It has been a busy week, with a lot of focus on Bitcoin entering mainstream markets as Elon Musk becomes a keen advocate, though XRP have seen a sharp incline through some interesting developments. You can’t take your eyes off of Stellar though, as they fly under the radar making changes that could revolutionise the industry through new and innovative financial applications.
Mainstream adoption
Tesla owner, Elon Musk, has emphasised his opinions on cryptocurrency over the last week, claiming that Bitcoin is on ‘the verge of broad acceptance’. The billionaire strongly believes that Bitcoin will soon be accepted into traditional finance which has had a considerable effect on the price of crypto due to his large follower base.
This ‘broad acceptance’ will only come with more companies using crypto. Visa has recently announced their plan to introduce a crypto API that would enable institutions and banks to freely utilise Bitcoin some time later this year, allowing customers to easily purchase a range of cryptocurrencies.
With institutions introducing cryptocurrency into their business, this would potentially see a large influx of new users of the Bitcoin network. Analysts believe that Bitcoin could see over 1 billion users on the blockchain by 2025 as it seems to be growing quicker than the internet itself did during its infancy years, with more and more users understanding the benefits of Bitcoin helping it to be viewed as a viable decentralised global currency or store of value.
As Bitcoin looks to a positive future, Stellar looks to improve their own network with their deployment of USDC on the Stellar blockchain, which becomes the second-largest stablecoin on their network, with Stellar CEO — Mike Kennedy — assuring investors of a ‘new generation of financial applications’.
XRP shows promising signs for the future as it sees its highest recorded interest since 2018. The demand seems to have increased massively which correlates to the sudden bull run XRP saw themselves on this week, with highs of $0.73.
XRP has been very busy lately, especially considering its usefulness to Japanese financial institution, SBI Group, who have recently introduced XRP lending over traditional fiat currencies, allowing customers to benefit from interest from the popular cryptocurrency.
Regulatory
Could this XRP bull run be linked to the ongoing legal battle Ripple are involved with, as former SEC official, Joseph Hall, believes in there being a high probability of Ripple winning the case. Hall has been quoted as stating that no real investor harm took place, so it’s likely for the case to be dismissed.
Important Information
Cryptocurrencies are generally not regulated and investors do not have access to recourse or compensation schemes such as, for example, in the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Investing in cryptocurrencies can be high risk and investors should carefully evaluate their appetite for risk and their understanding of trading cryptocurrencies prior to entering into a transaction.
