Bitcoin looks a lot like an early Amazon
by Gordon Scott. You might as well get used to the Bitcoin headlines. They aren’t going away. And that’s because cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin aren’t going away. If history is any guide, this may only be the beginning. Bitcoin may be the most lucrative trading opportunity since internet stocks such as Amazon.com Inc. in the dot-com era. If that notion sounds as scary as it does exciting, it should. While it is true that trading digital currencies holds real risk, there is also a real opportunity for traders right now. Please note that I said traders here, not investors. Even if it were true that investors could multiply their money, they […]
Security important but most consumers prefer convenience
The fact convenience trumps security for most consumers when it comes to online shopping was one of the more alarming revelations to come out of the recent Future of Payments roundtable co-hosted by The Australian Financial Review and Braintree. For founder and CEO of online beauty store Adore Beauty, Kate Morris, the level of concern people have about security at present is nothing compared to what it was when she began in 2000. “People just assume that so long as your website looks legit, that you are all right.” CEO and founder of online personal brand consultants Social Check, David Griffiths, believes consumers are in for a huge wake-up call […]
High schooler becomes millionaire thanks to Bitcoin
The rags-to-riches stories about Bitcoin investors are a consistent theme with the rise in the value of Bitcoin over the past six months. The most recent is Erik Finman, who invested USD$1,000 in Bitcoin in 2011 when it was valued at USD$12. His parents had made an agreement with him that if he were a millionaire by 18, he wouldn’t have to attend college. A child of two Stanford Ph.D. holders, Finman was willing to take the bet. He now holds 403 Bitcoins, which, at their current valuation of USD$2,700, represent USD$1.09 mln. He also manages investments for the rest of his family, who have begun looking into Bitcoin as […]
Bitcoin price stabilises after crypto markets crumble
A frenzied few weeks of rapid Bitcoin speculation, which saw the price rocket to $US3000 a coin, looks to be easing. The entire cryptocurrency market was rallying up until last week, when it was worth around $US106 billion. But a dramatic sell-off on Friday saw the cryptocurrency market shed around $US6 billion in the space of a few hours. The sell-off came as Bitcoin investors look to hedge against the “irrational exuberance” that has gripped the market, prompted in part by a flood of new, speculative capital from optimistic newcomers. But the top 10 cryptocurrencies appear to have stabilised over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon the combined total of Bitcoin, […]
In relief rally, bitcoin jumps more than 20% from June low
Bitcoin quickly bounced back from the lows of June, amid improved sentiment about the future of the digital currency. Bitcoin traded higher Saturday near USD$2,680, up more than 20 percent from a June low of USD$2,185.96 hit Thursday that had erased gains for the month, according to CoinDesk. Worries about overexuberance in digital currencies overall and heated debate among developers about how to upgrade bitcoin’s technology weighed on its price. “A proposal was accepted to merge the two upgrade methods, making them compatible,” Brian Kelly, a CNBC contributor and founder of BKCM, which runs a digital assets strategy, said Friday. “So we have seen a relief rally on this progress.” […]
Bitcoin price crosses USD$3,000 milestone to set new all-time high
The price of bitcoin topped USD$3,000 for the first time in history today, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). After spending much of the last week seeking direction in the $2,700 to $2,900-range, the average price of bitcoin across major international exchanges edged up over this threshold finally at roughly 17:00 UTC. The new record comes at a time when alternative digital assets are seeing robust inflows, with ethereum’s ether token setting a new all-time high of more than USD$300 today as well. Indeed, analysts spoke to the ongoing broadening of the cryptocurrency market as a tide that is benefitting bitcoin. “The inflows into ‘alts’ are greater than […]
What’s holding up the blockchain?
It’s not technology or regulation holding back the blockchain – software that stores and transfers value or data across the internet – we just haven’t figured out the next big use-case. Two reports released this week by the CSIRO’s Data61 not only inject some well-researched gravitas into the conversation, they also provide insight into why some of the major blockchain projects have stalled. Since 2015, banks, regulators, tech giants and startups all over the world have raised billions of dollars to explore the blockchain. But the only really successful, scaleable use of the blockchain remains cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Bitcoins currently trade at almost AU$4,000, with a total market equivalent to […]
Instant payment possible for grain growers
Any delays between delivering grain and being paid for it could become a thing of the past, but Australia will need to develop a digital currency to make this happen. That’s according to AgriDigital co-founder Bob Mckay. His company successfully completed a world-first last year by executing the settlement of an agricultural commodity on a blockchain, a public ledger of digital currency transactions. In December last year AgriDigital’s software used real-time data of a grain sale between a Dubbo grain grower who delivered wheat to meat processor Fletcher International, and executed this transaction on a blockchain. AgriDigital has computer software that connects buyers, growers and storage providers. Mr McKay, who […]
