One Of Bitcoin’s Biggest Backers Just Spent $1 Billion Buying More

In this photo illustration a Bitcoin logo is seen displayed...

While bitcoin remains about 15% below its record high from Sunday, a couple of the cryptocurrency’s biggest corporate backers have doubled-down on their bitcoin investments during the recent correction despite concerns over the token’s unshakeable volatility.

Business analytics company MicroStrategy said Wednesday morning that it spent slightly more than $1 billion buying about 19,452 bitcoin tokens during the recent correction, averaging about $52,756 per bitcoin.

As of Wednesday, the firm, which used debt to finance its recent bitcoin acquisition, holds roughly 90,531 tokens that it purchased at a combined price of nearly $2.2 billion–less than half the $4.5 billion they’re worth at current prices.

In a statement, MicroStrategy ژEO Michael Saylor said acquiring and holding bitcoin remains one of the company’s two biggest strategic priorities (in addition to growing its analytics software business) and that the investment “reaffirms [the firm’s] belief that bitcoin, as the world’s most widely adopted cryptocurrency, can serve as a dependable store of value.”

The move comes less than a day after payments fintech Square, cofounded and led by billionaire Jack Dorsey, revealed it’s also doubled-down on its bitcoin investment–investing another $170 million in the cryptocurrency this month after a $50 million investment in October.

At current prices, Square’s October investment is worth approximately $230 million–more than four times the purchase price; combined with the recent purchase, bitcoin represents about 10% of the cash Square had on hand at the end of last year.

MicroStrategy shares have plummeted 42% since a nearly 20-year high on February 9–the day after Tesla disclosed a $1.5 billion bitcoin investment; much of the plunge has been fueled by crashing bitcoin prices, which have similarly tanked Tesla shares.

Crucial Quote

“Bitcoin is a bank in cyberspace for people that don’t have the ability to run their own hedge fund,” Saylor said on CNBC Tuesday. “It’s not a stock; it’s an asset class, and so if I put $1 billion into a bank, and then came back and put another $10 billion in a bank, the bank is not overvalued, it’s just 10 times bigger.”

Surprising Fact

Bitcoin has plummeted about 16% from its record high of more than $58,000 on Sunday, but it’s still up more than 400% in the past year.

Key Background

In addition to corporations bulking up their balance sheets with volatile bitcoin, institutional investors continue to bolster adoption in the space. This month alone, the first two bitcoin exchange-traded funds launched in Canada, BNY Mellon announced that its wealth management arm will process cryptocurrencies alongside stocks and bonds, and news broke that Morgan Stanley’s $150 billion investing arm is considering adding bitcoin to its portfolio.

Chief Critic

Bitcoin prices reversed a recent rally on Sunday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that its prices seemed “a little high,” fueling concerns among experts that the token’s volatility makes it an unreliable store of value. “The fall that has taken place since [Musk’s tweet] shows just how wild an instrument bitcoin is, how overbought it has become and how influential the Tesla CEO now is in the space,” Oanda Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam said Tuesday. “I’m not sure any of that is a good thing.”

genesis-3-1

Further Reading

Not Just Tesla: Big Institutions Keep Piling Into Bitcoin As Price Rockets Past $50,000 (Forbes)

Tesla Has Plunged 25% And Lost $200 Billion In Market Value Since Its Bitcoin Investment (Forbes)

Bitcoin Market Value Shoots Past $1 Trillion Amid Tesla-Fueled Surge (Forbes)

Bitcoin Soars To New High After Tesla Says It Invested $1.5 Billion (Forbes)

Follow me on Twitter. Send me a secure tip.

I’m a reporter at Forbes focusing on markets and finance. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I double-majored in business journalism and economics while working for UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School as a marketing and communications assistant. Before Forbes, I spent a summer reporting on the L.A. private sector for Los Angeles Business Journal and wrote about publicly traded North Carolina companies for NC Business News Wire. Reach out at jponciano@forbes.com.

Source: One Of Bitcoin’s Biggest Backers Just Spent $1 Billion Buying More

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Bitcoin Developer Activity Hits All-Time High Ahead of Halving

In the weeks leading up to Bitcoin’s halving, developers have committed more code to the cryptocurrency than ever before, according to available data.

In April of this year, Bitcoin Core had a total of 510 commits, more than in any other month since BTC was launched. A commit means code is uploaded to GitHub, a popular website for hosting open-source coding projects. Bitcoin Core’s code is hosted there.

Only a few other months in the flagship cryptocurrency’s history have come close to 500 commits. These were April 2018, and October and November 2019. Bitcoin Core, it’s worth noting, it’s the most common software used to run the Bitcoin blockchain. It was originally published by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

bitcoin commits over time

Most experienced developers can contribute to the Bitcoin Core cod, and data from GitGitLog shows that over the cryptocurrency’s 10-year history 830 developers have contributed. There are currently, however, 56 active developers.

Bitcoin Core’s development is partly funded by the MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative and by some companies in the sector that fund full-time developers. These include BitMEX, Square crypto, OKCoin, Bitfinex, Chaincode Labs, and others.

It’s unclear why the number of commits hit a new all-time high ahead last month, although on Reddit users have speculated either programmers are “lacking distractions” because of the coronavirus-induced lockdowns, or developers are working on the code ahead of the halving.

One Redditor pointed out most of the commits were fixing tools that make it easier to test, and “tidying up sections of code that are a little messy or inefficient.”

By: Francisco Memoria

Featured image via Pixabay.

Source: CryptoGlobe

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China’s Planned Bitcoin-Killer Sparks Major Concerns

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have this year successfully provoked central bankers and governments to take digital currencies seriouslythough many remain skeptical.

The bitcoin price, which has failed to return to its all-time highs set in late 2017 despite a late December rally, was given a substantial boost in the first half of this year by social media giant Facebook’s plans for a bitcoin-like rival.

Now, China’s long-awaited answer to bitcoin and Facebook’s libra is taking shape, with People’s Bank of China confirming the “digital yuan” won’t be “for speculation or require the support of a basket of currencies”— leaving many disappointed and others concerned.

“The currency is not for speculation,” Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute, said over the weekend, according to the official Shanghai Securities News and reported by China’s South China Morning Post newspaper.

“It is different to bitcoin or stable tokens, which can be used for speculation or require the support of a basket of currencies,” Mu said, with the newspaper adding “the top-level design, formulation, functional research and testing of the Digital Currency Electronic Payment had been completed,” with “the next step” to roll out pilot programmes.

The news was met with disappointment from China’s social media users, the South China Morning Post reported.

One said there will be “no fun in it,” while another added “if you don’t allow me to speculate on the digital form of the yuan, I’ll speculate on other things, like foreign exchange.”

Meanwhile, China’s plans for a bitcoin-rival have sparked fears Beijing will use the digital yuan to better control its citizens.

“A roller-coaster decade—not just for for banking and money but also for privacy and politics—may just be beginning,” wrote Andy Mukherjee for Bloomberg, a financial newswire.

“[China’s digital yuan is] far bigger than [bitcoin]. The crypto yuan, which may be on offer as soon as 2020, will be fully backed by the central bank of the world’s second-largest economy, drawing its value from the Chinese state’s ability to impose taxes in perpetuity,” Mukherjee wrote, adding “a digital yuan could bypass [the current deposit-based banking] system and allow any holder of the currency to have a deposit at the central bank, potentially making the state the monopoly supplier of money to retail customers.”

Mukherjee also warned other nations will follow China’s lead and that “anonymity disappears when cash does.”

Last month, outgoing European Central Bank executive board member Benoît Cœuré, who last year described bitcoin as “the evil spawn of the financial crisis,” outlined plans for a European “central bank digital currency” to rival the likes of Facebook’s libra and bitcoin.

Bitcoin, with its well-earned reputation as internet cash, is only going to become more important as regions, countries and companies try to control digital assets.

Follow me on Twitter.

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Source: China’s Planned Bitcoin-Killer Sparks Major Concerns

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China’s big move for the 21st century is to pull a “trap door” on the U.S. by launching a gold-backed crypto currency that will devalue the U.S. dollar to “zero,” this according to Max Keiser, host of the Keiser Report. “[China] is rolling out a cryptocurrency, a lot of the details have not been divulged. I can tell you that the cryptocurrency that China’s rolling out will be backed by gold. It’s a two-pronged announcement. Number one, China’s got 20,000 tonnes of gold, number two, we’re rolling out a crypto coin backed by gold, and the dollar is toast,” Keiser told Kitco News. Keiser added that bitcoin is a superior form of currency to gold. “Both fiat money and gold are inferior to bitcoin for one very simple reason, that with a bitcoin transaction, it is also simultaneously the settlement. You don’t have that with fiat, you don’t have that with gold,” he said. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kitco News is the world’s #1 source of metals market information. Our videos feature interviews with prominent industry figures to bring you market-affecting insights, with the goal of helping people make informed investment decisions. Subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on the latest insights moving the metals markets. For more breaking news, visit http://www.kitco.com/ Follow us on social media: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/KitcoNews/?r… Twitter – https://twitter.com/kitconewsnow Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116266490… StockTwits – https://stocktwits.com/kitconews Live gold price and charts: http://www.kitco.com/gold-price-today… Live silver price and charts: http://www.kitco.com/silver-price-tod… Don’t forget to sign up for Kitco News’ Weekly Roundup – comes out every Friday to recap the hottest stories & videos of the week: https://connect.kitco.com/subscriptio… Join the conversation @ The Kitco Forums and be part of the premier online community for precious metals investors: https://gold-forum.kitco.com/ Disclaimer: Videos are not trading advice and the views expressed may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc.

Deutsche Bank’s Massive ‘Multi-Trillion Dollar’ By 2030 Bitcoin Question

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been written off by many as nothing more than a flash-in-the-pan fad, riddled with scams and criminals.

The bitcoin price, which looks set to close the year at twice its January price, has remained highly volatilewhile sluggish bitcoin adoption continues to worry those in the crypto industry.

Now, amid warnings that the “fragile” fiat currency system will be put under strain in years ahead, Germany’s troubled Deutsche Bank has asked, “will fiat currencies survive,” in what it calls the “multi-trillion dollar (or bitcoin) question.”

“The forces that have held the current fiat system together now look fragile and they could unravel in the 2020s,” Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid wrote in a report looking at 24 alternative ideas for the next 10 years.

“If so, that will start to lead to a backlash against fiat money and demand for alternative currencies, such as gold or crypto could soar. The demand for alternative currencies will therefore likely be significantly higher by the time 2030 rolls around.”

The report blamed “decades of low labor costs” and inflation for weakening the fiat system and comes after a year that’s seen the bitcoin price boosted by social media giant Facebook’s plans to launch its own private cryptocurrency, dubbed libra, and countries from China to the European Union begin to explore how to create digital currencies of their own.

Central banks are still struggling to offset the effects of the global financial crisis that birthed bitcoin, with worries another so-far-unidentified crisis could be looming on the horizon.

“Will fiat currencies survive the policy dilemma that authorities will experience as they try to balance higher yields with record levels of debt,” Reid asked. “That’s the multi-trillion dollar (or bitcoin) question for the decade ahead.”

Bitcoin is often touted as an antidote to the central bank, debt-based monetary system, picking up the moniker “digital gold” for its built in scarcity. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin, with the supply drying up in the distant year of 2140.

Reid’s comments put him at odds with outgoing European Central Bank executive board member Benoît Cœuré, who last year described bitcoin as “the evil spawn of the financial crisis,” and has outlined plans for a European “central bank digital currency” to rival the likes of Facebook’s libra.

Deutsche Bank, which has seen its value cut by 90% in the ten years since bitcoin was created, has also predicted corporate and government banked cryptocurrencies will drive crypto adoption.

“Assuming governments back cryptocurrencies, and consumers want them, adoption rates will drive the timeline for mainstream use,” Reid wrote. “If current trends continue, there could be 200 million blockchain wallet users in 2030.”

Meanwhile, other banks are warning that the year ahead could bring an overhaul of the “status quo.”

“We see 2020 as a year where at nearly every turn, disruption of the status quo is an overriding theme,” Saxo Bank’s chief economist Steen Jakobsen wrote this week in a report titled “10 Outrageous Predictions for 2020.”

“The year could represent one big pendulum swing to opposites in politics, monetary and fiscal policy and, not least, the environment. In policy making, it could mean that central banks step aside and maybe even slightly normalize rates, while governments step into the breach with infrastructure and climate policy-linked spending.”

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I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Source: Deutsche Bank’s Massive ‘Multi-Trillion Dollar’ By 2030 Bitcoin Question

 

Bitcoin: Why You Need It

Most people know little about Bitcoin. It’s a brand, like the internet was in the late 1990s that created great excitement in a small fanatical audience but confusion, indifference and often hostility in the mainstream and establishment.

“I don’t need email,” people said, while many would look blank and not know what it was. It wasn’t until the social media floodgates opened that the mainstream piled in. Now all the marvelous benefits and distractions of being connected are taken as read.

The benefits of crypto are not well understood or even considered beyond the possibility of a life change rising in value for coins that an investor might ride to riches. This may well be the future for Bitcoin so to start a list of reasons why you should hold some Bitcoin must start with:

1)  A lottery ticket to a ride that some see having a 1,000% upside.

It could happen. There are only going to be 21 million bitcoins (BTC), many of which like Roman gold coins are already lost forever. If bitcoin was to be worth just half of the gold in the world it would be  about $200,000 a coin. If all the BTC was worth $1 trillion then the price would be north of $50,000.

Today In: Money

With BTC currently at $7,400 and the ability for people to buy tiny amounts, there is a fun dividend in actually holding.

2) Blockchain is “the next big thing.”

If you want to catch that wave when it lands, you need to know a bit about it. Buying crazes on the basis of zero knowledge is the short cut to the poorhouse. Owning bitcoin and going through all the stages to “get” crypto will position you perfectly for the day “crypto IPO” hits. That day will come and it will be big. Owning bitcoin will position you to take advantage of that boom.

3) Portfolio diversification is crucial.

Everyone should have a little gold, for example, to buffer the roller coaster of other financial instruments. Bitcoin and gold are very similar in as much as they are havens. “Physical” bitcoin however is easier to store, faster to sell and has much greater upside if you are laying in assets for what you see as being extremely volatile times in the future. If you are not in the “bullets and corn beef” legion, the gold, silver and bitcoin are must haves, with bitcoin the king if you feel you might have to jump on a plane to safety. It’s easy to travel with bitcoin; with gold bars and sacks of silver, not so much.

4) Bitcoin is currently a great hedge especially for equities.

This is because for now at least, bad news for equities is good news for bitcoin. That bad news is currently the China trade war. The trade war is bad for equities and there is a clear link to moves in BTC and emergent good/bad news on the trade negotiations. Bitcoin sends the signal then the news appears, which one would imagine is because of the insider news flow in crypto-hungry China.

5) Bitcoin is useful money.

You can buy things with bitcoin, and with bitcoin debit cards you can use it to buy things anywhere that takes Visa/Mastercard. While this can prove expensive, a bitcoin debit card is another off ramp for holders wishing to spend their profits. Bitcoin is also a useful currency for B2B and while currently niche, bitcoin use for international payments is quickly expanding when products need to be bought quickly and the vendor needs to establish transfer of funds fast to cut out delays. For large sums bitcoin beats credit cards hands down as a bitcoin transaction can’t be reversed unlike a credit card payment that is always vulnerable to charge backs. Transfers can take days to materialize, so for anything that’s a “rush job” bitcoin is the best possible way to pay if the vendor takes BTC.

Every investor should buy some bitcoin, even if it’s just $1. It is always best to be too early to a financial phenomenon than too late and it turns out the bitcoin story is still in its early chapters.

If you are an investor, it was obvious you need to hold equities, bonds, gold and cash. That is still true but these days, you need to hold a little crypto, because it is a new positive sum financial instrument. If you don’t have Bitcoin, the world won’t end, but you will be less diversified and more at risk than an investor that does hold some. Bitcoin will continue to be the ‘kingpin’ of the emergent blockchain industry and everybody needs a little bit of exposure to that in the same way as they needed a little Amazon in 2002.

Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor cuts through the hype and identifies real investor opportunities in the emerging world of blockchain and crypto assets. Click to learn more.

Clem Chambers is the CEO of private investors website ADVFN.com and author of 101 Ways to Pick Stock Market Winners and Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginner’s Guide.

In 2018, Chambers won Journalist of the Year in the Business Market Commentary category in the State Street UK Institutional Press Awards.

Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website.

I am the CEO of stocks and investment website ADVFN . As well as running Europe and South America’s leading financial market website I am a prolific financial writer. I wrote a stock column for WIRED – which described me as a ‘Market Maven’ – and am a regular columnist for numerous financial publications around the world. I have written for titles including: Working Money, Active Trader, SFO and Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities in the US and have written for pretty much every UK national newspaper. In the last few years I have become a financial thriller writer and have just had my first non-fiction title published: 101 ways to pick stock market winners. Find me here on US Amazon. You’ll also see me regularly on CNBC, CNN, SKY, Business News Network and the BBC giving my take on the markets.

Source: Bitcoin: Why You Need It

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