Payments giant, Square, has become the second listed company after MicroStrategy to buy Bitcoin (BTC). Although Square’s purchase of 4,709 Bitcoin is much smaller than MicroStrategy’s haul of 38,250 Bitcoin, many investors feel that this is a welcome step in the right direction. The acquisition of cryptocurrency by large listed companies such as Square could possibly inspire other companies to join the crypto bandwagon and it also suggests that Bitcoin’s image as an investment vehicle and store of value have improved. The growing interest in cryptocurrency is not going unnoticed as several central banks are attempting to make themselves relevant …

Crypto prices may be in a rut but that doesn’t mean product development and acquisitions cease to occur. This week Japanese financial firm SBI Holdings acquired a 100% stake in TaoTao cryptocurrency exchange. With the latest acquisition, SBI now owns two cryptocurrency trading platforms. This suggests that the financial conglomerate is betting on an increase in cryptocurrency trading in Japan and is positioning itself to benefit from it. While countries like China and South Korea have not fully embraced digital currencies, they are racing ahead in testing the feasibility of a central bank digital currency. The South Korean central bank …

Much of the current blockchain ecosystem has been built around traditional concepts. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see crowdfunding mechanisms tailored specifically for blockchain projects that resemble initial public offerings. For example, in 2017, the blockchain space witnessed the rise of initial coin offerings, and while the ICO framework quickly attracted billions of dollars in venture capital, the approach was flawed, as any investor could participate by sending cryptocurrency to a project that had nothing to show for in terms of proof but a website (and sometimes a white paper). Unsurprisingly, many ICOs turned out to be fraudulent, resulting in …

A recent report by ARK Investment Management LLC presents a strongly bullish case for Bitcoin’s (BTC) future value. The group projects that Bitcoin’s network capitalization will rise to $1-$5 trillion over the next five to ten years. The asset manager argues that Bitcoin offers one of the most attractive risk to reward ratios and should be included in well-diversified portfolios. However, Blockstream CEO Adam Back believes that the estimation is “conservative” and Back suggested that Bitcoin could rally to a “$1 trillion market cap within 2 years” or probably sooner, implying that each Bitcoin will be worth $50,000. Daily cryptocurrency …

The shallow pullback in Bitcoin (BTC) following the news of the CFTC’s regulatory crackdown on BitMEX and the late announcement that U.S. President Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus shows that the underlying sentiment is still bullish. Generally, most damage during such periods of negative news flow is caused by the squaring up of leveraged positions. Data shows that Bitcoin futures volume and open interest has been dropping since hitting the peak in early September. This means that there were fewer long positions that had to be squared up in a hurry and it also may explain why a sharper …

According to data from CryptoQuant, the total amount of Bitcoin (BTC) held in exchange reserves dropped from 2.8 million BTC in October 2019 to 2.4 million. Analysts believe that this steady decline in reserves means retail traders and whales may be accumulating Bitcoin as they expect prices to rise in the future. Even though Bitcoin is still far below its lifetime highs, if it manages to close Q3 2020 above $10,590, that would be the second-best close in any quarter. Data from Skew shows this would only be behind the Q4 2017 closing price at $13,660. All of this suggests …

Bitcoin (BTC) soared above $10,000 on July 27 and has sustained above this level since then. Data shows that this streak of 63 consecutive days of closes above the $10,000 level is a new record. This also shows that the level has now become a strong support after previously acting as a stiff resistance. Bulls have consistently purchased dips to and below $10K and this psychologically important level may now act as a floor for launching the next leg of the uptrend. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 At the moment it seems that the monetary and fiscal stimulus measures …

Over the weekend hackers stole about $150 million in user funds from a number of hot wallets at KuCoin exchange. Previous instances of hacking usually have a negative impact on crypto prices but as the news broke the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and major altcoins hardly budged. In a recent interview with the Human Rights Foundation, Square CEO Jack Dorsey said that “security is not something that can ever be perfected” and it is a constant endeavor to stay ahead of the attackers. Dorsey added that Bitcoin and blockchain are the future where every bit of content will exist forever …

According to a study by researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the number of people who own Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets has surged from about 35 million in 2018 to over 100 million. This is a positive sign because the growth continued even when the crypto markets were not in a secular bull trend. The allure of digital currencies is likely to increase further if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approves a Bitcoin ETF, but only Commissioner Hester Peirce is supportive of such a move. Peirce recently said that the SEC was closely watching recent …

The Polkadot team released on Wednesday a major milestone for its Substrate blockchain framework, which now provides a way for blockchain applications to interface with the outside world without relying on external oracle providers. Substrate is the name used for Polkadot’s blockchain building framework. It provides developers with a variety of tools to design their custom blockchain for a variety of possible applications. The blockchains can then be launched stand-alone or integrated in Polkadot’s network of shards, or “Parachains.” The most important feature of Substrate 2.0 is the “off-chain worker,” a development module that lets blockchains perform advanced computations or …

According to survey data from crypto asset insurance firm, Evertas, institutional investors believe that clearer regulations and better infrastructure in terms of trading, reporting, and custodial services will increase their participation in the crypto market. About a quarter of the respondents expect that pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and family offices will also become more involved with digital assets. The survey also found that 32% of the participants expect hedge funds to substantially increase their crypto holdings in the future. The approval of the world’s first crypto asset exchange-traded fund on the Bermuda stock exchange is a positive …

Digital asset development company RockX has launched a $20 million investment program to support the Polkadot (DOT) ecosystem over the next five years. The funding, capped at a maximum of $500,000 worth of DOT tokens per project, will be provided alongside technical support from the team’s developers. In return, the firm will receive tokens or equity from supported projects. RockX, which currently runs a node for Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana, Oasis, and Terra, was co-founded by Alex Lam, who also runs Asia based Bitcoin (BTC) mining facilities RockMiner. CEO Lam said that the program is being launched with financial aid from …