The crypto market is doing just fine this morning, as Bitcoin and all its peers are continuing their ascent to new heights. Bitcoin is testing the $9,000 resistance level, up 4% since yesterday. The top 10 coins by market cap are all on the rise compared to the other day, but the one coin you should keep your eyes on right now is Litecoin.
Unlike most other coins, which are trading 2% to 4% higher than yesterday, Litecoin is up by 21.52% as of this writing. That puts its price at around $188 per coin. So what’s happening?
It’s unclear why Litecoin is surging, but the imminent launch of the Litecoin Cash fork may be one good guess. Litecoin Cash, which may very well be a scam as it’s in no way affiliated with the original Litecoin project, will award Litecoin holders 10 Litecoin Cash coins for each original Litecoin token. You should be careful with your Litecoin possessions.
In other news, crypto malware has been found hiding in millions of Android devices, per Malwarebytes. The malicious program would redirect Android devices to a website that would hijack their power to mine for Monero (XMR).
A similar exploit affects the desktop version of Telegram Messenger, NewsBTC reports, citing research from Kaspersky Lab.
As you can see, plenty of people are looking to mine Bitcoin and other coins, even if that means doing it illegally. The legal route is getting more and more expensive. JP Morgan said in a research note to customers seen by Business Insider that miners are “currently in a hash rate arms rate,” which means it’s more expensive than ever to mine Bitcoin. The bank says that it currently costs $3,920 to mine a single Bitcoin, which currently trades for around $9,000.
Not all coins, however, will retain their current value over time. So says the CEO of the third largest cryptocoin by market cap, Ripple (XRP). Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Brad Garlinghouse said he believes that most cryptocurrencies will go down to $0.
“It’s not clear what the use case is. It’s not clear the what value proposition is,” he said. “Long term value will be dictated by the utility of that asset.” The CEO did say he has faith that Bitcoin will retain its value, but Bitcoin won’t be used for payments. “Bitcoin is going to solve a different problem,” he said.
Ripple trades for around $1 right now, after hitting highs of $3.31 back in January. According to Garlinghouse, Bitcoin is 1,000 times slower and more expensive than XRP.
Not all people think Bitcoin will retain its value. Doomsday economist Nouriel Roubini says the price will go down to $0. He made these remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland weeks ago, long before the early January Bitcoin bloodbath.
Apple isn’t yet involved in the Bitcoin/blockchain business, but CEO Tim Cook made some interesting comments at Apple’s annual shareholders’ meeting. According to MacRumors, he told the audience that he hopes “to be alive to see the elimination of money.” That’s obviously a plug for Apple Pay and mobile payments. But there was a question on blockchain technology that the CEO avoided. Let’s remember that for future reference.
With all that in mind, if you’re investing in Bitcoin and other coins, you’re ultimately the sole person responsible for what happens to your fortune. That’s what founder and CEO of Kraken, a major crypto exchange, believes. He’s absolutely right.
“I think ultimately consumers need to look out for themselves, look into the fundamentals of any coin and not rely on any particular exchange to protect them from market volatility,” Jesse Powell told CNBC. “We make no promises about the future of any coin, things can change when you raise $1 billion in 10 minutes.”