Bitcoin | - Part 6

Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Another Currency

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin is losing its luster with some of its earliest and most avid fans — criminals — giving rise to a new breed of virtual currency. Privacy coins such as monero, designed to avoid tracking, have climbed faster over the past two months as law enforcers adopt software tools to monitor people using bitcoin. A slew of analytic firms such as Chainalysis are getting better at flagging digital hoards linked…

Bitcoin Is the Most Perfect Bubble Possible

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – What else would you call something that, as of Tuesday morning, has gone up 47 percent the past week, 181 percent the past month, and 2,119 percent the past year? Not to mention the most remarkable part of this all: It has happened for no discernible reason. People haven’t started to actually, you know, use bitcoins much more than they did a year ago, but that hasn’t stopped its…

Bitcoin Shorts Are Hard to Find, Keeping Futures Above Spot

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – For traders used to seeing arbitrage plays vanish within seconds, bitcoin futures’ rise back to more than $1,300 above the spot price a full day after their debut is another testament to the cryptocurrency’s unconventional evolution. Professional investors and analysts predict the premium will collapse over time. Yet its persistence and volatility — from as low as 1.8 percent to as high as 13 percent — indicate how a market that’s captured Wall Street’s…

Mystery Shrouds Tether and Its Links to Biggest Bitcoin Exchange

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Among the many mysteries at the heart of the cryptocurrency market are these: Does $814 million of a digital token known as tether really exist? And what is tether’s connection to Bitfinex, the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange? This is the state of crypto in late 2017, where questions about the companies behind the currencies are multiplying with the profits. While cryptocurrencies appeal to people who lack faith in governments and banks, the…

Online Fantasy Games Pay Real Money for Desperate Venezuelans

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – They start arriving even before the security shutters at the west Caracas storefront roll up at about 8:30 a.m. For 11 hours a day, they’ll hunch over old-fashioned cathode-ray tube monitors and bang on greasy keyboards in a dim space with a boarded-up window and a blanket of dust. They pause just long enough to smoke cigarettes in the stairwell. And if someone lingers too long, another eager person claims their seat and…

Bitcoin Heads to Wall Street Whether Regulators Are Ready or Not

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Two U.S. exchanges, including the parent of the venerable Chicago Mercantile Exchange, are racing to embrace bitcoin, dragging federal regulators into a realm skeptics call a fad and fraud. The development shows how some big financial players are moving to co-opt the volatile cryptocurrency and lure more mainstream investors into the market, even before regulators have agreed on just what bitcoin is. CME Group Inc.’s contracts will debut Dec. 18. Cboe…

Nasdaq Is Said to Plan Bitcoin Futures, Joining Biggest Rivals

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nasdaq Inc. plans to introduce bitcoin futures next year, according to a person familiar with the matter, becoming the third major U.S. exchange to attempt to dive into the red-hot market for cryptocurrencies. The New York-based exchange aims to introduce the products as early as the second quarter, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. The contracts will trade on Nasdaq’s NFX market,…

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