The European Union has agreed on landmark rules for regulating the cryptocurrency industry, whose meltdown has been wiping out fortunes and sparking calls for tighter scrutiny worldwide.
EU negotiators hammered out the final details for a provisional agreement late on Thursday on a sweeping package of crypto regulations for the bloc’s 27 nations, known as Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA.
"Today, we put order in the Wild West of crypto assets and set clear rules for a harmonised market,” said Stefan Berger, the lead lawmaker negotiating the rules.
Read more at:
EU agrees on landmark crypto regulation in wake of Terra meltdown and Bitcoin plunge | Euronews
Showing posts with label Bitcoin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bitcoin. Show all posts
7/1/22
6/8/21
Bitcoin skids to two-week low, but technical analyst says the slump is not a ‘decisive breakdown’ — she’s watching the next two closes
Bitcoin was under fresh selling pressure Tuesday, dragging the world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency to lows not seen since late May. At least one technical analyst, though, says the slump doesn’t represent a decisive breakdown of the bitcoin uptrend unless and until the asset registers weaker closes today and tomorrow.
Read more at: Bitcoin skids to two-week low, but technical analyst says the slump is not a ‘decisive breakdown’ — she’s watching the next two closes - MarketWatch
Read more at: Bitcoin skids to two-week low, but technical analyst says the slump is not a ‘decisive breakdown’ — she’s watching the next two closes - MarketWatch
12/20/17
EU-Bitcoin Concerns:The Bitcoin Surge Sparks Bubble Warning by Top European Official - by Alexander Weber
The frenzy on virtual-currency markets has prompted the starkest warning yet from the European Union’s financial-services chief, who said that investors are at risk of losing everything.
EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis asked the heads of the EU’s three financial supervisors to update their warnings to consumers “as a matter of urgency” in light of recent market developments, acording to a letter seen by Bloomberg.
“The developments relating to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in recent weeks require our heightened attention,” Dombrovskis wrote in the letter. “While I acknowledge the important opportunities offered by blockchain technology and its various applications, the current market developments around bitcoin constitute the signs of a pricing bubble, even if -- in terms of global volume -- it remains at the moment within a small share of the financial markets.”
Read more: Bitcoin Surge Sparks Bubble Warning by Top European Official - Bloomberg
EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis asked the heads of the EU’s three financial supervisors to update their warnings to consumers “as a matter of urgency” in light of recent market developments, acording to a letter seen by Bloomberg.
“The developments relating to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in recent weeks require our heightened attention,” Dombrovskis wrote in the letter. “While I acknowledge the important opportunities offered by blockchain technology and its various applications, the current market developments around bitcoin constitute the signs of a pricing bubble, even if -- in terms of global volume -- it remains at the moment within a small share of the financial markets.”
Read more: Bitcoin Surge Sparks Bubble Warning by Top European Official - Bloomberg
12/15/17
Stock Markets: Bitcoin buyers should be prepared to lose all their money, top UK regulator warns
Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), told BBC's "Newsnight" on Thursday, "If you want to invest in bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your money."
Bailey said a lack of backing from governments and central banks for the world's most popular digital currency was evidence that putting money into bictoin was not a secure investment. He also said buying bitcoin was akin to gambling because it had the same level of risk.
Bitcoin's meteoric price rise has stunned critics and enthusiasts alike, leaving investors scrambling to understand the driving factors for the digital currency's runaway rally.
Bitcoin traded at $17,159 on Friday morning, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index. The digital currency has a market value of approximately $291 billion — the largest among the cryptocurrencies. A year ago, one bitcoin was worth around $780.
"If you look at what has happened this year, I would caution people … We know relatively little about what informs the price of bitcoin," Bailey told the BBC.
Soaring interest from institutional and retail investors has prompted global exchanges, such as the Cboe, to launch futures contracts.
Meantime, CME Group is poised to a launch bitcoin futures contract on Sunday and a German stock exchange operator is reportedly considering whether to follow suit.
The launch of bitcoin futures contracts represents a significant step in the legitimization of cryptocurrencies, according to some market participants. Futures are derivatives, or financial instruments, that obligate a trader to either buy or sell an asset at a specified time and at a specified price.
Bitcoin bulls have frequently referenced the cryptocurrency's scarcity value as a primary reason for its staying power. Somewhat like gold, bitcoin supply grows at glacial and ever-decreasing fixed rates with only 21 million bitcoins set to be in existence.
But while the trading of bitcoin futures on two of the world's largest exchanges is expected to provide a layer of official oversight that had not previously existed, several leading voices have expressed skepticism.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a "fraud" that would eventually blow up, while billionaire investor Warren Buffett urged traders to "stay away from it," calling the rally a "mirage."
Read more: Bitcoin buyers should be prepared to lose all their money, top UK regulator warns
6/11/14
Bitcoin: Expedia to begin accepting Bitcoin for hotel reservations - by Brad Chacos
You can buy electronics and every day goods with Bitcoin. You can order powerful custom PCs with Bitcoin. Heck, you can even pay your satellite TV bill in Bitcoin.
But Bitcoin took yet another stride toward mainstream acceptance on
Wednesday, as Expedia announced that it would start accepting Bitcoin
for hotel reservations, becoming the first major travel agency to
embrace the digital currency.
Like most of the other big-name retailers who accept Bitcoin, Expedia's transactions will be handled by Coinbase rather than managed internally. The travel agency will convert all incoming Bitcoin to cash as it's processed, rather than holding onto the digital dollars.
If you book a hotel using Bitcoin, you'll also receive a refund in Bitcoin if you need to cancel your reservation for any reason. The exact amount of the refund is tied to the U.S. dollar value of the original booking, however, to compensate for Bitcoin's pricing fluctuations. If you book a $400 hotel room using Bitcoin, your refund will also be worth $400, but pegged to that day's Bitcoin exchange rate.
Read more: Expedia to begin accepting Bitcoin for hotel reservations | PCWorld
Like most of the other big-name retailers who accept Bitcoin, Expedia's transactions will be handled by Coinbase rather than managed internally. The travel agency will convert all incoming Bitcoin to cash as it's processed, rather than holding onto the digital dollars.
If you book a hotel using Bitcoin, you'll also receive a refund in Bitcoin if you need to cancel your reservation for any reason. The exact amount of the refund is tied to the U.S. dollar value of the original booking, however, to compensate for Bitcoin's pricing fluctuations. If you book a $400 hotel room using Bitcoin, your refund will also be worth $400, but pegged to that day's Bitcoin exchange rate.
Read more: Expedia to begin accepting Bitcoin for hotel reservations | PCWorld
11/18/13
Money: The Rise of Bitcoin - QuickTake - Is It Real Money If It Doesn't Come From the Mint? By Max Raskin
They’re called Bitcoins, but you can’t put one into your pocket. Don’t try to use it to tip the waiter. So what makes Bitcoin money? The same thing that makes all money money — trust, in this case backed up by a lot of code-breaking computers.
Created in 2009, Bitcoin has grown into the world’s largest virtual currency, traded on exchanges around the world. It’s the product of open-source software and a decentralized network of electronic “miners,” making it a multibillion-dollar experiment in monetary privatization and perhaps the first step toward an age when the digital economy outgrows the restraints of nation states and wallets full of paper.
he value of Bitcoin soared in early 2013 amid a torrent of media coverage, hitting an intraday record high of $266 in April. Some buyers were drawn by a mistrust of central banks they saw as fueling inflation; for them, Bitcoin, which has rigid limits on money supply written into its software, was a safer alternative.
Others liked its anonymity for online transactions, legal or not. But much of the surge was driven by newer investors with more traditional motivation — getting in on the ground floor of a product in demand. In July 2013, the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame announced that they had bought 1 percent of the Bitcoin in existence and later filed to offer a Bitcoin ETF.
Prominence also brought new problems, however. The largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, located in Japan, was the target of hacking attacks that drove the price down. In the summer of 2013, regulators began to take notice, raising thorny questions of oversight.
Then on Oct. 2, Bitcoin prices plunged by a third after U.S. prosecutors announced the indictment of the operator of Silk Road, an anything-goes online market where drugs and other illicit goods were peddled for Bitcoin. But it soon rebounded to set new highs, and the Justice Department declared in November that Bitcoins can be “legal means of exchange.”
For more: Bloomberg
Created in 2009, Bitcoin has grown into the world’s largest virtual currency, traded on exchanges around the world. It’s the product of open-source software and a decentralized network of electronic “miners,” making it a multibillion-dollar experiment in monetary privatization and perhaps the first step toward an age when the digital economy outgrows the restraints of nation states and wallets full of paper.
he value of Bitcoin soared in early 2013 amid a torrent of media coverage, hitting an intraday record high of $266 in April. Some buyers were drawn by a mistrust of central banks they saw as fueling inflation; for them, Bitcoin, which has rigid limits on money supply written into its software, was a safer alternative.
Others liked its anonymity for online transactions, legal or not. But much of the surge was driven by newer investors with more traditional motivation — getting in on the ground floor of a product in demand. In July 2013, the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame announced that they had bought 1 percent of the Bitcoin in existence and later filed to offer a Bitcoin ETF.
Prominence also brought new problems, however. The largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, located in Japan, was the target of hacking attacks that drove the price down. In the summer of 2013, regulators began to take notice, raising thorny questions of oversight.
Then on Oct. 2, Bitcoin prices plunged by a third after U.S. prosecutors announced the indictment of the operator of Silk Road, an anything-goes online market where drugs and other illicit goods were peddled for Bitcoin. But it soon rebounded to set new highs, and the Justice Department declared in November that Bitcoins can be “legal means of exchange.”
For more: Bloomberg
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