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Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that started it all. There are dozens of other cryptocurrencies you can use to deposit at BookMaker and hundreds more on the periphery, but Bitcoin is the most well-known of the bunch, and the only one your aunt Ethel and uncle Fred know. As of late March 2019, Bitcoin still holds over 50 percent of the value in the entire cryptocurrency market, and that doesn’t seem set to change any time soon.
Week of August 19, 2019 News Update
Fears of a recession have led Bitcoin on a bit of a rollercoaster ride over the last week. We have seen the cryptocurrency dip below $10,000 and rally to almost $11,000, as bulls and bears have repeatedly clashed. That battle doesn’t look like it will be resolved in the near future, so the price could continue to fluctuate up to 10 percent a day.
The rapid rise in the price of Bitcoin over the last six months has led to people getting back into crypto mining. The costs of crypto mining are prohibitive, so some have been trying to find workarounds in order to limit the infrastructure costs. That led to some nuclear power plant operators using their site’s servers to mine crypto in the Ukraine, and they were arrested for their transgressions earlier this week.
Due to the sensitive nature of the site, those involved are likely to receive serious punishment. The nuclear power plant is supposed to be a secure site, but it was opened up to the outside internet in order to mine crypto. That’s a big no-no.
Crypto investors in South Korea are looking abroad at exchanges after a recent report said that 97 percent of the country’s domestic exchanges were at risk for bankruptcy. The report from Business Korea claims that a low transaction volume threatens the stability of these exchanges, so keep that in mind if you’re living in Seoul or Incheon.
Bitcoin BTC Weekly Price
| WEEK |
BITCOIN PRICE IN USD |
| August 19, 2019 |
10916.05 |
| August 12, 2019 |
11382.62 |
| August 5, 2019 |
11805.65 |
| July 29, 2019 |
9519.15 |
| July 22, 2019 |
10343.11 |
| July 15, 2019 |
10895.09 |
| July 8, 2019 |
12285.96 |
| July 1, 2019 |
10583.13 |
| June 24, 2019 |
11011.10 |
| June 17, 2019 |
9320.35 |
| June 10, 2019 |
8000.33 |
| June 3, 2019 |
8202.99 |
| May 27, 2019 |
8805.78 |
| May 20, 2019 |
7978.31 |
| May 13, 2019 |
7814.92 |
| May 6, 2019 |
5746.81 |
| April 29, 2019 |
5247.35 |
| April 22, 2019 |
5399.37 |
| April 15, 2019 |
5067.11 |
| April 8, 2019 |
5289.77 |
| April 1, 2019 |
4158.18 |
| March 25, 2019 |
3963.07 |
| March 18, 2019 |
4032.51 |
| March 11, 2019 |
3905.23 |
| March 4, 2019 |
3761.56 |
| February 25, 2019 |
3882.70 |
| February 18, 2019 |
3915.71 |
| February 11, 2019 |
3648.43 |
| February 4, 2019 |
3459.15 |
| January 28, 2019 |
3470.45 |
| January 21, 2019 |
3576.03 |
| January 14, 2019 |
3706.05 |
| January 7, 2019 |
4025.25 |
| December 31, 2018 |
3742.70 |
Week of August 12, 2019 News Update
It’s been a rough past few days for the financial markets, and rather than be a bulwark in the face of a downturn, the price of Bitcoin has been affected as a result. Since Monday, we have seen Bitcoin lose nearly 20 percent of its value as global financial markets as a whole have taken a hit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 800 points yesterday, and Bitcoin’s price plummeted too in a sign of solidarity.
The primary reason behind the downturn is due to bond prices. One of the most reliable indicators of an upcoming recession has been when there is an inversion in the yield curve between two-year and ten-year Treasury notes, and the sell-off began when the inversion point was briefly surpassed. That led to the worst day of the year thus far for the market and it affected Bitcoin too.
In other news, banks are now facilitating cross-border payments through Bitcoin in Latin America. Bantotal and Bitex have joined forces to help facilitate cross-border payments using crypto at more than 60 banks. Currently, many banks in the region use the US Dollar as a third-party metric to determine the conversion rate, but these two companies are hoping to make exchanging money for goods much smoother and easier.
China is making waves in the Bitcoin world too. Some Chinese investors are buying more and more crypto as a fallback measure just in case the country’s trade war with the United States picks up once more. Even though China strongly discourages crypto, that has not stopped people from buying in.
Week of August 5, 2019 News Update
Crypto wonks are reveling in Bitcoin’s latest surge. The world’s predominant cryptocurrency has risen in price by nearly 25 percent over the last week, and Bloomberg recently highlighted its rise in relation to another counter to traditional currency, gold. Bloomberg reported that over the past three months the price of Bitcoin has nearly doubled in relation to gold, and there are multiple reasons behind the rise.
First, unlike gold, Bitcoin is a lot easier to convert into traditional currency anywhere in the world. You can’t just take gold coins or bullion to a local bank branch and ask for a cashout, but you can convert your crypto into cash in mere seconds. Second, Bitcoin is a lot easier to transport and hold onto in countries with uncertain economies. There is much more fluid movement worldwide than we saw just a few decades ago, and investors in countries with local currencies that fluctuate wildly think of Bitcoin as a more stable option.
There is other news in the world of crypto this week. South Korea has announced that its Financial Services Commission plans to regulate cryptocurrency. Previously, the country had just provided advice to banks on policy related to cryptos, but this move was made to shed some light on crypto transactions.
This measure still needs to be voted on, but financial policies are usually agreed upon pretty easily. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing for Bitcoin has been hotly debated, but it does show further acceptance.
Week of July 29, 2019 News Update
After falling below $10,000 for the second time in a month, Bitcoin proved it still has plenty of believers and rallied to stabilize across $10,000 again on Tuesday. That shows the enduring strength of the premier cryptocurrency as it holds on in spite of some bad news this week.
According to Forbes, the United Kingdom is considering a ban on crypto. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority’s executive director Christopher Woolard recently said that: "Consumers should be cautious when investing in such crypto-assets and should ensure they understand and can bear the risks involved with assets that have no intrinsic value."
That last line has some spooked. The UK’s FCA is the country’s financial overseer and it watches over the banking industry, so some are speculating that the country could move to ban it as a result. There is a new prime minister in Boris Johnson, and with Brexit on the horizon, the country will want to keep the pound strong and might prevent citizens from putting their money in crypto.
There has been good news that has offset this bit of bad news though. More and more companies are accepting Bitcoin as a source of payment, and Square sent a letter to shareholders saying that $125 million was sent in Bitcoin in Q2 of 2019. That has made many investors convinced of its promise going forward.
Week of July 22, 2019 News Update
Over the last few weeks, we have seen the price of Bitcoin steadily recede. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency dipped back under $10,000 a coin on Tuesday, and that seems to be where it will end the week. However, there’s no need to worry if you’re a Bitcoin bull. Bitcoin still has around 67 percent of the market share when it comes to the different cryptocurrencies, and as the price fluctuates, more and more investors are opting for Bitcoin instead of alt-coins.
The biggest news this week is the Craig Wright saga. Wright has claimed that he is the real Satoshi Nakamoto, and he is starting to file suit against others that are claiming to be Satoshi. Just two months ago, he was reportedly using a libel law prevalent in the UK to sue people that published pieces saying that he wasn’t the inventor of Bitcoin. His team served notice to the founder of Ethereum and Roger Ver, and he is now going after others that are considered major players in the community.
All of this has made Wright a pretty unpopular figure. He has yet to substantially prove that he is Satoshi by transferring Bitcoins out of the original wallet or sign something with the Genesis block, and until that happens, the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is in doubt.
The other news is in regard to Bakkt. It has begun acceptance testing for Bitcoin futures contracts, and it is currently pending approval by the New York Department of Financial Services. Bakkt is hopeful that it will be able to launch in Q3.
Week of July 15, 2019 News Update
What a difference a tweet can make. Although some Bitcoin lovers insist that it had no impact, the price of Bitcoin has rapidly declined since President Trump tweeted that he was not a fan of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general. It comes as no surprise that the POTUS is not a supporter of cryptocurrency given his numerous ties to traditional capital, but since his three-part Twitter rant on the subject, we have seen the price of Bitcoin plummet.
Last Wednesday, Bitcoin closed just over $12,000. It was the third straight day that Bitcoin was over $12,000, and the surge in the price of the most known cryptocurrency was still going strong. However, we have seen it fall precipitously since the night of July 11, and the price of a Bitcoin is once again under $10,000.
A lot of the drop in price has to do with Facebook’s intention to launch its own digital coin, Libra. There is not much faith in Facebook following numerous valid criticisms of the social media giant, and Congress has pilloried Facebook’s plans. Senator Sherrod Brown said that “Facebook has burned down the house over and over and called every arson a learning experience.”
This has led to growing concern that the United States government will try to step in and regulate cryptocurrencies. There isn’t much that Democrats and Republicans both agree on in Washington, but it seems as if both parties have plenty of skeptics when it comes to crypto.
Week of July 8, 2019 News Update
The European Central Bank continues to be pessimistic about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. During a regularly scheduled Q&A session on Twitter, the ECB was asked whether or not it planned to put Bitcoin in the central bank’s reserves anytime in the near future. The person responding on behalf of the ECB quoted Chief Economist Philip Lane and stated that, “Bitcoin is not a currency, it rather is an asset and it is very volatile.”
Other countries’ central banks have been more receptive to the idea of potentially adding Bitcoin reserves, but the ECB continues to be stolid in its stance. The institution doesn’t feel the need to change anytime soon, and it likely won’t unless it becomes more adopted in traditional sectors.
In other news, there has been a Bitcoin boom in Zimbabwe as that country’s fragile economy continues to deal with massive inflation. While not at the heights it was during the Robert Mugabe presidency, the local currency continues to struggle and that has led to the government banning the United States dollar in an effort to get more people invested in Zimbabwe’s dollar. Some citizens have bought into the Zimbabwe dollar as a result, but a great deal of people from the country have decided to invest in the relative safety of Bitcoin instead.
While Bitcoin can be very volatile, its price fluctuations are nothing compared to what we have seen in Zimbabwe over the last 25 years. With that in mind, it’s hard to blame people in Zimbabwe for buying large quantities of cryptocurrency.
Week of July 1, 2019 News Update
We’re once again experiencing a lot of fluidity in the price of Bitcoin. On Tuesday, we saw the price dip below $10,000 a coin for a brief period, and two days later, it shot back up over $12,000. That’s great news for investors who are bullish on Bitcoin as the premier cryptocurrency looks to have a $10,000 floor once more.
While China continues to state that they are against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies publicly, they have done little to stop its spread among the populace. If China really wanted to, it could crack down hard on Bitcoin and other cryptos, just as it does with other forms of technology. We’ve seen the country take major action against both Twitter and Uber, but there are a lot of crypto investors in China and the government has allowed that market to swell by not actively stopping investment.
There is Bitcoin news in another one of the Asian economic powerhouses too. The Bank of Japan has decided to not allow cryptocurrencies to be introduced into the central banking system. A Reuters news article includes a statement from Bank of Japan deputy governor Masayoshi Amamiya, who reasons that adoption of cryptocurrency would lead to the dissolution of the yen as a viable means of currency.
Week of June 24, 2019 News Update
It’s been an incredibly wild week for Bitcoin. The leading cryptocurrency broke through the $10,000 barrier on June 21, kicking off an insane week of trading. Investors around the globe rushed to get in, creating a boom that lasted until Wednesday. At it’s peak, Bitcoin nearly surpassed the $14,000 mark, but its run has receded over the last two days. It’s price has retreated nearly $2500, yet if you invested just three months ago, you’ve tripled your money.
That flurry of action led to one of the world’s largest exchanges, Coinbase, crashing on Wednesday. Some blamed the site’s crash for the sudden decline in the price of Bitcoin, but it’s very unlikely that one exchange being offline for a short amount of time actually had a deleterious effect of that kind. Correlation is not causation.
Although Bitcoin is currently falling at a rapid pace, there is reason to believe another spike will happen shortly. On July 1, we will learn which companies have been added to and kicked out of different indexes, and stock market investors are likely to put their money in Bitcoin for the perceived safety. This is one of the few times where you can make the case that cryptocurrency is more stable than the more established market, so don’t be surprised to see a rise.
Week of June 17, 2019 News Update
One of the world’s largest companies has decided to throw its hat in the cryptocurrency ring. On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it was launching a few different products, but the biggest buzz was reserved for its new cryptocurrency, Libra. The plan is for Libra to go online in 2020, but there are a number of hurdles that Facebook might have to clear by next year. Regulators in both Europe and North America are urging caution, as Facebook is notorious for just plunging into a market without any real thought on how its actions will affect others. Maxine Waters and some other top government officials have already asked Facebook to delay Libra’s launch.
That’s not the only concern though. Critics that have analyzed Libra claim that this isn’t a real cryptocurrency as there is only a veneer of privacy when it comes to making transactions. Whereas every other major cryptocurrency is private, Facebook’s Libra has privacy concerns that make it unable to be used in the same manner as other cryptos.
In other news, some Brazilians that invested in Bitcoin are furious as they have been unable to withdraw their funds. There have been numerous reports that customers have not been able to cash out from Bitcoin investment firm Bitcoin Bank Group. The firm claims that their related cryptocurrency exchange, NegocieCoins, has had some major problems, and that has caused these issues. Many investors with Bitcoin in this firm have lost patience though, and they are selling off their holdings for 10 cents on the dollar.
Week of June 10, 2019 News Update
We have seen the price of Bitcoin hover around $8000 a coin for the last week, so it seems to have stalled out for now. However, the last time I made that declaration it exploded almost immediately afterwards so this might be the time to get in.
Although Vladimir Putin has been a big proponent of cryptocurrencies, Russia has had a tenuous relationship with Bitcoin and others over the years. However, there have been reports that Russia is developing warmer feelings with regard to crypto, and they may soon start building a large financial center on Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island that will help process Bitcoin and other financial transactions. This island is a located in the middle of Amur River, and it is split between Russia and China, theoretically making it a hub for both countries. With Russia also supposedly considering a move to use cryptos like Bitcoin in international trade instead of the United States Dollar, this could be a huge processing center.
Unfortunately citizens in one of the other largest countries in the world might find it much more difficult to trade cryptos in the future. Last week, Bloomberg reported that there is currently a proposed bill in the Indian legislature that would make trading in cryptocurrency a criminal act punishable with a prison sentence. India’s bureaucracy is notoriously slow when it comes to turning proposed bills into law, so even if this bill gets fast-tracked it will still take some time for it to pass. Supporters of cryptocurrency can also take heart in knowing that this report came as news to the Reserve Bank of India, and that institution would likely have to sign off on any move to make buying and selling cryptos an illegal act. The RBI has warned consumers against using cryptos in the past, but many citizens are using third party intermediaries for trading Bitcoin.
Week of June 3, 2019, News Update
The price of Bitcoin has taken a hit since peaking last Monday. Bitcoin has fallen below $8000 for the first time since May 26, and it has yet to recover.
There was good news in the world of Bitcoin earlier today though. European soccer giant Benfica became the biggest club yet to allow fans to purchase tickets and club merchandise with cryptocurrency. The club has partnered with UTRUST, a crypto payment processing firm, to enable fans to use Bitcoin and Ethereum in and around Estadio da Luz. Benfica CEO Domingos Soares de Oliveira urged that the club was doing this to stay at the forefront of new technology, and others are sure to join if the venture is a successful one. Benfica has won the Portuguese Primeira Liga 37 times (including last year) and they were the second team ever to win the European Cup.
Vancouver was the first city in the world to install a Bitcoin ATM back in 2013, but mayor Kennedy Stewart is looking to do away with the machines. Stewart has indicated that banning the machines may help prevent fraud and money laundering, and he has commissioned a report to examine the issue further. The topic will be studied during the third quarter of this year, and the 76 Bitcoin ATMs in Vancouver could be removed by the end of the calendar year.
Week of May 27, 2019 News Update
It’s been another great week for Bitcoin. The biggest cryptocurrency had run into a wall at $8,000 but it surged past that on Memorial Day. The price of a Bitcoin rose by over $600 on Monday, and it has stabilized at close to $9,000 in the last couple days. Now, speculators are wondering when it will break the $10,000 barrier, and that could come next month.
There’s been big news around the world too. On Wednesday, it was reported that Egypt is currently considering a bill that would lift the country’s ban on all forms of cryptocurrency. Cryptos were banned in full by Grand Mufti Shawki Allam last year, as the religious leader declared that cryptos ran contrary to international law. He was very concerned about the adverse effects that they had on Islamic societies, but it appears the Sisi government is reconsidering this position. The bill under consideration would make cryptocurrencies legal, but they would be heavily regulated and need a license from the Central Bank of Egypt in order to operate within national borders. Still, it’s a step in the right direction for the most populous country in the Middle East.
Bitcoin investment app Abra is helping investors around the globe use Bitcoin in order to invest in stocks and ETFs. The start-up began allowing US-based investors the ability to trade in mid-February, and CEO Bill Barhydt announced that people in 155 countries will now be able to use their services too.
Week of May 20, 2019 Update
It looks like the Bitcoin run may have stalled out. After the cryptocurrency doubled its value in less than two months, it has failed to stabilize once it crosses $8000, and that resistance might not be broken any time soon. Still, no one who invested in Bitcoin this year has reason to complain, as its sudden surge made a lot of people a lot of money.
In Bitcoin news this week, it’s looking more and more likely that Craig Wright might really be Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. Wright provided enough evidence that he was indeed the famed creator of the cryptocurrency that he won United States copyright registrations for parts of the Bitcoin code and the original bitcoin white paper according to Forbes. That has made his Bitcoin offshoot, Bitcoin SV, skyrocket in value.
Week of May 13, 2019 Update
If you bought into Bitcoin in the last two months, I have one question to ask you. Can I get a loan? Bitcoin bulls have been rewarded immensely over the last two months, as the cryptocurrency continues its meteoric rise. As trade relations with China worsen and the market tanks, more and more people are looking to invest in Bitcoin as they see crypto as a more viable option. What a difference a year makes.
That has turned even the most ardent naysayers into believers. Mark Mobius, cofounder of Mobius Capital Partners, once lampooned Bitcoin as a fraud, but now he even believes in its long-term viability. More and more people are coming around, and they might not fully understand it, but who really understands all the machinations of the markets?
Week of May 6, 2019 Update
There has been a Bitcoin boom over the last five weeks. On Thursday, Bitcoin finally crossed the $6000 plateau, moving past that number for the first time since its massive slide at the end of 2018. Bulls are predicting a huge run now, and we are seeing rampant speculation that Bitcoin might get into five figures again in the coming months.
Not even bad news has slowed down Bitcoin’s surge. On Wednesday morning, hackers stole more than $40 million from Taiwan-based Binance, stealing 7,000 Bitcoins through a combination of coordinated attacks. Despite the news, Bitcoin rose on Wednesday and is still cresting as of today.
History
In January 2009, Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto. The identity of Nakamoto remains hotly debated to this day, but that person or group changed the world with this invention.
Like many major breakthroughs, it took a while for people to grasp why Bitcoin was special. Bitcoin was created in the midst of the banking crisis, and one of its major goals was to give people another option to buy and sell products outside of a heavily regulated and centralized banking system.
The first entities to fully embrace Bitcoin were black market enterprises like Silk Road. For a while, Bitcoin became synonymous with the notorious website, but its use became more and more widespread starting in 2013.
That led to the price of Bitcoin skyrocketing and reaching incredible heights in 2017. On January 1, 2017 a single Bitcoin was worth $998, but that price rose by nearly 20 fold near the end of the year, hitting an all-time high of $19,666 on December 17, 2017. Since then, the price of Bitcoin has fallen considerably, but early adopters are still well ahead of the game.
Stability
One of the major criticisms of Bitcoin is that the currency wildly fluctuates, but we have not seen a ton of movement in the cryptocurrency since Thanksgiving 2018. As Bitcoin has become more accepted and understood, investors are getting a better understanding of what leads to price changes, and that has led to the Bitcoin market looking a lot like the stock market.
Security
There have been fears over how secure Bitcoin is over the years, but transactions are even more secure as they are in the traditional marketplace thanks to blockchain technology. Whereas we are constantly hearing stories of companies having their databases hacked and identities being stolen, the nature of blockchain presents this from happening with Bitcoin.
For a transaction to occur, the sender must know their private key and digitally sign the transaction, and the signature must be verified by the network using the public key. The number of private keys makes it nearly impossible to hack into another person’s account, but there is one thing to keep in mind. You MUST keep your private key backed up somewhere or else you will lose access to your Bitcoin. Don’t make the mistake of not backing up your private key and risk losing your hard earned money.
How do I buy Bitcoin?
You can buy Bitcoin by using one of the major currency exchanges such as Coinbase or Gemini. These exchanges allow you to use a credit or debit card or bank transfer to buy Bitcoin. You can then send Bitcoin to your sportsbook account and you can withdraw Bitcoin from your sportsbook account to your digital wallet.
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