The Bitcoin scene has been seeing some interesting changes lately. While many of the people involved with the cryptocurrency have been of the strong opinion that regulation is a very bad thing for this particular economy, there is also the opposing opinion, that strict regulation is simply inevitable if the currency is to make any real progress. And, for good or bad, the first regulated exchange has just opened in the United States. As a result, the price of Bitcoin has risen sharply today, as most were expecting.
Coinbase will offer storage services for users of the cryptocurrency, and the company is based out of San Francisco. Their exchange will be called Lunar, and will have complete regulatory approval in about half of the US states, although it’s not been confirmed exactly where the exchange has been approved so far.
The company behind the exchange has been moving forward with its development quite rapidly, after recently raising over $100 million in funding for their work, and they now have direct financial backing from several very large players on the financial market. Entities on the list include NTT DoCoMo, as well as Vikram Pandit, who used to be CEO of Citigroup.
What does this mean for the future of Bitcoin? Experts have been split on their opinions on the situation. As usual, it can be hard to predict the future when it comes to Bitcoin, as the currency has already shown itself to be highly volatile, especially around major events like the current situation. Still, this will probably be good for Bitcoin in the long term, as even if it makes things a little more difficult for current users of the cryptocurrency, it should also stabilize public trust in it in the future, which would possibly make it a much more attractive option for investors and traders.
The value of Bitcoin has been the main problem about it, as it tends to go up and down quite unpredictably, making it a poor choice for investments in some regards. On the other hand, those with a bit more tech savviness should be able to keep a close eye on the market and predict some of the inevitable drops and jumps, even if the information looks completely useless to the average person. It does take a lot of time and experience to reach that point though, as with any kind of trading – but in the case of Bitcoin, the situation is made even more difficult by the technical issues surrounding the currency, and the fact that so much of it is rooted in concepts that aren’t inherently familiar to people dealing with finances (and not technology) as their primary line of work.