Bitcoin (USD) Price

Pricing News

German Authorities Sold $14 Million in Seized Cryptos Over Price Fears

May 29, 2018 at 10:00 | Wolfie Zhao

Prosecutors in Germany have made an emergency sale of cryptocurrencies seized in two investigations due to concerns over price volatility.

Bitcoin Price Faces Last Major Support Level Before $5K

May 29, 2018 at 09:00 | Omkar Godbole

Bitcoin is down again and looks set to test another key support level at $6,900, the technical charts indicate.

Bitcoin Bears In Charge But Indecision Could Spur Rally

May 28, 2018 at 10:25 | Omkar Godbole

While the odds are still stacked in favor of bitcoin's bears, marketplace exhaustion may have provided a chance for a brief rally.

IHS Markit Has A Plan to Tokenize A $1 Trillion Loan Market

May 28, 2018 at 04:00 | Ian Allison

IHS Markit is developing a blockchain-based system to handle cash payments in syndicated loans – and eventually, in a wider range of transactions.

Just One Top Crypto Bucked This Week's Market Downturn

May 25, 2018 at 15:15 | Omkar Godbole

Shadowing the losses in bitcoin, the top-25 cryptocurrencies have all fallen over the last seven days – all bar one, that is.

Bitcoin Faces Close Below Long-Term Support In First Since 2015

May 25, 2018 at 10:00 | Omkar Godbole

If bitcoin closes the week below the 50-week moving average it will increase the likelihood of a sell-off to $6,000

Revolut App Adds XRP, Bitcoin Cash to Crypto Options

May 24, 2018 at 14:35 | Daniel Palmer

Mobile banking app Revolut now lets users buy, sell and hold Ripple's XRP and bitcoin cash, in addition to bitcoin, litecoin and ether.

Bitcoin Faces Drop to $7K as Bull Defense Crumbles

May 24, 2018 at 09:30 | Omkar Godbole

Bitcoin looks set to test $7,000 in the next 24 hours, courtesy of a bear flag breakdown on the technical charts.

Coinbase Is Rebranding Its Crypto Exchange Service

May 23, 2018 at 20:26 | Nikhilesh De

Coinbase announced Wednesday it was rebranding its GDAX platform as Coinbase Pro. Additionally, the company has acquired Paradex, a relay platform.

Bitcoin Price Faces Bear Indicator Not Seen Since 2014

May 23, 2018 at 09:00 | Omkar Godbole

Following bitcoin's recent losses, a key long-term trend indicator is looking increasingly bearish.

Bitcoin symbol

The Bitcoin sign is part of Unicode 10.0 (released June 2017) [1] with code point U+20BF (₿). As of June 2017, font support for the Bitcoin sign is in macOS Sierra, iOS, Android O beta, Windows 10 Creators Update and several Linux releases. After being rejected in 2011, [2] the Bitcoin sign was accepted for Unicode in November 2015 [3] and first appeared in Unicode 10.0 in 2017. [1]

Historically, similar looking Unicode symbols such as the Thai Baht (฿) have been used because the Unicode standard at the time had not included a symbol for Bitcoin. The capital letter B with stroke (Ƀ) was also used in contexts where it was likely that using the Baht symbol would cause confusion.

Currency code

The ISO 4217 currency code for Bitcoin is XBT. However, at the moment it is an unofficial code according to the ISO 4217 standard. The unit name BTC is also commonly used to represent one bitcoin, but it violates ISO 4217 because it begins with "BT", the country code of Bhutan. Bhutan does not actually use the code BTC for any currency, and XBT has not yet defined which unit it represents (just that it represents some unit of bitcoin), so the Bitcoin community is likely to continue using mainly BTC as a unit name and currency code for some time.

A formal application by the Financial Standards Working Group of the Bitcoin Foundation is nearing completion. [still true?] This application would request ISO 4217 standard to support XBT.

Inserting the symbol

In lieu of the Bitcoin symbol being included in the Unicode standard and its adoption into typographic fonts, BTC can be included in many documents by other means. This section focuses on online publications but the basic concepts apply to all publishing forms.

A package including a high resolution raster image with transparency (PNG), vector image (SVG) and TrueType font (TTF) is available [4]

The Bitcoin symbol can be inserted as an image, as is done in the opening sentence of this page. The benefit of this method is that any client that can display images in line with text will be able to display the symbol. The down side to this method is that as an image, it does not always degrade as nicely as a font. If using raster image, scaling the image up/down (to fit with surrounding text) may result in pixelation, inappropriate filtering, and other issues typical of raster images. If using a vector image, scaling concerns do not apply but the display would still not benefit from font-specific rendering features such as hinting. Both forms also suffer from client-specific considerations such as whether or not a box will be drawn around the image and the general inability to easily style its display; applying color requires specific CSS, and italicizing would require a CSS skew transform, for example.

When using an image in running text on a webpage it's generally a good idea to set the alt property to an appropriate value. For example, when depicting amounts you might use alt="BTC". Text including the symbol copied and pasted will then remain syntactically correct, replacing the symbol with BTC.

Sample HTML code:

Font Awesome icon

The Font Awesome collection of icons and symbols also includes the Bitcoin symbol. [5]

Sample HTML code:

As few fonts include the Bitcoin symbol, a special font was created by Theymos, originally for the BitcoinTalk forum. [6] The font consists of only the Bitcoin symbol ( BTC ) used in the glyph for the capital letter B. The text "BTC" can be entered and styled with this font, causing it to be replaced entirely with just the symbol on those systems that support this font, while on other systems the text "BTC" is retained. Similarly, copying and pasting text will still retain "BTC". This method is used on BitcoinTalk and the Bitcoin Wiki.

Why should the Bitcoin community adopt this symbol?
Since the birth of Bitcoin, a large number of logos and symbols have been introduced. The most popular is a bold falling serif B, intersected by two vertical dashes à la U.S. dollar.

The current Bitcoin logo Bitcoin symbol: the Ƀ character

The problem is that the image on the left is a logo! It’s a unique image file, just like it could be used by a company to sell or promote a product. Currencies are represented by symbols like $, € or ¥, aiming to be used everywhere by everybody. The Thai Baht (฿) is sometimes used to represent Bitcoin, but this certainly raises a problem of differenciation between the Thai Baht and Bitcoin.

Ƀ is not a logo but a symbol: Unicode Character U+0243 can be used any Unicode text editor.

This unicode character was originally used as a phonetic symbol to represent or transcribe the sound [β]. Thus the context of this use does not allow any confusion with the Bitcoin currency.

The idea to use Ƀ as a symbol for Bitcoin is not new ; this character was one of the original candidates to represent Bitcoin, but most of the community’s proposals were more fancy logos than a manifesto for the usage of a symbol. A logo is defined as a centralized graphic identity composed of colors, fonts, and shapes chosen by a small group of individuals. Bitcoin, however, is a decentralized currency – it’s neither a brand nor a product or company, and what we need for representing Bitcoin is a symbol rather than a logo.

Examples of Unicode Character U+0243 in different typefaces

The Ƀ symbol can be displayed in many fonts, some of which may already be installed on your computer. Here is a list of freely downloadable libre fonts that support the Ƀ symbol:

Arial and Times New Roman both support the Ƀ symbol as well. They are not libre fonts but they can be found on almost every systems.

Help us popularize Ƀ!
Create images, and use Ƀ in Bitcoin-related apps, websites and paper.

As a widely distributed, peer-to-peer digital currency, Bitcoin needs an open-source graphic identity, designed with open source software by and for the community. It has to be as minimal as possible to allow further adaptations. Because Ƀ is simple, extendable and perennial, it fulfills all those requirements.

Hacking time! The following tool will help you to design custom banners and buttons using the Ƀ symbol. It generates vector images (SVG) or PNG, ready to be embedded on your website. This logo is yours – customize it as you like with gradients, cat faces and unicorns to adapt it to your own personal designs!

All the images below are included in the graphic pack that you can download for free. You can also modify those images the way you want with your favorite vector editor such as the online tool mondrian.io, Inkscape or Illustrator.

Everything you need is here

This pack contains free high resolution and vector images, 2D and 3D source files, fonts, all under free / open source licenses.

Donations to this project are much appreciated:

You can send Bitcoins directly to our public key: 1JExeDAVZEzSoNRxeKEwYfWqR5eFgJBe8V

Participate

Feel free to improve this website and suggest new ideas on the Github repository. Images and 3D graphics are hosted on a dedicated “graphic pack” repository.

One of your question is not on the list? You can open an issue on the dedicated GitHub page.

About this project

Get notified when the project evolve!

Groups that already use Ƀ

Publications and articles about Ƀ

Initiated and designed by ECOGEX (contact)

CG artist: 3DMinfographie. Blender sources available for free in the graphic pack.

Online SVG editor: SVG-edit (used on Customize).

Made with free software and love. You can find the source of this website on GitHub, and modify the graphic pack on its own repository.

US Search Mobile Web

Welcome to the Yahoo Search forum! We’d love to hear your ideas on how to improve Yahoo Search.

The Yahoo product feedback forum now requires a valid Yahoo ID and password to participate.

You are now required to sign-in using your Yahoo email account in order to provide us with feedback and to submit votes and comments to existing ideas. If you do not have a Yahoo ID or the password to your Yahoo ID, please sign-up for a new account.

If you have a valid Yahoo ID and password, follow these steps if you would like to remove your posts, comments, votes, and/or profile from the Yahoo product feedback forum.

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Your search engine does not find any satisfactory results for searches. It is too weak. Also, the server of bing is often off

I created a yahoo/email account long ago but I lost access to it; can y'all delete all my yahoo/yahoo account except for my newest YaAccount

I want all my lost access yahoo account 'delete'; Requesting supporter for these old account deletion; 'except' my Newest yahoo account this Account don't delete! Because I don't want it interfering my online 'gamble' /games/business/data/ Activity , because the computer/security program might 'scure' my Information and detect theres other account; then secure online activities/ business securing from my suspicion because of my other account existing will make the security program be 'Suspicious' until I'm 'secure'; and if I'm gambling online 'Depositing' then I need those account 'delete' because the insecurity 'Suspicioun' will program the casino game 'Programs' securities' to be 'secure' then it'll be 'unfair' gaming and I'll lose because of the insecurity can be a 'Excuse'. Hope y'all understand my explanation!

chithidio@Yahoo.com

i dont know what happened but i can not search anything.

Golf handicap tracker, why can't I get to it?

Why do I get redirected on pc and mobile device?

Rahyaftco@yahoo.com

RYAN RAHSAD BELL literally means

Question on a link

In the search for Anaïs Nin, one of the first few links shows a picture of a man. Why? Since Nin is a woman, I can’t figure out why. Can you show some reason for this? Who is he? If you click on the picture a group of pictures of Nin and no mention of that man. Is it an error?

Repair the Yahoo Search App.

Yahoo Search App from the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I went to the Yahoo Troubleshooting page but the article that said to do a certain 8 steps to fix the problem with Yahoo Services not working and how to fix the problem. Of course they didn't work.

I contacted Samsung thru their Samsung Tutor app on my phone. I gave their Technican access to my phone to see if there was a problem with my phone that stopped the Yahoo Search App from working. He went to Yahoo and I signed in so he could try to fix the Yahoo Search App not working. He also used another phone, installed the app from the Google Play Store to see if the app would do any kind of search thru the app. The Yahoo Search App just wasn't working.

I also had At&t try to help me because I have UVERSE for my internet service. My internet was working perfectly. Their Technical Support team member checked the Yahoo Search App and it wouldn't work for him either.

We can go to www.yahoo.com and search for any topic or website. It's just the Yahoo Search App that won't allow anyone to do web searches at all.

I let Google know that the Yahoo Search App installed from their Google Play Store had completely stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I told them that Yahoo has made sure that their Yahoo members can't contact them about anything.

I noticed that right after I accepted the agreement that said Oath had joined with Verizon I started having the problem with the Yahoo Search App.
No matter what I search for or website thru the Yahoo Search App it says the following after I searched for
www.att.com.

WEBPAGE NOT AVAILABLE
This webpage at gttp://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geJGq8BbkrgALEMMITE5jylu=X3oDMTEzcTjdWsyBGNvbG8DYmyxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDTkFQUEMwxzEEc2VjA3NylRo=10/Ru=https%3a%2f%2fwww.att.att.com%2f/Rk=2/Es=plkGNRAB61_XKqFjTEN7J8cXA-
could not be loaded because:
net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED

I tried to search for things like www.homedepot.com. The same thing happened. It would say WEBPAGE NOT AVAILABLE. The only thing that changed were all the upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.
Then it would again say
could not be loaded because:
net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED

This is the same thing that happened when Samsung and At&t tried to do any kind of searches thru the Yahoo Search App.

Yahoo needs to fix the problem with their app.

Yahoo Search App from the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I went to the Yahoo Troubleshooting page but the article that said to do a certain 8 steps to fix the problem with Yahoo Services not working and how to fix the problem. Of course they didn't work.

Bitcoin / U.S. Dollar BTCUSD

BTCUSD Crypto Chart

Technical Analysis Summary

Related Symbols

First off let me say I am not a fan of Elliott Waves, now I know some traders rely solely on E.W. but as time goes on and they gain more experience those analysts will eventually come to the same conclusion as I have. Elliott Waves are subjective, I rely on very little wave analysis, I do take it into account, but I never base a trade solely on them. That being .

The target of 6900/7000 did not get reached, because it was getting bought at the lows yesterday. In my last update i posted i said that it was clear that bearish momentum was dropping. A few hours before that i showed a bullish wedge that could possibly show a reversal as well, but the price dropped below it, which happens very often but than it should go up .

Nothing has changed since my previous update, price is still moving sideways. Yesterday it looked like Bitcoin was slipping and would make another drop but there were some buyers who pushed the price back into the triangle again. In one of my previous updates, i mentioned that i was thinking about 2 options. A bear flag, which would mean the price has to go .

Hi Everyone, for today's Intraday trade we'll be shorting BITCOIN at $7450 please wait for the price of render at INTRA R1 in order to validate this pattern for more updates gives this analysis a Thumbs up!

BTCUSD , 240, Education

Hello! "When you go fishin' in a lake, you don't just row out to the middle and throw a line in the water. You go where the fish live - around the edge and near the sunken trees. Same way, you enter trades near the edges of congestion zones, where bulls or bears are so exhausted that a small amount of pressure can reverse a trend." Trading Ranges is where the .

What's up traders, I hope you're all having a good trading week. Let's analyse BTC/USD on the 4H chart. This analysis is a follow up of my previous analysis (See related ideas for information on this analysis) and I recommend viewing the previous analysis to better understand this new follow up analysis. Bitcoin is currently trading below a side-wards support .

In the previous idea we defined the current reversal zone as 6950-7100. Overnight the price dropped to 7040, triggering some limit orders: https://www.tradingview.com/chart/BTCUSD/emLvDuqG-Bitcoin-BTC-Buy-Levels/ I still expect the bottom to be formed in the next couple of days. There a couple of technical readings to consider: Key Support Area Bullish .

At the beginning I would like to say that I am still bearish, even if this scenario occurs. That would only mean that we would probably make a longer correction by 3-4 months before the final crash comes. So that some are not surprised: The final crash does not mean for me that Bitcoin will drop to zero. It just means that we will see one last impulse down before .

Hello traders and fellow gamblers! So this is the promised compiled chart that has the magical Gann Square, Fib circles (I added one more) and updated Fib fan, as well as Fib retracements and extensions. Bearish scenario: Sooner or later we are going to bounce. If we bounce without breaking the giant triangle with thick orange line at its base, bulls have a .

Hey Guys & Girls, SONG OF THE DAY. I'll never miss a beat, I'm lightning on my feet And that's what they don't see mmm mmm, that's what they don't see mmm mmm I'm dancing on my own (dancing on my own), I'll make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go) And that's what they don't know mmm mmm, that's what they don't know mmm mmm But I keep cruising, can't stop, .

11:34 Gmt 06:34 Est Bitcoin Coinbase Update OK. So a little a break higher to bust out bear stops around 7166 - stop hunters and bots! But at least a little continuation pattern looks to be forming now giving us break points either side of the smallest parallels . Only gets interesting again once we see a break either up or down - which we can follow with .

BTCUSD , 1D, Short ,

The bottom I talked about in my last update (link below) is actually only A wave. The whole thing is A wave; The projected B and C waves are plotted in this chart and things dont look good for bitcoin I feel sorry for all bitcoin holders including myself for squandering my money in it. I hope everyone recovers their investments. If you want me to continue .

BTCUSD , 1M, Long ,

Bitcoin has produced a bull pennant on the monthly time frame and higher highs and lowers lows on the monthly candle. Looks good on this time frame.

An in depth analysis of Bitcoin shows that not only has its price increased with time, but its rate of increase has increased as well. The above chart demonstrates this analysis and comprises of two types of Bitcoin (BTC) rallies: Rally X and Rally Y. The former comprises of a period of 12 months and is an extended rally whereas the latter comprises of 6.5 months .

a potential bear cypher advanced formation is setting up.

BTCUSD , 60, Long ,

Since yesterday, little has changed. The price slowly decreases in the local wave (B)-blue, in which the triple with the finale diagonal triangle in the wave (c)-red. As well as yesterday I expect a pitch in the wave (C)-blue, and following decline in the wave C-red may continue.

Is There a Bitcoin Ticker Symbol?

By David Zeiler , Associate Editor , Money Morning • @DavidGZeiler • May 25, 2017

Start the conversation

Updated Nov. 29, 2017: The Bitcoin price has crossed over $11,000, but many still aren’t making money on this rise. And what most don’t know is how to find the fastest cryptocurrency profits. Stay ahead of the money – and make more – with our free, real-time Cryptocurrency Profit Alerts sent to your inbox. Sign up now here.

The basic Bitcoin ticker symbol comes in two flavors: BTC and XBT.

BTC is the informal ticker symbol Bitcoin was given shortly after its birth; XBT is its currency code, compliant with the rules of the International Organization for Standardization. The Bitcoin Foundation has applied to the ISO to formally approve XBT.

Further complicating matters was the Aug. 1, 2017 hard fork that created Bitcoin Cash. This new flavor of Bitcoin also has two ticker symbols. Yikes!

First, here's how we ended up with two Bitcoin ticker symbols for the "legacy" Bitcoin…

Why We Have Two Bitcoin Ticker Symbols

In Bitcoin's early years (prior to 2013), the BTC ticker symbol was commonly used as a shorthand for Bitcoin. It's a clear and logical abbreviation for Bitcoin.

Because of that and because it originated shortly after Bitcoin's launch in 2009, the BTC ticker remains in use.

[ Free Book: The secrets in this book helped one reader make a $185,253 profit in just eight days. Learn how to claim your copy here…]

But when it came time to assign a currency code to Bitcoin, BTC didn't work. The problem is that the first two letters, "BT," happen to be the country code for Bhutan – an ISO no-no. (It wasn't a conflict with Bhutan's currency, the ngultrum, which uses the ticker symbol BTN.)

The Bitcoin Sign

Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin also has two symbols to be used like a dollar sign to denote bitcoin amounts in text.

One (shown in the photo) has double bars running through a capital "B," but can't be created from a keyboard.

That complication gave rise to the second Bitcoin symbol, Ƀ. It's one of the dozens of alternative characters built into most standard typefaces. You can find it in the "Symbol" menu in Microsoft Word.

So in 2013, a new Bitcoin ticker symbol was created, XBT, for use specifically as a currency code. The "X" prefix was chosen because Bitcoin is a "supranational" currency, not belonging to any one nation. (Other examples of this include gold, which uses the symbol XAU, and silver, which uses XAG.)

BTC was too entrenched to fade away, though. Some sites use both symbols; others prefer one over the other.

Here are some tips on using these Bitcoin ticker symbols…

Where and How to Use BTC and XBT

If you want check the price of Bitcoin against any other currency in a Google search, for example, you use the BTC ticker.

So to get the latest Bitcoin price in dollars on Google, you'd type in "BTC USD" (you may have to add price to get the currency price box to pop up).

But the foreign exchange website XE.com uses only the XBT ticker symbol. And another currency conversion website, Oanda, uses both BTC and XBT.

Most Bitcoin exchanges, such as Gemini, Poloniex, and Bitfinex, stick with the traditional BTC symbol. But a few, like Kraken, adopted the XBT symbol.

Typically, XBT is also used on financial news and data sites such as Bloomberg or CNN Money.

But on other sites – including popular ones like Yahoo Finance and Google Finance – investors looking for a Bitcoin price quote won't get anywhere with either BTC or XBT.

For those sites, you need to use the ticker symbol NYXBT, formally known as the NYSE Bitcoin Index. It doesn't represent Bitcoin itself, as do BTC and XBT, but is a proprietary index created by the New York Stock Exchange in 2015.

The NYXBT is only updated once daily, however, at approximately 6 p.m. Eastern time. So if you're interested in tracking the minute-by-minute adventures of the Bitcoin markets, you'll be better served looking on the Bitcoin exchanges or using the Coindesk website.

And as if that weren't confusing enough, along comes Bitcoin Cash with two more ticker symbols…

The Bitcoin Cash Ticker Symbols

Bitcoin Cash is a variant of Bitcoin that allows larger blocks – eight megabytes rather than one megabyte – so that more transactions can fit in each block. This was one group's answer to the growing problem of having more transactions than the Bitcoin network could process.

When Bitcoin Cash "forked" from legacy Bitcoin, it became a separate cryptocurrency the required its own ticker symbol. This was especially critical on the Bitcoin exchanges, where the two versions trade against each other as a currency pair.

The logical Bitcoin Cash ticker symbol was BCC, which several exchanges adopted. Problem is, another cryptocurrency called BitConnect already uses the BCC ticker symbol.

So another Bitcoin Cash symbol sprung up: BCH. Some Bitcoin exchanges use the BCH ticker symbol, but others continue to use BCC. The lack of a standard is exasperating, but there's no authority to enforce one.

Unless something changes, we're stuck with multiple Bitcoin ticker symbols.

Apart from these, there are several other Bitcoin-related ticker symbols you should know about…

Bitcoin millionaires are buying Lamborghinis as a status symbol of crypto wealth, and the carmaker says sales are rocketing

Crypto millionaires love their Lamborghinis. Lamborghini

Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrency) millionaires are buying Lamborghinis as the ultimate status symbol in their community.
People who made riches in bitcoin and ether have bought the Italian supercar for as little as $135, because they invested in crypto before its value spiked.
At the same time, Lamborghini reported record sales in 2017.

Silicon Valley may be flush with cash, but its monarchs often don't like to flaunt their wealth. The culture encourages tech's casual billionaires (or mere millionaires) to stay humble, spend on sneakers and hoodies instead of parties, and focus on the work more than the spoils.

So far, cryptocurrency millionaires have been the exception.

People who made their riches in bitcoin and ether, the second largest cryptocurrency by market value, are buying Lamborghinis as the ultimate status symbol in their community.

The sexy Italian sports car has become an internet meme: When a new coin promises to make buyers a lot of money, someone might ask, "When's Lambo?" on social media. They want to know how long it will be until the holder can afford the supercar, which starts at $200,000.

Peter Saddington, a 35-year-old coder living in Atlanta, paid 45 bitcoins to ride off in a 2015 Lamborghini Huracan (price tag: $200,000) last fall, at the height of the crypto craze. Those coins cost less than $3 a piece when Saddington bought the digital currency back in 2011.

"Buying the Lambo with bitcoin is proof it can be used for real transactions, buying really cool stuff," Saddington told Yahoo Finance in 2017. "It's not only used by criminals."

The car was used, and Saddington paid the seller directly in bitcoin. He paid the dealership a transaction fee of $7.95 and the sales tax in cash, according to Yahoo Finance and CNBC.

Peter Saddington bought a Lamborghini with the riches he made in bitcoin. (The Audi R8 is pictured.) YouTube/BiteSizeBitcoin

In 2015, realtor Piper Moretti, whose company The Crypto Realty Group specializes in helping people buy homes with crypto, saw one of her first crypto-clients buy a Lambo with bitcoin.

A family from the East Coast fell in love with a $3.2 million home on Manhattan Beach. Her client, who asked not to be named, wanted to pay in bitcoin. But the seller's agent was dead-set against it. Moretti said they had to find a way to show they weren't trying to scam the seller.

Around that time, the price of bitcoin spiked, and Moretti's client decided to spend some of the extra money on a Lambo from an Orange County dealership that accepts bitcoin as payment.

Moretti told her client to "send me everything you have on this," including all the receipts and documents from the transaction, which she then provided to the seller's agent.

"The Lambo actually helped us get the house," Moretti told Business Insider.

Cryptocurrency is "not just internet-nerd money," she added. "You can actually buy things."

Lamborghini sales are on fire

Still, buying a Lamborghini may be "the single acceptable way to spend money" in the cryptocurrency community, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has blasted crypto investors in the past for flaunting their new wealth.

"If all that we accomplish is lambo memes and immature puns about 'sharting,' then I WILL leave," Buterin said in a Twitter rant in December.

An illustration of Buterin, dressed as a religious icon and holding a red Lamborghini Aventador between his outstretched palms, went viral on Reddit in 2017 and has been widely shared since.

We don't know how many crypto millionaires have been minted or how many bought the car. But a recent article in Quartz points out that as the price of ether rises, so do Lamborghini sales.

The luxury automobile maker delivered a record 3,815 vehicles to customers in 2017. It was the seventh consecutive year of sales growth, according to Lamborghini.

A general manager at Lamborghini Newport Beach in Costa Mesa, California, told CNBC that the dealership had "over 10 transactions" involving cryptocurrency in December, when bitcoin reached $19,000 per coin. That's up from about two transactions a month between 2013 and 2016.

Crypto millionaires aren't necessarily responsible for the uptick in Lamborghini sales. A relatively small number of people are invested in cryptocurrencies, and many fewer bought in before the price of bitcoin and ether spiked in 2017 — making some holders enough money to buy a sports car.

Plus, Lamborghini rolled out new car models, the Huracan Performante and the Aventador S, in 2017. Both proved to be monster hits, which explains the carmaker's sales bump.

Fans of crypto and Lamborghini can calculate when their crypto investment will create enough gains for them to buy the supercar on a parody website called When-Lambo.com.

A disclaimer on the website says: "The results of the calculation," which is based on the coin's value over the last seven days, "are completely fictional."

Are The Bitcoin Symbols ‘XBT’ & ‘BTC’ Different?

Spoiler: No, XBT is not different from BTC. These two symbols are used synonymously to refer to ‘Bitcoin’.

But I think only knowing the spoiler information is not enough, and it is my duty on CoinSutra to tell you everything important surrounding Bitcoin.

So right now, we are going to talk about Bitcoin’s ticker symbol – i.e. BTC (aka XBT).

I am sure some of you might be thinking:

Why do we need two ticker symbols?

To answer this, let’s remember that Bitcoin is not a sovereign currency, meaning it is not a national currency produced by any specific entity.

It exists with no single point of origin.

And being nationless and identity-less is what makes it decentralized. This is what takes it out of the control of anyone. But this brings a few challenges…

One of those challenges is how and what to name it.

It’s just like having a type of food that goes by different names in different countries or different communities. This happens because there is no standard procedure for naming.

Similarly, Bitcoin, being decentralized, is called by two different abbreviated names (i.e BTC and XBT) because there is no one in charge to set naming standards.

But the interesting thing is that even the founder of Bitcoin (Satoshi Nakamoto) didn’t give an abbreviation to Bitcoin. I believe he did this purposely so that the community could have full control over the coin.

Also, Satoshi mentioned the word “Bitcoin” only twice in Bitcoin’s white paper. He did this because it’s not the name that matters but rather the overall concept .

Why Is It Called BTC?

Bitcoin is called BTC because it makes logical sense – the acronym follows the sound of the name.

So this has been the prevailing Bitcoin symbol.

But now, some have also started using the symbol XBT.

Why Is It Called XBT?

The popular ticker name ‘BTC’ violates ISO 4217, and as according to this standard, it goes against the currency of Bhutan.

What?! What does Bhutan have to do with this?!

According to ISO 4217, which defines rules for national currencies and their nomenclatures and also non-government-backed assets such as Gold (XAU) and Silver (XAG), the first 2 letters of the 3 letter character should denote the country code and the last letter should denote the initial letter of the national currency.

CNY (Chinese Yuan) – China (CN) and its national currency Yuan
JPY (Japanese Yen) – Japan (JP) and its national currency Yen
USD (United States Dollar) – United States (US) and its national currency Dollar
CND (Canadian Dollar) – Canada (CN) and its national currency Dollar
INR (Indian Rupee) – India (IN) and its national currency Rupee

So “BTC” conflicts with Bhutan’s currency which is BTN (Bhutanese Ngultrum).

That’s why some use the alternative ticker name “XBT”.

Here is a screenshot from a popular exchange BitMEX where XBT sign is used to denote Bitcoin:

Exchanges Using Symbol XBT

Some exchanges use XBT, but not all. Also, most merchants are still referring to Bitcoin as BTC.

A couple of exchanges that I know of using XBT are:

The Confusion (XBT or BTC)

One of the main reasons for talking about this topic is to brush off the confusion over Bitcoin’s two ticker symbols. Why?

Because Bitcoin is bigger than its symbols.

Also, some new users in the cryptosphere tend to get confused by XBT and XRP.

Ripple is XRP and Bitcoin is XBT. Don’t get confused.

Also, don’t get trapped in scams or schemes run by people telling you that XBT and BTC are two different currencies. They’re not.

Which Do I Like Better?

If you ask me which symbol I like best, then I would without a doubt say ‘BTC’ because it naturally sounds more like a short form of ‘Bitcoin’ and also contains all the important syllables.

Also, since it goes beyond “traditional” currencies and commodities, I don’t feel it’s important to follow the mold of any international naming standard.

BTC sounds better, looks better, and for my taste, is better.

So that’s all from my side in this article. I hope that clears up some doubts!

Which Bitcoin symbol do you prefer? XBT or BTC? Do you think both are terrible? What would you call the almighty Bitcoin instead? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Here are a few hand-picked educational posts that you should read next:

Bitcoin Finally Gets an Approved Unicode Character Point

As obvious an oversight as it could be, attempting to type the bitcoin symbol via text, email, or on webpages is not the easiest thing. However, after a successful vote at the latest Unicode meeting, users will be able to easily type the character.

The #Bitcoin sign is accepted by Unicode. My second addition to Unicode, probably more useful than the group mark. https://t.co/ZOoBGGMmX3

— Ken Shirriff (@kenshirriff) November 3, 2015

“The Bitcoin symbol is clearly popular enough that it should be in Unicode,” said Ken Shirriff, the author of the proposal, in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine. “Getting the Bitcoin symbol into the Unicode standard was clearly the right thing for Unicode and the right thing for the Bitcoin community.”

Shirriff, who showed how one could mine for bitcoin with pencil and paper or with a 55 year old mainframe, felt that it was a huge oversight to not have the symbol part of Unicode. Since he had experience getting another symbol approved by Unicode, “I figured I needed to make this happen.”

In his proposal, he wrote, “There is substantial demand for [Bitcoin Symbol] to be added to Unicode, the user community supports adding the sign to Unicode and its addition would fill a significant gap in Unicode’s currency symbols. This proposal has the support of the Bitcoin Foundation as well as other Bitcoin organizations, companies and developers.”

This wasn’t his first time getting a new symbol added to Unicode. “I have been helping restore an IBM mainframe from the 1960s and it uses a strange character set (BCDIC). When I tried to write about the computer, I discovered that one symbol (the group mark symbol) was missing from Unicode. I figured I’d try to get that character added to Unicode, so I followed the steps that the power symbol people suggested, wrote up a proposal, and got the group mark symbol added to Unicode.”

Shirriff explained that part of the process was showing the symbol used in “running text. “People on reddit.com/r/bitcoin and bitcointalk.org were very helpful and gave me a ton of examples, everything from web pages to research papers,” he said. Originally, the Bitcoin Foundation was pushing to get the symbol added to Unicode, but after a year, there had been little progress. Shirriff submitted the proposal at the beginning of the month and gained acceptance last night.

“The Unicode 9.0 standard will come out in June, so the Bitcoin symbol should be in that version,” Shirriff said, though he cautioned that font support could take longer. Between the next bitcoin halving and this symbol, it seems like Summer of 2016 should be a very exciting time.

Jacob Donnelly is a full-time product manager and freelance journalist covering stocks, business and bitcoin. He runs a weekly digital currency and blockchain newsletter called Crypto Brief.

You Can Now Type the Bitcoin 'B' Symbol in Unicode Text

A decades-old computer character standard has been updated with a symbol for bitcoin.

The Unicode Consortium unveiled Unicode version 10.0 today, which includes the bitcoin "B" symbol. Overall, the update includes 8,518 characters, along with 56 new emojis.

The move comes more than a year and a half after the Unicode Consortium, which oversees the Unicode computing text standard, approved a proposal that itself constituted a years-long process. Efforts toward a bitcoin Unicode symbol date back to as early as 2011.

The proposal, submitted by technology blogger Ken Shirriff, was actually the second to be considered by the Consortium. An earlier push by Sander van Galoven of the Netherlands was rejected by the organization.

Image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

пятница, 29 июня 2018 г.

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