Category Archives: Bitcoin

Hi everyone, it's Yuji from Tokyo. I've been writing about the trials and tribulations of bitcoin for more than a year.

The recent bitcoin civil war has been an ugly, highly politicized affair, with each side trying to manipulate the media and tilt public opinion in their favor. After almost every one of my articles went out, I was bombarded by opinionated enthusiasts through Twitter, email, and even face-to-face.

That's why the community breathed a sigh of relief last month with a compromise called SegWit2x, an upgrade to bitcoin's underlying software. After the agreement, the cryptocurrency has doubled in price, with bulls predicting a new golden age of blockchain innovation and more gains.

The problem is that SegWit2x is a two-step process, and only the first one is complete. The second step, scheduled for November, is already generating controversy and could halt the rally unless things go smoothly. Given the community's stormy history, I would expect anything but. If you own or follow bitcoin, here are three things to watch in the coming months:

The first step of SegWit2x was SegWit, which has fixed bugs and given developers room to add new blockchain functions. As a result, if we start to actually see new tools being tested or implemented (like Lightning), it would go a long way to proving the bullish thesis that bitcoin can be as innovative as other cryptocurrencies, like ethereum. The second step of SegWit2x aims to double transaction capacity (hence "2x"). It was included to win support from miners, who earn fees from transactions. The problem is that some developers are now saying SegWit can do the same thing, and are backing away from the scheduled implementation in November. If support for "2x" part falls apart, either the miners or developers could walk away from the agreement, rekindling worries of a bigger split that rocked the currency in mid July. SegWit2x didn't please everyone, and a minority of miners later broke off to form a new version of bitcoin called Bitcoin Cash. While its market value is currently just a tenth of bitcoin, it has been winning support from key businesses such as Coinbase and BitGo. If this trend accelerates and if Bitcoin Cash's price rises, it could create incentives for more miners to abandon the original bitcoin and migrate to the new version, or even create more offshoots. The battle has been as much about bitcoin's rightful identity as it's been about protecting economic interests. Miners want it to function as a nimble payment system similar to Visa , which would let them earn more transaction fees. Their opponents, developers who upkeep bitcoin's software, want it to act more as a robust platform that allows them to build new functions on top. Reconciling these two needs is at the core of the ongoing internecine battle, making it even more important for stakeholders to keep an eye on developments through November.

The Uber investor and boardroom drama continues unabated. The ride-hailing company is in exclusive talks to line up funding from four investors, but a deal, which could reach as much as $12 billion, hangs on the outcome of a courtroom brawl between Travis Kalanick and Benchmark.

A billionaire comes out of hiding. Chen Tianqiao, who built game developer Shanda Interactive Entertainment into what was once Chinas biggest internet company (big enough to rival Alibaba and Tencent), disappeared after leaving China and taking his company private in 2012. Now, hes ready to talk again, donating money for research into the human brain.

Staring at the sun isnt really a good idea. So Amazon is cracking down on sellers of fake eye protection for viewing this months total solar eclipse in North America. The web retailers efforts to police faulty or counterfeit eclipse-viewing glasses has caught up one small merchant in Utah.

Its Netflix , but at movie theaters. Mitch Lowe, a Netflix co-founder, has an extreme proposal for how to get more people into seats: Let them come to all the showings they want for about $9.95 per month. His startup, MoviePass, plans to drop the price of the companys movie ticket subscriptions, with the goal of amassing a large base of customers and collect data on viewing behaviors.

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Bitcoin's Next Battle May Already Be Looming - Fortune

The price of bitcoin rose Wednesday, following a brief dip below the $4,000 mark, in an apparent run at another record high.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, +4.87% touched an all-time high of $4,483.55 on Tuesday, following a record close at $4,382.74 on Monday, according to Coindesk. Following a slight pullback, the price of bitcoin was last up 2.6% at $4,315.41, after touching an intraday high of $4,410.98. For its part, the greenback, as gauged by the U.S. dollar index DXY, -0.37% , declined 0.3% to 93.57.

The cryptocurrency has been on a streak of setting records lately. Having first broken the $1,000 barrier in November 2013, bitcoin took until May of this year to break the $2,000 barrier, with $3,000 surpassed in June and then $4,000 this past Sunday.

On Tuesday, blockchain technology company Blockstream said it is using leased satellites to transmit access to the blockchain, which accounts for all transactions and maintains cryptocurrency integrity, to two-thirds of the worlds landmass and expects global coverage by the end of the year.

At a $71.06 billion market cap, bitcoin is in the same neighborhood as such S&P 500 index SPX, +0.14% companies such as Costco Wholesale Corp. COST, +2.16% , DuPont DD, +0.53% , and Netflix Inc. NFLX, +0.88% .

Ether, the cryptocurrency running on the Etherium network, was up 3.9% at $301.20 , off its high of $388.49 set on June 15.

Read: Opinion: How you can make easy money from the bitcoin bubble

The total market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies currently stands at $140.48 billion, according to Coinmarketcap.com, just under the market cap of Boeing Co. BA, -0.66% ,and slightly more valuable than International Business Machines Corp. IBM, +0.30%

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Bitcoin ticks higher following pullback from record - MarketWatch

A rule in the original software, released in 2009, limited the number of transactions that could move through the system to about five a second.

In the last two years, an outspoken group of Bitcoin aficionados wanted to see the currency expand quickly to compete with Visa and PayPal.

But that camp faced opposition from the so-called core developers, a few dozens programmers who maintain the basic Bitcoin software, generally on a volunteer basis.

At the end of July, some of the people who wanted Bitcoin to expand quickly broke off and created a rival digital money, known as Bitcoin Cash, that can handle more frequent transactions.

That new currency has attracted a small following, and retained a relatively stable value around $300.

Most Bitcoin investors and companies, however, have stayed with the original Bitcoin network and the core developers who are working on it.

The core developers have come up with their own solution to increase the number of transactions running through the system, known as Segregated Witness, or SegWit.

While SegWit does not expand the network as quickly as Bitcoin Cash, it makes it easier to build services on top of the Bitcoin network, such as the so-called Lightning Network, that will allow for faster transactions.

The biggest backers of the network agreed last week to proceed with SegWit, and it is that agreement, on scaling the network, that is the most obvious reason for the recent surge.

Scaling has been the major catalyst for the price rally, said Charles Hayter, the founder of the data company CryptoCompare. The scaling debate has certainly been holding the Bitcoin price back.

Many backers of the core developers have said that Bitcoin is more likely to be a base layer that other services are built atop. In this vision, Bitcoin would be more like gold in the old gold standard than like a payment network.

The gold analogy and the scarcity of Bitcoin the rules of the network dictate that only 21 million will ever be created have led some investors to believe that the value of the currency will continue to rise as more people look to store their wealth in the system.

This vision has caught particular fire in Japan and South Korea, which have accounted for an increasing proportion of all Bitcoin trading this year, taking over from China, which once was responsible for the highest trading volume.

The introduction of SegWit does not resolve all of the arguments that have divided the Bitcoin community.

Many large Bitcoin companies are still hoping to follow through with an agreement, reached in the spring, that would change the Bitcoin software in November to allow twice as many transactions to flow through the network.

The core developers have made it clear in various forums that they do not plan to update the software in November to double the network capacity. When the November deadline is reached, some of the companies hoping to double the network capacity could again split off from the core developers.

There is a history of animosity between Bitcoin factions with vested interests, and these tensions could flare up again, Mr. Hayter said.

For now, though, Bitcoin has been rising steadily, and much faster than any of the competing virtual currencies that have cropped up in recent years.

Earlier in the year, the prices of many other virtual currencies were rising faster than the price of Bitcoin, most of all Ethereum, a virtual currency that has more programmable features than Bitcoin.

The price of Ethereum has been rising this month, but more slowly than Bitcoin and it remains below the record high it reached in June. On Monday, the price stood around $300.

Investors are buying Ethereum and Bitcoin to invest in so-called initial coin offerings, a new method of fund-raising in which entrepreneurs create and sell their own virtual currencies.

Such offerings have continued to come onto the market despite warnings from regulators that some of them may violate securities laws.

A version of this article appears in print on August 15, 2017, on Page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: The Price of Bitcoin Surges After an Agreement on a Key Software Update.

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Bitcoin Price Surges After Agreement on Software Update - New York Times

Let me just say: Bubbles are fantastic. Its never so easy for an ordinary person to make free money as during a financial mania. Just steel your nerves, jump in oh, and remember to get out before the whole thing comes crashing down.

Especially that last part.

Never miss out on a bubble, advised the late Dan Bunting, an old friend and a successful money manager in London over many decades. Youll make the most money from the worst stocks.

And so it proved. The dot-com bubble paid off my mortgage, and then some.

I never thought Id see something so nutty again, yet it seems to be happening again. These digital currencies may be rubbish more on that below but it looks like were in big, fat bitcoin bubble right now. If so, there is seriously easy money to be made.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, +4.87% shrugged off a crash in July and is now setting new highs. It has doubled in a month, despite economic worries and the crisis in Korea.

Read: As bitcoin flies past $4,000, one bull now targets $7,500 by next year

And Fidelity, that blue-chip investment firm, just gave bitcoin the stamp of approval and will include it in its online portal.

Let the good times roll.

A staggering $1.25 billion of fiat i.e., real money has so far been raised by insiders this year rolling out new digital coins that will help finance their new dot-com venture or service or product, according to Coinschedule.com, a website that tracks the data.

Heres how it works: A group of kids in hoodies say theyre going to set up a cloud computing venture and let you finance it in return for some of their new digital currency. You send them dollars. They send you new digital currency. If and when they put down the doobies long enough to get the venture rolling, you can use these new digital currencies to pay to use the service.

Read: Bitcoin rises, so people Google bitcoin, so then bitcoin rises, so then people Google...

Dont make me laugh. Have you ever seen anything so stupid?

Yes, I have, actually. It was 1999. If you werent around then, this is pretty much exactly how it went down.

Anyone over 30 was called a fuddy-duddy who just didnt get it. People actually got fired for not joining in. Only afterward came the excuses and the finger-pointing. Oh, and the lawsuits.

And, I repeat: So far this year these initial coin offerings have raised a staggering $1.25 billion from the public. Booyah, indeed!

A couple of months back I said these cryptocurrencies are nonsense. From a serious investment standpoint thats true. Price is a function of supply and demand. At the moment there is an endless supply of new cryptocurrencies. People are literally creating new ones every week.

Demand is uncertain, unknown and unknowable. I still have yet to hear a convincing argument why anyone needs these things other than a money launderer or someone who wants to, say, play internet poker.

Anyone who claims to come with solid valuation for any of these digital currencies is talking out of his hat. A long-term investor is betting on a poker hand with the cards face down.

Read: Confused about bitcoin? 10 things you need to know

Fidelitys move is a classic trickle-down sign. Manias grow as they gain mainstream acceptance. Other investment managers will probably follow suit. Billionaire Mark Cuban has switched sides: After dismissing cryptocurrencies as a bubble, hes now cashing in.

There are speculative opportunities galore. You can easily buy well-known currencies like bitcoin and ethereum by opening up an account, known as a digital wallet, with a company such as Coinbase or Blockchain. There are even apps on your iPhone.

Or you can jump into the crowdfunding of the next new, hot-off-the-press digital currency through an initial coin offering. This is the digital coin equivalent of an IPO. Bigger risks, but probably even bigger potential gains.

Read: What is an ICO?

I could waste your time trying to evaluate them, but its all guesswork. Its a bubble. Thats all you need to know. Idiots are running around handing out free money. You buy things where you think a plausible narrative will catch hold and drive it higher. You sell when the momentum turns. And you can manage your risks by gambling with the houses money, which means starting small and building your stake slowly as you start to show a profit.

Just remember its a trade, not an investment, and make sure to get out when it all goes sour. That could be in a week, a month or a year. Nobody knows.

This is high-risk speculation, but there is a surprisingly decent chance of easy money. Just caveat emptor.

Now read: 22 internet memes that let you relive bitcoins historic rise

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Opinion: How you can make easy money from the bitcoin bubble - MarketWatch

Space-like adjectives are often used to describebitcoins stratospheric price rise. Now there may be some truth in those analogies.

Blockstream Inc. plans to make the digital ledger underpinning the cryptocurrency accessible via satellite signal so people without Internet access, or in places where bandwidth is expensive, can trade and mine bitcoin. The company also touts the service as additional layer of reliability for bitcoins blockchain data in the event of a network disruption.

Bitcoin has soared more than 50 percent since the start of the month. A plan to move some data off the main network was activated last week in an effort to quicken trade execution and broaden access, helping to fuel the optimism. The price climbed to a record $4,449.90 Tuesday before retreating.

Read more on bitcoin and blockchain

With more users accessing the bitcoin blockchain with the free broadcast from Blockstream Satellite, we expect the global reach to drive more adoption and use cases for bitcoin, while strengthening the overall robustness of the network, Blockstream co-founder Adam Back wrote in an e-mailed statement.

Ground stations, called teleports, will uplink the public bitcoin blockchain data to the satellites in the network, which then broadcast the data to large areas across the globe, the company said.

The network currently consists of three satellites that cover Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. By the end of 2017, Blockstream said it plans to reach almost every person on the planet.

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Bitcoin Is Literally Soaring Into Space After Rocket-Like Surge - Bloomberg

Motherboard

Bitcoin Is Forking. Again. Motherboard Just a few years ago it seemed like bitcoin was a singular force, which in retrospect was incredibly naive since it's open source tech managed by a bunch of fighting nerds. After a years-long debate about how best to speed up the bitcoin network failed ...

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Bitcoin Is Forking. Again. - Motherboard

Yet these new assets comprise just a fraction of the world's multi-trillion currency market. And as a new asset with a smaller pool of investors, cryptocurrencies are subject to wild swings in value. In the last week alone, for instance, one bitcoin has ranged from a high of $4,463 to a low of $3,283.

It's also largely unpredictable which digital currencies will have staying power. Like any new market remember all those dot.com busts? it can take years for a shakeout and for lawmakers and regulators to figure out their oversight approach. Already, the anonymity that comes with these digital transactions raises concerns of money laundering and the funding of illicit activities.

Another major difference is that bitcoin's creation, value and integrity come from complicated, mathematical wizardry, known as "blockchain" technology, that regulates the creation of new units and ensures the security of every transaction involving the digital currency.

That's where Samson comes in as a miner. Basically, new bitcoins come into circulation via these miners. (See chart below.) When 21 million units are reached, expected in 2040 or so, no more bitcoins will be created.

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Bitcoin 'miners' dig more than just the money - CNBC

Bitcoin hit another record high on Tuesday, with the continuing rally bringing its market capitalization within touching distance of major stocks like Netflix.

The price of the cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of $4,483.55 in early trade on Tuesday, continuing the strong rally seen in the past couple of weeks, according to industry website CoinDesk. Bitcoin did dip, however, as low as $4,265.29 on the day.

Bitcoin's market capitalization the total number of coins in circulation multiplied by the price also hit $73.5 billion when the record high was hit, Coinmarketcap data shows. This makes it the highest market capitalization yet.

If bitcoin was a stock (which it isn't), it would be the seventy-fourth biggest by market capitalization, just behind Adobe and Netflix on the S&P 500. Adobe has a market cap of $73.6 billion while Netflix is worth $73.8 billion, putting bitcoin within touching distance of both.

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Bitcoin market cap is within touching distance of major stocks like Netflix - CNBC

A working group within Russia's state legislature is further delaying work on a cryptocurrency legalization bill, according to one of thedrafting team.

Speaking with Russian media sourceInvest-Foresight,Elina Leonidovna Sidorenko a professorMoscow State Institute of International Relations who servesin the working group remarked that the process is being pushed back to the winter at the earliest, due to a number of factors.

Ofparticular note, Sidorenko said, is the fact that not all stakeholders are aligned on what the bill should accomplish. Recent changes in the market for cryptocurrencies are also driving a reassessment of the measure.

She told the publication (according to a translation):

"In April, we announced that the draft law would be ready in October. However, the situation on the market made us, in addition to the main bill, consider several more options. And now all these projects are postponed, we are watching the situation to understand: which solution will be optimal?"

One point of contention, according to the professor, is whether the bill should exist as a stand-alone measure or if it should be written as an amendment to an existing law. The ever-changing landscape for cryptocurrencies she cited "serious fluctuations" in prices and the collapse of bitcoin exchange BTC-e as issues of concern is also spurring some working group members to assess the progress thus far.

Sidorenko went on to suggest that policymakers aren't in agreement on more fundamental points, either, including the classification of cryptocurrencies themselves.

"The issue is being actively studied, [and] it is impossible to pass to other issues without solving it. ... We are trying to coordinate this issue with ministries and departments," she said.

The bill was alsodelayed last December, with the plan being tointroduced it possibly this autumn.

The effort, which is being led by the Russian Ministry of Finance and dates back to 2015, once controversially called for huge fines for those who issue or distributed so-called "money surrogates."

Russian Duma image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Bitcoin Bill Delayed as Russian Lawmakers Seek 'Optimal Solution' - CoinDesk

Bitcoin hit another record Monday, but commodities whiz Dennis Gartman still isn't buying.

"It is a punter's dream," Gartman told CNBC's "Fast Money." "I give them credit for that, but it is something that I will absolutely stay away from, have stayed away from it, didn't understand it to begin with, don't understand it now."

Gartman said he appreciates bitcoin's introduction of blockchain technology. However, the cryptocurrency's price fluctuates too much to convince him to invest.

"What bothers me is that something that can move 5, 10, 15, 18 percent in the course of the day for what's supposed to be a pricing mechanism," Gartman said. "How can you buy a house? How can you buy a car? How can you buy Starbucks with bitcoin when the price is going to fluctuate as [dramatically] as it has?"

When bitcoin was introduced, it was supposed to be better than common currencies like the dollar or euro because it was supposed to be finite, Gartman said. Now, it's become an infinite currency, he said, and that's a big problem.

"We'll walk in one day and this will all have ended," he said. "And it will end very badly."

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Dennis Gartman shares why he is staying away from bitcoin: 'Don't understand it' - CNBC