Crypto Today: Analysts' conflicting forecasts point to a jittery Christmas

Here's what you need to know on Thursday: 

Markets: 

- Sunny King, the creator of the consensus protocol Proof of Stake (PoS), has stated in a recent interview that Bitcoin has a vital role as a reference value in the crypto-verse, but that the highest growth potential is in the Altcoin segment.

- The crypto board turns red and loses essential support lines. BTC/USD may fall below $8,600. If that happens, it could move quickly to the next congested area around $8,300.

- Among the altcoins, ETH/USD advances 0.9%. TNT, LINK, STORM and BAT are also gaining ground against the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies.

- XRP/USD has been accelerating its drop and projects a significantly bearish outlook, suggesting a massive price drop. This downward movement set in motion the dangerous game of "catching a falling knife".

- Plan B, the famous leading Twitter analyst and creator of the Stock to Flow (S2F) ratio, predicts an exponential increase in the price of Bitcoin in the coming weeks.

- Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone has expressed his conviction that BTC/USD could move inside a wide range between $8,000 and $20,000 for an indefinite time.

Chart of the day:

XRP/USD

Industry: 

- OKEx officially launches its USDT futures platform from its headquarters in Malta. The face value is 0.0001 BTC, and it is possible to leverage the position in a range between 0.001x and 100x. 

- PayPal blocks payments to PornHub through its platform. Justin Sen (TRX) and CZ (Binance) have offered to provide a method of payment by cryptocurrencies. 

- Poloniex launches in Asia its portal Pwang.com. This website is a gateway to the Poloniex exchange. The exchange is aiming to snatch the top position from Binance.

- The adoption of Bitcoin as a means of payment continues to grow. In the next few days, 65k Swiss businesses will be able to accept Bitcoins as a means of payment. SIX, the Swiss trading platform, will provide the technology to manage payments.

Quote of the day: 

Kristina Cornèr, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Cointelegraph 

We are still at a very early stage in the blockchain industry, and that means cooperation between journalists is an indispensable feature for the further adoption of the technology.