Alex Barclay

02/02/2019

Bitcoin Will Surpass Gold’s $8 Trillion Dollar Market Capitalization

Bitcoin (BTC) could eventually surpass the market capitalization of gold. There is an increasing enthusiasm around Bitcoin and the future of the digital asset. There are several institutions and companies that seem very interested in this virtual currency.

Bitcoin is also a ‘gold system’ and that it will be world-changing.

At the same time, scarcity is very important for Bitcoin, which has a fixed supply of 21 million BTC. Although not all the coins have been mined, the max supply will eventually be 21 million. There are several individuals and experts that consider that Bitcoin is digital gold.

The Australian cryptocurrency expert and researcher, W***y Woo, mentioned that “Mathematical scarcity beats perceived scarcity.”

He mentioned that Bitcoin will easily exceed gold’s market capitalization in the future. Woo went on explaining that perceived scarcity comes from the technological limitations that we have today.

The comments he gave were related to the fact that there is a $700 quintillion asteroid that could allow humans to extract gold from it and send it back to earth. Thus, increasing the supply of gold on our planet.

In the future, the de-facto store of value could change as demand for gold continues and supply could eventually increase after creating new technologies to extract minerals in the space. However, millionaires around the world would not even be able to acquire one Bitcoin each due to its scarcity.

At the same time, there could be close to 4 million BTC lost after different situations. That means that the real supply of Bitcoin will be lower than 21 million BTC. The Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX informed that it lost access to its cold storage wallet. This is due to the fact that the founder of the exchange died some time ago and was the only one with access to these funds.

Furthermore, other companies and large investors have stored several BTC coins, thus, reducing Bitcoin’s supply even further, at least in the short term. That shows that there is not enough Bitcoin for everyone in the world, increasing Bitcoin’s pressure to keep growing in the future.

If the demand for the digital currency increases in the future, the price of the most popular digital asset would clearly follow a positive trend.

During a conversation with Bloomberg, Lou Kerner, mentioned that consumers will realize that gold underperforms Bitcoin. If other individuals and companies realize that, it might be a catalyst for money to flow into the most popular digital asset.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is being traded around $3,480 and it has a market cap of $60 billion. Now, Bitcoin needs to go out from this bear market and start to grow once again.

24/09/2018

Get ready people!

27/11/2017

18/06/2017

29/08/2016

5 Reasons Why Bitcoin Value Must Increase In Future

Many people jump into Bitcoin for its investment value.

Bitcoin’s continuously price is but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reasons to invest in “The Future of Money.” However, since that is the case, here are five great reasons why Bitcoin’s price will continue to rise in the future, and draw continue to draw novice investors from the mainstream to the world of digital currency. If you are a regular CoinTelegraph reader, you may know some or all of these, but a refresher in the summer isn’t a bad idea. If this helps one person see the Bitcoin’s shine through this piece, my job is done.

1. Bitcoin value increases over time by design

With Bitcoin’s transactional volume increasing worldwide every day, a cap on production in the future, and a reduction in Bitcoins produced every 10 minutes just implemented July 10th, Bitcoin values will continue to climb for the foreseeable future.

U.S. Dollars and pretty much any fiat (paper) currency you can think of are losing value every year due to inflation, which is the increase of supply of said currency. Bitcoin is deflationary, by design. Bitcoin supply falls from now on, in four-year increments known as Bitcoin “halvings,” reducing the number of Bitcoins produced every ten minutes. Right now, this is 12.5 BTC per block.

A dollar has no production limit on the amount it can be inflated by decree of government or the centralized banking syndicate. Paper currency is generally inflated to try to outspend debts, or pay for unholy wars. So no debt, no inflation, and no blood on Bitcoin’s hands. I’d say we’re off to a good ideological start…..

2. Fiat currency fatigue

With global access to the Internet, and so many recent economic collapses of paper currency (Greece, Cyprus, Venezuela, Argentina, Zimbabwe, and more on the horizon), there is more interest than ever in a flat-out better economic system that is not so prone to failure after failure.

Mexico and Ecuador have been in discussions to mimic the Bitcoin blockchain and create their own digital currencies. China has had these discussions with Citibank and Deloitte to do the same. Tunisia, a North African nation, has already started its own national economic blockchain, and Japan has accepted Bitcoin as a national currency, on par with the Yen itself.

3. Wall Street/Big Business hasn’t jumped onto the Bitcoin bandwagon…..yet

Blockchain technology has been the darling of Wall Street, not Bitcoin. This is not without some good reason. Bitcoin has been embroiled in scandals and regulatory purgatory in many global locales, so it can be seen as a financial wild card to place big bets with.

PayPal has caressed the exterior of the Bitcoin concept, but it still is not a part of their core business. Microsoft and Dell are the other major players, but until a mass adoption event happens, or is forced to happen by some greater economic meltdown, Bitcoin will be seen as an outlier, not the best bet.

4. Cash is leaving the scene and will be replaced by digital payments anyway

Nations around the world are funneling the mainstream into the digital payment system and away from cash through soft bans. They may be doing it for economic control over all transactions, and the ability to record and tax every transaction in the future, but consumers will get closer and closer to the realization that Bitcoin is really their digital currency of choice.

Bitcoin has not gone viral yet, and is still developing the apps, upgrades, and protocols that will make it truly ready for prime time, so the upside potential is still huge. We’ve only scratched the surface of what a Bitcoin is really worth to the world. It’s quite a bit more than $670, or at least it will be in the future. Five year’s ago, it was worth $0.30 USD cents.

5. The Global Reserve Currency keeps losing value, which inflates Bitcoin value

As the U.S. Dollar keeps accelerating its inflation through ‘QE Infinity,’ which increases supply and erodes its value every year, global interest in it continues to wane, and a Bitcoin will cost more and more to buy on the weakening dollar. China has already begun to call for a new global reserve currency.

As the dollar loses 5-10% a year in real value, not the government’s alleged 1-2% per annum, Bitcoin’s value in dollars will grow in proportion. When, not if, the dollar loses its “Global Reserve Currency” status, people will flood the Bitcoin market looking to get in.

Since Bitcoin is not beholden to any country or economic paradigm run by the banking system, it can sit on the sidelines and collect value, like Gold and Silver will, while the legacy financial system continues to burn down around them. ‘Digital Gold’ has treated Bitcoin owners very, very well over the years, making incredible returns in six out the last seven years.

I wouldn’t worry about Bitcoin values going forward. More and more talking heads in the mainstream, if they have any credibility, will be singing the praises of Bitcoin’s value proposition. Maybe even some of them will be speaking from experience?

The real question is, will you? Not if you don’t see the forest through the trees and get started. I hope this helps.

01/05/2016

Bitcoin a Reliable Alternative in Latin America

Bitcoin is a phenomenon that has introduced a better way to transact for citizens all around the world. Due to a tumultuous recession affecting Latin American economies, the region’s residents are embracing the digital currency as local citizens and businesses try to curb economic woes. According to a recent editorial from the Latin American Post Bitcoin is surging in popularity throughout many countries across the region.

Bitcoin Surging in Latin America

The deep recession and exponential inflation affecting Latin American economies continue to destroy the wealth of its citizens on a daily basis. According to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela’s inflation rate will reach 720% by the end of the year. Similar conditions are also taking root in Brazil, Argentina, and surrounding countries within the region. Due to the growing recession, the heads of monetary policy in these countries are increasing taxes, imposing capital controls and tightening austerity measures.

12/10/2015

EUR bulls preparing next onslaught for critical territory

EUR/USD's demand overnight that took the major up to a few pips shy of the 1.14 handle has stalled as we progress through the US session.

The price as moved below the 20 SMA on the hourly chart again and could be headed for an hourly stick close below it for the first time since the 8th of October when the 20 SMA moved up through the 50 SMA at the climax of the bullish trend that has been building from 22nd September from 1.1110 region.

EUR/USD approaches Critical territory

EUR/USD recently broke up through the 1.1330 21st September highs on a spike that provoked further demand and run at 1.1400 brought on by markets starting to price out a Fed rate hike this year. A break of that level would be significant and will open-up the long-term resistance levels where MAy June and September were all capped at around 1.1450 give or take.

EUR/USD headed to strong area of resistance

This is likely to be a strong area of resistance given it is where the May 2014 - Feb 2015 downtrend started to consolidate and is also the weekly 55 MA at 1.1468 is located. Perhaps we might see a phase of consolidation between the 50 MA 1.1353 and 55 MA weeklies for the time being while staying above the 1.1260 base of the cloud.

The main drivers for the week ahead stay with US and EZ CPI's along with US retails sales, industrial productions and German ZEW's.

20/09/2015

Bank of England Economist Proposes National Digital Currency

The Bank of England’s top economist has suggested that a digital currency based on bitcoin could alleviate monetary policy problems.

Andrew Haldane, the UK central bank’s chief economist and executive director for monetary analysis and statistics, spoke at the Portadown Chamber of Commerce in Northern Ireland on 18th September. During his speech, Haldane offered several ways in which central bankers can conduct monetary policy during a period when interest rates are close to or below zero.

Haldane suggested that central bankers consider making measures like quantitative easing a permanent part of their policy toolkit. However, he warned that trust in central banking could be marred as a result.

One solution, he said, would be for the Bank of England to issue a state-backed digital currency based on bitcoin. Supporting this initiative would be a negative interest rate levied on paper currency relative to the digital currency. Conversely, Haldane suggested that paper money be banned entirely.

On the subject of bitcoin, Haldane joined a growing chorus of central bank figures in pointing to the benefits of bitcoin and, more broadly, blockchain-based transaction systems. He said in the speech:

“What I think is now reasonably clear is that the distributed payment technology embodied in bitcoin has real potential. On the face of it, it solves a deep problem in monetary economics: how to establish trust – the essence of money – in a distributed network. Bitcoin’s 'blockchain' technology appears to offer an imaginative solution to that distributed trust problem.”

Yet the issue of opting to use a digital currency backed by the Bank of England, according to Haldane, is still very much unresolved.

“Whether a variant of this technology could support central bank-issued digital currency is very much an open question,” he said. “So too is whether the public would accept it as a substitute for paper currency. Central bank-issued digital currency raises big logistical and behavioural questions, too. How practically would it work? What security and privacy risks would it raise? And how would public and privately issued monies interact?”

“These questions do not have easy answers,” he added, before noting that Bank of England researchers are currently working on such initiatives.

01/08/2015

Reform to BoE communications to produce a barrage of information on Thursday. Following the FOMC’s July meeting which left open the prospect of a September tightening from the Federal Reserve, the BoE’s revamped policy process is set to coincide with re-emerging fissures in the UK monetary policy debate. Thursday’s noon ‘Big Bang’ of the August policy decision, MPC minutes - including the voting record - and the Inflation Report will compress the previous drip-feed of information into the market. The immediate focus is likely to be on the vote, which seems likely to show 3 members voting for a 25bp hike in Bank Rate. But with the potential for as many as 4 members preferring an immediate upward move, the market reaction could run against the more balanced narrative presented in the Inflation Report, released at the same time, and Carney’s press conference at 12:45pm.

Inflation Report ‘collective view’ likely to prove more durable. The Inflation Report press conference - this time set to be attended solely by MPC members voting for no change - would furnish Carney with an opportunity to dial back any excessive market reaction in the aftermath of the noon announcement. But the need for any such moderation should be limited by the message imparted by the Inflation Report projections, where the bulk of developments since the May Report should weigh on the inflation profile. Indeed, relative to the May Report, the steeper yield curve used for the interest rate conditioning assumption, lower oil and equity prices, alongside the stronger exchange rate - by around 3% on an effective basis - together should push down the first two years of the projection. Should inflation at the 3-year horizon be little changed, as we expect, it would suggest votes for a hike merely reflect the shift in the balance of risks for some members, notably reduced anxieties about low headline inflation, and lower Greek event risk. Still, a centrist core of Carney and other internals seems unlikely to be swayed by the arguments of the minority for some time yet.

Domestic data of limited interest. Upcoming UK data should provide further colour on activity growth in Q2 going into Q3, but in isolation are not pivotal to the UK rate debate. Absent other offsets, soft industrial production data (Tue) could prompt a downward revision to the first estimate of UK GDP data for Q2, currently showing 0.7% growth. Domestic manufacturing and services PMIs (Mon & Wed), will provide the first gauge of growth at the outset of Q3.