Most Bitcoin owners and cryptocurrency buffs are familiar with the phenomenon of forks. Some dread them due to a potential negative effect they could have on the main currency, while others hope to use them to achieve a profit. But what are they? In simplest terms, a fork is a user-powered derivative of the original…
In recent months, there have been a number of events that have caused short-term volatility in cryptocurrency markets. These have included suggestions of increased regulation around cryptocurrency trading by certain Asian governments and, more simply, short-term traders exiting the market to realize substantial gains. On January 8, it happened yet again, when there was what…
2017 could rightfully be called the year that Bitcoin was embraced. The cryptocurrency has been in circulation since 2009 and has enjoyed reasonable pricing throughout its history, but it wasn’t until last year that investors and institutions truly opened up to the idea of a valuable and decentralized digital currency. With this acceptance came a…
The value of traditional assets and currencies tends to be determined by the standing of companies or governments issuing them. While Bitcoin’s decentralized status acts as one of its perks, it can also lead to perplexing valuations; in the absence of fundamentals, faith plays a major role in determining Bitcoin’s value. In particular, a show…
It’s official, Bitcoin has been named Investopedia’s 2017 “Term of the Year.“ Anyone familiar with the digital currency might not find this news surprising, as Bitcoin’s rapid rise has been the talk of even those outlets and institutions who have previously taken a lukewarm approach to it. Bitcoin beat out various other trending searches, such…
As Bitcoin continues to establish itself among investors, companies around the world are experimenting with the idea of offering their employees payment in the form of Bitcoin. One of them is Japanese web hosting company GMO Internet, which recently gave its employees the choice of converting part of their salary to Bitcoin. The offer is…
Although Bitcoin futures have barely landed on the market, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s real-time filing system EDGAR shows that two companies are looking for approval to launch their Bitcoin ETFs. REX and VanEck submitted their applications early this week. Should the SEC grant its stamp of approval, neither REX nor VanEck will need…
Few asset classes can boast of having experienced a rise as sudden and meteoric as that of Bitcoin. After launching in 2010, the digital currency didn’t reach $1,000 until early 2017, as the world was growing accustomed to the idea of a decentralized digital currency. Yet in this year alone, the cryptocurrency has soared. It…
This week, Nasdaq and broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP announced that they are looking to move into Bitcoin trading by launching their own futures in the first half of 2018. According to WSJ insiders, Nasdaq plans to debut its Bitcoin contract on the Nasdaq Futures marketplace, which launched in 2015 and has mainly focused on energy…
Is the end of fiat currencies on the horizon? According to Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid, the collapse of paper money has already started. This collapse has been backed, in his view, partly by the spread of cryptocurrencies. Reid believes that the abandonment of the gold standard by President Richard Nixon in 1971 created a…
