Some analysts feel such an action by Seoul may push other nations to consider similar moves.
A Wall Street consultancy on Thursday predicted a major crash in the cryptocurrency market this year
On Thursday, media reports said Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s telecom venture Reliance Jio may launch its own cryptocurrency, JioCoin, shortly.
Businessinsider said the 156-page report of Quinlan & Associates argued that bitcoin’s current price near $14,000 was far above what it is worth as both an investment asset, akin to gold, and a payment mechanism.
“As an asset, we valued bitcoin using a cost of production approach and a store of value approach, resulting in values of $2,161 and $687, respectively. To value BTC as a currency, we estimated its utilisation for both legal, retail transactions payments, as well as payments in the black market. After significant testing, we calculated the price of BTC 1 to be $1,780,” said the report.
If the digital currency were to fall to this level, it would plunge a massive 85 per cent in the coming 12 months.
Bitcoin prices soared from under $1,000 to almost $14,000 during calendar 2017, and ethereum jumped from about $8 to $734.
On Wednesday, investment guru Warren Buffett said he would never invest in cryptocurrencies. “I can say almost with certainty that cryptocurrencies will come to a bad end,” Buffett told CNBC in an interview.
Bitcoin remains the top dog in the cryptocurrency market, but has tanked to $13,580 as of January 12 from $16,917 on January 5, whereas ripple slipped to $2 from $2.50. Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have slipped over 5 per cent each in the same period.
On the other hand, ethereum has soared 25 per cent to $1,204 as of January 12 from $962.77 on January 5.
Bitcoins or cryptocurrencies are not a legal tender in India and are not recognised as a medium of exchange, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said on January
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