Cryptocurrency news

By Zeeshan Mallik

New payments developments

Having made the headlines in 2017 and become a household term, what does the future have in store for cryptocurrencies? 2018 was supposed to be the year of the cryptocurrency and yet it is still very difficult to pay for goods and services using them, even though millions of people around the world have invested (or is it participated) in the market.

Cryptocurrency newsOne of the reasons behind this lack of transactions is that it takes time to complete and that it can cost more than traditional money exchanges. Due to the complex way blockchain works, it can take an hour or more to process a payment. And the average transaction fee for large amounts can be around $10, which pretty much rules it out for everyday use.

Many people within the cryptocurrency world are striving to remedy this issue, improving usability for payments and creating long-term solutions. One method has been to use ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ payments. This has made simple, single or recurring payments possible on blockchain that were previously not feasible.

Is Warren Buffet wrong?

The market for cryptocurrency has remained strong, despite criticism from Warren Buffet. Values are still soaring, with some currencies achieving their highest ever ratings. Buffet, a legendary investing icon, has said that he has no confidence in the cryptocurrency market and has several times repeated his stance, believing that it is more akin to gambling than investing.

But then Buffet’s style has always been defensive and cautious, and there is little difference between speculating on cryptocurrency than any other form of currency or commodity that goes up or down in value.

Will the NASDAQ trade cryptocurrencies?

With a total market capitalization close to $400 billion, the digital currency market is huge. And with those amounts involved, traders have naturally become very interested. Fluctuations in value have happened, but the fact that cryptocurrencies keep coming back adds to their stability and appeal.

This has led one of the world’s biggest markets, the NASDAQ, to comment upon the area, further increasing confidence in the cryptocurrency market. NASDAQ has said that it will consider becoming an exchange over time. People may well be ready for a regulated market and there are signs that this could be on the horizon. NASDAQ has also announced collaborations with cryptocurrency market Gemini which will allow them to use NASDAQ’s surveillance technology and offer a fair platform. This could just be the beginning.

And it’s not just the NASDAQ that is considering its options. There has been a lot of debate online about Deutsche Bank and its potential to become a cryptocurrency exchange. With cryptocurrency surpassing some of the world’s largest banks in profitability, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a name like Deutsche Bank could change the way it operates. Rumours persist that Deutsche Bank could be in trouble and a change to cryptocurrency could be a legitimate way for them to recover.

It looks like 2018 is another year where cryptocurrency continues to make the news. It seems to be a big crossroads for the market, so it will be fascinating to see where we are this time next year./youyaa