Bitcoin

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin is marching toward its second day of gains as traders showed relief over comments Tuesday by U.S. securities regulators, who called for greater oversight of cryptocurrencies without proposing industry-killing measures. The largest digital token headed to its first back-to-back increase in almost two weeks, rising 4.4 percent to $8,107 by 10:49 a.m. in New York, after earlier rising above $8,600 for the first time this week, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin has been a plaything for risk-hungry traders and punters rather than a widely held investment or real-world currency. It’s been shunned by banks and banned by governments. Yet it’s still possible that its slide on Monday made the broader market selloff worse, as investors sold assets to compensate for crypto-losses. Marginal as this may be, and you can’t be certain of correlation with something as unstable as digital…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Lithuanian startup Prodeum set out to raise as much as 5,400 Ether (about $6.5 million) in an initial coin offering, ostensibly to revolutionize the agriculture industry and put fruit on the blockchain. That’s not the strange part. Tracking produce could actually be a good use for the technology, and some legit firms are already doing it, so investors can be forgiven for signing up. But then there’s the name.  “Prodeum” is spelled almost…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – January’s cryptocurrency selloff got fresh impetus on Tuesday when Bitcoin slumped as much as 20 percent, as the prospect of regulatory crackdowns appeared to spread. While the largest digital coin trimmed its loss and was down 13 percent at $12,146 as of 8:28 a.m. in New York, it was still at the lowest level since late December, according to composite pricing on Bloomberg. As Bitcoin halted its two-day rally, rival cryptocurrencies…