Bitcoin as Gold

Bitcoin Rises To $ 11,500 As Gold Reaches Nine-Year Highs

Bitcoin climbed to $ 11,500 this Wednesday, the highest since oct 10. The move followed the emergence of positive dynamics in the altcoin segment and a nine-year high in gold.

According to a CoinDesk analyst, staying above the $ 10,330 resistance will mark the end of the bearish trend from the oct high above $ 10,400.

Although digital gold is still far from its all-time highs, the real precious metal is now trading above $ 1,800 for the first time in 9 years and just 6% below the September 2011 record $ 1,920. Probably, the interest of investors in it is caused by the negative yield on US bonds, adjusted for inflation, analysts say.

Against this background, experts remain optimistic regarding the long-term prospects for Bitcoin. “There is a growing institutional acceptance and awareness of this asset class in the bitcoin market, which should positively impact long-term growth,” said Steven Stonberg, COO of Bittrex Global, a cryptocurrency exchange. "We see that well-known organizations and individuals like Tudor, JPMorgan, Fidelity are publicly involved in the market, but this is only the tip of the iceberg."

He also noted that during the crisis, bitcoin is characterized by even lower volatility compared to traditional assets, while the stock market no longer seems so "traditional". “This 'normal bitcoin' is starting to look attractive as a new asset class that is not prone to money printing by central banks,” he added.

Analyst Michael van de Popp also believes that the bulls may not stop there and push the rate to the level of $ 11,600 - 11,700. In an alternative scenario, a fall below the weekend lows around $ 10,900 could accelerate sales

Ethereum developer: "we will not have time to launch the zero phase of Ethereum 2.0 by the end of the year"

Justin Drake expressed this point during a Q&A session on the Reddit forum. It was previously reported that one of the key factors affecting startup latency is the multi-client model, which is critical to maintaining a high level of network security.

Drake explained that an open testnet with support for more than three clients should demonstrate consistent performance over two to three months. In addition, it is necessary to conduct mass testing with a reward for finding bugs (bounty), which will also last about three months.

“There are some things I would like to see before genesis. However, all this cannot be done in the third quarter of 2020. November 26 will be Thanksgiving Day, followed by December holidays. We can say that the last opportunity to launch genesis this year is mid-November, and there are already four months before that. It is most likely that the launch of phase zero could take place on January 3rd, the twelfth anniversary of Bitcoin, ”said Justin Drake.

The Shitcoin Index hits a new high, surpassing Bitcoin by 88% YTD

The so-called "Shitcoin Index" or 50 low-cap cryptocurrencies has risen 114% since the beginning of the year, CoinDesk notes.

The instrument was introduced by FTX in 2019 and hit a new high of $ 1,065 on Monday, breaking records for three consecutive days. Last Wednesday, its price topped $ 1,000 for the first time. Since the beginning of the year, the index has outperformed Bitcoin by 88%.

Japan's largest financial company plans to release its stablecoin by the end of the year

The fifth largest bank in the world, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), plans to issue its own stablecoin by the end of the year, local media reported.

MUFG has been exploring opportunities for creating digital currency on blockchain with support for instant peer-to-peer transactions since 2015. MUFG President and CEO Hironori Kamezawa said on Monday that in preparation for the digital currency release, the company will present a mobile payment application for retail clients in cooperation with the Recruit Group.

According to him, about a million stores in the group have already been announced as project participants. “We believe that anyone can freely dispose of it,” Kamezawa added.

According to the previously announced plans, the MUFG token will be issued in the stablecoin format, the rate of which will correspond to the Japanese yen. Over the past five years, the launch of the token has been repeatedly postponed. It was expected to be presented back in 2018 or 2019.

MUFG is Japan's largest financial company and the first Japanese bank to plan to launch its own cryptocurrency token. In September 2019, he became a member of the $ 14 million investment round of a startup token Securitize.