The last days were relatively calm for Bitcoins. Cryptocurrency is traded in a range of 16 000 - 17 000 thousand dollars and almost does not make sharp movements in one direction or another. However, many wonder: what exactly pushed him to such levels, unthinkable a few months ago? In addition to such obvious reasons, as the launch of Bitcoin futures in the US, there are less obvious. According to the report of the Wall Street Journal, the last few months Bitcoin has become extremely popular among traders and the population of East Asian countries, and not only Japan and China. CryptoCompare states that Japan, South Korea and Vietnam last month provided more than 80% of the total trading volume.

Two exchanges from Chicago, CBOE and CME, which are the first in the world of regulated areas to start working with Bitcoin derivatives, are also considering the possibility of launching futures for Ethereum and Litecoin. This information, while not officially confirmed, appeared last night in the US media. The launch of the Bitcoin futures theoretically should consolidate the value of the cryptocurrencies as a new asset class. Successful trading in futures and options for Bitcoin virtually makes the emergence of similar contracts for other major cryptocurrencies, and primarily on the air and Litecoin.

Bitcoin is considered a haven for hyperinflation for Latin Americans - at least two new Cryptocurrency funds were opened in 2017 to meet the needs of wealthy Latin Americans, according to a local report. While both funds are located overseas, most of their clients are family offices from Argentina, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. "Latin America is very unstable," said Carlos Mosquera, founder of the Italian hedge fund Solidus Capital. "Cryptocurrencies turn into a new shelter for her."

According to anonymous source from Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs will clear the futures contracts for Bitcoins for its customers, when the futures markets will be launched on December 10 at the CBOE and on December 18 at the CME. This is an important stage for the Cryptocurrency industry, as the futures markets will provide access to the cryptocurrency-loans to customers of large banks and brokerage firms. If this information is confirmed, the pessimistic attitude of traditional market players to cryptocurrency-derivatives will begin to change, and their support will become a competitive advantage.

The Cryptocurrency company Coinbase announced the integration with the financial portal Yahoo Finance. Now Coinbase users will be able to view their balances in Yahoo Finance applications for iOS and Android. Perhaps it is thanks to this, as well as against the background of the rapid growth of Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies in general, the application of the Coinbase cryptocurrency wallet for iOS has become the most downloaded in the American App Store, even ahead of YouTube, Facebook Messenger and Instagram in the rating of applications. Just one month ago, the application took about 400th position.

The world's largest payment system Visa was constantly opposed to Bitcoin from the very first steps of the Cryptocurrency. First, this, of course, concerned turnover and throughput of the network. By these parameters, Bitcoin is hopelessly losing. However, he was able to strike (albeit formal) on the other side. Since the beginning of December, the Bitcoin rate has been growing rapidly: only for one day on December 6 the price increased by 2 thousand dollars, and for December 7 - by 3 thousand (excluding peaks on individual exchanges, where there was an increase and $ 5,000 during the day)! On some Korean exchanges, the price in terms of the official won rate reached 20 thousand dollars!

The suppression of the activities of an organized criminal group by Bulgarian law enforcement agencies in May led to the seizure of more than 200,000 Bitcoins - more than $ 3 billion at today's prices. According to a press release from the Center for the Rule of Law of South Eastern Europe (SELEC) of May 19, a regional organization consisting of 12 member states, including Bulgaria seized 213,519 BTC.

All Bitcoin traders should note two important dates in their calendars: December 10 and December 18. It is these days that the CBOE and CME group will begin trading in Bitcoins futures and options. Later, other traditional exchanges can join them. At the same time, not all traders understand that these events mean for the community and how the situation in the last two weeks of 2017 can change. The market of trade Bitcoin can be compared with the river. Its flow depends on constant quantities, and therefore it usually flows in one direction. On the other hand, the Bitcoin futures market is similar to the ocean with thermohaline circulation: its flow depends on several variables. Sharks of the futures market are not friendly at all - they will do everything to earn money, even if they have to go through the heads of other market participants.

London financial expert, CEO of NEX Group, Michael Spencer, was among those financiers who consider Bitcoin a bubble. Nevertheless, he believes that the price of Bitcoin will reach $ 20,000, and only after that, it will sharply go down. In an interview with Guy Johnson on Bloomberg TV in London, Spencer said he had no idea if the Bitcoin price would double before it halved, but noted that the $ 20,000 level could be reached "damn fast." Johnson called the growth of Bitcoin, which exceeded the $ 11,000 mark last Wednesday, "irrational."