The big news today is that price of bitcoin is back up above $600 – the first time since March that the Bitcoin Price Index has been this high.
Let’s take a look back at the week’s biggest stories and uncover the events leading up this Friday’s good news.
DISH becomes world’s largest company to accept bitcoin: US satellite service provider DISH Network has announced that it will start accepting bitcoin payments later this year. This announcement means that the Colorado-based company will be the largest ever to accept digital currency payments. Overstock was previously the biggest mainstream company to accept bitcoin, but DISH can boast over 10 times as much revenue.
‘Willy Report’ suggests fraudulent trading pumped bitcoin’s price: There was more speculation this week that bitcoin’s November 2013 surge was caused in part by fraudulent trading activity – specifically via a trading bot that’s being called “Willy”. A trader analyzed public records from November 2013 to determine that trading bots ran rampant through the system under various user IDs and possibly manipulated the price.
Mary Meeker’s report finds ‘extraordinary interest’ in bitcoin: Venture capitalist and former Wall Street ‘rock star’ Mary Meeker released her Internet trends report, which found that there is an ‘extraordinary interest’ in bitcoin. In her presentation at re/code’s 2014 Code Conference she noted that there had been a rapid expansion in the bitcoin wallet space.
Argentina warns against bitcoin: Argentina is the latest country to issue a warning on digital currencies. The country’s central bank has warned its citizens that digital currencies are not legal tender and that their price volatility poses a risk to users. However, since the Argentinian currency itself is notoriously volatile and inflation is rife in the country, many consider the warning rather ironic.
Keep an eye on CoinDesk throughout the weekend for more news and analysis. And of course, to see if the price keeps going up, up and up. Have a good weekend!