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Bitcoin price stayed above $5500 mark throughout the weekend. After registering an all-time high of $5856 on Friday, the prices hovered around $5756 Saturday morning, and soon consolidated below $5650.
The rise in Bitcoin demand from institutional investors seems to be the driving force behind this rally. Analysts are still very bullish on Bitcoin and expect the price to go much higher. According to Rob Viglione, co-founder of ZenCash, there is more demand for Bitcoin right now than ever.
Trace Mayer, an entrepreneur, and investor took to social media to make his Bitcoin price prediction. According to him, by February 2018, Bitcoin’s value will be worth $27,395.
All eyes are on the next Bitcoin hard fork which is due on November 1st. Investors are hoping to see a similar reaction to the August upgrade that pushed the cryptocurrency to record highs.
Bitcoin gold could suffer a similar fate as Bitcoin Cash and make the original version stronger instead of splitting into separate cryptocurrencies.
A breakout from here will make Bitcoin test next resistance level at $6300 and then $6500. Although, as the fork nears, Bitcoin price could stall and a pullback opportunity might arise. Prices could fall back and find support at $5000 once again.
Top Stories from the Crypto World
1. Byzantium hard fork locked in
Ethereum’s Byzantium hard fork is officially here as the cryptocurrency’s fifth hard fork. Byzantium is part of a package of improvements to the protocol that has been in development since 2015, known as Metropolis. Another hard fork Constantinople will activate sometime in 2018.
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, celebrated the hard fork by literally raising the fork(s) in the air.
2. Ripple partners up with Gates Foundation
Ripple and the Gates Foundation are collaborating on payments platform for the poor. According to the World Bank, nearly 2 billion people struggle to lift themselves out of poverty simply because they don’t have a bank account or financial services.
This collaboration is looking to change that. Ripple, in partnership with Gates Foundation developed a new open-source software called Mojaloop for creating a real-time, interoperable payments platform on a national scale to reach the world’s poor with essential financial tools.
Mojaloop offers a way for financial providers, governments and mobile network operators to simplify and reduce the cost of developing inclusive payments platforms.
A good thing to know: A Delaware judge ruled in favor of Ripple regarding the recent lawsuit over R3 consortium’s wish to force the company to make good on a contract to buy a huge volume of XRP.
3. IBM and Stellar to launch global blockchain banking
IBM today revealed the results of a partnership with blockchain startup Stellar in which it successfully settled real transactions using the company’s custom cryptocurrency, lumens.
For now, the cross-border payments are limited to British pounds and Fijian dollars. The platform is nonetheless designed to scale to handle seven fiat currencies in the South Pacific – including the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar and the Tonga pa’anga.
Reacting to this news, XML price gained more than 108% in value.
Stellar founder Jed McCaleb said:
“When trading between multiple currencies, it helps to have a bridge currency to reduce the ledgers needed to maintain. Lumen provides that single ledger that can bridge currencies.”