BTC Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Betting
Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that started it all. There are dozens of other cryptocurrencies you can use to deposit at BookMaker and hundreds more on the periphery, but Bitcoin is the most well-known of the bunch, and the only one your aunt Ethel and uncle Fred know. The coin that dominates the crypto space surged past $60,000 in March 2021 and might be poised for an even bigger run ahead of the holidays.
Monday, May 13, 2024, News Update
The incredible rise of Bitcoin over the last fifteen years has been nothing short of extraordinary. Ten years ago, most people would not have believed you if you had told them that a single Bitcoin would be worth over $60,000. In those days, the digital currency was valued less than $500. While some people think $60,000 is an amazing high for Bitcoin, other people believe the price is going to skyrocket much further.
How far can Bitcoin go? Forecasting its future worth is obviously speculative and not a simple undertaking. Nonetheless, a few specialists have made audacious predictions. ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, predicts that the coin's value might reach $1 million before 2030. And former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey believes that bitcoin will go as high as $1 million by 2030. Dorsey said in an interview with Pirate Wires that he thinks Bitcoin “hits that number and goes beyond.” He went on to say, “The most amazing thing about bitcoin, apart from the founding story, is anyone who works on it, or gets paid in it, or buys it for themselves—everyone who puts any effort in to make it better—is making the entire ecosystem better, which makes the price go up.” Dorsey has become an advocate for Bitcoin and has led many projects through the years.
The extraordinary journey of Bitcoin has been facilitated by a number of variables. The limited quantity and decentralized character of Bitcoin, along with growing awareness of the inflationary tendencies of fiat currencies, have stimulated investor interest and adoption. These characteristics have raised the value of Bitcoin over time by positioning it as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty.
The main selling point of Bitcoin is that it is a scarce asset. In the roughly 15 years that Bitcoin has been in existence, there will only ever be 21 million coins in circulation, with a programmed inflation rate that has never been altered. The price of a fixed asset increases in tandem with its demand.
This contrasts sharply with fiat currencies, which are the primary rival of Bitcoin. These currencies are continually losing purchasing power as a result of reckless fiscal and monetary policies, particularly in the US. The design of Bitcoin aims for a more regulated outcome.
The emergence of a stronger financial services infrastructure is another reason driving up the price of Bitcoin. The approval of spot ETF products in January was the most recent move in this regard. These have been incredibly effective thus far in attracting new investors to Bitcoin. Furthermore, it is possible to see the Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of the ETFs as a regulatory seal of approval.
There are several companies working on various Bitcoin-related goods and services, from Wall Street banks to tenacious start-ups. It follows that it is reasonable to assume that this asset will eventually find its way into more portfolios.
It's important to understand that the problems driving Bitcoin's rise aren't going away anytime soon when looking ahead. The case for Bitcoin's further rise is strong in a world where central banks are printing money at previously unheard-of rates and the idea of digital currencies is becoming more widely accepted.
It is unclear if the forecast by Wood and Dorsey will come true. The essential principles that set Bitcoin apart are still evident today, indicating that the cryptocurrency's journey is far from over. It's critical for investors to approach Bitcoin with cautious optimism, understanding both its promise and its perils, as they navigate the ever-changing cryptocurrency market. The extent of Bitcoin's potential rise remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: its influence on the financial scene is irrefutable.
Bitcoin Weekly Price Per CoinMarketCap
| WEEK |
BITCOIN PRICE IN USD |
| May 13, 2024 |
62,811.16 |
| May 6, 2024 |
63,321.99 |
| April 29, 2024 |
63,513.72 |
| April 22, 2024 |
66,391.01 |
| April 15, 2024 |
64,465.15 |
| April 9, 2024 |
71,912.80 |
| April 2, 2024 |
68,641.42 |
| March 26, 2024 |
70,121.49 |
| March 19, 2024 |
67,287.32 |
| March 12, 2024 |
72,295.01 |
| March 5, 2024 |
66,548.57 |
| February 27, 2024 |
53,419.20 |
| February 20, 2024 |
52,057.41 |
| February 13, 2024 |
49,546.53 |
| February 6, 2024 |
42,541.37 |
| January 30, 2024 |
43,061.49 |
| January 23, 2024 |
40,406.51 |
| January 16, 2024 |
42,433.84 |
| January 9, 2024 |
45,009.74 |
| January 2, 2024 |
42,728.28 |
| December 26, 2023 |
43,396.24 |
| December 19, 2023 |
41,366.73 |
| December 12, 2023 |
41,752.77 |
| December 5, 2023 |
41,720.85 |
Monday, May 6, 2024, News Update
Fifteen years after mining its first block in January 2009, the Bitcoin network performed its one billionth transaction. Interestingly, the day a Bitcoin address from the Satoshi era launched coincided with the network reaching this milestone. Data from the Clark Moody Bitcoin dashboard shows that on May 6 at 05:34 UTC+8, the network handled its one billionth transaction in block 842,241. In the fifteen years since its establishment, the network has handled 178,475 transactions each day on average. Some people said that no one would use Bitcoin, but today, the network handles daily transaction volumes that are on par with major payments giants.
This milestone also comes on the heels of Bitcoin's recent all-time high above $73,000 in March 2024. The excitement around the latest halving event plus new protocols like Ordinals and Runes have driven some of the surge in network activity. All told, April 23 saw a single-day transaction record above 926,000, and while volume has moderated from those highs, Bitcoin continues averaging 600,000+ transactions in May 2024. The cryptocurrency community celebrated the achievement and set its sights on the next billion target. Associate professor Tarik Sammour of the University of Adelaide noted that Bitcoin reached this significant milestone "securely, flawlessly, and without any centralized intermediary." In a similar vein, Bitcoin achieved this milestone in 15 years as opposed to 25 years for Visa.
Initially, the primary purpose of Bitcoin transactions was for users to transfer money amongst themselves. But with the introduction of cutting-edge protocols like Runes and Ordinals Inscriptions, that trend has recently shifted. The blockchain has garnered more interest and attention as a result of these assets, leading to increasing network activity.
For background, on April 23, the Bitcoin blockchain processed over 926,000 transactions, with over 90% of them originating from the Runes protocol. This was the largest daily transaction volume ever recorded by the blockchain. The introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January of this year has also contributed to an increase in the volume of transactions processed by the network.
A long-dormant Bitcoin address that goes back to Satoshi Nakamoto's early inception has now been revived after ten years of inactivity. Early on May 6, the wallet that had 687 Bitcoin, worth $43.9 million, had its contents divided and moved to two different addresses. 625.43 BTC of this transaction went to an address that started with bc1qky, while the remaining 61.9 BTC went to bc1qdc. According to blockchain researcher Lookonchain, the whale originally acquired the 687.33 BTC on January 12, 2014, at a cost of $917.
Roughly $115 billion worth of Bitcoin is presently sitting idle in wallets that haven't been used in over a decade. Even though some of these wallets eventually activate for a variety of reasons, analysts predict that 1.5 million coins will remain lost indefinitely. The Bitcoin address given above is from the time that Satoshi Nakamoto created the cryptocurrency. In March 2014, he reappeared online to make it clear that he was not the Japanese American Dorian S. Nakamoto, who had become well-known after being featured in a Newsweek article that went viral.
Naturally, it is quite improbable that the transaction had anything to do with the enigmatic Bitcoin creator. Old wallets, however, have the ability to influence market movements because they may be connected to Satoshi. For example, 50 Bitcoins mined in the first month of the cryptocurrency's existence were moved to an unidentified wallet, which caused the price of the cryptocurrency to plummet significantly in May 2020. Analysts quickly deduced, meanwhile, that these coins did not belong to Satoshi.
Monday, April 29, 2024, News Update
The worst-case scenario for risky assets, U.S. stagflation, is once again causing concern for cryptocurrency markets, which are down to start the week. Based on statistics from CoinDesk Indices, Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at about $63,500 at the time of writing, down about 2% over the previous day. The price of ether (ETH) fell by 3% to $3,200. With major bullish and bearish narratives on the horizon, the market looks to be on the verge of making a decision right now.
The possibility of stagflation, or a period of high inflation and slow development, is very real, as QCP stated in a note over the weekend. "The weaker than expected (U.S.) GDP print points to a more sluggish economy while the higher Core PCE warns of an inflation problem that continues to be a thorn in the Fed's side," said QCP.
The world's largest economy expanded at an annualized pace of 1.6% in the first quarter of this year, after growing at a 3.4% annualized rate in the previous quarter, according to the U.S. GDP report released last week. The Fed's favored inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price (PCE) index, revealed that prices increased from 1.8% in the last quarter of 2023 to 3.4% annualized rate in the first three months of the current year.
The likelihood of the Fed cutting rates has been further undermined by the stagflationary combination of sticky inflation and a weaker growth rate. With a 35% chance of occurring, the majority of traders on the prediction market platform Polymarket still view no rate cuts as the most likely option. However, the likelihood of one rate drop occurring is gradually increasing, standing at 29% presently as opposed to 26% a week ago and 14% at the beginning of the month.
Additionally, QCP stated that Janet Yellen's fiscal strategy, which makes use of the Reverse Repurchase Program (RRP), which has USD 400 billion in assets, and the Treasury General Account (TGA), which has assets close to USD 1 trillion, could add up to $1.4 trillion in liquidity to the financial system, increasing all risk assets.
The key to a sustained bitcoin bull market, as noted by some crypto experts is the U.S. Treasury's upcoming quarterly refunding announcement, which will either maintain or lower the current TGA amount of $750 billion. The TGA's $750 billion figure is crucial because it sends a strong message to the financial markets about the fiscal policies of the US government, which has a substantial effect on growth and stability in the economy.
Meanwhile, traders are also taking notice of the April 30 launch of the bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Hong Kong. The announcement that mainland Chinese investors will not be able to trade the ETFs, however, has lessened the launch's enthusiasm.
Hong Kong issuers of exchange-traded funds are unconcerned about the US crackdown on cryptocurrencies, which may lead to regulators categorizing Ether ETH. Zhu Haokang, the head of digital asset management firm China Asset Management, and Wayne Huang, the head of custody firm OSL Digital Securities, addressed questions about the new institutional investment products at a press conference on April 29, the eve of the launch of spot crypto ETFs in Hong Kong.
One of the most noteworthy answers concerned the world's first Ether ETF and if Hong Kong will be affected by the US labeling it a securities. Huang answered: “Probably not, because whether the United States defines Ethereum as a security does not affect the independent decision-making of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission.” (translation)
He went on to say that the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission has its own set of guidelines when deciding which cryptocurrency assets qualify as securities and which ones ordinary investors can trade.
On April 15, China Asset Management (Hong Kong) selected OSL Digital Securities as their first partner for virtual asset trading and sub-custodian services. Beijing is home to China Asset Management, a Beijing-based state-owned bank that was founded in 1998. It is among the largest fund families in China as well.
Monday, April 22, 2024, News Update
After completing its fourth "halving" on Friday, the price of the biggest cryptocurrency in the world remained largely constant over the course of the weekend. Prior to the halving that took place at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, bitcoin prices were roughly $64,036. The cryptocurrency recently reached an all-time high of $73,803 in mid-March. Following the halving, prices dropped by 0.47% to $63,747, although they later increased over the weekend to almost $65,000 on Sunday.
The halving was incorporated into the bitcoin code at the beginning by the cryptocurrency's anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who limited the total quantity of bitcoin to 21 million tokens. It alters the rate at which new bitcoins are created. The rewards cryptocurrency miners receive for creating new tokens are halved when the halving happens, making it more costly for them to release new bitcoins into circulation.
Halvings occur approximately every four years; the most recent ones took place in 2020, 2016, and 2012. Although analysts are dubious, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts cite price increases that followed the halvings as evidence that the market will like the most recent halving.
Analysts at JP Morgan stated this week, "We do not expect bitcoin price increases post-halving as it has already been priced in." They stated that because the price of bitcoin has been "overbought" and venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency space has been "subdued" this year, they expect a decline in price following the halving.
The bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2022 sent cryptocurrency markets into a tailspin, and Bitcoin had to spend much of 2023 recuperating before reaching its all-time high last month. In November 2022, Bitcoin hit a record high of $67,802, but then fell below $17,000 for the majority of November and December of the next year in 2022.
Despite the fact that more regulatory bodies have authorized trading instruments tied to bitcoin, financial regulators have long cautioned that bitcoin is a high-risk asset with few practical applications.
A handful of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January, allowing investors to access the cryptocurrency without having to purchase tokens through a cryptocurrency exchange.
By purchasing ETFs through their brokerage account, investors can invest in the asset and effectively watch the price of bitcoin with spot bitcoin ETFs.
The following bitcoin ETFs have been approved: Bitwise (BITB), Fidelity (FBTC), Franklin Templeton (EZBC), Grayscale (GBTC), Invesco/Galaxy Digital (BTCO), Valkyrie (BRRR), VanEck (HODL), WisdomTree (BTCW), and ARK/21Shares (ticker symbol ARKB).
Since rising to a new all-time high in March due to increased geopolitical tensions and anticipation that central banks will maintain higher interest rates longer due to ongoing inflation, bitcoin prices have been largely stable in the last few weeks.
Monday, April 15, 2024, News Update
Approximately every four years, a technological event known as "digital gold" occurs on the bitcoin network, halving the cryptocurrency's supply and producing a scarcity effect that elevates it above other digital currencies. Usually, it heralds the beginning of a fresh cycle and bull run, but this one is a little unique.
“The halving is the ultimate geek event for bitcoiners, but the 2024 iteration takes it up a notch because reduced supply combined with fresh ETF demand creates an explosive cocktail,” said Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev, “What makes this halving unique is bitcoin has already surpassed the last cycle’s high — something it’s never done ahead of the quadrennial event — which makes trying to forecast the length and ferocity of this cycle much trickier.” Bitcoin (BTC), will enter the fourth halving period next week. The price of Bitcoin went up dramatically after the previous halvings, but that may not happen this time. Let’s look at the halving and its possible effects on the market. Whether your goal is to have a deeper understanding of bitcoin as a novel, deflationary asset or you just want to speculate on the price of bitcoin in the upcoming weeks, it is good to know a little bit about what is coming.
The Halving
The bitcoin blockchain's architecture requires that incentives for miners be reduced by half, which is when the halving happens. It is planned to occur every 210,000 blocks, or approximately every four years.
To refresh your memory, miners operate the computers that record new blocks of bitcoin transactions and add them to the blockchain, which is the global ledger. This process effectively involves solving a very difficult arithmetic problem.
Transaction fees that senders voluntarily pay (for quicker settlement) and mining rewards provide miners with two reasons to mine. Between April 18 and April 21, there will be a decrease in mining incentives to 3.125 bitcoins. In 2020, the incentive of 50 bitcoins was lowered to 6.25 bitcoins.
The perception that bitcoin is a form of digital gold, the value of which is determined by its limited quantity, is maintained by the reduction in block rewards, which slows the rate at which new coins are minted. According to the bitcoin code, there will eventually be a 21 million limit on the total quantity of bitcoins in use.
The halving doesn't operate like a time-sensitive on/off switch. It makes sense to believe that there won't be much movement in the market on this particular day. Naturally, there is a chance that traders who are speculating on the event will cause volatility.
Because of the consistent upward trend in price of Bitcoin in the months after its halving, devotees greatly rejoice on this day. But the returns from the halving day to the cycle top have decreased every time the mining incentive and bitcoin supply have decreased.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024, News Update
The price of Bitcoin has risen again with the next Bitcoin halving approaching. The next Bitcoin halving is expected to take place on April 20, 2024 and that will reduce the block reward from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. What does that mean for the price of Bitcoin? Because halving events have regularly followed notable price gains for bitcoin, market experts have focused their attention on them. Previous instances of bitcoin's price halving have seen notable price spikes because of the interaction between less supply and higher demand. These occurrences have a significant impact on bitcoin's total supply, which in turn affects its price. However, it is important to recognize that halving occurrences are not the only factors influencing price dynamics.
Following the 2012 halving, the price of bitcoin increased by about 9,000% to $1,162.
Following the 2016 halving, the price of bitcoin increased by about 4,200% to $19,800.
Following the 2020 halving, the price of bitcoin increased by almost 683% to $69,000.
For miners, halving events might be problematic because they result in a 50% reduction in block rewards. Miners need to work efficiently in order to stay competitive, which could lead to the creation and use of more energy-efficient mining gear. Miners frequently file for bankruptcy, which has an effect on the hash rate of the network, the amount of bitcoin that is available for purchase, and eventually the price of bitcoin. After some instability, the difficulty adjustment brings the system back to balance, allowing the Bitcoin network and ecosystem to keep growing.
Following a halving occurrence, Bitcoin's historical performance has demonstrated an impressive upward tendency. There's usually more interest and demand after this event. It's important to proceed cautiously, though, and avoid seeing the halvings as surefire ways to make quick money. Instead of trying to time the market by buying and selling, it would be wiser to comprehend the long-term potential of bitcoin and treat it as a store of money.
Without a doubt, the halving of Bitcoin is a bullish development since it changes the dynamics of supply in a way that favors price growth. Even while the halving is typically viewed as an optimistic development, it's important to keep in mind that a number of factors affect the price of bitcoin.
Based on an analysis of the last three halving occurrences, a notable increase in price often starts a few months after the halves event. Additionally, the price of bitcoin tends to increase prior to a halves event because speculators anticipate a price rally following the halving. The price often takes more than a year to peak after the halving.
Tuesday, April 2, 2024, News Update
In comparison to other digital assets, Bitcoin (BTC), the most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization and trading volume, is meant to be comparatively stable, shielding a trader's portfolio from erratic fluctuations in the wider market. But lately, ether (ETH) has not been as volatile as bitcoin.
By around ten percentage points, ether's 30-day realized volatility was surpassed by Bitcoin's annualized 30-day historical or realized volatility, which reached about 60% late last week. That's the biggest margin in a year or more, based on statistics that Paris-based Kaiko monitors. Historical volatility is a measure of the level of price volatility that has been seen over a given time period.
Weeks after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved around a dozen spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), enabling investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without holding any, the bitcoin-ether volatility spread turned positive.
Since then, net inflows have been fueling upside volatility in bitcoin and the larger cryptocurrency market, and traders have been entirely focused on the action in the spot ETFs. Meanwhile, it appears that traders of ether have become less motivated due to the decreasing likelihood that the SEC would approve an ETH ETF by May.
The forthcoming reward halving on the Bitcoin blockchain, a quadrennial event that will cut the rate at which BTC is emitted every block by 50%, may also be contributing to the cryptocurrency's comparatively higher volatility.
The built-in algorithm will cut the per-block reward that miners receive from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC on April 21. This would result in a halving of the miner earnings, which is currently estimated by ByteTree to be $26 billion annually.
Late last week, the difference in the 30-day historical volatility indices of BTC and ETH grew to around 10 percentage points. (Kaiko) Late last week, the difference between the 30-day historical volatility indices of ETH and BTC increased to around 10 percentage points. (Kaiko) (Kaiko)
Most people agree that halving is bullish because it slows down supply growth and, if demand stays stable or grows, creates an imbalance between supply and demand that drives up prices. After the previous halvings in November 2012, July 2016, and May 2020, Bitcoin put on incredible rallies and broke new records over the course of 12 to 18 months.
This time is different because, weeks before the halving, bitcoin exceeded the last bull market peak of over $69,000, which gives traders even more reason to be excited about the impending event.
Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata, believes that a "sell-the-news" pullback following the event is possible due to the optimistic stance prior to the halving. In his weekly newsletter, Magadini stated, “The current positioning being so extended is setting the market up for a VERY interesting 'sell-the-news’ halving cycle play. Should there be a real pullback, we stand to see excessive ?1 [futures] OI become liquidated, volatility RR-skew to favor puts and a collapsing basis.”
The market's estimate of future realized volatility is known as the implied volatility, or IV. Plotting IVs for various expiries or durations typically results in an upward-sloping curve known as a contango. The market is anticipating further Bitcoin volatility leading up to the halving because of a severe contango that exists before the April 26 deadline. That's what the forward volatility indicates.
History
In January 2009, Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto. The identity of Nakamoto remains hotly debated to this day, but that person or group changed the world with this invention. Like many major breakthroughs, it took a while for people to grasp why Bitcoin was special. Bitcoin was created in the midst of the banking crisis, and one of its major goals was to give people another option to buy and sell products outside of a heavily regulated and centralized banking system.
The first entities to fully embrace Bitcoin were black market enterprises like Silk Road. For a while, Bitcoin became synonymous with the notorious website, but its use became more and more widespread starting in 2013.
That led to the price of Bitcoin skyrocketing and reaching incredible heights in 2017. On January 1, 2017 a single Bitcoin was worth $998, but that price rose by nearly 20-fold near the end of the year, hitting an all-time high of $19,666 on December 17, 2017. Bitcoin has left those prices in the dust in 2021, as the price of Bitcoin is approaching $50,000.
Stability
One of the major criticisms of Bitcoin is that the currency wildly fluctuates and that has proven to be true in 2021. As Bitcoin has become more accepted and understood, investors are getting a better understanding of what leads to price changes, and that has led to the Bitcoin market looking a lot like the stock market.
Security
There have been fears over how secure Bitcoin is over the years, but transactions are even more secure as they are in the traditional marketplace thanks to blockchain technology.
Whereas we are constantly hearing stories of companies having their databases hacked and identities being stolen, the nature of blockchain presents this from happening with Bitcoin.
For a transaction to occur, the sender must know their private key and digitally sign the transaction, and the signature must be verified by the network using the public key. The number of private keys makes it nearly impossible to hack into another person’s account, but there is one thing to keep in mind. You MUST keep your private key backed up somewhere or else you will lose access to your Bitcoin. Don’t make the mistake of not backing up your private key and risk losing your hard earned money.
How do I buy Bitcoin?
You can buy Bitcoin by using one of the major currency exchanges such as Coinbase or Gemini. These exchanges allow you to use a credit or debit card or bank transfer to buy Bitcoin. You can then send Bitcoin to your sportsbook account and you can withdraw Bitcoin from your sportsbook account to your digital wallet.
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