Tim Draper Predicts Bitcoin price to hit $250,000 in 4 years

According to Bitcoin bull Tim Draper, cryptocurrency could reach $250,000 in four years.

Tim Draper, the founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, wrote on Twitter about this on:

He also mentioned that earlier he tweeted a prediction about mistakenly posting $25k instead of $250k.

The investor, who commenced investments in Skype, Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, is known to have bought Bitcoin worth $30,000 from the U.S. government in 2014. However, those funds fell into government hands after an exchange that massively used the cryptocurrency, Silk Road, was shuttered.

According to Draper, he was fascinated by the idea that a digital currency is not bound to a government.

He told Fortune in January:

“So when Bitcoin showed up, I was all over it.”

DFJ also includes investments in other cryptocurrency-linked companies, such as exchange Coinbase.

The prediction was made based on the fact that the price of Bitcoin rose 17% to about $8,000. The cryptocurrency has been struggling since the start of 2018, with investors bothering about hints of regulatory crackdowns from governments including that of South Korea. Currently, the value of Bitcoin remains below its price at the start of the year, at about $14,000.

According to Barron’s estimates, It is uncertain on what basis Draper estimated a price of $250,000 by 2022. Investors, like Murray Stahl of Horizon Kinetics, hypothesize that Bitcoin is worth the value of all the currency in the world—about $361,000 per Bitcoin.

Anyhow it seems that Bitcoin would become a worldwide currency. Investors and critics also agree to the fact that, Bitcoin does face scalability issues. The Bitcoin network is presently handling about eight transactions in a second. Meanwhile, Visa says it can manage about 65,000 operations per second at maximum. And while the cryptocurrency community has at times tried to address the issue, it’s also divided the group.

And even now, the debate between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin continues, with early Bitcoin believer Roger Ver now batting for Bitcoin Cash.

“Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin,” the investors wrote in a Twitter post, asserting that Bitcoin Cash is what Bitcoin should’ve been.

Author Renita April 14, 2018 12:04 pm

David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Your bank will not allow you to buy bitcoins anymore

Your bank will not allow you to buy bitcoins anymore

You will not be able to buy cryptocurrency via banks or e-wallets etc. in India anymore as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has banned them with immediate effect from "dealing with or providing services to any individuals or business entities dealing with or settling virtual currencies".

RBI, while announcing its first bi-monthly monetary policy for the FY 2018-19, has announced that any entity regulated by them such as banks, wallets etc. shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities for buying or selling of cryptocurrency such as bitcoins. If banks, e-wallets and any other entities regulated by RBI are not allowed to facilitate sale or purchase of cryptocurrencies, obviously individuals will not be able to transfer money from their bank account accounts to their crypto-trading wallets.

"A person will not be able to transfer money from his savings account to his cryptowallet" says, Abizer Diwanji, Head, Financial Services, EY India.

The central bank has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, regarding various risks associated in dealing with such virtual currencies.

In its statement RBI said that technological innovations, including those underlying virtual currencies, have the potential to improve the efficiency and inclusiveness of the financial system.

However, Virtual Currencies (VCs), also variously referred to as crypto currencies and crypto assets, raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others.

In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs. Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time. RBI will be issuing circular in this regard for further details.

Recently, several banks have banned their customers for buying and selling of cryptocurrencies.

Citi Bank in email to its customers has said that credit and debit cards cannot be used to purchase cryptocurrencies. It has been reported that RBI has warned banks about cryptocurrencies in January, telling them to step up scrutiny of financial transactions by companies and exchanges involved in the trade of bitcoins and similar digital tender.

RBI has also issued a press release earlier in this regard stating "As such, any user, holder, investor, trader, etc. dealing with virtual currencies will be doing so at their own risk."

Author Preeti Motiani Updated: Apr 06, 2018, 10.12 AM IST

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Looking Ahead To $20,000 Bitcoin

In last week’s Investor Alert, our investment team shared with you a report from Morgan Stanley that says Bitcoin’s price decline since December mimics the Nasdaq tech bubble in the late 1990s. This isn’t earth-shattering news in and of itself. The main difference is that the bitcoin rout happened at 15 times the rate as the tech bubble.

Morgan Stanley has some good news for Bitcoin bulls, however: The 70 percent decline is “nothing out of the ordinary,” and what’s more, such corrections “have historically preceded rallies.” Just as the Nasdaq gained back much of what it lost in the subsequent years—before the financial crisis pared losses even further—bitcoin could similarly be ready to stage a strong recovery.

One research firm, in fact, believes Bitcoin and other digital coins, or “alt-coins,” have likely found a bottom. New York-based Fundstrat, headed by strategist Thomas Lee, issued a statement to investors last week saying that, though a cryptocurrency bull market isn’t necessarily underway, the worst of the pain could be “largely over.”

Fundstrat research shows that periods of cryptocurrency consolidation, or “purgation,” generally last 70 to 231 days. Bitcoin hit its all-time high in mid-December, almost 70 days ago as of March 26. Taking into consideration Fundstrat’s estimates, then, it’s possible the bear market could conclude sometime between now and early August.

In the meantime, Lee writes, alt-coin investors should stick with larger-cap cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

Take the Long-Term View

It’s helpful to compare Bitcoin with Nasdaq, as Morgan Stanley did, but what about comparing the current cycle with one from the past?

In June 2011, Bitcoin peaked at nearly $30 and found a bottom of $2.02 five months later, in November. It would be an additional 15 months before it returned to its former high. This might seem like a long time to some, but investors who managed to get in at the bottom would have seen their position grow more than 1,300%.

So can Bitcoin do the same today? Obviously no one can say for sure, but what I can say with certainty is that Bitcoin, like all digital coins, is highly volatile. Plus, there’s not quite 10 years’ worth of data, meaning it’s been difficult to identify trends.

Cryptocurrencies are also currently facing tougher oversight from several world governments and central banks, not to mention Facebook and Twitter’s bans on ads promoting them—obstacles they didn’t have to contend with back in 2011 and 2012.

But I remain bullish. Cryptocurrencies are still in their very early stages. To return to the comparison with tech stocks, we don’t know at this point which digital coins will be tomorrow’s equivalent of Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook. A long-term view is key.

Finally, I still believe in the power of Metcalfe’s law, which says that as more and more people adopt a new technology—cell phones, for instance, or Facebook—its value goes up geometrically. A poll conducted in February shows that just under 8% of American adults report ever owning or purchasing any cryptocurrencies. Market penetration, then, hasn’t been as pervasive as some might expect, but as people increasingly become more confident in dipping their toes in the space, demand could rise and, with it, prices.

Author Frank Holmes

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David ogden Cryptocurrency entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 23rd Mar 2018 â Another Reversal Pattern

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 23 Mar 2018 â Another Reversal Pattern

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 03/23/2018 – Another Reversal Pattern

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

Bitcoin price failed to break past the $9,000 level after news of a potential shutdown of Binance in Japan broke out.

However, bitcoin price could still form an inverse head and shoulders pattern, which is a potent reversal signal.

Technical indicators are showing that bullish momentum could stay in play.

Bitcoin price sold off recently but could form a short-term reversal pattern on its 1-hour time frame and draw more buyers back in.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA just crossed above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that buyers are gaining the upper hand. The 200 SMA is also holding as dynamic support at the moment, but a break lower could lead to another pickup in selling pressure.

Stochastic is pointing down to show that bears have the upper hand while RSI is turning lower as well. Both oscillators are nearing oversold conditions, though, so sellers could still let buyers take over soon.

An area of interest is located around $8,000 and a bounce from here could form the right shoulder of the reversal pattern. Bitcoin price has yet to break past the neckline around $9,200 to confirm a potential uptrend. This should last by around $2,000 or the same height as the chart formation.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

Bitcoin price failed to break past the $9,000 level after news of a potential shutdown of Binance in Japan broke out.

However, bitcoin price could still form an inverse head and shoulders pattern, which is a potent reversal signal.

Technical indicators are showing that bullish momentum could stay in play.

Bitcoin price sold off recently but could form a short-term reversal pattern on its 1-hour time frame and draw more buyers back in.

Technical Indicators Signals

Author: SARAH JENN • MAR 23, 2018 • 04:03

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Price Breaks $9,000, Does Not Stay For Long

March 20: the Bitcoin (BTC) price broke the $9,000 mark today after a rough start to the year in which the price decreased by nearly 70 percent from the December high of $20,000.

Following the December high the BTC price has moved downward in fits and starts. On January 17, BTC price was down to $9,724, less than half of where it had been a month previously when it scraped the underside of $20,000. The month of February started with BTC dipping below $9,000 for the first time since late Nov. 2017.

By February the price had sunk to just $5,922, with skeptics claiming that it could sink even lower. By late February and early March, BTC was fluctuating around the $9,000 mark, with changes spurred by news of new regulations on exchanges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A return to prices above $9,000 would provide the confidence many traders and investors need for the BTC value to grow even further.

As Cointelegraph reported March 20, the G20 decided not to crack down on cryptocurrency, and opted for a more moderate approach of simply classifying cryptocurrencies as assets. Some see this as a possible cause for crossing the $9,000 psychological threshold.

Others are more skeptical that the results will be long lasting, and see the most recent bump above $9,000 to be part of a holding pattern that requires another, stronger increase in order to break the barrier.

At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $9,017

Author: Salih SARIKAYA

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Following Nasdaq Path but 15 Times Faster

Morgan Stanley put out a note to its clients on Monday the 19th breaking down Bitcoin trading in comparison to the Nasdaq during the dot-com crash 20 years ago.

Bitcoin Similar to Dot-Coms Through Bear Markets

According to the report, Bitcoin is behaving very similar to the way the Nasdaq did in 2000. There is parity in the pattern of price declines and the rally of 250 -280 percent “in their most exuberant period” just before the bear market.

“Just that the bitcoin rally was around 15 times the speed,” Sheena Shah, strategist at Morgan Stanley said.

There have been four bear markets with Bitcoin since 2009 and through each, the cryptocurrency has lost between 28 and 92 percent of its value. It lost 70% of its value from it’s $20,000 high mark in December to $7,000 in February before recovering slightly to where it is today over $8,000. Averaging a loss of between 40-50% of its value through each bear market is similar to the Nasdaq’s performance 18 years ago Shah said.

According to the Morgan Stanely report trading volume can also be seen as a red flag. The Bitcoin trading volume has jumped nearly 300% since the market decline in December but each rally saw volumes fall ahead of the bear market to come. Shah said regarding the trading volumes;

“The follow-up rally for both bitcoin and the Nasdaq always saw falling trading volumes. Rising trade volumes are thus not an indication of more investor activity but instead a rush to get out.”

Tethers Effect on Market Trading

The Morgan Stanley report continued to point out the effect that the Tether cryptocurrency may have had on market trading. Citing that during the latest bear market the Tether USDT coin which is purportedly backed up one to one with US Dollars took up a bigger share of Bitcoin trading compared to the three historically major trading currencies; US Dollar, Chinese Yuan and the Japanese Yen.

“The coin USDT is not a major funding unit but its increasing use is an interesting development,” Shah wrote. “Over the coming years, we think that market focus could turn increasingly towards cross trades between cryptocurrencies/tokens, which would transact via distributed ledgers only and not via the banking system.”

Bloomberg reported in January that Tether has been subpoenaed by the US commodities trading commission under speculation that they do not hold the $2.2 billion in reserve in order to back their token. Bitcoin’s price continues to vacillate around the $8,000 mark early this week after enjoying a $1,000 price boost from the news that the G20 would not be receiving any further regulatory recommendations from the FSB.

Author JOHN MCMAHON • MAR 20, 2018 • 04:03

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Price Surges 10% as G20 Will Not Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies

The G20’s announcement that it will pivot away from creating new regulations in favor of examining existing rules gave the cryptocurrency market a much needed seeing Bitcoin surge by $1000.

No New Regulations

The anticipation of what new regulations might come of the G20 meeting this week in Buenos Aires added to a rocky cryptocurrency market over the past week but the news as reported by Reuters is that there will be no new regulation recommendations handed down.

Some of the nervousness of cryptocurrency market watchers coming up to the G20 was due in part to the fact that Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank Of England and outspoken critic of Bitcoin heads the Financial Stability Board which coordinates financial regulation for the Group of 20 economies.

Carney has been very vocal about his doubts concerning the credibility of cryptocurrency in the past speaking as the head of the Bank of England.

Deciding that there was not enough of a consensus to create radical new regulation among the 20 countries that make up the G20 the FSB issued a letter to the central bankers and finance ministers who will convene in Buenos Aries on the 19 and 20 saying

“The FSB’s initial assessment is that crypto-assets do not pose risks to global financial stability at this time,”

Carneys singing off on this letter shows an increased willingness in his attitude towards accepting cryptocurrency as part of the worlds financial system. Noting that this would be his last year as both chairman of the FSB and Governor of the Bank of England he said his successor would be reviewing existing rules as opposed to pushing through new standards.

Scaling Down

President Donald Trump set a mood for scaling back regulatory powers when he ordered American regulators to relax post-banking crisis reforms in order to encourage lending in the economy.

This made world regulators speculate that America, already reticent to join global regulatory bodies would reject any new suggestions and possibly fragment markets.

In reaction, the FSB membership vowed to make a complete review of whether the watchdog is still “fit for Purpose” for evaluating and amending rules.

Having already scrapped a quarter of its working groups in an effort to make the FSB more efficient and dedicated Carney said “As its work to fix the fault lines that caused the financial crisis draws to a close, the FSB is increasingly pivoting away from design of new policy initiatives towards dynamic implementation and rigorous evaluation of the effects of the agreed G20 reforms,”

This seemingly good news for cryptocurrency regulation and the hangover effects of the latest Mt. Gox bulk sale wearing off gave the faltering Bitcoin price a nice boost, up $1000 recovering nearly 8% of its value in 24 hours.

Author JOHN MCMAHON • MAR 19, 2018 • 05:03

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin analysis – How low can it go?

Bitcoin, how low can it go

Bitcoin Price Analysis – How Low Can It Go?

Bitcoin is showing more bearish momentum so it's time to look at the next downside targets.

Bitcoin looks ready for more losses as price gained downside traction after its break below a double top neckline. Applying the Fibonacci extension tool on the latest correction shows the potential targets.

Price is currently sitting on the 38.2% extension near the $8000 level at the moment, and a break lower could take it to the 50% extension next at $6459.7 next. From there, price could drop to the 61.8% extension at $5168.1 then the 76.4% extension at $3610.4 at the channel support. The full extension is located at $1063.4.

Technical indicators, however, are suggesting that the longer-term uptrend could still resume. The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA so the path of least resistance is still to the upside. Then again, bitcoin has fallen below the 200 SMA dynamic inflection point, which could be seen as an early signal of a pending downward crossover.

Stochastic is indicating oversold conditions to show that sellers are tired, but the oscillator has yet to move higher to reflect a return in bullish pressure. RSI has some room to head south so bitcoin could still see some losses from here.

bitcoin - how low can it go

The latest wave of selling is seen to have spurred from Google’s announcement to ban cryptocurrency ads starting June. Similar action was taken by Facebook back in January when it banned ads on binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies, leading to roughly a 12% drop in bitcoin price then.

It doesn’t help that regulators are stepping up their game to oversee the industry, leading to speculations of more arrests or possibly shutdowns. There are also rumors that the Chinese government continues to crack down on crypto activity in the country.

IMF head Lagarde herself called upon fighting “fire with fire” to encourage encryption experts to help in the crackdown on criminals using cryptocurrencies to facilitate their activity. More remarks in the same line from other top officials could lead to further weakness in bitcoin

By Rachel Lee On Mar 15, 2018

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Japan’s Third-Largest Electric Provider Is Testing Bitcoin On Lightning

Japan's Third-Largest Electric Provider Is Testing Bitcoin On Lightning

Japan's third-largest electricity provider is emerging as one of the first major companies in the world to trial a promising bitcoin payments technology.

Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk, Chubu Electric Power Co. has entered into a proof-of-concept with local bitcoin and Internet of Things (IoT) startup Nayuta, one that finds it exploring how bitcoin payments can be made via the Lightning Network, an in-development protocol that promises to cut costs for bitcoin users.

Boasting 15,000 employees and more than 200 power generation facilities, Chubu is now using Lightning to prototype a new way of letting customers pay to charge an electric vehicle.

In a demo of its work, Chubu and Nayuta went so far as to show how a Lightning payment could be sent to an electric vehicle charger that, once paid, instantly turned on and began to energize a real-life vehicle.

Chubu Electric Power Co. senior manager Hidehiro Ichikawa told CoinDesk that the test is part of the company's "market research" into how bitcoin could power its IoT needs, though he noted it doesn't yet have any official plans to accept Lightning payments from customers.

In this way, Chubu's story resonates with others enchanted by cryptocurrencies but frustrated by their current capabilties. Of note is that Chubu has been experimenting with bitcoin for IoT for quite some time, but faced a wake-up call when it realized its blockchain isn't as cheap as advertised.

Ichikawa told CoinDesk:

"Since the electricity charge is small, [Lightning's] necessary to reduce the fees for using public blockchains."

Nayuta CEO Kenichi Kurimoto believes this test is a signal of something larger – an enterprise interest in using bitcoin to deliver IoT payments in a cost-effective manner with Lightning.

"For IoT and blockchain applications, real-time payments are needed. We showed that second layer payments can be the solution," he said.

Lightning + electricity = <3

But it wasn't just Chubu and Nayuta involved in the test.

To show one way Lightning can work for IoT, the two companies hooked up a Lightning node to an electronic vehicle charger and plugged it into a car. From there they also enlisted Japanese software startup Infoteria, which coded up a mobile app to bring the user experience together.

Once clicking the "send" button, the app communicates with the charger over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, which delivers the message and turns the power on.

Notably, the companies involved didn't use real bitcoin in the test, as other "reckless" experimenters have been doing recently. Rather, they sent dummy bitcoin on a closed test network that they have more control over.

That detail aside, the test was successful, showing that Lightning can indeed make small, instant payments for electric vehicle charging.

Nayuta spokesperson Hitomi Moriyama went on to say that he believes the same set-up could one day be offered in everyday parking lots. Users could easily use Lightning bitcoin payments to charge up their car, similar to how these chargers are refilled with credit cards today.

"[Lightning] makes it possible to operate a highly reliable charge management system with a small introduction cost," he said.

Impact and outlook

Still, while the test mirrors those that have happened on other blockchains, this one is perhaps notable given the size and scope of Chubu and the continuing commitment of some of the parties involved.

As Ichikawa stressed, Chubu's experiment is still an early proof-of-concept, and he was short on details about how it might affect the company's product as well as how much money it is even pouring into the project.

That said, Nayuta plans to continue to dedicate its entire business to continuing the exploration.

"We will continue to develop and experiment to seek for what kind of architecture is the best to apply Lightning Network for IoT," Moriyama told CoinDesk.

Kurimoto added that Nayuta is now working to ensure compatibility of its software with the three other major Lightning software implementations that are most in use today.

Going forward, Kurimto said he has introduced his team to the Lightning developer mailing list in an effort to work more closely on enterprise applications of the technology.

Author: Alyssa Hertig Updated Mar 13, 2018 at 03:08 UTC

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Is Melting, Again

Summary

After an unsuccessful attempt at the $12,000 resistance level, Bitcoin is melting down once again, slumping by 30% in just a few days.
A few distinct developments caused the recent selloff to intensify.
People seem to be "Bitcoined out" a bit at the moment, which could cause the price to stay below $10K for some time.
It's not all bad news, but in the short term it could get painful for Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency complex.

Bitcoin is Melting, Again

Bitcoin (COIN), (OTCQX:GBTC) is not having a great week, and it looks like this selloff may get even worse. After a failed attempt at $12K Bitcoin entered the meltdown phase, cratering by roughly 30% in just a few days. Several simultaneous detrimental developments caused this selloff to intensify after the failed technical attempt sparked the negative price action. However, there is one predominant factor that has become the "elephant in the room". Bitcoin’s apparent loss of popularity could keep prices depressed for a lot longer than many people expect, and we may be looking at a near perfect storm scenario of events that could cause the current selloff to become much worse.

The Binance Hack

One of the elements that helped exacerbate the recent selloff was the Binance hack. It’s not exactly clear what caused the issues at the popular exchange, but what is known, is that numerous users reported their coins being sold off at random, without their knowledge or consent. This led to the speculation that a hack occurred at the crypto exchange, which in turn caused Bitcoin and other digital assets to selloff. Bitcoin cratered by about 7% in minutes following the news.

Author Victor Dergunov

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur.

David