By 
No more biting the nails. It’s over. The SegWit2x hard fork has been suspended indefinitely due to a lack of consensus. The Bitcoin price surged in response to the announcement, rising to a new all-time high of $7,899 on Bitfinex.
However, the rally didn’t last long. Soon after achieving a record high price, the price of Bitcoin flash crashed and plummeted to $6,977 – a decline of 12%!
But it has again rebounded back to its support region. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at $7177, posting a market cap of $119 billion.
One of the major reasons why Bitcoin price rallied from $4,800 to above $7000 was due to SegWit2x hard fork. Investors and traders were hoarding onto Bitcoins so that they could get free “S2X coin”. So soon as the promise of “free coins” dashed by the fork cancellation, they began to rebalance their portfolios to include more altcoins. For this reason, it should not be surprising if Bitcoin price fades in the short term.
That being said, the cancellation of 2x hard fork means less uncertainty going forward and that could bode well for the BTC in the long run. Despite the downward pressure, Bitcoin has managed to hold above $7000, probably because many potential investors feel more comfortable purchasing Bitcoin now.
It was a great day for altcoins. In the past 24 hours, most of the major altcoins have gained value, but Bitcoin has declined by 5%. Altogether, the cryptocurrency market cap added up to $206 billion. Ethereum rallied up to 7.7% despite the parity bug, rising to $324. This gives Ethereum a market cap of $31 billion.
Expect Bitcoin price to tank from here while investors adjust their portfolio and buy more altcoins.
Top Stories from the Crypto World
1. Segwit2x called off due to lack of consensus
A circular sent to the mailing list by major proponent Mike Belshe said that it was “clear” the project “had not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time.”
SegWit2x will therefore not activate Nov. 16 as planned. Belshe did not reveal a possible future date. The message read:
“Our goal has always been a smooth upgrade for Bitcoin. Although we strongly believe in the need for a larger blocksize, there is something we believe is even more important: keeping the community together. Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of SegWit2x.”
2. Bitcoin threat will give rise to state cryptocurrencies, says Citigroup CEO
Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat has said that cryptocurrencies represent a “real enough threat” to the financial system, and that governments won’t take the disruption of their capabilities around data, tax collection, money laundering and know-your-customer (KYC) “lightly.”
“It’s likely that we’re going to see governments introduce, not cryptocurrencies – I think cryptocurrency is a bad moniker for that – but a digital currency.” he added.
A good thing to know: Citi is already exploring its own cryptocurrency, called citicoin, which is aimed to curb friction in cross-border foreign exchange transactions.
3. Tim Draper: Fiat currency will be laughable in five years
Billionaire investor, Tim Draper, has always been very bullish on Bitcoin. The tech investor has made a fortune backing companies like Skype, Tesla, Twitter and buying Bitcoin in the early days.
“In five years, if you try to use fiat currency, they will laugh at you. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be so relevant … there will be no reason to have the fiat currencies.” Tim said in a recent interview.
Tim also sees a bright future for altcoins and ICOs. He said:
“They’re all going to interrelate … and there will be exchange rates for all of them. My guess is that it will centralize around a wallet that you have, and when you pay for that Starbucks, your wallet will optimize to whichever currency has most value.“