Bitcoin Price Dips Below $400: Bad News Overshadowing the Good?
This week, Bitcoin-land has had an eventful start and continues to prowl in unexpected ways. Currently, the Bitcoin price has dropped a bit today dipping below $400 USD per coin. This price drop may be due to the speculation within the community and, unfortunately, negative events. This news has seemingly overshadowed the positive announcements that have surfaced this week.
Also read: Block Size Consensus Reached? Bitcoin Classic is Unveiled
Good News
PayPal Holdings, Inc. has announced it has hired Wences Casares founder and CEO of Xapo, to its Board of Directors. The venture capitalist and entrepreneur has shown he is a leader in the cryptocurrency space, and many believe this is hot news for Bitcoin. Casares will begin this month with PayPal and operate under its Compensation Committee. The payment processing company has given many hints towards its favorable opinion concerning digital currencies such as Bitcoin. This news is no different, the Xapo CEO Wences Casares says:
“I look forward to working together with the PayPal board and leadership team to continue to deliver their compelling vision.”
Bad News
The cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy has revealed it has been compromised. The announcement states,“Cryptsy has had problems for some time now, and it’s time to let everybody know exactly why.” Cryptsy acknowledges the months of accusations and reveals it has lost 13,000 BTC, and 300,000 LTC. This hack happened quite some time ago on July 29th, 2014, and the company says its offering a bounty of 1,000 BTC to someone who can recover the stolen coins. The Bitcoin has not moved since the transaction occurred back in July. The company states that it will most likely file for bankruptcy in the near future. They say they have three possible scenarios to deal with:
“1. We shut down the website and file bankruptcy, letting users file claims via the bankruptcy process and letting the court make the disbursements.
2. Somebody else comes in to purchase and run Cryptsy while also making good on requested withdrawals.
3. If somehow we are able to re-acquire the stolen funds, then we allow all withdrawal requests to process.”
Good News
Netflix CFO David Wells hints about Bitcoin helping out the streaming video services within Latin America. While presenting a Q&A at the 2016 Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference Wells was questioned about issues with payment processors. The company is learning from the current problems they are faced with as the world of payments is experiencing an evolutionary shift. Wells says that Bitcoin may be the answer to the problems, saying:
“We’ll see where we go from here in the next 10, 15 years from a payments perspective, because countries still want to hold on to their monetary policy. But it sure would be nice to have bitcoin, in terms of a global currency, that you could use globally.”
Bad News
Bitcoin engineer and lead XT developer Mike Hearn has demonstrably left the Bitcoin environment. In a post on Medium, he calls “The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment,” Hearn believes that Bitcoin has failed. He references quite a bit of arguments throughout his resignation. The developer reveals some key points in his article including mining centralization; the blockchain is full, developer infighting, “bogus conferences,” and many other issues. He says, “Despite knowing that Bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly.” It was announced just a few weeks back that Hearn is officially working with the R3 project backed by 42 legacy banking institutions.
I disagree with Mike Hearn's analysis and concerns (see LTB show next week). I thank him for all his work and wish him all the best. Onwards
— Andreas (@aantonop) January 15, 2016
@binarybits @OctSkyward Yes, Mike is too pessimistic.
— Gavin Andresen (@gavinandresen) January 15, 2016
Good News
The criminal DDoS extortionist gang known as DD4BC (distributed denial-of-service for Bitcoin) has been weakened as Europol has apprehended the leader of the group. DD4BC has been threatening quite a few cryptocurrency organizations and financial institutions since its inception in 2014. An international group of authorities from the U.S., U.K., Germany, Bosnia, France, Japan, and Herzegovina, had partnered together to capture the suspect and another accomplice. This group plagued the internet for quite some time, and many are happy to see it go.
Bad News
The Bitcoin price has dropped quite a bit during the second week of the 2016 New Year. Bitcoin’s value has dropped significantly over the past 24 hours. Some are speculating that this is based on Mike Hearn’s announcement and other forms of negative press. The price drop may be relatively bad news for those who would like to see the cryptocurrency go moon-bound this year. However, it’s good news for those who would like to gather some cheaper digital currency during the low. The price at press time has been below $400 USD per coin.
Good News
Ross Ulbricht has filed for a federal appeal against his sentencing and what they call an “unfair” trial. The case has been riddled with corruption, and the case may see a new light. Over the past few months, the public has seen the fact that there were, at least, two corrupt special agents who manipulated and tainted this investigation. Ulbricht supporters feel that this is solid evidence that Ross did not receive a fair trial. Despite this good news, chances of winning are slim as the odds are not in Ulbricht’s favor. However, the defense has written a solid argument consisting of 170 pages showing the corruption within this case hurt Ulbricht’s chances. Supporters hope the Judges from the second circuit believes the same in favor of the defense.
‘Bitcoin is just so boring’
As usual, the digital currency is going for a ride on a roller coaster. There is never a dull day within this environment. The currency still has many supporters, developers and those willing to innovate the space. The mainstream media, of course, will paint a different picture as Hearn exits, another exchange bites the dust and the price drops significantly. They will say that Bitcoin is dead, its days numbered, and the value will go to zero. But investors within the space feel differently as they see 130 million in venture funding go into the FinTech industry as Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group is acquiring CoinDesk demonstrating that investment in this space is not slowing anytime soon. In fact, the Honey Badger is shrugging again and continuing to not care about what you think.
Bitcoin is just so boring
— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) January 15, 2016
Do you believe any of these news stories have affected the price? Let us know in the comments below.
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