Goldman Sachs, a leading investment banking institution, has updated its gold price forecast due to the unforeseen strong performance of the metal in 2024. In a note directed to investors, the bank expects gold to reach ,700 per ounce by year’s end, pushed by non-traditional factors. Goldman Sachs Updates Gold Price Outlook to ,700 per […]
Bitcoin News
Bitcoin Skyrockets, Yet South Korea Experiences a ‘Kimchi Discount’ Instead of the Usual Premium
Bitcoin has soared, doubling its value since the start of the year. Yet, intriguingly, the famed “Kimchi premium” in South Korea remains absent in this current surge of bullish activity. This is a notable deviation from previous bull markets, where the phenomenon was prominently observed. In fact, this time around, BTC prices in South Korea are trading at a discount compared to other parts of the world.
Despite the Won Ranking as the 5th Largest Bitcoin Trading Pair, South Korea Sees Unprecedented ‘Kimchi Discount’
This month, bitcoin has exhibited remarkable performance, appreciating 27.9% against the U.S. dollar. As of 10:15 a.m. EDT, BTC hovered just above the K mark, boasting a seven-day gain of 14.8%.
Intriguingly, during this upward trajectory, bitcoin prices on South Korea’s top crypto exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, are slightly lower. This scenario stands in stark contrast to the “Kimchi premium” observed in previous years, which typically manifested during crypto bull runs, pushing BTC’s value several hundred dollars above the global average.
Currently, bitcoin trading is thriving in South Korea, with cryptocompare.com data revealing that BTC is the fifth largest trading pair in the country, accounting for 3.73% of all BTC’s global trades.
Despite BTC’s global trading price of ,059 at the time of writing, it is exchanging hands at ,902 on Upbit and approximately ,869 on Bithumb. This translates to a 7 and roughly 0 per unit discount on Upbit and Bithumb, respectively.
Contrary to the “Kimchi premium,” where not just BTC, but also other cryptocurrencies like XRP and ETH would experience price elevations, the current discounts are uniquely impacting bitcoin’s value.
Ethereum, for example, is exhibiting a minor discount discrepancy of around -15 per unit. On the trading front, Bithumb recorded approximately 8 million in global trades on Friday, while Upbit saw a much higher .7 billion. Among Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit, Upbit dominates in the country, commanding nearly 80% of South Korea’s crypto trading volume.
South Korea’s government and regulators from the country have tried to curb the “Kimchi premium” and put the trend to an end. While there is no sign of a premium, a “Kimchi discount” still brings an opportunity for arbitrage.
What do you think about the lack of the “Kimchi premium” during bitcoin’s current upswing? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Who Is Satoshi? Rounding Up The Usual Suspects After Today’s 50 Bitcoin Transaction
This morning, a 50 BTC transaction with a UXTO from February 2009 was made, sending the Bitcoin community into a storm of speculation. Was it Satoshi who was moving the coins, or someone close to the original, mysterious creator of the first-ever cryptocurrency?
The discussion has brought back discussion as to who Satoshi actually could be. With who the cryptocurrency’s creator is once again a hot topic, we’re rounding up all of the usual suspects who are commonly thought to be the figure behind the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Origins of Bitcoin
In early 2009, the first version of the Bitcoin protocol was released on Sourceforge coinciding with the mining of the Genesis block.
The Genesis block and the earliest blocks mined by early Bitcoin miners earned 50 BTC each.
This morning, 50 BTC moved associated with Bitcoin that was mined back in February 2009, just one month after the Genesis block was mined and added to the blockchain.
Related Reading | Blast From Bitcoin Past: Is Someone Close to Satoshi Moving 50 BTC From 2009?
The movements of funds have caused speculation to run wild across the cryptocurrency space. First, the community believed it could be Satoshi moving the coins. Next, others assert it must be someone associated with the creator of the cryptocurrency.
More rational crypto enthusiasts claim it is likely just an early Bitcoin miner and bears little significance in the overall grand scheme.
Whatever the meaning behind it or who the sender is, it has revived discussion about who the creator of Bitcoin may be.
And while we may never know who exactly Satoshi Nakamoto is or they are, here is a list of the most commonly accused or associated with being the creator of Bitcoin.
Meet The List of People Who Have Been Said to Be Satoshi Nakamoto
Craig Wright
Dr. Craig Wright has long laid claim to being the creator of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin SV frontman has been challenged to then move some of the BTC supply said to be held by the real Satoshi to prove the claims.
Wright has yet to access this Bitcoin. However, in a strange turn of events, the 50 BTC sent this morning has been tied to Wright in some way.
Court documents highlighting the wallet addresses owned by Wright include the early Bitcoin address that moved 50 BTC today.
This in no way proves Wright is Satoshi, or if he even owns the account. Wright is currently being accused of defrauding Dave Kleiman’s estate of a massive sum of Bitcoin and various intellectual property rights.
Paul Le Roux
Last year, a conspiracy theory surfaced involving a cartel boss programmer turned DEA informant.
The theory claimed that South African crime kingpin Paul Le Roux created Bitcoin as a way to launder money. Le Roux was not only a cartel boss, but he had extensive experience with encryption technology used in cryptocurrencies.
Adam Back
Adam Back is the CEO of Blockstream and a lead Bitcoin developer. But prior to this, Back invented Hashcash, considered to be a precursor to Bitcoin.
Hashcash brought the concept of proof-of-work to the world, which later inspired the blockchain technology powering BTC.
Back even now is regularly accused of being Satoshi Nakamoto. And while Back is certainly flattered, he denies the claims.
Nick Szabo
Nick Szabo is also among the earliest supporters of digital currencies. Szabo had designed a digital currency called Bit Gold, said to be a direct precursor to Bitcoin’s technology.
The currency got its name because Szabo was as closely as possible “trying to mimic” the “security and trust characteristics of gold” but have it exist in cyberspace. Sound familiar?
Hal Finney
The late Hal Finney was a computer scientist and developer for PGP Corporation focusing on “pretty good privacy.” He was an early contributor to Bitcoin and was among the first to run the client. He also received the first BTC transaction from Nakamoto himself, or so it is said.
Finney is the most likely candidate out of everyone to actually be Nakamoto, but he denied it up until is passing.
Dorian Nakamoto
Dorian Nakamoto is often used as the face of Satoshi, due to a Newsweek report identifying a Japanese California man as having been born with the name Satoshi Nakamoto.
Coincidentally, Nakamoto worked as a systems engineer for tech and finance firms. And even more unusually coincidental, Finney and Nakamoto both lived in Temple City, California at one point.
It’s speculated that either the two conspired together to create Bitcoin, Finney created it and used the Nakamoto name or some other scenario where the two merged their visions for what the cryptocurrency ultimately became together.
There’s potential that the crypto asset was created by any person on this list or some combination of them. We may never know who Satoshi Nakamoto is or was, but their legacy will live on forever through Bitcoin.
NewsBTC
Life continues: South Korean Bithumb and Tokyo’s Coincheck return to the usual rhythm of work
Sooner or later everything rises. This principle also applies to the crypto-currency market, which from time to time simply confuses absolutely unexpected news, but still returns to a stable course. Most of the Crypto-currency, which started the week on a downtrend, have finally returned to growth. Return to the usual rhythm of work and South […]
The post Life continues: South Korean Bithumb and Tokyo’s Coincheck return to the usual rhythm of work appeared first on The Bitcoin News – Leading Bitcoin and Crypto News since 2012.
BREAKING NEWS – The Bitcoin News – Leading Bitcoin and Crypto News since 2012
Bitcoin Outperformed All Bonds, Stocks, Gold, and Assets in 2017 as Usual
Bitcoin has started a new year, after defeating all bonds, stocks, gold, and assets in terms of price growth and profitability in 2017.
1,300% Annual Return
According to StockTwits, S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Long 20+ Year Treasuries, Gold, Emerging Markets, and Junk Bonds have all recorded yearly gains below the 35 percent mark, despite the strong performance of the US stock markets.
On the contrary, as it did in 2015 and 2016, bitcoin has surpassed the growth rate of all of the conventional assets in the traditional finance industry. After starting 2017 at 0, bitcoin price has closed the year at ,500, recording nearly a 1,300 percent annual return.
Within the global cryptocurrency market however, bitcoin has not been the most profitable asset. Litecoin, IOTA, Ripple, Ethereum, and several others have outperformed bitcoin, with Ripple recording a staggering 333-fold yearly return.
,000 invested in bitcoin in early January would have earned an investor ,000 while ,000 invested in Ripple in the same time period would have earned an investor 0,000.
Regardless of its strong performance, the dominance index of bitcoin has declined significantly, from 90 percent to 38.3 percent. Analyst have attributed such a sharp decline in its dominance over the cryptocurrency market to the cryptocurrency’s high transaction fees, which increased to per median-size transaction in December.
Stil, relative to other assets and currencies in the finance sector and global economy, bitcoin has recorded a strong return for investors.
2018: Big Year For Bitcoin
In December 2017, Bitfury vice chairman and prominent bitcoin investor George Kikvadze noted that the ,000 mark was a psychological threshold for bitcoin investors and once that was passed, anything was possible thereafter.
Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz reaffirmed his target of ,000 and has publicly stated that he is confident the market valuation of bitcoin would surpass a trillion dollars by the end of 2018. Investors also expect innovative scaling solutions to be integrated into the Bitcoin network to reduce transaction fees, which would drastically improve its usability and adoption.
“Bitcoin could be at ,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could. What’s different about these coins than other commodities … there is no supply response here. So it’s a speculator’s dream in that as buying happens there’s no new supply response that comes up. So every price move gets exaggerated. It’s going to get exaggerated on the way up,” said Novogratz.
As NewsBTC previously reported, large-scale financial institutions such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) plan to provide regulated investment vehicles for institutional investors and retail traders. Most recently, NYSE and CBOE filed for six bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Things to look out for in 2018 in #Bitcoin:
1. Nasdaq Bitcoin Futures
2. NYSE Bitcoin ETFs
3. Cboe Bitcoin ETFs
4. Scaling / Lower Fees
5. More Adoption Due to ↑
6. Many Billion of Institutional Money Coming to Bitcoin / CryptoNo wonder analysts are so optimistic!
— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) December 26, 2017
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