Bitcoin price is nearing the $1000 mark for the second time this year, just over a month after the cryptocurrency scaled the milestone at the beginning of 2017.
It’s still early days in the year and bitcoin has already seen a dramatic 2017.
Trading beyond the barrier in early January, the cryptocurrency’s market capital swelled beyond $17.5 billion. In China, bitcoin prices reached all-time highs in the first week of 2017. Price also scaled beyond $1100 on January 4, nearing an all-time high in the Bitstamp Price Index (BPI) as bitcoin reached gold parity. The following day, price crashed steeply following a crackdown led by China’s central bank. Altogether, bitcoin lost over a third in value after falling further to a low of $751 in January, having scaled a high of $1139 in the month.
Now, despite a significant drop-off in bitcoin trading volumes in major market China – following the introduction of trading fees – bitcoin has hit the bull switch again as it charts its way toward the $1000 figure.
At the time of publishing, bitcoin is trading to the dollar at $995.48, close to the day’s high of $995.62 on the BPI.
Despite feeling its impact initially, Bitcoin shrugged aside the People Bank of China’s involvement into the Chinese trading market, where bitcoin is – once again – trading beyond the $1000 mark. According to Bobby Lee, CEO of major Chinese exchange BTCC, the reason behind bitcoin’s rising prices is due increased interest and media coverage of bitcoin, contributing to a “hype cycle”, rather than any instance of capital flight from China.
In statements to Forbes, he stated:
People are learning about Bitcoin from the media and having confidence in the technology, which then leads to more people buying, the price continuing to rise and more media attention. The hype cycle continues.
Another possible factor behind bitcoin’s latest bullish run are speculated policies and enforced executive orders of new American president Donald Trump. Talk of imposing tax tariffs on Chinese imports, verbal sparring between Trump’s camp and German chancellor Angela Merkel, a controversial ban denying immigrants and refugees into the United States have all lead to storm clouds gathering and adding to global political and financial uncertainties. These developments, observers believe, has led to bitcoin’s price making gains in the initial days of Trump’s presidency.
Today’s gain has added to a notable bullish run since Donald Trump was inaugurated as President on January 20. Bitcoin price has gained over 10% since Trump took office.
For the most recent bitcoin price analysis piece from CCN analyst Jim Fredrickson, click here.
Time waits for no-one, come join our whatsapp group where we can teach you how to invest and grow your bitcoin,there's no harm in trying..Risk is very Important,take it and Value it.
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It is rare that the London sky shines so bright you can’t find one cloud, but that was the weather yesterday in the capital that once used to run an empire where the sun never sets. In Washington DC, which has in many ways taken on that banner, the weather was more somber, just slightly less rainy than during the vote for Brexit, reflecting in both cases the seriousness of a monumental task that now faces the world and the country.
“We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.”
So thundered the newly elected president, putting to rest any speculation that he might soften his tone. Instead, both implicitly and explicitly, the speech indicated that Trump is now to go full speed ahead with what he has promised. That suggests current market trends will probably continue as somewhat confirmed by bitcoin’s recent $40 rise.
Bitcoin’s Price Rises Following Trump’s Inauguration – Image from BitcoinWisdom
Traders are betting that Trump’s plans are good for the economy. The already revamped White House website promises a “return to 4 percent annual economic growth,” through a one trillion infrastructure spending stimulus, “lower rates for Americans in every tax bracket,” and, somewhat directly relevant for our space, a “moratorium on new federal regulations” which “cost the American economy more than $2 trillion.”
With the republicans now controlling all legislative branches, the above economic plan is likely to go through in a relatively easily manner compared to his other aims. Moreover, it is doubtful any of it will be much diluted as Trump has seemingly made it clear in his speech that there won’t be any uturn:
“The establishment protected itself but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes starting right here and right now… [w]hat truly matters is not which party controls our government but whether our government is controlled by the people.”
Facing opposition, within and outside his own party, he’ll need to maintain the support of the people. So far, he has not disappointed them. In fact, he has offered them hope and optimism for the future, promising in his speech that “we will bring back our dreams,” further stating:
“We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.”
It is still just words, but how anyone will retain trust in the political system if those words are not maintained after being told “[t]he time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action,” is unclear. Perhaps, therefore, we may shift and consider the new reality as well as the biggest question now facing the world with the answer having a significant effect on bitcoin’s behavior.
Confrontation or Cooperation?
“We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone but rather to let it shine as an example… We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones. And unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth.”
From China to Arabia, Europe and South America, a defining question is preoccupying glittery halls. Do they risk confrontation, or opt-in for co-operation?
For Arabia, any proxy wars between America and Russia, exemplified by the former’s support for Saudis and the latter’s for their geopolitical rival, Iran, will hopefully be brought to an end. How, exactly, is not clear as what little is now officially stated is far too general:
“Defeating ISIS and other radical Islamic terror groups will be our highest priority. To defeat and destroy these groups, we will pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations when necessary. In addition, the Trump Administration will work with international partners to cut off funding for terrorist groups, to expand intelligence sharing, and to engage in cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable propaganda and recruiting.”
“Peace through strength will be at the center of… foreign policy.” – his administration now says. Whether showing great strength in the middle east will be the right decision, probably in cooperation with Russia as well as maybe all of NATO, is difficult to judge impartially, but what is easier to say is that the longer this continues, the more a minority on both sides will be radicalized, at a great cost for both, increasing the urgency for a quick end to this confrontation.
The Trump administration has a strong mandate regarding ISIS, so referring to them throughout the campaign, but whether he can end this 15-years long war which, in the process, would restore the reputation of the vast majority of Muslims, remains to be seen. If he does, markets are likely to very positively react both within and outside the blockchain space.
On China, they have recently softened their tone and have suggested a desire for co-operation. Trump will probably accept their offer and begin negotiations, with the two countries’ strong economic dependence towards each other likely leading to an agreeable outcome for both, but, whether that will indeed be the case or whether they instead repeat the mistakes of almost exactly a century ago, remains to be seen.
Domestically, the left in America likewise has to decide whether to co-operate or confront the new administration. President Trump and Bernie Sanders share in common some views, especially on trade, but much of the opposition has been regarding more cultural aspects. To that, he said:
“It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood…”
There is a minority of racists in all colors who use it as an excuse to gain power and subjugate others, as there are small minorities who want their country to rule the world or to impose their religion upon others, but, by far, the vast majority of America, and, in my view, certainly Trump, do not see color, or gender, or sexual orientation, or nationality, so knowing there are people of good and bad character in all those groups. The left may, therefore, eventually, save their resistance for when it actually matters and has a chance of gaining the support of independents.
The Rise Once More of the Cross-Atlantic Alliance
It was almost 40 years ago that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher undertook structural reforms that shaped and still shape the world. Securing their place in history as, after a difficult period of transition, peace and economic prosperity followed.
Trump is no movie star and May is no Thatcher, but the people of Britain and the people of America have clearly once more ushered in a new era. Partly due to economics, but also, in my view, as a backlash against an elite that has given us 15 years of war and appeared to have no intention of ending it.
The very close decision by the free people of both Britain and America in the EU referendum and in the presidential election reflects the difficult choice that was to be made. Some may still fear, but our space, in particular, is a great example of the global world we live in. We interact with bitcoiners from Argentina, China, Dubai, Russia, South Africa, all over Europe and all over the world. Many of us have grown up chatting to individuals from countries across the globe. We see no color, no nationality, no religion. We consider all those qualities irrelevant wherever there is injustice. We just want back the peace and optimism of the 80s and 90s and, who knows, maybe we now might get it as Trump clearly indicates we are to move full speed ahead.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely that of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to CCN.
Trying to build a business from scratch could be very difficult especially when you have limited funds. It is no more business as usual with the help of some tools during the bootstrap stage. If starting has always been a problem, you might what to take a look at this tools to help you on some of your challenges.
Branding and Development
Squarespace Logo Designer is perfect for anyone with a little budget. It will help you design a simple logo that you will be happy to display on your website and business card. Square space Logo is incredibly easy to use. You will literally finish your logo in less than five minutes.Type in the name of your company, your tagline, choose colors and fonts, add some icons and you are done.
Invision presents a great vision of how prototyping can work. It’s a bit difficult to work with at first, but learning is easy if you can take your time. The free plan could work sufficiently for you. It allows you have one prototype and comes with 128-bit SSL encryption and daily backups.
Name Mesh Use this if you are trying to figure out a name for your business. Type in two to three words that describe what your business does and you can get name suggestions. The tool will try many combinations and return a bunch of cool names you can choose from. It will also check if the domain names are available.
Designmatic is exactly like Squarespace Logo Creator, only simpler. Feed in your company name, choose what industry you are in and you get a selection of great custom logos in return.
Website/Blog Creation
WordPress is an online, open source website creation tool. To understand better, it’s probably the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system (or CMS) in existence today. You can use the freemium when starting your business and it is simple to use.
Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was developed to let anyone have a page online. It offers you an opportunity to start a blog. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com.
Email Management and Customer Interaction
MailChimp allows you to create newsletters easily. It also provides simple options for sharing them on social networks, making it your own personal platform for publishing your newsletter or emails. Build a list of the people whom you want to market your products to, and save the list for use later on, and create custom templates for your products so that you do not have to rewrite emails again and again.
Goodemailcopy Are you are blank when it comes to writing emails that express your thoughts and you are just looking for something to build on? Goodemailcopy is your problem solver. Goodemailcopy gives you access to email copies from popular startups. They are a good motivation for constructing your own original marketing and CRM emails.
Typeform enables you to create fancy surveys. It brings that human feel to online forms. It’s also more customizable when purchasing the premium version. You can make your forms personal features to it. It also offers analytics and collaborative options. The free version is all you need for your Startup.
Customer.io is the behavioural messaging platform for automating personalised customer communication. It’s cool for platforms that want to engage with customers based on their transaction pattern. The freemium allow you to send 400 emails a month to 200 people.
Invoicing and Payments
Paystack is a payments platform that makes the online payments process seamless for both the consumers and the businesses they are trying to pay. They make it easy for startups to accept credit and debit card payments online from customers. You don’t have to waste precious time on queues at the bank.
Kudi is an AI-powered chatbot that helps you with your finances just by asking her. Kudi uses an everyday conversational system to communicate with you. It helps you transfer money, keep track of your account details, buy airtime, pay recurrent bills such as GOTV, DSTV And PHCN and she also reminds you when some of this bills are due. From the comfort of your space, you can do your transfers.
Content Management
Grammarly helps you check for spelling and improve your communication. The perfect tool for those working on contents and you can add it as a plugin to your browser to help edit.
Hemingway makes your writing clearer. It’s like a spellchecker, but for the style. It makes sure that your reader doesn’t get mixed up in your language but focuses on the real content.
Design and Pictures
Canva is a tool loaded with enough easy-to-use features and functionality that anyone can create a variety of engaging content that gets shared. You don’t really need to have any skill in designing to be able to work on Canva. But if you do, it is an added advantage. It is good for Startups and if you want an advanced feel, you can go for premiums.
Compfight is an image search engine tailored to efficiently locate images for blogs, comps, inspiration, and research. Please beware of the creative commons.
Desygner allows you create banners, posters, invitations, Facebook covers business cards, social media posts & much more. You can easily create your designs without any supervision. It works like Canva, but has more depth.
Iconfinder Another super-useful tool for finding icons to use in your design projects. There are a couple of paid-for icons, but you’ll probably find a relevant icon for your work without having to pay anything.
Business Operations
Slack brings all your communication together in one place. Its real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams. You can create in between teams and other plugins work perfectly well. A good tool for communication.
Trello is a collaboration tool that organises your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. Trello board is a list of lists, filled with cards, used by you and your team.
Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work progress. With tasks, projects, conversations and dashboards, Asana enables teams to move work from start to finish. It is good for task and project management agencies.
Basecamp – It helps teams track tasks, set due dates for tasks and assign tasks to individuals on a team. It is similar to Asana.
Social Media and Feeds
Pocket was founded in 2007 by Nate Weiner to help people save interesting articles, videos and more from the web for later. Once saved to Pocket, the list of content is visible on any device — phone, tablet or computer. Pocket, previously known as Read It Later, is an application and service for managing a reading list of articles from the Internet.
Feedly is a news aggregator application for various web browsers and mobile devices. It compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customise and share with others.
Hootsuite is one of many tools referred to as a “Social Media Management System” or tool. It helps you keep track and manage your many social network channels. It can enable you to monitor what people are saying about your brand and help you respond instantly.
Buffer is great for scheduling content across different social platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. The Individual Plan is free and probably all you need at this stage, but you can also opt for any of their paid plans which range from $102 to $2,550 per year.
Tweetdeck is a social media dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts. Like other Twitter applications, it interfaces with the Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets and view profiles. You can combine as many twitter handles and watch them on your dashboard. It is very easy to use and it has some level of analytics as well.
IFTTT lets you automate actions on the internet – between a website and an app; your smartphone and a gadget, name it. You can set it up to automatically tweet new content from your blog. Or collect tweets with a certain hashtag. It’s almost magical. IFTTT works via recipes that match triggers to actions. You can create these recipes themselves but there are ready-made recipes that users can simply customise
Analytics
Alexa exclusively delivers analytics on websites. Alexa does more than just track your site traffic. It provides you with actionable insights to help you compare your business with industry leaders, and optimize your business for the web.
Google Analytics is the most widely used web analytics service on the Internet. It is a freemium web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It’s a powerful free tool that combines many functionalities including the Google Analytics Content Experiments and Google Analytics Cohort analysis which helps understand the behavior of component groups of users.
Thanks for reading, your comment is needed,more business guidance and ideas to come keep visiting our blog.
On a traffic laden Tuesday, when the sky seemed a bit undecided, swinging between the sunshine and rain, a man was preaching about Bitcoin and its ‘magical powers’. Since I was struggling to stay awake in that sleep enhancing weather, I missed the first part of the message. However, at the mention of the miraculous power of this coin to make one recession-immune, my grogginess disappeared.
The Bitcoin evangelist continued reeling out examples. The one that stood out in my memory was the testimony of how a man used a few Bitcoins to purchase a land in Ajah, Lagos. Wow! After 30 minutes of testifying, he asked all those who might be interested in knowing more to call a number and that registration for its training costs just a token.
It is interesting to note that Bitcoin is not only trending in Nigeria, there have been several questions on Quora about it. This suggests a misunderstanding or outright ignorance of the concept and its proposed benefits.
Since a ‘token’ may rank between a few hundreds to several thousands of precious Naira in present economic situation, this explainer may come in handy for the interested and MMMers (who allegedly, will be paid in Bitcoins).
What is Bitcoin?
It is also known as internet money, a digital currency that can be used to conduct business outside the typical financial system. It is not printed. It is more like “cash for the internet”. This means that it is not controlled by banks or the government.
It was first processed in 2009, by an anonymous person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto.
How is it produced?
Bitcoin mining
While conventional currencies may be mined in gold, silver or copper, Bitcoin is not physically printed. It is produced based on a network of open source software programs which follow a mathematical formula.
How does it work?
To get started, one has to install a Bitcoin wallet (kind of the equivalent of a bank account) on a computer or mobile phone. It will give you a Bitcoin address, which should only be used once. This address can be shared with your friends so that they can pay you or the other way round. The wallet keeps a private key, which is used to sign transactions. The private key provides a mathematical proof that the transactions were performed by the owner of the wallet.
Once a transaction is signed, it is broadcast between users and will be confirmed in 10 minutes by the network.
The challenge with digital currency
Imagine this; I just downloaded Olamide’s hottest single on my phone and you want to have it too. I send you the track via Bluetooth, so you now own the song right? Yes, you do, but I still have a copy on my phone too. I can send the same track in the same way to Toyin, Chidinma and Hauwa without losing the version on my phone.
Now imagine the same scenario for a financial transaction. Say I sent you the equivalent of ₦1 million in digital money to pay for a service you rendered, how can you be sure I’m not creating and sending copies of the same amount to everyone else? That would give me practically unlimited purchasing power.
So how do ensure that this does not happen?
All Bitcoin operators use a shared public triple entry ledger known as the blockchain. Every transaction is contained in the blockchain. Entries in the block chain are entered in a chronological order and it is enforced with cryptography, which ensures transparency and authenticity. It is like a ledger.
A physical ledger
Remember what ledgers are? For those that don’t, it is a book used by accountants where records of money received or money spent is recorded. In real life, when the money spent does not belong to you anymore, however, it is not that simple digitally without the threat of duplicity.
Therefore, the transaction between you and I would have been recorded in the blockchain, so it no longer belongs to me. The blockchain is shared publicly so I cannot lie or be fraudulent with the track.
What is the value of Bitcoin in Nigeria?
According to BTC Nigeria, a Bitcoin-focused newspaper, on January 18, 2017, one Bitcoin was worth $895.26, which is equivalent to ₦284,304.93. On its website, BTC advocates for bitcoin, calling it “a high-profit investment.”
Last year 5 Bitcoins was worth $1,000, because each Bitcoin was about $200. The equivalent Naira rate for 5 Bitcoins was about ₦220,00 because each dollar was worth $220 on the black market. Fast forward a year later, the same number of Bitcoins now worth about $2,915 since the value of each bitcoin has gone up from $200 to about $583, and the equivalent Naira rate for 5 Bitcoins would now be ₦1,078,550. Can you imagine the profit margin.
CNN money claims that Bitcoin can be used to buy pizza, web hosting services and manicures. However, apart from the man I heard on the radio who claimed that one can “buy land with Bitcoin in Ajah”, there seems to be no other place where this internet money can be spent.
Disclaimer
While Bitcoin seem to be the rave of the moment, the Central Bank of Nigeria has warned citizens to be wary of virtual currencies.
. . . .
Are you selling something we can buy with Bitcoin? Let us know in the comment section.
As bitcoin has gained attention as an asset, more people are considering it as an investment for retirement. The Bitcoin IRA came into being last year, a tool that can provide direct ownership in bitcoin. Jason Zweig, the author of The Wall Street Journal’s “The Intelligent Investor,” explored, in a recent article, using bitcoin as a retirement investment and concluded that people should be wary on account of the cryptocurrency’s volatility.
Had someone invested $5,000 in bitcoin at the end of 2011, that amount would be worth just under $1.2 million earlier this month when bitcoin reached its peak. In the past nine days, however, bitcoin lost more than 28%.
Bitcoin’s Investment Benefits
Among the experts Zweig interviewed, some pointed out that bitcoin’s change in value is not tied to the same factors affecting more traditional assets.
Edmund C. Moy, the former director of the U.S. Mint and Bitcoin IRA’s chief strategist, said all investors with retirement accounts should consider a bitcoin IRA since its movement is not correlated to the same factors affecting the U.S. dollar.
Because bitcoin is not part of the conventional financial system, it will not move up or down with the rest of an investment portfolio. For this reason, bitcoin is not extremely risky, according to Campbell Harvey, a Duke University finance professor. Should the stock market crash, bitcoin has no reason to crash with it, Harvey said.
The correlation between bitcoin and other assets could even be negative should a geopolitical disaster raise bitcoin’s demand, Harvey said.
Volatility Still An Issue
Nevertheless, bitcoin remains wildly volatile less than a decade after it was conceived. The price still moves up and down as regulators threaten to regulate trading, hackers continue to steal bitcoins, and investors move in and out of the market.
Since January 2012, bitcoin has fallen at least 10% in a single day 28 times, Harvey noted. By comparison, the U.S. stock market has lost over 10% in one day only once since 1957 – on Oct. 19, 1987. Harvey said bitcoin is at least five times more volatile than U.S. stock market indexes.
Wade Pfau, an American College of Financial Services professor of retirement income, said such volatility can be problematic for an IRA. Once a person retires, they go from saving to withdrawing money. Should one withdraw when the market value has taken a dive, the losses are locked in, making the money less likely to sustain itself through retirement.
Pfau, running a computer simulation for bitcoin’s past returns, estimated there is a one in 10 chance an investor could withdraw at least 4% of the portfolio’s value annually, which is a common standard for funding retirement.
Since bitcoin fluctuates so wildly, one cannot plan for a withdrawal rate of much more than zero percent, Pfau said. Should one withdraw money, there is a high chance of ending up with nothing.
Moy said bitcoin’s volatility should decline as it becomes more widely used.
Zweig concluded that at the present time, Bitcoin IRA is a costly bet. He noted the company charges a flat 15% set-up charge. This translates to $750 for a $5,000 investment to cover buying the bitcoins, placing them in a wallet and having a custodian keep them, according to Chris Kline, chief operating officer.
Taxes also need to be considered. Any increase in the value of assets in a traditional IRA accrues tax deferred, but it is taxed upon withdrawal at the ordinary income rate of up to around 40 percent. Non-IRA appreciation is taxed at capital gains rates, which are around 24% maximum.
Should bitcoin jump in value, the IRA investor could end up with a much bigger tax obligation than from a non-IRA account. Adam Chodorow, an Arizona State University tax law professor, said the difference could “swamp” any tax savings from the initial contribution deductions to the IRA.
This tax bite could be avoided by holding bitcoin in a Roth IRA, which offers tax-free withdrawals. Kline noted, however, that 70% of Bitcoin IRA investors have opted for the traditional IRA, not the Roth version.
Moy himself has opted for the traditional IRA. He said he has about 5% of his retirement savings in a bitcoin IRA as an insurance plan to offset losses on dollar-denominated assets.
Such assurance is speculation in its own right, according to Zweig. It could pay off, but it could also end in a complete loss.
