This Bitcoin Trend Will Continue in 2016

There is one trend which likely will continue into 2016 in the banking world, and that is the trend of Wall Street executives defecting from the mainstream banking industry into theBitcoin industry. With consortiums such as R3– and thus the biggest banks in the world – investigating blockchain technology, individuals from Wall Street will enter into the Bitcoin space in order to learn more about the technology.

Of course, Blythe Masters entered the space. The creator of the BitLicense, Benjamin Lawsky, also started a Bitcoin advisory company. They’re not the only individuals to leave Wall Street for Bitcoin.

While we will hear about many of these individuals from reports of their leaving a Wall Street firm and seeking an executive status in Bitcoin, there are many we won’t hear about. Still some will have one foot in and one foot out of the Bitcoin industry. They will be the Wall Street figures who enter into the Bitcoin space to learn as much as possible about the crypto-technology, in order to bring the information back to their bands, such as UBS, Santander, and many others.

The reason why this trend began in 2015 is because of the added focus on the blockchain. Once banks learned about the underlying technology to Bitcoin, they became more comfortable with entering into the space and ultimately learning more about the process.

Blockchain attraction.

In part, banks’ determination to learn the blockchain could stem from their experience with law enforcement. As law enforcement became more familiar with Bitcoin technology in 2014, and especially in 2015, they were able to assuage the fears of the banking industry.

Therefore, there is little doubt that 2016 will in part be defined by more defections of individuals from the banking industry. They will mostly take on advisory and organizational roles and they will allow developers in the Bitcoin space to focus on what they do best: develop.

This continues to be a welcomed change because it is too much to ask for a young millennial to not only be Chief Technical Officer, but also CEO, CFO, and so on so forth – especially in an industry with as low margins as most Bitcoin technologies.

This trend, of people defecting from Wall Street to Bitcoin, will continue to be accompanied by big banks investing in blockchain related startups, as we saw happen in 2015.

December Sees Bitcoin Reach 100 Million Transactions

With increasing adoption of the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin rang in the milestone of 100 million transactions.

Capping off an eventful year, the decentralized innovation deemed as a commodity, a currency and surely a cryptocurrency – Bitcoin, reached the seismic milestone of 100 million transactions recorded on the blockchain in December, the final weeks of 2016.

The growth of transactions has nearly doubled from the beginning of the year, when there were just over 55 million transactions recorded in the beginning of January. Over a 2-year period, the number of transactions has more than tripled and from Bitcoin’s millionth transaction in mid-2011, the number of transactions is now 100-fold in under a 5 year period.

Bitcoin also set another milestone over the weekend leading into the final week of the year. The cryptocurrency now sees over 15 million coins in circulation.

2015 began with 13.7 million coins in circulation and the next million coins will take longer to reach with the upcoming bitcoin halving that will see a lowered reward of 12.5 BTC from 25 BTC.

Nasdaq used a bitcoin-style blockchain to sell shares. Was it really the first?

Nasdaq has trumpeted a recent share transaction as the first-ever private securities issuance documented with a blockchain, the technology that underpins crypto-currencies like bitcoin.

The exchange announced on Dec. 30 that it used its blockchain-powered platform, Linq, to allow a startup called Chain to sell shares to an unnamed private technology investor in the US.

But the Linq transaction looks like a bit of PR-posturing from the exchange. For starters, it probably isn’t the first time a company’s share transactions were recorded on a blockchain. As the Financial Times pointed out, Symbiont, a startup backed by former New York Stock Exchange chief executive Duncan Niederauer, issued its own shares on the bitcoin blockchain on Aug. 4.

In September, Digital Asset Holdings, led by former JPMorgan bigwig Blythe Masters, also used blockchain tech to enable a startup called Pivit to distribute shares to investors. Nasdaq is unfazed by these precedents. “This is the first-ever private securities issuance documented with blockchain technology and we stand by this view,” Nasdaq spokesman Ryan Wells told Quartz.

Blockchains promise to cut out a lot of the administrative costs and paperwork that’s currently required when private companies want to distribute shares. That’s because a blockchain is a shared ledger that all the parties in a transaction maintain, which cuts out the need for manual work, like mailing paper-share certificates and updating individual ledgers. That’s why so many firms are experimenting with the technology’s potential to sharply reduce securities settlement times.

But there’s a bit more bluster to cut through in Nasdaq’s claim. Chain, the company that sold its shares, is also the technology vendor that helped build the Linq platform. This isn’t mentioned in Nasdaq’s latest release, although it was announced in June. “Chain is a blockchain developer and worked hand-in-hand with Nasdaq as we created the technology,” Wells said.

Nasdaq’s blockchain transaction, then, is starting to look more like a technology vendor testing its product and less like a milestone on the road to a financial technology revolution.

Bitcoin won 2015

What you need to read this week.

Greetings,

Wow, what a year it has been for bitcoin and blockchain. After a gloomy 2014, bitcoin has performed well in 2015 overall, but uncertainty remains as block size looks set to remain a hot topic in 2016. Read more opinions on the year's events in our 'year in review' series. 

1. Nasdaq

Blockchain startup Chain has issued shares to a private investor using Nasdaq’s recently launched private markets blockchain solution, Linq.(CoinDesk)

2. Price: From Worst to First

After a year filled with its share of doom and gloom, the verdict is in: Bitcoin won 2015. (CoinDesk)

3. Boring Predictions for Blockchain in 2016

"Where 2015 was the year everyone talked about blockchain, 2016 is going to be the year everyone builds on it." (Preston J. Byrne, CoinDesk)

4. Visa Europe

Visa Europe highlighted the significance of bitcoin and the blockchain as part of a retrospective on the past year in payments this week, suggesting that traditional finance will soon adopt the technology. (Visa)

5. PwC

In this special feature, Jeremy Drane and Cathy Marsh outline their predictions for the year ahead in blockchain tech and outline the trends that will likely be key. (CoinDesk)

Blockchain Quote of the Year

Earlier this year, Blythe Masters told a rapt audience at Exponential Financejust how seriously finance professionals should take blockchain technology. 

“You should be taking this technology as seriously as you should have been taking the development of the Internet in the early 1990s,” - Blythe Masters.
(Bloomberg)

If you like what you see, please share

Why I'm Predicting a $650 Bitcoin in 2016

On 23rd July, I predicted on Quora that the price of bitcoin at the end of the year would rest around $420.

It appears at press time that I was not far off. As of 30th December, the bitcoin price is around $425. It seems I identified what many in the cryptocurrency community were predicting – 2015 was the year the bitcoin price would experience the slow and steadier growth it needed.

In previous years there were a lot of unknowns in the cryptocurrency world. It was often believed that a better currency may come along or that bitcoin was just another form of the fabled 'Tulip Mania', a period in the Dutch Golden Age used as an example for when the price of an asset outpaces its intrinsic value.

And these concerns were real possibilities because bitcoin was new, and there were growing pains it had to overcome.

Institutional acceptance

This year we learned that bitcoin is probably not going away anytime soon, as evidenced by the continued rise in transaction volumes and legitimization from mainstream leaders and institutions.

Larry Summers, Blythe Masters and UK Chancellor George Osborne have all given approving statements on bitcoin or the blockchain.

Not only are the statements positive, though, they're increasingly bullish. For example, Summers, the head of US Department of the Treasury under the Clinton Administration, said he is behind the technology as he wanted to side with the "history of change".

Elsewhere, everyone from politicians to musicians was seeking to find new and novel ways to use and support the technology.

US presidential candidate Rand Paul began accepting bitcoin donations, becoming the first presidential candidate to do so, and indie songstress Imogen Heapreleased a song on the blockchain.

The list goes on: Patrick Byrne’s blockchain-backed stock platform was recently approved by the SEC; Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss launched their long-awaited exchangeGemini; more bitcoin investment vehicles have been started; the Coinbase service reached 3 million users; and bitcoin startup funding surged to total almost $1bn all-time.

Maturing conversation

Analyzing the bitcoin economy for the last couple years, I have been fascinated by the evolution of conversations between bitcoin skeptics and evangelists. But it's easy to forget how it used to be nearly impossible to read a bitcoin article without it featuring sources labelling it a Ponzi scheme or scam and an evangelist who claimed bitcoin’s price was going "to the moon" next week.

But, we’ve moved beyond these simplistic sides this year.

Now, the debate centers more on whether bitcoin can maintain its values and whether there will be a role for private or independent blockchains in a decentralized financial technology stack.

In essence, bitcoin is being discussed with more complexity and the pessimistic voices trying to write obituaries are dying out.

Whenever I’ve spoken to colleagues about bitcoin, what usually intrigues them is the global payment rail system.

It parallels the trends we see in communication and cloud networking – nation states are becoming less relevant to younger generations with global systems like the Internet, and that conversation came into the spotlight this year.

Reasons for optimism

Assuming that bitcoin remains the most popular token to run the blockchain and transaction volumes continue to rise, the next few years should be spectacular for the price of bitcoin.

While 2015 was a relatively calm year for the price, it seems likely that 2016 will be much more action-packed with the block halving next summer, where the amount of bitcoins awarded to miners roughly every 10 minutes will be cut in half.

We’ve laid down the tracks so to speak, allowing for there to be more confidence than ever before that bitcoin is, and can continue to be, a credible store of value.

With this in mind, I’ve decided to offer another price prediction for next year since I had some luck for this year. I believe bitcoin will surpass $500 by the middle of the year and average out to a $650 price range in the second half of the year.

Of course, there are too many unknown factors when predicting price to know with any certainty, but the maturing infrastructure has lead me to believe that next year will be an exciting one for investors.

Still, many of bitcoin’s best days come in reaction to world crises in places like Greece, China, and Argentina, meaning at the end of the day, there's no predicting where the price could go.

As we continue to patch up leaks in the global economy’s sinking ship, I have to wonder will 2016 also be the year we are reminded of why Satoshi created bitcoin in the first place.

The Final Days of the Bitcoin Foundation?

With support dwindling, funds almost depleted, and ex-board members under criminal investigation, bitcoin’s pioneering advocacy group is a symbol for the digital currency’s growing pains.

From Worst to Best: Bitcoin's 2015 Comeback

Bruce Fenton, executive director at the Bitcoin Foundation, opened its Dec. 15 board meeting with a sense of urgency: “We need additional funds if we wish to retain employees.” The numbers didn’t look good. In two years, the foundation had seen at least $7 million evaporate. As of Nov. 30, its total assets stood at $12,553.06.

To sustain the Bitcoin Foundation’s operations, which have included lobbying, putting on conferences, and providing technical support for the digital currency, Fenton urged the group to find ways to raise money quickly. They considered cold-calling ex-members, and Fenton said he’s working on marketing materials for prospective donors to explain the organization’s purpose. “There is no material saying what the foundation does,” he said.

Eventually, Jim Harper, a board member and senior fellow at Cato Institute, a think tank, interjected. He questioned whether the foundation was offering its members enough value to warrant its existence, according to minutes released on Dec. 21 from the meeting. “Asking for money is just throwing money away,” Harper said. Olivier Janssens, another director, suggested that the organization may not be “fixable.”

The Bitcoin Foundation has become a symbol of the challenges facing the digital asset it was designed to steward. While advocates have promoted bitcoin as a global, decentralized currency for the Internet age, it’s proved to be more volatile than many penny stocks. Its role in money laundering and other illegal activity is a constant source of questions, and the price fluctuates with each regulatory clampdown or criminal investigation. In November 2013, it reached a high of $1,137 before falling to $183 in January 2015 following a slew of problems, including the collapse of Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange.

Police officers carry pieces of evidence from the house of Mark Karpelès, head of defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, in Tokyo on Aug. 3.

Beyond financial trouble, two former Bitcoin Foundation board members have been charged with crimes. Mark Karpelès, former chief executive officer of Mt. Gox, was arrested in Tokyo and charged with embezzlement in September. Charlie Shrem, former vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, resigned beforepleading guilty to helping launder money for transactions through the illicit online marketplace Silk Road. He’s currently serving two years in a federal prison.

Several people still involved with the Bitcoin Foundation said the wounds may never heal. “I don't know if the foundation has a future,” Gavin Andresen, a former board member who now holds the title of chief scientist, wrote in an e-mail. “It is very difficult to regain trust once trust has been lost, and the illegal behavior of two of the foundation's former board members destroyed a lot of trust.”

When the Bitcoin Foundation was formed in 2012, the group was intended to give legitimacy to a relatively unknown technology. By the end of that year, bitcoin traded at about $13. The organization grew almost in lockstep with the popularity of bitcoin. Comprising pioneering coders and entrepreneurs behind the digital currency, the Bitcoin Foundation would soon become a familiar face in Washington, spreading the gospel of bitcoin around the world.

U.S. lawmakers and congressional committees appreciated having a central figure to represent bitcoin, but foundation members have sometimes become punching bags for politicians. At an event in 2013 attended by Andresen, who was appointed to lead bitcoin development by the anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, a Justice Department prosecutor compared bitcoin with child pornography, according to a report in the Washington Post.

A man named Satoshi Nakamoto, one of many people believed to be the creator of bitcoin, fends off photographers. He's denied involvement.

 Techies bought into the promises of bitcoin and were eager to donate to further its cause. At the end of 2013, the Bitcoin Foundation reported $7 million in assets, according to meeting minutes. As demand for bitcoins rose, so did the value of the foundation’s funds, much of which were held in the digital currency. In 2014, its ambitions began expanding with the addition of a lobbying operation in Europe.

Then things changed. By mid-2014, funds were down to $4.6 million, and the burst of the bitcoin bubble that year took a toll on the foundation almost immediately. “I hired lobbying in Brussels in 2014, and then we scaled it right back because the money was gone,” Harper said in an interview after the contentious Dec. 15 board meeting. According to the minutes from that meeting, the organization has cut its budget by 95 percent from previous years. Its conference business now faces stiff competition from other events, such as Inside Bitcoins and Money20/20.

About a year ago, when bitcoin’s price had fallen to about $374, the foundation said it would discontinue public policy efforts and concentrate on providing technical development to bitcoin. The reason was simple: It didn’t have the money to do both. “It thrived while the bitcoin price was rising, so it never put a plan in place to sustain it,” Harper said. “When the price dropped, the foundation ran out of money. The last year has just been cutting costs, shrinking budgets, bringing things under control.”

The pressure revealed the foundation’s underlying weaknesses. Supporters were inexperienced at raising money, and until recently, few paid attention to expenses, Harper said. “They were spending thousands of dollars per month on Web services that would have cost a couple hundred,” he said. Bobby Lee, a Bitcoin Foundation board member, referred questions about expenses to Fenton, who didn’t respond to a request for comment. In a further e-mail, Lee acknowledged “budget and leadership problems in the past.”

Bitcoin has weathered hard times better than the foundation has. The price is back up to $426. Venture capital firms have invested more than $1 billion in bitcoin-related startups, according to research from CoinDesk. Finance and tech companies, including IBM, Overstock, Nasdaq, and the biggest banks, are experimenting with the technology for use in everything from money transfers and contracts to issuing stock. Coin Center, a year-old organization with backers such as BitPay, has staff in Washington developing bitcoin policy. There’s also the Digital Chamber of Commerce, a trade association. Those two organizations recently formed the Blockchain Alliance to help law enforcement investigate criminal activity involving bitcoin’s underlying technology.

Roger Ver, whose evangelism for the digital currency earned him the name Bitcoin Jesus, provided the Bitcoin Foundation with funds early on. An ex-convict who had been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison after selling about 14 pounds of explosives without a license on EBay, Ver said the foundation’s demise, if it were to happen, wouldn’t affect bitcoin. “There are lots of different bitcoin foundations, so the name may change, but the mission will carry on,” he said. “I don’t think it matters at all if the Bitcoin Foundation were to close. The Bitcoin Foundation laid the groundwork for the ecosystem that we have today.”

But Lee is determined to resuscitate his organization. “Despite the recent negativity about the Bitcoin Foundation, there are still many people who believe in the need for a global non-profit platform that advocates for bitcoin,” Lee wrote in an e-mail. “The past 18 months were tough for bitcoin and its entire ecosystem; I did not give up on bitcoin then, and I will not give up on Bitcoin Foundation today.”

At the December board meeting, Lee suggested that dissenters should resign. “If someone does not want to be on that ship, they should step off the board,” Lee said. After much debate, Janssens and Harper elected to dissolve the organization, but they were outvoted by Lee and the two other directors.

By the end of the meeting, Harper agreed to step down, and Janssens was removed from the board. “None of this is personal,” said Chairman Brock Pierce. The two ousted men were dismissed. “Don’t thank me,” Janssens said. “I was removed for a bulls--- reason.”

On Dec. 22, the Bitcoin Foundation said it appointed three new board members. The foundation is also considering a revised mission statement, with a focus on technical development, advocacy, and regulatory efforts. Finally, the board “voted to continue the existence of the foundation” and established an optional board seat for bitcoin’s mysterious creator, “if and when Satoshi ever reveals him or herself.”

5 Bitcoin and Blockchain Startups to Watch in 2016

OPINION

Jad Mubaslat is the founder and CEO of BitQuick.co, the Ohio State Bitcoin Group, a former graduate of Boost VC and a bitcoin user since 2011. BitQuick.co is a P2P marketplace that allows individuals to buy and sell bitcoins in the US via cash deposit.

Nearing the end of 2015, many are questioning the future of bitcoin. 2016, it's safe to say, will be a crucial 12-month period.

For one, the technology's open-source community will need to resolve some outstanding questions, most notably whether it will increase the size of blocks on the blockchain. Meanwhile it must combat the effects of "private blockchains" seeking to court market share.

Ultimately, I am a firm believer in the future of bitcoin. While its progress throughout 2015 may not have captured the media’s attention as it did in 2013, the industry has created a solid foundation for the continued success and growth of the bitcoin network.

With the variety of applications now being built, it is difficult to imagine it simply fading away anytime soon. I truly believe we are only a few years away from bitcoin crossing ‘the chasm’ and becoming a ubiquitously acknowledged technology.

But the big question remains: Which use case will first bring about bitcoin’s wider acknowledgement?

With this in the background, here are the five companies that I believe will have a considerable impact on the industry this coming year.

Blockstream

One of the more well-funded startups, Blockstream is nonetheless a self-described ‘stealth bitcoin company’ working on accelerating the development of cryptocurrency, open asset and smart contact technology.

The company has been busy in the background, launching a beta of its banner sidechains project and announcing its first commercial product, Liquid, which is aimed at speeding up transfer times between bitcoin exchanges, in 2015.

One of the projects that Blockstream has decided to explore further is the Lightning Network – a proposal that would move smaller bitcoin transactions off the blockchain so they could occur more quickly with reduced fees. It nonetheless recreates the trustless nature of the current network design.

The Lightning Network has the ability to reduce the total number of transactions that need to be settled on the bitcoin blockchain, and thus removes their affect on the necessary total size of blocks.

The network faces technical challenges before it can go live, though, such as the integration of various changes to Bitcoin Core. I believe we will see most of these issues resolved and that Blockstream, or perhaps even a different party, will launch its version of Lightning during 2016.

This will greatly relieve the current buildup of pressure surrounding the block size discussion, and add to the robustness of the bitcoin network.

tØ

tØ is a blockchain-based trading platform created by online retail giant Overstock, first announced in August. Part of the firm’s larger Medici arm, tØ aims to revolutionise securities by making trade and settlement occur simultaneously using blockchain technology.

While the SEC did recently approve Overstock’s plan to issue stock via blockchain technology, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said in a recent article by Motherboard that it might not use the bitcoin blockchain as part of its efforts.

"Maybe we're not going to use the bitcoin blockchain ... Maybe there's another blockchain we want to integrate with, with higher throughput," he told the news source.

This comment is in reference to the bitcoin block size, as a limited number of transactions also results in a limited number of instant settlements the company can offer.

Continuing with my belief that the block size issue will be addressed during 2016 in some way, I also believe tØ will utilise the bitcoin blockchain as opposed to a private blockchain due to bitcoin’s decentralised, secure and relatively trustless nature.

If this comes about, this would be the first major security settlement product released that utilises bitcoin, and a key milestone in bitcoin’s history.

OpenBazaar

OpenBazaar is currently working on one of the most compelling consumer applications for bitcoin out there with the development of a decentralised marketplace.

If successful, OpenBazaar would essentially serve as an open-source competitor to eBay that has reduced fees for all parties due to its decentralised nature.

OpenBazaar faces what I believe to be relatively trivial challenges in launching, including the development of a robust reputation system and the classic chicken-and-egg problem of acquiring volume in a new marketplace.

However, with its recent venture capital fundraise of $1m in June 2015, I believe we will see the highly anticipated launch and expansion of OpenBazaar during 2016.

Zapchain

Zapchain is a social media platform powered by bitcoin and is one of my personal favourite companies.

The startup’s integration of on-chain bitcoin micropayments for tipping is a truly revolutionary idea that fosters high-quality user engagement and content creation amongst various self-created communities.

Zapchain’s biggest hurdle lies in its ability to continue its growth, while avoiding spam users.

From what I have seen of Zapchain, though, its ability to curb spammers has proved effective and the platform is currently more popular than ever.

During 2016, I predict Zapchain will continue its growth in non-bitcoin related communities and also become recognised as a top bitcoin news platform. Zapchain embodies the spirit of bitcoin, and also provides a key alternative to some controversially moderated bitcoin communities.

BitFury

The best-funded bitcoin mining company with over $60m raised so far, BitFury announced on 16th December that it will bring a new ASIC chip to market in Q1 2016.

The launch of its new data centre in Georgia could double the total bitcoin network hashing rate, leading some to worry about the integrity of bitcoin’s mining decentralisation.

I believe this risk is perhaps overstated and that the major net effect of BitFury's innovations will be increased (and possibly almost doubled) security for the network.

Furthermore, affecting the integrity of bitcoin’s decentralised nature would act against BitFury’s best interests as a bitcoin company.

BitFury CEO, Valery Vavilov, has also reflected this sentiment, suggesting his company intends to act in the interests of the network as a whole.

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 30/12/2015 – Surges to Near Year-End Target

Bitcoin rises more than 2 percent to $430.21, nearing our year-end target of $440. In the previous price technical analysis A No Trade Market, we mentioned that an increasing MFI often causes price appreciation, and we are witnessing just that.

The question now is: Would bitcoin be able to extend the gains or will it retrace its steps? Let us try to predict this with the help of technical analysis conducted on the 240-minute BTC-USD price chart.

Chart Structure – From the chart above, it can be observed that the cryptocurrency has risen to near the previous low (marked in green) and seems to have hit a roadblock. The level is expected to cap the upmove in the near-term.

Bollinger Bands – While the 20 4-h SMA was earlier capping the gains, bitcoin is now sustaining at the higher end of the BB.

Momentum – The Momentum indicator fails to inspire confidence with its latest value of 6.4400.

Money Flow Index – The MFI adds to its value for the second consecutive session, taking the total to 66.2648.

Relative Strength Index – The 14 4-h RSI is maintaining a neutral stance with a value of 50.7310.

Conclusion

Bitcoin is well poised to increase its duration inside the $400-440 range, at least for the next couple of sessions. There is a high probability that sellers make a re-entry at the current level and push the price down to $400. This short call is for aggressive traders only.

Traders with low risk-appetite should build bearish positions near the strong resistance level of $465. Bulls will gain confidence only above this bears’ mansion.

Make wise trading decisions by keeping the personal risk preferences in mind. This advice might be helpful to aggressive traders but not to others. Therefore, blindly following this should be avoided

Bitcoin Journey "January 2015 to December 2015"

From Worst to First: Bitcoin's Price Ends 2015 on Top

After year filled with its share of doom and gloom, the verdict is in: Bitcoin won 2015.

As trumpeted by headlines in CNBC and Bloomberg, bitcoin was the best-performing currency of the year, netting near-40% gains, more than double its nearest competition, the Somali Shilling and Gambian Dalasi. The development contrasts with bitcoin's performance from 2014, in which it lost 56% of its value, the most among global currencies.

A look at the CoinDesk USD Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) from October on reveals an impressive upward arch that contrasts with the choppy peaks and valleys of the year's earlier months.

Though the exact reasons are unclear, many pundits are pinning the currency's turnaround on the growing enterprise fascination with blockchain tech and the renewed mainstream attention from stories such as the alleged discovery of bitcoin's founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.

But as we head into 2016, a big question remains to be answered: Will recent price positivity continue to buoyed by fundamental market improvements?

While only time will provide the answer, we take a look back at the price movements over the last 12 months for clues and considerations.

January

Despite starting the year at just over $300, the bitcoin price crashed to a low of around $170 on 14th January, losing 37% of its value in two days. As an example of just how sudden and dramatic the drop was, even noted bitcoin bull Barry Silbert proclaimed the market had "capitulated".

The last time the price had crossed the $200 line had been in late October 2013, before its meteoric rise to more than $1,000.

The low price wasn't bad news for everyone, however. Traders got busy accumulating new positions and exchanges had their busiest day since a price rally in November 2014.

The price rebounded somewhat over the following 12 days to just over $270 and ended the month on a high note as the price rocketed over $300, seemingly at the news that exchange and wallet provider Coinbase had closed a $75m funding round.

February

February started on a low note as Coinbase euphoria waned and the price fell back below $250.

Mid-month, however, the bitcoin price gained nearly $50 in four days of trading. This represented a 23% gain over that period.

Soon, as was to become tediously common, the price once again settled back below $250, undulating around $240 before a slight climb to over $250 to close the month.

March

Bitcoin price gains that peaked at $286 were supported by strong volume growth early in the month. Some 3.67m BTC changed hands on the week ending 7th March, which was a 55% increase over the previous seven-day period.

The second half of the month saw a reprisal of the slump to the low $200s.

April to June

The above pattern was to repeat through the three months April to June, when the price generally sat level at between $220 and $240.

The best one could say about the situation, perhaps, was that the notoriously volatile digital currency had "found a floor", a positive for those who consider the digital currency a viable store of value.

The development wasn't so good for traders, of course, but many have said that low volatility is key if bitcoin is ever to go mainstream as a method of payment.

On 17th June, after months of relative calm, the price of bitcoin finally broke out of the doldrums and spiked to a high of $257.

One of the most prominent theories that emerged to explain the rise was related to the market's timing, which roughly coincided with growing indications that Greece would possibly default on its debt obligations – the 'Grexit', as it had been nicknamed.

The fervent hope among many in the bitcoin community was that Greeks would switch to the digital currency as they saw their banks accounts frozen and ways to move money in or out, such as PayPal and Western Union, were shut off in the country while a deal was hammered out with the EU.

Despite media reports selling that line, some commentators said it was just as likely that the price rise was a coincidence and the evidence for Greeks adopting bitcoin was very thin on the ground.

The price dropped slightly in the days after, before finishing June on a high of over $260.

July

On 13th July, the bitcoin price continued to climb,shooting past the $300 mark and reaching its highest level since 10th March.

Many still put the rises down to the economic situation in Greece; others attributed it to the psychological effect of people hoping for such a trend.

Mid-month, CoinDesk launched a reader's poll that concluded that some 62% of bitcoin enthusiasts believed the digital currency would be worth less than $500 at the end of this year. (While the trend is in the right direction to top $500, it's looking like our readers were right as we go to press).

After the possibly-Greek-influenced climb early in July, the price dropped slightly and spent the rest of the month around $275 to $290.

August

A general downward price trend through the month was interrupted by two notable negative events brought about by a single bitcoin exchange.

Firstly, on the 19th August, a 'flash crash' at Hong Kong-based Bitfinex caused the price of a bitcoin to nosedive 14% in a period of just 30 minutes.

The price had been holding steady between $250 and $255, but dropped to a low of $214.36 just before midnight (UTC). In the same period, the Bitfinex price sank 29% to $179.35.

The exchange told CoinDesk at the time that the flash crash was triggered when several leveraged positions were forcibly closed in close proximity to each other.

Then, on the 24th, just a few days later, the price slumped again after Bitfinex closed its order book for seven hours, citing issues with its post-trade processing.

September

Generally uneventful, September's prices hovered in the $230 to $240 range, with a peak at around $245 on 8th September.

What was promising, however, was the signs of a rising trend towards the close of the month, though it closed at just $236.

October

That upward trend noted at the end of September continued through October until it achieved a price of over $260 on 13th October, its highest price in two months.

The raise may have been caused by a sudden surge in bitcoin trading volume driven predominantly by the Chinese exchanges Huobi and OKCoin.

Bobby Lee, CEO of Chinese exchange BTCC, told CoinDesk at the time that his platform has seen a significant volume increase, though he dismissed much of his competitors' volume as "artificial".

Those behind the volume, he said, are not traders but consumers sucked into a Russian ponzi scheme, MMM.

The price trend nonetheless continued skywards and on 28th October it broke through the $300 barrier on the CoinDesk BPI for the first time in over three months.

Soon after, the price was at a new high for 2015, peaking at $333.75 on the 30th.

November

The positive trend continued into November, with the price rapidly reaching, first $400 on the 3rd, then over $480 on the 4th of the month.

The sudden rise prompted Wedbush Securities to revise its 12-month projections for the price of bitcoin and revealing it expects the price to rise to $600 over the next year.

After a sharp drop on the 11th that took the price back down to close to $300, it settled down to a new normal of around $325 for much of the remainder of the month, with a rise at the close to over $370.

December

So, here we are in the closing month of 2015, and the price is trending up.

On the 15th, it reached the highest level since September 2014, climbing to more than $465 across most major exchanges.

 

Despite a slight drop since then, pundits are enthusiastic, with many arguing the industry is poised for a positive start to 2016.

What is your prediction for the bitcoin price in 2016? Provide your thoughts below.

Bitcoin Price Watch; Here’s What’s On

In this morning’s bitcoin price watch piece, we discussed the effect that the Christmas season has on financial assets. For those that missed it, we noted that due to a lack of trading volume, we might get a few spikes as we head into the New Year. Action has now matured throughout the session, and our predictions came in as expected. Price broke out to the upside on some pretty light volume, and we head into tonight’s Asian session having carved out fresh weekly highs today. So, with all this taken into consideration, what are we looking to trade this evening, and where has action in the bitcoin price focused our attention? Get a quick look at the chart to see our predefined range.

As the chart illustrates, tonight’s in term support sits at 427.55 (an intraday friction point) and resistance comes in at the aforementioned intraday highs of 433.16. These are the two levels to watch going forward.

Let’s address the upside first, in light of the overarching bullish momentum. If we get a break above in term resistance, a close above this level will put us in a long trade towards 440 flat. On this one, a stop loss somewhere in the region of current trading levels (circa 430 flat) will keep things tight from a risk management perspective.

Looking the other way, a close below in term support will put us short towards 421.97. Again a stop is necessary, as reinforced by the sharp action we seem to be getting lately (we don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of a shift like that we saw today!). Again, 430 flat looks like an attractive option, as this gives us a little more than two to one risk reward profile.

Happy trading and keep things tight!

As ever, charts courtesy of the great guys at Trading View

Bitcoin Price Moving amazing

Bitcoin price has been trading sideways for almost two days and a move appears imminent. At the time of writing a move has begun, but is it real or is it a fake-out?

This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here.

Bitcoin Price Analysis
earlier today:

In the 1-hour BTCC chart, MACD and RSI have both settled in the middle of their range: MACD (second from top) is holding to its zero line while its Bollinger Bands begin contracting. RSI (immediately above price) has settled on 50 and has begun pushing higher at the time of writing.

Average True Range (top) is declining as it does prior to price making a large move.

It is uncertain which way price is going to break. For now it appears to be pushing higher, but this has (recently) been the prequel to a strong decline. If the move higher is real then the next target should be the 1hour 200MA.

If price slams down then the support at $400 and 2600 CNY should be a target. To the downside the red Fib line could halt decline but price has been criss-crossing it during the past few days.

Summary

Bitcoin price seems to be gearing up for a move. The initial concern is that the current rise is only corrective and that price may still reverse into another wave of decline. There is no clear xbt.social signal, so we remain on the sidelines and wait for the market to make clear its intentions.

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 29/12/2015 – A No Trade Market

Bitcoin is seeing a tepid start to this week as neither the bulls nor the bears exert any pressure on the other. The cryptocurrency looks relatively calm in the low-volume season, as do the technical indicators. Market participants should refrain from excessive trading in such conditions. Bitcoin is currently trading at $421.53.

The technical indicators overlaid on the 4-h BTC-USD price chart from BITSTAMP are giving mixed signals. This, coupled with the lackluster price action, is compelling me to advise that this is a no-trade market, and one should wait for better opportunities to trade.

Chart Structure – As discussed in the previous bitcoin price technical analysis Watch These Resistances, the cryptocurrency has failed to overcome the selling pressure near the 20 4-h SMA. The updated value of this moving average is $424.7045.

Momentum – The Momentum reading of 2.4800 should not be taken as a bullish sign. Though positive, it is oscillating very close to the 0-mark and reflects the indecisiveness of this market.

Money Flow Index – Even as the price drops, the MFI is increasing in a divergent manner. An increasing MFI often causes a price appreciation. The latest value of 14 4-h MFI is 42.1813.

Relative Strength Index – The underlying strength remains weak and should be discomforting to the bulls. The latest value was seen at 40.2359.

Conclusion

We would be better off if we just followed what the market intends to say, and right now, it is telling us to stay on the sidelines until better trading opportunities arrive. With the market being quiet, it makes little sense to aggressively build positions.

Bitcoin may end 2015 near $440 as market participants are expected to cover their short positions in coming couple of sessions. Do not be lured by the short-covering rally to create long positions. Expect volatility to remain low.

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 28/12/2015 – Watch These Resistances

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 28/12/2015 – Watch These Resistances

Bitcoin is currently staging a weak technical rebound from lows of $410, but the cryptocurrency faces two resistances which might stall the recovery process. The previous bottom of $433 is expected to act as the primary or immediate resistance. The level of $465 remains a major hurdle for bitcoin.

Bitcoin is trading at $426.04, adding to yesterday’s gains.

Image

There are other technical indications as well which the market participants should be aware of. We will analyze the 4-h BTC-USD price chart from BITSTAMP to discuss them.

Bollinger Bands – Bitcoin survived the abrupt fall with support from the lower range of the BB. The 20 4-h SMA also coincides with the resistance posed by the previous bottom. This strengthens the level of $433 as a blockade.

Momentum – The Momentum indicator is witnessing a deceleration in its upmove. The latest value of 3.1900 should be seen with a cautious eye.

Money Flow Index – One surprising aspect of the recovery is the sustenance of extremely low MFI readings. The current value of 16.5891 even when the price has rebounded by more than 4% from lows signals the underlying bearishness.

Relative Strength Index – The latest RSI value is 42.2949. Market participants should look consistent readings north of 50 before becoming bullish on bitcoin.

Conclusion

The Christmas didn’t turn out to be merry for the bulls, and it looks like that with the majority of the market participants enjoying the year-end festivities, the cryptocurrency might not cross $465 in haste.

The technical indicators are clearly reflecting the bearish undertone. I expect a broad range of $400-465 for bitcoin until the end of next week. Short bitcoin if the price reaches $465 or if it breaks the crucial support of $400. Long positions can be considered above $433 for a target of $455

How One Bitcoin Startup Is Changing Public Perception Of Bitcoin

Had you ever heard of Bitcoin before seeing the title to this article? What do you know about it? That it’s a way to buy illegal drugs? That the CEO died? That it’s gone bankrupt? There are grains of truth in each of these statements. Those of us with going concerns that aren’t engaged in crime or falling into ruin have to cope with the perceptions those grains create.

Released in 2009, Bitcoin is still very new, as far as network-centric applications go. The blockchain and the peer to peer connections used can be compared to other network applications like DNS, the domain name system, which was released in 1984, and which is still being refined and extended today. Immaturity in blockchain based currencies like Bitcoin is clear; the seven transactions per second and half hour verification times are issues that will have to be addressed as volume increases.

There have been spectacular, tragic failures in these first years as Bitcoin has spread, and these events, coupled with sometimes hasty journalism, have led to beliefs that are only loosely connected to reality.

Autumn Radke, CEO of First Meta, died at age twenty eight after she jumped from the balcony of her 25th story apartment in Singapore. Echoing the manner of death of stock brokers and bank executives during the crash of 1929, reporters unfamiliar with the industry cut the name First Meta out of the narrative and dramatized Radke’s tragic death the loss of “the Bitcoin CEO”.

Mt. Gox was a site associated with Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game, where players traded cards in a manner similar to stocks. Like Ebay,which started as a site about the Ebola virus, Mt. Gox stumbled into a burgeoning need for Bitcoin related services. When the company collapsed in February of 2014, 850,000 Bitcoins worth $450 million had vanished. This was an eye catching number, but less than 10% of the total market capitalization at the time. The media again dramatized this event, billing it as the bankruptcy of all Bitcoin, rather than lucidly exploring the need for regulation and insured exchanges.

The biggest criminal case thus far involving Bitcoin was Silk Road, a darknet drug market whose owner, Ross Ulbricht, made $80 million on $1.2 billion in transactions over fifteen months. He is currently serving a life sentence for six attempts to hire hitmen to deal with problematic users of the market. Since then there have been several Silk Road look-alikes that have either been taken down or run away with everyone’s money, with half a dozen competitors remain in operation today.

All of this adds up to a multifaceted perception problem for those of us who are operating legitimate businesses that are dependent on Bitcoin. Both trustworthiness and terminology matter.

These problems became painfully clear for us at San Francisco’s Launch Festival last March. We had a booth with a bigBitwage banner and many people paused, intrigued by a service that is faster, easier, and cheaper than banks for international payroll. All went well until they asked about the underlying mechanism. When one of us said “Bitcoin” their smiles turned to frowns, as they tried to balance the exciting features we offer with prior mistaken reporting.

Since we were a vehicle for paying thousands of contractors, freelancers and employees, we aren’t bankrupt, and I’m still very much alive, we had to solve the perception problem immediately.

Halfway through the first day of the conference I started to use the word blockchain instead of Bitcoin. Instead of recoiling, prospects stayed to listen to us, eventually learning that the blockchain concept is the foundation of every cryptocurrency, and leaving us their business cards. When Bitcoin did come up, we had already developed some rapport and a lot of positive ideas had been conveyed, so it wasn’t an immediate conversation killer.

Today we’ve covered half a year since that conference. It’s felt like running towards the shore, having started in chest deep water, and now it’s just knee deep. The reputation troubles Bitcoin faced have started to recede, and acceptance of the blockchain as the way of the future is there. Our first customers, the people frustrated with the process of wages crossing international boundaries are still there and becoming more numerous, and they have been quietly joined by innovation teams from every bank.

My experiences over the last six months have included signing NDAs with banks and hearing phrases such as “It is no longer why Blockchain, it is how Blockchain”. Clearly, every bank executive in a strategic planning role knows what a blockchain is.

Those executives are all expecting to have blockchain vendors in the same fashion that they have SQL database and transaction processing system suppliers now. While there is much talk about “private blockchains”, they will without a doubt participate in the Bitcoin blockchain or a more efficient public blockchain due to their superior security and settlement mechanisms. When these new blockchain-based bank products are released, they will of course tout the safety and security a well implemented blockchain

Bitwage got to the international payroll market first. We are going to be one of the vendors those banks are evaluating, and if we keep innovating and delivering, we’ll keep winning business.

Can Bitcoin Price Hold Above $400?

Bitcoin price holds above support at the start of the last week of this year. Although the intra-day chart is ambiguous, the last three months of price action has set bitcoin price up for an exciting 2016.

This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 discount using the code CCN29.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

From the analysis pages of xbt.social, earlier today:

Going into the last week of the year, the 1hr moving averages are not in clear alignment. Price is trading above a rising 4hr 200MA but in that timeframe the 20MA is descending sharply and will cross below the 200MA in the coming days – a bearish signal.

At the 1day timeframe price is trading below its 20MA but has found support at the 50% Fib retracement level of prior advance – just as it had done during the early-December correction.

Back to the 1hr timeframe chart (above) the primary indication is that price is reverse diverging to the previous RSI high. This reverse divergence should force price to retrace the current push higher which is perhaps too exuberant to be sustained.

Unfortunately, there is no technical reason why bitcoin price should not correct all the way to 62% retracement of the advance. The only barrier between the current level of price and the 62% retracement level at $380 (OKCoin 3Mth) is the psych level $400. Holding above the $400 level will be critical for a quick return to advance.

Summary

Bitcoin speculators and traders can look forward to a rally driven by the block-reward halving and greater adoption in 2016, yet, for now the chart is in transition. Any trade taken here is opportunistic and risky until we see a clear signal.

Why Bitcoin Price Predictions for 2016 Range as High as $3500

With several expert Bitcoin price predictionsfor 2016 topping out at $3,500, the coming year will prove the worth of the digital currency once and for all.

The optimistic Bitcoin price predictions represent quite a turnaround from the start of 2015, when the price of Bitcoin was bottoming out from the bursting of the late 2013 bubble and the Mt. Gox meltdown.

TheBitcoin pricedropped as low as $173.06 on Jan. 14 – an 85% plunge from its all-time high of $1,156.48 reached on Nov. 30, 2013. It spent most of the rest of the year meandering between $200 and $300.

But from mid-September to mid-December, the Bitcoin price doubled from $230 to $465.

According to the Bitcoin price predictions for 2016 we've seen lately, such gains will be the norm over the next year.

"I am forecasting a bull market in 2016," Simon Dixon, founder and CEO of BnkToTheFuture.com and manager of theBitcoin Capital venture capital fund, toldCoinTelegraph. "If the bull market takes us past $600, I see no reason why we should not see new highs breaking through the $1,200 level, but this time sustained support at the new high for several months at the end of 2016 with significantly higher volume."

Some other 2016 Bitcoin price predictions:

Erik Voorhees, CEO and co-founder of the ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange, offered a 2016 Bitcoin price prediction of $1,800.Daniel Masters, co-founder of the Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund (GABI), said the Bitcoin price will test the all-time high in 2016 – and will zoom to $4,400 by the end of 2017.Vishal Gupta, CEO of SearchTrade.com, has a Bitcoin price prediction of $1,500 to $2,000.Bobby Lee, CEO of Chinese Bitcoin exchange BTCC, has made a 2016 Bitcoin price prediction of $3,500.

These Bitcoin price predictions are three to eight times the current Bitcoin value of about $445. Are these guys crazy?

Actually, their reasoning is pretty sound. Here's why the Bitcoin price will take off in 2016…

Daily Bitcoin Price Analysis: Bitcoin Falls And Rises Again

This week is the last of the year. As we warned, the market players began to take profits, and the Bitcoin price dropped rapidly to $408. However, we then saw a rebound to $426 and this means that investors do believe in the future of Bitcoin, but prefer to close the year having more US Dollars in their hands, which is considered to be safer.

However, the Dollar is weakening on the foreign exchange market. Now investors expect the continuation of the decline of the Dollar against other currencies. Though, no important news from the US or Europe is expected until the beginning of the New Year.

Today, we expect BitcoinCT r:  5 price movement in the corridor of $420 - $440. We do not rule out the scenario of the price returning to $450. The support level is $400 and the resistance level is $440.

The question, what economic factors drive the price of Bitcoin, remains one of the most important. The number of transactions is a significant factor, but not decisive, since a certain number of transfers are carried out by the same owners from one wallet to another. Due to the high volatility of Bitcoin, it is difficult to call it a reliable store of value. News related to Bitcoin does not come every day. Therefore, we believe that the main factor affecting the price growth is the faith of investors in Bitcoin’s future. What do you think?

Bitcoin & Forex Research Analyst,Trader Arbitrageur, Hedger, Broker, Exchange, Mining with Astro Technical Analysis and prediction skills by Hemant Jass

Bitcoin price could hit record high in 2016

London: 2016 could prove to be the year that the price of bitcoin surges again. Not because of any dark-web drug-dealing or Russian ponzi scheme, but for an altogether less sensational reason - slower growth in the money supply.

Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. But despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in.

The reason 2016 looks set to be different is that bitcoin's price is likely to be driven in large part by similar factors to a traditional fiat currency, following the age-old principles of supply and demand.

Instead of being controlled by a central bank, bitcoin relies on so-called "mining" computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. In return, the first to solve the puzzle and thereby clear the transactions is currently rewarded with 25 new bitcoins, worth around $11,000.

But when it was invented in 2008 by the mysterious "Satoshi Nakamoto", who has yet to be identified, the bitcoin program was designed so that the reward would be halved roughly every four years, in order to keep a lid on inflation. The next time that is due to happen is July 2016.

Bitcoin was also designed to emulate a commodity by having a finite supply of 21 million bitcoins, which will be reached in around 125 years, up from around 15 million today. Hence, also, the use of the term "mining".

Daniel Masters, co-founder of Jersey-based Global Advisors' multi-million dollar bitcoin hedge fund, started his career as an oil trader at Shell in the mid-1980s and spent 30 years trading commodities before crossing over to bitcoin.

Now he reckons the price of bitcoin could test its 2013 highs of above $1,100 next year and then pick up speed to rise to $4,400 by the end of 2017.

That would be due to a number of factors, Masters said, including an increased acceptance of payments in bitcoin by big companies and authorities, rapidly growing interest and investment in the "blockchain" technology that underpins bitcoin transactions, and also more demand from China as its currency weakens and the economy slows.

But taken in isolation, the halving of the mining reward will increase the price of bitcoin by around 50 per cent from where it is now, Masters reckons. That is despite the fact that the halving of the reward has always been inevitable - a factor that would already have been accounted for in pretty much every other market.

"If OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)came out tomorrow and said, 'in six months' time we're going to halve oil production', the oil price would instantaneously react. But the bitcoin market is still in its infancy, and I don't think that factor is discounted into the price fully," he said.

Decentralised digital asset

Bitcoin's price has already almost doubled in the last three months, putting it on track for its best quarter in two years. It hit $500 last month for the first time since August last year, with Chinese demand for a pyramid scheme set up by a Russian fraudster cited as a reason for the price surge.

But Bobby Lee, the chief executive of one of the leading bitcoin exchanges in China, BTCC, reckons there is scope for the cryptocurrency to go much further. He thinks the price could increase by as much as eight times in the time up to the reward halving, taking it as high as $3,500 by next summer.

"Today the worth of bitcoin is $1 per capita in the world (population)," Lee said, referring to the value of all the bitcoins in circulation, around $6.5 billion. "For such an innovative, decentralised digital asset, I say 'boy, are we undervaluing it'. But it takes a while for people to realise that."

The mining reward has already been halved once before, in November 2012, from 50 to 25 bitcoins. The stakes were much lower then, with one bitcoin worth around $12, but nevertheless the price increased by about 150 per cent in the preceding seven months - roughly the time left before the next halving.

Bitcoin Weekly Price Technical Analysis – More Losses?

Bitcoin is on course to end this week on a bearish note, losing roughly 5% from its previous weekly close of $442. The cryptocurrency failed to cross the resistance posed by the peaks of the past couple of weeks and faltered.

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) dropped by 11% to as low as $407 this weekend, challenging lows reached two weeks ago.

Last week, it again failed to overcome resistance in the 460’s amid successively weaker attempts. Bitcoin held in a tight range between $430 and $460 for much of the two-week stretch since its previous low, exhibiting several sharp falls followed by gradual recoveries. The recent behavior suggests instability in the current price plateau.

Also worth noting is the reversal of the “China premium” that had become a hallmark feature of the recent rallies. Bitcoin on Chinese exchanges is now trading roughly 2% lower than elsewhere, suggesting that Chinese markets may now be dragging the markets lower. During the early November spike to above $500, the China premium occasionally exceeded 6%.

Reported volumes from Chinese exchanges continue to set new records. According to data on bitcoinity.org, 3.86 million bitcoins were traded globally on December 26. Over 90% of the total is reported from Chinese exchanges, mostly Huobi and OKCoin. As most bitcoin exchanges are unregulated, the figures cannot be verified.

This time last year, bitcoin fell hard prior to and during Christmas and ended a dismal 2014 on a weak note, challenging 14-month lows.

This weekend’s drop brought bitcoin back to 6.2% of its 50-day moving average. Bitcoin has traded above this mark, uninterrupted, since October 2.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $419 on Bitstamp. The price action of litecoin (LTC/USD), currently trading at $3.45, was once again muted. The LTC/BTC rate rose to as high as 0.0085.

Here's one of the most interesting predictions for the future of bitcoin:

What’s next for bitcoin?

2015 has seen the digital currency’s volatility stabilise and price jump, but it has also seen much of the hype dissipate. And there’s been a divergence between bitcoin and the technology that underpins it — blockchain.

Blockchain, which uses complex cryptography to regulate and record transactions, is in the ascendancy, withmillions of dollars flowing into the technology and banks lining up to experiment with it.

Meanwhile, many of the leading consumer bitcoin companies — digital wallets, payment processors, and exchanges — are being forced to adjust or rethink their business models in the face of slower than expected consumer uptake.

“It’s naive to think there will only be one blockchain”

According to Jeremy Millar — the co-author of one of the most extensive reports to date on the corporate ecosystem emerging around the digital currency — the issue is that the markets for bitcoin and blockchain have already fundamentally divided.

“I’m looking at this in terms of market development and what I’m saying is the market of people who buy blockchain to implement financial services is fundamentally different as a market to bitcoin,” Millar told Business Insider.

Millar, a partner at boutique technology investment bank Magister Advisors, recently co-wrote an extensive, 75-page report on the two sectors.

“A cryptocurrency market will have exchanges, it will have brokers, it will have speculators, it will have payment networks,” he says. “The features of blockchain as a market are institutional adoption, integration with existing business processes, IT planning and budgeting, evaluating technology replacement.”

In other words, the two products are pitching at different audiences — one to consumers and currency speculators, the other to corporate IT departments.

The crucial element in understanding all this is that while bitcoin’s blockchain is the best known, it’s not the only one. Blockchain is shorthand for the complex cryptography-based software underpinning the network. It regulates transactions and records who owns which bitcoins. It’s faster, cheaper, and quicker than traditional payment methods.

But the technology can be duplicated with private blockchains, and Millar says: “I think it’s a bit naive to think there will only be one flavour of blockchain.”

So even if blockchain becomes the norm in banking, it doesn’t necessarily mean bitcoin will rise with it.

“Emerging markets are much more bitcoin native”

But Millar thinks bitcoin will find a home in emerging markets. He says: “Emerging markets are much more bitcoin native. Look at an area like Argentina, where there are capital controls, challenges in the local financial institutions, and there’s a need to do cross border payments.

“If I am running a commerce warehouse in the Philippines or Argentina, my supply chain even at a small scale is going to have many currencies and many areas where there could well be capital controls, fluctuating exchange rates, volatility, what have you.

Jeremy MillarJeremy Millar, Magister Advisors.

“In those environments, the ability to get into bitcoin — the ability to get out of the local currency into something that’s portable — has value in and of itself. For me and you here in London, getting into bitcoin doesn’t offer us much value.”

In this case, bitcoin’s global scale is a unique advantage over any rival digital currency using blockchain technology. Millar says that while he expects there to be multiple blockchains, he thinks there will be only one dominant digital currency. And, barring any big upset, that will be bitcoin.

He continues: “I’ve talked to people who are building bitcoin services in places like Argentina. They’re not appealing to hipsters. They’re trying to help people manage their pay roll or supply chain.

“When you go and talk to the exchanges and the wallets they say the same thing — 90% of bitcoin is held by wealthy individuals for speculation. But 90% of the transactions are commercial transactions.” And most of those transactions are coming from emerging markets.

“If you were to start TransferWise today, you would look at bitcoin”

That’s not to say there isn’t going to be a bitcoin market in the UK, but Millar believes it will look pretty different.

“What you’re going to see in Europe and North America is the development of bitcoin inside, and that is people who are building next generation financial services will be incorporating bitcoin at least in their strategic thinking in terms of payment rails and how they store value.”

“You may or may not choose to use it, but if you were starting a consumer finance business today, particularly one around payments or exchanges of value, I believe you would have to look at bitcoin,” Millar says.

The advantages offered by bitcoin from a business perspective — it’s faster, cheaper, and gives you more control — will make it attractive to new consumer fintech businesses starting up. Once again, its the scale of bitcoin that gives it an advantage over rivals.

The founder of international payments startup TransferWise was recently dismissive of bitcoin, but Millar says: “I believe if you were to start TransferWise today, you would look at bitcoin.”

Anthony Harvey/Getty Images for TechCrunch, FlickrTransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus is sceptical of bitcoin.

“The existence proof of someone doing this is Circle in the US. Circle [a bitcoin-based payments app] is revolutionising the way people pay by creating the features of how people actually pay for things as a group. It’s actually much more like WhatsApp than traditional internet banking.”

“You can [build that on traditional payment networks] but the reason why you integrate bitcoin is because you control the ledger, you control the exchange of value, and you cut out traditional payment rails to reduce costs and increase flexibility.”

With this “bitcoin inside” set-up Millar envisages, bitcoin becomes almost invisible. It’s effectively relegated from a currency to simply the mechanics of payment — under the hood rather than a logo on the dashboard.

Payments app Circle is right now trying to appeal to a wider audience bypitching the appeal of bitcoin to people who want to use dollars. Circle is effectively offering the benefits of the blockchain to people who don’t want to use bitcoin.

If more businesses move this way it could anger bitcoin purists who see it as a revolutionary technology that deserves to be front and centre. It’s also seen by many as an ideological tool. Still, it could also give bitcoin a much needed second wind in the west that could transform it into more than just an asset for speculators.

Is Bitcoin Really as “Evil” As Some Think?

There are times we feel like Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day.” No matter what we do, we’re subjected to the same surroundings and events. Everywhere we look, we see the same thing over and over again. Things tend to become routine. It becomes mundane and to a degree, even a little irritating.

Today is one of those days; a recently published article details a think tank’s findings regarding bitcoin and digital currency, and surprise! Those involved in the think tank believe that insurgencies and radical groups ranging from drug cartels to terrorist units will find further ways to misuse digital currency for the sake of evil.

In a 100-page report, the think tank participants explain:

“Deploying a virtual currency may be an attractive alternative for non-state actors who look to disrupt sovereignty and increase their own political or economic power by displacing state-based currencies. Virtual currency deployments are particularly attractive in developing countries and in countries undergoing internal turmoil, where the existing financial infrastructure is either insufficient or weakened.”

If you feel you’ve seen anything like this in the past, you likely have. Government officials and news outlets have been reporting for years about how bitcoin and digital currencies are magnets for wrong-doing. They’re particularly favored among terrorist groups, as these currencies allow them to stay anonymous. We’ve all heard this before, and many of us don’t really want to hear it again.

Furthermore, there’s really no reason whatsoever for us to hear it again. For one thing, bitcoin has been established as anonymous, but it’s certainly not private. There’s a big difference. It’s likely no one will see your name following a purchase of bitcoin or anything with bitcoin, but don’t forget that the transactions are recorded. The blockchain presents evidence of occurring transactions, and sometimes, that’s all it takes to find someone. We’re forgetting… Those behind Silk Road were eventually caught.
Furthermore, the idea that bitcoin is used by terrorists as often as we believe is heavily open to question. A new UK report claims to have proven that bitcoin is not a criminal risk (or at least not much of one, specifically), and other platforms, such as bitcoindaily.com confidently state that terrorists employ much more nefarious methods of earning their funds, and bitcoin is an uncommon source.

The trouble is that bitcoin, despite being around for a solid seven years, is still not fully understood, and those who would seek to regulate it and rule it are likely looking forreasons to do so. Heck, there’s certainly money to be made in regulation. With every bitcoin company in New York having to pay $5,000 for a BitLicense, the cash is bound to stack up…

But even more so, a certain level of ignorance still hovers within the digital currency arena, and despite our growing knowledge of bitcoin and its crypto-cousins, many still believe virtual money to be the root of all evil.

But one thing’s for sure… We cannot ignore the advancements and changes occurring in the bitcoin spectrum on an almost daily basis, and as things progress, the day must come when people finally lower their veils and see the power that bitcoin can and does present the financial sector once and for all.

INVEST ONLY 1 BITCOIN AND GET ROI @ ROI 4.5% Monthly

SAFE & SECURE

All your bitcoin are always yours & Bitcoin have never been hacked. You own the amount of bitcoin you own and nobody else.

BIG & TRANSPARENT OPPORTUNITY

The business model is designed in such a way that everyone in the network get benefits form individual and team efforts. Also everything about the business is 100% transparent and can be checked by anybody anytime.

MULTIPLE EARNINGS

In our system you earn from multiple options, including direct cloud mining, network earning and bonus from network mining. Its keep adding!

24X7 SUPPORT

You will receive 24x7 support from our team on all aspect of business, including technical and customer support.

We guarantee

• Timely and accurate payouts
• Best mining performance from our hardware
• 24x7 support

• 
  

• 
  

$4000 is the Bitcoin Price Prediction for 2016-2017

I can see the death of Bitcoin.......If but survived then only bitcoin.

As per Astrological chart the future of Bitcoin is depend on 2017.....If survived then 2017 onwards only bitcoin is the only Immortal Currency who rules world.

"The price of bitcoin could test its 2013 highs of above $1,100 next year and then pick up speed to rise to $4,400 by the end of 2017.

That would be due to a number of factors… including an increased acceptance of payments in bitcoin by big companies and authorities, rapidly growing interest and investment in the "blockchain" technology that underpins bitcoin transactions, and also more demand from China as its currency weakens and the economy slows."

11 Bitcoin Startups That Went Bust in 2015

This year was a time of further consolidation for the bitcoin industry.

After what you might call a 'Wild West' period (when it seemed everyone with the urge was setting up their own bitcoin-based service), the space is now rapidly becoming more dominated by bigger, more professional outfits, often with serious funding to get them off to a solid start.

And while some big bitcoin names made the news this year for positive reasons, some firms had to report that they were closing down.

A variety of reasons brought about these failures, from increased competition, to a lack of cash or even, perhaps, fraudulent practices.

In 2015, around 11 bitcoin firms went belly up. Here's our look at what happened:

GAW Miners

During 2015, GAW Miners fell into deeper and deeper trouble amid growing controversy over its mining operations and failed promises that it would honor a $20 price floor for its own cryptocurrency, paycoin.

Later staff exits and email leaks were the death groans of a company that had always courted controversy, and eventually it faded away mid year with a whimper rather than a bang.

In the months since, GAW has been the target of civil lawsuits from customers seeking to recoup losses, and worse, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the firm's former CEO, Josh Garza, with the fraudulent sale of unlicensed securities and operation of a Ponzi scheme.

Mining ASIC Technologies

Mining ASICs Technologies (MAT) was declared bankrupt by a Maastricht, Netherlands, judge at the close of last year, after company CEO Marc Coumans filed for bankruptcy.

The firm used a business model that asked people to pay 35% upfront for its SHA-256 miners but when they failed to appear for most customers in September 2014, the word 'scam' started being bandied about on forums.

The firm responded that there was a problem with the air cooling of the chips, and that orders would be sent when resolved.

Bar for a few customers, this never happened and after a tiff with the producer of its chips, the firm eventually declared itself bankrupt, saying calls for refunds had finished it off.

Bonafide

Bitcoin reputation startup Bonafide ceased operations in November, less than one year after receiving funding $850,000 from investors including Blockchain Capital and Quest Venture Partners.

The startup offered an API that provided reputation data to bitcoin firms offering exchange, wallet and other consumer services.

Co-founders Karthik Balasubramanian and Brian Moyer stated their belief that the movement of investor interest away from consumer-facing applications for the technology was one factor in their demise.

Declines in consumer bitcoin spending were also cited as a factor in the shut down.

Brawker

Bitcoin buying service Brawker closed its doors at the end of April, citing competition and workload issues.

The decentralized platform, launched in April of 2014, allowed consumers to purchase products with bitcoin.

The firm told us at the time: "Buying bitcoin with credit cards is now possible, and more and more merchants are accepting digital currencies."

BTC Guild

Long-running bitcoin mining pool BTC Guildceased operating at the end of June, citing the finalization of New York State's BitLicense as a primary motivator. It said at the time that the pool could not afford any legal threats that may arise as a result of the New York regulatory framework.

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) later told CoinDesk "miners and mining pools are exempt from the BitLicense".

Buttercoin

US bitcoin marketplace Buttercoin closed in April, despite launching with $2.1m in investor backing in late 2013.

Saying that it was "100% secure and solvent", the platform blamed a lack of VC interest for its closure, saying:

"With the dip in bitcoin interest among Silicon Valley investors, we weren't able to generate enough venture capital interest to continue funding Buttercoin."

Since its closure, the US market has seen the rise of a number of regulated US exchanges including those offered by Coinbase, Gemini and itBit.

CoinTerra

Bitcoin mining company CoinTerra filed for bankruptcy in January, saying it would be unable to repay unsecured investors and naming hundreds of creditors in its filing.

CoinTerra had between $10m and $50m in assets, with liabilities within the same range, according to court documents. The firm has filed for  bankruptcy protection, meaning it is likely to liquidate all assets in its bid to repay secured creditors.

The closure came soon after CoinTerra became the target of a lawsuit launched by C7 Data Centers, a data center colocation services provider based in Utah.

Harborly

Texas-based bitcoin exchange Harborly shut downin August saying the closure was a result of insufficient resources to run both the firm and a separate project that co-founder and CEO Connor Black described as "a growth hacking tool and service".

Digital currency regulation also played into the decision.

Black said: “We were surprised again and again by the resources it took to effectively adhere to the compliance requirements laid out in the US and beyond.”

Swarm

Decentralised crowdfunding platform Swarm shut down in September following an internal dispute and cash issues, according to CoinTelegraph.

The firm allowed companies to raise funds via cryptographic shares using Swarm's own cryptocurrency.

Swarm's co-founder and CEO Joel Dietz allegedly wrote in a blog post (now removed) that three factors brought Swarm's downfall: the co-founder and designer left the project, the Swarm team disagreed about making its software open source and a deal with a startup accelerator that drained $200,000 from Swarm's coffers.

Yacuna

European exchange Yacuna made an orderly retreat from trading in November after a relatively short time in the cryptocurrency space. In an email to customers it informed them of the closure and advised customers to withdraw all funds.

Talking about the closure, executive director and chief compliance officer Mark Caruso told CoinDesk:

"We offered the service for free since we believe in the disruptive potential of blockchain technology. However, the lack of significant volume and a growth rate that remained below expectations led to the decision of shutting down the service."

37coins

Bitcoin remittance startup 37coins closed its doorsback in August, when the company announced it was halting operations and closing its SMS-based wallet. The firm left users until 30th December to withdraw their funds.

Notable participants in Plug and Play's bitcoin startup group, 37coins aimed to use low-cost cellphone technology as a means to enable cheap transactions.

According to the team, however, development came across hurdles that ultimately proved insurmountable.

Did we leave anyone out? Let us know in the comments below.

Times of india

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1297430073607909&id=1250397948311122

What's In Store For Bitcoin In 2016?

This year was a difficult one for cryptocurrencies as they struggled with volatile prices and negative press.

Many view currencies like bitcoin as tools for criminals and investors tended to shy away from the currency as volatile price swings made it difficult to make accurate predictions. However, many believe that 2016 could be a monumental year for bitcoin as and the underlying technology that the coin runs on gains notoriety.

Supply Cut

Unlike traditional currencies, the number of bitcoins available to the public is controlled by mining computers. The computers essentially solve mathematical puzzles in order to release new bitcoins. The system was also designed to keep the number of bitcoins finite at 21 million coins, a figure to be reached in the next 125 years.

Not only that, but the reward for mining bitcoins would be cut in half every four years, and July 2016 marks the next time that cut is set to take place.

Related Link: Ben Bernanke Sees Serious Problems With Bitcoin

Price Increase

Many believe that halving the number of bitcoins received from each mining transaction will give the cryptocurrency's price a boost. While it has been well known for years that bitcoin supply would be reduced, the fact that the bitcoin market is still so new has kept traders from fully pricing the event in.

Blockchain Investments

Bitcoin could also see a boost in the coming year as blockchain gains popularity across several industries. The ledger-like system that bitcoin runs on has been touted as one of the most important technological advances of the decade, and many see it revolutionizing the way several industries do business.

Blockchain has been suggested as a way to improve the real estate market, make the music industry more transparent and improve the speed and efficiency of financial transactions.

Bitcoin Milestone: 15 Million Bitcoins Mined and 100 Million Transactions Reached

Bitcoin has reached a new technological milestone today. Since its birth in 2008, 15 million bitcoins has been mined, more than 100 million transactions have been settled by the Bitcoin network and mining difficulty is close to reaching 100 billion.

According to the statistics provided by blockchain.info, the mining difficulty has risen by nearly 250% since January of 2015, recording the fastest annual increase of difficulty since 2008.

The number of transactions processed by the Bitcoin network have reached 100 million, as the number of daily bitcoin transactions increased by five times since January of 2015. Bitcoin experts predict that the worldwide recognition of bitcoin and established financial institutions’ growing interest towards Bitcoin and the Bitcoin blockchain technology network have played a vital role in the growth of Bitcoin as a currency and as a technological protocol.

The market cap of Bitcoin has also reached a yearly high at around US$6.34 billion and is close to recovering from its decline in 2014, amid the collapse of then the largest bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

Bitcoin, which has had one of its best year since 2013 also surpassed the growth of major reserve currencies and top-performing developing currencies such as the Malaysian Ringgit. Bitcoin has also performed exceptionally well against the world’s largest currencies including pound sterling, US dollars and Japanese yen, becoming the world’s best performing currency of the year.

Although financial experts argue the value of Bitcoin and criticize its independence (decentralized nature), bitcoin is beginning to be recognized as an independent currency by an increasing number of central banks and financial establishments around the world.

Bitcoin since 2014, has almost fully recovered from its slump following the Mt. Gox heist and all the negativity portrayed by media outlets and news networks around the world.

Continuing this success, in 2016, bitcoin experts predict that bitcoin will reach another milestone as a developing currency. 

Daily Bitcoin Price Analysis: Bitcoin In A Trend

As we expected, on Christmas Eve the Bitcoin pricegot in a narrow corridor of $449 - $455. Today is a holiday and there will be limited trading. Also no news that could affect the price of the Dollar is expected. Therefore, today December 25, we expect that the price of Bitcoin will remain in the corridor of $445 - $465. The resistance level is $465 and the support level is $440.

 As we can see, the latest positive macroeconomic statistics from the US gave the Dollar a support only for a limited time. Then again, the Dollar came under pressure and decreased against other currencies, including the BitcoinCT r:  10. Now a good question is: how long can the Dollar be a full-weight competitor for Bitcoin? If Bitcoin is growing against the Dollar, does this mean that the Dollar is losing its position as the world currency? Or does it mean that Bitcoin is gaining popularity in parallel with the strong Dollar?

This analysis and forecast are the personal opinions of the author and are not a recommendation to buy or sell Bitcoins.

Bitcoin is Entering the Age of Practicality

As the end of the year approaches, it is customary to begin thinking of what's next.

We try to assess what changes can be made to better our lives, our businesses and our relationships. We ask what can we do differently that will push us positively towards our anticipated outcomes.

In the spirit of this thinking, let's discuss bitcoin and blockchain technologies.

Bitcoin and blockchain technologies are still in their infancy. Yet, millions of dollars have been invested and many companies have reaped tremendously from early adoption.

But, it's important to note that the companies that have had the most success have done so by creating a foundation for the entire industry.

As when building a house, the foundation is the first and possibly the most important element. Without it, the house would fall, and any good builder knows that you have to give the foundation a chance to cure before building on top of it.

The companies we'll list below have built a pretty solid foundation on top of the ground that the core developers provided. The only problem is, sleeping on a concrete slab can prove to be uncomfortable.

Enter the age of practicality.

The next steps

With the foundation laid, it is time to begin building practical solutions to real-world problems.

People want to put all kinds of things on the blockchain – from gold to furniture receipts. If it exists, someone has pitched that it should be on a blockchain. But the blockchain is not some magic wand that solves all problems.

The blockchain, at its core, is a database. It may be the Liam Neeson of databases, but still it's a database.

This new age of practicality must be filled with companies solving real problems – problems that could not be solved before the gift Satoshi left for us (before returning to his alternate dimension).

We as an industry must be able to look into every industry and every discipline and see what challenges a distributed, immutable ledger can really solve.

We have debated on Reddit and other forums about what can be. But the new age must be filled with companies that not only see what can be, but build what should be.

We have to embrace people from all disciplines and lend a ear to what struggles they have. We have to then be creative enough to innovate through cross-discipline association.

The good examples

There are a handful of companies that have already prepared us for this future.

Companies like Blockcypher have become the Amazon Web Services for blockchain tech. They began with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, litecoin and dogecoin, and because of this early versatility, can now easily create private blockchain solutions with their full suite of tools.

Companies like Coinbase and BitGo have become the 'First National Banks of Bitcoin', and are expanding to be Global Bitcoin and FX banks. They are providing a foundation for developers to build all types of transaction-heavy applications.

Elsewhere, Zapchain has taken full advantage of the simple API Coinbase provides for tipping to reimagine social communities.

Chain and the recently acquired Blockstack.io, focus (or focused) heavily on private blockchains and the tools to interact with them. R3 has done a great job of grabbing a piece of mindshare at some of the largest banks in the world, creating a foundation for meaningful engagement with incumbents.

Michael J Casey at MIT Media Lab is helping to lead us toward this age by encouraging the MIT Sloan School of Management and the MIT School of Engineering to work together on blockchain technology, combining two world-class schools at a world-class institution.

These types of actions will begin to create the walls of our industry's house. They will help discover new problems that we can then solve with technology.

At Fluent, we've found a very specific problem by talking to industry leaders and professionals about issues in their supply chains. Equipped with our knowledge of blockchain technology, we were able to build a solution that will solve this problem in a way that was impossible without the core technology.

The beginning of the new year will be filled with optimism and glee, but when the confetti is cleared, we'll need to move forward toward solving real issues.

Bring on the age of practicality.