Bitcoin is torn by opposing impulses: to be a store of value, like digital gold, or the internet equivalent of cash, used for everyday purchases like cups of coffee. It’s the tension at the center of bitcoin’s long running “civil war“—to date, the notion that bitcoin should be more like digital gold has prevailed.
In case you haven’t noticed, cryptocurrencies are all the rage.
This post has been corrected.
As the bitcoin price has surged, so has the supply of a digital token called tether. Tethers are tokens backed by US dollar deposits, with each tether always worth one dollar. This allows cryptocurrency traders to cash in and out of bitcoin quickly, using tethers to transfer proceeds to other exchanges or digital wallets while avoiding the lengthy process of converting the sums in and out of fiat currency.
Keynes was onto something when he wrote about the “animal spirits” that animate the economy. The CryptoKitties game, which lets players trade digital kittens on the ethereum blockchain, continues to dominate traffic on the cryptocurrency’s network. Over 6,000 players are buying, selling, and breeding the blockchain-based felines—and a few of them are making tons of money doing so, according to new data from the independent data site CryptoKitties Sales.
Cartoon kittens are having a big impact on a certain cryptocurrency. Collectors of the digital tchotchkes are clogging up the ethereum network, delaying transactions, and causing a pile-up of unprocessed transactions. The collectors are playing CryptoKitties, a game built on the ethereum blockchain where players spend ether—the digital token used by ethereum—to breed cartoon kittens or trade with other players. Unprocessed ethereum transactions have risen about six-fold since CryptoKitties was released on Nov. 28, according to data provider Etherscan.
Ethereum touts itself as an unstoppable “world computer” that will upend industries and revolutionize finance. But, for the moment, one of its most popular applications is a game called CryptoKitties that lets players buy, sell, and breed cartoon kittens. CryptoKitties launched on Nov. 28 and has proved so popular that it’s currently responsible for nearly 4% of all transactions on the ethereum network, behind just one other application, a token trading platform, according to data provider ETH Gas Station.
After months of discussions, US regulators have greenlighted two of the biggest exchange operators to create derivatives tied to bitcoin, a digital asset that officials acknowledge is unlike any they have dealt with before. Though many financial heavyweights are skeptical of cryptoassets, the decision may help tame the unruly market.
The cryptocurrency craze has gotten so hot that at least one Tesla owner has apparently fitted a mining rig to their car to make some money, a photo from EcoMotoring News show.
Yahoo Finance may not be the first brand-name that comes to mind when you think of the cryptocurrency markets, but that could soon change.
Bitcoin’s price soared past $11,000, plunged as low as $9,300, and then recovered to around $10,000—all in the space of 24 hours of trading yesterday (Nov. 29). It was an object lesson in the volatility of the bitcoin markets. However, the violent price swings didn’t stop hundreds of thousands of users opening cryptocurrency wallets for the first time, according to two major wallet providers.
Bitcoin may be smashing through psychological milestones like nobody’s business today—it surged past $11,000 just hours after passing the $10,000 mark. But the second most valuable cryptocurrency on the market, ether, is also setting records today. It traded above $500 for the first time, changing hands for as much as $522, according to data from CoinDesk.
If you’re worried about the soaring price of bitcoin, the financial industry has a solution: Bitcoin derivatives.
Bitcoin is red-hot, having gained over 1,000% this year. But a survey of bitcoin holders by LendEdu, a student loan comparison website, shows that Americans who already own bitcoin would really rather own the asset using a more convenient vehicle, like in an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Bitcoin passed $10,000 for the first time early this morning (Nov. 29) and it’s already getting close to the $11,000 mark, trading as high as $10,800 today, according to the CoinDesk price index. This year has seen the emergence of a cottage industry of predictors, prognosticators, and forecasters who have a view on bitcoin’s price. Here’s where they stand:
Bitcoin is a whisker away from the $10,000 mark, as it continues its spectacular run this year. It has gained 900% since January. One company in particular is benefiting from this bull run. The startup “unicorn” Coinbase is adding thousands of bitcoin-curious users daily and now has more registered users than the number of active accounts at the stock brokerage Charles Schwab, CNBC reported.
If it seems like bitcoin is hitting new highs more frequently, it’s not just your imagination. The cryptocurrency is smashing through psychological barriers—that is, big round numbers—with increasing frequency.
Update (Nov. 27): Lei Jun denies investing in bitcoin or Bitmain; Bitmain says the entity linked to Lei Jun in the Paradise Papers is not a shareholder.
Lisbon, Portugal
The price ether, the digital token used on the ethereum blockchain set a new record high in trading today, at just under $415. It has been a good year for the cryptocurrency, which has appreciated by a cool 5,000% (or so) since January, when it was trading at $8. So far today, the cryptocurrency has gained more than 8%.
It’s cheaper than ever to launch a tech startup, thanks to cloud computing, ubiquitous smartphones, and open-source codebases, or so the truism goes. Now add to that list the critical ingredient of any multi-million dollar initial coin offering, or ICO: the whitepaper.
The price of bitcoin plunged by around 6% in the early morning today (Nov. 21) after news broke that nearly $31 million worth of Tether tokens had been hacked and stolen. Tether is a digital token that pitches itself as being a stable cryptocurrency that’s pegged to the dollar, so each Tether token is worth a US dollar.
Executives tasked with exploring blockchain tech for banks and consulting firms are finding it harder and harder to resist going full crypto. Case in point: three executives at BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, and PWC well known for leading blockchain work at their firms have left to pursue their own blockchain projects in recent days. Their reason? They want to pursue blockchain ambitions outside the strictures of a corporate innovation lab.
Bitcoin’s seemingly unstoppable bull run continued as it passed $8,000 for the first time around 6pm UTC yesterday (Nov. 19). The price has been flirting with $8,000 for days, probably because several signs point to the long promised arrival of institutional money in the cryptocurrency markets.
