Bitcoin’s blockchain technology could disrupt traditional finance according to BNP Paribas, and the price of Bitcoin experienced its best week of the year so far. Here are the cryptocurrency highlights of week 28:
- Johan Palychata, research analyst at BNP Paribas Securities Services (one of France’s largest banks), has stated that Bitcoin’s blockchain technology could potentially disrupt traditional financial institutions. In one of the two envisaged scenarios existing industry players might even be “redundant” if all market participants get direct access to “the DSD (Decentralized Securities Depositary), to the exchange and to the post trade infrastructure (clearing & settlement)” through a decentralized blockchain. The second scenario considers only the integration of distributed ledgers in the “next generation of IT infrastructure”, which could still cause a significant change in the level of service (and allow for new services due to lower required investments) by the existing industry.
- The recent dismissal of popular Reddit staff member Victoria Taylor sparked a lot of unrest surrounding the social news website. Taylor coordinated the Ask Me Anything (AMA) subreddit which even featured Barack Obama, but was fired for unknown reasons. Major sections of Reddit were subsequently taken offline to protest at the departure. To avoid blackouts such as these, venture capitalist Fred Wilson suggested a new decentralized version should be build using blockchain technology. This would make the new site “immune to censorship or being shut down”. Cryptocurrency engineer (and former Reddit employee) Ryan X. Charles might turn this into reality, as he announced that he wants to collaborate with others to build a decentralized Reddit.
- Bitcoin is making its way to Japan. The country’s largest Q&A site OKWave, with more than 40 million monthly visitors, has announced it will be integrating Bitcoin tipping. At about the same time, classified advertising website Backpage has now switched to providing exclusively cryptocurrency payments for its adult entertainment section. Major payment processors MasterCard and Visa recently stopped supporting Backpage, which left the company with little alternatives.
- It looks like a big market participant traded his or her Litecoins for Bitcoins these week. The former cryptocurrency suddenly lost half of its value on Friday, while the price of Bitcoin spiked at about the same time. The price of Litecoin had been rapidly climbing since last weekend, but the latest crash has resulting in a more than six percent loss for the week. It must be added that the value of Litecoin now is still three times higher than it was in May this year. Bitcoin on the other hand ended up experiencing its best week of the year, with its value rising roughly 15 percent compared to the previous week. Bitcoin is now getting close to crossing the line of $300 per coin, at a current rate of about $295.
- A new report by Wedbush Securities argues that the price of Bitcoin will easily move through $300 and might even make it to $400 in 12 months’ time. Wedbush is making the valuation based on the expectations of future payment volumes and the current market capitalization compared to the combined numbers of financial giants Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union. Wedbush also suggests the bitcoin payments network “could end up powering 10% of online payments and 20% of global remittances by 2025”. Investors should, however, remain cautious as Wedbush also warns that the price of Bitcoin could still “ultimately fall to $0”.
