Bitcoin’s future is undoubtedly tough to predict. The pundits either believe it will go to the moon or collapse. The latest to join the league of those predicting the demise of Bitcoin is Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University.
In a blog post in the Guardian, Ken Rogoff writes: "Is the cryptocurrency Bitcoin the biggest bubble in the world today, or a great investment bet on the cutting edge of new-age financial technology? My best guess is that in the long run, the technology will thrive, but that the price of Bitcoin will collapse."
With initial coin offerings getting attention from regulators around the world, European Central Bank governing council member Ewald Nowotny has disclosed that the European Central Bank is looking at putting regulation on the books regarding ICOs.
"Bitcoin is not a currency, it is highly speculative and volatile, it is not subject to any supervision either, and the stock market movements of the recent period make it clear,” explains Nowotny speaking in an interview with the Austrian weekly magazine Trend as covered by Bloomberg.
UBS Chairman and former Bundesbank President Axel Weber said on Wednesday bitcoin does not fulfill some of the most important functions of currency, the latest senior banker to express skepticism about the cryptocurrency.
"I get often asked why I’m so skeptical about bitcoin, it probably comes from my background as a central banker," Weber said at a conference organized by the Swiss Finance Institute. Axel Weber previously served as head of the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank.
Cryptocurrencies may have naysayers on Wall Street, but Goldman Sachs isn’t one of them, according to news from The Wall Street Journal.
Citing sources with knowledge of the effort, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Goldman is in the early stages of creating a trading operation specifically geared toward cryptocurrencies. At the same time, it’s not clear at this time if the investment bank will go ahead with the plan.
The Swiss financial regulatory board, Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), has increased its investigations into ICOs in Switzerland, according to a press release last week. The move comes after a substantial uptick in the number of ICOs based in the country, according to the document.
After noticing a marked increase in the number of initial coin offerings (ICOs) made in the country, Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has decided to take a closer look at this new, cryptocurrency-powered fundraising method.
Swiss bank UBS could shed almost 30,000 workers in the years ahead due to technological advances in the banking industry, Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said in a magazine interview.
Ermotti told Bloomberg Markets that “process-oriented” companies see scope to cut workforces in half through new technology but he believed the true number for banks was around half that.
Bitcoin price made a firm upward move to push beyond $4,000 and chalk in a high above $4,100 at press time after flirting with the level over the last few days. Trading data from Bitfinex reveals bitcoin trading to the dollar near $3,900 at the start of the day.
Now back above the $4,000 mark, the momentum stuck as trading climbed further for price to register a new 7-day high of $4,112 on Bitstamp.
While governments ponder legalization or continue to reaffirm existing bans on the use of bitcoin, larger e-commerce giants may not care. Speculation built over the weekend that Amazon.com Inc. was considering introducing support for bitcoin payments as soon as October.
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