currency news
Bitcoin rallied before testing the $11,000 mark again Wednesday amid news that one of its original backers was abandoning the cryptocurrency.
[ibd-display-video id=3017249 width=50 float=left autostart=true] Payment processing company Stripe, which started accepting the currency in 2014, is dropping the asset as it was no longer a viable vehicle for transactions.
"Over the past year or two, as block size limits have been reached, Bitcoin has evolved to become better-suited to being an asset than being a means of exchange," Stripe product manager Tom Karlo said in a statement released late Tuesday.
He said that regular Bitcoin transactions now take too long to process, and that a single trade costs tens of U.S. dollars.
"Transaction confirmation times have risen substantially; this, in turn, has led to an increase in the failure rate of transactions denominated in fiat currencies. (By the time the transaction is confirmed, fluctuations in Bitcoin price mean that it's for the "wrong" amount.)," Karlo added.
Bitcoin hit a morning high of $11,418.64 on Coindesk , but pared gains to trade up 1.8% at the $11,031.65 mark. It had reached a spot price of $11,119.59 on Tuesday. Rival cryptocurrency Ethereum was up 4% at $1,026.93, but at one point fell as low as $965.81.
Among Bitcoin-related stocks, Riot Blockchain ( RIOT ) fell 1.7% on the stock market today , Long Blockchain ( LBCC ) was up 0.5%, Overstock.com (OSTK ) fell 2.3%, Marathon Patent Group ( MARA ) dropped 0.9%, and Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) was up 0.1%.
IBD'S TAKE : It is crucial for investors to understand the difference between cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the blockchain software programs that enable them. It is also important to get a feel for just how speculative digital moneys like Bitcoin are right now before investing directly in the currencies or through related exchange traded funds or stocks.
