Following a dramatic sell-off in the global cryptocurrency markets, which was dragged down by concerns over Bitcoin in January, investors are once again in a purchasing mood. According to a recent report published by MarketWatch.com, the second and third weeks of February have been very positive for cryptocurrencies.
On February 21, Bitcoin reached an exchange rate of $11,500, this represents an intraday gain of six percent. It is important to remember that Bitcoin surpassed the incredible benchmark of $20,000 in late 2017, only to start losing value at a vertiginous pace until reaching $6,000 on February 4. One of the factors pushing the value of Bitcoin over the last few days was the unexpected purchase of $344,000 worth of this digital currency by an anonymous investor; various analysts believe that an investment banking firm or a hedge fund may have taken this considerable position, which has certainly worked wonders for an ailing market.
In Chicago, investors of Bitcoin futures contracts are going long after weeks of taking short positions. While there have been some negative comments from regulators and politicians about the future of digital currencies in the global economy, such comments are not being followed up with actions. In the meantime, cryptocurrency developers are continuing to develop blockchain solutions, particularly with relation to Ethereum, a digital currency that has proven to be more dynamic and promising than Bitcoin in terms of having a real economic future.
Executives at digital currency mining company Marathon Crypto are ready to put the early 2018 slump behind them. The company has signed a lease agreement to occupy a large facility in Quebec, where Marathon will install mining rigs and server arrays to continue mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Monero, and others.
Another event lifting up the cryptocurrency markets is the announcement by Bitzumi, a digital content platform, about its intention to offer stock to prospective investors. Bitzumi intends to act as a network of various blockchain products that may enable digital content producers and brokers to enter into contracts and exchange payments.
Finally, NXT-ID is a company that intends to develop a payment system that will enable smartphones equipped with near-field communications technology to transfer cryptocurrency from digital wallets. NFC technology has been adopted by Apple, Google and other tech giants for their competing digital wallets with mixed results; however, cryptocurrency payments may be a better fit for this contact-less money transfer format
Dil Bole Oberoi
