China’s digital yuan, perhaps the largest and most important government-backed cryptocurrency project to date, was supposed to launch early this year. Development had been delayed this year, but earlier in January the Chinese central bank stated that its design process, standard-setting, and testing were rapidly nearing completion. But now that many areas of China are […]
Many financial advisers probably look longingly at the great gains made by cryptocurrency investors and wish they had gotten in on the game. Last year Bitcoin made about a 90% gain over the course of the year, tripling the gains that major stock market indices made in what was a great year for stocks. But […]
Bitcoin options trading began in earnest last week, with CME Group beginning Bitcoin options trading on the CME Globex exchange last Monday. While competitor ICE’s platform Bakkt has been offering Bitcoin options since December, the new competition should further enliven the Bitcoin investment markets. The Bitcoin price soared nearly 10% in the aftermath of CME’s […]
Bitcoin recently set a new record for hash rate, as miners are getting back into the Bitcoin mining game. The total hash rate surpassed 119 exahashes per second (EH/s) in early January, breaking the previous record of 114 EH/s that had been set back in October. These levels are significantly greater than the levels seen […]
After the massive Bitcoin price rise in 2017, many financial analysts have categorized Bitcoin’s performance since then as disappointing. What they fail to understand is that Bitcoin was by far the best-performing asset of the last decade. And even its performance in so-called off years has been remarkable. After what for many investors was a […]
New York’s BitLicense is famously known and reviled by many within the cryptocurrency community. The hurdles it places in the way of cryptocurrency businesses means that many firms are not able to operate in New York, and risk running afoul of New York authorities if they even accidentally take on New York residents as clients. […]
We had reported earlier on Coinbase’s introduction of a VISA card in Europe that would allow consumers to use cryptocurrencies to purchase goods at point of sale. That initial experiment has become so successful that Coinbase is now expanding the number of cryptocurrencies that users can use, as well as the number of countries in […]
As useful as Bitcoin is, its use as a payment method runs into one serious problem: it needs electricity and an internet connection in order to function. If power goes out or the internet goes down, so does the ability to use Bitcoin as a payment. But thanks to tech-savvy Bitcoin users in Venezuela, great […]
One of the biggest uncertainties facing cryptocurrencies is their legal status and the prospect of future financial regulation. With the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) providing minimal tax guidance, cryptocurrency users and investors have been largely operating in a gray area for the past several years. One of the biggest questions to face cryptocurrency investors was […]
Central bankers aren’t the most aware people on the face of the planet. They continue to drive country after country into recession, then feign ignorance, as if inflation weren’t the product of their monetary policies. So when a central banker comments on matters of money and currency, you have to take everything with a grain […]
