Traders are happy because the SEC is expected to rule on a Bitcoin ETF by March 11.Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports  After assembling a research team in 2014, the People’s Bank of China has done trial runs of its prototype cryptocurrency.That’s taking it a step closer to becoming one of the first major central banks to issue digital money that can be used for anything from buying noodles to purchasing a car.At the same time as it builds up its own capabilities, the PBOC is increasing scrutiny of bitcoin and other private digital tenders.It doesn’t want a bitcoin bubble to blow up.And since currencies have historically been issued by the state, not private players, it doesn’t want to cede the cryptocurrency space to companies it has no control over.Chinese people have embraced online payments for just about everything.To buy a can of Coke, thirsty commuters scan QR codes on their smartphones rather than feed coins into a vending machine.At Lunar New Year gatherings, money is exchanged via a few presses on a smartphone instead of crisp notes handed over in red envelopes.

All of that poses a challenge to the PBOC’s status as the central bank of both the digital and physical realms.So if you can’t beat them, join them.“Getting to know more precisely how much banks lend, where the money goes and the pace of credit creation is key to curbing money laundering and making monetary policy more effective,” said Duan Xinxing, vice president of Beijing-based OKCoin Co., one of the country’s biggest bitcoin exchanges.Issuing digital currency will make it easier for the PBOC to monitor risk in the financial system and track transactions economy-wide, he said.OKCoin is among cryptocurrency exchanges that has recently taken steps to halt bitcoin withdrawals amid efforts to clamp down on capital outflows.In January 2016, the PBOC said it will have its own cryptocurrency “soon,” but there has still been no formal start date announced.In the meantime, there’s been strong advocacy from senior officials, including Fan Yifei, one of the PBOC’s deputy governors.

“Cutting costs is an obvious benefit, but the impact of shifting to blockchain-based digital money from the current payment structure goes beyond that,” said Larry Cao, director of content at the CFA Institute in Hong Kong.bitcoin tokyo exchange“There’s a potential you can pay anybody in the system, any bank, and any merchant directly.caja fuerte bitcoinBlockchain will change the whole infrastructure.ethereum kopen paypalThis is revolutionary.” For the PBOC, using blockchain, the technology that underpins the digital currency bitcoin, will allow it to trace transactions and collect “real-time, complete and authentic” data to compile precise monetary indicators such as money supply growth, OKCoin’s Duan said.storia dei bitcoin

“The transparency of economic activities in every corner in the country will significantly improve,” Duan said.“The central bank will have unprecedented knowledge of how the economy runs.” So instead of relying on monthly surveys of businesses, or collations of spending from the statistics authority, the PBOC and therefore the government would have real-time readings on the pulse of consumers.ethereum jobs londonPolicies could then be fine tuned on a day-to-day, even hour-to-hour basis, giving an unprecedented level of precision to monetary management.bitcoin qt hackedBitcoin crossed the psychologically key $2,500 level Wednesday to a record after a late Tuesday announcement from the Digital Currency Group alleviated worries about a fractious debate among cryptocurrency investors and technological developers.bitcoin global ledger

"I think it's mostly to do with the fact they may have ended the ongoing political stalemate over scaling may be over," Andrew Keys, head of global business development at blockchain software developer ConsenSys, told CNBC in an email.bitcoin litecoin scryptBlockchain is the technology behind bitcoin that many expect can have broader, transformative applications in industries such as financial services.litecoin market capBitcoin rose more than 10 percent to an all-time high of $2,537.16, after earlier in the day topping $2,400 for the first time, according to CoinDesk.The latest move marks a more than $500 gain since Saturday, when the digital currency first topped $2,000.That brings bitcoin's 5-day gain to just over 40 percent and its gain for May so far to 88 percent.Bitcoin has more than doubled this year, up more than 160 percent with Wednesday afternoon's surge.

The scaling agreement is a significant step forward for proponents of the digital currency.Fifty-six companies around the world and 83 percent of bitcoin miners supported the "Bitcoin Scaling Agreement," according to the Digital Currency Group.The document lays out an upgrade that should increase bitcoin's transaction capacity.Brian Kelly, CEO of BKCM and a CNBC contributor, said the market sentiment was most important for bitcoin prices."This upgrade is needed because more applications can be built on top of bitcoin and more value can be added to bitcoin," he said.Kelly manages a fund focusing on digital currencies.Trade denominated in Korean won also increased a share of total volume — up from single digits Tuesday to more than 12 percent Wednesday, according to CryptoCompare.To be sure, bitcoin is a highly volatile asset, and analysts remained cautious that the Digital Currency Group's agreement sounded the all-clear for the currency.Alex Sunnarborg, a research analyst at CoinDesk, pointed out that "not everyone is on board" with the scaling agreement as they felt it was rushed.