The price of bitcoin topped $10K last week. It then broke above $11K only to crash some $3000 before rising once again. On the way, some of the exchanges were overwhelmed and their websites crashed.
The interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies goes well beyond the chatter and the high prices. Brokers are offering cryptos and new initiatives are popping up. Here are 10 interesting reports that show the huge interest.
- CME will offer Bitcoin futures from December 18th. This will allow going short on the cryptocurrency but also makes it a lot more mainstream as a fully-fledged asset class.
- FXPIG CEO Kevin Murcko Launches Cryptocurrency Project CoinMetro Exchange – A move from forex to cryptocurrencies is being seen.
- Gain Capital launches bitcoin on forex.com and City Index. This is the biggest US broker and also a well-known one outside America.
- Moscow Stock Exchange is Planning to Introduce Bitcoin Futures: MOEX is following the footsteps of other exchanges.
- Siberians Use Cryptocurrency Miners to Heat Homes: Two in one apparently. This is more of an anecdotal report, but bitcoin in Siberia is not something you hear about every day.
- The Winklevoss twins are now Bitcoin billionaires. These are the guys that were involved in Facebook in its infancy.
- Bitcoin: UK and EU plan crackdown amid crime and tax evasion fears. The growing interest also attracts negative attention amid suspicion of illicit use of the cryptocurrency and subsequent regulatory scrutiny.
- Venezuela unveils virtual currency amid economic crisis. The Latin American country has an abundance of oil reserves, but it also looks towards cryptos.
- Bitcoin is now larger than Warren Buffet: Such comparisons show how bitcoin is becoming more and more mainstream. However, such comparisons also serve to show that we are in bubble territory.
- The explosion of interest is also evident in Google Trends:
More: We recently published an article about What’s involved in creating a new ICO
