All The Thunder But Very Little Lightening
Mati Greenspan | Apr 04, 2018 06:18AM ET
Just because cryptocurrencies operate outside of government policy doesn't mean they're devoid of politics.
The controversy between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash came to a head yesterday at a convention called Deconomy in Seoul South Korea. The pinnacle was a standoff debate between Samson Mow and Roger Ver.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any professional-grade footage of the event but luckily Vitalik Buterin videos are circulating the interwebs.
Certainly, Ver was much better prepared for the debate than Mow and was largely touted as the winner, a huge win for Bitcoin Cash. The highlight was when Vitalik confronted Professor Craig Wright and called him a fraud .
We'll do a quick comparison below but it does seem that this conversation is still far from over.
Today's Highlights
The Drums of War
Bitcoin Vs Bcash
Litecoin Advantage
Please note: All data, figures & graphs are valid as of April 4th. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you can afford to lose.
Traditional Markets
Stocks largely held their ground yesterday even as rhetoric and action surrounding the new global trade war have increased.
By the time the closing bell rang US indices were up more than 1% supported by the 200 day averages (discussed in yesterday's update) and a smooth debut from Spotify.
No matter how good the playlist is, the underlying theme remains consistent.
In this interview on CNBC, the Chinese Ambassador to the US explains that these sort of issues are usually best resolved through multilateral discussions and that any unilateral action will need to be met with equal or greater countermeasures.
As I'm writing, it seems China has made good on their threat and has just now released their reciprocal tariff announcement .
Shares across the board are sinking on this latest update.
Bitcoin Scaling (continued from above)
Perhaps the most dishearting thing about the debate was an admission by Samson Mow that sending 10 cents worth of bitcoin would actually cost more than 10 cents in mining fees. This just shouldn't be.
Get The News You Want
Bitcoin core currently has all the thunder but as Ver points out it has very little lightening.
This graph from BitInfoCharts.com shows the USD amount being sent daily for BTC and BCH. As we can clearly see the original bitcoin is being used to transfer much more value.
And though Bitcoin's average transaction fee has come down a long way off the peak of $55, those of BCH barely even register in comparison.
As far as price is concerned Bitcoin's superior market share does translate into a greater valuation. In US Dollar terms, BCH is now just about where it was when it first started trading, just under $700 per coin.
However in BTC terms, BCH does seem to be dropping in value, especially since the market peak on December 20th, since then the original bitcoin has been acting as a safe haven store of value for the entire crypto market.
When Two Fight the Third Gains
The clear winner here is Litecoin.
LTC rose 5% in the last 24 hours making it the biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptos. The announcement that a digital wallet backed by American Express (NYSE:AXP) will be using Litecoin rather than Bitcoin-based smart contracts is already several days old.
What does seem to have given the price a boost was the explanation given on Reddit about why the company went with LTC instead of the original blockchain.
On the chart, Litecoin is using the price of $110 per coin as a solid support. We can see a welcome push off this level both on March 30th and again on April 1st. Let's hope this momentum builds across the market.
Many thanks for all the awesome feedback! I'm right here if you need anything further.
@MatiGreenspan
eToro, Senior Market Analyst
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