What a week! From huge international interest to regulatory changes, it all happened. The central banks of China and the United Arab Emirates seem to be joining forces as they aim to use blockchain technology for regional payments. Meanwhile things look promising for XRP, as they release proof SEC failed to warn exchanges about XRP’s security status.
Mainstream Adoption
However, let’s begin looking to the future. Microstrategy CEO, Michael J Saylor, believes over a billion people will store wealth in Bitcoin in the next 5 years! Saylor is a big advocate for saving money through investing in Bitcoin and sees a not too distant future where the world is using it from their phone.
In other news, after Nvidia announced their upcoming CMP (Cryptocurrency Mining Processor), designed specifically to mine Ethereum, they have now come out saying only a fraction of their revenue comes from cryptocurrency miners. After reporting a monumental $5 billion in the final quarter of 2020, it seems that less than 6% of sales came from miners. Could this change drastically with the release of their new CMP?
From mining ETH to spending it, a $6.6 million Digital Art sale has recently taken place via the Winklevoss-owned marketplace Nifty Gateway who believes “history has been made” with this record sale and are confident that “NFTs are the future”.
Have you just made a $6.6 million ETH purchase? Do you want to track your cryptocurrency transactions whilst looking at your bank balance? Well now you can! If you’re from the UK, you’re in luck, personal finance tool, Money Dashboard, is enabling 600,000 users to be able to view their bank account and crypto wallets side-by-side all within a singular application.
The UK seems to be very interested in crypto as of late, with the former London Stock Exchange Chief, Xavier Rolert, hopeful crypto will be embraced post-Brexit. Rolet is adamant that cryptocurrencies need to be understood by senior members of Parliament, calling on the “best brains” in the market to implement policies surrounding crypto. He believes that the developing market of crypto needs to be made “reputable and safe” which will help establish London as the hub of the ever-changing financial market.
From the UK to China, who partners with UAE as they look to implement blockchain technology when making regional payments. Named as the “Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge” (m-CBDC) will focus on facilitating cross-border payments on a peer-to-peer network. If successful, this could grow to payments being completed across Asia and then the world!
UK? China? America? Who will be the first to facilitate a national cryptocurrency? Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, is certain of the US introducing the Digital Dollar sometime in 2021. He assures that the bank will “engage with the public”, releasing a timeline on the currency’s release soon.
Whales
Keep your crypto safe! 100 BTC that was mined back in June 2010 has been moved for the first time this week. This would have been worth less than $100. Now? Nearly $5 million. The Bitcoin was untouched for 11 years, without any activity. Where will Bitcoin be in 11 years time?
Legal
Also this week, Ripple has proof the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) has failed to inform exchanges about the security status of XRP, from as early as 2019. XRP wants dismissal of the lawsuit, it still seems far from a resolution. Though failing to enlighten exchanges about XRP’s security status looks promising for XRP, SEC’s response is still unpublished.
Network Updates
Finally, smart contracts are being released for Stellar (XLM) in partnership with Flare Networks. Hoping to have it completed within the first half of 2021, this could see increased XLM usability on various applications on Flare’s ecosystem. Flare has also announced support for XRP and Litecoin but no deadline has been set yet.
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.
