Latest Bitcoin Updates

3.36pm: Jon Matonis, Vice President of Corporate Strategy at nChain, says that Bitcoin has held up “relatively well” and that other alternative currencies could be using Bitcoin as a safe haven.

“Bitcoin prices are down approximately one-third from the most recent high of $2980 per bitcoin,” he said.

“This is less of a retracement than Ethereum (Ether) which is down approx. 70% from recent high of $407 per ETH.

"This is normal for bitcoin to retrace somewhat considering the quick run-up from April 2017 price levels.”
Mr Matonis also thinks that the upcoming hard fork could become dangerous for miners looking to mine on a minority fork.

“It would be equally dangerous for users to transact during that time period until the situation becomes clear for majority hash power chain,” he said.

3.15pm: Ryan Selkis, a founding member of Coin Desk and Digital Currency Group has noted the harsh drop in bitcoin prices, but pointed out that the overall market is still up from the start of the year.

Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital has also said that he does not see any “value in focusing on day to day crypto price change”.

Mr Bogart thinks that the markets are underestimating the resiliency of the cryptocurrency.

“Historically, Bitcoin has had many periods of doubt and uncertainty, its resiliency has consistently been underestimated by the market,” he tweeted.

“While upcoming situation has me relatively concerned, I’m inclined to bet that the market is once-again underestimating BTC’s resiliency.

“That said, I think price goes lower before higher, hence "averaging-in", start small and build as/if price trends down.”

2.06pm: OKEx, the Hong-Kong based exchange company will suspend Bitcoin trading between July 31 and August 2 to prevent risks associated with the upcoming hard fork.

In the event of a split on August 1, the company is promising blockchain users ownership of their coins.

“On OKEx contracts trading, for existing undelivered maturities, the calculation of the Index price will be the sum price of all Bitcoin types of the respective exchanges should they support them,” the company wrote.

“After delivery, new OKEx contracts will be tied to a particular version of Bitcoin, and OKEx will take steps to support contract trading for all types of Bitcoin.”

1.29pm: The current value of Bitcon stands at around £1,549.38 ($2,023.74) according to Coindesk.com

10.40am: The digital currency reached a low of $1843.53 yesterday (Sunday July 16) afternoon after free-falling throughout the weekend.

A week ago, on Monday July 10, the cryptocurrency was changing hands for as much as $2,536.53 – still 10 per cent down its price one month ago. Bitcoin was trading at $2,807.60 on June 20.

Prices have bounced back slightly this morning to $2,086.69 after opening at $1,938.94.

Wolf Richter, the financial blogger and author of the Wolf Street site, says that he expects Bitcoin to continue falling