Bitcoin in the News : 2017-03 More++

In my previous post, Bitcoin in the News : 2017-03 Price, I identified two underlying reasons for the price changes in March: the SEC ETF decision and the scalability debate. Let's look at those ongoing sagas in more depth.

• 2017-03-10: S.E.C. Rejects Winklevoss Brothers’ Bid to Create Bitcoin ETF (nytimes.com; Nathaniel Popper)

Quoting from the article,

The commission said it was rejecting the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust because the markets where Bitcoin are currently traded are largely unregulated. The lack of such regulation, the commission said, raised "concerns about the potential for fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices in this market."

and later,

The twins already won regulatory approval from New York authorities for their Gemini Exchange, where virtual currencies can be bought and sold by professional traders. The proposed ETF would have been tied to the price of Bitcoin on the exchange. Most Bitcoin, however, are traded outside the United States, beyond the reach of American regulators. The virtual currency emerged in 2009 and was celebrated for its ability to circumvent government authorities. [NB: 'Bitcoin are traded', i.e. capitalized and plural]

Many bitcoiners are passionately proud that the object of their affection is outside any central government control. Looks like another example of cake that can't be eaten. As for the scalability debate, I noted a slew of stories from the same source, cointelegraph.com [NB: 'Bitcoin Core' (BTC) vs. 'Bitcoin Unlimited' (BTU)]:-

• 2017-03-22: Bitcoin Hard Fork Will Be Felt Deeper Than Ethereum’s: Experts
• 2017-03-25: How Bitcoin Exchange Market is Preparing for Hard Fork
• 2017-03-28: Why Canadian Companies Unanimously Rejecting Bitcoin Unlimited
• 2017-03-29: RIP Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitcoin Can't and Won't Fork: F2Pool Owner • 'F2Pool, the second largest Bitcoin mining pool in the world behind AntPool, turned down Bitcoin Unlimited earlier this week.'

Although the last word has yet to be said, the hard fork isn't looking good for bitcoiners. ETF and scalability in the same month: looks like another example of the old double whammy. I noted a handful of other stories that expanded my knowledge of bitcoin.

• 2017-03-03: Something Odd Is Happening at Bitcoin’s Largest Mining Pool (bitcoinmagazine.com) • 'When asked for specifics on why AntPool is not mining full blocks whenever possible, an Antpool representative did not have any comments to share'
• 2017-03-11: Using Google Trends to Detect Bitcoin Price Bubbles (coindesk.com)
• 2017-03-20: Top 13 Major Bitcoin Price Crashes: Endurance of An Idea (cointelegraph.com)
• 2017-03-20: The Gambler’s Guide to Bitcoin Casinos (cointelegraph.com)
• 2017-03-29: Bitcoin Value Is High Only Due To "Lawbreakers": Forbes Analyst (cointelegraph.com) • 'If we could flip a switch and eliminate all illegal uses of Bitcoin, there would be nothing left of the cybercurrency.'

Three out of those five stories are again from cointelegraph.com. That in itself is a story.