By Ashley Young And Tony O'Riley-
Bitcoin took a sudden leap on Tuesday, after months of relatively constant change, exciting many but also leaving others wary of jumping on any bandwagon of excitement
The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency surged more than 15 percent higher to $4,766 on Tuesday afternoon. According to coin desk, this is its highest level since late November, according to CoinDesk. Experts attributed the price hike to a breakout from a closely-watched resistance level of $4,200. Most others simply concluded the unpredictable leap as mysterious.
Bitcoin had been hovering around the $4,000 mark for several months. The unforeseen jump will excite some, but there is plenty of cause for caution when operating in a business affair known for its unpredictability. The prospects of quick profitability among those trading in this unique digital currency is exciting many, but many financial experts believe members of the public should air on the side of caution.
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The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange was forced to delay the opening of the cryptocurrency exchange it announced last year, precisely because regulators are weary of the volatility of the crptocurrency. Financial experts and analysts like to be able to predict the future of their engagements with some degree of certainty, and not gamble.
Bitcoin trading contracts are popular in some business circles, its popularity has not extended to circles where the shrewdest of businessmen operate because of the unattractive element of risk only rewarded when luck is on the side of the investors.
Bitcoin enthusiasts will be on a high right now, maximising as much ss they can. Earlier Tuesday, bitcoin briefly touched the $5,000 mark on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. The digital asset has added over $14 billion to its market value in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
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UNCLEAR
Experts are unclear was sparked the jump, but many believe the low volatility that had characterised the market for a while was bound to experience a sudden jump sooner or later. Other virtual currencies were also higher, with ether and XRP rising 10 and 9 percent, respectively. Some researchers from Datalight are already predicting bitcoin will be a main system of payment in the next decade comparing Bitcoin to legacy payment providers, which also included PayPal.
DataLight made the forecast after noting the cryptocurrency’s rapid advances since its inception in 2009.
“In just 10 years, Bitcoin has managed to compete with the leaders of the payment system industry. Bitcoin’s development is occurring exponentially,” the company states. The study comparing Bitcoin to legacy payment providers, which also included PayPal, DataLight made the forecast after noting the cryptocurrency’s rapid advances since its inception in 2009.
“In just 10 years, Bitcoin has managed to compete with the leaders of the payment system industry. Bitcoin’s development is occurring exponentially,” the company summarised. Today, the Jamaican Stock Exchange signed a historic agreement promising to bring regulated Digital Trading Asset to investors. Jamaica signed the master agreement with Canadian fintech firm Blockstation to continue developing tools for the trading of digital assets and security tokens.
Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director of the JSE described it as an unprecedented opportunity for the JSE to diversify its product offerings and attract new listings and inbound investments. He added: ”We welcome retail investors and companies both locally and around the globe to trade digital assets under a safe, efficient and transparent regulatory framework.”
WHAT BITCOIN IS ABOUT
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of electronic cash. It is effectively a decentralised digital currency without a central bank or single administrator. It was invented by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software . They can be exchanged for other products and currencies. Bitcoins are registered to bitcoin addresses which can be created by picking a random valid private key and computing the corresponding bitcoin address. An individual’s private key signals their ownership and users have to digitally sign in their transaction, which the network verifies using their public key.
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