As digital currencies gradually gain traction, a counter narrative emerged as the year progressed: central banks that belatedly acknowledged the value of cryptocurrencies now want to launch their own. However, some want the prerogative to issue this currency assigned to them and only them, because central banks ‘enjoy the confidence’ of the public. Speaking at a Brookings Institute organized discussion …
The price of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, jumped 6.5 percent Sunday to rise back above $4,000, its highest point in two weeks. CoinDesk data shows bitcoin’s (BTC) price spiked $262 on Monday at 17:10 UTC to $4,063, a move accompanied by a large injection of volume. At press time, bitcoin is up 5.95 percent over the last …
The U.S. state of Colorado has introduced the “Colorado Digital Token Act” which provides some “exemptions from the state securities laws for cryptocurrencies,” according to the text of the bill. Meanwhile, the state’s securities commissioner has already taken action against 20 initial coin offerings. Colorado Digital Token Act Lawmakers in Colorado introduced the “Colorado Digital Token Act” on Friday which, …
After serving as finance minister of one of the most economically influential nations over the past three years, Ueli Maurer is now starting his term as President of the Swiss Confederation. Given his track record and liberal views regarding fintech regulation, Maurer’s election is considered a positive development for the Alpine nation’s expanding crypto industry. Symbolic Role With Decisive Vote Ulrich …
The Biggest Problem for ICOs? In 2018, It Was Their Own Investors At the beginning of 2018, the blockchain community reached the pinnacle of the ICO bubble. The slogan of ICOs, which promised that “anyone can invest in an initial project,” sounded wonderful and future-oriented. However, as the prices of most ICO tokens continued to tumble over the past year, …
Crypto heavyweight Circle stated in a blog post that their OTC (Over-the-counter) business has facilitated over $24 Billion worth of trades. This is a huge number given that OTC trading volumes are not reported publicly and there have been growing discussions about institutional investor activity over crypto OTC desks. Circle Trade has become a core liquidity provider to the entire crypto …
Do your bitcoins really exist? The answer might seem like an obvious “yes,” but the brewing “Proof of Keys” movement, launching today, argues the answer is not so clear. How in control a person is of their coins depends on where and how the bitcoin is stored. So participants will be taking their money out of third-party bitcoin services, moving …
Today, Jan. 3, marks ten years since the creation of the very first block on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. Known in more technical parlance as a “genesis block,” the first block on a blockchain is unique in that it — logically — contains no reference to any previous blocks, and is always hard-coded into the network’s software, establishing all of …
Plunging cryptocurrency values in 2018 and the collapse of the money-for-nothing white paper market in initial coin offerings (ICOs) took much of the focus last year for many people when it came to blockchain mindshare. All of that marketplace drama, however, concealed an enormous amount of real progress for the technology that will, slowly but surely, lay the foundation for …
Over long time periods, bitcoin’s returns have been uncorrelated to the stock, bond or commodity markets. Even though bitcoin has been highly volatile, adding a small amount of bitcoin to a portfolio of stocks and bonds can actually improve its risk-adjusted returns (improve the Sharpe ratio). The drivers of bitcoin’s returns are very different from those of the other markets, …
