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This week’s summary of various cryptocurrency news and developments:

New developments:

A CNBC commentator claims Bitcoin could reach $1 million thanks to ransomware

CNBC commentator Jim Cramer, on the show “Squawk on the Street”, recently responded to a previously made comment by Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget who said Bitcoin could reach $1 million. According to Cramer Bitcoin could reach such an incredible value thanks to ransomware extortionists who force companies to stockpile Bitcoin in order to pay off the ransom whenever they are attacked. In his response, Cramer stated:

  • I think it could because the European banks are frantically trying to buy them so they can pay off ransomware. It’s a short-term way to be able to deal with cybersecurity. It is the way to pay off the bad guys

Cryptocurrency mining caused an AMD GPU shortage

According to various news outlets, including Motherboard and PC Gamer, the cryptocurrency market surge has led to an explosion in demand for AMD GPUs, who were sold out in most online listings. In fact, those who manage to find these AMD GPUs on sale might not want to buy them, as they are selling at inflated prices due to stock shotage. Miners are picking AMD GPUs instead of NVIDIA cards because these are better at handling different mining algorithms, such as Ethereum’s DaggerHashimoto or ZCash’s Equihash, and are currently cheaper than NVIDIA alternatives with the same power.

Demand has been so high that even though AMD’s partners are happy they are getting a lot of sales, they are also worried this is going to cost them their position in the gaming world, as cryptocurrency miners aren’t buying these GPUs to play Skyrim, they’re buying them to mine altcoins.

Billionaire Mark Cuban claims Bitcoin is a bubble, Bitcoiners disagree

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban recently tweeted out that he believes Bitcoin is a bubble, and that he just doesn’t know how or when it will correct. Mark’s tweet came after he shared on the social media website that he had subscribed to Inside.com’s Bitcoin newsletter, which led to various cryptocurrency enthusiasts tweeting at him. After Mark Cuban’s tweets started spreading throughout the cryptocurrency community, Bitcoin’s price fell by about $200 after nearly reaching $3,000.

The billionaire also revealed he has been using Coinbase for years, and that he once bought about $20 worth of Bitcoin just to learn about the cryptocurrency. Moreover, Mark Cuban revealed that even though he is skeptical about Bitcoin, he believes blockchain technology will be at the core of most transactions in the future.

https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/872115728962510849

OKCoin affirms it is not listing Ethereum Classic (ETC), suggests reports were bought

As reported by DeepDotWeb last week, two of the “big three” Chinese exchanges, OKCoin and Huobi, were introducing Ethereum trading to their platforms, while BTCC used a Twitter poll to determine which altcoin it would add to its platform, the winner being Ethereum Classic (ETC). Following the announcements, OKCoin recently stated that it will not be listing Ethereum Classic, and clarified that reports claiming the exchange would list the cryptocurrency were bought or are fake. cnLedger clarified on Twitter:

World affairs:

Romania’s Central Bank says virtual currencies are volatile and unsafe

The Banca Naţională a României (BNR), Romania’s central bank has, back in 2015, warned the public about the risks of digital currencies, stating that Bitcoin wasn’t a foreign nor a national currency. It also claimed it would keep track of new developments to see how the cryptocurrency evolved over time. According to local business publication Profit.ro, BNR pressed that Bitcoin is a volatile currency and has low security when compared to fiat currencies. The banks documents, roughly translated by CryptoCoinsNews, read:

  • The National Bank of Romania maintains its previously communicated views and continues to warn users of virtual currency risks that they face. Virtual currencies have a very high volatility and a low security relative to currencies issued by central banks and regulated transparent electronic currencies. Virtual currency holders have no guarantee that it can be used for buying goods and services in the future as legal tender.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin met this week

After a meeting with various international businessmen, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.. According to the Kremlin, in the meeting the two discussed the opportunities blockchain technology could have, and the establishment of ties with Russian partners. On Reddit, Vitalik described the meeting as a “brief conversation”. The Kremlin’s statements read:

  • Mr Buterin described the opportunities for using the technologies he developed in Russia. The President supported the idea of establishing ties with possible Russian partners.

Financial:

Bitcoin’s dominance keeps decreasing, despite coming close to $3,000 per coin this week

Bitcoin’s dominance is now at 44.2%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Even though the number one cryptocurrency’s dominance keeps decreasing, it nearly reached $3,000 this week, right before billionaire Mark Cuban tweeted out it was in a bubble, as reported above. At the time of press, one Bitcoin is currently worth $2,876.99, and Bitcoin’s total market cap is at $47.1 billion. Bitcoin’s increasing value and decreasing dominance show us that altcoins have been gaining a lot of momentum lately – so much so, the cryptocurrency total market cap has passed $100 billion.

Ethereum hit a new all-time high, as it now accounts for more than 50% of Bitcoin’s market cap

Ethereum has been surging throughout the year. So much so, some speculate the cryptocurrency may overtake Bitcoin in the near future, as it keeps on rising at incredible rates. At the time of press, one Ether token is worth $293.97, and Ethereum’s total market cap is of $27 billion, making it worth over 25% of the total cryptocurrency market cap.

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