Summary:

  • Bitcoin (BTCUSD on xStation5) and Litecoin (LTCUSD) have already breached their round levels
  • The latest issuance of tethers coincided with a jump in the Bitcoin price
  • Bitcoin watchers express their view on the cryptocurrency after the surge beyond $10k
  • A vast majority of cryptocurrency mobile apps could be ’in trouble’ according to San Francisco-based firm

The cryptocurrency mania continued overnight when the Bitcoin price crossed $10,000 for the first time ever. Let us remind that this outstanding move was initiated over the weekend after the South Korean bank announced that it was testing Bitcoin-based wallets. Since then, Bitcoin has risen more than $2,000 setting its new all-time high at $10,830. Besides, a notable increase was seen on Litecoin during the Asian session as well as it managed to breach $100 for the first time in history but it declined to some extent. In turn other digital currencies such as Ethereum (ETHUSD), Dash (DSHUSD) and Ripple (XRPUSD) were much less volatile.

Before we look at the Bitcoin’s history this year it’s worth writing something more about Tether and its connections with the latest surge in Bitcoin. First and foremost let us remind that Tether is the company behind Tether tokens providing an interface for businesses and individuals to access a blockchain-based cryptocurrency being always valued at a 1-1 with the USD. According to the newest revelations the firm decided to issue 10 million tethers (USDT) all of a sudden and most of the issuance coincided with a big rise in the Bitcoin price. What’s more, some users point to a lot of money flowing from Tether to Bitfinex and say that an amount of new tethers is closer to 20 million rather than just 10 million. This could be a weird development given that CEO of Bitfinex and Tether is the same person which naturally could raise concerns about a possible collusion between two entities. Finally, there are more and more concerns that Bitfinex could become the next Mt. Gox, a Bitcoin exchange which suspended trading and closed its website and exchange services in February 2014.

As we’re coming to the end of this year it’s worth taking a look at a quick snapshot of the Bitcoin’s history in 2017 to see what has taken the price to the levels where we are right now. 

link do file download linkThe Bitcoin’s history in the passing year has been full of rises and falls. Source: Bloomberg

Looking back to the past one can single out several pivotal events which drove the price of Bitcoin higher. One of them is the Chinese thread where the watchdog banned all cryptocurrency activities, however it could have been a tipping point as the price made then its biggest pullback in the ongoing rally. Subsequent increases could have stemmed from rising interest in the mass media which created the fear of missing out or FOMO. Finally the announcement of CME concerning introduction of Bitcoin futures added fuel to the flames as well increasing credibility among cryptocurrencies.

link do file download linkBitcoin might be en route to its another target localized at $11,250, the goal based on a reach of a broken ascending channel. Taking into account so powerful impetus one may assume that any pullbacks will be quickly erased. Source: xStation5

Now let’s cite several opinions expressed by Bitcoin watchers after the virtual currency moved above $10,000. Firstly, Arthur Hayes who is CEO and co-founder of Hong Kong-based BitMEX (a cryptocurrency derivatives venue) claims that “shorting anything is a very dangerous game, especially if you’re shorting into a transformational monetary system. These transformational experiences happen once every few hundred years and are extremely chaotic.” In turn Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at Oanda in Singapore, says that he is a little bit worried about a falling knife scenario as investors are completely unprepared for this. Although he sees that cryptocurrencies will be drawing more and more attention when other mainstream institutions get involved, he also predicts a short-term pullback. At last, Dave Chapman from the cryptocurrency trading firm Octagon Strategy in Hong Kong says that there is an enormous amount of legitimacy and credibility in the Bitcoin protocol and underlines that FOMO isn’t entirely healthy for the current market as there is a sizable amount of people buying the digital currency solely on speculation. He adds that a correction to the downside could be just a buying opportunity bringing an immediate bounce back owing to the size of the market.

link do file download linkLitecoin has already achieved a reach resulting from a broken upward channel, hence there is a likelihood of a pullback. The nearest support line may be found at around $92 before $82. In case of a resumption of rises the next targets might be set at $106 and $115 respectively. Source: xStation5

While the latest stories seemed to be definitely conducive to Bitcoin there is a slightly worrisome research from San Francisco security firm High-Tech Bridge which analyzed over 2000 mobile cryptocurrency wallet apps on Google Play. According to the research as much as 93% of apps (with up to 100,000 installations) contain at least three ’medium-risk’ vulnerabilities while 90% of them contain at least two ’high-risk’ issues. In turn when we have a look at the most popular apps with more than 500,000 installations 94% of them contain at least three ’medium-risk’ vulnerabilities and 77% contain two or more ’high-risk’ issues. In a nutshell one may conclude that users of those apps could be at stake.