Is it 2013 or 2017? For bitcoin’s investors, traders and enthusiasts, an answer to this question might be harder to give today than you might imagine. Bitcoin prices surged above the $1,100 mark this week (near all-time highs) only to sink back down to earth amid higher volatility and foreboding – if not unclear – news out of China. Taken together, the developments evoke memories of 2013, when the price of bitcoin surged to similar levels, bringing the digital currency to international attention. Both rallies were buoyed by bullish sentiment among those actually trading in the market, and somewhat more eerily, both would face headwinds from events in China. At the same time, the ecosystem is fundamentally different today than it was in 2013-2014, both in…
2016 may have been a dynamic year for the price of bitcoin, but 2017 is shaping up to be a dramatic one already. Bitcoin’s race past $1,000 (and subsequent gyrations above and below that line) have already sparked headlines (both good and bad) worldwide, as today’s dramatic fall from above $1,100 drove a massive influx of interest in the the digital currency. If you’re just tuning in to the action, you may be wondering how things got to this point in the first place. To get you up to speed, it may be helpful to look back at the past week’s major price developments that took exchange markets near new all-time highs – and, as today showed, dramatic lows. Here’s the blow-by-blow for 2017 thus far: Bitcoin tops $1,000 The year got started…
After falling sharply to a near two-week low today, bitcoin prices are on the rebound. At the close of CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) for 5th January, the price of bitcoin was $1,005.82, a figure that was up more than $100 from earlier in the day. At roughly 14:00 UTC, bitcoin suffered a sudden and sharp selloff, plunging close to $200 in a movement that sparked headlines around the globe. The decline was all the more shocking to many, as it came just after hours of trading within $20 of the all-time high set in 2013. Petar Zivkovski, chief operating officer at cryptocurrency exchange Whaleclub, emphasized the severity of the decline, telling CoinDesk: “Today’s selloff was one of the most aggressive I’ve seen in years.” Yet,…
Bitcoin prices tumbled sharply this morning. According to data from CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), market averages dropped abruptly only days after passing the $1,000 mark on 1st January. This morning’s decline came after prices reached a high of $1,153.02 in early morning trading. Still, despite coming within reach of all-time highs, prices fell more than 20% across global exchanges before recovering. Markets were fluctuating near $1,071 before reaching a brief low of $887.47, the lowest figure observed on the BPI since 25th December. At press time, the average price of bitcoin was $958.31, a decline of more than 15% from the day’s peak. The movements marked a sharped contrast from yesterday’s trading sessions. Then, prices surged…
Willy Woo is an entrepreneur, angel investor, derivatives trader and cryptocurrency enthusiast. In this opinion piece, Woo takes readers on a deep dive into the historical performance of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that he believes already compete against it as general purpose consumer “payment coins”. 2016 has been a bull year for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Just as an example, last year we saw the rapid appreciation of monero, the mega-hyped launch of zcash (which peaked at an astounding $5,300 per coin) and subsequent pumps in other similar offerings including shadowcash and navcoin. But, while it may seem like these crypotcurrencies are something new or novel, I would argue that all of these are “payment coins” competing…