The non-profit that oversees development of ethereum has officially unveiled two subsidy programs that will support research on how to grow the number of transactions its blockchain can process.
In a blog post published Tuesday, ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin described how the network is beginning to reach 1 million transactions per day.
The price of Bitcoin increased by 13.5 per cent to US$15,017 ($21,187) after a report found billionaire Peter Thiel, an early investor in Facebook and co-founder of Paypal, had heavily invested in the cryptocurrency.
Co-founded by high-profile investor Peter Thiel and based in San Francisco, Founders Fund has bought $15 million to $20 million worth of bitcoin across several of its recent funds, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources
The price of the US dollar in Forex markets will be influenced by the success and subsequent decline of Bitcoin while at the same time the Chinese support the yuan as an international reserve currency and continue putting more renminbi in circulation.
Russian officials are developing a cryptocurrency intended to help the country evade international financial sanctions, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has commissioned government agencies to work on a “cryptorouble,” the FT reported, citing Moscow officials.
Bitcoin has started the year with another drop in its price. It’s the first time since 2015 that the cryptocurrency has started a calendar year with a fall in value. The virtual coin traded at $13,624.56 in the U.S. on Monday, down 4.8 percent from Friday. This is a fall from the final day of trading of 2017 when the price was at $14,156. The disheartening start to the year is in direct contrast to the January of 2017 when the cryptocurrency began its year of huge gains. On the first day of trading in January bitcoin rose 3.6 percent holding a value of approximately $998.
To the surprise of many, 2017 was the year cryptocurrencies catapulted into mainstream consciousness. Bitcoin’s value grew by more than 1,000% in 2017, but that wasn’t enough to even place it among the 10 best-performing cryptoassets of the year.
At its highest point Sunday, Ripple XRP skyrocketed 36,000% to become the world’s best-performing digital asset. The cryptocurrency charted an impressive path in the final three weeks of the year, gaining more than 800% when comparing the closing price between Dec. 7 and 31.
Legendary Swiss ski resort St. Moritz has announced on Thursday that they will begin accepting Bitcoin payments for lift passes. The 2017/18 season that has just begun will be the first in which the payment method is trialled.
According to Swiss public television, SRF, and the newspaper Südostschweiz, Engadin St Moritz is the first Swiss lift company to recognise payments with cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin resumed its tumble on Thursday after South Korea said it was eyeing options including a potential shutdown of at least some cryptocurrency exchanges to stamp out a frenzy of speculation.
The price of bitcoin on Thursday afternoon in Seoul fell about 8.5 per cent to Won19.93m ($18.534) on Bithumb, one of the world’s busiest virtual currency exchanges, as traders reacted to the measures. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has fallen about 28 per cent from its record high reached last week.
