While India maintains the status quo on cryptocurrency, Belarus will legalise Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrency and ICOs
Once in a blue moon or just a ‘bubble’? Bitcoin is on a roll. This week, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash saw an unprecedented growth, with Bitcoin leading the charge at a market price of $11K. The cryptocurrency market that was at $250 Bn crossed $300 Bn this week, which is worth more than IBM, McDonald’s or Disney. Inspired by the boom, Michael Arrington, the founder and former editor of TechCrunch has launched a $100 Mn cryptocurrency fund called Arrington XRP Capital to trade Ripple. While Bitcoin enthusiasts think that Bitcoin is the real money that authorities really don’t understand, authorities in India, France, Russia and China consider Bitcoin to be a Pandora’s box; one never knows what disastrous impact it could have if regulated. Interestingly, while Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister of the world’s largest democracy India, refuses to recognise Bitcoin’s legitimacy, countries like Iran and North Korea have welcomed cryptocurrency wholeheartedly.
Of course, there are adverse effects. Bitcoin mining, for instance, has got costlier. According to PowerCompare.co.uk, the electricity used to mine Bitcoins this year is bigger than the annual usage of 159 countries. Cryptocurrency-crimes too, have seen an unprecedented rise. In Japan alone, cryptocurrency exchanges have reported more than 170 money-laundering cases for the past six months. To avoid the increasing mining cost, a Tesla car owner has managed to fit a legitimate mining rig inside the trunk of his shiny Model S, and according to the inventor, the electricity needed to mine Bitcoins comes from Tesla’s free superchargers. The image has gone viral, but so was company’s cofounder and CEO Elon Musk. Recently, a report had come out stating Elon Musk as the real Satoshi Nakamoto. However, soon the news burst as Elon Musk himself denied the report.
Source/More: Cryptocurrency This Week: Bitcoin, A Pandora’s Box For India, Belarus To Legalise
