Tag: Bitcoin (BTC)

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Crypto News

Bitcoin (BTC) To Reach $15,000 By The End Of 2018, Thinks Goldman Sachs Ex-VP

Cryptocurrencies have been on a downward trend for several weeks until recently when the market began to surge. Although Bitcoin (BTC) peaked in December last year at almost $20,000, it is now worth about $6,500, which has risen some concerns among the cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors. But, fortunately, this dark period might end, as a former Goldman Sachs employee thinks that the leading crypto by market cap will hit $15,000 by the end of the year.

Christopher Matta, the former vice president of the investment management division at Goldman Sachs, is a firm believer who, despite the downturn season, does see a bright future for Bitcoin (BTC). For this reason, he assured that by the end of the year the price of this crypto would be around $15,000.

After leaving the famous financial firm, Matta devoted himself entirely to the cryptocurrencies market, becoming co-founder of Media Luna Crypto Asset Management, a crypto investments consulting firm.

Bitcoin (BTC) to hit $15,000 by the end of the year, says the former Goldman Sachs VP

Due to his great optimism for cryptocurrencies, Christopher Matta believes that Bitcoin (BTC) has a long-term upward trend, so he urges people not to panic, bet on digital currencies and invest in them, especially on BTC.

“The bullish sentiment has not changed in the last six months,” Matta said, according to CCN. “The regulators have begun to intervene. We believe that smarter regulations can be good,” he added.

As for the introduction of Bitcoin (BTC) into the futures market, which has been listed by many experts as the reason why this digital currency has not experienced a significant rise in prices yet, the former director of Goldman Sachs assures that the volatility of the BTC prices has been maintained or even increased. Thus, it is quite difficult to determine whether futures affected the worth of this cryptocurrency.

Like Christopher Matta, there are many other somewhat optimistic opinions regarding the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital currencies for the end of the year. However, it is important to remember that these are all speculations and that nobody can know what would happen in the cryptocurrencies market in the future.

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Crypto Markets News

Bitcoin (BTC) Will Fail As A Currency, According To Leading US Economists

Three of the top U.S. economists have negatively spoken of Bitcoin (BTC) and its survival prospects during a meeting with Financial News on July 9th. Accordingly, Joseph Stiglitz, Kenneth Rogoff, and Nouriel Roubini made remarks claiming that Bitcoin (BTC) will collapse as a currency due to its lack of intrinsic value and its price volatility.

Bitcoin (BTC) is not a reliable fiat money alternative

Joseph Stiglitz also criticized the Bitcoin (BTC) traditional anonymity of transactions stating that it is contrary to the concept of a “transparent banking system.” According to him, crypto coins such as Bitcoin (BTC) provide support (unwillingly, of course) to “harmful activities” which “no government can afford.”

Kenneth Rogoff, the ex-chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a Harvard University professor, reaffirmed his dissenting view on Bitcoin (BTC), saying that the leading cryptocurrency in the world would be trading at just $100 in about ten years. He also mentioned government engagement in the crypto-verse, cautioning that “the people in power” will be in charge of overseeing “anonymous transactions.”

Nouriel Roubini, also known as “Dr. Doom” for his supposed “prophecy” of the 2008 financial crisis, claimed that Bitcoin (BTC) has none of the features of fiat money. Roubini also complained about BTC price volatility, scornfully stating that Bitcoin “is not even accepted at BTC conferences, and how can something that falls 20% one day and then rises 20% the next day be a stable store of value?”

Central banks and governments are not threatened by Bitcoin (BTC)

Some worldwide governments have, in fact, given clear declarations that crypto is a non-threatening phenomenon to traditional finance. Also, the same concept is accepted by central banks around the world.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) also argued that crypto assets do not present risks to the domestic financial market because of their not very large volumes in comparison to other stock market’s assets, for example. Another example comes from the Netherlands where the government stated that cryptos pose only a low risk to the country’s financial stability.

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Crypto Markets News

Bitcoin (BTC) Vs. Altcoins As Cryptocurrency Payment Methods

It’s no secret that most conventional economists don’t think much about cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) and the altcoins, Ethereum (ETH) and the rest, not only produced the “biggest bubble in history,” but they are “neither a serious method of payment nor a good way to store capital,” according to Bank of America and Nouriel Roubini. However, while traditional financial experts have spent countless hours complaining that the volatility of cryptos makes them unfeasible as real money, a wide variety of stores, especially online, implemented cryptocurrency payment methods.

Which cryptocurrency is the most used one for payments? Well, perhaps as expected, the answer to this question is Bitcoin (BTC), only because it is accepted as a payment method more widely than any other cryptocurrency in the market.

However, altcoins such as Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC), among others, with their superior scalability may end up outperforming the leading digital coin in the cryptocurrencies market. But not just yet, as we’ll see together below.

Bitcoin (BTC) Vs. Altcoins – BTC is widely accepted as cryptocurrency payment methods, but Altcoins grew in popularity

Currently, 54 major companies allow cryptos, according to Virtual Coin Squad (although the actual number is much higher), and only two of them, MazeFit (sportswear) and Shiny Leaf (cosmetics), do not accept Bitcoin (BTC). The other 53, including Microsoft, Expedia, Mozilla and Shopify, all accept Bitcoin (BTC), while 25 also accept Litecoin (LTC), 13 accept Ethereum (ETH), 14 accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH), 12 accept Monero (XMR), and 15 also accept Dogecoin (DOGE).

In other words, Bitcoin (BTC) is the most adopted by the stores which accept cryptocurrency payment methods, for the simple reason that any merchant who agrees with any crypto is almost sure to admit BTC, while the same cannot be said of altcoins.

However, lately, altcoins grew in popularity and adoption as payment methods.

This growth in the acceptance of altcoins not only demonstrates the growing people’s familiarity with cryptos but also results from the increasing prominence of cryptocurrencies market payment services designed for businesses, such as Coinbase Commerce which allows merchants to accept payments in multiple digital currencies.

However, such merchants still remain in the minority, for the most part, once again suggesting that Bitcoin (BTC) is still the most widespread among the cryptocurrency payment methods.

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Crypto Markets News

CBOE Global Markets Applied For Bitcoin (BTC) ETF License To The US SEC

A new application for an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) for Bitcoin (BTC) has been recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was introduced by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, also known as CBOE Global Markets, the first firm to request an ETF license for a cryptocurrency since a high-ranking SEC officer ruled that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities.

If this application will be accepted eventually, then it would pave the road to big-time economic and institutional investors to put money on Bitcoin (BTC). In its request, CBOE Global Markets suggested a partnership with VanEck Investment and SolidX, to list and exchange SolidX shares in a trust granted by VanEck through its brokerage firm.

The SEC rejected in 2017 a number of similar filings for Bitcoin (BTC) EFT. The agency even urged applicants to revoke their applications for ETF licenses based on cryptocurrencies, arguing that there was a lack of transparency on a range of matters concerning liquidity, pricing, and safekeeping of the funds. The refusals list contains actions such as that of Barry Silbert, the Winklevoss brothers, as well as those of companies like SolidX and VanEck, currently included in the CBOE Global Markets application.

CBOE Global Market’s application for Bitcoin (BTC) ETF would have high chances of approval, given the SEC position regarding cryptos

Nevertheless, at the moment, the situation may have changed, as the director of corporate finance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, William Hinman, publicly stated on June 14th that Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) would not be categorized or ruled as securities.

The other reason why CBOE Global Markets’ application is likely to be accepted is that the offer of shares is targeted to a corporate and/or high-income market, given that, as the document issued by the SEC states, each stock would be worth 25 Bitcoin (BTC), approximately $170,000 at the current BTC trading price against the USD.

Also, in March, CBOE Global Markets President, Chris Concannon, declared that ETFs are the logical next stage in Bitcoin (BTC) development after futures contracts have been finalized.

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Crypto News

Cryptojacking, Hidden Cryptocurrency Mining Malware, Outperforms Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware threatened billions of computers during 2017, hijacking the functionality of the infected computer until the user paid a certain amount, usually in Bitcoin (BTC), to restore system performance. This type of attack is a business model for cybercriminals, who amassed large quantities of BTC with this kind of extortions. However, over the past year, the profitability of malicious ransomware attacks has been outperformed by hidden cryptocurrency mining malware (cryptojacking), says Kaspersky Lab.

According to the report “Ransomware and Malicious Cryptojacking 2016-2018”, recently released by cyber security company Kaspersky Lab, cybercriminals are migrating to cryptojacking for “being a more sustainable business model over time” than a malicious attack with ransomware can be.

The report notes that Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan were the three countries most targeted by cryptocurrency mining malware between 2017-2018, accounting for 31%, 29%, and 24%, respectively, of the total number of countries targeted by cryptojacking during the before-mentioned period.

The increase in the number of attacks with mining malware almost doubles the figures recorded in 2016, to over 1.87 million, as Kaspersky Lab estimates that there were 2.7 million cryptocurrency mining malware attacks on computers in 2017 alone.

Bitcoin (BTC) is commonly used by ransomware attacks, while hidden cryptocurrency mining malware uses Monero (XMR) more

It should be noted that malicious cryptojacking attacks on mobile devices maintained a different geographical concentration than attacks on computers. As for mobile cryptocurrency mining malware, the country with the highest percentage of people affected was Venezuela.

The growth in attacks on mobile devices was 168% for Venezuela, 90% for Nepal, and 215% for Turkmenistan, which ranks as one of the countries most attacked by malicious miners on both computers and mobile phones. Also, the increase in the mobile threat in China increased by 1,287% in the last year, an alarming figure, especially considering the number of potential victims from the world’s most populous country.

In the case of ransomware, Bitcoin (BTC) is the most used digital currency, while Monero (XMR) is the one that attracts cryptojacking because it is much easier to mine. In fact, all hidden cryptocurrency mining malware based on the Coinhive code process Monero (XMR) transactions, occupying the processing capacity of the device in which they are hosted.

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