Welcome to the Crowdify digest of interesting and important news and views about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Price Can Reach $1 Mln: CNBC's Jim Cramer
Earlier this week, CNBC’s Jim Cramer stated that it is possible for Bitcoin price to reach $1 mln in the future.
On the CNBC show “Squawk on the Street,” Cramer stated that the demand toward Bitcoin is rapidly increasing and because of Bitcoin’s decentralized nature, its price could potentially enter the $1 mln region, which would bring the market cap of Bitcoin to tens of trillions of dollars.
However, Cramer’s reasoning behind his Bitcoin price prediction was fundamentally flawed as he failed to grasp the core purpose of Bitcoin and why investors are starting to purchase Bitcoin.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2r1TOK5
What’s driving the bitcoin boom? Here’s what you need to know
The price of a bitcoin doubled last year, and has doubled again so far this year to around 2,800 dollars. In the wake of bitcoin’s recent surge, almost $4billion was wiped off its value. But the correction didn’t last long, and the price began to climb again. So what’s all the hype about? There are several key factors driving the current bitcoin boom.
Amid global political and economic uncertainty, investors have been turning away from traditional stock and bond markets, which have been shaken by big events from the Brexit vote to the US presidential election.
Ron Quaranta, Chairman of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, told Bloomberg that institutional investors, such as banks, insurers, pension funds, hedge funds and asset managers, are beginning to view bitcoin and its rival cryptocurrency ethereum as a new type of investment.
“Bitcoin and Ether and all these cryptocurrencies are representing a different type of asset class; a different type of tradeable commodity. Investment managers are our fastest growing demographic,” he said.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2sgSl6F
Bitcoin Price Hits New All-Time High at $2,933, Closing on $3,000
On May 25, Bitcoin price fell from around $2,700 to $1,900 amidst a major market correction. Prior to that, Bitcoin price surged explosively and as a response, analysts and experts predicted the price to correct itself in the short-term.
However, upon the initial decline of Bitcoin price, Bitcoin analysts including WhalePanda and RT’s Max Keiser emphasized that Bitcoin had always recovered beyond the peak of the initial bubble and has proven to rise in value in the mid and long run.
Keiser, in particular, noted that the price trend of Bitcoin will repeat until it hits $100,000 in the future when the market cap of Bitcoin enters the trillion dollar region.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2shjoyC
AMD shares are surging with bitcoin because digital currency 'miners' need its graphics cards
AMD shares rose as much as 7 percent Tuesday after the company revealed the dramatic jump in digital currency prices is driving demand for its graphics cards. The stock was the top performer in the S&P 500 on the day.
"The gaming market remains our priority. We are seeing solid demand for our Polaris-based offerings in the gaming and newly resurgent cryptocurrency mining markets based on the strong performance we are delivering," an AMD spokesperson wrote in an email to CNBC late Monday.
Ethereum cryptocurrency is up over 2,900 percent year to date through Tuesday morning, while bitcoin is up nearly 200 percent this year, according to data from industry website CoinDesk.
The digital currency jumped more than 8 percent at one point Tuesday to a record nearing $3,000.
Full story at http://cnb.cx/2sgZvrJ
Bitcoin . . . Future Global Currency?
“Bitcoin Surges to Record Levels,” “Bitcoin More than Doubled This Year,” “Bitcoin Plummets, Loosing $4 Billion of Market Capitalization,” “Cyber Fraud Attackers Demand Payment in Bitcoin.” These attention-grabbing headlines are typical of the recent media buzz related to this cyber-currency. What is Bitcoin, and why has it garnered so much attention in the investment world? Who will benefit? Will this be trouble for the banks, Visa, Mastercard and Paypal?
Let’s start with some definitions, which we obtained from a white paper entitled “Bitcoin - A Primer for Policy Makers”, by Jerry Brito and Andrea Castillo of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University:
“Bitcoin is an open-source, peer-to-peer digital currency” that relies on “the world’s first completely decentralized digital-payments system. Until Bitcoin’s invention in 2008 by the unidentified programmer known as Satoshi Nakamoto, online transactions always required a trusted third-party intermediary,” like Visa/MasterCard or PayPal. Rather than relying on that third party, “every transaction that occurs in the Bitcoin economy is registered in a public, distributed ledger, which is called the block chain. New transactions are checked against the block chain to ensure that the same Bitcoins haven’t been previously spent, thus eliminating the double-spending problem. The global peer-to-peer network, composed of thousands of users, takes the place of an intermediary.” So, the term Bitcoin is used to refer to both the virtual currency as well as the decentralized payments network, and “the dollar value of a Bitcoin is determined on an open market, just as is the exchange rate between different world currencies.”
This new virtual currency has caught on: a $100 investment in Bitcoin in 2010 would now be worth over $75 million!
Full story at http://bit.ly/2sgzQ2e
Investors Use Startup Stocks to Bet on Bitcoin in Japan
Japanese startups are leveraging Blockchain technology to increase their stock market value, reports suggest.
Bloomberg noted on Tuesday that Blockchain voting platform Infoteria and financial data services provider Fisco saw rises of 58 percent and 26 percent over the past month respectively.
Fisco additionally opened a Bitcoin exchange in 2016.
“From about a month ago when all these virtual currencies started spiking like crazy, we began seeing the so-called “stocks of the virtual currency bubble,”’ Naoki Murakami, a major trader, told the publication.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2sgqxQ0
Bitcoin Scaling: Which is The Most Viable Option?
With the continuing issue of scaling Bitcoin’s transaction capacity, the Digital Currency Group decided to step in and announced an agreement on May 23 between a group of Bitcoin representatives to run Segregated Witness (SegWit) operated by the development team of Bitcoin Core.
A crucial part of the agreement is the proposed 2 MB hard fork to be implemented after six months. The implementation of the hard fork is for the expansion of the current block size to 2 MB in order to accommodate the increasing user base and the daily transaction volume. This was the outcome of the agreement between the Bitcoin industry and the mining corporations last February 21 in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, a conflict has emerged between two parties – the Bitcoin Scaling Agreement companies (57 companies) and developers. Mining communities, particularly the Chinese operated companies, believe that the Bitcoin Core development team focuses all its time and resources on the operation of SegWit, stating that the Hong Kong agreement was ignored.
In order to avoid the conflict, the DCG has decided to give up SegWit activation in favor of the 2 MB hard fork implementation that focuses on the expansion of the capacity of the Bitcoin Blockchain. The recent agreement was in accordance with the Hong Kong agreement which only allows the operation of the consensus system congruent to Bitcoin Core. Basically, the 2017 Bitcoin Scaling Agreement embodies the mining community’s appeal of increasing the on-chain capacity and, in return, they will support Bitcoin Core’s developmental solution which includes SegWit.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2sgXn39
Conference in Netherlands to Discuss The Future of Bitcoin
What is the future of Bitcoin? With the cryptocurrency hitting all-time highs in the recent past it is perhaps the most pertinent time to be asking this question.
Between June 30 and July 1, 2017, an event will be held at the WTC Arnhem, Netherlands, entitled “The Future of Bitcoin Conference 2017.” Arnhem is only an hour’s train ride away from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
The conference will provide a platform for researchers, developers and representatives from the development community to share their knowledge, research and showcase multiple implementations so as to provide unique views for the future of Bitcoin.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2siFZLa
AMD and NVIDIA Dive Into the Graphics Card Mining Business
Graphics card manufacturers NVIDIA and AMD are preparing to release models of their cards for cryptocurrency mining. They have began to eye the digital coin market, because customers have been buying up cards to the point of depleting their supply.
According to a Videcardz press article, both companies plan on releasing a version of theirAMD and NVIDIA Dive Into the Graphic Card Mining Business cards in order to satisfy people’s hunger for mining cryptocurrencies. The site said, “NVIDIA is said to launch GeForce GTX 1060 with GP106-100 GPU, a custom edition for mining. This card would lack display connectors and most likely it would not support any gaming at all. According to our sources, these cards, unlike normal editions, would only have 90 days warranty.”
According to these circulating rumors; AMD is also planning to produce a Polaris model for mining, but there are currently no more details on the nature of this miner. Some good news is that the NVIDIA graphic card miners will be cheaper than their gaming counterparts.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2siZQtF
Increased South African Bitcoin Adoption Highlights Need For Taxation Clarity
The recent increase in South African Localbitcoins trading volume can be interpreted as an indication of a real increase in bitcoin adoption, as supported by trading volume on the nation’s major exchange, Luno, also seeing a steady rise.
In 2017 many developed nations have begun to move towards introducing permissive regulation designed to encourage growth within Bitcoin’s associated industries. In recent months Japan has eliminated taxation on Bitcoin trading, declared Bitcoin to be exempt from consumption tax, and eliminated the possibility of double taxation on trading. Australia has moved towards ending its long-standing double taxation on bitcoin by proposing that transactions involving digital currencies no longer be subject to Goods and Services Taxation, and South Korea has also introduced permissive regulations regarding Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2siPZ7d
The Philippines Officially Legitimize Bitcoin as Payment Method
Bankgko Sentral ng Pilipinas, hereinafter BSP, is officially regulating local Philippine Bitcoin exchanges as remittance companies and recognizing Bitcoin as a legitimate payment method.
Earlier this month, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla announced the plans of the Philippine Central Bank to issue a proper regulatory framework for Bitcoin users, exchanges and companies. Espenilla emphasized the exponential growth of Bitcoin within the country, stating that monthly Bitcoin volumes increased from $1 mln to $6 mln a month in a year.
Almost immediately after the announcement of Espenilla, the Central Bank of the Philippines released BSP Circular No.944 entitled “Guidelines for Virtual Currency (VC) Exchanges,” to provide clarity on the legality of Bitcoin exchanges.
In the document, BSP clarified that Bitcoin will still not be considered as an endorsement of the Philippine government nor a legal currency as it isn’t issued by the central bank. However, considering the benefits of Bitcoin as payment and remittance networks, BSP intends to regulate Bitcoin and Bitcoin startups as remittance companies.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2lLLD4y
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