Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Veteran trader Peter Brandt has implied in a tweet that bitcoin will go through deep price corrections before it gets to the $200,000 mark. Brandt points to the 2015-17 bull run when bitcoin went through similar corrections about nine times as the precedent the crypto asset might follow. More Corrections Expected Consequently, Brandt is asking his Twitter followers to predict the number of similar 30% price corrections that they expect to see before BTC ultimately gets to the $200,000. Already, as Brandt explains in the tweet, the crypto asset has gone through one such correction since the March 2020 price crash. Nevertheless, since then the crypto asset, whose price grew by more than 300% in 2020, has been on an upward trend. On February 21, the crypto asset set a new all-time high of $58,228, according to Messari data. As a consequence, some bitcoiners now predict that a price of $100,000 can be achieved in 2021. In the meantime on Twitter, the reaction to Brandt’s BTC pric

The recent ramp higher in cryptocurrency prices has assuredly attracted its fair share of cheerleaders and detractors alike, but the reality of this climb has been a concurrent increase in network fees from rising transaction volumes. Binance is Blamed for Purposely Choking Ethereum’s Network to Drive More Users to Its Own Platform The resulting volumes have clogged networks like Ethereum, which have seen gas costs climb almost 20x over the last 12 months . For the growing DeFi market, these sky-high costs have elicited significant criticism from the community and mobilized the ecosystem to hunt for more affordable options. Enter Binance, which may dethrone Ethereum as the new DeFi hotspot due to its interoperability and lower transaction costs. Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which works on a Proof of Authority (POA) model, is centralized (Binance picks the authorities that run each node) relative to Ethereum’s entirely decentralized approach. This has prompted some users to criticize

Nvidia announced that it will start limiting the efficiency of mining ethereum or any other crypto using its new range of upcoming graphics processing units (GPUs). In a blog post published Feb. 19, the U.S. hardware maker said this limitation will feature first on its new Geforce RTX 3060 card, which is scheduled for release on Feb. 25. Nvidia revealed that the new GPU software drivers are designed to detect specific attributes of the ether ( ETH ) mining algorithm, and limit the hash rate, or cryptocurrency mining efficiency, by around 50%. However, the software won’t limit the efficiency of all crypto mining activities, Itpro reported , “with the limiter only activating when processes use Dagger Hashimoto or Ethash-like algorithms.” The Nasdaq-listed firm is hoping that the restriction will discourage the purchase of gaming-oriented graphics cards for large ethereum mining operations. ETH is one of a few coins that can still be mined using graphics cards. GPUs, which are mai

Russia’s parliament has advanced the bill that proposes to recognize cryptocurrencies as property. The proposed law will provide legal protection for cryptocurrencies but income from their activities will also be subject to taxation. Cryptocurrencies to Be Considered Property in Russia Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, adopted a bill that recognizes cryptocurrencies as property and subjects income from them to taxation in the first reading, RIA Novosti reported last week. Noting that the document was submitted to the parliament by the government on Dec. 1, 2020, the publication detailed: The bill proposes to recognize digital currency as property for the application of the tax code. As Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin explained earlier, this will allow the owner of the cryptocurrency to count on legal protection and defend his rights in court. Prime Minister Mishustin talked about the Russian government’s plans to recognize cryptocurrencies as property back in

While the decentralized finance (DeFi) space is not new, it has experienced massive growth to surpass $37 billion. Consequently, the sector attracted a lot of attention, which, in turn, led to the unearthing of multiple deficiencies that the industry has. As a result, many projects have been continuously cropping up to address these issues. While the projects are working at a record pace to tackle these challenges, the industry still has a lot of upgrading to do. Enhance the DeFi Experience Chipping in to help solve one of DeFi’s insufficiencies is CyberFi , a startup that seeks to offer intelligent trading and enhanced automation to make DeFi user-friendly. The project is a new-gen intelligent trading and automation platform (ITAP). It is described as a multi-product ecosystem that comprises automation products, seeking to enhance the DeFi experience. CyberFi is the first platform of its kind that aims to fill a gap in DeFi trading by addressing a variety of issues, including hig

The price of bitcoin has climbed to phenomenal heights during the last few weeks and this has fueled the crypto asset’s mining sector a great deal. Despite the fact that the Bitcoin network’s mining difficulty has never been higher at 21.72 trillion, the hashrate has climbed to a whopping 180 exahash per second (EH/s) and there’s 23 mining pools dedicating significant hashrate to the Bitcoin blockchain. 180 Exahash and a 21.72 Trillion Difficulty Bitcoin (BTC) continues to climb higher and higher in value and on Sunday the crypto asset tapped another all-time price high. BTC reached a whopping $58,300 price per unit on February 21, and the asset’s market valuation captured 1.09 trillion in value. The price of BTC has made bitcoin mining extremely profitable as next-generation mining rigs are making bountiful profits. For instance, the Microbt manufactured Whatsminer M30S++ with 112 terahash per second (TH/s) gets $37 a day. The popular Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro (110 TH/s) gets a

The founder of asset management firm Skybridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci, has predicted that the price of bitcoin will reach $100,000 before the year-end simply due to supply and demand. “You don’t have a lot of supply out there and very heavy demand,” he said. His firm currently has over half a billion dollars in bitcoin. Skybridge’s Founder Expects $100K Bitcoin Before End of Year Skybridge Capital founder and managing partner Anthony Scaramucci talked about his expectations for the price of bitcoin and his firm’s investment in the cryptocurrency during an interview with CNBC last week. Noting that he sees ferocious demand in bitcoin while its supply is decreasing, Scaramucci expects the price of the cryptocurrency to double by the end of the year. The Skybridge Capital founder remarked: I do think we see $100,000 in this coin before year-end … It’s just a supply and demand situation. You don’t have a lot of supply out there and very heavy demand. Bitcoin’s price has been c

Hedge fund manager Michael Burry, famed for forecasting the 2008 financial crisis, has warned that governments could “squash” bitcoin in an inflationary crisis. Expecting more massive stimulus from the government, he said to “prepare for inflation.” Michael Burry Shares His View on Bitcoin American investor Michael Burry has warned that governments could “squash” bitcoin and even gold to protect their own currencies. Burry founded hedge fund Scion Capital and is best known for being the first investor to foresee and profit from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010. In a series of tweets Thursday night, Burry wrote, “Prepare for inflation.” He expects more stimulus from the government to drive up prices, fuelling inflation, as the economy tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. He tweeted: In an inflationary crisis, governments will move to squash competitors in the currency arena. $ BTC #gold Burry became famous after his billion-dollar

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, has shared his view on the future of bitcoin. He is confident that the cryptocurrency poses no threat to the U.S. dollar. Referencing the unpopularity of various versions of dollars issued before the Civil War by banks, Bullard predicts the same fate will happen to bitcoin. St. Louis Fed’s President Says Bitcoin’s Popularity Won’t Threaten the Dollar James Bullard said in an interview with CNBC last week that increasing interest in bitcoin, coupled with all-time high prices, does not pose a threat to the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Bullard is an economist who has been the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2008. “I just think for Fed policy, it’s going to be a dollar economy as far as the eye can see — a dollar global economy really as far as the eye can see — and whether the gold price goes up or down, or the bitcoin price goes up or down, doesn’t really affect that,” the

Renowned gold bull and CEO of investment management firm Doubleline, Jeffrey Gundlach says bitcoin may be the “stimulus asset” while adding it “doesn’t look like gold is.” Gundlach, a self-professed long-term dollar bear, had preceded his comments about bitcoin by remarking that “lots of liquid poured into a funnel creates a torrent.” BTC Outperforming Gold In the same tweet , Gundlach suggests that he came to the conclusion after staying “neutral (on both gold and the dollar) for the past six months.” In the past six months, the two stores of value have had contrasting fortunes with BTC appearing to win the battle for supremacy. After starting September 2020 trading at just under $12,000, BTC has since rallied to peak at $57,399 on February 20, 2021, according to Messari. At the time of writing, the crypto asset was trading above $57,000. In contrast, gold, which reached its all-time record high of $2,067.15 per ounce on August 7, 2020, has largely stayed under $1,900 for the

On February 21, bitcoin touched a lifetime price high at $57,844 per unit after the crypto asset’s market valuation crossed the $1 trillion zone for the first time in history the day prior. Meanwhile, a number of digital assets have seen fiat values increase as coins like litecoin, ethereum, and others gather gains against the U.S. dollar. However, when bitcoin is the base denominator in terms of value, a lot of coins have a long way to go to catch up. Measuring Alternative Crypto Assets With Bitcoin The crypto asset bitcoin (BTC) has seen phenomenal gains and a lot of other digital currencies have seen price increases as well. For instance, ethereum (ETH) is the second-largest digital asset in terms of market capitalization, and ETH has touched the $2,040 price range. Now ETH has seen pretty decent gains against the U.S. dollar, as it up a decent 76.32% during the last month, and 249.90% over the last three months. Traditionally people price everything in their local fiat curr

A Chinese tea retailer is looking to make its inception into the bitcoin mining business. Publicly-listed Urban Tea announced the expansion of its operations by appointing two executives to pursue its crypto plans. Urban Tea Praises Cryptocurrencies’ Widespread Popularity Per the announcement , Urban Tea Inc. hired Fengdan Zhou as the company’s new chief operating officer and Dr. Yunfei Song as an independent director. The tea retailer expects the new roles to lead the “company’s critical strategic expansion in blockchain and cryptocurrency mining.” Zhou will look forward to implementing the bitcoin ( BTC ) business plan of the firm. Her experience includes having worked in blockchain data centers across Southeast Asia and managing crypto mining farms. Moreover, she has expertise in crypto hardware wallet development, the announcement details. Also, Dr. Song comes from an academic background, specifically being a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In fact, his expertise

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk has clarified his position on bitcoin. Emphasizing that he is an engineer, not an investor, Musk says that bitcoin “is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash.” Musk also disputed gold bug Peter Schiff’s claims about bitcoin and commented on the price of the cryptocurrency. What Elon Musk Thinks About Bitcoin The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, was interviewed by Bloomberg Thursday after the demand for dogecoin on his exchange soared. He commented on Elon Musk’s enthusiasm towards the meme cryptocurrency during the interview. “I’m surprised that Elon’s so gung-ho on dogecoin,” Zhao began, noting that “This is a decentralized, free world and anybody can like anything. He [Musk] can like dogecoin for any reason he likes.” Emphasizing his strong belief that Musk is not associated with dogecoin, the Binance CEO pointed out that Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin, not dogecoin. Musk saw the in