Bitcoin jumps above $10,000 for the first time since June – CNBC

Bitcoin jumped above $10,000 for the first time since early June after relatively muted recent price action.

The digital currency was trading at$10,196.27 at around 12:31 p.m. Singapore time, 2.55% higher than 24 hours previously, according to data from Coindesk.

Bitcoin last crossed $10,000 on June 3 and has since seen a steady decline.But over the last 7 days, Bitcoin has risen nearly 11%.

Vijay Ayyar,head of business development at cryptocurrency exchange Luno, told CNBC that large players were debating whether to sell off their bitcoin to smaller entrants in the market which could push the price lower and make it more attractive for the bigger traders to buy more of the digital asset.

"This doesn't seem to have happened," Ayyar said. "What we have unfolding is potentially re-accumulation by big players, joined by smaller traders in an attempt to push BTC higher past 10K and more past 10.5K, which is the big resistance level, where BTC last put in a high."

"We still haven't broken the 10.5K level, if that happens, BTC is probably running to 15K. All signs point to that at this point," he added.

While bitcoin was higher last week, major Wall Street indices including the S&P 500 were lower. Gold, however, continued to rise and hit a record high on Monday. Gold is seen as a so-called safe-haven asset that investors buy in times of uncertainty.

Bitcoin has sometimes been called "digital gold" with advocates saying it could be a good safe-haven investment. However, bitcoin has tended to trade closer to equity markets in recent times and is known for its huge volatility.

Both equity markets and gold have been supported by recent economic stimulus packages from governments and central banks around the world in a bid to help fight the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. For example, the European Union reached a nearly 2 trillion euro recovery plan last week.

In addition, investors are closely watching the numerous coronavirus vaccines being developed around the world. Recently, Oxford University carried out early-stage human trials with pharmaceutical giantAstraZeneca. The drug produced a promising immune response, according todata published in the medical journal The Lancet.

Ayyar said that bitcoin could benefit from these stimulus measures as well as hopes for a vaccine.

"My view is that with the major governments declaring unprecedented stimulus packages ... we will see continued bullish momentum across markets. So that includes equities and gold as well. And BTC and crypto will follow on this regard. Added to the fact that a vaccine seems within reach as well now, no reason to be bearish near term," Ayyar said.

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Major Investment Bank Oppenheimer Bullish on Bitcoin, Highlights Instead of Gold | News – Bitcoin News

U.S. investment bank Oppenheimers analyst says gold is extended and has run up a bit, bringing attention to bitcoin instead. He sees the cryptocurrency reversing its downtrend from the $20K peak, benefiting from the dollars weakness.

Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, a major American investment bank and financial services company, highlighted bitcoin this week on CNBCs program Trading Nation entitled Gold vs. Bitcoin.

He explained: Weve been recommending gold as a way to play the expansion of the Feds balance sheet Its actually the high momentum commodity, it ranks highest above all commodities out there in terms of momentum. While pointing out that gold is extended and has run up a bit, the analyst affirmed, We do recommend sticking with it. Nonetheless, he added:

I think its worthwhile to highlight bitcoin instead which isnt as extended Bitcoin is reversing its downtrend dating back to its 2017 peak. If you are a long-term holder, this is the type of action youd like to see.

Bitcoin is currently trading at about $10,970, having risen 17% this week and 54% this year. Its price is still well below its December 2017 peak of nearly $20,000. Wald noted that the cryptocurrencys recent breakout is setting up for more gains ahead and bitcoins long-term trendline suggests it has plenty of room to run. Meanwhile, the price of gold has hit record highs this week, rallying 8% this month and 28% this year.

Both gold and bitcoin are benefiting from the weakness of the U.S. dollar, Wald continued. Michael Binger, president of Gradient Investments, concurred with Wald about the dollar but he favors gold over bitcoin.

Binger opined: Between the two I would really lean on the gold side here. When you think about it, it is really a Goldilocks environment for gold investors right now. I mean, you have a weak U.S. dollar, you have negative real interest rates. All of this is based on the prospect of rising inflation. While agreeing with the Oppenheimer analyst that bitcoin is a momentum play, Binger still believes that it is not a valid currency yet.

What do you think about the Oppenheimer analysts view? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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ESPN Global Announces Online Gaming That Allows Bitcoin Deposits and Withdrawals – Bitcoin News

ESPN Global has announced the launch of a blockchain-powered gaming platform, which will allow competitors to deposit and withdraw using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through Cryptopay.

The platform is also integrating an online treasure hunt, Satoshis Treasure, with $1 million worth of bitcoin to be split among 1000 winners.

In a June 23 statement, the UK-based company, which is not affiliated with ESPN in the US, said it is in the pre-launch phase of a platform that will offer some of the most popular games in one mobile application for crypto prizes. Blockchain technology will decentralize verification and support for transactions inside the platform.

Cryptocurrency payment specialist Cryptopay is being used by ESPN Global, to make the process a lot simpler, swift and secure, the company announced. Users can choose a game or join a group of participants to compete in real-time and be awarded on the basis of highest score.

The platform also offers premium membership whereby one gets priority access to slots and early access to the most popular games. The mobile e-sports unit in UK falls under ESPN Global Corporation Ltd. which is headquartered in Poland.

An ESPN Global director, Mr. Chris Parker, spoke on the attraction of blockchain. As per a research done by 3EA Limited, a global strategic management consulting group, e-sports and online gaming is a $140 billion global industry driven predominantly by digital micro-transaction economies, which we believe will benefit immensely from the integrity and resilience of the Blockchain technology, he said.

The company is also integrating the recently launched game Satoshis Treasure. With this $1 million puzzle game Satoshis Treasure, we are promising a bounty-laden bitcoin wallet whose keys will be divided into 1,000 fragments, spawning a global hunt for the prize pieces, said Parker.

In the event of amassing a sizeable e-sport community, ESPN Global expects to launch an initial exchange offering of its Smart Gaming Token (SGT) based on the ERC-20 platform.

From the day we start our operations, we will be giving airdrops of SGTs to all registered players as a gift, Parker said. He added that all players who lose money in any game or tournament will be compensated with SGT airdrops equivalent to the losses credited to their ERC wallets.

The current valuation of SGT airdrop is $0.001, expected to increase with the growth of the gaming community. Premium members, who get double SGTs against the amount of super-contest, will also have their losses covered.

What do you think about ESPNs new bitcoin online gaming? Let us know in the comments section below.

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MIT Lightning Creator Unveils First ‘Demonstration’ of Bitcoin Scaling Tech – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

The infrastructure propping up Bitcoin might become easier for anyone to spin up and run.

Lightning creator Tadge Dryja has been working on a new design for a lighter weight Bitcoin full node, about which he first wrote a paper in 2019. Last week, he and a team of coders released a first version of the Utreexo software as a part of MIT Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), putting the idea of lighter nodes into working code.

Full Bitcoin nodes act like financial security systems, validating Bitcoin blockchain transactions and protecting users from being tricked into thinking they received money that they didnt. But they take up a lot of computing space and are quickly growing in size.

Since these nodes are the most trustless way of using Bitcoin, developers have long been trying to make them easier to use. Its one of Bitcoins nerdy holy grails.

Utreexo specifically tackles the size of the state of a full node, which shows up-to-date information about who owns how much bitcoin. Utreexo slashes this state size from roughly four gigabytes to less than a kilobyte. In that regard, it could be a big breakthrough.

Utreexo is a new scalability technology for Bitcoin, which can make Bitcoin nodes smaller and faster while keeping the same security and privacy as full nodes, Dryja wrote in the blog post announcing the release.

But it hasnt been implemented fully yet, which is why it is a big deal to see Dryja releasing a first version of it. The project still has a long journey to go before users can begin using the nodes to plant a flag of financial self-sovereignty. But its a crucial first step.

A 'super-pruned node'

Bitcoin full nodes hold every transaction ever made, clocking in at about 200 GB today.

Pruned full nodes are able to reduce the size of the transaction history to as low as a half a gigabyte, about the size required to store an episode of a TV show.

But this doesnt tackle the storage of Bitcoins Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs), which tallies up how much bitcoin is linked to each bitcoin address. This batch of data takes up a little less than 4 GB of data.

This UTXO state has grown rapidly over time and it is likely to continue growing, making it harder to run full nodes.

Thats where Utreexo comes in. With the help of fancy, new cryptography, its possible to replace this bulk of state with one tiny cryptographic proof that takes up much less storage.

Utreexo is a novel hash based dynamic accumulator, which allows the millions of unspent outputs to be represented in under a kilobyte small enough to be written on a sheet of paper, Dryja explains on the MIT DCI website.

Because it does what a pruned node does, plus more, one bitcoiner called it a super-pruned node, Dryja told CoinDesk.

Challenging SPV

Trying to shave down these hefty Bitcoin full nodes is far from a new pursuit. Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) is probably the most popular version of a lightweight node, used by Electrum and other wallets.

Utreexo is similar to SPV in that it doesnt require nearly as much computer storage space as a full node. But SPV nodes dont preserve user privacy as well and are more susceptible to attacks than Utreexo nodes are.

Since Utreexo offers these security benefits, Dryja hopes it might chip away at SPVs dominance in the space (as long as writing the Utreexo software goes as well as planned). I think it would be great if it replaced SPV to some extent, allowing an Electrum-like user experience but with Bitcoin Core security, he told CoinDesk.

But in the end, he doesnt think itll replace SPV completely, as SPV is still easier to run.

I think it will be a bit in between. [Utreexo nodes are] heavier than SPV but lighter than current full nodes, so some SPV users may switch to Utreexo, and some current full node users will switch as well, he said.

He also imagines that since Utreexo nodes are so much easier to run, theyll be much more common than normal full nodes.

Longer term, I can definitely see almost all full nodes using a Utreexo-like design, and nodes which store the entire state and history would be more like current blockchain explorer websites or Electrum servers there will still be some, but no normal users will run their own, Dryja said.

Careful next steps

Utreexo developers now put forward a proof of concept, showing that the idea can be turned into a real working product. But they still have a lot of work to do, including ironing out bugs to make the mini node suitable for real money.

The software also operates on testnet, the Bitcoin testing network, and is not recommended for use with real money. There are still plenty of known bugs and inefficiencies in the code, but were improving it at a rapid pace, Dryja writes.

Theyll eventually have to make the Utreexo node compatible with the nodes already running on the Bitcoin network. To do this, developers will eventually need to modify Bitcoin Core, the most popular Bitcoin node software.

But this could be dangerous. Utreexo is a significant re-thinking of how Bitcoin works, changing consensus-critical code, Dryja writes.

It is thus likely to be difficult to get Utreexo code into Bitcoin Core, and with good reason. We want to be very sure to not introduce problems into a system handling so many peoples money, Dryja said.

Thats why theyve decided to see if they can try to add Utreexos magical powers to alternative Bitcoin node software Btcd first, because its not used by nearly as many people to secure their money, and in the process learn more about how it affects full node operation, Dryja said. The next step will be eventually applying what they learned to Bitcoin Core.

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Chess Grandmaster Kasparov: Bitcoin Empowers the Public and Protects Dissidents | News – Bitcoin News

Russian human rights campaigner and chess supremo Gary Kasparov has said that the current economic crisis, which has led to unconventional monetary policy, will drive people towards bitcoin.

Bitcoins finite supply compares favorably to agenda-driven printing of money by governments, noted the Avast security ambassador, who also chairs the Human Rights Foundation and the Renew Democracy Initiative.

Speaking to Forbes on the intersection of human rights and new technologies, Kasparov said cryptocurrencies enable the public to regain control of personal finances at a time when unilateral moves by government and institutions are on the rise.

The good thing about bitcoin is that you know exactly the number the magic number of 21 million. And we understand the formula behind that. But when you look at the other side, the Fed for instance, you never know how many trillions of dollars will appear on the market tomorrow that will damage your savings, he observed.

Kasparov said cryptocurrencies potential for abuse gets overstated but it is the upside which must be harnessed to empower individuals. Crypto offers means to protect personal finances against inflation and state interference and anything that can offer us the opportunity to take back control or some control of our privacy is always welcome, the chess grandmaster said.

Thats why I think the steady rise in popularity of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as a concept is inevitable, because its a response to the shift of power from individuals to states or other institutions that may act on our privacy without our consent, he added.

As chairperson of the Human Rights Foundation, Kasparov has promoted blockchain and cryptocurrency as a means to empower dissidents around the world.

For us, it was important for us to address every violation of human rights, and we were trying to help these people, most of them under severe attacks by their governments even if they left their countries, their financial accounts were hacked, their information was stolen so we have been providing special training courses.

He continued: Weve invited famous hackers to help them and to work with them we have been using every opportunity to offer them extra protection, and of course blockchain and bitcoin were very natural choices to incorporate into this strategy.

Kasparov also criticised the discriminatory treatment of customers from one territory to the other by tech giants and encouraged internet users to practice digital hygiene to stay safe from governments and other third parties.

What do you think about Kasparovs views toward crypto? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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93% of Bitcoin’s Supply Profitable at $11K, ‘Realized Price’ Recovers from Black Thursday – Bitcoin News

Onchain data shows that bitcoins breakout above $11,000 puts 93% of the circulating supply in a state of profit. Additionally, seven-day metrics show that bitcoins realized price has recovered from the low that took place on March 12.

The research and analysis firm Glassnode revealed that when the price of bitcoin (BTC) is over the $11,000 range, 93% of bitcoin in circulation becomes profitable. At the time of publication, BTC has been struggling to hold that momentum as the price has shifted below the $11k range a couple of times on Tuesday.

The spike on Tuesday led to a decent jump in onchain profits Glassnode detailed on Twitter.

BTCs break above $11,000 has led to a sharp increase in the onchain supply in profit. Currently, almost 93% of the circulating bitcoin supply is in a state of profit the highest level in over a year, the analytics firm tweeted.

Moreover, BTC has recovered from the March 12 (Black Thursday) market rout. Data shows that the crypto assets realized price has turned Black Thursdays trend upside down. Glassnodes charts set for seven-day statistics also indicate that realized price has doubled.

To add to those stats, bitcoin (BTC) charts show that long term holding has touched a new high. 62% of Bitcoin supply (11,400,000 BTC) has not moved in at least a year, the bitcoiner Kevin Rooke told his 11,000 Twitter followers on Monday.

Furthermore, BTC profitible days stats from the web portal Lookintobitcoin shows that the crypto asset has been profitable over 97% of its lifespan.

The current optimism in the world of cryptocurrencies has been quite different this time around as the world is dealing with the reaction to Covid-19 and the faltering economy.

During the last few days, the USD and U.S. bonds have weakened considerably and many economists think the central bank will suppress benchmark interest rates this week. Vijay Ayyar, head of business development at Luno believes that central banks will keep bolstering crypto assets like BTC.

My view is that with the major governments declaring unprecedented stimulus packages we will see continued bullish momentum across markets. So that includes equities and gold as well. And BTC and crypto will follow in this regard. Added to the fact that a vaccine seems within reach as well now, no reason to be bearish near term, Ayyar said.

With a lifespan of 97% profitability and 93% when the price is over $11,000 is a good sign crypto proponents. However, bitcoin mining operations need another $1,500 more for miners to start prospering, as they did before the May 11 halving.

A report from the blockchain analytics provider Tradeblock shows that $12,525 per BTC would bring miners over the edge and $15,062 per coin would improve profits a great deal.

What do you think about BTC profitability after bitcoins recent runup? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Is it a Good Time to Buy Bitcoin? – FX Empire

The swing trade took one month to play out and we had to sit through a lot of noise, but the price structure never turned bearish, even though it appeared questionable at times.

The question everyone is asking: now a good time to buy? And in terms of our long-only swing trade strategy, the answer is NO. Why not? It looks strong now? The risk of retrace after such a move is very high. This is NOT a location that offers attractive reward/risk, even though price appears to be pushing higher.

Now that we are out of our position, we WAIT for the next long setup and this begins with first anticipating an inflection point. At the moment, that point is the 10,400 area. This is the previous range resistance, which is now likely to act as a new support. IF price can retrace to this area, and produce a setup, we will be prompted to share a new swing trade idea. It may find support sooner, but only price action can provide the evidence and there is nothing at the moment except for vertical candles.

This is the herd mentality in action. No one was excited about Bitcoin at 9200, or 9K but now it looks strong again. Markets are irrational and driven by the forces of greed and fear which often lead to the wrong timing. The effective thing to do in such a situation is lock in profits while the buyers are plentiful, even if it is just a portion of the position. Effective behavior and following a set of rules are what produce results, NOT chasing a market after it has made a significant move. Want to learn more? Visit the link to my website which you can find on my profile page.

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ESPN Announces Online Gaming That Allows Bitcoin Deposits and Withdrawals – Bitcoin News

ESPN Global has announced the launch of a blockchain-powered gaming platform, which will allow competitors to deposit and withdraw using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through Cryptopay.

The platform is also integrating an online treasure hunt, Satoshis Treasure, with $1 million worth of bitcoin to be split among 1000 winners.

In a June 23 statement, the UK-based company, which is not affiliated with ESPN in the US, said it is in the pre-launch phase of a platform that will offer some of the most popular games in one mobile application for crypto prizes. Blockchain technology will decentralize verification and support for transactions inside the platform.

Cryptocurrency payment specialist Cryptopay is being used by ESPN Global, to make the process a lot simpler, swift and secure, the company announced. Users can choose a game or join a group of participants to compete in real-time and be awarded on the basis of highest score.

The platform also offers premium membership whereby one gets priority access to slots and early access to the most popular games. The mobile e-sports unit in UK falls under ESPN Global Corporation Ltd. which is headquartered in Poland.

An ESPN Global director, Mr. Chris Parker, spoke on the attraction of blockchain. As per a research done by 3EA Limited, a global strategic management consulting group, e-sports and online gaming is a $140 billion global industry driven predominantly by digital micro-transaction economies, which we believe will benefit immensely from the integrity and resilience of the Blockchain technology, he said.

The company is also integrating the recently launched game Satoshis Treasure. With this $1 million puzzle game Satoshis Treasure, we are promising a bounty-laden bitcoin wallet whose keys will be divided into 1,000 fragments, spawning a global hunt for the prize pieces, said Parker.

In the event of amassing a sizeable e-sport community, ESPN Global expects to launch an initial exchange offering of its Smart Gaming Token (SGT) based on the ERC-20 platform.

From the day we start our operations, we will be giving airdrops of SGTs to all registered players as a gift, Parker said. He added that all players who lose money in any game or tournament will be compensated with SGT airdrops equivalent to the losses credited to their ERC wallets.

The current valuation of SGT airdrop is $0.001, expected to increase with the growth of the gaming community. Premium members, who get double SGTs against the amount of super-contest, will also have their losses covered.

What do you think about ESPNs new bitcoin online gaming? Let us know in the comments section below.

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2020 is Possibly the Last Year Bitcoin (BTC) Will Be Below $10k – Ethereum World News

In brief:

On the last day of July, Bitcoin has shrugged off yesterdays alarming news of the US economy contracting by 32.9% in the second quarter of 2020. The lack of growth of the US economy has been linked to job losses and low consumer spending brought about by the economic effects of COVID19.

When news broke of a contracting US economy, the automatic response was one of caution as such information had the ability to drop the value of Bitcoin in an instant. Also yesterday, the big tech companies of Amazon, Apple and facebook released their quarterly earnings reports that propped back the stock markets. The positive news from the big tech companies also had a direct effect on Bitcoin which has since firmly regained the $11k price level. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is valued at $11,160 Binance rate.

Also to note, is that Bitcoin price is following a price prediction postulated by the team at Bloomberg in early July. According to the research team at Bloomberg, the number of active Bitcoin addresses point at BTC hitting $12k. They explained:

The number of active Bitcoin addresses used, a key signal of the 2018 price decline and 2019 recovery, suggests a value closer to $12,000, based on historical patterns.

In addition to all the positive news surrounding the crypto markets, 2020 might become the last year Bitcoin is ever valued at under $10k as shall be explained.

According to Bitcoin analysis done by Timothy Peterson of Cane Island Alternative Advisors, BTCs value can be modeled using Metcalfes law.As earlier explained, Metcalfes Law is primarily used in the Telecoms industry and Mr. Peterson has expanded on it in his analysis of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, Mr. Peterson has a very elaborate and simple chart that gives mid-November 2020, as possibly the last time Bitcoin will be valued at under $10k. Below is one of his Tweets proposing such a possibility for Bitcoin.

With the Fed and European Central Bank continually printing fiat, more investors are flocking to safe-haven assets such as Gold, Silver and Bitcoin. This fact coupled with the recent bullish news of Visa, Mastercard and Paypal finally embracing crypto, it can be concluded that Bitcoins general trajectory is up henceforth.

As with all analyses of Bitcoin, traders and investors are advised to do their own research and use adequate stop losses when trading Bitcoin.

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Bitcoins Realized Price Action Shows Full Recovery From Black Thursday Crash – Cointelegraph

Another key metric points to the recovery of the Bitcoin (BTC) market the current price has recently doubled the assets realized price.

Bitcoin price versus realized price. Source: Glassnode.

The realized price of Bitcoin is calculated by dividing the realized market capitalization by the supply. The realized market capitalization is computed by multiplying each Unspent Transaction Output or UTXO by the prevailing price when it was last moved. This metric should convey the cost of acquisition of the asset. Traditionally, the realized cap and price have ranged below the actuals; however, around Black Thursday (March 19), it flipped.

Bitcoin net unrealized profit. Source: Glassnode.

In the months that followed, the relationship has returned to the normal range. As of July 27, the actual price was almost double that of the realized price. Although a return to normality is always welcomed, the downside is that the most of the supply is currently in profit. Holders may therefore be tempted to realize some of the paper gains they have accumulated.

According to Glassnode's classification, the current phase could either be classified as Optimism heading towards Belief, or Anxiety willing to yield to Fear. A recent report by Bloomberg suggested that the former is more likely as it is expecting BItcoin to rise above $12,000.

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Coinbase Processed $500,000 in Bitcoin Payments That Helped Ex-Nissan Chairman Flee Japan | News – Bitcoin News

Coinbase processed $500,000 in bitcoin payments that aided the dramatic escape of former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn from Japan, according to Bloomberg.

In December, two Americans used a box to smuggle Ghosn out of the Asian country, where he was facing criminal charges for embezzlement and financial manipulation.

The former executive, who denies any wrongdoing, now lives in Lebanon, which does not have extradition relations with Japan.

According to a court filing, the money was allegedly sent via the U.S. crypto exchange over a four-month period by Ghosns son, Anthony, to an accomplice named Peter Taylor.

In total, Taylor pocketed $1.36 million. He had earlier received $862,500 in a separate transfer, wired by Carlos himself, the July 22 filing states.

Taylor worked with his father, Michael, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, to help Ghosn escape in what is thought to be a musical instrument box, and into private jet, to avoid facing financial charges.

The Taylors are now seeking to be released on bail following their arrest in May, at Japans request. U.S. prosecutors opposed bail, saying the duo was a security flight risk, especially now that they have access to Ghosns vast resources with which to flee.

Ghosn has promised to assist the people that helped him during his trying times in Japan, according to a recent TV interview, Reuters reported.

Coinbase, which is eyeing a U.S. stock market listing this year, courted controversy recently with its cosing up to law enforcement something that bitcoin fundamentalists may consider a betrayal of the top cryptos foundational principles.

The exchange has revealed that it is selling a blockchain tool that provides law enforcement agencies the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with superior analytical capabilities.

What do you think about Coinbase processing the Ghosn transfers? Let us know in the comments section below.

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First Mover: The Dollar Drop May Have Helped Push Bitcoin Past $11K – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

As the U.S. dollars value slides, prices aresuddenly rising for just about everything priced in dollars.

That includes bitcoin, which shot up some 13% on Monday for its biggest gain in almost three months. Prices soared past levels reached in February, prior to the pandemic-induced sell-off, reaching a new 2020 high of $11,180.

Youre readingFirst Mover, CoinDesks daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you dont have to. You cansubscribe here.

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of the cryptocurrency hedge fund BitBull Capital, told First Mover in an email that the latest move up appeared in sync with golds climb in recent days to a new record. Bitcoin is seen by many digital-asset analysts as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement, similar to the way investors in traditional markets have historically used gold.

Bitcoin sprung into action, DiPasquale said.

Its a remarkable development in the bitcoin market, where investors, as recently as last week, were despairing that the oldest and largest cryptocurrency had been stuck in a range between $9,000 and $10,000 for the past two months.

So for bitcoin bulls, the jolt out of the doldrums was welcome, especially when the pricewent up, not down. The days gain came on strong trading volume, with levels not seen since early June.

The trend is clear and we are headed higher, saidJack Tan, of Taiwan-based quantitative trading firm Kronos Research.

Bitcoin is now up 57% year to date, more than double the 28% gain this year for gold, which climbed in recent days to a record. The Standard & Poors 500 Index of large U.S. stocks, meanwhile, is roughly flat for the year.

Given gold has just set a new all-time high, and with bitcoins correlation to stocks breaking down while being replaced by a strong correlation to gold, we envisage further tests to the upside this coming week, the cryptocurrency-trading firmDiginexwrote in a daily market report.

The U.S. Dollar Currency Index, a gauge of the greenbacks value versus other major currencies like the euro and yen, has fallen for seven straight sessions; the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs predicts the dollar could lose another 5% over the next 12 months.

The U.S. dollar is eroding quickly, and people are starting to notice, wrote Mati Greenspan, founder of the cryptocurrency and foreign-exchange research firm Quantum Economics, in his daily email. Its plain to see that people are ditching the buck as fast as they can.

Thats good for bitcoin and gold:As the Wall Street Journal put it Monday, a weakening dollar mechanically pushes up the prices of the commodities invoiced in greenbacks.

Investors appear worried the global economic recovery is faltering, with cases on the rise and a death toll globally thatjust passed 650,000. In the U.S. Congress, Senate Republicans proposed a $1 trillion relief package following negotiations with President Donald Trump, but that amount falls far short of a Democrat-ledplan for $3.5 trillion in stimulus.

Jim Reid, strategist for the German lender Deutsche Bank, wrote in a report that the Federal Reserve, which has already expanded its balance sheet this year by about $3 trillion to about $7 trillion, might need to pump another $12 trillion over the next few years.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet this week in closed-door discussions, with a statement due late Wednesday. With interest rates already close to zero, no major policy changes are expected, but the cryptocurrency investment fund Arca noted Monday that a sell-off in the U.S. stock market might provoke the U.S. central bank to respond.

A report on Thursday is expected to show that U.S. gross domestic product declined during the second quarter by a staggering 35% on an annualized basis.

With so much fragility in the economy, and things not improving quickly, the moral hazard is now so high that the stock market barely even has to blink, Arca wrote.

For bitcoin, according to Arca, the breakout was just a matter of time.

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Bitcoin watch

BTC: Price: $10,773(BPI) | 24-Hr High: $11,395 | 24-Hr Low: $10,215

Trend:Bitcoin is witnessing a low-volume technical pullback on Tuesday.

The largest cryptocurrency by market value is currently trading near $10,850 down over 4% from the 11-month high of $11,394 reached on Monday.

The drop in price suggests bitcoin may be overvalued.The 14-day relative strength index jumped to 82 as prices surged 11% on Monday. An above-70 reading indicates overbought conditions meaning excessive demand has pushed prices unjustifiably high.

The pullback may be extended further, as the 14-day RSI is still hovering above 70. In addition, the RSI on the hourly chart has dropped into bearish territory below 50. That said, the bullish bias might be invalidated if prices finish below $10,500 (the February high) at the UTC market close.

That looks unlikely, as the decline from multi-month highs observed so far today is accompanied by a slide in trading volumes (above right). A low-volume pullback is often short-lived.

Besides, some analysts are convinced that Mondays bullish move has put bitcoin on the path toward record highs. [Mondays] daily close is amazing and could very well resemble April 2019s $1k candle that ended the bear market and fueled a rally to $13,000. Only this time, the rally should lead to new all-time-high for BTC, popular analystJosh Rager tweetedearly Tuesday.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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First Mover: The Dollar Drop May Have Helped Push Bitcoin Past $11K - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Novogratz: Global ‘Liquidity Pump’ Will Keep Bitcoin Rising, Price to Hit $20K This Year | Markets and Prices – Bitcoin News

Billionaire investor Michael Novogratz said global liquidity pump from stimulus packages will keep driving bitcoins price higher. He expects the price of bitcoin to reach $20,000 this year, fueled by retail investors shifting to the cryptocurrency.

Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz said on Tuesday that bitcoin and gold have more room to grow and will continue to rise due to global liquidity pump, afforded by governments stimulus packages, coupled with an influx of retail investors.

The liquidity story isnt going to go away. Were going to get a big stimulus, the billionaire investor told CNBC, adding that it doesnt look like the Federal Reserve is going to raise rates. After the CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid stimulus package which President Donald Trump signed into law in March, Republicans and Democrats have both proposed further stimulus packages. The Democrats proposed the $3 trillion HEROES Act while the Republicans introduced the $1 trillion HEALS Act on Monday.

Furthermore, Bitcoin still has a lot of retail interest in it, Novogratz described, adding that he sees stock investors shifting back to gold and bitcoin.

Novogratz expects bitcoins price to be at $14,000 in the next three months, emphasizing that it could easily reach $20,000 by the end of the year. His year-end price prediction agrees with several others, including a comprehensive analysis by Crypto Research Report.

Bitcoin is currently trading at about $11,258, up approximately 17% since last week and 54% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the price of gold hit an all-time high on Monday, climbing more than 7% since the beginning of the month.

Novogratz said most of his investments have been in bitcoin, gold, and silver. Noting that an estimated 20% of his net worth is in bitcoin, he added: I want it to go a lot higher. As for gold, he said it is more of a 5% position for him.

The billionaire investor further emphasized that he is starting to see institutional investors move into bitcoin. However, unlike gold investing, they face a learning curve when trying to invest in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is still hard to buy. If it was easier to buy, it would be a lot higher, he previously said. Gold has been around for 3,000 years, its pretty easy to buy, Novogratz opined. Theres an adoption game in bitcoin that you dont have in gold. But I like them both.

Others have also reported seeing increased institutional demand for cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin. Grayscale Investments said that in the second quarter, 84% of its almost $1 billion inflow into crypto investment products were from institutional investors. Moreover, famed hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones recently confirmed that he has almost 2% of his assets in bitcoin.

What do you think about Novogratzs prediction? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin’s Hedge Fund Sharks Are Swimming With The Whales – Bloomberg

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels. He previously worked at Reuters and Forbes.

Photographer: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP

Photographer: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP

Bitcoin is doing that thing again.After a 50% slump in the cryptocurrencys price toabout $4,000 in mid-March,whenCovid-19 panic was grippingthe financial markets,it has bounced back to tradeat about $11,200.Veteran crypto-watchers have seen this rapid shift from fear to greed many times before, and know it can have painful consequences.

The first time Bitcoins price went past five figures in 2017, it fueled a speculative frenzy that ended almost as soon as it began, leading to an80% slumpover 12 months. And when Bitcoin rose above $10,000 in February this year, any hope for a rally was snuffed out by Covid. The subsequent mad rush to trade digital coins for cashwas made worseby the fact that many people were using large amounts of debtto back their trading. Several crypto hedge funds closed.

The cryptocurrency has doubled in two months, and not for the first time

Source: Bloomberg

Is anything different this time? Bitcoins wild price swings undermine its case as a reliable store of value or safe haven.Its still 43% below its high of almost $20,000. But as a store of fear Warren Buffetts description of the short-term pessimism that pushes investors into cryptocurrencyit has its fans.

As with gold, whose price has soared as central banks and governments spend trillions of dollars to fight the pandemic recession, some big New York names are talking up Bitcoin as a hedge against an inflationary spiral or currency crisis.Citing its algorithmically-controlled supply cap of 21 million, billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones praised Bitcoins scarcity premiumin May and said between 1% and 2% of his assets were held in the digital currency as protection ina low-interest-rate world. Medallion, the flagshipfund of quant specialistRenaissance Technologies, got the go-ahead to invest in Bitcoin futures in April.

Fear of a low-rate environment is driving greed for gold and its digital cousin

Source: Bloomberg

This market narrative of insurance against the financial apocalypse (almost like a grown-up version of the money printer go brrr meme)has some logic to it.

The recent stimulus-fueled stock-market rally has left 71% of fund managers thinking equities are overvalued, according to a Bank of America July survey. Diversifying into gold might make sense, particularly in a world where Covid-19 cases are flaring up once more. And for the fund manager forced to find winners in a market where everythings up, a bit of Bitcoin might also work as schmuck insurance if the tenfold price rise it experienced in 2017 were ever to repeat itself. Bitcoin is more volatile than and less correlated to gold and equities these days, according to research firm Kaiko. Thats what makes it attractive to some risk-hungry hedge funds, who make their living from market swings.

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The snag is just how dangerously unpredictable Bitcoin is even when compared with gold, which has a habit of not doing what bankers expect. Demand for Bitcoin is speculative and emotional, rather than tied to fundamentals such as adoption of virtual currencies as an everyday payment method. And supply is squeezed artificially, not just algorithmically. An estimated 60% of Bitcoinsupply is hoardedand 20%lost or untouched, according to research firm Chainalysis.

As more hedge-fund sharks (and day-trader minnows who want to keep up with Tudor Jonesand his ilk) head back into the murky waters of Bitcoin, theyll be swimming alongside the whales, the big crypto investors who hold their fortunes in digital coin.The market moves of these individuals tend to thrashthe price around.

Crypto's paper millionaires are growing in number, but they're still a minority

Source: bitinfocharts

Some whales will probably be looking for opportunities to cash out after life-changing gains.Investors holding between 1,000 and 1 million Bitcoin account for 42% of all Bitcoin supply.

As my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Aaron Brown put it last year: I doubt they (the whales) have infinite patience, and without significant growth in actual use, I would expect them to quietly withdraw to chase other promising technologies. So far, the market moves have been pretty noisy. Last year, a single large Bitcoin sale knocked 10% off its price. When the next sell-off hits, some of the harshest hedge fund critics of central-bank stimulus might wish for a bailout of their own.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:Lionel Laurent at llaurent2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.net

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels. He previously worked at Reuters and Forbes.

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Forget gold and Bitcoin. I’d buy bargain UK shares today ahead of a bumper recovery – Yahoo Finance UK

The chances of a bumper recovery for UK shares may seem slim at present. Although indexes, such as the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, have rebounded strongly over recent months, many stocks continue to trade significantly below their previous highs. And risks, such as rising coronavirus cases, are set to persist over coming months.

However, buying bargain stocks now for the long term could be a better idea than purchasing other assets, such as Bitcoin and gold. Undervalued shares have the potential to produce high capital returns as the wider stock market recovers.

The recent market crash, and the potential for a second decline this year, is contributing to bargain valuations among many UK shares. Many investors feel that wide margins of safety are currently required due to heightened risks. And, while there could yet be more volatility and even declines ahead, the reality is that a long-term recovery is very likely.

Fiscal and monetary policy stimulus enacted by policymakers in the UK, and in other major economies, could boost asset prices and the wider economy. Although this process may take time, previous economic downturns have always been followed by a return to strong growth.

This time may feel different, due to an unprecedented scenario thats not been experienced for many years, if ever. But major stimulus programmes are already in place and the stock market has a solid track record of recovery. So a return to growth for UK shares is likely to occur in the coming years.

Therefore, continuing to invest in UK shares while they offer bargain valuations in some cases could prove to be a profitable move. It may allow you to reduce overall risks through obtaining a wide margin of safety. Potentially, you may also benefit from relatively high capital returns as the wider stock market recovers.

This means that shares could offer a more favourable outlook than other assets, such as gold and Bitcoin. Certainly, theyve enjoyed sharp growth of late. However, golds price rise may be inhibited by a likely return to more bullish investor sentiment. That makes defensive assets seem less appealing. Furthermore, its price is currently close to a record high, which is in contrast to the low valuations on offer among UK shares.

Meanwhile, Bitcoins role in the world economy continues to be difficult to predict. Its limited size means it may fail to replace traditional currencies. Meanwhile, regulatory concerns could weigh on its performance in the long run.

Therefore, building a portfolio of high-quality stocks while their valuations are low could be a more profitable move for investors. They may yet experience further volatility. But theyre likely to deliver impressive capital returns as the world economy recovers.

The post Forget gold and Bitcoin. Id buy bargain UK shares today ahead of a bumper recovery appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makesus better investors.

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Forget gold and Bitcoin. I'd buy bargain UK shares today ahead of a bumper recovery - Yahoo Finance UK

Bitcoin fees have spiked 500% this month – Decrypt

Bitcoin's price may be soaring, but so are transaction fees. In the past month, the average cost of sending Bitcoin has risen by more than 525%.

Per data from Bitinfocharts, Bitcoin's transaction fees currently average $5.80 a pop. The vast majority of the spike was realized in the last three days, coinciding with Bitcoin surpassing $11,000. Fees have doubled in just the last three days.

Fees typically spike with higher network usage and given Bitcoin's recent rally above $11,000 as well as the added demand it's generatedits not a big surprise.

The high fees correspond with the jamming of Bitcoin's transaction queue, known as the mempool. Mempool data peaked on July 24, with around 80 megabytes worth of transactions waiting to be processed on the network. When theres a backlog, those wanting to send Bitcoin raise fees so that theyre processed quicker (because miners are more likely to process transactions with higher fees).

The last time Bitcoin transaction fees rose this high was back in May. After Bitcoin's quadrennial halving, the average Bitcoin fee observed a two-year high of around $6.60. It dropped back down afterwards, which should happen this time around too.

Network fees on Bitcoin's closest rival Ethereum are also spiking, up 180% this month, and hitting $1.4 on average. And its having a knock-on effect on the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. With higher transaction fees, DeFi apps, such as Compound and Uniswap, end up becoming much more costly to use.

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Bitcoin fees have spiked 500% this month - Decrypt

Steve Wozniak sues YouTube over ongoing bitcoin scams – The Verge

Steve Wozniak is suing YouTube for allowing scammers to use his name and likeness in phony bitcoin giveaways.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, crooks have been posting videos on the platform claiming that Wozniak is hosting a bitcoin promotion. They convince users that if they send bitcoin to a provided address, Wozniak will return double the amount.

YouTube has featured a steady stream of scam videos and promotions that falsely use images and videos of Plaintiff Steve Wozniak, and other famous tech entrepreneurs, and that have defrauded YouTube users out of millions of dollars, the complaint reads.

The lawsuit includes screenshots of videos advertising 5,000-BTC and 10,000-BTC giveaways from Wozniak, which include images of the Apple co-founder. There appear to be videos using the likeness of other tech leaders as well, including Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and financial self-help guru Robert Kiyosaki.

The plaintiffs, which include Wozniak and 17 other individuals, allege that YouTube is aware of these scams but has nonetheless not taken the videos down.

Despite Plaintiffs and legions of other users repeated pleas that YouTube take timely action to end this bitcoin giveaway scam, YouTube repeatedly delayed or refused to do so, reads the lawsuit. As a result of defendants egregious failures to act and affirmative misconduct in promoting this criminal enterprise, Plaintiff Wozniak has suffered, and continues to suffer, irreparable harm to his reputation, and YouTube users, including plaintiffs, have been defrauded out of millions of dollars. Among other relief, Plaintiffs seek an order requiring YouTube to finally end its outrageous practice of hosting, promoting, and profiting from these criminally fraudulent videos and promotions.

We take abuse of our platform seriously, and take action quickly when we detect violations of our policies, such as scams or impersonation, said a YouTube spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

Fraudulent giveaways have long been a feature of the bitcoin world, but they are getting more attention after a network-wide hack on Twitter that leveraged account access to perform the scam on a massive scale. Last week, hackers accessed the accounts of a number of high-profile users, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Kanye West, and Michael Bloomberg. Hackers used the breached accounts to announce fraudulent giveaways, claiming users who sent bitcoin to a provided address would receive double the amount in return. The scam is believed to have earned its creators nearly $120,000. (The Youtube scam, while also targeting bitcoin owners, does not appear to involve compromised account information.)

Twitter acknowledged that situation about an hour after it began, tweeting from its support handle, We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. The company eventually locked all verified accounts from tweeting while it looked into the incident, a measure that was in place for over two hours.

We all feel terrible this happened, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wrote later in the evening. Were diagnosing and will share everything we can when we have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened.

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Steve Wozniak sues YouTube over ongoing bitcoin scams - The Verge

Silvergate’s Bitcoin-Backed Lending Product Grew 80% in the Last Quarter – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

Silvergate Bank continued to add a steady drip of cryptocurrency customers in the second quarter and its portfolio of bitcoin-collateralized loans nearly doubled, dwarfing the growth of its traditional real estate loan book.

According to its latest earnings report, released Monday morning, the banks vanilla loans about $1.1 billion of the type of assets George Bailey would have recognized increased by only 0.1% from the first quarter. Bitcoin-collateralized loans through the banks SEN Leverage product surged 88% in the same period, to $22.5 million.

The bank continues to have a steady pipeline of more than 200 customers waiting to be onboarded, Silvergate CEO Alan Lane said on an earnings call Monday.

Its a great time to be a bitcoin banker, Lane said. The publicly traded, La Jolla, Calif.-based bank is one of the few U.S. banks willing to openly serve crypto-related businesses and gets most of its deposits from the crypto sector.

Each of the SEN Leverage loans has performed according to the banks expectations, Lane said.

In response to analysts questions, Silvergate EVP of Corporate Development Ben Reynolds projected that SEN Leverages growth would be dominated by institutional customers taking out credit lines from anywhere between $1 million to $10 million. While Silvergate is tempering SEN Leverage growth by the speed at which it can safely underwrite the loans, the customer demand for the product, which is part of the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN). is strong, Reynolds added.

The bank went public on the New York Stock Exchange in November. With $2.34 billion in total assets, Silvergate is less than 1% the size of JPMorgan Chase.

Money makers

Despite outpacing growth in the banks traditional loan book, the bitcoin-collateralized loans have a long way to go before they affect the banks net interest income (NII), or profit from loans.

If you assume 7% yield on the $22 million, it suggests less than 3% of NII as it stands today, Mike Perito, a bank stock analyst at investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Wood, said in an emailed statement.

The SEN Leverage product is used for many kinds of trading strategies, beyond just a long position, Reynolds said. Demand for bitcoin-backed loans tends to decrease as the market becomes less volatile.

The crypto space continues to be a rich source of non-interesting bearing deposits for the bank: $1.6 billion, or 94% of total deposits, comes from the sector.

While deposits decreased from calling outstanding brokered certificates of deposit (CDs) and from a decrease of deposits from digital currency customers, the latter category now makes up 90% of total deposits, up from 84% in the first quarter.

As a result, the banks cost of deposits dipped to 0.37%, from 0.87% in the first quarter. Crypto firms deposits are an attractive source of funding for Silvergate because they dont pay interest, whereas brokered deposits are expensive because they need high rates to attract investors.

The bank signed on 31 new crypto firms in the second quarter. Out of its digital currency client growth, 25 were new institutional investors, three were crypto exchanges (including ErisX), and another three were in the miscellaneous bucket. Deposits across all customer types decreased in the second quarter.

For the second half of 2020, Martino said he expects interest in the SEN from institutional investors to increase given bitcoins recent rise above $10,000, and does not expect to see Silvergates rivals continue to bid aggressively for deposit business in a zero-interest-rate environment.

Activity on the SEN increased by 28% since last quarter to more than 40,000 transactions, Lane said.

The volume running over the SEN increased by 29% quarter-over-quarter to $22.4 billion, a 160% increase from the same period last year.

Silvergate reaped $2.4 million in fee income from digital currency customers, a 41% increase from first quarter 2020 and the largest quarterly increase the bank has had so far from this revenue source. Silvergate CFO Antonio Martino noted the bank saw the highest volume of wire transfers ever as more crypto exchanges used the banks cash management products.

Crypto banking competition

Even with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcing that nationally chartered U.S. banks can now custody crypto, building out custody services for digital assets is different from building out custody products for the existing financial market, Lane added.

Even though the California Department of Business Oversight and the San Francisco Federal Reserve has been OK with banks safeguarding digital assets for some time, state-chartered Silvergate has no plans to jump into crypto custody anytime soon, the CEO said. In June, Silvergate partnered with crypto custodian Anchorage to custody assets for SEN Leverage customers.

While Silvergate hasnt announced any crypto prime brokerage plans, it is focused on ways in which it can help reduce the friction on the digital asset side of trades as its done for the fiat side through the SEN, Reynolds said. The bank is considering building new products, forming new partnerships and even targeted acquisitions in the field of digital asset settlement.

The most prime brokerage-esque product the bank is focused on now is offering lines of credit, Lane said.

What prime brokerage means for the digital currency industry is still being developed, he added.

In response to an analysts question about JPMorgan Chase banking Coinbase and Gemini, Lane said Silvergate had anticipated that competition would come into the space for some time.

We know for a fact that our exchange partners desire to have multiple banking relationships, he said. As you can see from the results in the quarter, we didnt see any direct impact from the [JPMorgan] announcement. We continue to grow.

Update (July 27, 21:39 UTC): New information from Silvergates earnings call has been added to the piece.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Bitcoin Rides to Year High on Back of Gold Rally, Dollar Slump – Bloomberg

Mining machine at a Bitfarms cryptocurrency farming facility.

Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg

Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg

Bitcoin surged to the highest in almost a year as the slump in the dollar and rally in gold bolstered the notion that cryptocurrencies will emerge as a viable alternative to traditional monetary systems.

The largest digital token climbed as much as 15% to $10,944, the highest price since August. The rally accelerated after the coin breached $10,500, a level that it had failed to sustain gains after surpassing in June and February.

Bitcoin, which crypto fans have often touted as digital gold, is in favor as the yellow metal hits record levels, concerns rise about the health of the world economy and the dollar falls. Advocates tout cryptocurrencies as a way to protect wealth from government action such as stimulus measures, which are often viewed in inflationary.

Its attracting the momentum players, said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. And of course, the momentum players play such a big role nowadays that its giving Bitcoin the big move.

Also, last week, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said American banks can provide custody services for customers crypto assets, which could help boost the asset classs appeal with some investors.

The cryptocurrency had been hovering near its 50-day moving average for weeks before pulling above it in the past couple of days.

Bitcoin has enjoyed above-average flows this year, and those flows are relatively high versus their five-year average when compared with those of exchange traded funds in other asset classes, according to a report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategist John Normand on Friday.

With assistance by Kenneth Sexton

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$11,000 Bitcoin Just Happened: Whats Fueling the Massive Pump? – CCN.com

Bitcoins price blew past $11,000 Monday for the first time since 2019, signaling the end of a multi-year downtrend and pointing to further gains over the horizon.

The bitcoin price peaked at $11,417.11 Monday evening, up more than $1,500 on the day. At the time of writing, the digital asset was sitting on a gain of 13% at $11,233, according to TradingView.

From a technical standpoint, bitcoins price far exceeds the 50-period and 200-period moving averages. The relative strength index on the hourly chart points to overbought conditions.

A similar observation is made on the daily chart:

At its current price point, bitcoin has a total market cap of nearly $205.2 billion. That accounts for 63.1% of the overall crypto market, which is presently worth almost $327 billion.

The rally caught the attention of mainstream media and casual traders who have grown accustomed to seeing bitcoin rejected in and around the $10,500 mark. After months of lateral moves, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is finally breaking out.

Bitcoin is surging at a time when goldthe worlds most trusted haven asset is trading at all-time highs against the U.S. dollar.

In both cases, investors appear to be hedging their bets against a shaky economic recoveryone that could dismantle the stock-market rally over the medium term.

While bitcoin still has a long way to go to prove its an established store of value like bullion, the digital currency continues to defy the odds with jaw-dropping returns.

Despite being written off in mainstream circles due to its volatility and regulatory scrutiny, bitcoin is up nearly 60% year-to-date. It remains the best-performing asset of the past decade.

If bitcoins proponents are correct, the digital currency is about to enter another bullish cycleone that could end with 10x returns by the end of 2021. For that to happen, adoption will have to keep growing in the face of record central-bank stimulus, ballooning budget deficits, and worsening economic conditions.

Although central banks like to pretend inflation doesnt exist, investors flocking bitcoin and gold are preparing for an alternate scenario where the value of their local currency depreciates rapidly.

The inflation story has a lot of merits, according to Gavin Smith, the chief executive of crypto consortium Panxora.

In an email interview with Billy Bambrough of Forbes, Smith said:

Our view is that we still believe the markets are pulled on the one hand by the inflation hedge story driving bitcoin higher

But thats only one part of the story. Smith added:

while at the same time the global economy is suffering a massive demand shock with the potential to drive bitcoin lower.

He believes bitcoin will end the year sharply lower before resuming its uptrend next year. Smiths view still lines up with the four-year-cycle theorists (video above) who believe we will see a new, parabolic high by the end of 2021.

Disclaimer: This article represents the authors opinion and should not be considered investment or trading advice from CCN.com. The author owns bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Last modified: July 28, 2020 12:50 AM UTC

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