Weekly Bitcoin Update – 29 September 2014
Posted by: Evan Faggart September 29, 2014
A recap of the week’s biggest Bitcoin stories from the perspectives of the best sources for e-currency news around the web.
Paypal Integrates Bitcoin into Paypal Payments Hub
CoinDesk reported on September 23 that Paypal would be partnering with BitPay, Coinbase, and GoCoin to integrate Bitcoin into its Payments Hub. This “Hub” is a platform that allows digital content makers to easily accept payment for their products online. Once Bitcoin is fully integrated into the Payments Hub, content producers that use the platform will automatically be able to accept Bitcoin as payments for their digital goods.
This announcement from Paypal was responsible for a massive spike in the Bitcoin price on the 23rd. Around midday, about an hour after the announcement was made, the price jumped from $397 and reached $450 by the bottom of 4 PM — making for a 13.35% jump in the price. Those gains did not last however, and the price fell back to $400 within a couple days.
Bash Bug Scares the Bitcoin Community, but is not a Real Threat
On September 25, news hit the Bitcoin community on Reddit that there was a flaw in the command line shells of UNIX based operating systems that could potentially compromise the security of their Bitcoin wallets. This flaw is known as the Bash Bug, and it would allow a malicious actor to enter a computer’s operating system through the Bash command line shell. This could potentially compromise Bitcoin wallets because someone could enter an individual’s computer, install a keylogger, and gain access to that individual’s private keys.
CoinDesk reported on this possible threat the next day, on September 26, and concluded that the Bash Bug did not pose a real threat to Bitcoin wallets. Jeff Garzik, a Bitcoin core developer, told CoinDesk that:
“It requires special set of conditions to be exploitable, and home routers and ancient Apache web servers were already Swiss cheese security anyway. I think the practical impact will be much less than the mainstream media is making it out to be.”
Ben Lawsky to Keynote the Money 20/10 Conference
NewsBTC reported on September 25 that Ben Lawsky, the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) will be the keynote speaker at the Money 20/10 conference in November. This conference will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada and will have a lot of emphasis on Bitcoin and crypto-currency in general.
Ben Lawsky is a notorious figure in the Bitcoin community. Working as the Superintendent of the NYDFS, Lawsky has spearheaded the campaign for BitLicense, a controversial proposal for highly restrictive Bitcoin regulation in the state of New York.
Huobi Sends 920 BTC to the Wrong People
NewsBTC reported on September 25 that Huobi, a popular Bitcoin exchange based in China, accidentally sent 920 BTC and 8,100 LTC to 27 user accounts. At the time of the mistake, those two sums of crypto-currencies were worth $400,000 USD and $36,000 USD, respectively. Huobi has reported that they have retrieved the majority of the money from the 27 mistaken recipients, but that some is still missing. The exchange also notified the public that they would be improving their process to prevent a similar mistake from happening.
A recap of the Bitcoin price activity throughout the course of the week.
Sep 21: $410
Sep 22: $404 (-1.46%)
Sep 23: $402 (-0.50%)
Sep 24: $433 (+7.71%)
Sep 25: $419 (-3.23%)
Sep 26: $410 (-2.15%)
Sep 27 Close: $402
The Bitcoin price was fairly stable this week, staying within a $390s to $400s price range — except for the short-lived spike in the price that came from the Paypal news. The price followed pattern of hovering in the $390s and $400s that was established late last week, after a major decline in the price. Overall, throughout the course of the entire week, the price dropped by 1.95%. This decline is insignificant when compared to last week, when the price dropped by 13.87%.
Starting on Sunday, September 21, the week began at $410. towards the end of last week, the price leveled out in the low $400s after a large fall from the $470s-$480s. In the early morning hours, the price fell into the high $390s, where it would stay for the rest of the day—occasionally reaching into the low $400s. The first day of the week ended at $404.
The Bitcoin price activity for the 22nd closely resembled the movement from the previous day. Staying between the high $390s and the low $400s, the price barely moved at all during the day. Opening at $404, it was down 1.46% from the opening price on September 21. However, the day ended without much activity and the 23rd began at $402, a meager 0.50% decline.
Tuesday, September 23, was much different from the previous two days. The market followed the same pattern from the previous two days of hovering between the high $390s and low $400s for the first half of the 23rd. But then, around midday, the Bitcoin price saw a vertical jump. Reacting to the highly anticipated and exciting news from Paypal, the price went from $397 at the top of 1 PM to $450 at the close of 4 PM. Within three short hours, the price had increased 13.35%. After the $450 peak at 4 PM, the price fell a little bit and closed the day out at $433.
This massive upturn in the price did not have any staying power, though, and the price began falling towards the previously established hovering pattern between high $390s and the $400s. The 24th of September started out at $433—a 7.71% increase from the start of the previous day—and was back at $419 by the opening hour of the 25th. The price on Thursday, September 25 continued to fall, and had declined to $410 by the start of the 26th. By the end of the week, at the close of September 27, the price had completely returned to the price range that was established at the beginning of the week. September 27th ended, thus closing out the week, at $402.
Updated: 2014-09-29