Digital Currency Hits All Time High

Bitcoin breaks through $3,500 to hit fresh record high, now up 264% this year - CNBC

AUGUST 08, 2017

• Bitcoin broke through the $3,500 mark hitting a fresh record high.
• A change to the underlying blockchain technology called a "Segregated Witness" or SegWit is being implemented on Tuesday which is seen as a key milestone for bitcoin's future.
• The SegWit will help solve the long transaction times on the bitcoin network.

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The bitcoin community appears to have resolved the in fighting over the future of the cryptocurrency.

 broke through the $3,500 mark for the first time on Tuesday hitting a fresh record high as uncertainty over the future of the cryptocurrency subsided.

The digital currency hit an-all time high of $3,525.04 before pulling back to around $3,481 early on Tuesday.

Bitcoin's record high marks a 264 percent year-to-date rise and comes after months of infighting in the cryptocurrency world.

Within the bitcoin community, a so-called . There is a big backlog of transactions on the bitcoin blockchain — the technology that underpins the cryptocurrency.

The debate was over the way in which the capacity of the blockchain could be increased to speed up the capability of the bitcoin network. Major infighting within the community took place which led to two separate proposals on how to expand the blockchain.

Because of the two separate proposals, a "fork" took place which split the blockchain at the end of July. A new digital currency called . Bitcoin Cash's market cap is just under a tenth of bitcoin's.

The majority of the community backed a software upgrade called BIP 91, which would introduce something known as SegWit2X to the blockchain. SegWit is short for "segregated witness" which would move some of the data outside the main bitcoin network to increase its capacity. This was received negatively by some miners because it would lead to fewer fees for them.

But  which would increase the block size and the SegWit is set to be implemented today.

"Segwit activates this afternoon and there is a lot of hope that the network will unclog with lower transaction fees becoming the new normal," Charles Hayter, CEO of London-based digital currency data firm CryptoCompare.

"The SegWit activation opens up projects that bring some capability to the bitcoin network. Instead of bitcoin being held back by infighting, it is now blue skies of opportunity in what can be built."

Once the SegWit is locked in on Tuesday, there will be a two-week grace period to allow miners to upgrade their software. But the feeling is that the worst of the fighting is over.

At the same time, more regulators are continuing to make positive noises around the digital currency. In Switzerland for example, the financial market regulator gave Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank  on managing assets based on the blockchain technology behind bitcoin and other digital currencies.

All of these factors are likely to push the price of bitcoin higher this year, experts said.

"Given the technology's move towards scalability, more institutional investors are now considering to allocate funds to bitcoin, which may be exciting the market," Aurelien Menant, CEO of the Gatecoin cryptocurrency exchange.

Nigeria holds first Blockchain, Cryptocurrency conference

Nigeria will hold its first nationwide Blockchain and conference in Lagos on the 14th and 15th of August 2017.

uadinnuh.blogsot.com learnt that the knowledge sharing conference will bring  together enthusiasts, practitioners, entrepreneurs, startups and software developers playing in the Blockchain and Virtual Currency community, under one roof.

Organisers of the event revealed that the purpose among other things, is to spur a wave of startups in the Blockchain and Digital Currency ecosystem.

They say that it will also be an eye opening event for those interested in leveraging digital currency revolution as an alternative hedge in an economy struggling to get out of recession.

Femi Daniel, information technology regulatory consultant to the National  IT Development Agency (NITDA); Daniel Isiavwe, President, Information Security Society of Africa-Nigeria (ISSAN) and  Musa Itopa Jimoh, Director at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are some of the confirmed speakers for the event.

The CBN committee on “The Study of Virtual Currency as an Emerging Medium of Exchange” will also be present as panelists and observers.

Several globally exposed practitioners are joining our growing list of speakers. Dickson Nsofor, Humaniq UK, Oladapo Ajayi, founder SuperDAO USA, Miklos Denker and Ida Froyda, Corion Platform Switzerland, Joshua Hawley, Everei, Dubai, have all confirmed their presence. Others from global brands like Accenture, KPMG, and Deloitte are being expected to confirm their availability.

CBN: Nigerians Lose N11.9bn to Ponzi Schemes in 2016

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians to desist from unwholesome financial engagements in all Ponzi schemes.

It also revealed that investors in such schemes lost the sum N11.9 billion as at December last year.

The acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said this during a 2-day Bank-Wide sensitisation campaign on CBN initiatives and programmes in Kano yesterday. He was represented by Mr. Yusuf Wali.

According to the CBN spokesman, since 2015, the Bank had been adequately educating Nigerians on its banks activities in order to create awareness.

“Our objective is simple. We want you to understand what we do at the CBN. We want to sensitise you on your roles as citizens in keeping the naira clean and other matters,” he told his audience.

He said the CBN had introduced some strategic initiatives and intervention schemes to support the economy with a view to ensuring sustainable growth and development.

According to him, the initiatives and intervention schemes can broadly be classified under the many sectors in the country economy.

In her address, the acting Controller of the CBN Kano office, Mrs. Bilkisu Mahe Wali, decried the inability of successive administration to cooperate with the CBN.

According to her, the purpose of the campaign was to sensitise the citizens on various intervention and other activities which the CBN was involved in for the benefits of the people.

She lamented that lack of education and awareness contributed to the inability of a lot of people to participate actively in the apex bank’s programmes.

Bitcoin can be an asset but not a currency, says China central bank adviser - CNBC

Virtual currencies like  are assets but bitcoin in itself does not have the fundamental attributes needed to be a currency that could meet modern economic development needs, a Chinese central bank adviser said.

Sheng Songcheng, adviser to the  (PBOC), made the comments in an interview with financial magazine Yicai published late Thursday.

Tsokur | Getty Images

Golden Bitcoin coins.

"Bitcoin does not have the fundamental attributes needed to be a currency as it is a string of code generated by complex algorithms...But I do not deny that virtual currencies have technical value and are a type of asset," he said.

His comments come after the  earlier this year, a move that prompted the companies to stop margin lending, introduced trading fees and issue rules to rein in users.

Many governments around the world are still mulling how to regulate and classify bitcoin, whose value surged in June to hit a record just shy of $3,000. China has classified it as a "virtual good".

Squaring in on bitcoin, Sheng said expectations that bitcoin supply would be capped in the year 2140 would make it difficult for it to become a medium of exchange that could meet modern economic development needs as money supply should be related to economic needs.

He also said that Chinese monetary authorities should study issuing a central bank virtual currency that it could regulate and run properly.

CBN Issues new directives on Sale of Dollars

The CBN has directed banks to post the new rates in their banking halls of their branches immediately.

According to spokesperson of the CBN, Isaac Okarafor, who announced the news directive on Monday, March 27, said all customers requesting forex for their basic transport allowance and personal transport allowance, tuition and medical fees, would henceforth get at an exchange rate not more than N360 to the dollar.

“The CBN will sell to commercial banks at N357 per dollar

“Banks are to post the new rates in their banking halls of their branches immediately, he said.

Mr Isaac Okarafor said the CBN would send examiners to banks to ensure the new rates are implemented, warning that banks are prohibited from selling forex meant for invisibles to bureau the change.

The CBN’s intervention at the foreign exchange market has been commended by experts who have appealed to the apex bank to eliminate the multiple rates in the market.

As the Naira continues to appreciate, experts say it is necessary for the CBN to adjust applicable rates in different segments of the market in the overall interest of the economy.

Traders are optimistic that the national currency value could rise to about N350 against the dollar soon.

Bitcoin could hit $3,000 by the end of the year

The price of could hit $3,000 by the end of the year after recently and hitting a fresh record high, an analyst told CNBC on Tuesday. A rise on this scale would represent a near 150 percent increase from bitcoin's current price of $1,204 at the time of publication, and a more than 130 percent increase from the fresh $1293.47 high it set last week, according to CoinDesk data. The price of bitcoin at time of publication is not trading above an ounce of , but the recent rise in price, which is up 195 percent in the past 12 months, has been attributed to a number of geopolitical and broader market factors. These include: Increased regulation from Chinese authorities to clamp down on money laundering Demonetization in India which has caused bitcoin to be seen as an alternative store of value Volatility in other currencies and uncertainty in the global economy Now Adam Davies, a consultant at Altus Consulting, who works with large financial institutions on technology, is predicting bitcoin can go even higher. "In terms of price this year, I think it will go up to $3,000. As it becomes more pervasive and more generally accepted, I think you'll see rapid growth in adoption," Davies told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday. "People are unsure about what is going on in the world, and digital currencies unlike the U.K. pound sterling have been hit badly because of Brexit, so people are looking to divest into bitcoin. There is a definitely upward trend. So the drivers will be hedging against currency fluctuations and insecurity in the markets." Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain, a bitcoin wallet, told CNBC by email that his company is seeing "unprecedented volume and sign ups", adding that at the current price appreciation, a £3,000 dollar price by the end of the year is "feasible". Experts said a number of other factors could help boost bitcoin this year. These include: The expected approval of a bitcoin-based created by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. This could lead to a "flood of institutional funds" entering the market, according to Thomas Glucksmann, head of marketing at cryptocurrency trading platform Gatecoin. Japan has recently passed a bill that deems digital currencies as similar to fiat money and can be used as methods of payments, which could further the credibility to the cryptocurrency, which was once seen as just a means to buy illegal drugs Glucksmann said that $3,000 by the end of the year seems "realistic" but somewhere in the region of $2,000 to $2,500 is a safer prediction. "The bitcoin price will continue to rise this year.

Arjun Kharpal