Cryptocurrencies Slide as Regulation, Demand Concerns Linger

Cryptocurrencies Slide as Regulation, Demand Concerns Linger

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin slumped as much as 17 percent, helping to drag down smaller rivals such as ripple and litecoin, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency continues to be whipsawed by concerns about regulation and demand from Asia. “The fuss about regulators tightening screws in South Korea is pushing the price of bitcoin,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at TF Global Markets in London. “This and the Chinese news is going to bring…

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Bitcoin Loses Dazzle as Second-Tier Crypto Coins Catch Up

Bitcoin Loses Dazzle as Second-Tier Crypto Coins Catch Up

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin alternatives are closing the gap with the market leader after names like stellar and cardano became red hot as 2017 was closing. The biggest cryptocurrency’s share of market value has fallen to a record 36 percent from 56 percent a month ago, according to CoinMarketCap prices for coins and tokens. Stellar, designed for cross-border payments, has more than doubled in the first trading days of this year, achieving…

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Bitcoin Is the Most Perfect Bubble Possible

Bitcoin Is the Most Perfect Bubble Possible

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – What else would you call something that, as of Tuesday morning, has gone up 47 percent the past week, 181 percent the past month, and 2,119 percent the past year? Not to mention the most remarkable part of this all: It has happened for no discernible reason. People haven’t started to actually, you know, use bitcoins much more than they did a year ago, but that hasn’t stopped its…

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Mystery Shrouds Tether and Its Links to Biggest Bitcoin Exchange

Mystery Shrouds Tether and Its Links to Biggest Bitcoin Exchange

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Among the many mysteries at the heart of the cryptocurrency market are these: Does $814 million of a digital token known as tether really exist? And what is tether’s connection to Bitfinex, the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange? This is the state of crypto in late 2017, where questions about the companies behind the currencies are multiplying with the profits. While cryptocurrencies appeal to people who lack faith in governments and banks, the…

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Online Fantasy Games Pay Real Money for Desperate Venezuelans

Online Fantasy Games Pay Real Money for Desperate Venezuelans

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – They start arriving even before the security shutters at the west Caracas storefront roll up at about 8:30 a.m. For 11 hours a day, they’ll hunch over old-fashioned cathode-ray tube monitors and bang on greasy keyboards in a dim space with a boarded-up window and a blanket of dust. They pause just long enough to smoke cigarettes in the stairwell. And if someone lingers too long, another eager person claims their seat and…

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Bitcoin Heads to Wall Street Whether Regulators Are Ready or Not

Bitcoin Heads to Wall Street Whether Regulators Are Ready or Not

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Two U.S. exchanges, including the parent of the venerable Chicago Mercantile Exchange, are racing to embrace bitcoin, dragging federal regulators into a realm skeptics call a fad and fraud. The development shows how some big financial players are moving to co-opt the volatile cryptocurrency and lure more mainstream investors into the market, even before regulators have agreed on just what bitcoin is. CME Group Inc.’s contracts will debut Dec. 18. Cboe…

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Nasdaq Is Said to Plan Bitcoin Futures, Joining Biggest Rivals

Nasdaq Is Said to Plan Bitcoin Futures, Joining Biggest Rivals

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nasdaq Inc. plans to introduce bitcoin futures next year, according to a person familiar with the matter, becoming the third major U.S. exchange to attempt to dive into the red-hot market for cryptocurrencies. The New York-based exchange aims to introduce the products as early as the second quarter, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. The contracts will trade on Nasdaq’s NFX market,…

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