Another day. Another record for bitcoin.<\/p>\n
The most widely used digital currency will now cost you about $6,125 apiece after blowing past the $5,000 and $6,000 price levels for the first time earlier this month. Bitcoin\u2019s total value is just over $100 billion, meaning it makes up more than half of the overall cryptocurrency market.<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrency prices have been unfazed by recent regulatory crackdowns across the world and skepticism from Wall Street stalwarts including Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer Jamie Dimon.<\/p>\n
More than $3 billion has poured into initial coin offerings this year despite warnings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and other government watchdogs.<\/p>\n
The price of ether, the second most valuable virtual coin, has climbed 8% in the past week, eclipsing bitcoin\u2019s 4.8 percent gain during the same period, according to Coinmarketcap.com. That comes amid cautious comments from Advanced Micro Devices Inc, a company that makes hardware for mining ether.<\/p>\n
“In terms of the headwinds, we have the semi-custom seasonality and we\u2019re also predicting that there will be some leveling-off of some of the cryptocurrency demand,” Advanced Micro Devices chief executive officer Lisa Su said last week on the company\u2019s third-quarter earnings call.<\/p>\n
Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock Monday, citing the likelihood of a significant slowdown in graphics-chip sales to cryptocurrency miners.<\/p>\n “We believe that the cryptocurrency mining demand should fade in the coming quarters, similar to what AMD indicated on its conference call,”\u00a0Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore wrote in a note to clients. “We think this creates a large hole for the company next year.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Bitcoin2-1.png\")
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