Cryptocurrency soars after fears of crash wobble market

Bitcoin prices have rebounded after crashing earlier this month
Bitcoin has recovered from its recent crash, with the price of the cryptocurrency reaching $2,790 at 2.00am BST this morning before falling slightly to $2,691 as of 11.30am BST.

This is close to the high of $2,855 that was recorded on Sunday.

The price has stabilised after Bitcoin miners activated BIP91 – a software update aimed at solving Bitcoin’s scalability problem.

On Saturday, BIP91 was activated after 93 per cent of miners signalled their support – well above the 80 per cent threshold that was needed.
The Bitcoin market crashed between July 12 and July 16 amid fears that the update would not be accepted, which would have triggered a user-activated soft fork splitting the cryptocurrency into two assets.
Andrew Lee, head of bitcoin-shopping startup purse.io, said: “We’re thrilled to get past this impasse.”

In further good news, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has predicted that Bitcoin will go “mainstream” once banks start accepting it.

A “crucial hurdle’ for the cryptocurrency will be whether institutions accept it as collateral, the bank’s commodity and derivatives strategist Francisco Blanch wrote in a report.

Bitcoin's volatility is very high compared to the euro, the yen or even gold -Francisco Blanch, America Merrill Lynch

"But we are not aware of any major institution that takes cryptocurrency as collateral at the moment,” he added.

Blanch detailed how currency has developed through the ages from salt and other commodities, to gold and finally to modern money.

He noted that in the last year, volatility in Bitcoin markets fell below levels witnessed in silver markets.

Prices have fallen slightly today
"Bitcoin's volatility is very high compared to the euro, the yen or even gold," he wrote, according to CNBC.

"But it fell twice last year below the volatility of silver, the world's currency for 400 years."

Bitcoin’s value has more than doubled since the start of the year and has soared almost 740 per cent in the past two years, according The Motley Fool.
Originaly on www.express.co.uk