Commenting on the new high for Bitcoin early Friday, Nicholas Gregory, CEO of the cryptocurrency business enabler, CommerceBlock, said:
“Bitcoin hit a new high early Friday and has effectively besieged the psychological $8,000 mark in the process.
“Bitcoin surged on the suspension of the SegWit2x hard fork but the current momentum is less technical than systemic.
“The cryptocurrency’s momentum is being driven by a growing sense among speculators that the banking industry is firmly in its cross hairs.
“Increasingly, traders and speculators are looking at banks as Blockbuster Video and Bitcoin as Netflix.
“CME Group’s futures launch, which has the potential to open the floodgates of institutional money, has compounded the fundamental narrative within bitcoin that it offers a frictionless and low- or zero-fee alternative to the global banking system.
“By announcing measures to contain the volatility of bitcoin, CME Group ironically boosted Bitcoin even further.
“Again, this represents accommodation rather than repudiation, and the cryptocurrency surged accordingly.
“The message being given to the markets is that while they’re not perfect and will need to be treated with kid gloves, Bitcoin futures, and by default Bitcoin, can work.”
