<br /><ul><li>Bitcoin entrepreneur <keyword id="13575687" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="samson-mow" source="Orion">Samson Mow</keyword> announced his new company, <keyword id="13575686" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jan3" source="Orion">JAN3</keyword>, at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference.</li><li>The startup has signed a memorandum of understanding with <keyword id="68460" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="el-salvador" source="Orion">El Salvador</keyword> to build the digital infrastructure for the country as well as for <keyword id="12576429" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bitcoin-city" source="Orion">Bitcoin City</keyword>.</li><li>According to him, two new jurisdictions are en-route to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender soon.<br /></li></ul>El Salvador’s plans to launch the world’s first Bitcoin City has another stakeholder now, Bitcoin entrepreneur Samson <keyword id="2336517" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mow" source="Orion">Mow</keyword> and this newly incorporated startup JAN3.<br /><br />The Central American nation and Mow’s new company have signed a memorandum of understanding to help develop digital infrastructure not just for Bitcoin City, but for all of El Salvador. <br /><br />The initiative lines up with JAN3’s mission of accelerating Bitcoin adoption in the world. And, according to Mow, El Salvador is just the beginning. At the Bitcoin 2022 Conference, he disclosed two new jurisdictions are set to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps. The Caribbean island of Roatan and Portugal’s Madeira will also be adopting Bitcoin as legal tender soon. <br /><br />Mow added that Mexico is also a potential candidate but the country is yet to finalise its stance.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Locals aren’t sold on Bitcoin City’s utopian proposition" comment="subhead" text="Locals aren’t sold on Bitcoin City’s utopian proposition"><span data-til="noop">Locals aren’t sold on Bitcoin City’s utopian proposition</span></cmsannotation><br />Bitcoin City was proposed by Bukele as a utopian construct for Bitcoin believers. The city will be laid out in a circle. And, it’s citizens won’t have to pay income, property or capital gains taxes — just value added tax (VAT).<br /><br />Bitcoin City isn’t just a special economic zone (SEZ). It will include residential and commercial areas. It will have restaurants, its own airport as well as a port and rail connectivity.<br /><br />Despite all the hype, locals in the country aren’t holding their breath, according to <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-city-el-salvador-dreams-194317911.html">CoinDesk</a>. El Salvador’s roll out of its national crypto wallet, El Chivo, was buggy that led many to question the country’s technology prowess to handle the legalisation of Bitcoin. <br /><br />Moreover, the multiple delays in issuing ‘Bitcoin Bonds’ to the development plans of Bitcoin City has led to more uncertainty. Analysts note that the geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia are likely to add to the delay. Without the funds to start building, the development of Bitcoin City will get delayed further.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Who is Samson Mow?" comment="subhead" text="Who is Samson Mow?"><span data-til="noop">Who is Samson Mow?</span></cmsannotation><br />Samson Mow is the former chief strategy officer (CSO) of Blockstream, one of the biggest providers of blockchain technology in the world. He has also worked with BTCC, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges and mining pools globally, as the chief operating officer (COO) and led <keyword id="172599" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ubisoft" source="Orion">Ubisoft</keyword>’s expansion into Asian markets as the Director of Production and Executive Producer.<br /><br />In addition to JAN3, he’s also the founder of Pixelmatic, a company that strives to create engaging games that are built to encourage social interactions.<br /><br />JAN3 has reportedly raised $21 million in funding with a market valuation of $100 million. The company’s name is a nod to 3 January 2009, when the first block of Bitcoin was mined by Bitcoin’s mysterious founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.<br /><br />According to Mow, JAN3 wants to drive crypto adoption by focusing on advancing Bitcoin and Layer-2 technologies like Liquid and Lightning networks.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/rbi-lowers-fy23-gdp-growth-forecast-to-7-2-due-to-global-headwinds/articleshow/90722772.cms">RBI lowers FY23 GDP growth forecast to 7.2% due to global headwinds</a><br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/elevation-capital-announces-670-million-fund-for-early-stage-startups-aims-to-further-explore-indias-tech-potential/articleshow/90727701.cms">Elevation Capital announces $670 million fund for early-stage startups; aims to further explore India's tech potential</a></strong><br />

El Salvador’s Bitcoin City ropes in new startup to set up digital infrastructure

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11931676" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="el-salvador" source="Orion">El Salvador</keyword> has already gotten $500 million in verbal commitments for its bitcoin-backed bond.</li><li>That's according to <keyword id="13196999" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="blockstream" source="Orion">Blockstream</keyword>, which is acting as a tech consultant on the bond, the Wall Street Journal reported.</li></ul><p>El Salvador may already be halfway to raising its billion-dollar <keyword id="11893902" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bitcoin" source="Orion">bitcoin</keyword> bond, a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fbitcoin-national-currency-el-salvador-11645026831%3Fmod%3Dlead_feature_below_a_pos1">Wall Street Journal</a> report found. </p><p>Samson Mow of Blockstream, which is supporting the offering with blockchain technology, told the Journal the country has already gotten $500 million in verbal commitments for its bond. The Journal said it could not confirm the number, and a representative from Blockstream and El Salvador did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. </p><p>The bitcoin bond <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/el-salvador-bitcoin-bond-special-dividend-bitcoin-city-president-bukele-2021-11?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">was announced</a> in November, with half of the funds to be used for more bitcoin purchases and the other half for energy and bitcoin mining infrastructure. </p><p>But it has already gotten some pushback. Fitch, for example, said it was uncertain about the country's prospect at raising funds for the offering, which in part led to its decision to cut the country's credit rating <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/el-salvador-bitcoin-adoption-nayib-bukele-fitch-credit-downgrade-2022-2">further into junk</a> earlier this month.</p><p>But the bond isn't necessarily about fundamentals, one financial executive in El Salvador told the Journal. He dubbed the offering a "meme" bond and said people are interested in the novelty of it. Mow said the country wouldn't have any problems raising the money for the bitcoin bond as <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> enthusiasts are excited about the opportunity.</p><p>El Salvador is even thinking about raising as much as $5 billion more in bitcoin-backed bonds in the future, the Journal reported. </p><p>El Salvador has been pushing into crypto, a movement driven in part by the country's millennial President <keyword id="11931679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nayib-bukele" source="Orion">Nayib Bukele</keyword>, who has become known for trading bitcoin with government funds on his phone.</p><p>Last year, El Salvador made bitcoin a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/el-salvador-makes-bitcoin-legal-tender-2021-9?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">legal form of tender</a>, forcing local businesses to accept the currency, and announced plans to create the world's first "Bitcoin City. The cryptocurrency is going to "change the world," Bukele said at a bitcoin event last year, according to the Journal.</p>

El Salvador already has $500 million in verbal commitments for its billion-dollar 'meme' bitcoin bond &mdash; and $5 billion in more bonds could follow

<ul><li>The <keyword id="227481" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="central-african-republic" source="Orion">Central African Republic</keyword> has become the second to legalise <keyword id="6354947" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bitcoin" source="Orion">Bitcoin</keyword> in the world.</li><li>Bitcoin will be a legally accepted payment method, alongside the regional currency, the Central African CFA franc (XAF).</li><li>According to crypto asset management firm Fidelity, if enough countries jump on the crypto bandwagon, others will have no choice but to follow suit.</li></ul>The Central African Republic (CAR) has made history by becoming the second country in the world to grant <keyword id="12066536" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bitcoin-legal" source="Orion">Bitcoin legal</keyword> status after <keyword id="68460" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="el-salvador" source="Orion">El Salvador</keyword>. The proposed bill was signed into law after getting a unanimous go-ahead from the country’s National Assembly — akin to the Parliament in India.<br /><div type="image" title="President Central Africa" msid="91141352" hostid="261"></div><br />Just like El Salvador’s economy, which depends on the US dollar, CAR’s regional currency is backed by the French. This means that the country does not have an independent monetary policy, and hence, no control over the supply of money within its borders.<br /><br />As things stand, the Central African CFA franc (XAF) has an average annual inflation rate of 4.8%. However over the past five years, the inflation rate has fluctuated in a wide range of -3% to 12%.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Bullish on crypto adoption" comment="subhead" text="Bullish on crypto adoption"><span data-til="noop">Bullish on <keyword id="11937710" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="crypto-adoption" source="Orion">crypto adoption</keyword></span></cmsannotation><br />Earlier this year, crypto investment firm <a href="https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/articles/2021-trends-impact">Fidelity</a> predicted that more governments and even a central bank could buy Bitcoin in 2022. According to its report, if enough countries jump on the bandwagon, others would likely follow suit — if only to prevent themselves from being at a competitive disadvantage.<br /><div type="ExtQuote" text="If Bitcoin adoption increases, the countries that secure some bitcoin today will be better off competitively than their peers. Therefore, even if other countries do not believe in the investment thesis or the adoption of Bitcoin, they will be forced to acquire some as a form of insurance." auname="Excerpt from Fidelity’s note dated 1 January 2022"></div><br />At the Bitcoin 2022 Conference earlier this month, Bitcoin entrepreneur Samson Mow — his startup, JAN3, is helping set up the digital infrastructure for El Salvador’s Bitcoin City — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/el-salvadors-bitcoin-city-ropes-in-new-startup-to-set-up-digital-infrastructure/articleshow/90728932.cms">declared</a> that two more jurisdictions are on-track to legalise Bitcoin — the Caribbean island of Roatan and Portugal’s Madeira. <br /><br />El Salvador’s neighbor Panama is also widely regarded as one of the front-runners to make Bitcoin <keyword id="2083814" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="legal-tender" source="Orion">legal tender</keyword>. A draft proposal was <a href="https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/panama-unveils-bill-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/">unveiled</a> in September last year — within 24 hours of El Salvador's new Bitcoin regulations coming into play — but is yet to become law.<br /><br />Certain senior officials in Malaysia were also quoted as gunning for the government to make Bitcoin legal tender alongside other crypto assets, according to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-21/malaysian-ministry-proposes-legal-tender-of-crypto-currency">Bloomberg</a> report from March. However, this speculation was short-lived with the country’s deputy finance minister clarifying that the government has <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/malaysia-rules-out-adopting-cryptocurrency-as-legal-tender#:~:text=(Bloomberg)%20%2D%2D%20Malaysia%20has%20no,said%20in%20parliament%20on%20Thursday.">no such intention</a>.<br /><br /> In India, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has repeatedly stressed that India will not be looking at Bitcoin, or any other crypto asset, as a ‘currency’. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/institutional-and-retail-investors-believe-that-crypto-will-become-mainstream-within-a-decade-according-to-a-new-report/articleshow/91140398.cms">Institutional and retail investors believe that crypto will become mainstream within a decade, according to a new report</a><br /></strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/campus-activewear-ipo-today-is-the-last-day-to-subscribe/articleshow/91133796.cms"><strong>Last day to subscribe to Campus Activewear IPO; GMP at ₹105</strong></a><br />

Good news for crypto adoption — Central African Republic becomes the second country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b1079671ae66252008b46db-1200/ap101027052253.jpg" border="0" alt="Elon Musk" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils the new Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010."><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Tesla CEO Elon Musk often uses Twitter to make product announcements.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla">Tesla</a> CEO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> said on Sunday that the company is making a "mini-car" that can fit an adult.</strong></li><li><strong>Musk was responding to a tweet from Samson Mow, the chief strategy officer of Blockstream, <a href="https://twitter.com/Excellion/status/1026249457950633984">asking</a> when Radio Flyer would make a vehicle based on <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a>'s Model X SUV.</strong></li><li><strong>Radio Flyer makes miniature, electric cars designed for children, including one based on Tesla's Model S sedan.</strong></li><li><strong>Musk did not provide further details about Tesla's mini-car or indicate when it would be released, and the company declined a request for comment.</strong></li></ul><hr><p><br>Tesla CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026250770235023360">said</a> on Sunday that the company is making a "mini-car" that can fit an adult.</br></p><p>Musk was responding to a tweet from Samson Mow, the chief strategy officer of Blockstream, <a href="https://twitter.com/Excellion/status/1026249457950633984">asking</a> when Radio Flyer would make a vehicle based on Tesla's Model X SUV. Radio Flyer makes miniature, electric cars designed for children, including one based on Tesla's Model S sedan. The mini-Model S has a weight capacity of 81 pounds, and Radio Flyer's website says the vehicle is meant for children between the ages of three and eight.</p><p>Musk did not provide further details about Tesla's mini-car or indicate when it would be released, and the company declined a request for comment.</p><p>Musk often uses Twitter to announce new products or new features for existing products. In recent months he has discussed or hinted at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-video-games-tesla-apply-2018-8">video games</a> for Tesla vehicles, features for an upcoming <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-pickup-truck-details-revealed-2018-6">pickup truck</a>, and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-teases-mad-max-mode-for-tesla-autopilot-2018-6">"Mad Max" mode</a> for the company's semi-autonomous Autopilot feature that might instruct a vehicle to make more aggressive lane changes than current options allow. He also uses the platform to make jokes and respond to frustrated customers, which has helped make him appear to be more candid and relatable than other CEOs of multibillion-dollar companies.</p><p>Musk has also attracted controversy for using Twitter to lash out at critics and reporters.</p><p>During<span>&#xa0;a&#xa0;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-07-13/-the-last-bet-the-company-situation-q-amp-a-with-elon-musk">Bloomberg</a>&#xa0;interview published in July, Musk said he had believed he could "attack" people who addressed negative tweets toward him, so long as they attacked him first, but said he would&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-hell-be-less-combative-on-twitter-2018-7">attempt to limit&#xa0;</a>his interactions with critical tweets.</span></p><p><span>But two days after the interview was published, Musk accused Vernon Unsworth, a diver involved in the&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/thai-cave-boys-rescue-mission-underway-2018-7">Thailand cave rescue</a>,&#xa0;of being a pedophile after Unsworth said the&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-submarine-thai-soccer-team-cave-2018-7">miniature submarine&#xa0;</a>Musk designed and sent to Thailand to help with the rescue&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/british-caver-from-thai-rescue-slams-elon-musk-submarine-2018-7">would have been ineffective&#xa0;</a>and was merely a publicity stunt. </span></p><p><span>In April, Tesla's stock&#xa0;<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-is-falling-after-elon-musk-jokes-about-the-company-going-bankrupt-2018-4-1020247710">fell 5.16%&#xa0;</a>after Musk&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bankruptcy-is-april-fools-joke-elon-musk-2018-4">mocked analysts&#xa0;</a>who were worried about the company's financial health.</span></p><p><strong><em>If you've worked for Tesla and have a story to share, you can contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com</em></strong></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> <strong>here.</strong></a></p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>We're working on a new Tesla mini-car that can squeeze in an adult</p>- Elon Musk  (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1026250770235023360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inverted-yield-curve-is-a-broken-barometer-and-can-be-positive-2018-7">What people get wrong about the market's favorite recession signal, according to a Wall Street strategist</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/wxXTn7oz-xjRU7l6Z.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div></hr>

Elon Musk says Tesla is making a mini-car that can fit an adult

<ul class="summary-list"><li>From financial apps to publicly traded funds to crypto-exchanges, there are now a multitude of options for investing in <keyword id="6354947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bitcoin">bitcoin</keyword>.</li><li>Bitcoin remains risky and volatile, so individuals should invest small amounts, keep their accounts secure, and think long term.</li><li>Bitcoin's dramatic price rise since its 2009 debut is attracting both institutional and individual investors.</li></ul><p>Bitcoin is possibly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the most fashionable investment </a>of the past decade. It has appreciated in value by anything from 717,900% to just shy of one billion percent (<a href="https://www.aier.org/article/was-bitcoin-the-best-performing-asset-of-the-decade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">depending on your starting figure</a>) over the last 10 years or so. Either way, it's one of the best-performing financial assets in recent history.</p><p>But while bitcoin is certainly the talk of the town, much of it remains shrouded in mystery. It's not clear to newcomers how best to invest in the <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword>, with banks and most mainstream brokerage platforms refusing to handle it. Plus, its price swings can be frighteningly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-volatility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">volatile</a> by the standards of traditional stock and bond <keyword id="31671" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets">markets</keyword>.</p><p>Let's demystify how to invest in bitcoin: the various places to buy it, the risks and rewards, and strategies for safely ensuring a higher return.</p><h2>Why invest in bitcoin?</h2><p>Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of private, electronic money whose transactions are validated using cryptography, the science of encrypting and decrypting information. Since its launch in January 2009, it has come to be traded amid <a href="https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the belief</a> that its software-enforced cap to 21 million bitcoins will ensure that it only appreciates in value over the long term.</p><p>"The best argument for Bitcoin's future success is the same argument long used for gold, diamonds and collectibles: It has been designed to have a limited supply and cannot be counterfeited," says Bob Fitzsimmons, the executive VP of Fixed Income, Commodities, and Stock Lending at Wedbush Securities.</p><p>The appeal of bitcoin's 21-million finite supply became more pronounced in the context of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, which <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/central-banks-buy-trillion-financial-assets-g7-march-federal-reserve-2020-4-1029113160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has brought record-low interest rates and "unprecedented levels of fiscal stimulus,</a>" says Fitzsimmons. </p><p>But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, bitcoin has enjoyed significant longer-term price increases. Having been worth around $1 at the beginning of 2010, it reached a new <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-hits-new-record-high-after-trading-above-19700-2020-11-1029849416" target="_blank" rel="noopener">all-time high of $23,770.85 on Dec. 17, 2020.</a>  </p><p>It hasn't been a smooth ascent, though. Over the years, the cryptocurrency's price has bounced all over the place, sometimes plunging by hundreds of dollars in hours. It hit <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-in-2017-review-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an all-time high of $19,783 in December 2017</a>, too - before falling over the next couple of years by thousands. In fact, in  November 2020 <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-hits-new-record-high-after-trading-above-19700-2020-11-1029849416">it crashed by $3,000</a>, before climbing again.  </p><p>Given such price swings, bitcoin can be loosely classified in the same investment league as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/growth-investing-definition-strategies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">growth</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-in-tech-stocks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tech stocks</a>, which have provided investors with higher-than-average returns, in exchange for taking on higher-than-average risk.</p><h2>Buying and investing in bitcoin</h2><p>Assuming that they're willing to accept the risk, investors interested in buying and investing in bitcoin have a number of options at their disposal. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.</p><h3>Bitcoin trusts and funds</h3><p>For those who aren't keen on the idea of actually handling or owning bitcoin themselves, one simple option is to buy shares in a publicly traded bitcoin trust. Similar to ETFs or mutual funds, these offer a portfolio that holds or trades the currency. </p><p>"The easiest way to buy bitcoin is through the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/grayscale_bitcoin_trust_btc_registered-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) </a>because it tracks the cryptocurrency and trades via the traditional financial market," says Ari Wald, the MD of the Institutional Portfolio Strategy team at Oppenheimer &amp; Co.</p><p>Besides the <keyword id="10357565" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="grayscale-bitcoin-trust">Grayscale Bitcoin Trust</keyword> (which is by far the largest), other bitcoin trusts or funds include:</p><ul><li><strong>ETC Group</strong> <a href="https://www.btc-etc.com/products/btcetc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offers an "exchange-traded cryptocurrency" product</a> that tracks bitcoin and is listed on the Deutsche Börse XETRA.</li><li><strong>3iQ</strong>'s <a href="https://3iq.ca/the-bitcoin-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitcoin Fund</a>, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.</li><li><strong>CoinShares</strong> has several <a href="https://coinshares.com/etps/xbt-provider" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bitcoin tracker funds</a> listed on the NASDAQ/OMX exchange in Stockholm.</li><li><strong>Wisdom Tree</strong> owns a <a href="https://www.wisdomtree.eu/en-gb/press-room/tabs/latest-news/wisdomtree-launches-physically-backed-bitcoin-etp#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">physically-backed bitcoin exchange-traded product</a> listed on Switzerland's SIX exchange.</li></ul><p>The main catch: Fees for funds and trusts can be fairly high. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust <a href="https://grayscale.co/bitcoin-trust/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charging an annual management fee of 2%</a>, for example. Like others, it "also trades at a substantial premium," relative to the value of the bitcoins it holds, Wald notes. </p><h3>Financial and investment apps</h3><p>Recently, there has been a small number of financial and investment apps jumping into the cryptocurrency fray. <br /><br />For example, in November 2020, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paypal-officially-launches-crypto-service-in-us-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PayPal began offering its US customers</a> the capability to buy, sell, and make purchases with bitcoin, along with three other cryptocurrencies (ethereum, bitcoin cash, and litecoin).</p><p>"The biggest obstacle [for bitcoin buying and selling] has always been having to open an account with a bitcoin exchange and providing documents to verify your identity. Because hundreds of millions of people already have PayPal accounts, they can skip all of that hassle," says Glen Goodman, an investment expert and author of <em>The Crypto Trader</em>.</p><p>However, there are downsides to buying bitcoin with PayPal: "You can't move your bitcoin to your own personal wallet or send it to anybody else. You can't transfer it to a crypto-exchange to use it for trading other cryptocurrencies, Goodman notes. "There are also relatively large fees" for transactions, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/en/webapps/mpp/paypal-fees?utm_source=Triggermail&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20bii-payments-and-commerce:%20PayPal%20launches%20US%20crypto%20service%20%7C%20Wells%20Fargo%20may%20do%20away%20with%20store%20cards%20%7C%20Klarna%20launches%20price%20monitoring%20feature&amp;utm_term=BII%20List%20PayCom%20ALLPayCom%20ALL" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranging from 1.5% to 2.3%</a>, depending on the amount you buy or sell.  </p><p>PayPal isn't the only mainstream app cashing in on the crypto craze. The popular investment app Robinhood is also dealing in the currency now, and it <a href="https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/commission-free-cryptocurrency-investing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doesn't charge any commission.</a></p><p>Square's Cash App is another platform that includes bitcoin trading, while Swan Bitcoin is an app that lets users automatically invest in the cryptocurrency at regular intervals. Square does usually charge service and volatility fees for bitcoin transactions (although <a href="https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/3103-bitcoin-fees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it doesn't explicitly state</a> what these are on its website), while Swan Bitcoin <a href="https://www.swanbitcoin.com/fees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charges from 0.99% to 2.29%</a> as a percentage of the weekly amount saved. </p><h3>Cryptocurrency exchanges</h3><p>One of the main ways investors purchase bitcoin is through cryptocurrency exchanges. Since this option involves  directly buying bitcoin yourself on a dedicated cryptocurrency exchange, it's recommended for more experienced investors.  These have certain advantages over the apps and funds, such as:</p><ul><li><strong>Lower fees </strong>in the range of 0.10% to 0.26% </li><li><strong>The ability to withdraw bitcoins</strong> and download them to another account. This is considered essential by many experienced bitcoin traders, given that various high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges have suffered hacks over the years. (Some apps do allow it, but popular ones like Robinhood and PayPal are not among them.)</li></ul><p>As mentioned, this is a more sophisticated game - you're getting into the professional traders' territory. Still, "if you're a more advanced user, then you can probably handle buying on an exchange yourself," says Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of blockchain tech firm Blockstream. "<a href="https://www.bitstamp.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitstamp</a> or <a href="https://www.kraken.com/en-gb/features/fee-schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kraken</a> are reliable platforms" that he recommends for individual investors.</p><p>Other reputable exchanges operating in the US include <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coinbase</a>, <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/fee/schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Binance</a>, and <a href="https://www.gemini.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gemini</a>. </p><p>To start trading, you'll have to open an account with the exchange. These exchanges follow stringent know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines, so you will need to prove your identity before being able to trade using them. Most exchanges have minimum deposit requirements for fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, but these are usually very low.</p><h2>What to know before investing in bitcoin</h2><p>Despite being over a decade old, bitcoin remains a relatively immature asset. There's less trading volume on its markets, which means it's less <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-liquidity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liquid</a>, and the price changes can be volatile.  It's therefore hard to predict how it will behave from one month to the next. </p><p>Here are some tips for reducing your exposure to risk while also increasing your exposure to potential gain.</p><p><strong>Keep it safe and secure:</strong> Crypto-exchanges still <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/btc-binance-suffers-40-million-hack-2019-5-1028182318" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continue to suffer the occasional hack even today.</a> Since bitcoins do not exist in physical form, seasoned bitcoin investors store them in digital wallets. A hardware wallet is a handheld, offline device that securely stores the private key necessary to transfer your bitcoin holdings from one place to another. Ledger and Trezor are two reputable brands. </p><p> "If the amount you store is going to be a lot, you may also want to add a seed backup," advises Mow. A "seed backup" is a backup of the phrase (i.e. a set of words) that lets you access your bitcoin wallet. Many investors holding large quantities of bitcoin engrave their seed phrases onto metal plates and then store these plates somewhere safe (such as a bank deposit vault).</p><p>Likewise, you should plan on doing all of your investing from a secure internet connection. In general, trading or buying bitcoin on a public WiFi network makes you more susceptible to attacks from hackers. </p><p><strong>Start small, rather than big:</strong> Given its short history and still highly unpredictable behavior, it's usually wise to keep your initial investment in Bitcoin relatively limited. Even experienced investors (e.g. hedge fund manager <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-billionaire-investor-paul-tudor-jones-says-buying-cryptocurrency-inflation-2020-5-1029179495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paul Tudor Jones</a>) have allocated just a single-digit percentage of their capital to bitcoin while keeping the rest in less volatile assets. And, despite the hype and forecasts, maintain your investment discipline, buying only what you can afford to potentially lose and not getting swept up by promises of gigantic upswings.</p><p><strong>Bear taxes in mind:</strong> Even though it's a currency, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-taxes-overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS considers bitcoin to be property</a> rather than money, so it's subject to the same tax treatment as other investment assets. Bitcoin taxes can be triggered by trading, exchanging, or simply spending the cryptocurrency (if it's increased in value since you bought it). So documenting every transaction is essential. The good news is that bitcoin profits are taxed at the special capital gains tax rate, which is often less than ordinary income rates.</p><p><strong>Have a buy-and-hold mentality: </strong>Unless you're prepared to watch the market daily and move at a moment's notice, investing in bitcoin should really be undertaken for the long term. "Bitcoin's heightened day-to-day volatility makes this especially true," says Ari Wald. </p><p>In other words, it's not really advisable to buy bitcoin expecting to sell it a day, week, or month later, as investors found when <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-price-tanked-days-coronavirus-market-panic-safe-haven-cryptocurrency-2020-3-1028993978" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the cryptocurrency tanked by 50% in two days in March</a>. However, the fact that bitcoin recovered following this crash to hit a new all-time high in November and then December shows the virtue of patience. </p><h2>The financial takeaway</h2><p>The investment outlook for bitcoin is bright. It had an exciting 2020, with <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/crypto-assets-bitcoin-owned-large-investors-institutional-fidelity-survey-percentage-2020-6-1029293753">a growing number of corporate investors</a> beginning to snap up the cryptocurrency (a big part of the reason why it has <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">risen in price by 170%</a> since 2019). </p><p>And with <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/insurer-massmutual-scoops-up-100-million-worth-of-bitcoin-2020-12-1029885209">more institutional investors buying bitcoin every month</a>, and the cryptocurrency's relative supply shrinking, most analysts seem to think it still has space to rise higher.</p><p>Not only has the future never looked better for bitcoin, but it has never been easier to buy and invest in the cryptocurrency. From payment apps to bitcoin funds to crypto-exchanges, there are now a multitude of options for anyone wanting to gain exposure to the original all-digital asset. </p><h2>Related Coverage in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-reference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Investing</a>:</h2><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-capital-gains" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Capital gains are the profits you make from selling your investments, and they can be taxed at lower rates</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-alternative-investments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alternative investments are exotic assets that can diversify your portfolio - here are the five major kinds and everything you should know about them</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-liquid-assets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What are liquid assets? A guide to the investments that are easiest to cash in, and why they're important</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-diversify-portfolio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to diversify your portfolio to limit losses and guard against risk</a></h3><h3><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/stock-market-outlook-bitcoin-portfolio-crypto-skeptic-investing-bernstein-2020-12-1029854263" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'I have changed my mind': A top market strategist and long-time crypto skeptic explains why he now believes bitcoin should be in investor portfolios</a></h3>

How to invest in bitcoin: The major ways to buy, their pros and cons, and the strategies to consider

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598370344fc3c0be3f8b493a-2400/rts3lgf.jpg" alt="house of cards" data-mce-source="Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch" data-mce-caption="People look at an illuminated light installation called &amp;quotHouse of Cards&quot; during a technical check for the Festival of Lights in Berlin, Germany." data-link="https://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;ALID=2C0FQEXY51ZH#/SearchResult&amp;ALID=2C0FQEXY51ZH&amp;VBID=2C0FC0EQV90Q&amp;POPUPPN=13&amp;POPUPIID=2C0FQEX1Y079"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;ALID=2C0FQEXY51ZH#/SearchResult&amp;ALID=2C0FQEXY51ZH&amp;VBID=2C0FC0EQV90Q&amp;POPUPPN=13&amp;POPUPIID=2C0FQEX1Y079">Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch</a></span></p><p class="caption">People look at an illuminated light installation called "House of Cards" during a technical check for the Festival of Lights in Berlin, Germany.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul><li><strong>Bitcoin cash come onto the scene on Tuesday following a much-anticipated fork in the bitcoin blockchain, and is the third&#xa0;largest cryptocurrency by market cap.</strong></li><li><strong>But its price and high market cap might be the result of some technical issues underpinning the coin's infrastructure.&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>Bitcoin cash has the third largest market cap of any alternative cryptocurrency just three days after coming onto the scene. But it's price may be inflated because of some technical issues underpinning the new coin.&#xa0;</p><p>To recap, on Tuesday, bitcoin&#xa0;split in two following a years-long battle in the community over the rules that should guide the cryptocurrency's network.&#xa0;</p><p>That split resulted in the creation of a new cryptocurrency, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-and-bitcoin-cash-2017-7">bitcoin cash</a>, which has the same basic underpinnings, but plays by different rules. In essence, it's almost like bitcoin cash is a copy of bitcoin, but it's built to process more transactions and faster.&#xa0;</p><p>Following&#xa0;the fork, bitcoin investors who had their holdings in certain wallets and on certain exchanges now have just as much bitcoin cash as they do bitcoin. but only folks on exchanges are able to actively trade it.&#xa0;</p><p>The 95% of bitcoin cash holders who have their&#xa0;bitcoin cash in a private wallet, according to Aaron Lasher, the CEO of Breadwallet, can't do anything with it.&#xa0;</p><p>Basically, it's stuck. Kind of like when you have a pending deposit on your checking account.&#xa0;</p><p>Lasher told Business Insider that wallets are playing catch-up, and working on updating their infrastructure so bitcoin cash investors can move their coins over to exchanges where they can be actively traded.&#xa0;</p><p>Some bitcoin cash investors&#xa0;have taken to Twitter since the split to complain that they can't trade their bitcoin cash.&#xa0;</p><p><span>Here are one bitcoin cash investor's Lamentations:</span></p><p>"Our clients have just as many bitcoin cash coins as they do bitcoins, but they're invisible for now," Lasher said."We are being flooded with request to put them on an exchange."</p><p>Breadwallet isn't alone. <a href="https://blog.trezor.io/claim-bcash-bitcoin-cash-bch-bcc-trezor-wallet-f0a810d5864a">Trezor</a>, another wallet, is also having some problems making bitcoin cash available for its users. Here's the company's statement on the matter (emphasis ours):</p><blockquote id="a4c7">BCH wallet is still offline in TREZOR Beta Wallet, as the Bitcore backend (BitcoinABC) is reindexing. The fix was found, however, its deployment has been complicated due to changes in BitcoinABC's code (vis-a-vis Bitcoin Core).<strong> There is no ETA for bugfixes and deployment. We also do not rule out a possibility of another bug surfacing, as the code has been changed significantly.</strong></blockquote><blockquote id="df58"></blockquote><p>Samson Mow, a video game developer and CEO of Pixelmatic, said the market, as a result, is completely illiquid. In other words, sellers in the market can't find buyers.&#xa0;</p><p>"<span>The market for BCH is so illiquid and fragmented that the price, and by extension the market cap, mean almost nothing," Mow told Business Insider</span></p><p><span>In other words, the only reason why bitcoin cash is trading at $400 and has the <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-cash/">fourth highest cryptocurrency market cap</a>&#xa0;is because a large swath of the marketplace can't move their coins.&#xa0;</span></p><p>So what happens when folks are able to unleash those coins onto exchanges?</p><p>According to Lasher, it will likely increase the number of folks in the market who want to sell their coins. When more people look to sell a good than buy it,&#xa0;the price falls.&#xa0;&#xa0;</p><p>Mow told Business Insider the bitcoin cash house of cards will completely fall apart.&#xa0;</p><p>"<strong><span>It's unlikely that BCH will survive at prices above $100 in the long term</span></strong>," he said.</p><p><span>"We have some of our key traders telling us that they will be getting out of their BCC positions by </span><span data-term="goog_2026063666">8 August</span><span>," Sebastian Quinn-Watson, <span>a venture partner for a bitcoin exchange operator based in Australia,&#xa0;Blockchain Global.</span></span></p><p><span><span>August 8 is the day on which SegWit, a software update for the original bitcoin blockchain, will go into effect.&#xa0;</span></span></p><p><span><span>"We see 8 August as the day the bell tolls for BCC," Quinn-Watson said. "If the prices of BCC remain strong post the 8th then it is likely to be a currency for a long period."</span></span></p><p><span><span>"Alternatively, we could see a consolidation in bitcoin and see it run well past its peak," he concluded. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Bitcoin cash bulls, you've been warned. &#xa0;&#xa0;</span></span></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Bitcoin price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD"> here.</a></p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>u can't move it<br><br>u can't sell it<br><br>no, it's not a rock, it's <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24BCH&amp;src=ctag">$BCH</a>!</br></br></br></br></p>- #SatoshiMoku  (@CarpeNoctom) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/892785254678790144">August 2, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>😂 Nice one! Seriously. Can hardly move my coins. And when I can I can not use it. Even exchanges will not allow me to deposit it. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bch?src=hash">#bch</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/btc?src=hash">#btc</a></p>- P. Verbrugge  (@p_verbrugge) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/893108688197693440">August 3, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-new-record-highs-2017-7">Stocks have shrugged off Trump headlines to hit new highs this week</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/MGUzMzQ5MjczMzEzYjZkZTJlYTFkMWEw"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="IwamkwYzE6NQS76DKxkDlDYPBj612Bff" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'IwamkwYzE6NQS76DKxkDlDYPBj612Bff',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Bitcoin cash may be a house of cards that's going to come crashing down

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59846a7a76084a1d008b55cb-627/crash.jpg" alt="crash" data-mce-source="Ian MacNicol/Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>Ian MacNicol/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-cash/">Bitcoin cash</a>, the new cryptocurrency, is crashing.</p><p>Bitcoin cash has dropped 33%, to $290 a coin, over the past day, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com. That's down from its all-time high of $727 set on Wednesday, a day after its debut.</p><p>Meanwhile, bitcoin is up 1.92%, to $2,852.</p><p>On Tuesday, bitcoin split in two after a years-long battle in the cryptocurrency community over the rules that should guide bitcoin's network.</p><p>That split resulted in the creation of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-and-bitcoin-cash-2017-7">bitcoin cash</a>, which was spun out of the same blockchain network as bitcoin - almost like a copy of it - but built to process more transactions more quickly.</p><p>Many folks in the community think bitcoin cash's price has been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-cash-price-may-be-house-of-cards-close-to-collapsing-2017-8">inflated by issues with the technology</a> underpinning the coin.</p><p>When the cryptocurrency split, investors who stored their bitcoin in digital wallets that supported bitcoin cash received one bitcoin cash coin for every bitcoin. But many of them can't access their bitcoin cash coins, so they can't transfer them to exchanges where they can actively be bought and sold.</p><p>According to Aaron Lasher, the CMO of Breadwallet, a bitcoin wallet, the price of bitcoin cash could drop even further once those coins enter the exchanges, based on simple economics - when more people look to sell a good than to buy it, the price falls.</p><p>Samson Mow, the chief strategy officer at Blockstream, told Business Insider the bitcoin cash house of cards could fall apart and that the cryptocurrency was unlikely to "survive at prices above $100 in the long term."</p><p>Sebastian Quinn-Watson, a venture partner at Blockchain Global, a bitcoin exchange operator based in Australia, said, "We have some of our key traders telling us that they will be getting out of their BCC positions by 8 August."</p><p>August 8 is when SegWit, a software update for the original bitcoin blockchain, is set to go into effect.</p><p>"We see 8 August as the day the bell tolls for bitcoin cash," Quinn-Watson said. "If the prices of BCC remain strong post the 8th then it is likely to be a currency for a long period.</p><p>"Alternatively, we could see a consolidation in bitcoin and see it run well past its peak," he concluded.</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Bitcoin price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-john-manley-companies-rendered-obsolete-before-amazon-2017-7">Wells Fargo Funds equity chief: Companies were being rendered obsolete long before Amazon emerged</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/MGUzMzQ5MjczMzEzYjZkZTJlYTFkMWEw"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="c1bWh3YjE6fMYzdYd9hf43kC17Pfz4sL" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'c1bWh3YjE6fMYzdYd9hf43kC17Pfz4sL',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Bitcoin cash is crashing

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/599c322eb0e0b5901a8b64c8-1024/gettyimages-633687626.jpg" alt="Jamie Dimon" data-mce-source="Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul><li><strong>Jamie Dimon has been a vocal critic of bitcoin since its earliest days, but his most recent comments have ignited a conversation about digital currencies on Wall Street.</strong></li><li><strong>Two of the bankers' main arguments against the cryptocurrency are that it is in a bubble, and it will ultimately be "crushed" by governments. </strong></li><li><strong>We spoke with experts in the cryptocurrency space to examine those two critiques.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>They said bitcoin's underpinning blockchain technology can't be easily jeopardized by governments and future use-cases justify its current value.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p>JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sparked a conversation about bitcoin among top Wall Streeters. </p><p>Since he called the digital currency "a fraud" in September, a slew of top Wall Streeters from BlackRock's Larry Fink to Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, have weighed in on bitcoin, which is up more than 400% year-to-date.</p><p>Dimon said during JPMorgan's earnings call Thursday he <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/12/jamie-dimon-says-hes-not-going-to-talk-about-bitcoin-anymore.html">would stop talking about bitcoin.</a> His vow of silence, however, ended prematurely. The very next day Dimon bashed bitcoin at a conference in Washington, D.C. He concluded his remarks by saying he was done talking about bitcoin.</p><p>Whether Dimon can keep his word remains to be seen, but what is certain is that his critiques of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will continue to drive conversation in both crypto- and Wall Street-circles.</p><h2>'Worse than tulip bulbs'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e577cb1f848925648b5573-1764/rtx38gfh.jpg" alt="Bubble" data-mce-source="Reuters/Mike Blake" data-mce-caption="Ellyn Hae of The Bubble Show makes a bubble as she participates in the opening of a newly finished Ocean Explorer section at SeaWorld in San Diego, California." /><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Mike Blake</span></p><p class="caption">Scores of Wall Streeters have said bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market is in a bubble.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Wall Street is full of folks who think the over $160 billion cryptocurrency market is in a bubble. Dimon said it is "worse than the tulip bulbs," alluding to the speculative bubble of newly arrived tulips in 17th century Europe.</p><p>In fact, the notion that some folks are just betting on the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not even contested among bitcoin's most fundamental followers.</p><p>Crypto-evangelists, however, would argue that such investors are in the minority, whereas the majority of cryptocurrency investors are betting on the underpinning technology of their coins and tokens, rather than just looking for a quick profit. </p><p>"There is certainly some speculation," Ryan Taylor, a former McKinsey analyst and CEO of Dash, a top cryptocurrency. "But it's being driven by the belief that future use-cases will come to fruition."</p><p>Crypto-skeptics often rebuke the argument for future use-cases, which range from toll systems to peer-to-peer energy exchange networks, by saying they are too far off to warrant current valuations.</p><p>"The real world benefits are said to take years to materialize, even among evangelists," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubs-cryptocurrencies-bitcoin-speculative-bubble-2017-10">wrote UBS, the Switzerland-based bank in a recent note</a>. The bank says at the end of the day people are just looking to sell at a higher price. </p><p>Bitcoin enthusiasts respond by pointing to the utility of cryptocurrency's network, which sees more than 200,000 transactions per day, as evidence of its inherent value. Here's <span>Stan Miroshnik, CEO </span><span>and</span><span> managing director, Element Group:</span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"The bitcoin economy is supported by all the goods and services you can buy with bitcoin, as well as the infrastructure investments made by thousands of people to support the distributed bitcoin network. All of this has fundamental value. <strong>I can pay in bitcoin faster, cheaper and more secure than with PayPal, this is a fundamental value.</strong>" </p><p>PayPal did not respond for comment at the time of publication.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/how-long-do-bank-transfers-take-faq1022">PayPal's website</a>, a bank transfer made through their platform takes approximately one business day. A bitcoin transaction typically takes under 30 minutes, although that number frequently fluctuates. </p><h2>'Governments are going to crush it one day'</h2><p>Dimon doubled down on his position that governments would be a main impediment to the future growth of bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market on Friday, saying sovereigns will ultimately crush it once it becomes too big of a threat to their authority. Here's Dimon (emphasis added):</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><strong>The other thing I've always [said] about bitcoin, governments - and this is not a technological statement - governments are going to crush it one day</strong>. Governments like to know where the money is, who has it and what you're doing with it, in case you haven't noticed. Right?</span></p><p><span>China's recent interventions into both currency- and crypto-markets best illustrates Dimon's point. The country's regulators in September <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-coin-offering-china-bitcoin-ethereum-peoples-bank-of-china-law-all-crypto-illegal-etoro-2017-9">deemed initial coin offerings</a>, a red-hot cryptocurrency-based fundraising method, illegal. And currently there is a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-after-reports-of-china-crackdown-on-trading-2017-9">wide-spread crackdown</a> on bitcoin trading underway in the country. China notably has also implemented restrictions on cross-border payments between its yuan and foreign currencies to keep renminbi from exiting the country. <br /></span></p><p><span>China is an extreme case, but numerous countries, from the </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-sec-rules-digital-token-sales-securities-dao-violated-law-2017-7">US</a> to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ico-south-korea-bans-icos-2017-9">South Korea</a>, have ramped up efforts to impose restrictions on the wild west of cryptocurrencies. <span>This isn't worrying most cryptocurrency enthusiasts. </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e579551f848931108b611a-777/capture.png" alt="Capture.PNG" data-mce-source="Markets Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Markets Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Bitcoin is up more than 400% this year.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Samson Mow, the CSO of <a href="https://blockstream.com/">Blockstream</a>, a bitcoin software company based in San Francisco, told Business Insider that governments may dislike crypto, but the degree to which they can impact the digital currency is limited. </span></p><p><span></span><span>"Cryptocurrencies by design cannot be "closed down" because first, they are decentralized, and second, they're just information," Mow said. "To even try to close them down, you'd have to shut down the internet, and even then it would only be a minor hindrance."</span></p><p><span>The bitcoin markets seem to agree with Mow. Since China banned ICOs, for instance, bitcoin has rallied more than $1,000.</span></p><p>Josh Olszwicz, a bitcoin trader, told Business Insider the markets have ignored the news out of China because it is not something that impacts its underlying <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blockchain-technology-cryptocurrency-explained-2017-8?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blockchain technology</a>. </p><p>"If it doesn't affect the protocol, then it's not a real problem," he told Business Insider."The bitcoin cash shakeup was much more worrisome from my perspective, but even then the core bitcoin protocol remained unaffected."</p><p>If a country were to completely ban bitcoin, the network would still be there for people to use. And it wouldn't be too difficult for people to get away with using bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, because the network is anonymous and transactions and trades are hard to trace.  </p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Bitcoin price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dennis-ruhl-interview-behavioral-finance-geopolitics-2017-10">A JPMorgan fund manager tells us what keeps him up at night -&#xa0;and pinpoints one trade that's overhyped</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/4RAaCJBL-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

We asked cryptocurrency experts to respond to Jamie Dimon's bitcoin bashings - here's what they said

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/596657edabc1c884058b4bff-2048/ddnjxl6uiaad9mp.jpg" border="0" alt="vitalik buterin ethereum" data-mce-source="Vitalik Buterin/Twitter" data-link="https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/879127496024772610"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/879127496024772610">Vitalik Buterin/Twitter</a></span></p><p class="caption">Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called Craig Wright a 'fraud' at a recent conference.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Craig Wright claimed to be the creator of bitcoin in 2016.</strong></li><li><strong>But Vitalik Buterin, the confirmed creator of Ethereum, said he was a "fraud" at a conference on Tuesday.</strong></li></ul><hr><p>Satoshi Nakamoto is still a mystery. Nobody knows<span>&#xa0;the real identity of the pseudonymous billionaire creator of bitcoin.</span></p><p><span>However, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin is pretty sure it's not Craig Wright, the Australian who claimed to be Satoshi in <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n13/andrew-ohagan/the-satoshi-affair">a 2016 announcement</a>.</span></p><p><span>"Given that he makes so many non-sequiturs and mistakes, why is this fraud allowed to speak at this conference?" Buterin said to event organizers at the Deconomy conference in South Korea on Tuesday. Members of the audience applauded him after asking the question.</span></p><p><span>Watch the video below:&#xa0;</span></p><p>Here's another look at what Buterin said:&#xa0;</p><p>The confrontation happened during a panel called "Bitcoin, Controversy over Principle," which featured Roger Ver, Samson Mow, and Wright. The discussion centered around Bitcoin Cash, a controversial bitcoin derivative backed by the panelists.&#xa0;</p><p>Buterin also live-tweeted the panel, mostly with extremely technical critiques of the discussion:&#xa0;</p><p>It might be difficult for non-technical people to follow his arguments, but his conclusion is clear:&#xa0;</p><p>Craig Wright first shot to fame when stories from <a href="https://gizmodo.com/this-australian-says-he-and-his-dead-friend-invented-bi-1746958692">Gizmodo</a> and <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/12/bitcoins-creator-satoshi-nakamoto-is-probably-this-unknown-australian-genius/">Wired</a> both said they had identified him as the inventor of bitcoin.</p><p>In May 2016, Wright <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160502113211/http://www.drcraigwright.net/jean-paul-sartre-signing-significance/">published a blog post</a> and spearheaded a media push including <a href="https://gizmodo.com/craig-wright-reveals-himself-as-bitcoin-creator-satoshi-1774194884?rev=1462186830929">the BBC, Economist, and GQ</a>, where he said he was in fact Satoshi Nakamoto.</p><p>But the proof in the blog post made little sense on a technical, cryptographic level. Cryptography experts said at the time that it was <a href="https://gizmodo.com/craig-wrights-claims-about-inventing-bitcoin-still-dont-1782303576">nearly nonsensical</a>. There are many ways that the creator of bitcoin could prove he is who he says he is, but Wright's supposed proof contained none of it and was needlessly complicated. Wright eventually took down the post.&#xa0;</p><p>Still, Wright has used the fame to start <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/26/17055102/craig-wright-satoshi-lawsuit-dave-kleiman-stolen-bitcoin">a cryptocurrency-related company</a> and vocally back bitcoin cash. It shouldn't be surprising that some - especially Butalin, who is respected as the technical vision behind Ethereum - in the cryptocurrency world still think he's a fraud.</p><p>Wright fired back at Butalin in a tweet on Tuesday morning without tagging him:</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Bitcoin price <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD">here.&gt;&gt;</a><br><br><br><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/bitcoin-101?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=fintech_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=fintech_ctgr_leadgen_bitcoin-101"><img src="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/image/5aa7e48a3be59f21008b4638" alt="Exclusive FREE Report: The Bitcoin 101 Report by Business Insider Intelligence" border="0" style="width: 100% !important" /></a></br></br></br></p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VitalikButerin</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfFaustus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ProfFaustus</a> , "Why is this fraud allowed to speak at this conference?" 😂 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Deconomy2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Deconomy2018</a> <a href="https://t.co/RbnhAIeKiI">pic.twitter.com/RbnhAIeKiI</a></p>- Hope Freiheit  (@the_hopemeister) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/981103148214370304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">bravo to <a href="https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VitalikButerin</a> calls out fake Satoshi at Deconomy. Credit to austinalexander for video . <a href="https://t.co/SigNLRO7le">pic.twitter.com/SigNLRO7le</a></p>- I am Nomad (@IamNomad) <a href="https://twitter.com/IamNomad/status/981151257564938240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I'm going to live tweet comments on the "Bitcoin, Controversy over Principle" section of Deconomy for fun.</p>- Vitalik "Not giving away ETH" Buterin  (@VitalikButerin) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/981069924255739904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>62. So I *do* think both sides need to improve their discourse.<br><br>But Craig Wright *is* crazy.<br><br>Fin.</br></br></br></br></p>- Vitalik "Not giving away ETH" Buterin  (@VitalikButerin) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/981100213568864256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Vitalik has one issue...<br><br>When we demonstrate what BCH can do, he knows that ETH will wither and die.</br></br></p>- Dr Craig S Wright  (@ProfFaustus) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/981133497791205376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/3d-printed-homes-constructed-icon-new-story-tech-charity-4000-dollars-2018-3">These 3D printed homes can be constructed for $4,000 - and they might change the approach to underdeveloped housing</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/TesgEoNz-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div></hr>

The founder of Ethereum just called the man who claims to have invented bitcoin a 'fraud'

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a0865393dbef4460e8b56a3-773/capture.png" alt="Capture.PNG" data-mce-source="MI"><p class="source"><span>MI</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Bitcoin cash reached an all-time high of $2,500 a coin early Sunday morning, surpassing Ethereum as the second </strong><strong>largest cryptocurrency </strong><strong>on the market.</strong></li><li><strong>The coin was trading up 14.7% at $1,525 by 11:35 AM ET.</strong></li></ul><p>Bitcoin cash had a wild night.</p><p>The cryptocurrency skyrocketed to an all-time high of $2,500 a coin early Sunday morning. It also surpassed Ethereum as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to <a href="http://coinmarketcap.com/">CoinMarketCap.com</a>.</p><p>Bitcoin cash, which notably split from the original bitcoin in August, was gaining on its sister coin up until around 2 a.m. ET. It later shed about $1,000 and by 11:35 a.m ET was only trading up 14.7% at $1,525, slipping back below Ethereum's market cap.</p><p>Still, it was an impressive march for a coin which has spent most of its existence trading between $300 and $500. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin even chimed in on the news in a tweet late Saturday night to congratulate the coin's main backers.</p><p>Bitcoin cash's rise appears to have come at the expense of bitcoin, which dropped to a low of $5,512 per coin over night. It hit a record high of $7,828 on Wednesday.</p><p>By 12 p.m. ET, bitcoin was back up at $6,160.</p><p>Bitcoin has been sliding since developers behind a split, known as Segwit2X, revoked their support for the plan on Wednesday.</p><p>Segwit2X would have increased the size of the blocks underpinning the bitcoin blockchain network to enable it to process more transactions more quickly. Backers thought the plan would help the digital currency scale faster.</p><p>Cryptocurrency experts told Business Insider that backers of Segwit2X are likely dumping their bitcoin and jumping on the bitcoin cash bandwagon. Both Segwit2X and bitcoin cash were conceived with the same intention to help bitcoin scale faster by increasing the size of its blocks.</p><p>"When you look at the trends, it does look like many Segwit2X supporters have switched to bitcoin cash," Abhishek Pitto, CEO of Nucleus Vision, told Business Insider. <span style="font-size: 12.8px;"></span></p><p>Kyle Samani, a managing partner of MultiCoin Capital <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/11/12/bitcoin-cash-skyrockets-bitcoin-price-drops-as-civil-war-continues/#7db100f835b5">told cryptowatcher Laura Shen a number of bitcoin whales, wealthy early adopters of crypto, are moving over from bitcoin to bitcoin cash.</a></p><p>Here's Samani (emphasis ours):</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"There were lots of bitcoin cash whales who were in early on bitcoin who were waiting to see what would happen with 2x. <strong>I know many Bitcoin OGs who have dumped $10m+ of BTC for BCH ... Turns out there were a lot more BCH ideologues than we all thought.</strong>"</p><p>Samson Mow, chief strategy officer at Blockstream and bitcoin evangelist, told Business Insider bitcoin cash's price pump will be short lived.</p><p>"[Bitcoin cash] is just being pumped as many other altcoins have been in the past, and inevitably the pumpers will cash out," he said. "The pump is already losing steam and can't be sustained because there's no real market for [bitcoin cash]."</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Bitcoin price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD"> here.&gt;&gt;</a></p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Congrats on this. Seriously. <a href="https://twitter.com/rogerkver?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rogerkver</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JihanWu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JihanWu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/deadalnix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@deadalnix</a> <a href="https://t.co/UXYdEcRn4y">pic.twitter.com/UXYdEcRn4y</a></p>- Vitalik Buterin  (@VitalikButerin) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/929558722170429440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nintendo-stock-price-dominating-like-old-days-2017-11">Why Nintendo is dominating like the old days</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/qZ4qLOSD-xjRU7l6Z.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Bitcoin cash dethroned Ethereum as 2nd largest cryptocurrency during wild night of trading

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a8db826391d941d008b4684-2400/coinbase.jpg" alt="Brian Armstrong Coinbase" data-mce-source="Anthony Harvey/Getty Images for TechCrunch"><p class="source"><span>Anthony Harvey/Getty Images for TechCrunch</span></p><p class="caption">Brian Armstrong, CEO at Coinbase</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>The $1.6 billion cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will start using an updated version of bitcoin called SegWit. The company announced on Tuesday that it finished testing and will roll out updates throughout next week.</strong></li><li><strong>SegWit is a politically contentious update to bitcoin which many believe will scale the popular cryptocurrency, making it faster and cheaper to use.&#xa0;</strong></li><li><strong>SegWit is an optional update, and only 14% of bitcoin transactions use it. But once 95% of all bitcoin transactions use SegWit, it will become the only version of bitcoin available. </strong></li><li><strong>Some believe Coinbase's participation will push the update into the mainstream.&#xa0;<br /></strong></li></ul><hr><p><br>Coinbase, the $1.6 billion cryptocurrency exchange, is preparing to support Segwit, or Segregated Witness, an update to <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/BTC-USD">bitcoin</a> which&#xa0;many believe will enable the booming cryptocurrency to scale for broader use.</br></p><p>The company confirmed on Tuesday that it had finished testing SegWit and intends to roll it out to all bitcoin customers by the middle of next week.&#xa0;</p><p>It's unclear what impact this update will have on customers of Coinbase, outside of the broader impact on the bitcoin network.&#xa0;</p><p>The exchange said in December that its greatest priority in implementing SegWit is to make sure it is done safely.&#xa0;</p><p id="9887">"We store billions of dollars worth of bitcoin on behalf of customers and any change to our infrastructure is done with significant planning and consideration for the security and stability of our platform," <a href="https://blog.coinbase.com/bitcoin-segwit-update-3ab0484e4526">wrote Dan Romero</a>, general manager at Coinbase.&#xa0;</p><h2>Coinbase's support could make SegWit the default bitcoin code&#xa0;</h2><p>Coinbase's participation is a big deal for the SegWit community, which has struggled to gain the industry support necessary to implement updates to bitcoin across the network.</p><p>The SegWit update was released by the Bitcoin Core team in August and has slowly gained traction with cryptocurrency advocates looking to increase transaction times and decrease the fees associated with buying and selling bitcoin.&#xa0;</p><p>It's optional for exchanges to use the update. At present, <a href="http://segwit.party/charts/#">only around 14% of all bitcoin transactions</a> use the SegWit update. But once 95% of all transactions on the bitcoin network use SegWit, it will become the only edition of bitcoin available. Until then though, bitcoin is being exchanged using two different but compatible sets of code.</p><p>Desiree Dickerson, blockchain and digital currency fellow at Women for Women International, said she expects SegWit to pick up speed now that it has the support of Coinbase, as well as another high-transaction exchange called Bitfinex, which <a href="https://twitter.com/bitfinex/status/965983482152407041">similarly announced its support for SegWit</a> on Tuesday.</p><p><span>"Platforms with massive customer bases such as Coinbase and Bitfinex account for a large number of total transactions on the network. Therefore, their resistance to transition to SegWit up until the recent announcements definitely impacted the adoption across the network," Dickerson said over email.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>Samson Mow, chief strategy officer at Blockstream, similarly said he expects that Coinbase's use of SegWit will have an impact across the entire bitcoin network, and suggested that it was supporting the upgrade for business reasons.&#xa0;<br><br /></br></span><span></span><span>"It's taken them longer to get around to it than many other companies though, and given they are a major source of traffic on the bitcoin network, it was contributing to higher fees for everyone," Mow said over email. "However, as Coinbase does need to keep their customers happy, and SegWit would provide their customers with lower fees, it was inevitable that they would have to upgrade to SegWit."&#xa0;</span></p><h2>SegWit speeds up transaction times and lowers mining fees</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img style="color: #000000;" src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a1855563dbef4db018b802c-1201/bi-graphicsblockchainblockchain%20fork.png" alt="BI Graphics_Blockchain_Blockchain fork" data-mce-source="Samantha Lee/Business Insider"><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Bitcoin - which is based on blockchain technology - is essentially software, so it can be edited and changed. But because it is open source and decentralized, changes to bitcoin's code have to be approved of by the community at large.<p>It's a political process - so political that a subset of bitcoin enthusiasts rejected the SegWit update and went with an update that was so severe that it created an entirely new cryptocurrency called bitcoin cash. Bitcoin cash was established on August 1 out of what is known as a hard fork.</p><p><span>Blockchain forks are when one chain diverges to become two. A hard fork is a change that is so radical that it makes the new chain incompatible with the old chain.</span></p><p>SegWit on the other hand is what's known as a soft fork. Soft forks change the code on the blockchain but remain compatible with the old chain.</p><p>Updating bitcoin has been a major concern for people in the community as popularity of the cryptocurrency has outpaced its design.&#xa0;The original bitcoin blockchain can only handle between two and seven transactions per second. With bitcoin's rise to $20,000 spiking the number of purchases around the world, the system became severely strained.</p><p>One of the concerns that SegWit addresses is block size. Blocks are essentially new links in the chain. For changes to be made on the bitcoin blockchain, a new block has to be approved by a decentralized network of computers. There is around 10 minutes between each new block.&#xa0;</p><p>The SegWit update makes it so that more transactions can fit in a single block, without having to make major changes to the bitcoin blockchain code.&#xa0;</p><p>The original design of bitcoin limits the size of blocks to 1 megabyte, which is way too small in a world where at any given moment <a href="https://blockchain.info/charts">there are around 24 megabytes of bitcoin transactions</a> waiting to be confirmed by the network.&#xa0;</p><p>People also expect SegWit to significantly reduce the cost of buying, selling, and moving bitcoin.&#xa0;</p><p>For the last few months, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-payment-mining-fees-hit-new-high-2017-12">supply and demand has worked in favor of bitcoin miners</a> - the people who supply the computer power to process bitcoin transactions. Mining fees hit a high of $37 per transaction on December 20, though it has since fallen below $3 per transaction.&#xa0;</p><p>Less congestion in the bitcoin network will likely lower these fees.&#xa0;</p><h3><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-blockchain-how-does-it-work-explainer-2017-11?r=article"><strong>Read more about the blockchain technology that powers bitcoin here.</strong></a></h3><h3><strong><a href="https://t.co/WumVnuL8yj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Subscribe to our Crypto Insider newsletter for the best of the blockchain every day</a></strong></h3> <p class="tagline"></p><div id="categorypromo" style="border:1px solid silver; min-height:90px; padding:10px;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://read.bi/bitcoin-101-free"><img src="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/image/5a3054550b0f272e008b4d63-480" style="margin-right:15px;width:75px;float:left !important;" /></a><strong>EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT:</strong><br>The Bitcoin 101 Report by the BI Intelligence Research Team.<br><strong><a href="http://read.bi/bitcoin-101-free">Get the Report Now »</a></strong></br></br></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Our engineering team has finished testing of SegWit for Bitcoin on Coinbase.<br><br>We will be starting a phased launch to customers over the next few days and are targeting a 100% launch to all customers by mid next week.</br></br></p>- Coinbase  (@coinbase) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/966002538326638592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-tips-tricks-10-year-user-2018-2">I've used the iPhone for 10 years and these are my favorite tips and tricks</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/XrJdzXMS-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div></hr>

Coinbase is finally supporting SegWit, an update that could fix bitcoin's biggest problems. Here's what's happening.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55d1fcbcdd0895e4338b45a3-1905-1429/rtr1upko.jpg" alt="woman child crack" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="DATE IMPORTED:October 08, 2007A woman and girl walk alongside Doris Salcedo's work, Shibboleth - a giant crack in the floor of the Tate Modern in London October 8, 2007." /><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>An ongoing debate wracking the bitcoin community became significantly more heated this weekend after two high-profile developers released a competing version of the codebase - risking splitting the digital currency in two.</p><p>For the past several months, developers and bitcoin users have debated the merits of increasing the "block size."</p><p>A block is a record of recent transactions, and currently has a 1MB limit; increasing it would allow more transactions on the network at once, helping it to scale up to meet growing demand. But it would also make it more difficult for ordinary users to host full network "nodes" that validate new transactions on the network, potentially making the digital currency more centralised as a result.</p><p>Because bitcoin is open source (meaning the full code is available for anyone to alter) and decentralised, no one can unilaterally push an update on other users without widespread consensus - consensus that has so far been lacking. Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn, two high-profile developers, have now released Bitcoin XT, <a href="https://medium.com/@octskyward/why-is-bitcoin-forking-d647312d22c1">an alternative version of the core software that supports increasing the block size when required</a>. Bitcoin users will now be forced to decide between "Bitcoin Core" and Bitcoin XT, raising the prospect of a "fork," where the digital currency divides into two competing versions.</p><p>Right now, Core and XT are compatible, and both exist on the same blockchain, the public ledger of all bitcoin transactions shared across the network. Bitcoin is still running as one digital currency. However, if XT is adopted by 75% of users by January 2016, it will upgrade to a larger block size. This <em>will</em> be incompatible with Core - meaning that if the other 25% don't then choose to convert, it will effectively split the currency into two.</p><h2>But will it work?</h2><p>The choice between XT and Core can be thought of as a kind of referendum on the block size debate, brought about after months of heated discussion failed to come to a consensus decision. So far, 7.7% of the network has adopted XT, according to website <a href="http://xtnodes.com">XTnodes.com</a>. It's a relatively quick uptake, but it remains to be seen whether it can reach 75% by next year.</p><p>Samson Mow is the COO of BTCChina, one of the largest mining pools. A mining pool is a group of users who pool their resources to improve their chances of successfully "mining" bitcoin - authenticating transactions on the network in return for a bitcoin reward. He told Business Insider that BTCChina and the broader Chinese mining community "has decided not to adopt Bitcoin XT. The foundation of bitcoin is consensus and what we need is for core devs to reach consensus on changes to bitcoin core. Without that consensus from the core devs, it falls upon the mining community to maintain the stability of bitcoin, and that is what we will continue to do."</p><p>Collectively, the biggest Chinese pools <a href="https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC">make up more than half the network</a>. If they refuse to adopt XT, it's difficult to see how it can reach the 75% majority it requires to increase the block size. </p><p>That said, Hearn remains confident. "At the moment, we think it's plausible we can get majority," <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-software-forked-in-bid-to-resolve-scalability-issue/">he told CoinDesk</a>. "But it will likely be a lot of work."</p><h2>The return of Satoshi Nakamoto (or not)</h2><p>During this weekend's discussion on the bitcoin developer mailing list, <a href="http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-August/010238.html">a user purporting to be Satoshi Nakamoto</a> - the mysterious creator of bitcoin - chimed in on the subject, condemning the XT project. However, the email was not cryptographically signed, and is probably a fake - Satoshi's email accounts <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-satoshi-nakamoto-email-hacker-says-hes-negotiating-with-the-bitcoin-founder">have been hacked before</a>, after all.</p><p>Even if XT isn't adopted, it's possible that its creation will create new urgency and help encourage a clear decision on the block size debate sooner than would otherwise be the case. The Chinese mining community, while not supporting XT, does in principle support an increase in size.</p><p>But the ongoing debate and failure to risk consensus about this important issue also risks spooking the general public, damaging the digital currency's image and risking its chances of more mainstream adoption.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mba-worth-money-tuition-cost-benefit-analysis-2015-6">We did the math: Is an MBA worth it?</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="B2ZWY2bTp47bf8XXc0yX1YLIhALiZDkX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'B2ZWY2bTp47bf8XXc0yX1YLIhALiZDkX',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

You Searched For "samson mow" and got 12 results

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Coinbase is finally supporting SegWit, an update that could fix bitcoin's biggest problems. Here's what's happening.

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