Bitcoin is up big time this week, catapulting over the $11,000 USD mark for the first time since before the broader economy crashed amid the coronavirus pandemic back in mid-March.
Technical analysts may argue that the cryptocurrency economy is due for a bull run as the price has been hovering between $8,800 and $10,000 for the last 6 to 8 weeks. Traders are bound to see a strong move in price the longer a consolidation period lasts.
Naturally there are always bears predicting that the price will go down, particularly because Bitcoin and most other investing markets have been doing nothing but skyrocketing since mid-March.
But that’s why the recent ruling of a U.S. Court judge that Bitcoin just might be the catalyst that not only sent the Bitcoin price beyond the $10,000 USD mark, it could keep it there for a really long time.
The Precedent Setting Ruling
Judge Beryl A. Howell laid down her ruling in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a case involving Larry Dean Harmon. Harmon is currently facing three different counts of operating an underground tumbler software to hide Bitcoin transactions on various darknet marketplaces.
Darknet marketplaces operate behind firewalls and allow criminals to sell illicit substances, weapons, and other illegal goods while hiding away from the long arm of the law.
We’ve seen those stories before thanks to Silk Road, AlphaBay and other infamous darknet fallouts that have sent their creators to jail. But what’s more important in this case is that Judge Howell moved to charge Harmon with operating an unlicensed money services business, which puts into common law precedent that Bitcoin is indeed money.
The average Bitcoin investor may not be paying particular attention to this ruling. Odds are they are likely watching bar charts more than they are looking at rulings from district courts. However, setting legal precedent surrounding Bitcoin is something that governments have been struggling with ever since the project’s inception, so the fact that Harmon and his company Helix are under fire for operating such a business is actually really big news.
What Does the Ruling Mean for Bitcoin’s Price?
Anybody paying close attention to the price this week may notice that we are living through a quick 20% gain. In the short term that will likely last. Consolidation in the market means traders have been waiting for this for a few months.
It’s likely some traders who bought back in when the coronavirus rocked the global economy in March, just might cash out some of their profits and we may see a dip. So, will the price go up in the long run?
The answer to that has to be an absolute YES. As much as the darknet facilitates illegal activity – and that looks bad for the world of cryptocurrency in the media – the reality is that more and more of these precedent-setting cases stacked on top of one another actually validates the existence of the Bitcoin blockchain as a perfectly acceptable way for people to exchange value between one another.
In this sense, some government regulation and oversight is actually good for Bitcoin adoption in the long run.
What Does this Mean for Bitcoin Gambling?
Ultimately, the more regulation there is surrounding the fact that Bitcoin is money, the more the Bitcoin gambling industry progresses.
Gambling enterprises have operated in a legal grey area for decades, but now that it’s becoming more acceptable in America and across the world, Bitcoin gambling sites become more legitimate as an extension of that.
It may seem like a pain in the butt to have regulators going after Bitcoin, but in the end, it will create more competition between gambling operators that want to treat gamblers with integrity and respect their money. Moreover, it will eventually filter out gambling sites that walk away with millions of dollars in
Bitcoin by either stealing money, hacking, or putting gamblers against incredible odds where they have no chance of winning. The future is certainly bright for gambling with Bitcoin because of this ruling. Chalk it up as another win for the industry.
