Category Archives: Bitcoin

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin hit a record high just shy of $65,000 last month, the latest landmark on its march to wider acceptance. A growing embrace by major companies and financial firms, particularly in the United States, have fuelled its gains.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Bitcoin digital currency is seen in a shop in Marseille, France, February 7, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Here are some of the steps that have pushed the worlds largest cryptocurrency closer to the mainstream this year:

May 2021:

* Auction house Sothebys says it would accept bitcoin and second-largest cryptocurrency ethereum as payment for a work by street artist Banksy, a first for a physical art auction.

April 2021:

* Swiss arm of French insurer AXA allows its customers to pay for non-life insurance products with bitcoin here.

March 2021:

* PayPal Holdings Inc allows U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally.

* Tesla Inc customers can now buy its electric vehicles with bitcoin, its boss Elon Musk says.

Feb. 2021:

* Mastercard Inc unveils plans to support cryptocurrency payments across its network.

* Bank of NY Mellon Corp announces a new unit aimed at helping clients trade and own cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

* Canadas main securities regulator clears the launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, the worlds first bitcoin exchange traded fund.

May 2021:

* The S&P Dow Jones Indices launches a series of cryptocurrency indices, tracking bitcoin and other major tokens, with plans to add other coins later this year.

April 2021:

* U.S. digital wealth manager Wealthfront says it will start allowing clients to invest in cryptocurrencies later this year, a shift for the California startup whose investment strategy has traditionally been more conservative.

* Inflows into cryptocurrency funds and products hit a record $4.5 billion in the first quarter, digital asset manager CoinShares says.

* UK-based hedge fund Brevan Howard sets up a new fund to invest in digital assets, focusing on a long-only range of digital assets including bitcoin, according to a personal familiar with the matter.

* U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN.O was valued at $86 billion at the end of its Nasdaq debut, the biggest listing yet by a crypto company.

* U.S. business software firm MicroStrategy Inc, a major investor in cryptocurrency since 2020, says it now holds 91,579 bitcoin.

March 2021:

* Morgan Stanley becomes the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealth management clients access to bitcoin funds, CNBC reported.

* Goldman Sachs Group Inc reopens its crypto trading desk and says it will offer investments in bitcoin and other digital assets to its wealth management clients from the second quarter.

* Daniel Loebs hedge fund Third Point uses as a custodian cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc, a regulatory filing shows.

Feb. 2021:

* Carmaker Tesla Inc announces it bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin and says it will soon accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles.

Compiled by Tom Wilson, Editing by William Maclean

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Factbox: Bitcoin's march towards the mainstream - Reuters

While financial institutions like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi and nowUBSare leaping into the space,there is also a lot of less traditional news happening.

Dont miss out on how smart money is playing the crypto game. Subscribe to our premium newsletter - Crypto Investor.

Elon Musk wants to literally bring Dogecoin to the moon, Mark Zuckerberg has apparently named his goat Bitcoin, Tom Brady may be buying Bitcoin and Carole Baskin is starting her own cryptocurrency.

UBS recently said in a statement that it is considering offering cryptocurrency investment products for its clients.

We are monitoring the developments in the field of digital assets closely. Importantly, we are most interested in the technology which underpins digital assets, namely the distributed ledger technology."

According to Bloomberg, the company has concerns that it could lose clients should it not offer crypto products. In the last year, nearly every large financial institution has announced some level of crypto products for its investors either directly or indirectly through third parties.

UBS joins in on the trend of adoption among the largest financial institutions in the world.

Dogecoin has exploded in value over the last few months. At one point last week, the crypto was up well over 20,000% on the year. Now, some have had expressed concern over its massive increase.

These concerns range from its fundamentals when compared to other more popular cryptos like Bitcoin as well as the fact that 0.002% of Dogecoin wallets hold 2/3rds of the coin's total supply. With so much of the supply in so few people's hands, fears of centralization and whale pump and dumps are growing.

But Dogecoin's shaky fundamentals and meteoric rise aren't the only things getting the crypto in the headlines. Elon Musk has constantly been referencing the crypto, even using it as a topic in skits during his SNL appearance.

Recently, SpaceX announced that it would begin accepting Dogecoin as payment for its 'DOGE-1' mission. The Dogecoin-funded mission will launch a satellite with the company's Falcon 9 rocket to "obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board with integrated communications and computational systems.

SpaceX's vice president, Tom Ochinero, said that DOGE-1will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce.

Musk even sent a tweet saying that SpaceX would literally put Dogecoin on the moon.

SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2021

The cryptocurrency community has always drooled over the news of the next billionaire or company to buy Bitcoin. Recently, people have been wondering if Facebook could be getting involved. There were lots of rumors that Facebook would reveal Bitcoin holdings in its latest earnings report, but those rumors turned out to be false.

Yesterday Mark Zuckerberg posted a picture to his Facebook of his goats who he has named Max and Bitcoin, which only fueled the speculative fire.

https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1391887632322473984/photo/1

This post caused a Twitter storm from the crypto community. Popular crypto-Twitter influencer, Anothony Pompliano, thought that the combination of the names 'Max' and 'Bitcoin' could be a hint that Zuckerberg is a Bitcoin maximalist.

Is Mark Zuckerberg telling us he is a bitcoin maximalist with the names of his goats? ? pic.twitter.com/GKlMdqdeXJ

— Anthony Pompliano ? (@APompliano) May 10, 2021

Others feared that Zuckerberg could eat the goats after it was brought up that he had once butchered and served a goat for a meal with Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey. At the time, Zuckerberg was only eating meat that he himself had butchered as opposed to purchasing meat at the store.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Dorsey said,"We go in the dining room, He puts the goat down. It was cold. That was memorable. I don't know if it went back in the oven. I just ate my salad."

Tom Brady recently added the classic crypto-Twitter laser eyes to his profile picture. The trend started on Twitter when crypto influencers began saying #lasereyesuntil100. This meant that they would have laser eyes until Bitcoin reached $100,000. But why does Tom Brady have them?

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/W1UQ4yoQHz

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 10, 2021

Jason Yanowitz, the co-founder of Blockworks, sent a tweet out saying "Rumor has it @TomBrady is loading up on Bitcoin. Retweet if you think the GOAT should turn on laser eyes. Lets make it happen."

Attached to the post was an edited picture of Brady with laser eyes which Brady later made his profile picture. While Brady could very well own some Bitcoin, he could have chosen the new picture due to his new NFT platform called Autograph.

Autograph's CEO and co-founder, Dillon Rosenblatt, said that"Autograph will bring together some of the world's most iconic names and brands with best in class digital artists to ideate, create and launch NFTs and ground-breaking experiences to a community of fans and collectors."

During the Q&A section of Palantir's earnings call, an investor asked if the company would consider holding Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet.

In response, Palantir's CFO, David Glazer said, "The short answer is yes. We're thinking about it and we've even discussed it internally."

Glazer also noted that the company accepts Bitcoin as payment already.

"On the other side of that, in terms of accepting Bitcoin from our customers, we do accept it as a form of payment. We're open for business there."

Glazer's comments solidify the company's name on a growing list of companies that accept and hold Bitcoin.

On Wednesday of last week, some strange news hit the crypto world. Carole Baskin, the reality star made famous from the hit show, Tiger King, which aired on Netflix early in the pandemic, announced that she is launching her own cryptocurrency.

Baskin said her new crypto, known as$CAT, "is not a currency for investment, but rather is a purr-ency of our fans to show their love for the cats. Future plans include a big cat metaverse for virtual visits with the cats and NFTs, which are launching in about two weeks."

Baskin's new coin is listed on Rally.io, a platform that lets creators and artists launch NFTs and cryptocurrencies using the Ethereum blockchain.

Im investigating cryptocurrencies because I am concerned about the volume of US dollars that are being printed and distributed with nothing to back them up. I like the idea of putting the power of money in the hands of the people, rather than banks and governments," said Baskin.

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Crypto This Week: Mark Zuckerberg Names His Goat Bitcoin and Dogecoin Goes to the Moon - TheStreet

A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin is seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Exchange operator CME Group Inc (CME.O) said on Tuesday more than 100,000 micro bitcoin futures were traded in the first six days after the contract's launch.

The micro contract is aimed at smaller, sophisticated, active traders, and represents 1/10th of a bitcoin, versus the more pricey regular contract, which represents 5 bitcoins.

"Together with our existing, full-sized Bitcoin futures, this new, smaller contract further strengthens our ability to help a broad array of clients, from institutions to sophisticated, active traders, to manage their bitcoin price risk," said Tim McCourt, CME's Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products.

Bitcoin , the largest cryptocurrency, was trading slightly above $55,000 early on Tuesday, well off its all-time high of nearly $65,000 hit on April 14.

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CME says more than 100000 micro bitcoin futures traded in first six days - Reuters

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Exciting, mysterious and highly volatile, Bitcoin is hard to ignore after the decade it just had. The cryptocurrency has demolished the stock market, the housing market, precious metals and other common investments since its emergence in 2009. But the 2010s were also a roller coaster of extraordinary highs and lows for Bitcoin, not to mention scandals in the crypto world, frauds, scams and increased heat from regulators. Is Bitcoin a good investment or a dangerous speculative bubble? GOBankingRates asked the experts for both sides of the digital coin.

Mark Cuban: Bitcoin Is Exactly like the Dot Com Bubble

Privacy is Bitcoins biggest advantage over traditional financial transactions. That, along with its loose regulations and exchange-rate perks, makes it a medium of exchange whose popularity shows no sign of waning.

Read: 4 Investing Lessons the Pandemic Has Taught Us

Bitcoin is definitely a good investment, said James Page, a cryptocurrency technical writer and executive for Cryptohead. First of all, bitcoin payments are not only cost-effective, but you dont lose money on exchange rates, like on a regular currency. Another benefit is that it isnt regulated by any central authority or bank, which gives all the power to bitcoin users and miners. Investors now are in dire need of privacy given how volatile security is, and Bitcoin being a secured market makes it a top choice for investment.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, if you cant explain it to a 6-year-old, you dont understand it yourself. Do you know anyone who could explain cryptocurrency to a 6-year-old? The very concept of a currency not backed by a government or financial institution is completely alien to most, as is the technology used to develop it, the way its mined and the market forces that give it its value. Expect to put in some work in the research and education department if youre going to be a competent investor.

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Investing for Beginners: What First-Time Investors Need To Know

Its essential to understand how Bitcoin works before investing any money, said Linda Chavez, founder and CEO of Seniors Life Insurance Finder. Bitcoin is in its infancy and it can take a few months to understand the actual impact Bitcoin can have on the world. Take some time to understand Bitcoin, how it works, how to secure bitcoins and about how Bitcoin differs from fiat money.

After 10 years of results, one thing is certain its hard to argue with Bitcoins success.

Find Out: Ways Investing Will Change in the Next 25 Years

Without a doubt, Bitcoin has been the investment of the decade, outperforming the stock market, real estate and precious metals, said Rob Zel, founder of the crypto exchange bitni.com. It may even turn out to be the investment of the century. Whether Bitcoin continues to perform depends on continued mainstream adoptionit has to be used in order for it to have value. The recent adoption of Bitcoin by PayPal is a huge step forward, allowing millions of sellers to accept crypto, and this announcement was likely a factor in the recent price rally. If these trends continue, it is likely Bitcoins price will continue to rise.

For mainstream investors, cryptocurrency offers neither the stability nor the familiarity of traditional investments like stocks or gold.

Did You Know: The Most Fascinating Things You Never Knew You Could Invest In

Due to its volatility, lack of regulation across global markets, and the potential to be disrupted, it has its weak points that cannot be ignored, said Ian Khan, director of the documentary Blockchain City on Amazon Prime. High-risk tolerant investors may, however, find it an interesting asset class to look into.

Braden Weinstock is the former COO of Paxful, one of the worlds largest peer-to-peer crypto marketplaces, and a former employee of Bridgewater Associates, the worlds largest hedge fund. He sums it up neatly in describing Bitcoin as an entity in flux with both potential and pitfalls.

Find Out: Do You Invest Like These Millionaire Stars?

Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency built on blockchain technology, is a new way to operationalize how the financial system works that has proven itself as a viable store of wealth in our digital world, Weinstock said. Right now it behaves like a volatile, high-risk investment with a similar profile to alternative asset classesbut it can function like money to facilitate payments that can bring billions of unbanked dollars around the world into the financial system. In that respect, it is cheaper, faster and more secure than other forms of payment. Bitcoin itself is also protected against inflation since the supply is limited. I believe Bitcoin is a good investment that has a place as a minority positionless than 5%of a broader balanced portfolio strategy to be held for the long term.

More From GOBankingRates

Last updated: May 11, 2021

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Why Some Money Experts Believe In Bitcoin and Others Dont

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Why Some Money Experts Believe In Bitcoin and Others Dont - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin has a fungibility issue; it is transparent, which can be both good and bad. Transparency allows everyone to check how many bitcoin are in circulation and to ensure that nobody is cheating.

But it also allows bad actors (such as governments) to monitor the chain and compromise users' privacy.

When a new user buys bitcoin using a regulated, know your customer (KYC) exchange, his information (including Bitcoin address, government ID and other identifying information) is being provided to his local government. This information allows them to view the activity of his wallet, since his coins are linked to his identity. It also allows easier seizure in case of a government ban on bitcoin.

This is obviously dangerous, especially if you live under an authoritarian government. There are options available for buying bitcoin without revealing your identity and compromising your privacy, but those are less popular and are usually harder to follow.

This calls for a privacy standard in Bitcoin: Where a majority of wallets enable privacy features by default, making it much harder for chain analysis firms to link transactions and wallets to real-life identities and/or previous transactions. Users must make sure each and every one of our transactions are private. This can be achieved by utilizing tools like CoinJoins, PayJoins and other privacy enhancing techniques. While these tools are no silver bullet, using them in the right way can allow users to achieve a remarkable amount of privacy. Stealth addresses also have an important role in the privacy standard, as they allow users to share their addresses without needing to worry about them being linked to their digital or physical identity. Running your own node will also play an important part, dramatically reducing the possibility that a node will be used to link your transaction history to your real-life IP address, which can be used to deanonymize your transactions.

If we are able to do that, we will be able to disarm chain analysis companies. Chain analysis firms specialize in invading Bitcoin users' privacy. They do it using publicly available on-chain data and then cross reference it with other data, such as KYC records, in order to establish a deterministic link between a user's wallet activity and his real-life identity.

The worst thing about those companies is that they don't work exclusively for governments, they work with whoever is willing to pay them. Whether it's a government, advertising company or a creepy stalker, it doesn't matter to them. Those companies are pure poison for Bitcoin and are completely unnecessary in the Bitcoin ecosystem; they only bring harm and suffering to it.

There are plenty of users that are targeted by these companies simply because they stated they hate the idea of chain surveillance; a good example for this would be DarkDotFail's donation address being flagged in multiple exchanges that have a partnership with these companies. Chain surveillance is not about money laundering, crime or any other illegal activity, it's about creating an age where nobody has the right to keep their finances private. A Bitcoin privacy standard aims to kill these purely evil companies; but this requires the Bitcoin community to come together, put the ego aside and work together to create, use and promote tools that will enable this effort.

The hardest part of standardizing Bitcoin privacy would be making people acknowledge Bitcoin's faults when it comes to privacy. Many will just avoid talking about it, and some don't even know it exists! Creating such a standard would require large community consensus, not because we need to change the protocol, but because we need to make people acknowledge the fact that their privacy is being compromised. A privacy standard would also discourage discrimination against those who want to keep their bitcoin finances private (see this post).

They can censor a minority but not a majority.

We need more wallets like this, and more enthusiasm toward building and using Bitcoin privacy tools. Number-go-up is not all that matters in this peaceful revolution; privacy matters too.

This is a guest post by Yonatan. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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A Privacy Standard In Bitcoin, And How It Will Protect Bitcoin Users - Bitcoin Magazine

Cryptocurrency traders awoke to an altcoin bonanza as a handful of meme tokens, along with some of the more established projects, staged double-digit rallies while Bitcoin (BTC) price slowly recovers to the $57,000 level.

The biggest event generating conversations across the crypto sector and social media is the rise of dog-themed tokens inspired by the recent mega rally from Dogecoin (DOGE). The more than 20,000% rally from DOGE has shocked value investors across the world and many Bitcoin maximalist and equities traders are scratching their heads in confusion, given that DOGE was originally created as a simple joke.

While DOGE has experienced a 40% pullback since reaching an all-time high at $0.74 on May 8, other canine-themed tokens have jumped out ahead of the pack to take the lead while Dogecoin takes a breather.

Demand for Shiba Inu (SHIB) has been so intense that buyers overwhelmed the Binance system with deposits, causing the top exchange to run out of deposit addresses, while the Binance Smart Chain-based Australian Safe Shepherd (ASS) token has gained more than 400% in 24-hours. The Elon Musk-inspired Dogelon Mars (ELON) has al rallied 170%.

While Ether (ETH) continues to hold the $4,000 level as bulls successfully defend against any significant move to the downside, EOS, the once touted Ethereum Killer,has seen its price spike more than 40% after Block.one announced that it had secured $10 billion in fundingforthe creation of an EOS-based cryptocurrency exchange called Bullish Global.

Other notable altcoin gains include a 35% rally in the price of Yearn.finance (YFI) to establish a new record high at $77,041 and a 20% spike in the price of Reef (REEF) to an intraday high of $0.508.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.449 trillion and Bitcoins dominance rate is 42.8%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Dogelon Mars, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin take the lead as Bitcoin consolidates - Cointelegraph

Q. My father is 78 and has about $1 million in his retirement accounts. Hes now talking about buying Bitcoin and chasing stocks he reads about on social media. How can I get him to stick with mutual funds?

Concerned

A. Cryptocurrency has been pretty hot lately, as have stocks pumped up by interest on social media boards.

But before investing in these or any investment, there are some basic fundamentals to consider.

First, said Jeanne Kane, a certified financial planner with JFL Total Wealth Management in Boonton, you need to understand where an investment gets its value.

Apple, for example, is a technology company that sells computers, phones and watches.

Next, understand how the investment may increase or decrease in value, she said. Apple, for example, had revenue of $89.6 billion in second quarter of 2021, up 54% year over year with earnings per share of $1.40

For stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, you can research and get the answers to these questions, she said.

Investments like Bitcoin should be held to the same standard, Kane said. Where does Bitcoin get its value and why does it increase? If your dad cant answer those questions for Bitcoin or any other investment, he shouldnt be investing in it.

In talking to your dad, Kane recommends you dont try to steer him in a totally different direction. She said that generally that does not work, especially when it sounds like hes getting emotionally caught up in the excitement created around certain investments.

Maybe suggest that he set up a separate account and put in $100,000 or less and play with that. Limit the exposure, she said. It is his money, and he will do what he wants which is his right. To tell him he cant will only make him want to do it more.

Thats why its probably your best option to give him an opportunity to do what he wants while limiting the downside.

Emotion runs high with investing, especially in an up market, really since 2008, with only one negative year 2018, she said. Logic generally does not work well with emotional responses so the best you can do is really to limit the downside.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.

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My dad wants to invest in Bitcoin. Should he? - NJ.com

Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

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Bitcoin has long been the dominant cryptocurrency, but recently Ethereum's native token, ether, has emerged as more than just a clear number two.

In 2021, ether has made gains on bitcoin in terms of market cap, and investors are taking note.

While the two cryptocurrencies are very different in terms of their architecture and use cases, both are top options for cryptocurrency investors long-term.

With that in mind, Insider decided to reach out to the experts to see which cryptocurrency they believe offers the most upside over the long haul.

We asked crypto industry CEOs, analysts, co-founders, and more which asset they'd rather hold for the next ten years and why.

Here's what they had to say.

Bitcoin Bulls

1. "We are strong believers in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. That being said, if we absolutely have to choose... we would prefer holding Bitcoin over Ethereum for the next few years. While Ethereum leads in terms of innovation and current use cases, Bitcoin leads in terms of security and proven track record. Most importantly, we believe it's a great store of value and has all the properties of a reserve asset." - Peter Wall, CEO of Argo Blockchain

2. "Bitcoin will be as transformative for money as the Internet was for information. By mid-2028, bitcoin's market cap will overtake gold's market cap, demonstrating that it is the best store-of-value asset for a digital-first world. But it doesn't stop at store-of-value. Bitcoin is both a decentralized monetary settlement network and a digitally scarce asset. Today, Ethereum powers most of the DeFi (decentralized finance) platforms, but in the near future, we'll be able to build DeFi platforms on top of Bitcoin thanks to layer 2 solutions. Eventually, Bitcoin will become both the global standard of value and the monetary settlement layer of the world. For these reasons, I have put most of my liquid assets into Bitcoin, not Ethereum." - Jason Yanowitz, Co-founder of Blockworks

3. "Bitcoin is strengthening its position as a store of value and the narratives around BTC as "hedge against potential inflation" and "potential replacement for gold" is becoming more clear. With all the big firms entering the space with multiple financial institutions starting to hold BTC on their balance sheet, there is more upside and price will be driven mostly by increased participation in the ecosystem." - Ken Nakamura, CEO of GMO-Z.com Trust Company

4. "To me, it's a no-brainer. Bitcoin is the name brand everyone knows and has proven its staying power. Ethereum is the New Kid on The Block and challenger. ETH has been sold as having mystical practical applications, but in reality, it's inefficient, struggles to operate at scale, and is not a hedge against inflation." - Jamie Finn, President & Co-founder of Securitize

Read more: Fundstrat's head of digital assets research walks us through his $100,000 and $10,500 year-end price targets for bitcoin and ether - and shares the 8 tokens he's bullish on

1. "I do believe the potential upside on Ethereum tends to be a bit greater from its utility, functionality, and ecosystem. Voyager's customers, who own both Bitcoin and Ethereum, have shifted their cryptocurrency allocations in the past few months to increase their Ethereum holdings, on which they can earn 5.25% interest APR. We're also seeing our larger investors more comfortable taking on Ethereum's risk and reward profile. The Ethereum blockchain powers the most established ecosystem for decentralized finance, utility tokens, and NFTs, all of which are gaining mainstream traction. Ethereum will also be soon undergoing an upgrade that will accelerate the speed of ETH transactions, reduce transaction fees, and restrict its circulating supply." - Steve Ehrlich, CEO, and founder of crypto-asset broker Voyager Digital

2. "The technological advantage and utility of Ethereum blockchain is far greater than that of Bitcoin, and I think investors are noticing that, as well. There are over $75 billion currently locked in DeFi projects on the Ethereum blockchain, and only 30 days ago, it was $40 billion. For those that believe in the demand of DeFi for services like lending, borrowing, trading, insurance, monetary issuance, they should be paying more attention to the Ethereum blockchain. It's a network that supports smart contractsthey alone carry limitless potential and should be enough for Ethereum to have a competitive advantage over bitcoin and its applications in our everyday lives. I'm in the Ethereum camp." - Tally Greenberg, Head of Business Development at Allnodes

3. "Institutional investor recognition of ETH as a real and valuable asset has been long-awaited and anticipated. I foresee the current trend of Ethereum's price increase gaining more momentum, leading to a shift in capital flowing into Ethereum - as investors become educated on what Ethereum is and how the technology is going to shape the futureTechnicals and fundamentals show there is greater long term upside potential for ETH than BTCMost banks, institutions, and investment funds have mandated investments towards clean, environmentally sustainable industries and technologies. Concerns on how and where the majority of bitcoin is mined today could negatively impact the assets price long termEthereum's upcoming network upgrades, EIP1559 and Proof-of-Stake, will make ETH a deflationary asset while providing a reduction in gas fees and reducing the total supply Ethereum. When these two shifts occur, they could push Ethereum over the $1T market cap. Whether Ethereum's network changes ignite a supercycle or not, the asset undoubtedly has 5X more developers, more on-chain activity, and exponentially more active use cases than any other chain." - Megan Kaspar, Managing Director of Magnetic

4. "I think Bitcoin will always have some level of acceptance being the flagship crypto and a perceived store of value within the space. However, the blockchain technology of Ethereum having more applicability and functionality (including recent smart contracts for NFTs) makes it potentially more of an attractive longer-term play. Also, the current price disparity between the two might make Ethereum seem more affordable to the average investor as well." - Ed Egilinsky, Managing Director - Head of Alternative Investments at Direxion

1. "The world can be broadly split into traders and investors. Traders focus on short-term price movements and arbitrage opportunities and rightly are excited by Bitcoin versus Ethereum relative movements right now. Investors focus on what the future will be like, what are the tailwinds driving projects forward, and how value will be captured by some and lost by others. For investors, BOTH Bitcoin and Ethereum need to be in your portfolio right nowBitcoin has a chance of remaining the leading crypto asset in the world, while Ethereum has a chance of remaining the leading distributed software development platform in the world. Both positions of leadership would capture trillions of dollars of value in ten years' time. So invest in both now." - Matthew Le Merle, Chairman of Blockchain Coinvestors

2. "Bitcoin's market cap as of last week has fallen below 50% of the crypto market for the first time since 2019 and is down over 30% overall since January. In our work with large institutions, we're seeing increased demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as alternative coins. We believe institutional investors and corporate treasuries will hold onto both BTC and ETH assets, as their adoption and the market matures." - Raghu Yarlagadda, CEO of FalconX

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Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: 10 experts told us which asset they'd rather hold, and why - Markets Insider

The new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that more investor protections are needed in the markets for bitcoin and other crypto assets.

Chairman Gary Gensler said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he sees the attraction to bitcoin for traders but regulation is needed to prevent fraud and other issues.

"It's a digital, scarce store of value, but highly volatile," Gensler said, talking about bitcoin specifically. "And there's investors that want to trade that, and trade that for its volatility, in some cases just because it is lower correlation with other markets. I think that we need greater investor protection there."

Gensler later added that he believes bitcoin is a "speculative" store of value and that the SEC should be "technology neutral" when it comes to innovations in markets.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have boomed since late last year, fueled by increased institutional adoption for some of the more established coins and interest from retail traders.

Bitcoin was trading above $57,000 per coin on Friday after hovering under $10,000 a year ago, while dogecoin, a digital coin that started as a joke based on a meme with a shiba inu dog, was trading near its record high.

Gensler, who previously taught classes about blockchain and other financial technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said there needed to be authority for a regulator to oversee the crypto exchanges, similar to the equity and futures markets. He said many of the crypto coins were trading like assets and should fall under the purview of the SEC.

"To the extent that something is a security, the SEC has a lot of authority. And a lot of crypto tokens I won't call them cryptocurrencies for this moment are indeed securities," he said.

Gensler also commented on social media's influence on financial markets.

"We need to update and freshen our rules to ensure that, while retail investors and any individual has First Amendment rights to speak and so forth, that they're not misleading the public, they're not manipulating the public, manipulating the markets," he said.

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SEC Chairman Gary Gensler says more investor protections are needed for bitcoin and crypto markets - CNBC

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Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey issued a stark warning to those investing in cryptocurrencies: Buy them only if youre prepared to lose all your money.

In response to a question about financial stability, Bailey said the central bank was well positioned to respond to any threats that might arise. However, he objected to the use of the phrase cryptocurrency and took the opportunity to push back on their growing popularity.

Im afraid crypto and currency are two words that dont go together for me, he said at a press conference Thursday. They have no intrinsic value.

Bailey has long been dismissive of the assets, and his comments follow yet another period of speculative excesses for a market Nouriel Roubini once described as the mother of all bubbles.

While in the past, trillions of dollars in stimulus by governments and central banks might have triggered a rush into gold for the inflation-wary and risky stocks for the intrepid, a deluge of cash this time round is flooding into the crypto market. Its even pushed up the price of digital tokens previously considered a joke, like Dogecoin.

Read More: Crypto Mania Sends Doge Soaring, Crashes Robinhood Token Trading

The BOE last month said it would join forces with the U.K. Treasury to weigh the potential creation of its own central bank digital currency, joining authorities from China to Sweden exploring the next big step in the future of money. If approved, the U.K.s digital currency would exist alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them, they said.

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Bitcoin (BTC USD) Cryptocurrency Price: Bank of England Warns of Full Losses - Bloomberg