Blockchain Watch

Bitcoin Price Continues to Surge

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum are being bought more than sold since April, however in a particularly explosive manner since the second week of June, briefly reaching a 2019 high of $13,785 per Bitcoin. Crypto analysts agree to have identified a certain pattern in the most famous cryptocurrency’s price development and state they had been anticipating this growth. The line of reasoning is that a year prior to each “halving”, a moment in which the reward for successful data validation on the Bitcoin block chain is halved, a new cycle begins. The next halving will take place in June 2020, when the reward for mathematically creating a “block” (as in block chain) of validated data will be 12.5, therefore halve of what it has been since the last halving in 2016.

Opera Releases iOS Browser with Built-In Crypto Wallet

Opera Software AS, known as developers of the web browser Opera, have launched their blockchain-ready browser “Opera Touch” for the iPhone. This comes as no surprise since earlier this year an Android and PC version has been released. The novelty of said browsers are that they offer the feature to store the majority of tokens that are based on the Ethereum platform. By market capitalisation, Ethereum is the second biggest blockchain project, only behind Bitcoin. Users of the browser can henceforth make use of the Ether they acquired and spend them in decentralised apps without the need for a browser add-on, as it used to be the case. This will contribute to a further growth of and demand for Ethereum, and therefore serve as a driver of the crypto-space.

Bitcoin Derivatives Provider LedgerX to Offer Physically Settled Bitcoin Futures

As opposed to cash-settled derivative contracts, physically settled futures, options or other contracts that derive their value from the pending performance of an underlying entity, require the underlying asset to physically be delivered on a predetermined date of delivery. New York City-based LedgerX was granted permission to sell their newest speculative financial product this week by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The implications of these commodifications of cryptocurrencies are yet to be explored. Since the CFTC’s agenda is to “[…] foster open, transparent, competitive, and financially sound markets, to avoid systemic risk, and to protect the market users and their funds, consumers, and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices […]”, hopes are high that the decision to grant permission was better informed than that regarding credit default swaps in the 1990s.

Author: Patrick Lehner