Summary:
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Janet Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, outlined a bunch of concerns regarding cryptocurrencies
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Bitstamp, a Bitcoin exchange based in Luxembourg, confirms it has been acquired by a Europe-based subsidiary of a South Korean company
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Goldman Sachs starts signing up customers for its Bitcoin trading product
Janet Yellen had her appearance earlier this week during the Canada Fintech Forum. Speaking about new technologies and their use into central banking she reiterated her concerns tied to digital currencies in general. Yellen said outright that she is not a fan of virtual currencies. She presented some reasons behind her attitude to digital assets. Yellen said “I know there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies and maybe something is coming down the line that is more appealing but I think first of all, very few transactions are actually handled by bitcoin, and many of those do take place on bitcoin are illegal, illicit transactions.” She also referred to Bitcoin’s use as a payment method claiming that “...to be a useful currency, it needs to be a stable source of value, and bitcoin is anything but. So it's not used for a lot of transactions, it's not a stable source of value and it's also not an efficient means for processing payments. It's very slow in handling payments.” The former chair of the US central bank concluded that Bitcoin is not energy-efficient compared to traditional payment methods.
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Bitcoin is moving nowhere this morning. After a spike which took place at the end of the last week, the price had then a similar pullback. If the ongoing move keeps unfolding we may soon see the price hovering closer to $6140. Source: xStation5
Bitstamp, a a Bitcoin exchange based in Luxembourg, confirmed earlier this week that it had been acquired by a European subsidiary of a corporation headquartered in South Korea. The crypto exchange CEO Kodric wrote in a blog post “Bitstamp has been regularly approached by suitors for quite some time. The reason why we finally decided to sell the company is a combination of the quality of the buyer, the quality of the offer and the fact that the industry is at a point where consolidation makes sense.” He also added that Bitstamp had been also approached by some buyers from China and the United States in 2017. As a result of the acquisition Bitstamp customers should expect improvements in user experience, customer service, trading functions and other operations, Kodric said.
Litecoin is trading close to its lowest level since mid-September. If the price closes below $48 it could mean more pain for bulls here. Source: xStation5
Although Goldman Sachs has yet to launch its new Bitcoin trading product, it has already begun signing up a limited number of customers for its new services. That that the new product will be a non-deliverable and cash-settled forward hence it will be similar to common futures but will not be traded on an exchange. The US investment bank is also considering to launch custody services for digital currencies.
Ripple is trading close to its important support zone. A move through $0.44 would open space for an extended slide toward $0.41. Source: xStation5
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