比特幣又跌破5萬美元！加密貨幣大起大落，銀行、專家如何看待未來發展？｜數位時代 BusinessNext
昨（7）天晚上10點剛過，許多網友都在群組問：「為什麼現在跌（幣價）那麼慘，有消息嗎？」甚至由於交易量過大，部分加密貨幣交易所出現「卡頓」狀況，想撿便宜的買不了，想脫手的賣不掉。
而就在幾個小時前，許多主流的加密貨幣價格大跌，受到關注的像是比特幣（Bitcoin），價格才剛剛回到5萬美元的高點，卻在一夜之間下跌19%，價格一度降到4萬3千美元左右。
受惠於NFT（非同質化代幣）投資熱潮、上週價格漲破4,000美元的以太幣（Ether），昨晚也在短短幾分鐘內從3900美元跌到最低3000美元上下。
根據追蹤網站CoinMarketCap數據，這一度讓全球加密貨幣市值從2兆多美元跌到1.9兆美元。彭博Galaxy加密貨幣指數一度下跌多達19％。短時間內的大幅下跌，也怪不得許多幣圈投資人，會紛紛在群組中發出哀號。
幣價震盪，怎麼回事？
價格在短時間下跌，這代表加密貨幣市場前景不樂觀嗎？一名幣圈人士分享，其實並不需要太過於擔心，在區塊鏈的世界中，所有的變化都是「以秒計算」的。
有一句很有名的諺語：「幣圈一天、人間十年」，意思是區塊鏈世界中的價格、技術、趨勢以及消息流通的速度，都是一般產業的好幾倍，隨時說變就變，想要接觸區塊上的任何金融投資，必須先拋下傳統投資的心態與認知。
FRNT Financial共同創辦人兼執行長奧萊特（Stephane Ouellette）分析，現在加密貨幣市場還是很不透明，但是全球化的程度比多數資產還高。
像是中美洲國家薩爾瓦多本周正式將比特幣定為法幣，該國總統布格磊（Nayib Bukele）也宣佈購入400枚比特幣，帶動比特幣價格突破五萬美金。昨晚比特幣價格崩跌後，布格磊在Twitter上表示，他已經逢低買入150 枚比特幣，看準時機撿便宜，現在他持有的比特幣總數已經來到550枚。
加密貨幣市場在過去兩個月內，價格變化並不大，昨晚的這一波下跌，很大一部分原因跟「獲利了結」心態有關，比特幣、以太幣都在近期來到價格高峰，很多投資人希望落袋為安，大量拋售手上的幣，換成現金求個安心，在幣價瘋狂上漲的情況下，這樣的情況其實很常見。
渣打：以太坊是區塊鏈世界中的「金融市場」
價格漲漲跌跌很正常，不過長期來看，主流加密貨幣會如何發展？我們可以從一些代表性的金融機構態度，看出一些趨勢的線索。
渣打銀行（Standard Chartered）最近發布一份加密貨幣研究報告，報告的研究主持人Geoffrey Kendrick表示，在他看來，以太坊（Ethereum）比起比特幣更有未來發展性。
以太坊是一個開源的公共區塊鏈平台，可以想像成區塊鏈世界的Android（安卓），開發者可以在上面打造各種應用程式（APP），在以太坊上可以打造去中心化借貸、保險、交易所等各種服務，最近熱門的NFT也是以太坊上的熱門應用，渣打在報告中形容，以太坊就像是區塊鏈世界中的金融市場（financial market）。
渣打認為，以太坊的應用比起比特幣更加多元，預測以太幣的市值（目前僅次於比特幣排第二），有一天會追上比特幣成為第一，而比特幣的功能，反而比較像是貨幣。分析師也預測，比特幣的長期價值，會落在 50,000 美元至 175,000 美元之間；以太幣則是26,000 美元到 35,000 美元之間。
但從各角度來看，區塊鏈領域的發展仍是正向的，舉幾個例子：最近全球最大零售商沃爾瑪（Walmart），正在招募「加密貨幣負責人」要布局數位支付服務；韓國加密投資機構 Hashed，宣布推出第二支 1.7 億美元的基金，用於投資區塊鏈項目。
類似的例子還有非常多，從大品牌到金融機構，都多少開始投入資源到區塊鏈領域，可見主流世界的公司，是看好未來發展的。
當然，正反方的意見依然會持續辯論，反對者認為加密貨幣背後沒有價值支撐，終究會是一場泡沫；支持的人會說，區塊鏈上的虛擬經濟會持續擴大，無論是幣價或是應用，都會再創高峰。
一位NFT藝術家表示，區塊鏈領域很大一份取決於信仰，在看漲看跌的爭論中，一切取決於自己相信哪一種價值。至少在加密貨幣走進主流大眾的生活之前，這類的爭論還是會持續。無論你對加密貨幣的態度為何，我們都必須用更開放的態度，去理解新科技。
參考資料：Coindesk、Fortune、CNBC、Bitcoin.com
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責任編輯：錢玉紘
Post-Bitcoin crash, Solana scales newer heights
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The developers claim that Solana has the fastest blockchain in the world, that is capable of supporting contracts, NFTs and other platforms in the rapidly growing space of decentralized finance.
Solana has cryptographic time-sampling that can accommodate between 50 to 65,000 transactions per second (TPS), each transaction at a meagre cost of $0.00025. In comparison to this, Bitcoin and Ethereum can have 5TPS at a cost of $5 per transaction and 13 TPS at a cost of $10-65 depending on network traffic.
The Solana system uses a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism that reduces the requirement for high power.
Solana ecosystem has introduced a proof of History (PoH) system, that allows the validators on the network to compute the state of the network from the ledger itself.
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Bitcoin’s sharp fall to $44,000, in the aftermath of El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption, left the global crypto market bruised with a decline to $2.03 trillion. It also left several leading cryptocurrencies including Ethereum Binance , Dogecoin in a similar state. However, undeterred by the crash, altcoin Solana reached an all-time high value of $214.96 on 9th September according to CoinMarketCap’s price index. With the price surge, Solana’s market capital increased to around $60 billion, leaving Dogecoin and Ripple closely behind.Solana’s astronomical rise from last year’s $2 is not a mere coincidence. It has consistently witnessed double-digit growth and recorded a 430 percent increase in the last 30 days. The investors of Solana hope that it would eventually leave Ethereum and Cardano behind.The developers of Solana believe that the reason behind Solana’s double-digit steady growth since last year lies in its underlying technology that is equipped with following novel features:Solana currently has 400 projects running on its platform. Among these projects, crypto exchange Aldrin launched by Hisham Khan merges both centralised and decentralised finance. According to Hisham, Solana lowers the barriers of entry, facilitating mass adoption of the decentralised financing. The developers of Solana aim to have transactions at lightning speed across the world and compete with NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange
Bitcoin Dropped By This Much After It Became A Currency In El Salvador
When El Salvador announced in June that it would adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the US dollar, it was met with excitement and scepticism in equal measure. While the government said Bitcoin will promote financial inclusion and development, not many were convinced. They waited for three months to see how the proposal matured and how the central American country rolled out. More than anything, there would be wide acceptance for such a bold move that dominated the initial response. Later, all eyes were set on making sense of how the world’s largest cryptocurrency will behave when the decision came into effect on September 8.
The initial rollout was marred by technical snags. The El Salvadoran government’s wallet, Chivo, was not available on many app stores. Then the huge number of users registering on it forced the government to suspend the app briefly to add servers and increase capacity. All these hiccups had a bearing on Bitcoin’s price.
The crypto coin dropped sharply from its then peak at $52,000 (Rs 38 lakh) to $44,000 (Rs 32 lakh) within 24 hours on September 7-8, losing more than 15 percent, according to CoinMarketCap. It has since stabilised around $46,000 (Rs 32.37 lakh).
While the recent rise in the value of Bitcoin was linked to El Salvador news, the excitement appears to have given way to the reality of the disruption it may cause at least immediately.
Still, the fluctuation in Bitcoin’s price is not much compared to April-May when it had slid below $30,000 (Rs 22 lakh) in a massive crash, soon after reaching its all-time peak at $65,000 (Rs 47.81 lakh).
The new El Salvadoran law mandates that businesses accept Bitcoin as payment for goods and services, wherever applicable. Merchants who are not technologically able to accept the virtual currency have been exempted. The government has installed 200 “Bitcoin ATMs” across the country. It also bought 400 Bitcoins worth about $20 million (Rs 147 crore) and is offering $30 (Rs 2,207) worth of Bitcoin to El Salvadorans, who register on the Chivo wallet.
Many expect more countries to follow El Salvador in adopting Bitcoin after learning from its experience.