoin myths that just wont die

Many people believe bitcoin will trigger a redistribution of wealth the likes of which the world has never seen. But maybe the reason the world has never seen such a thing is because theres no good reason for it to happen.

Bitcoiners would like to believe the reason much of the world still lives in poverty is due to a simple lack of the technical apparatus required to reverse it. The implication here is that were just as noble and decent as we need to be, but dont have the technology to put our decency into action.

The Pareto Distribution describes the tendency for natural inequality among the organisms on our planet. Just 20% of the trees in a forest gobble up 80% of the available nutrients from the surrounding earth. Likewise, 20% of the pea-pods in a garden produce 80% of the peas. The most desirable 20% of the men sleep with 80% of the women.

Numerous studies have shown that a majority of the worlds bitcoin is already concentrated in the hands of the few. This should not be a surprise.

The price of Bitcoin has become the gravitational center for the whole of what we call blockchain or cryptocurrency. Yet, if bitcoin really is to be the nature-correcting mechanism its proponents claim, its price relative to the U.S. dollar should be irrelevant.

The reason so much focus is given to the price of bitcoin is because, in truth, thats all anyone is really interested about. Bitcoins biggest use case to date has been its potential to increase (or decrease) the dollar holdings of its owners.

Now, the myth that price matters has become a reality. Enough capital has been staked on top of bitcoins future success that one false move could topple the entire enterprise. If bitcoins price retraces much further, the privilege of producing it will fall into even fewer hands.

Which leads to the next point

Most independent bitcoin miners were priced out of the game years ago. A single province in China is now home to 54% of the bitcoin mining hashpower. Only the largest mining firms were able to eat the losses incurred during bitcoins 2018 decline without going under.

Bitcoin was supposed to correct for human nature, but already we find ourselves in the humble position of hoping our Chinese overlords are benevolent.

Even the people dont believe bitcoin is for the people. Look at how many column inches are given daily to the fabled institutions and their Wall Street billionaires, who give us endless hope in the form of optimistic prognostications.

The technology underlying bitcoin truly is new, exciting and wrought with possibility. Its decentralized and self-governing nature gives it a robustness that other large digital networks dont have.

Crypto personality Nic Carter wrote in A most peaceful revolution, that crypto cannot be stopped:

Cryptocurrency, despite the earnest protests of some of its lily-livered adherents, remains manifestly independent and ultimately hostile to the State. It cannot be regulated, captured, or rendered compliant.

Carter later qualified the comment, adding:

cannot being a teleological statement, not a statement of possibility. of course, its possible that it gets neutered. but if it does, it loses its essence, its (sic) raison dtre.

In other words if it fails then it wasnt bitcoin to begin with.

The same ideological thinking was present at the birth of the internet. Given how that experiment turned out, can we agree that the essence of the internet is lost? Did it exist to begin with?

Ultimately, one need only look within Chinas borders to find a way in which bitcoin can be neutered. The Chinese government is unlikely to hasten the demise of its own sovereign currency any time soon. To assume they wont interfere in bitcoin, or havent already, would be folly.

New entrants to the cryptocurrency space often adopt the same helplessly saccharine tone about its potential to change the world.

Be careful what you wish for. The world is already changing thanks to the arrival of bitcoin, and its not overly apparent that its for the better.

Bitcoiners often proclaim that they dont want to take part in funding illegal wars by associating with the American dollar. Is that to say that funding human trafficking and drug-running is better?

No doubt most crime is still committed using cold, hard cash. But in the search for more operating funds, would you suggest that shady government entities havent already used cryptocurrency to boost their slush-funds? Why wouldnt they? Why couldnt they? Maybe weve been funding wars all along

Privacy isnt just something we should want for ourselves, its something we shouldnt want for those in power. Whether your favorite billionaire villains happen to be the Rothschilds or the Koch brothers they can use cryptocurrency too, and theyll be better at it than you.

This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.

Last modified: December 13, 2019 18:44 UTC

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Bitcoin: 5 Arrogant Myths That Just Wont Die (But Should!) - CCN.com

KEY POINTS

Bitcoin (BTC) isn't short on predictions either by people who have vested interest in the popular crypto or those who survey the markets regularly. Plenty of investors have put forward each of their own assessments for where BTC's price is heading -- some are credible while some are downright improbable given the crypto's current levels.

But for one analyst that NewsBTC noted, a price of $170,000 for Bitcoin isn't unlikely.Davethewave makes use of the logarithmic growth curve to plot Bitcoin's prices in its entire history that served as its support level as well.

Responding to SwissRex, davethewave posted this chart and tweeted, "The price predictions certainly chart nicely..."

The price of BTC seems to be moving along the logarithmic growth curve and is poised to hit $70,000 by March 2024 and $170,000 by September 2028. And at those prices in those given years, it doesn't seem farfetched like the ones where the stock-to-flow approach arrives at a $90,000 BTC by May next year or a $1 million hail mary before 2020 ends.

More recent predictions

Well-known chartist and Bitcoin bull Peter Brandt thinks that Bitcoin is on track to a six-figure value as well, and that could happen during the crypto's next parabolic run. "I believe in the long-term narrative of Bitcoin and that Bitcoin is indeed going to $100,000 if not substantially more,"he said.

Brandt's analysis presents two scenarios: "bottom of a multi-year channel that will hold" and "six-month bear channel on a daily chart" will serve as a launchpad for a new bull run.

Ethereum co-founder

Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Ethereum, is also another believer of a $100,000 Bitcoin.Last month, while addressing the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) news percolating BTC, Hoskinsons tweeted, "Bitcoin's price is going down? Remember everyone, after the FUD, news trading and manipulation clears out, we still have a global movement that's going to change the world. We will see 10k btc again and welcome 100k. Crypto is unstoppable. Crypto is the future."

Predicting where Bitcoin prices will end up in the next few months or the next few years will remain what it fundamentally is -- forecasts and guesses, either with merit or not.However, one thing is sure to increase before the next halving: predictions.

Students are using financial aid to buy Bitcoin. Photo: Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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Bitcoin Price To Hit $170K By 2028, Data Reveals

Trading altcoins continues to be one of the most profitable strategies in the crypto market. The highlight of this week was the MATIC (MATIC) pump and subsequent dump, which I was lucky enough to time perfectly, securing a 60% profit near the all-time high. I closed a number of positions in profit, and am still trading EtherParty (FUEL), (IOST), Elrond (ERD), Chainlink (LINK), Zilliqa (ZIL), Verge (XVG) and FunFair (FUN).

I failed to take profits on some of these coins at the first resistance and target, only to see them retrace to my entry and this presents an important lesson about being too greedy. Each setup looked good, but the MATIC movement spooked the market and caused a ripple effect that saw temporary price depreciation across the board. Lesson learned.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been chopping sideways with errant wicks both up and down throughout the past week, likely liquidating high leverage traders on both sides. I am presently long Bitcoin from $7,100 after taking two other positions that closed even or in a slight profit this week.

BTC USD hourly chart. Source: TradingView

The first signal that sparked my interest in a long position was a clear bullish divergence with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the hourly chart. I normally do not trade lower time frames, but I noticed that there were potential divergences showing on larger time frames, so I zoomed in. Often we will see an hourly bull divergence confirm on the 4-hour, 6-hour and daily timeframes.

BTC USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

I decided to enter a position at $7,100 when the price dropped down to the previous swing low at $7,080 and then bounced. This looked likely to confirm as a bullish swing failure pattern (SFP). At the most basic level, when price wicks slightly below a previous swing low, its an indication that liquidity has been engineered by a whale.

In this case, it seemed likely that they pushed price down to compel retailer traders to take shorts, and also to fire existing stop losses on long positions - thus creating a ton of sell orders to buy into. The price has currently risen from that point.

BTC USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Furthermore, the price is showing a potential bullish divergence with the RSI on the daily chart, which would be a likely signal of a bottom. I am awaiting confirmation, as this would make me feel far more secure in my current position.

FUN offered a very clear trading opportunity this week. I pulled up the chart after not looking at it for almost two months and found that price had continued traveling in a channel that I drew in October near the local highs.

FUN BTC daily chart. Source: TradingView

The ideal entry would have been a bounce off of the channel bottom, between .00000033 (sats) and .00000038 (sats). However, a clear resistance formed at .00000044 (sats), which flipped to support and was my entry, as shown below.

The price moved up very quickly, topping out at .00000060 (sats). I exited half of my position at .00000056 (sats), for a quick profit of 27%. The rest of the position is still open and my target is at the top of the channel.

This is a relatively straightforward trade. The price was forming a pennant at support (not shown) before the Binance shakeup. The MATIC move caused the price to drop through support at .00000080 (sats). I was watching for a bounce off of the blue ascending support but saw price quickly drop through and entered at .00000071 (sats) just above the horizontal support line.

IOST BTC daily chart. Source: TradingView

I want little to do with IOST below that line, or below the .00000070 (sats) support and I have set my stop loss at .00000067 (sats) because this would allow for a wick below that .00000070 (sats) support and close back above.

IOST BTC 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

This trade is currently still open and starting to move as anticipated. After my entry, the price continued to test the .00000070 (sats) support, dropping below by 1 sat but never reaching my stop loss. The price then formed a descending wedge, where it is currently breaking up from. Initial targets are shown as black horizontal lines.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the (@scottmelker) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Bitcoin Price Diary: Long BTC and Profitable on Many Altcoin Positions - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency has had a mixed yearfears over a regulatory crackdown have risen, though the bitcoin price has doubled over the last 12 months.

The bitcoin price, which started the year at around $3,500 per bitcoin, soared to well over $10,000 this summer before crashing back to trade around $7,000 amid fears Facebook's planned cryptocurrency project could cause central banks and regulators to take action against crypto.

Now, with bitcoin traders and investors looking hopefully towards 2020, one former crypto skeptic-turned bitcoin believer has predicted the bitcoin price could hit $100,000 per bitcoin over the next two years before climbing as high as $500,000 by 2030.

The bitcoin price has had a tumultuous few months, with bitcoin at times swinging by up to $1,000 in ... [+] just one 24-hour trading period.

"Between now and 2021, we're likely to see $100,000 bitcoin," Mark Yusko, the chief executive and chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital Management, told business news outlet Business Insider.

"By 2025, we're likely to see $250,000 bitcoin, and then some time out, 2030, we could see $400,000 or $500,000 bitcoin as it reaches gold equivalence."

Yusko, who admitted he was previously skeptical of bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology that it's built on, pointed to the infancy of the technology as the reason behind his "hyperbullish" prediction.

"It really is about the growth mindset and focusing on the venture capital upside or the asymmetric upside of the asset at this point."

The growth of the bitcoin network, which has expanded rapidly since bitcoin was created a little over 10 years ago, will help combat wealth inequality, according to Yusko, who oversees some $1.5 billion worth of assets at his U.S.-based hedge fund.

"The government and the elites want to have all the wealth, so they manufacture inflation and the wealth flows to top. And that's why we have the greatest wealth inequality in the history of mankind. Bitcoin helps solve that because now we can opt-out as an owner of assets from that fiat system."

Yusko's comments come after analysts at Germany's troubled Deutsche Bank warned the "fragile" fiat currency system will be put under strain in years ahead.

The bitcoin price had a strong start to the year, rising as high as $13,000 per bitcoin before ... [+] falling back.

"The forces that have held the current fiat system together now look fragile and they could unravel in the 2020s," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid wrote last week in a report looking at 24 alternative ideas for the next 10 years.

"If so, that will start to lead to a backlash against fiat money and demand for alternative currencies, such as gold or crypto could soar. The demand for alternative currencies will therefore likely be significantly higher by the time 2030 rolls around."

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This Former Bitcoin Skeptic Thinks The Price Is About To ExplodeHeres Why - Forbes

Bitcoin is on the brink ofanother massive price surge that will take its value up to $100,000 (75,000) in 2020, according to the founder of the worlds most famous dark web marketplace.

Ross Ulbricht is currently serving a double life sentence in a US prison for creating the now defunct Silk Road, which was the first placebitcoin was used as a currency on a significant scale.

Following his arrest in October 2013, bitcoin experienced its first major price spike that saw it shoot from $100 to over $1,000 in a matter of months. After crashing back down to $175, it then went on another positive run in 2017 that took it close to $20,000 by the end of that year.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Since then, bitcoin has tumbled once more, reaching below $4,000 at the start of 2019 before recovering to todays price of around $7,000. (At the time of his arrest six years ago, the FBI seized 144,000 bitcoins from Silk Road andUlbricht- worth just over $1 billion at current prices.)

Ulbrichtclaims he predicted both of these waves from his prison cell and believes another one is already building a prediction he says he is able to make without being swayed by day-to-day price movements and general market hubris his imprisonment shelters him from.

On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System'

Reuters

On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices

Lazlo Hanyecz

Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin

On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash

REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed

Getty Images

In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim

Getty Images

On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash

REUTERS

Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year

Reuters

On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System'

Reuters

On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices

Lazlo Hanyecz

Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin

On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash

REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed

Getty Images

In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim

Getty Images

On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash

REUTERS

Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year

Reuters

In a six-part blog published from letters he wrote inprison, Ulbrichtapplied a form of market analysis known as Elliott Wave Theory to predict new all-time highs for bitcoin.

The theory forecasts the highs and lows in financial market cycles by identifying extremes in investor psychology, which in the case of bitcoin appear to be far more tempormental compared to traditional markets due to the nacency of the cryptocurrency.

Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison after a federal jury in Manhattan found him guilty in February of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. (Reuters)

The principle posits that price movements in speculative markets are driven by investor expectation, which when combined with mass psychology can force prices artificially higher through a positive feedback loop of buyer optimism.

Looking at the previous price waves of bitcoin, Ulbricht puts the next big wave reaching between $93,000 and $109,000 before the 17 February, 2021. He notes that his speculation should be considered with appropriate scepticism.

We have a price target... of ~$100,000 some time in or near 2020, he wrote. However, there is no rule that market moves have to be proportional. This is just a patter we see unfolding that may or may not continue.

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Notorious dark web criminal makes $100k bitcoin price prediction from prison - The Independent

This Week in Bitcoin is your roundup of the prime talking points from across the cryptosphere. From the major news to the minor debates that erupted into huge arguments, weve captured the flavor of the frenetic soup that is Bitcoin and all that simmers in it. In this edition, the deadline for the $8 billion Tulip Trust looms closer and bitcoin maximalists are caught behaving badly.

Also read: Accused Onecoin Co-Conspirators Fight Criminal Charges in the US

On Monday, September 9, we led with the story of the Tulip Trust, which is due to deliver $8 billion in BTC to Craig Wright in less than three weeks. Supposedly. We also covered the SEC approving a bitcoin futures fund, and the new IRS tax form targeting crypto owners in Mondays regulatory round-up.

Also on Monday, in the wake of Ethereums Constantinople hard fork, researcher Antoine Le Calvez showed how thousands of dapps failed due to the changes made to smart contracts, which caused them to run out of gas. He noted how even crypto exchanges were affected, with Gemini unable to sweep user deposits into its hot wallet after the fork, each attempt resulting in an out-of-gas error. The Ethereum ecosystem suffered another blow on December 9 when a different researcher explained how a well-funded attacker could turn $20M into $340M in 15 seconds by exploiting the Makerdao contract.

On crypto Twitter, a debate broke out over Bitcoins lack of privacy. Business-owner Jason Smith explained his reservations with paying overseas staff in BTC, confessing: I became frustrated with how open Bitcoin is. It exposes way more than one wants to the staff. That lead me to consider the improbability of the world adopting a financial tool that doesnt afford business decent levels of privacy. Ironically, Smith was formerly opposed to privacy coins, before undergoing a volte-face and paying his overseas employees in zcash.

On December 10, Blockstream caught flak after its plans to raise $50M by issuing a BTSE exchange token were leaked. The revelation that Blockstream was projecting an increase in revenue of 3,700% for 2020 to justify the token sale forced Samson Mow onto the defensive, a position hes occupied on crypto Twitter for weeks, as the companys beleaguered CSO has poured fuel on fires that were of his own making. As Cobra Bitcoin put it, Liquid is just Blockstreams platform for scam token issuance as a service. And how exactly does an exchange forecast going from $2M in revenue in 2019 to $100M+ in 2020? The BTSE row was to rumble on all week, with Samson Mow and Adam Back digging themselves deeper into the hole they had constructed.

Elsewhere, in The War on Cash, Marty Bent highlighted tough new laws in Greece and Italy effectively criminalizing the use of cash, opining: The governments of these countries are herding their citizens into the digital panopticon that is the current global financial system so that they can milk them for all of that sweet sweet tax money. In related news, we covered Italians love of cash and growing appreciation for crypto. And in unrelated news, Ross Ulbricht had a stab at predicting when bitcoins next all-time high will occur.

On December 11, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got the cryptosphere all of a stir when he revealed Blue Sky, a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media, funded by Twitter. It would be incredible for the future of free speech and censor-resistant information to see a decentralized twitter protocol with various clients and front-ends built atop that standard, enthused Messaris Ryan Selkis.

A tech CEO that understands Bitcoin and decentralized social networks, tweeted Blockstacks Muneeb. Facebook is trying to start Libra. My guess is Jack will prefer to extend existing open crypto networks instead.

Crypto is full of contradictions, with one of the greatest being the glee with which certain proponents of censorship-resistant money will censor their opponents opinions. Were looking at you, bitcoin maxis, with your high follower count and low tolerance for dissenting voices. The loss of Crypto Deleted, a Twitter account that screenshotted the foolish tweets hastily purged by members of the cryptorati, was led by Jameson Lopp.

Critics of the circle-jerking maximalists, including Romano, were quick to point out their hypocrisy. Imagine writing a blog post that ultimately led to mass reporting and suspending an account that you didnt agree with. And then imagine celebrating it as a cypherpunk nonetheless, chipped in Larry Cermak.

Friday 13th was to prove unlucky for Tether, which found itself on the receiving end of yet another legal brief from the New York Attorney General. If these allegations are true Bitfinex/Tethers chances in this case should be toast, tweeted lex node who broke down the filing for those who couldnt face trawling through the full document. Others demurred, however, asserting that the NYAGs latest doc contained nothing new.

Friday was a bad day for crypto regulatory news: BTC payments platform Bottle Pay revealed it was shutting down due to impending KYC/AML regulations, writing:

To maintain our integrity as service providers, and to protect the interests of our team, investors and users, we have taken the painful decision to shut Bottle Pay down completely rather than become subject to these new regulations.

Meanwhile, over on crypto Twitter, bitcoin maximalists finished the week the way theyd started it: by acting hypocritically and getting called out for it. This time it was Peter McCormacks turn to get grief for his double standards and general sycophancy.

Finally, in real news, Dutch banking giant ING declared it was developing a crypto custody service, and the European Central Banks Christine Lagarde outlined her plans to keep the ECB ahead of the curve when it comes to digital currency and stablecoins.

What stories caught your attention this week? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see whats happening in the industry.

Kai's been manipulating words for a living since 2009 and bought his first bitcoin at $12. It's long gone. He's previously written whitepapers for blockchain startups and is especially interested in P2P exchanges and DNMs.

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This Week in Bitcoin: $8 Billion BTC Trust and Maximalists Misbehaving - Bitcoin News

domestic gpu cripto mining rig on wall with selective focus.

2019 has been a relatively good year for miners, generating $5.4 billion in total revenue. But, according to the year-end report of CoinShares, one country has dominated bitcoin mining throughout the year more than any other.

The research paper entitled "The Bitcoin Mining Network", which explores trends, average creation costs, electricity consumption and sources in bitcoin mining, discovered that nearly 65 percent of bitcoin hashrate originates from China.

"Regardless of the reasons, the effect is that the current Chinese hashrate ratio is likely higher than in June 2019. While we expect this ratio to fall again as latest generation hardware further makes its way into the non-Chinese market, at the time of writing, as much as 65% of Bitcoin hashpower resides within China the highest weve seen since we began our network monitoring in late 2017," the report read.

For many years, China has consistently been a major market for bitcoin miners due to its cheap electricity and affordable resources. Companies like Bitmain, F2Pool, and Canaan that account for a large portion of the Bitcoin network's hashrate are all based in China.

Distribution of the Bitcoin network's hashrate (Source: Blockchain.com)

However, in April, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China included bitcoin mining on a list of industries it plans to phase out over time. The unexpected move of the Chinese government left mining companies wondering the future of China's mining sector.

In a strange turn of events, following Chinese President Xi Jinping's call for increased efforts in blockchain development, China essentially unbanned bitcoin mining in the last quarter of 2019.

Since then, China's bitcoin mining sector has prospered. Eventually, it recovered from a slow several months in mid-2019 to establish dominance over the cryptocurrency mining industry once again.

Whether much of the Bitcoin network's hashrate coming from China is necessarily negative or positive depends on perspective. But, as a purely permissionless and decentralized network, it is always favorable to have more geographically distributed hashrate.

In the hardware side, the dominance of Bitmain has started to subside, which opens the space up for increased competition. Companies like Hut8, Bitfury, and Canaan are competing to take the top spot in the bitcoin mining sector.

"Since our last report in June 2019, we estimate that Bitmains market share by hashrate has fallen from ~70% to ~66%. To add context, Bitmains own estimates (via Frost and Sullivan) claim that as recently as in in 2017, their market share was around 75%," said the CoinShares research team.

Hence, while the dominance of China in bitcoin mining has increased, in the hardware department, the industry has begun to see a more competitive environment.

The expansion of major mining facilities to other major mountainous areas such as Washington, British Columbia, and Norway also serve as signs that the geographical distribution of bitcoin hashrate will improve over time, as the sector evolves.

"Among these regions we find the major mining centres of: Washington and New York States in the United States; British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Quebec Provinces of Canada; Iceland; Northern Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden); The Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia); the Siberian Federal District of Russia; Yunnan and most importantly of all regions, Sichuan provinces of China," CoinShares researchers wrote.

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New Report Shows China Dominates Bitcoin Mining, Is This a Sign of Worry? - Forbes

Bitcoin Cash ABC

Bitcoin Cash ABC rose by 1.88% on Friday. Reversing a 0.48% fall from Thursday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $211.14.

A bearish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC fall to an early morning intraday low $205.68 before making a move.

Steering clear of the major support levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $212.61.

The rally saw Bitcoin Cash ABC break through the first major resistance level at $208.12 and second major resistance level at $209.98.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 0.02% to $211.18. Within the first hour, Bitcoin Cash ABC rose from an early morning low $210.60 to a high $211.18.

Bitcoin Cash ABC left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

A move back through to Fridays high $212.61 would support a run at the first major resistance level at $213.94.

Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break back through to $212 levels.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, resistance at $213 would likely pin Bitcoin Cash ABC back on the day.

In the event of a rally, the second major resistance level at $216.74 could come into play.

Failure to move back through Fridays high $212.61 could weigh on Bitcoin Cash ABC later in the day.

A fall through to sub-$210 levels would bring the first major support level at $207.01 into play before any recovery.

Barring a broad-based crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin Cash ABC should steer clear of the second major support level at $202.88.

Major Support Level: $207.01

Major Resistance Level: $213.94

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $269

38% FIB Retracement Level: $316

62% FIB Retracement Level: $393

EOS rallied by 1.4% on Friday. Following on from a 0.36% gain on Thursday, EOS ended the day at $2.6313.

A mixed start to the day saw EOS fall to a mid-morning intraday low $2.5803 before finding support.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $2.5364, EOS rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $2.6523.

EOS broke through the first major resistance level at $2.6392 before easing back to $2.61 levels.

While finding late support, the first major resistance level pinned EOS back from a late breakout.

At the time of writing, EOS was up by 0.04% to $2.6323. A range-bound first hour saw EOS fall to an early morning low $2.6312 before rising to a high $2.6323.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

EOS would need to steer clear of sub-$2.63 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $2.6628.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break out from Thursdays high $2.6523.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, resistance at $2.65 levels would likely limit any upside on the day.

Failure to steer clear of sub-$2.63 levels could see EOS reverse Fridays gains.

A fall through to sub-$2.6220 levels would bring the first major support level at $2.5908 into play before any recovery.

Barring a crypto meltdown, however, EOS should steer well clear of sub-$2.58 support levels on the day.

Major Support Level: $2.5908

Major Resistance Level: $2.6628

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum ended the day flat on Friday. Following a 0.98% gain on Thursday, Ethereum ended the day at $144.70.

A bearish start to the day saw Ethereum fall to a late morning intraday low $142.76 before finding support.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $140.49, Ethereum rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $145.13.

Falling short of the major resistance levels, Ethereum fell back to $143 levels before late support kicked in.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was up by just 0.06% to $144.79. A relatively bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rise to a high $145.03 before falling to a low $144.58.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ethereum would need to move back through to $145 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $145.63.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break out from Thursdays high $145.13.

In the event of a broad-based crypto rally, the second major resistance level at $146.57 could come into play.

Failure to move back through to $145 levels could see Ethereum hit reverse.

A fall back through to sub-$144.20 levels would bring the first major support level at $143.26 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer well clear of the second major support level at $141.83.

Major Support Level: $143.26

Major Resistance Level: $145.63

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

Originally posted here:

Bitcoin Cash ABC, EOS and Ethereum Daily Tech Analysis 14/12/19 - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin (BTC) has been paralyzed at $7,200 since Thursday. The first digital asset attempted a recovery towards $7,600 at the beginning of the week. However, the upside momentum proved to be unsustainable as the price retreated to the lower boundary of the recent consolidation channel. At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $7,202, mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Friday.

Low volatility and non-existent trading activity confined the market to tight ranges, but the situation may change ahead of the weekend. We are moving towards the holiday season, which is often characterized by low liquidity conditions. It means that the market may be vulnerable to sharp exaggerated movements. Many traders might start taking their money off the table to avoid losses.

Historically, Bitcoin tends to grow ahead of Christmas. This trend is often referred to as Santa's rally. However, there is no guarantee that this year the history will repeat.

If we zoom out to the weekly chart, we can clearly see that BTC/USD is moving within a downside channel. In October, the similar consolidation pattern of three doji candles ended in a strong recovery, though the trend remained unbroken. This time we may see similar momentum with the price recovering towards $9,000-$9,100 during the pre-Christmas week. This movement will qualify for Santa's rally. However, we will need to see a sustainable move above $9,150 (the sloping trendline) for the recovery to gain traction in the long run and put the current bearish trend at risk.

On the downside, once $7,000 is broken, the sell-off may extendtowards $6,550. This support area is created by a combination of the lower line of the weekly Bollinger Band and the lowest level of the previous week. We will need to see a sustainable move below this handle for the downside move to gain traction with the next focus on psychological $6,000 and $5,000 (SMA200 weekly).

See the original post:

Bitcoin may jump to $9,100 ahead of Christmas - FXStreet

The cryptocurrency market has been painfully slow this week. With some notable exceptions like Tezos, Chainlink, and Matic, Bitcoin (BTC) and major altcoins were oscillating in tight ranges with a bearish bias. The recovery attempted at the beginning of the week failed on approach to local resistance levels, which was interpreted by some cryptocurrency experts as evidence of bulls' weakness.

The total capitalization of all digital assets in circulation has hardly changed in the recent seven days, while Bitcoin's market share decreased from 66.9% to 66.6% due to the strong growth of the simple of the above-mentioned altcoins.

The United States and Europe are anxious to get their share of the industry until it is too late. Thus, the New York state regulator proposes a new framework for coins and tokens listings. Under the proposed regulation, the companies that once received the regulatory approval for coins issuance will be able to introduce new coins without asking for additional permissions.

At this stage, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) is gathering public comments about the plan based on a review of the existing virtual currency framework.

Europe is all about stablecoins. According to the new head of the European Central Bank, the Union needs to stay ahead of the curve. Speaking at her first ECB press-conference that followed the monetary policy decision, Lagarde suggested that the regulator should define the goals of the potential stablecoins project before moving forward.

"Are we trying to reduce costs? Are we trying to cut out the middleman? Are we trying have inclusive finance at no cost? There is a whole range of objectives that can be pursued."

She also noted that other global regulators, including the bank of Canada and Bank of England, are moving forward with their stablecoins projects, which means that there is a demand for such products that need to be addressed.

Russia and China are on the other side of the spectrum. A social media platform Weibo, also known as the Chinese Twitter, blocked the accounts of TRON's founder Justin Sun and Binance. This is just another evidence of the aggressive Chinese approach towards cryptocurrency-related business.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the Federal Service of Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring) said that it was dangerous to allow cryptocurrencies in a country prone to Ponzi schemes and financial frauds. The authorities pointed out that it might be relatively easy to regulate and control the new type of asset in small countries with a high level of law compliance; however, in Russia, it may lead to a storm of financial fraud.

The market is moving towards the Christmas season. This period is usually characterized by low trading activity and virtually non-existent liquidity, as many traders take days off.

Traditionally, it is a very boring time in terms of market movements; however, traders should stay on the alert as low liquidity may easily result in unpredictable, exaggerated moves in both directions and sudden bouts of volatility.

In December 2017 and December 2018, Bitcoin demonstrated a significant recovery ahead of Christmas. This year-end growth is known as Santa's rally, and it is typical to all financial markets. According to MarketWatch, no other month has posted a higher average return than December.

However, there is no guarantee that history will repeat. Sometimes Santa considers that traders misbehaved during the year and leave them without the long-awaited rally.

On the weekly chart, Bitcoin (BTC) is moving within the long-term downside trend with the trendline resistance currently at $9,100. This barrier is followed by SMA200 (Simple Moving Average) daily at $9,300, and 38.2% Fibo retracement at $9,000. Is this area is cleared, Bitcoin will be out of the woods. A sustainable move above this resistance zone will improve the long-term technical conditions significantly and open up the way towards 2019 high at $13,862.

Notably, three doji candles after a strong decline resemble the formation created at the beginning of October. If this time, the price will follow the same pattern, we may see a strong recovery in the area of the trendline resistance in the pre-Christmas week.

While the weekly RSI (Relative Strength Index) remains flat, the daily indicator is starting to reverse to the upside, which may signal that the recovery is underway.

On the downside, if BTC/USD moves below $7,000, the sell-off may be extended towards the support of $6,550 created by a combination of the lower line of the weekly Bollinger Band and the lowest level of the previous week. The next important barrier is seen on approach to psychological $6,000. Most likely, it will slow down the sell-off and trigger the recovery to $7,000.

The Forecast Poll of experts has improved slightly since the previous week. The expectations on all timeframes show a mixed picture as the weekly chart stayed bearish, monthly forecast turned from bearish to neutral and a quarterly timeframe is now bullish. The average price on shorter timeframes stays close to $7,000, while the quarterly target exceeded8,000, which means that analysts are more optimistic about Bitcoin's long-term fate.

Read more:

Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: Let the Santa rally begin - FXStreet