It may not be as well-known as Bitcoin, but Ethereum has had a sterling start to 2021. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value reached a record high of $1,824.59 earlier this week, beating its previous peak of $1,761.35.

Ether, the name of the native cryptocurrency on the Ethereum blockchain, has more than doubled in value in 2021, outperforming Bitcoin, which has also reached record highs in the early months of the year. The surge in the value of cryptocurrencies is likely the result of low liquidity across crypto exchanges.

It is thought that many investors may have taken direct custody of their coins or moved them to decentralized finance protocols instead of keeping them on exchanges. If more Ether coins are being stored in hot or cold crypto wallets rather than being listed on exchanges, sell-side liquidity could have dried up, leading to price increases.

Another potential reason behind ether’s value increase this year is the announcement that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange would allow the trading of Ethereum futures contracts – granting further legitimacy to the cryptocurrency.

In addition, although cryptocurrencies have had a few setbacks – including a recent spate of crypto-mining malware – they are now pretty well-established within the financial market. This gives cryptocurrency miners confidence in their assets, which in turn drives up valuations, whether individuals are building their own mining motherboards, using cloud-based mining providers, or simply conducting online trades.

Whatever the underlying reason for the price rises, things are certainly going well for both Ether and Bitcoin owners. While the former has more than doubled in value this year, Bitcoin has experienced a 58% rise.

Bitcoin jumped to a record high after Mastercard and Bank of New York Mellon moved to make it easier for customers to use cryptocurrencies.

The largest digital asset rose as much as 7.4 percent to $48,364, surpassing the all-time high reached Monday after Tesla announced it would hold $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet. The wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index also touched a record.

Mastercard singled out so-called “stablecoins,” which often peg their value to that of another asset, such as the US dollar. Mastercard has already partnered with crypto card providers such as Wirex and BitPay, but has required digital currencies to be converted into fiat before processing payments for transactions on its network.

Bank of New York Mellon said Thursday it will hold, transfer, and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for institutional customers.

Interest in cryptocurrencies has accelerated yet again as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, emerged as a central figure for the crypto faithful, supporting arguments among proponents that Wall Street and the mainstream are becoming more receptive to the asset class. Detractors maintain speculators are behind bitcoin’s rise and the bubble will once again burst.

Even before announcing Tesla’s bet on bitcoin, Musk said he was a supporter of bitcoin on a social audio app and made multiple tongue-in-cheek references on Twitter to Dogecoin — a Shiba Inu-themed crypto started as a joke — sending prices soaring.

Mastercard is also “actively engaging” with central banks around the world on their plans to launch new digital currencies, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

“The announcements from both Mastercard and BNY Mellon confirm the fundamental shift that financial institutions are committing to cryptocurrencies,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “This is great news for further mainstream acceptance with cryptocurrencies and will likely continue to keep the excitement going for bitcoin.”

Twitter has also done some “upfront thinking” around how to handle bitcoin, including if employees and vendors ask to be paid in the cryptocurrency and whether the firm needs to have the digital asset on its balance sheet, CFO Ned Segal said in an interview on CNBC. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has been a long time advocate of bitcoin. Square Inc., which Dorsey also co-founded, has invested in the cryptocurrency.

“These are just the early innings of corporate adoption, as digital currencies are beginning to play a larger role in robust balance sheet management,” said Nathan Cox, chief investment officer at Two Prime, an investment firm specialized in digital asset and derivative strategy management.

While Tesla’s investment of $1.5 billion put the focus on whether more companies will buy bitcoin, the purchase is a drop in the ocean compared to the holdings of America’s blue-chip corporates. The purchase is worth just 0.05 percent of about $2.79 trillion of cash and cash-equivalents held on the balance sheets of S&P 500 members, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Wall Street Bets, the popular Reddit forum at the center of the retail investor frenzy, is talking about cryptocurrencies as well. The unverified Twitter account “Wallstreetbets mod” posted a call to buy bitcoin and marijuana stocks.

Regulatory scrutiny remains a wild card for crypto investors. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaking at a Treasury forum for financial sector innovation, warned misuse of cryptocurrencies was a growing problem. Yellen has previously raised concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies in illicit financing.

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Erik sees the Bitcoin space in different way than many bitcoiners. Erik describes everything with in the "crypto" ecosystem as part of the same tree and although there are nefarious use cases and scams, that does not invalidate the entire space outside of bitcoin.

While still holding the majority of his value in Bitcoin, Voorhees believes that Bitcoin was just the first building block of a decentralized finance ecosystem that he is excited to build.

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Robinhood, an online brokerage, announced today that the firm is planning to allow customers to deposit and withdraw through major cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin (DOGE). In January, the broker disabled some of the features on its app amid significant volatility sparked by Reddit frenzy.

According to the official announcement, Robinhood has no investment in cryptocurrency assets, and the firm is not planning to use the digital assets of clients for its own benefit. Also, Robinhood mentioned that due to security reasons, the company will not confirm which crypto addresses belong to Robinhood.

Skrill to Release Direct to Crypto Withdrawals FeatureGo to article >>

The Committee on Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives called Vladimir Tenev, the CEO of Robinhood along with Steve Huffman, CEO and Co-founder of Reddit to testify on 18 Feb, following the extreme market volatility in stocks and cryptocurrencies triggered by retail traders on Reddit.

In January 2021, two major Reddit groups, r/WallStreetBets, and r/SatoshiStreetBets triggered a massive rally in stocks and cryptocurrencies. AMC and GME stocks skyrocketed after a massive demand from retail investors. The Reddit frenzy reached the crypto market with a massive rally in Dogecoin and XRP. The price of Dogecoin sparked nearly 900% within 24 hours. Major financial brokers including Robinhood limited some features on their platforms related to the trading of selected stocks and cryptocurrencies, including GME, AMC and Dogecoin.

In the recent announcement, Robinhood cleared the rumors about the company’s cryptocurrency wallets. “Cryptocurrencies purchased and owned by our customers are held in our wallets for the benefit of our customers. Additionally, we only receive coins when our customer’s trades have already settled,” the firm mentioned in a tweet.

Twitter CFO Ned Segal appeared on CNBC to talk about the recent frenzy around Bitcoin post-Tesla’s $1.5 billion purchase. Segal during the interview revealed that their company is currently considering a lot of things around Bitcoin that include paying employees salary in Bitcoin, giving merchant salary in Bitcoin, and also adding Bitcoin to their company’s The post Twitter CFO Reveal Their Company is Considering Bitcoin Payments and Adding it to Their Balance Sheet appeared first on Coingape.

For the first time since 2015, Dogecoin (DOGE) is once again gracing the list of top ten crypto assets by market cap.

In less than two days, DOGE has surged 900% from $0.0078 to post a new all-time high of $0.078 — breaking its previous high of $0.0185 by more than four times.

As a result, the veteran meme-coin currently ranks as the seventh-largest crypto asset with a market cap of more than 9 billion, sitting above Chainlink and below Cardano. DOGE last traded for $0.073 at the time of writing.

Amid the frenzied rally, crypto data aggregator TheTIE reported that Dogecoin had become the subject of nearly 90,000 tweets, becoming the first altcoin to generate a larger Twitter-volume than Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Foundation chairman, philanthropist and former child actor Brock Pierce weighs in on the bitcoin craze amid new adoption from major banks.

Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new record value of $50,000 on Tuesday before falling back below $49,000.

The latest record, which comes after the world's most popular cryptocurrency reached a new high of $48,000 last week, pushed Bitcoin's 2021 gains to 69%, according to blockchain and cryptocurrency news website Coindesk.

Bitcoin's steady surge comes as Tesla, Mastercard, BNY Mellon and Twitter have expressed increasing interest in digital currencies.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES NOW 'PRICELESS' WITH MASTERCARD

"I do at this point think bitcoin is a good thing, and I am a supporter of bitcoin," Musk said during a live-streamed interview on the popular audio chat app Clubhouse on Sunday. "Many friends of mine have tried to convince me to get involved in bitcoin for a long time."

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He added that both institutions and "normal people" are expressing increased interest in the cryptocurrency "as a hedge against endless money printing by central banks."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS "With the world’s richest man putting bitcoin on Tesla’s balance sheet, I think that institutions will have much more publicly acceptable justification to allocate to bitcoin," Nazarov said of Musk. "You have to understand, with this move, anyone who owns Tesla shares just received exposure to Bitcoin. The normalization of Bitcoin that is taking place right now cannot be understated."

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Bitcoin has had an incredible year. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Bitcoin price crashed to just below $4,000. However, the subsequent government bailouts and money printing has led to many fearing fiat currencies will suffer from high inflation, highlighting the importance of hard money.

Since the lows in March, Bitcoin has gone from strength to strength, particularly on the back of corporate interest. MicroStrategy and Square paved the way for corporations to buy Bitcoin, and others are following.

Over the last couple of days, Bitcoin has rallied to new all-time highs, reaching close to $24,000, but what makes this time different to 2017? And how high could the price go in 2021?

In this interview, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet; Willy Woo. We discuss the current state of the Bitcoin market, the catalysts for Bitcoin’s rally and what to expect in the coming year.

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With amazing gains on most cryptocurrency investments, better mainstream coverage, more applications of blockchain technology and the rise of crypto-based fundraising (popularly known as initial coin offerings), one can arguably say that 2017 has been the year of cryptocurrencies and the enabling technology behind them, blockchain.

Africa has not been (entirely) left behind in the cryptocurrency boom as record trading levels have been seen in different countries across the continent with South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya leading the pack.

While the cryptocurrency boom is exciting, the true innovation lies in the technology powering cryptocurrencies which is the distributed ledger technology (blockchain). The top features of a blockchain include:

These and many other features have made blockchain technology become appealing mainstream. This is with many use cases being developed e.g. decentralized storage, real estate, identity management and many more. However, when it comes to the application, Africa has been lagging behind.

Dividing the global ‘invasion’ of blockchain into three phases i.e. the cash frenzy, tech recognition, and utilization  (as has been seen by the countries/regions where real use cases of the technology has started gaining momentum) will place the majority of ‘crypto Africa’ at the first phase yet.

Where most of the continent is currently. In this phase, what attracts most people is the promise of mind-blowing returns on cryptocurrency investments. This year for example, almost all cryptocurrencies took a parabolic bull run with ROIs in the range of 5x-100x being common.

Also, institutional investors have made strategic investments in African startups. Especially exchanges and remittance based startups such as BitPesa and BitMari. Also, foreign exchanges such as Belfrics have started making moves into the continent.

It, therefore, comes as no shock that the continent’s largest blockchain startups offer crypto-based remittance and/or exchange services.

While this phase is a smaller picture in the larger frame of things, it serves as the first step in introducing people to the innovative technology that blockchain offers.

This is the next phase that follows the cash frenzy. African cryptocurrency enthusiasts who became interested in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will carefully study and appreciate the innovative tech upon which their investments are built upon.

The many potential use cases start being realized and people move on from being purely crypto enthusiasts and investors to blockchain tech. This is as they begin to realize that the cash returns are just a tiny fragment of what the technology has to offer.

Several blogs, forums, and websites (including CryptoInAfrica) will also aid/have aided in this process to enlighten people.

Reaching this phase is the ultimate target for fans and enthusiasts of blockchain tech. In this phase, applications built on blockchain tech (including cryptos) will get mainstream adoption. More applications will be built across the continent that will utilize blockchain technology.

Currently, there a few other applications built on the technology across the continent. Custos Media (South Africa) is one of such startups that uses blockchain to track pirated media. Bitland (Ghana) is another startup that uses blockchain to provide land registry services.

So far, Africa has shown to be doing quite well in the first phase and progressing (slowly) to the second and third, like the rest of the world. However, Africa almost lags behind the rest of the world in most tech innovations. And it’ll be interesting to watch blockchain technology be an exception.

Companies now hold over 842,000 BTC, which at the current Bitcoin price of $18,200, is worth $15.3 billion. 28629 Total views 97 Total shares Listen to article 0:00 Market Analysis As of Nov. 20, companies hold around 842,229 BTC or 4.54% of today’s Bitcoin () supply, according to the Clark Moody dashboard and data from Bitcointreasuries. This is equivalent to a staggering $15.3 billion at the current price of $18,200. Public companies and institutional investors are. The spark that began with MicroStrategy’s ambitious $425 million BTC purchase has led to a broad institutional frenzy around the dominant cryptocurrency. The demand for Bitcoin from companies and institutions likely comes from its growing reputation as a digital store of value. Bitcoin is unique in that it can hedge portfolios against inflation, like gold, but has the potential to see exponential growth. Hedge assets are typically stagnant and demonstrate low volatility over a prolonged period. They are meant to operate as insurance for a diversified portfolio so that when the market dips, the portfolio is protected. Bitcoin achieves both: it is able to operate as a hedge asset and also expose investors to large growth potential in the long term. As such, Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy, said Bitcoin should not be considered as a payment network nor a currency. BTC is highly compelling as a store of value, which also does not put it in the crossfire of regulators. Referring to the of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Jay Clayton saying BTC is not a security, Saylor said: As long as the perception of Bitcoin from institutions and corporations as an established store of value remains, the demand for BTC would likely remain high. Corporations are now holding roughly 4.5% of today’s Bitcoin supply, which is around 18.5 million BTC. This percentage is relatively high considering that BTC has a total fixed supply of 21 million. When lost or dormant coins are considered, the total supply is estimated to be around 17 million in total. Companies acquiring Bitcoin as a treasury asset, like MicroStrategy, is particularly optimistic because it shows they are not expecting short-term returns. Hence, when corporations hold BTC with a low time-preference, it would also result in lower selling pressure over time by decreasing the available supply. For instance, on Aug. 11, when MicroStrategy of $250 million worth of Bitcoin, Saylor said: The prospect of inflation and consistent liquidity injections from central banks further fuel the medium- to long-term outlook for Bitcoin, which some analysts for BTC to shine over time.  Meanwhile, to offset the negative economic impact the pandemic has had on the financial market, regulators are For stores of value, like gold and Bitcoin, such a trend is beneficial heading into 2021.

Live streaming webcam platform Stripchat is among several adult websites experiencing a boom in crypto payments over the past year.

The adult social streaming and entertainment platform revealed in a blog that cryptocurrency is rapidly becoming a preferred payment method for many users and performers on the webcam-based website.

It is estimated that the platform has over 300,000 models and averages around 60 million visitors a month according to Stripchat stats for 2020.

Using digital assets for adult entertainment is nothing new as they offer an additional layer of anonymity. However, Stripchat and other webcam sites saw significant growth in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. It reported a 72% spike in traffic and hosted over 2 billion sessions for the year.

Max Bennet, VP of New Media at Stripchat, stated;

Following Elon Musk's tweets claiming “Dogecoin is the people's Crypto”, the platform has jumped on the Doge bandwagon and is now accepting payments in the meme-based cryptocurrency. Bennet added:

In addition to Stripchat, there are several cam based live streaming websites that accept Bitcoin and crypto payments including LiveJasmin, CamSoda, and Chaturbate.

Pornhub has also joined the Dogecoin frenzy by announcing that it is accepting it as a method of payment in addition to three other new cryptocurrencies; BNB, USDC, and XRP.

The adult entertainment website has been increasing its crypto payment options and currently accepts a total of sixteen cryptocurrencies following a blockade by credit card giants Visa and MasterCard.

Bitcoin has been gaining massive retail and institutional adoption throughout the past few months, which has made its parabolic growth feel more sustainable than that seen in previous years.

Tesla, Square, MicroStrategy, and other major publicly traded companies have all added BTC to their balance sheets, which may create a frenzy amongst different companies to follow in their footsteps and do the same.

This intense buying pressure has helped create some underlying strength for the benchmark crypto from a technical perspective. One trader is now watching for further upside, noting that it is “up only” season.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading up over 5% at its current price of $47,250. This marks a massive surge from the cryptocurrency’s recent lows of under $44,000 that were set last night.

Although BTC faced a rejection at $48,000 and has been sliding lower ever since it still appears to be technically strong, and it may only be a matter of time before the crypto breaks the $50,000 level that everyone is keenly watching.

While sharing his thoughts on where Bitcoin might trend in the mid-term, one analyst explained that he is closely watching for further upside, with a key support level that must be maintained sitting at $41,000.

“BTC: Broke its range to the upside, now consolidating above it. Up only till proven otherwise continues. ‘Otherwise’ being a break back into the old range. Additional confluence due to the Tesla news being right below the range high making it even more important.”

The coming few days should shed some serious light on where Bitcoin will trend next, as its reaction to $50,000 will be vital for determining its mid-term outlook.

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The Commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Hester Peirce, mentioned the urgent need for clear cryptocurrency regulations amid crypto adoption by leading companies like Tesla and Mastercard. During an  interview with Reuters, the SEC commissioner praised the involvement of a new generation of investors in financial markets. Peirce mentioned that it was too early to draw policy conclusions from the recent Reddit frenzy in stocks and other cryptocurrency assets.

Hester Peirce is known for her crypto-friendly stance, and the community also nicknamed her as “Crypto Mom.” She asked for clear cryptocurrency regulations and to remove the uncertainty regarding digital assets’ status in the US. “It’s not only that there have been calls for clarity in crypto regulations for some time and that a new administration brings the chance to take a fresh look, but it also is a moment where it seems others in the marketplace are also taking a fresh look. That adds to the urgency of us taking some sort of action in this area to provide more clarity,” SEC commissioner said.

Regulatory authorities worldwide are planning to regulate cryptocurrency assets amid growing demand from retail traders and the involvement of institutional investors. As reported earlier, Tesla, the world’s largest electric-car marker, revealed in its latest filing that the company invested $1.5 billion in the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Mastercard, one of the leading global financial firms, announced in the previous week that the firm is planning to accept cryptocurrencies this year. The SEC Commissioner said that there is an urgent need for a clear crypto regulatory framework after major companies’ involvement in different cryptocurrencies. 

The price of bitcoin jumped as much as 3.6% to US$49,913 in Asian trading on Tuesday, according to a composite of prices compiled by Bloomberg Bitcoin’s volatile, fivefold advance over the past year towers above the returns from more traditional investments like stocks, gold, and commodities. The price of bitcoin has soared due to the widening adoption of the cryptocurrency, most notably Tesla’s disclosure this month of a $1.5 billion purchase. Increased institutional interest has boosted the price of the cryptocurrency to new all-time highs. 

“Bitcoin volatility is likely to continue rising in the near term and remain elevated until it settles in around its next plateau,” said Mike McGlone, a commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, who added that $100,000 might be a longer-term target. A flurry of recent announcements indicates that bitcoin is winning more mainstream attention after Tesla’s invested catapulted cryptocurrencies onto corporate treasurers’ agenda worldwide. Earlier in Canada, officials approved the first North American bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Bitcoin has witnessed some really winning rally this year and is continuing to do the same. 

Since Tesla’s investment in the leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin, the market has seen a frenzy. Several other multinational companies have made statements about their potential interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As reported earlier, international payment giant Mastercard became the latest mainstream firm to embrace cryptocurrency this week, announcing plans to begin allowing cardholders to transact in certain cryptocurrencies. The payment firm is also “actively engaging” with central banks worldwide on their plans to launch new digital currencies, Mastercard said in a blog post. 

Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder turned philanthropist has weighed in on the most talked-about asset Bitcoin in recent times and said that even though he does not hold any bitcoin, he is not short on the top cryptocurrency but rather has a neutral stance. Gates comments came during his interview with CNBC. He said,

I don’t own Bitcoin, I’m not short Bitcoin. So I’ve taken a neutral view,”

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 18, 2021

Gates also revealed that even though his foundation is involved with digital currency transactions, though it is not necessarily in bitcoin. He added,

“I do think moving money into a more digital form and getting transaction costs down, that’s something the Gates Foundation does in developing countries.”

Bill Gates who now mostly spends his time in philanthropy work suggested that he is not aware of how bitcoin would fair in the future but suggested that the current price movement is highly speculative. He said,

“But Bitcoin can go up or down just based on the mania or whatever the views are and I don’t have a way of predicting how that will progress,”

Gates also shared his views on the recent Reddit frenzy leading to high price volatility in the stock market that created quite a controversy. Gates believe SEC should “look at this because we don’t think of the stock market as just performing a casino-like role”

While most of the leading financial institutions including the likes of BNY Mellon, Blackrock, JP Morgan, and many others have either already dwelled in bitcoin or are actively looking to integrate it looking at its growing demand, Gates comment reflects a lack of interest in the digital asset as he expressed that he is not aware how the top cryptocurrency would fair in future.

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