Bitcoin Excel Support among Microsoft projects
Microsoft officially announced its plans to add a Bitcoin Excel support in the upcoming release of its new version of Excel 2017,
This Bitcoin Excel Support will allow users to calculate, format and analyze bitcoin on the program.
Account executive at Microsoft, Martin Butler posted on Twitter:
“In 2017, Excel will be able to recognize, format, calculate and analyze numbers expressed in Bitcoin currency. The new feature will be available for Excel running under Windows 10, Android, Mac OS and iOS, and will include Excel Mobile versions as well.”
Bitcoin expert Alistair Milne first expressed his enthusiasm for the Bitcoin integration. and also the whole Bitcoin community reacted positively for this the company’s effort as it can help a massive adoption for Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin is a currency” for Bitcoin Excel Support
During the past few years, a few government agencies and financial institutions avoided the word “currency” in describing Bitcoin.
The official recognition of Bitcoin worldwide by tax authorities is still a minefield, even if Russia recently declared its decision to recognize Bitcoin as a foreign value.
By the end of 2016, investors and traders were considering Bitcoin as a worldwide currency and the only safe haven asset for its capacity and ability to prevent financial issues and economic problems.
Bitcoin has been crucial in protecting the wealth of most households and businesses in the past 12 months. Maybe it is for this reason that Microsoft coined Bitcoin as a currency for its global users who utilize Microsoft Execel every day.
Microsoft loves cryptocurrencies
Microsoft is heavily involved in the development and deployment of various Blockchain-based platforms, including Azure Blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, where businesses can use the distributed ledger to simplify the settlement of financial data.
The company also supported meetups about Ethereum and other blockchain-related companies, demonstrating their love for the cryptocurrencies industry development.
To read more about Microsoft and Bitcoin, click here.
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Cryptocurrencies 2016: Bitcoin Alternative charts
Today we want to talk about Cryptocurrencies 2016, as the just ended year has been very exciting for several digital currencies and not only for Bitcoin.
A lot of major open-source currencies, in fact, showed a good growth during 2016 and we hope to see significant expansion in 2017.
Below you’ll read charts of the excited cryptocurrencies 2016, during a period between December 27, 2015 to December 26, 2016.
Source: Coindesk.com
Bitcoin
Market Capitalization (Beginning of Year): $6,161,215,794
Market Capitalization (End of Year): $14,590,356,108
Price (Beginning of Year): $411.99
Price (End of Year): $908.17
Price (Annual High): $909.94
For sure Bitcoin is the king of cryptocurrencies 2016, if we talk about value.
It is the oldest blockchain-based asset as today (January 3rd) it celebrates its 8th anniversary: the genesis block was generated on January 3rd 2009.
While I’m writing of this article, Bitcoin price is still growing, surpassing the value of $1,000 for 1 BTC.
Bitcoin price and trading volume were supported by several global circumstances, including the Chinese yuan devaluation, the UK’s Brexit, and the election of a Donald Trump.
Ethereum
Market Capitalization (Beginning of Year): $80,339,474
Market Capitalization (End of Year): $638,041,577
Price (Beginning of Year): $2.83
Price (End of Year): $7.31
Price (Annual High): $19.59
2016 saw Ether, or the digital currencies that powers the Ethereum blockchain – become the best-performing currencies, with a more than 2,000% increase over the first six months of 2016.
The major reason for its instability was the DAO hack, the subsequent failure of the decentralized project, and the creation of ethereum classic. These factors led to a fall of nearly 50% of this altcoin value.
Anyway, Ethereum is the favorite network for possible FinTech permissioned distributed ledgers, enterprise software and Internet of Things applications, so 2017 could will probably show a capitalization increase for ether.
Litecoin
Market Capitalization (Beginning of Year): $149,142,004
Market Capitalization (End of Year): $212,469,870
Price (Beginning of Year): $3.41
Price (End of Year): $4.34
Price (Annual High): $5.55
One of the oldest bitcoin alternative, litecoin showed a stable valuation during 2016, closing $2 above its starting price for the year.
Dash
Market Capitalization (Beginning of Year): $16,081.586
Market Capitalization (End of Year): $70,675,107
Price (Beginning of Year): $2.64
Price (End of Year): $9.67
Price (Annual High): $14.42
In 2015, darkcoin decided to end its association with shadow businesses and the DarkNet by changing its name to Dash.
This re-branding seemed to work and Dash ended 2016 with pricing nearly three times, and a market capitalization close to four times.
Cryptocurrencies 2016 and their future
As we enter 2017, the future for cryptocurrencies seems bright, as the digital currency market will continue to progress and prove its worth as one of the top-performing commodities available today.
We at HolyTransaction are very happy to work with this top-rated cryptocurrencies, as our wallet can store Litecoin, Dash, Ethereum and Bitcoin within a unique login.
Needless to say, we are proud to have chosen the best and the most profitable cryptocurrencies for our multicurrency wallet you can open here for free.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Saxo Bank Bitcoin Prediction for 2017
Today the Danish investment bank published its Saxo Bank Bitcoin Prediction for 2017, where it explains that wouldn’t be surprised if the bitcoin price will see huge growth during next year.
Saxo Bank, in fact, recently published its annual “Outrageous Predictions for 2017”, a list of speculations that represent its effort to get financial industry think about more possibilities and revolutionary projects for the next year.
In addition to the prediction that UK will not actually leave the European Union (EU) and that Italian equity prices will soar thanks to the European Union led bailout, Saxo Bank affirmed that the bitcoin price will reach a value of more than $2,100 by the end of 2017.
Among its reasons the prediction explained that the American President’s administration might cause turbulence in the American economy, so this can be a good reason for people to invest in digital currencies like bitcoin.
Saxo Bank Bitcoin prediction explains:
“If the banking system as well as sovereigns such as Russia and China move to accept bitcoin as a partial alternative to the USD and the traditional banking and payment system, then we could see bitcoin easily triple over the next year going from the current $700 level to +$2,100 as the block-chains decentralised system, an inability to dilute the finite supply of bitcoins as well as low to no transaction costs gains more traction and acceptance globally.”
Altough this Saxo Bank prediction doesn’t represent an official position, it is not the first bullish indication the bank has made during its career.
In 2014, then-current CEO Lars Seier Christensen explained his personal interest in bitcoin, describing it as a great opportunity for worldwide investors.
At the time, Christensen had also mentioned about early testing of the technology within Saxo bank, although later he explained that liquidity problems at the time were keeping banks on the sidelines.
Source: coindesk.com
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Federal Reserve Blockchain Paper: read here
The US Federal Reserve Blockchain Paper is a new research about distributed ledger technology published by the American institution.
This new paper is about blockchain applications for payments and transaction settlement.
It was written by a research group composed by the Federal Reserve Board and botht the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Chicago.
Although another research was published in the past by members of the Federal Reserve system, this new document is the first major publication from the Federal Reserve Board.
However, the research paper covers a wide range of topics, including both a top-down view of the concepts behind blockchain.
Also, the US Federal Reserve Blockchain Paper talks about the challenges and opportunities for financial companies or payment system operates looking for possible integrations.
“An important goal of this paper is to examine how this technology might be used in the area of payments, clearing, and settlement and to identify both the opportunities and challenges facing its practical implementation and possible long-term adoption.”
This publication comes just two months after the news that Fed governor Lael Brainard revealed the interest in the blockchain by the central bank.
According to the Federal Reserve press release, researchers interviewed almost 30 representatives from the public and private sector, explaining both how to establish companies and startups working with the distributed ledger in the fintech field.
The full US Federal Reserve Blockchain Paper can be found here:
Distributed ledger technology in payments, clearing, and settlement
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Bitcoin Gifts for Christmas? Here some ideas
Are you ready for Christmas? Do you want to buy some Bitcoin gifts for you friends and parents?
When Christmas is approaching, every year begins the race for the perfect gift, but unfortunately presents get harder to think. The choice narrows every year, especially if you make a gift to the same people every year.
After the usual shower gel, socks and hats, this year you can give (and maybe even receive) some original Bitcoin gifts. Also, if you don’t like to go out for shopping and deal with the Christmas chaos, you can buy these gifts directly from your home.
Here you can find a wide range of gifts you can make using bitcoin or other digital currencies.
- OpenBaazar: this Bitcoin marketplace allows you to buy several kinds of gifts, including pc games, pins, t-shirts and more. Your order will be shipped to your home address, but shipment costs are quite expensive.
- Thanks to Purse, you now buy everything you need from Amazon but using Bitcoin.
- For coffee lovers, you can decide to visit Bitcoin Coffee Store that delivers everywhere in the world.
That said, if you really want to give your friends and parents an original gift, what about a Bitcoin wallet?
I mean, our wallet is free, of course, and you can open one on HolyTransaction, deposit the amount you want give your friends and family as a present, so they will also learn how to use bitcoin.
You just have to visit our website here, create an account, deposit the bitcoin amount you decide and give these original Bitcoin gifts to your friends.
Maybe you can print out the wallet access key and place it in a beautiful colored envelope under the Christmas tree.
Your lucky recipient will receive a unique, original and useful gift, so he will be aware of the bitcoin world and increase his fintech skills while he spents his new money.
Also, this will also be a good way to spread the use and understanding of bitcoin.
What are you waiting for? Open a new free wallet on HolyTransaction.com.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Black Friday Bitcoin: Happy Shopping!
Bitcoin Black Friday
Today Europe and America celebrate the well-known Black Friday, a special day when you can buy everything you need at a special price.
But we, in the Bitcoin World, want to celebrate our Black Friday Bitcoin, so let’s read this article and happy shopping with digital currencies.
As you might know, thanks to Purse.io you can buy from Amazon in Bitcoin. And today you can make very big deals, as Amazon partecipates to the Black Friday with special discounts.
Another good online shop where you can exploit the Black Friday Bitcoin is Bitcoin Black Friday. Here you can buy softwares, services, art, gifts, apparel and more.
Online you can find a lots of oddest places where you can use bitcoin, expecially today.
OpenBaazar and Black Friday Bitcoin
A few months ago I wrote an article about a new shopping platform called OpenBazaar where you can buy everything you are looking for with Bitcoin.
Here you can read a step-by-step guide to understand how to do shopping with this tool.
HolyTransaction Wallet Service
Of course, if you want to start using Bitcoin to do some shopping you need a web wallet where you can store your own digital currencies.
HolyTransaction is a multicurrency wallet where you can store not only Bitcoin, but also Ether, Dash, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Peercoin, Tether and all the most important cryptocurrencies in the world.
Each digital currency has its own address, but all of them has a unique access. So you need to remember just one username and password to login.
To open you wallet, you just need an email address. No other data required, so high privacy provided.
It is easy and it works right from our website, without any software downloads required.
Click here to open your HolyTransaction wallet for free.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Bitcoin Price trades at $750, $900 in India
The bitcoin price is currently trading at $750, its highest level in five months.
At the moment, bitcoin price rose by about 2%, and by $50 since this Monday.
Recently we said that the election of the 45th U.S.A. President Donald Trump might be one of the reasons behindthis bitcoin Price growth.
Earlier this week the bitcoin price grow of about $30 in just one hour, and now bitcoin is approaching the 2016 high it reached in June, when the price was at $764.
At that time, bitcoin price was growing mainly due to the halving event, as experts explained that it has a key role in the growth of demand, as it reduces the block reward by 50%.
Conversely, this time the bitcoin price growth is not attributable to a single cause.
Recently, bitcoin has been enjoying bullish feelings among its avid traders, and there are a few signs that its recent ascent might have been drived by foreign market forces.
For example, India has recently experienced a ban on certain denominations of banknotes, a development that local bitcoin companies claim has supported business, though public data platforms (including LocalBitcoins) explain the effects are not so clear.
In fact, on the Indian exchange Unocoin, one bitcoin traded for 61,688 India rupees, or more than $900, an event that boosts claims of strong local demand.
Another reason why the price is growing could be the devaluation of China’s yuan, as it is falling down this week.
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Deutsche Bank Blockchain: report and results
According to a new Deutsche Bank Blockchain report three out of four capital markets participants believe that distributed ledger will be used by everyone and everywhere in the world by the end of 2022.
Conducted by Deutsche Bank, this report about the blockchain wanted to explore why financial institutional, investors, banks, financial sponsors and broker-dealers are working or studying the distributed ledger and how they want to implement it into their business strategy.
The survey includes 200 market participants, and 87% believes it is likely to have an impact on securities services.
However, 75% of partecipants think that distributed technologies will be widely used within the next 3 or 6 years; and the report authors believe that this is a surprising degree of certainty about the blockchain.
Deutsche Bank’s head of Custody and Clearing, Deborah Thompson, explained in the report:
“Respondents were clearly positive about the potential impact of blockchain — almost all participants saw it as either moderately or completely disruptive to existing business models — and an overwhelming majority believe it will be actively used within the next six years.”
Also, the greatest part of report respondents think that the technology will help firms to reduce costs; and almost half (48%) said they believe that the blockchain could solve systems failures.
Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank has already demonstrated how it is interested in the blockchain. Click here to read more about Deutsche Bank Blockchain research and tests.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
With Donald Trump Bitcoin Price could grow
America has its 45th President today and several bitcoin investors and analysts believe that with Donald Trump Bitcoin price could grow, as its presidency could provide a boost to bitcoin prices.
Analysts explained that even if Bitcoin markets would not see any significant change from Clinton’s election, instead Trump could impact worldwide investors, so traders agree that Donald Trump will be a good thing for bitcoin business.
Jacob Eliosoff commented:
“I think a Trump presidency would be great for bitcoin, much like nuclear war would be great for bitcoin. It would be an epic disaster in a bunch of respects – economic, geopolitical, democratic – and in the fear and chaos bitcoin would be a defensive asset people could turn to.”
If Hillary Clinton won, experts have suggested that she would be a boom for the blockchain markets, given her open embrace of the tech as part of her innovation platform. Previously, in fact, she suggested she would use the distributed ledger.
The Donald Trump Bitcoin Effect
Donald Trump hasn’t put bitcoin on his agenda yet, but he defined himself as a “Washington outsider”, so traders believe that he lead to uncertainty and move towards alternative assets.
This might create just a temporary increase in bitcoin prices, but it might have a little lasting effect.
In fact, ARK Invest‘s Chris Burniske underlined that bitcoin can be useful in unpredictable times like this, and the election could add evidence to this claim.
“The way in which its price movement is uncorrelated from other capital market assets may be a desirable characteristic for many investors in the face of uncertainty. Depending on how people feel about the election, they may choose to hedge themselves from the more traditional markets by using bitcoin.”
So, in a few words, if bitcoin benefits from the election result, don’t give Trump too much credit for that, any other cataclysm would have done the same.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Blockchain Japan Banks: a new Consortium
42 financial institutions created a new Blockchain Japan Banks Consortium focused on decentralized payments.
Created by the financial service called SBI and co-launched with the distributed ledger startup Ripple, this new blockchain consortium includes a wide range of large and small companies and institutions. The creation of this blockchain consortium comes a few days after SBI revealed that it would work to create its own digital currency exchange in Japan.
Members involved in this new program want to share resources and work on a cross-border proof-of-concept, with the goal of creating a new common ground for commercial-scale products in 2017.
SBI explained in a statement:
“The Consortium will promote discussion, from both technical and operational perspectives, on activities required in domestic and foreign exchange services to utilize blockchain and other new technologies, consolidate domestic and foreign exchange services, and build 24-hour and real-time remittance infrastructure, and will try to finish PoC by next March to move forward commercial base.”
Also, SBI explained that efforts to create this blockchain consortium began in August, with the first goal to involve 15 member banks, but the group has rapidly increased its members during the promotional period, the company commented.
This blockchain Japan Banks consortium created by SBI is the latest effort of its kind. Similar groups have been created in recent months among Russian financial companies and European insurance brands. Read more here.
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