This has turned out to be an exciting week for Bitcoin, as the price almost broke past the year high we saw back in June amid a series of negative news about ransomware attacks on a global scale. The current value is once again close to $760, continuing its two-day consolidation run. This should come as no surprise, as the market has been strongly bullish in the past couple of days.
In other news, Bitcoin’s image as a safe haven against US President Trump’s decisions seems to only be solidifying as fears of Trump’s promised crackdown on remittances sent to Mexico turn many to invest in the cryptocurrency.
During his candidacy run, Trump announced to build a wall on the border with Mexico, which he planned to pay by blocking an estimated number of 6.2 million immigrants from the country from sending money home. But as ludicrous as the plan sounds, it has actually lead to many Mexicans turning to Bitcoin exchanges on the fears or restrictions on remittance firms, according to portal Payments Source.
Bitcoin at 760$; Bull Run Continues
The past several days have been pretty positive for Bitcoin investors, as there has been quite the room for turning profits. The biggest peak was during the weekend session, when the price climbed very close to its 2016 record to $770.38, while the lowest point was on Monday, when it dropped back to $746.51. It is currently very close to the $760 mark, where it has remained for the past couple of hours.
Volume-wise, there has been strong interest in the past couple of days, during which the market volume stayed close to 100 million. The biggest interest was seen on Monday, when the price saw a steep fall, while it currently sits at $98,961,900. The market cap, on the other hand, is at $12.2 billion.
Our technical analysis shows that the market is in a buying mood, with 10 out of 12 technical oscillators and 11 out of 12 moving averages sending a buying signal. However, Stochastic is also in the “Overbought” zone, which always hints that buyers are getting tired. For the time being, we are looking at further consolidation of the price with the next push being up to changes in market direction.
US Prosecutor Paid Bitcoin Ransom in Avalanche Attacks
A US State Prosecutor’s Office was found to be one of several hundred thousand victims of an international cyber criminal organization known as the Avalanche crime ring, as reported by the Associated Press. Namely, the Avalanche group forced the Allegheny County D.A, Stephen Zappala Jr., into paying a ransom of $1,400 dollars in Bitcoin to free the office’s computer network.
The Avalanche group was disabled by a joint effort from US and EU authorities only last week, while documents with details of the operation were officially released on Monday by the FBI. According to the files, the group run a global operation since 2010, successfully infecting approximately ½ million computers in its 6 year run. To disable the network, authorities from 40 different countries had to join their efforts.
The group had a platform called the Avalanche, where interested parties could buy malware to later use for infecting personal and business networks. One malware type was sold for the purpose of stealing bank account information and transferring funds, while the other was a ransomware that could be used for locking a computer and extorting money to set it free. Zappala’s network was infected when a phishing link was clicked by an employee from the office.