Maybe it’s time to start talking about boring Bitcoin. The dollar price has moved barely half a percentage point over the last week, remaining around the $9,200 mark. Bitcoin’s holders, though, don’t expect the coin to remain a boring store of value forever. A survey by Bitcoin IRA found that 42 percent of the crypto custodian’s customers expect the price to reach $15,000 by the end of the year. Even that might not prompt sales though. Some 57 percent said they were holding for the long term.
Those optimists might be wrong, though. SteveCrypt0, a popular trader, has suggested that Bitcoin could fall to $6,000… though it would still remain bullish.
Of course, SteveCrypt0 could be wrong and he wouldn’t be the only one to make a mistake. A survey has found that 55 percent of respondents have made errors when sending cryptocurrency, and 18 percent have lost funds that way. An Israeli blockchain startup has a solution. It’s created a kind of “undo” button for crypto transfers. (It’s a confirmation code).
An “undo” button might be useful in Russia at the moment. A court in that country has ruled that thieves who kidnapped someone and forced him to send them 99.7 BTC don’t have to pay back the Bitcoins. Digital currency isn’t property, the judge ruled.
It’s not just Russia that’s producing strange rules though. US senators are trying to pass a law that will give law enforcement access to encrypted data. It requires manufacturers to include a backdoor that will enable them to decrypt information.
Other countries are doing better. In China, the municipal government of Beijing has released a 20-point plan to make the Chinese capital a global hub for blockchain technologies. In India, a decision by the Supreme Court to reverse laws stopping banks from serving crypto traders and businesses has led to a surge of activity from the country’s crypto app developers.
But it’s not all good news. After trailblazing the development of blockchain technology, Estonia is grappling with the effects of the European Union’s new Know Your Customer laws. Firms are fleeing.
Fortunately, their flights might be easier to book soon. Travel firms are rolling out more blockchain-based experiments and pilot projects to make travel cheaper and more efficient. Those moves come as analytics tools from the Big Four accountancy firms promise to make cryptotrading easier for institutional investors.
And finally, if you ever wanted to see crypto forecaster Mati Greenspan in red lycra and white underpants, here’s your chance. Greenspan is Forecaster in the Bad Crypto Podcasts’ Blockchain Heroes’ set of digital trading cards. Who said Bitcoin was boring?
Check out the audio version here:
Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Times best-selling author, futurist speaker and co-host of The Bad Crypto Podcast. That’s a fancy way of saying he writes words, says things and loves to play with cryptos
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.