Litecoin is one of the first open-source altcoins based on the original Bitcoin code. It was initially a strong competitor to the first cryptocurrency. However, as the cryptocurrency market expanded, Litecoin’s popularity gradually declined.
The sudden growth of bitcoin, the postponement of the launch of TON and forecasts — a selection of the week
On April 30, bitcoin rose to $9400 during the day
Reaching this level and growing by 19% again made bitcoin the most profitable asset in 2020. Investor Alistair Milne notes the growth of the first cryptocurrency by 27.4% since the beginning of the year. Gold (an increase of only 13.1%) and the Nasdaq index (3.2%) could not boast of such indicators, while the S&P500 index and oil fell by 8.3% and 78%, respectively.
Trading expert Richard Rosenblum explains the growth of BTC with the upcoming halving and the plans of states to restore economies in May.
Not everyone agrees with the positive reasons for growth. Bitcoin whale, hiding under the pseudonym JOE007, believes that the situation on the market has changed due to the influence of FOMO and is caused artificially. He is convinced that the big players are manipulating the small ones with halving announcements.
Bitsgap analyst Dmitry Perepelkin connects the growth with halving, because then the supply on the market will decrease, and demand will grow or remain at the same level, but still provoke a price increase. Also, the readiness of many countries to lift quarantine restrictions in the near future indirectly influenced the appreciation of the main cryptocurrency. But, due to the overheating of the market and the desire of a large number of people to seize the last opportunity, there was a pullback to $8500.
Binance US CEO Katherine Cowley believes that we can expect Bitcoin to rise after the halving, but it will not be sharp, but gradual. A scenario is possible, as in 2016, when there were no serious changes immediately after the halving, but after 18 months BTC reached its maximum. The main factors that can affect the course are the difficulty of mining cryptocurrency and the increased demand of users.
The growth of bitcoin made mining on the old ASICs profitable again.
Outdated ASIC-miners allowed the owners to make money after the growth of BTC to $9,000 without waiting for the halving. With electricity costs of $0.05/kWh, for example, AntMiner S9 and Avalon A851 miners can generate profits from 10% to 20%. In the case of using techniques to improve the efficiency of devices, income up to 30-40% is possible.
Soon the rainy season will start in China and electricity costs will be reduced to $0.03/kWh due to excess energy generated by hydroelectric power plants. In this case, the same AntMiner S9 and Avalon A851 will bring up to 60% profit at the same bitcoin rate.
Telegram re-postponed the launch of TON, this time to April 2021.
Investors were offered a choice: take back up to 72% of their investments or return 110% of their investments in a year. The same conditions were put forward during the first postponement of the blockchain launch. If the network is not launched before this period, Pavel Durov will be forced to sell part of his stake in Telegram and repay his debts.
Investors of the project told The Bell that the Gram cryptocurrency is likely to be released. Some of them fear that money will be returned to US residents, and tokens will be issued outside of this jurisdiction, despite the court's ban, thereby making depositors accomplices.
Mike Novogratz spoke about the demand for a new cryptocurrency:
“We don't need another blockchain. We don't need another cryptocurrency. They have a wonderful user base. Turn them into consumers."
In his opinion, instead of launching an alternative blockchain, it is better to introduce bitcoin and stablecoins directly into Telegram.
