Image of The Day, 19 of December: Bloomberg, The Telegraph, Forbes and Others

We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this day in the most indicative quotes are below!

1. BOTTOM AHEAD! (Bloomberg)

It looks like bitcoin has found a new bottom

Exactly a year after beginning its crash from close to $20,000, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency seems to have found a new bottom. Bitcoin extended gains for a fifth day on Wednesday, heading for the longest winning streak since September, based on Bitstamp pricing. The increase of more than 20 percent since Friday has carried most of the digital-token market with it.

“The market is extremely oversold by most metrics -- near the most oversold in Bitcoin’s history,” said Mike McGlone, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst in New York. McGlone pointed to the token’s relative-strength index this week and its “extreme discount” to most moving averages. Even so, he predicts Bitcoin will form a new floor next year that’s lower than current prices.

2. NIGHTMARE COMING TRUE (Forbes)

Bitcoin SV's nightmare could be coming true

Bitcoin SV, which last month split from bitcoin cash after a so-called hash war as two developer camps fought for control of the bitcoin fork, is in danger of falling out of the top ten biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization as rivals including tron, cardano, IOTA, and monero make gains.

Bitcoin cash, which many exchanges have begun using to refer to the bitcoin cash ABC implementation, and bitcoin SV, which failed to win control of the bitcoin cash name, have both plummeted since late November, falling harder than the rest of the embattled cryptocurrency market.  Bitcoin SV has failed to rally as strongly most other major coins this week, with the original bitcoin, ripple (XRP), and ethereum, climbing.

3. COVERING ALL BASES (Bloomberg)

The trader who nailed the bitcoin top just covered his short

Just as the euphoria surrounding Bitcoin was peaking last December, Mark Dow decided to short the leading digital currency. Almost a year to the day, and after a more than 80 percent decline from its record high price, Dow has closed out the trade.

“I’m done. I don’t want to try to ride this thing to zero,” Dow said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I don’t want to try to squeeze more out of the lemon. I don’t want to think about it. It seemed like the right time.”

4. DESPITE ALL ODDS (The Telegraph)

One cryptocurrency analyst describes it as a 'Santa rally'

The plummeting price of bitcoin has seen a brief respite over the last 48 hours, with the cryptocurrency rising in value by more than 10 per cent.The market turnaround comes after nearly a year of declining prices that has seen bitcoin fall from close to $20,000 (£16,000) in December 2017, to today’s price of $3,500.

Other major cryptocurrencies have experienced similar price rallies, including ripple, ethereum and stellar, but by far the biggest gains have been seen by EOS. The world’s fourth most valuable cryptocurrency has risen in price by almost 50 per cent over the last couple of days, according to CoinMarketCap. The price gains come as some cryptocurrency analysts were forecasting even more falls in the market. On Monday, one former advocate predicted bitcoin will become worthless in 2019.

5. TAXMAN IS COMING TO TOWN (The Next Web)

UK tax authorities: ‘crypto assets’ are not currency or money

The UK‘s tax office, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, published details that outlines its stance on cryptocurrency and digital assets, obviously in the name of taxation. In a document titled “cryptoassets for individuals,” spotted by Coindesk, the HMRC highlights how it does “not consider cryptoassets to be currency or money.” While this might sound anti-cryptocurrency, it’s a stance that the HMRC has to take in order to classify digital assets for what it deems as appropriate taxation.

As a result, cryptocurrency investors who buy based on speculation will need to pay capital gains tax, but only when they sell their coins. If you receive tokens or coins as forms of payment, whether that be from your employer, from mining, transaction fees, or even airdrops you will be liable for standard UK income tax and national insurance.

6. HIGH STAKES (Forbes)

Why the travel industry is blockchain's best bet

In 2017, blockchain projects flourished, where ICOs managed to raise billions. 2018 was a crash year for cryptos, even though the sums raised this year were twice as high as the previous one. Blockchain projects promised a lot, however 71% of them still have no working products. The argument was that blockchain is still in its infancy, and many are supposed to deliver their products in 2019. And one of the best places to watch where blockchain will rise again is in the travel industry.

The travel industry is uniquely suited to benefit from blockchain. There are many different players involved, and all need to collaborate seamlessly. When someone wants to travel, they need to deal with airlines, book hotels, find activities, navigate airports and maybe rent a car. They will also have to change their currency so they can shop at their destination.

7. FROM ASIA AND BEYOND (Asia Times)

China’s crypto’s past, present and future

An interesting new report published by Nasdaq reflects on the country’s digital currency development, from being the ‘Wild West’ of the crypto world to now overseeing the world’s largest and most regulated blockchain ecosystem. At the beginning of 2017, says the report, 80% of all blockchain currency transactions were conducted in RMB and the majority of the world’s crypto mining activity took place in mainland China.

Today RMB transactions make up barely 1% of the global trade volume and the majority of world’s crypto mining operations are in Siberia. However, China has not just fully-embraced blockchain but, claims the report, Beijing’s financial overlords have always been admirers of crypto-currencies, as a “secure online trading unit” that has “clear advantages,” and the report concludes that “it’s only a matter of time until this tug-of-war between China’s government regulators and online traders finds a new field.”

8. THE OPPOSITE DAY (The Daily Hodl)

Bitcoin ETF enters ‘parallel universe’

The head of digital assets at VanEck says we may be entering a “parallel universe” where just about any cryptocurrency can be accepted on leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, while Bitcoin ETFs remain stalled by the SEC.

VanEck has been trying to get a Bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC since August 11, 2017.

The SEC has set a final deadline of February 27, 2019 to reveal whether it will approve VanEck’s latest Bitcoin ETF proposal which was filed in June. Earlier this month, the Commission said it “finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider this proposed rule change.”

9. A JOLLY BUNCH (The Next Web)

Vodafone, Huawei, Intel and friends form blockchain industry group

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is getting into the blockchain game, having just set up a new “industry specific group” aimed at exploring the viability and potential of blockchain technologies for various industries.Founding members include Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Telefónica, and Vodafone. These industry players will specifically examine the use of permissioned distributed ledgers, ETSI announced yesterday.

The new ETSI group will try to understand the challenges of using permissioned distributed ledgers in business applications. ETSI hopes that the group will be able to develop industry standards for the use of the decentralized technology, including interfaces/APIs/protocols and information models.

10. FULL SPEED! (The Daily Hodl)

Coinbase expansion goes full throttle as it moves $5 billion in crypto

Coinbase has confirmed that it moved $5 billion in crypto to its upgraded cold storage infrastructure last week. The cryptocurrency migrations, which are part of the company’s larger plans to expand its number of digital asset offerings, accounted for a significant amount of the crypto in circulation: 5% of all Bitcoin, 8% of Ethereum and 25% of Litecoin.

Coinbase’s movement of $5 billion worth of cryptocurrencies (as valued the week ending Dec. 7, 2018) affirmed the strength of its blockchain-based infrastructure. “The idea of moving $5 Billion on-blockchain was one we approached with a very high degree of caution. While we believe in the security of the blockchain, the number of moving parts combined with our absolute responsibility to ensure the security of funds in our custody meant that we needed to cover every possible scenario.”