Bitcoin's true believers vow to ride out cryptocurrency rollercoaster

The crowds have thinned somewhat at Bitcoin Center, leaving just the true believers in the volatile cryptocurrency.

"Two months ago we couldn't breathe here" due to the throngs, recalled Nick Spanos, founder of the trading and educational hub in lower Manhattan.

"People outside couldn't get inside."

The centre, which was set up in December 2013, calls itself a one-of-a-kind epicenter for all things bitcoin. It is primarily frequented by technology and financial types, mostly male and mostly younger, although it aspires to go well beyond that core audience.

"The Bitcoin Center is open seven days a week to shed light on the world of bitcoin to whoever walks in our doors!," proclaims its website.

"Our staff can provide an overview of bitcoin on the spot or register guests for our comprehensive bitcoin courses." On a recent weekday evening, about 100 people gathered in the space, a parlor in a Ukrainian restaurant, to trade bitcoins on smartphone applications, nibble on complimentary snacks and take in the latest insights from Spanos.

After Facebook ad ban, Twitter moves to prevent crypto scams on platform

Twitter is taking measures to prevent cryptocurrency-related accounts from running scams on its platform, the company said on Wednesday.
“We’re aware of this form of manipulation and are proactively implementing a number of signals to prevent these types of accounts from engaging with others in a deceptive manner,” Twitter said in a statement.
The measures come amid a boom in the price of bitcoin, the world's best known cryptocurrency. Bitcoin rose some 1,400 percent last year, but has fallen nearly 30 percent in 2018.
Last month, a Twitter account posing as Elon Musk targeted fans of the Silicon Valley billionaire, claiming to give away cryptocurrency. On Wednesday, the account appeared to be suspended.

It's illegal: Modi govt to bar cryptocurrencies from its payments system

India is planning steps to ensure cryptocurrencies are illegal within its payments system, while at the same time appointing a regulator to oversee unregulated exchanges that trade in "crypto assets," a finance ministry official said on Monday.

A panel set by the government to look into issues relating to cryptocurrencies is expected to submit its report in the current fiscal year, ending on March 31, S C Garg, Economic Affairs Secretary, told CNBC TV18 news channel.

"The government will take steps to make it illegal as a payment system," he said at a post-budget event telecast by the news channel, adding the trading of "crypto assets" at the unregulated exchanges would be regulated.

"We hope now within this financial year the committee will finalise its recommendations ... certainly there will be a regulator," Garg, who is heading the panel, said.

China may stamp out crypto trading by blocking access to overseas websites

China plans to stamp out all remaining cryptocurrency trading in the country by blocking access to overseas-based websites and removing related applications from app stores.

The moves were outlined in a report Sunday by Financial News, a publication under the People's Bank of China, which said the aim was to snuff out the "dying cinders" of cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings "which are glowing once more".

Faced with Chinese citizens who continue to trade cryptocurrency on platforms operated beyond the country's reach, or take part in initial coin offerings, authorities will "ratchet up oversight in a sustained manner", the report said.

Here's why billionaire Warren Buffett will never invest in cryptocurrencies

Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett said on Wednesday he will never invest in cryptocurrencies.
“I can say almost with certainty that cryptocurrencies will come to a bad end,” Buffett told CNBC in an interview.

Buffett’s comments come a day after JPMorgan & Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said he regrets calling bitcoin a fraud, referring to comments he made at a banking conference in September.

Bitcoin has taken the investing world by storm, surging to a high of more than $19,000 and created a divide on Wall Street about whether it is a legitimate financial instrument.
Bitcoin was down around 3 per cent at $13,981.53..
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Bank of Israel considers issuing digital currency for faster payments

Bank of Israel is mulling issuing a digital currency in a bid to create a faster system of payments and as well as reducing the amount of cash in the economy.

The Israeli digital shekel would record every transaction by mobile phone, thereby, making tax evasion more difficult, reported the Jerusalem Post, citing an anonymous financial official as saying.

The Bank of Israel has been examining the likelihood of a state-sponsored currency for several months, but the decision rests on the government if to give it a green signal or not.

The value of digital shekel reportedly will be equal to the value of physical shekel.

Cryptocurrencies allow parties to transact payments directly without a central intermediary, by means of blockchain technology.

The state-sponsored digital currencies are likely to be an attempt to compete with decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

So far, a state-sponsored digital currency doesn't exist anywhere in the world, the report said.
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Bitcoin recovers more than $1,000 after losing almost a third of value

Bitcoin surged on Monday, recovering more than $1,000 after losing almost a third of its value in less than four days as traders bought back into the volatile cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin tumbled in the second half of last week, falling as low as $5,555 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange on Sunday, a slide of almost 30 percent from a record high just shy of $7,900 on Wednesday..

It rebounded on Monday, trading up more than 14 percent on the day at $6,718, though that was still more than $1,000 less than last week's record high.

Market-watchers said the fall had been driven by a decision on Wednesday to abandon a planned software upgrade that could have split the cryptocurrency in a so-called "fork" - a move that had initially had a positive impact on the digital coin, sending it to a record high of $7,888 on the view that this marked a resolution of a long-term dispute.

But some were disappointed that "Segwit2x" fork had been abandoned. It would have increased the capacity of the "blocks" transactions are processed in, thereby reducing competition to get payments processed and lowering transaction fees.

Consequently, analysts said, some of those who see low fees as important to the future of bitcoin were selling it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash that spun off from the original in August. Its block sizes are larger, and therefore transaction fees are lower.
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After hitting all-time high, Bitcoin slides by over $1,000 in 48 hours

Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than 5 percent down on the day, having fallen by well over $1,000 since hitting an all-time high on Wednesday.

Bitcoin dropped to $6,800 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange by 1200 GMT, before recovering a little to $6,870 just over 20 minutes later.

On Wednesday around 1800 GMT, it had touched $7,888 after a software upgrade planned for next week that could have split the cryptocurrency in two was suspended.

As bitcoin fell, Bitcoin Cash - a clone of the original that was generated from another split on Aug.1 - surged, trading up as much as 35 percent on the day at around $850, according to industry website Coinmarketcap.

Despite losing almost 7 percent this week, bitcoin is still up more than 600 percent so far this year.
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Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on initial coin offerings

China's move last week to ban initial coin offerings (ICO) has caused chaos among start-ups looking to raise money through the novel fund-raising scheme, prompting halts, about-turns and re-thinks.

China is cracking down on fundraising through launches of token-based digital currencies, targeting ICOs in a market that has ballooned this year in what has been a bonanza for digital currency entrepreneurs.

The boom has fuelled a jump in the value of cryptocurrencies, but raised fears of a potential bubble.

"This is not unlike the dotcom bubble of 2000," said a partner at a venture capital fund in Shanghai, who didn't want to be named because of the issue's sensitivity. "There are a lot of companies raising a lot of money for not very good ideas, and these will eventually be weeded out. But even from the big dotcom bust, you still have gems."

"One of the reasons regulators stepped in was that the ICO fever extended beyond the traditional crypto community. The timing was an attempt to pre-empt this before it goes into a much broader mass market in China," the partner said.

Investors in China contributed up to 2.6 billion yuan ($394 million) worth of cryptocurrencies through ICOs in January-June, according to a state-run media report citing National Committee of Experts on Internet Financial Security Technology data.

Pre-ICO roadshows featuring elaborate standing room-only presentations at 5-star hotels drew a diverse crowd, including grandmothers - a likely tipping point for regulators.

The hype and subsequent crackdown came as China focuses on economic and social stability ahead of next month's congress of the Communist Party, a once-in-five-years event.
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