Bitcoin continued its retreat from a record high after traders weighed in on the cancelation of a technology upgrade that threatened to disrupt the biggest cryptocurrency.
Investors who were expecting the extra coins stemming from a split of the chain might be taking profits, while others who are disappointed that the update was scrapped earlier this week might be switching to alternative coins, said Charlie Lee (李啟威), founder of litecoin, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market value.
While bitcoin soared to a record US$7,882 within minutes of news that it would avoid another split on Wednesday last week, the gains have evaporated. Bitcoin is now trading more than US$1,000 below where it was after a faction of the community scrapped plans for a so-called hard fork. Bitcoin was down 8 percent to US$6,575 at 2:19pm in New York on Friday.
Some speculators are disappointed that they will not get the additional coins that would have been created by a hard fork.
While bitcoin splits are potentially disruptive, they have so far amounted to free money for holders of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Cash, the result of a hard fork in August, has climbed to about US$900 from as low as US$565 on the day the split was canceled, while bitcoin has slipped almost 10 percent after touching a record right after the news.
The main architects behind a change to its underlying software, known as SegWit2x, canceled their controversial plans on Wednesday last week, saying they wanted to avoid deepening divides in the developer community.
Bitcoin developers, users and miners — those running computers that crunch the complex math required to verify transactions — have been trying to agree on ways to make transactions faster, as the network’s growing popularity has led to congestion.
After an initial upgrade in August known as SegWit, short for “Segregated Witness,” a group in the bitcoin community was calling for SegWit2x. The second upgrade had not gained as much support and was only a week away from confronting bitcoin with one of its hardest tests ever.
Bitcoin had climbed from about US$6,00O since CME Group Inc, the world’s largest exchange owner, said on Oct. 31 that it wants to offer bitcoin futures by the end of the year, only a month after dismissing such a plan. Cboe Global Markets Inc said in August that it wants to sell futures. Both need approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Skeptics of the digital currency, from billionaire Warren Buffett to JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer Jamie Dimon, have warned that bitcoin is a speculative bubble in danger of bursting after its almost sevenfold increase this year.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
RSS