Welcome to Gigaom’s new weekly Bitcoin roundup.
These events show why we need a better way to keep an eye on the fast-moving world of Bitcoin. Each Friday we’ll post a series of charts and new summaries to make Bitcoin a little more understandable for those inside and outside the cryptocurrency world.
This week in Bitcoin
The Bitcoin market this week fluctuated from a low of around $552 to a high around $668. It was a little stronger earlier in the week, before falling to $556 at publishing time. For background on why we’re using Coindesk’s Bitcoin Price Index, see note at bottom of the post.
But when put on a different axis, the price of bitcoins suddenly looks a lot more stable. The real story is with Mt. Gox, highlighted in yellow below, as customers struggle to withdraw cash and bitcoins from the troubled exchange.
In other news we covered this week:
- The Winklevoss Twins started Winkdex. The site, one typo away from being called a popular cleaning product, could actually be good for the currency, argued Jeff Roberts.
- Bitcoin ATMs started appearing throughout the U.S., although roll out could be slow because of regulations.
Here are some of the best reads from around the web this week:
- The Wall Street Journal visits the Mt. Gox protests in Tokyo and gets an email apology from the exchange’s owner.
- Ben Lawsky, Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, did a RedditAMA on how NY is considering regulations on cryptocurrencies.
- Could Bitcoin be the next Paypal? A TechCrunch article argues that the beginnings of PayPal may be a predictor for the future of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin in 2014
The Bitcoin price continues to fall from the start of the year. No surprise here since the Mt. Gox drama has introduced some uncertainty into the market.
Bitcoin’s weekly closing price since 2013
A note on our data: We use Coindesk’s Bitcoin Price Index to obtain both a historical and current reflection of the Bitcoin market. The BPI is an average of the two Bitcoin exchanges which meet their criteria, Bitstamp and BTC-e. To see the criteria for inclusion or for price updates by the minute, visit Coindesk. Since the market never closes, the “closing price” as noted in the graphics is based on end of day Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or British Summer Time (BST).
Featured image from Thinkstock/Nevarpp
