During the last couple of months, we’ve seen governments from all around the world becoming more relaxed when it comes down to discussing bitcoin. In fact, on the 1st of April, the Japanese Government finally agreed to recognize Bitcoin as an actual currency, which can be stored, but also used to purchase and sell products and services.

After Donald Trump was officially inaugurated as the President of the United States in January 2017, the digital currency’s price peaked, and hence managed to reach a new high. Two months later, the price of bitcoin reached $1,268, thus surpassing the value of gold for the first time. Not only this, but bitcoin almost tripled in value during a year, and between December and March of this year, its value has grown by around 30%, which is massive growth, even for bitcoin. During its volatility periods, it has been determined that the value of the digital currency can easily react to world and political events, especially in influential countries such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan and more.

If you’ve been following the recent news from the digital currency industry, then chances are that you’ve heard once the Securities Exchange Commission SEC decided to reject the Winklevoss-backed Bitcoin ETF project, which would’ve made bitcoin-based investments easier and more accessible to people throughout the world. The SEC is reportedly mostly concerned about the fraud potential that bitcoin poses, alongside with its high volatility and possibilities of price manipulation, which are due to the continuous lack of regulation, and reportedly, transparency, although this isn’t really the case.

Because of this, a possible channel of bitcoin investments remains unopened, but those who are interested can still invest in the digital currency through the numerous bitcoin exchanges and bitcoin investment trusts. However, is there an attractiveness to bitcoin investments? We’ll attempt to tackle some of the most compelling reasons on why you may want to invest some of your capital in digital currencies.

​During the last couple of months, the popularity of both bitcoin and its underlying system, the blockchain, has grown considerably. With bitcoin prices rising above $1,100, and numerous financial institutions and companies showcasing their interest in blockchain technology, we’re without a doubt, about to experience a financial revolution.

However, regardless of whether you view bitcoin as the key to a free, but also utopian-type of economy, and blockchain technology as the key to achieving trust in the digital era, and online security, both systems are not outside the reach of government regulators throughout the world. Because of this aspect, it is always important to keep a close eye on the opinions of regulators.

Long before Bitcoin reached the price of gold, the two commodities have been compared, and analysed side by side, in order to determine which would make a better long-term investment for anyone with enough capital to risk.

As the two commodities are currently situated at approximately the same price, determining the right choice is an interesting mind exercise. If we were to put aside bitcoin’s well-known scalability debate, alongside with its volatility, which would make up a better choice in the long run? There are clearly advantages and disadvantages to both, as while bitcoin is the newer, and more utile choice, especially since we’re living in the digital era, gold on the other side of the spectrum, has, what can be named, an indisputable track record, and has been used as a means of measuring value by humans for thousands of years.

While most countries are tolerant of bitcoin and other digital currencies, not many recognize it as a means of payment, or actual currency, from a legal standpoint. According to recent reports, Bitcoin has just managed to get the recognition associated with mainstream currencies just like fiat, over in Japan, thanks to a recently-implemented law that categorizes bitcoin as a legal payment option.

The law, which has come into effect on the 1st of April, has both advantages and disadvantages. With this in mind, bitcoin exchanges operating in the Nippon country will face regulatory scrutiny, and the application of all laws that currently govern financial institutions and banks in Japan. Based on this aspect, all exchanges operating inside the country will need to comply with the already-strict anti-money laundering regulations, alongside with the Know Your Customers (KYC) laws. This will mean that bitcoin exchange users will face less privacy, as annual audits will be conducted as well. Luckily, numerous cyber security requirements have also been implemented, therefore further securing the private data of exchange users, alongside with their funds. This is great news considering the fact that one of the world’s biggest exchange hacks (The Mt. Gox event) took place in Japan a few years ago.

Chances are that you may have noticed Bitcoin’s recent value drop this week, which may be fuelled by the currency’s power struggle that has been going on for a while.

To put things better into perspective, the recent value drop is directly related to the block size debate, which has been going on for more than two years. With this in mind, the main players in the digital currency industry are debating the right way to scale the network, in order to help it accommodate more transactions, as bitcoin continues to grow, and be adopted by many more people and companies. At this moment in tie, the block data cap is of 1 MB, roughly every 10 minutes. Some people want to raise this limit, under what has been referred to as Bitcoin Unlimited, to a flexible cap that would allow more transactions to be carried out for each block in particular. At the other side of the spectrum, we have the developers behind Bitcoin Core, who want to go ahead and keep the 1 MB limit, yet attempt to make the system a bit more efficient, hence also processing more transactions per each block. While the scope behind each end of the debate seems noble, the side effects for both decisions can be quite dangerous, as they both can transform bitcoin to either digital gold, or electronic cash, as mentioned by Adam White.

During the last couple of months, banks and financial institutions have continuously showed their interest in bitcoin, for various purposes, such as digitally signing contracts, helping with monetary transfers and more.

Perhaps one of today’s biggest monetary challenges is the presence of hackers. While they cannot crash the entire world economy by ‘deleting’ money, they can cause a great deal of damage to banks and financial institutions by changing what computers think is real and true. This represents the main reason why banks are seeking a system that would guarantee the authenticity of data, by thoroughly analysing it, and keeping records on a ledger. Blockchain technology, which is quickly picking pace, can do exactly this.

If you’ve been following recent digital currency news, then chances are that you already know that the Winklevoss-backed ETF Bitcoin securities project was blocked by the US corporate regulator, known by the name of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This is quite understandable, considering the fact that economic analysts did mention that the chances for approval were fairly low, but thoroughly understanding the reasons is essential to make sure that the project doesn’t fail next time. To put things better into context, the following question should be asked: would you be tempted to invest into an asset that may be illegal now, or sometime in the future?

The People’s Bank of China, also known as PBOC, has been in the media’s attention during the last month, as it is currently deliberating the faith of digital currency and digital currency exchanges operating in the Asian country.

A recent digest from the PBOC related on the current Yuan rates, market sentiment, a couple of new developments in the country’s exchange policies, but also changes in the financial market regulations, and Chinese economic data.

Digital currencies are also mentioned, and in this case, it has been stated that bitcoin exchanges are unlikely to become official exchanges in China in the near future. Not only this, as the Chairman of the Bank’s Operation Office, Zhou Xuedong mentioned that a couple of price bubbles were noticed on bitcoin, and that China is in desperate needed of a proper legislative framework concerning Bitcoin trading. Because of this, the regulator will likely introduce a couple of other measures in order to help strengthen the oversight that the PBOC plays above Bitcoin exchanges and platforms operating in China.

Bitcoin has been around for a good period of time, and most people who have been involved with the digital currency are well-aware of the fact that it is likely to become mainstream one day, and entirely replace the financial system that we’re used to.

Having a larger user base for Bitcoin will likely open up numerous doors, and create better business and investment opportunities, while also increasing the popularity of the cryptocurrency, and of course, its value. In 2013, when Bitcoin first massively grew in size, most people were expecting the coin to become mainstream within a couple of years, or even months. As we’re all aware, its popularity has increased since, but it’s far from being used on a daily basis. Therefore, in this article, we are going to discuss the main factors holding Bitcoin back from being used by billions of people.