Joseph Khan made $450 trading cryptocurrency. Image: Wikipedia. Hollywood music video director Joseph Kahn has gone from Bad Blood to Bitcoin. On Sunday, the director, who’s won Grammys for his work with Taylor Swift and Eminem, announced his new favorite hobby: trading cryptocurrency. And he’s looking for trading advice. Kahn, who’s worked with some of the biggest music stars and brands in the business over a twenty year career, said he spent the past month trading cryptocurrency, and had made a profit of $450. The award-winning director attached a screenshot of his portfolio on Coinbase Pro. It shows that his initial investment of $7,500—in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin—now has a value of $7,949, a gain of six percent.  He is “mostly cashed out right now, and plans to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum on a downswing,” when the price falls.  The 47-year-old Korean-American is at the top of his game in the music video world, and has worked with a catalogue of stars, including Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent. His latest project is a movie, , about racial tensions in the world of battle rap, and his immersion in the rap universe may have given him early exposure to Bitcoin.  In 2013, referring to a new video cut, Kahn tweeted: ‘You can pay me in bitcoins and/or obscure sex tricks.” Whether Kahn bought any Bitcoin in 2013 is unknown. But his client, 50 Cent, is reported to have accepted the cryptocurrency as payment for his album ‘Animal Ambition’ in 2014. The rapper was thought to have accumulated Bitcoin now valued at over $7 million, but revealed he had during a bankruptcy hearing in 2018.   Kahn’s first known foray in Bitcoin was in February this year, when he tweeted “I bought bitcoin today because porn accepts it. If porn adopts tech, that's a sign the tech is mainstream.” But things didn't go well for Kahn to begin with. He lost almost half of his initial investment, when alongside mainstream stocks in March, and that the cryptocurrency didn’t seem to be an effective hedge against the market.  In April, things started looking up for Kahn. “I'm officially only down $50 in cryptocurrency. I still have no idea what I'm doing,” he tweeted.    Yesterday, he sent out another entreaty for help: “If anyone has any ideas on crypto I'm open.” Because of the pandemic, the rookie trader has only produced only one video in 2020, and—judging by the increased frequency of his tweets on cryptocurrency—he’s doubling down on his new hobby.  Unlike JK Rowling, who to explain Bitcoin to her, Kahn hasn’t yet been inundated with offers of advice. But it’s only a matter of time. -video-now-hes-trading-bitcoinTop stories, original features, rewards & more. Get the best of Decrypt where you want it most. Want to grow your company or brand 🚀? Learn more about partnering with Decrypt. Menu About

Joseph Kahn, a music video director who has worked for the world’s leading pop stars for over two decades, has announced that trading crypto assets is his new favorite hobby. After claiming to have spent the past month trading cryptocurrency, Kahn purports a profit of roughly $450  On June 1, Kahn took to Twitter announcing that he has spent the last month trading crypto assets. A screenshot shows Kahn’s portfolio to be valued at $7,949, with the hobbyist trader claiming to have gained 6% since investing $7,500 one month ago. Kahn claims to have mostly “cashed out” at present, with roughly half of his portfolio currently tied to open orders for Bitcoin () and Ether () at lower price levels. “If anyone has any ideas on crypto I’m open,” Kahn added to the Twitter thread. Since launching a production company, SuperMega Media, in 1999, Kahn has worked with many of the biggest stars in popular music, including Lady Gaga, 50 Cent, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and many others — several of whom have found momentary fame within the crypto industry.  In December 2019, a Monero () hidden behind JPEG images of Taylor Swift was discovered. At the time, the botnet in question, MyKings, had taken in $3 million worth of XMR through a wide variety of attacks targeting Windows systems. When Eminem released his tenth album "Kamikaze" in August 2018, outlets noted that the record’s ninth track "Not Alike" featured a shout out to Bitcoin — indicating the prominence crypto had gained in mainstream culture following the 2017 all-time high bull run: “Remember everybody used to bite Nickel, now everybody doing Bitcoin.” In 2014, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson Bitcoin as payment for his fifth studio album ‘Animal Ambition’. The rapper sold nearly 80,000 copies of the album for $5.50 each in BTC — garnering roughly 700 Bitcoins. In January 2018, 50 Cent claimed to have forgotten about his Bitcoin stash, following media estimates that his ambitious bounty had come to be valued at over $7 million. However, the following month, Jackson asserted that he had never owned any Bitcoin in. Loading Are you a journalist or an editor? Join us: career@cointelegraph.com Language Extensions: Cointelegraph covers fintech, blockchain and Bitcoin bringing you the latest news and analyses on the future of money. © Cointelegraph 2013 - 2020

GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) video platform YouTube exposure to the BAT cryptocurrency.

What Happened: Mr. Beast joins the likes of Spinnin’ Records, a Dutch electronic music label, and Trap Nation, a U.S. music promoter among the top YouTube content creators on the Brave Browser.

The Brendan Eich-founded Brave powers digital advertising on its browser with a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency called the Basic Attention Token (BAT).

Why It Matters: Brave has risen in popularity over the last two years and has attracted 1 million publishers and more than 25 million active monthly users, reported Cointelegraph.

In addition to the 528,756 YouTube content creators, the web browser reportedly also has 126,740 publishers on Twitter Inc’s (NYSE: TWTR) platform, and 69,000 of website and Amazon.com, Inc’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Twitch publishers.

Price Action: BAT traded 16.16% higher at $0.27 at press time. Alphabet Class A shares traded nearly 1% lower at $1,722.88 on Wednesday and gained 0.47% in the after-hours session. On the same day, the company’s Class C shares closed 0.32% lower at $1,735.29.

See Also: Cryptocurrency Market Valuation Crosses $1T, Bitcoin Zeroes In On Tesla

artists are turning to live streaming on Twitch and Instagram, others are turning to blockchain technology.

Today, Portugal The Man launched their own cryptocurrency. The crypto tokens are called PTM coins, and they can be spent on merch, unreleased footage from the band’s past gigs, a live stream party, video chats, and text chats. The band is hoping the crypto token will facilitate a direct connection with its ultra-fans.

“We’ve always favored direct connections with our audiences,” says lead singer John Gourley. “COVID has taken a lot of this interaction online, so we’ve been looking for new ways to engage with our audience in entirely digital settings. Crypto gives us the opportunity to do just that.”

The PTM tokens will launch on Rally, a social token network that utilizes an Ethereum sidechain. Fans can exchange and trade the tokens through Discord, a social chat program. So how does the PTM token differ from some of the previous tokens in the space?

Rally is different from other platforms like Fyooz, which paid for rapper Lil Yachty to mint Yachty Token. Rally is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), and Rally’s token prices are determined by an algorithm. That’s different than services that offer ERC-20 tokens whose value is determined by secondary markets, not the issuer.

Portugal. The Man inherited 50,000 tokens at the start of the project. The tokens are designed to be held by the band long-term. Gourley says he’s excited about the new revenue possibility and bringing his fans along for the ride. The band has gifted thousands of coins to some of its biggest supporters and says it will continue to do so.

With Yachty Coin and PTM token here to support their respective artists, is the crypto bubble back? Seems like it. These projects are intended to support artists and to give hardcore fans access to new unreleased content. It’s a new, experimental revenue stream that may or may not pan out.

it passes through the crypto ecosystem.

As part of the strategy to spread knowledge about the ecosystem, CoinMarketCap has deployed its product “Learn Crypto, Earn Crypto“, under the slogan of “acquire crypto assets in a fun and low risk way“.

In this opportunity, the leading price index of the cryptomarket, has teamed up with the popular virtual world platform based on Blockchain The Sandbox, so that enthusiasts from both worlds can test their knowledge by watching videos while earning the native $SAND tokens.

In total, there are $400,000 valued in $SAND tokens, the prize to be shared between the CMC Earn program alliance and The Sandbox.

After watching a set of explanatory videos on the popular gaming platform based on Blockchain technology, users must complete a quiz to be credited with fabulous prizes in native SAND tokens, which can later be used to access The Sandbox, ASSETS purchases within the platform or simply staked and obtaining passive income by keeping them in your portfolio.

In total there are three video lessons that users can enjoy and have fun while learning and earning crypto assets related to the Metaverse The Sandbox.

You can access this link to win your first $SAND tokens!

The search for ‘contactless’ solutions for entertainment was not far behind, and gaming also saw greater growth this year as did many digital solutions based on cryptocurrencies.

Best of all, the combination of both worlds, the crypto + Blockchain, has generated a new movement that attracts a lot of attention, where gamers, artists and crypto enthusiasts have joined: the NFTs.

Initially originated as an artistic experiment, the use of non-fungible tokens focused on decentralized games has been boosted since the appearance of Cryptokitties.

Now the Metaverse has evolved and expanded its borders, becoming a subsector of billions of dollars that grows exponentially with its use and adoption cases: gaming, art, music, real estate, among others.

Its unique and unrepeatable capacity, by having a unique identifier, as well as the intrinsic properties of Blockchain technology “transparency, immutability and traceability”, are some of the benefits that allowed to explore the tokenization of assets of any type, beyond the standards fungibles of traditional tokens.

As if that were not enough, its interoperability capacity has made it possible to overcome the barriers between chains, thus allowing a more global and decentralized economy, at the same time that it allows unequivocal digital ownership of the user or creator of the NFT.

Empowering the user and allowing them to monetize their creations directly without intermediaries, while allowing them complete control over them, are the most notable use cases that NFTs promote within popular platforms from decentralized worlds such as Decentraland or The Sandbox.

As if that were not enough, the fact of owning virtual LANDs and being able to lease them to monetize this space, in addition to having absolute control of the passive income from assets that are created on these territories, are characteristics that are gaining more and more followers, thanks to the power of Blockchain technology, combined with the best of the real world.

While it is not yet easy to count the statistics on the contribution of NFTs to the gaming economy, their increasing inclusion in gaming platforms is increasingly evident, pointing the way to come.

In this sense, platforms such as Animoca Brands, which have sufficient experience and knowledge between both worlds «Blockchain and Gaming», have the probability of greater success in covering this new emerging market niche of NFTs. The Sandbox is a great example of this success.

The Sandbox is a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences in the Ethereum blockchain.

The platform’s native token is SAND, an ERC-20 utility token that is used within the platform for all interactions and transactions in the ecosystem.

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book-keeping, transparent and tamper-proof transactions, inflation protection, and anonymity. Its free and open spirit has posed a huge challenge to the existing financial system, but also as a result, gathered many firm believers.

Why is bitcoin a bubble?

The reason it is difficult to regulate cryptocurrencies is that most of them are both securities and currencies, subject to price fluctuations while used as media of exchange. They are essentially novel securities. However, even in the crypto world, currencies that serve as a means of payment should act as stablecoins. It is not difficult to understand why: these coins are not backed by any real commercial activities that justify their price fluctuations the way securities are. So the only reason for their price movements is speculation, which is, under no circumstance justified.

The price of bitcoin is too high, mainly for two reasons: first, miners and speculators collude to drive it up, while true believers willingly support its price. On the other hand, it doesn’t have any alternative commercially, or in terms of scale. However, when Satoshi designed bitcoin in the first place, he intended it as a type of stablecoin. In other words, Bitcoin was never expected to experience any major fluctuations. What’s more, it is not scarce in any sense. It’s very easy to issue a similar cryptocurrency. The only thing special about Bitcoin is that it is many people’s first contact with the world of crypto.

Second, mainstream investors do not have a sufficient understanding of blockchain. Once they do, they will no longer flock into Bitcoin. In my opinion, Bitcoin is nothing more than another type of collectible and there should be a cap on its price. When its price becomes too high, a market crash easily ensues.

Of course one can talk about nostalgia. Collectibles such as the world’s first car or computer were also sold for a high price at auctions. The same may be true with Bitcoin. The difference is that be it “the world’s first car” or “the first computer”, there are unique and exist in physical form. Yet the current consensus on Bitcoin’s price derives mainly from the consensus of the miners. It remains a question what the public consensus will be for a digital asset that can be created by code and whose consensus is achieved via distributed collaboration. Personally, I don’t think such digital assets have enough scarcity and uniqueness to justify their inflated prices.

The future of blockchain—RChain

After bitcoin was born, there have been several similar cryptocurrencies, most of whom do not have any practical value, until Ethereum expanded the blockchain technology from payment to the architecture layer. Ethereum has been a success, yet its technology route is flawed, which explains why it still hasn’t solved the “impossible triangle” problem or achieved large-scale commercial application. More and more people start to understand and recognize the huge promise of blockchain technology. Yet its inability to support large-scale commercial use is still hindering its mainstream adoption. Until RChain.

Blockchain 1.0 Bitcoin​ Payment system, transfer of coins, the simplest application

Blockchain 2.0 Ethereum​ Smart contracts that expand the scope of cryptocurrencies

Blockchian3.0 RChain​ ​Safe and expandable on-chain collaboration based on data

As I understand, blockchain is a decentralized collaboration technology that promises to facilitate safe and trustless cooperation and communication among people around the globe. In that sense, public chains represent the future of blockchain. From a technology’s perspective, blockchain is essentially the combination of a distributed architecture and decentralized computing. So we need to first understand that this system must be highly concurrent. In the real world, most of the transactions are isolated and most people’s financial situations independent. For example, when you go grab a cup of coffee, someone on the other side of the Earth might be heading out for shopping. Your transactions are unrelated. That is very important in the blockchain world. If we serialized these transactions, we would be heading nowhere. All transactions must pass through a virtual machine. If the virtual machine is sequential, then all the transactions have to be ordered sequentially, which is why our current blockchain systems are so slow (including bitcoin and Ethereum, etc.)

Until now, I’ve only discussed transactions, which in the context of this article, refer to the transfer of coins. Payment is the easiest application of blockchain technology. Yet a correct blockchain architecture should be designed around data. We are heading towards a big data era, with huge amounts of data generated every day. Yet our control of personal data is increasingly weakened. Every day, centralized giants infringe on our privacy. We talked about payment, but coins are nothing more than one form of data and transactions nothing more than the transfer or exchange of coins. At a broader scale, data exchange can include such activities as listening to music or watching a video, etc. But they require a much more complicated architecture than the one that supports mere payment. Let’s call that a true “World Computer”. It has the potential to radically disrupt the way people live and work, so much so that it will be more promising than the Internet back more than a decade ago.

My research shows that the optimal solution to this “World Computer” (the combination of a decentralized architecture and distributed computing) is a novel discipline that has only existed for dozens of years- Process Calculus and RChain is on top of that.

special news report looking at recent news and developments in the bitcoin/cryptocurrency sector.

Miners have been ramping up capacity in expectation of higher Bitcoin prices and as it reached a recent high on January 8th of just under $42,000, it looks like the bet will pay off in 2021. Other companies in the sector are capitalizing on the historic rise by investing directly in Bitcoin.

Read the full cryptocurrency stock article on Investorideas.com ure.asp

ISW Holdings, Inc. (OTC Pink: ISWH) is leveraging its bet both ways. The Company just announced that it is in the process of converting $20,000 of the Company's cash holdings into Bitcoin. The Company also announces that it will be regularly conducting similar transactions on a quarterly basis to convert a percentage of cash flows into Bitcoin.

From the news: Management expects this transaction to be completed this week. The Company began transitioning cash resources into Bitcoin with an initial transaction in March 2019 at approximately $4,000/Bitcoin.

Continued: "We believe in the future of Bitcoin and digital payment systems, and cash represents an unproductive asset given the degree of monetary expansion, stimulus, and debt dragging down traditional currency systems," commented Alonzo Pierce, President and Chairman of ISW Holdings. "We are also on schedule to launch mining operations through our S19 Pod5 solution at the Bit5ive renewable energy project by the end of January."

Continued: The Company formed a joint venture partnership with Bit5ive, LLC, ("Bit5ive") in May to build and deliver an elegant, powerful, and efficient data center pod design. The Proceso S19 Pod5ive Datacenter is the result. Designed in partnership with Bit5ive, and geared primarily for the cryptocurrency mining industry, the Proceso S19 Pod5ive Datacenter offers next-generation dynamic self-management functionality, plug-and-play operation, virtually non-existent maintenance needs, and an industry best-in-class 1.06 Power Usage Effectiveness score.

Continued: The Company's first mining pod is set to launch operationally before the end of January.

Riot Blockchain in late December announced an expected 65% increase in bitcoin mining hash rate capacity resulting from the purchase and future deployment of 15,000 S19 Pro and S19j Pro Antminers from Bitmain Technologies Limited ("Bitmain"). The approximate $35 million purchase is comprised of 3,000 S19 Pro Antminers (110 TH) and 12,000 S19j Pro Antminers (100 TH). These additional miners are scheduled for receipt and deployment starting in May 2021 and continuing through October 2021.

From the news: This new order of miners, combined with the Company's prior miner purchases, is expected to significantly increase Riot's estimated bitcoin mining hash rate from the previously announced 2.3 EH/s to 3.8 EH/s. The Company has been receiving and deploying new miners consistently through 2020, including this new purchase; the delivery schedule continues into the fourth quarter of 2021.

Continued: At full deployment of Riot's 37,640 next-generation fleet of miners, Riot estimates its total operational hash rate capacity will be 3.8 EH/s and consume approximately 120 MW of energy. As a result, the Company expects to have an aggregate mining efficiency of 31.79±% 5 joules per terahash (J/TH).

Continued: "Continued growth in deployed miners is paramount to a miner's success," said Jeff McGonegal, CEO of Riot. "Expanding the Company's bitcoin mining hash rate and operating on a cost-effective basis is very important, particularly during periods when the bitcoin spot price has appreciably increased. We are pleased to have secured this latest purchase, especially given that the available supply of mining hardware continues to become increasingly scarce."

Continued: "We are extremely excited to expand and deepen our partnership with Riot Blockchain again this year. In total, Riot additionally purchased 15,000 Antminer 19 series. The 19 series enjoy a wide popularity in the global markets with outstanding hash rates and power efficiency, which continuously bring tremendous values to our customers around the world. I am confident that with the new purchase, Riot can continue to grow their mining operation and play an increasingly vital role in bitcoin mining across North America." said Irene Gao, Antminer Sales Director of NCSA Region, Bitmain.

HIVE Blockchain Technologies recently announced the purchase of 4,180 MicroBT WhatsMiner M31S+ next generation miners with an aggregate operating hash power of 334 Petahash per second (PH/s) as it continues to expand its bitcoin mining operations.

From the news: With the addition of these 4,180 MicroBT WhatsMiner M31S+ Miners, HIVE's aggregate operating hash rate from Bitcoin mining to almost double to an estimated 653 PH/s.

Continued: Based on the orders that have been placed, this new equipment is expected to be delivered in 9 tranches in 2021, with 180 miners delivered in April and 500 miners delivered in each month in the remainder of calendar 2021 commencing with May delivery.

Continued: These secured orders are the continuing steps that HIVE is taking towards the vision to achieve an aggregate operating hash power of 1,000 PH/s by the end of calendar 2021, all funded out of operational cash flows. With these secured purchases the Company has taken a huge step towards its goal.

Marathon Patent Group, the largest enterprise Bitcoin self-mining companies in North America looking at significant expansion announced that it has entered into securities purchase agreements with several institutional investors for the purchase and sale in a registered direct offering of 12,500,000 shares of its common stock at an offering price of $20.0 per share.

The gross proceeds of this offering are expected to be $250 million, before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses payable by Marathon. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes and to fund ongoing operations and expansion of its business.

On December 9th the company announced it entered into a contract with Bitmain to purchase 10,000 Antminer S-19j Pro ASIC Miners.

From the news: Under the terms of the agreement, Marathon will receive an initial batch of 6,000 S-19j Pro Miners in August 2021. The remaining 4,000 miners will be delivered in September 2021.

Continued: Once all of Marathon's purchased miners are delivered and fully deployed, the Company's mining portfolio will consist of 33,560 state of the art ASIC miners, generating 3.56 EH/s. As a result, the Company will be consuming approximately 100 MWs of power, the maximum amount available at the Company's data center in Hardin, MT.

With the recent pullback of Bitcoin after reaching its all-time high, some investors have been scared out of market due to the volatility and the industry is calling for regulation. One firm, JPMorgan, is still very bullish for the future of the digital currency long term.

BNN Bloomberg quotes JP Morgan: "A crowding out of gold as an 'alternative' currency implies big upside for Bitcoin over the long term," the strategists wrote Monday. However, "a convergence in volatilities between Bitcoin and gold is unlikely to happen quickly and is in our mind a multiyear process. This implies that the above-US$146,000 theoretical Bitcoin price target should be considered as a long-term target."

For the miners- the game is on for 2021 as they get funded and expand capacity.

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biggest names in the world of entertainment have made waves in the crypto space for endorsing or investing in projects, tokens and companies. Some have stayed, others have gone and a few have ended up in hot water for their forays into the crypto cauldron.

2020 has also seen a number of celebrities from different walks of life enter the fray, and as per usual, the cryptocurrency community has been abuzz about the newcomers and their involvement. So, let’s take a look at the most notable celebrities who have joined, those who have left, and those who showed increased interest in the cryptocurrency ecosystem in 2020.

Senegalese-American music star Akon is adored around the world not only for his chart-topping hits but also for his philanthropic and entrepreneurial work over the years. His Lighting Africa initiative has helped provide solar power energy solutions to 28 countries on the continent, and he’s also become a proponent for the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

In 2018, Akon revealed plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Akoin that will become the native currency of a futuristic city that he envisions building in his home country of Senegal. Fast forward a couple of years, and these plans were finally fleshed out and released to the public.

Akon City is set to be a $6 billion cryptocurrency-powered city built on 2,000 acres of land that was reportedly given to him as a gift by Senegal’s president, Macky Sall. The city will be located near the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

The first phase of construction of Akon City is expected to begin in the next few months and is touted to be completed by the end of 2023, with a construction contract having already been awarded to an American engineering firm.

Primary infrastructure including roads, waste services and a solar power plant will be built in the first phase alongside a hospital campus, a mall, residential accommodations, hotels and a police station. In addition, parks, a sports stadium, an industrial complex and a university have been earmarked for construction in phase one as well. The city will also be largely dependent on renewable solar energy.

As the project’s white paper details, the second phase of development is expected to take place over five years, from 2024 to 2029, and will culminate in the completion of Akon City and its running solely on an economy powered by the Akoin cryptocurrency and ecosystem.

While Akon City may only become a living, breathing, crypto-powered city in 2030, Akon’s vision and ability to launch the plan into action in 2020 has certainly earned him a place on this list.

The final season of Game of Thrones may have left many fans feeling underwhelmed, but its characters and their real-life actors have become beloved by many around the world. Maisie Williams, who plays the diminutive but deadly Arya Stark in the TV series, is another celebrity who joined the crypto community in 2020.

In November, Williams took to Twitter to ask her 2.7 million followers if she should “go long on bitcoin” in a poll that garnered over 900,000 votes, 3,400 retweets, 3,700 comments and 16,000 likes.

— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) November 16, 2020

While the tally of the votes as of the end of December resulted in 53% of voters saying “no,” a swathe of influential figures from the world of cryptocurrency, blockchain and beyond added their two cents to the post.

Renowned crypto podcast host Peter McCormack gave Williams a very maximalist response in his comment saying “Bitcoin and nothing else,” while Barry Silbert made reference to the deadly affliction known as “greyscale” in Game of Thrones when he suggested Williams explore investing through Grayscale’s digital-asset trusts.

At the end of the day, Williams made up her own mind and “bought some anyway.” Arya Stark always did her own thing.

Paris Hilton is an American celebrity, actress, model, reality TV star, DJ and singer who has also become a renowned entrepreneur through various retail ventures.

In 2017, Hilton made a small foray into the cryptocurrency space during the height of the initial coin offering frenzy. In a now-deleted series of Twitter posts, Hilton expressed her interest in the ICO of LydianCoin, which later became embroiled in serious legal battles.

Hilton later distanced herself from the project after its founder was convicted of domestic violence and battery, and she seemingly walked away from the world of crypto — until 2020, that is.

In August, Hilton made headlines after announcing that she had sold a digital art piece of her cat, Munchkin, for a total of 40 Ether (ETH), which was worth around $17,000 at the time. Hilton’s digital painting was sold on an Ethereum-based auction platform called Cryptograph.

— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) August 13, 2020

Hilton pledged the proceeds of the auction to three United States-based charities: the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Meals On Wheels and Backpack Bed for Homeless.

Following in the footsteps of Williams, American rapper Logic was also bitten by the Bitcoin bug recently. In a short video posted to his Instagram story on Nov. 20, Logic said that he’d bought $6 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in October, before saying YOLO — you only live once.

While it’s hard to tell if the 30-year-old rapper, who recently signed an exclusive deal with streaming platform Twitch, was being serious, his big-money move would have appreciated dramatically in the month since he bought Bitcoin.

Logic’s Bitcoin acquisition would have snapped up 433 BTC at a price of around $13,850. Fast forward one month to Dec. 20, and his Bitcoin holdings would be worth in excess of $9 million if he kept on hodling.

While a few notable celebrities have either entered the cryptocurrency space or made some meaningful contributions, a couple have exited the environment in unceremonious circumstances.

American actor Steven Seagal aligned himself with a questionable cryptocurrency project in 2018 called Bitcoiin2Gen, which at the time claimed to be a “superior” version of Bitcoin. Seagal came on board as a brand ambassador for the project’s ICO, a move that would eventually land him in serious trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Seagal’s deal saw him promote the Bitcoiin2Gen ICO on his social media channels for a number of months, in exchange for $250,000 in cash and $750,000 in B2G tokens. The project caught the attention of state-level regulators and received cease-and-desist orders, while Seagal ended up being a major target of legal proceedings by the SEC.

In February, Seagal was ordered to pay back the compensation he’d received from Bitcoiin2Gen. According to documents filed with the SEC, Seagal maintained that he only received $157,000 from his promotional deal. The actor eventually agreed to settle the charges with the SEC, paying $330,000 to the commission.

The SEC once again warned celebrities that they were bound by law to disclose any compensation received for using their social media platforms to promote securities.

2020 also saw a couple of additional big-name celebrities exploring the world of cryptocurrencies through the use of their social media platforms, although they may well have been trolling the ever-zealous crypto-faithful.

J. K. Rowling, world-renowned author of the Harry Potter series, took to Twitter in May to ask what she probably assumed was a simple question about Bitcoin in a thread with cryptocurrency journalist Leigh Cuen.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 15, 2020

Much like Williams’ situation, Rowling’s question caught the attention of the entire cryptosphere, with the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, crypto author Saifedean Ammous, podcaster Laura Shin and even Elon Musk getting in on the discussion.

The debate went on for days, while Rowling continually said that she still had not grasped how the cryptocurrency worked. The author was so inundated with responses that she eventually tweeted a day later that she might not ever be able to log back onto the social media platform without being derided for not owning Bitcoin. The hilarious incident and subsequent response from the cryptocurrency community is a reminder of the influence that celebrities can have on the space.

Rowling was not the only major celebrity to get Crypto Twitter riled up in 2020. Enter Musk, CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX. He’s been known to jump onto Twitter from time to time and stir the pot with cryptic Tweets about the crypto space.

Twice this year, Musk caused the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) to surge in value by simply mentioning its name in tweets. The latest incident happened in December as Musk “trolled” Bitcoin, describing it as “almost as bs [bullshit] as fiat money” before posting a short tweet reading: “One word: Doge.”

The tweet saw the price of Dogecoin appreciate by 25% as the cryptocurrency began to trend on the platform. The thread of tweets also drew the attention of influential figures in the world of crypto.

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy’s CEO, Michael Saylor, joined the conversation and offered to share his own Bitcoin acquisition strategy with Musk. MicroStrategy has bought more than $1 billion worth of BTC in 2020, having adopted the cryptocurrency as its primary treasury reserve asset. He stated:

“If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to #BTC. Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor.”

Musk replied asking if “such large transactions” were even possible, before Saylor offered to share his “playbook” offline with Musk “from one rocket scientist to another.” The MicroStrategy CEO holds dual degrees from MIT in aeronautics and astronautics, and in science, technology and society. So, let’s just hope that these two bright minds did actually slide into each other’s DMs to compare notes on all things crypto.

biggest names in the world of entertainment have made waves in the crypto space for endorsing or investing in projects, tokens and companies. Some have stayed, others have gone and a few have ended up in hot water for their forays into the crypto cauldron.

2020 has also seen a number of celebrities from different walks of life enter the fray, and as per usual, the cryptocurrency community has been abuzz about the newcomers and their involvement. So, let’s take a look at the most notable celebrities who have joined, those who have left, and those who showed increased interest in the cryptocurrency ecosystem in 2020.

Senegalese-American music star Akon is adored around the world not only for his chart-topping hits but also for his philanthropic and entrepreneurial work over the years. His Lighting Africa initiative has helped provide solar power energy solutions to 28 countries on the continent, and he’s also become a proponent for the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

In 2018, Akon revealed plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Akoin that will become the native currency of a futuristic city that he envisions building in his home country of Senegal. Fast forward a couple of years, and these plans were finally fleshed out and released to the public.

Akon City is set to be a $6 billion cryptocurrency-powered city built on 2,000 acres of land that was reportedly given to him as a gift by Senegal’s president, Macky Sall. The city will be located near the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

The first phase of construction of Akon City is expected to begin in the next few months and is touted to be completed by the end of 2023, with a construction contract having already been awarded to an American engineering firm.

Primary infrastructure including roads, waste services and a solar power plant will be built in the first phase alongside a hospital campus, a mall, residential accommodations, hotels and a police station. In addition, parks, a sports stadium, an industrial complex and a university have been earmarked for construction in phase one as well. The city will also be largely dependent on renewable solar energy.

As the project’s white paper details, the second phase of development is expected to take place over five years, from 2024 to 2029, and will culminate in the completion of Akon City and its running solely on an economy powered by the Akoin cryptocurrency and ecosystem.

While Akon City may only become a living, breathing, crypto-powered city in 2030, Akon’s vision and ability to launch the plan into action in 2020 has certainly earned him a place on this list.

The final season of Game of Thrones may have left many fans feeling underwhelmed, but its characters and their real-life actors have become beloved by many around the world. Maisie Williams, who plays the diminutive but deadly Arya Stark in the TV series, is another celebrity who joined the crypto community in 2020.

In November, Williams took to Twitter to ask her 2.7 million followers if she should “go long on bitcoin” in a poll that garnered over 900,000 votes, 3,400 retweets, 3,700 comments and 16,000 likes.

— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) November 16, 2020

While the tally of the votes as of the end of December resulted in 53% of voters saying “no,” a swathe of influential figures from the world of cryptocurrency, blockchain and beyond added their two cents to the post.

Renowned crypto podcast host Peter McCormack gave Williams a very maximalist response in his comment saying “Bitcoin and nothing else,” while Barry Silbert made reference to the deadly affliction known as “greyscale” in Game of Thrones when he suggested Williams explore investing through Grayscale’s digital-asset trusts.

At the end of the day, Williams made up her own mind and “bought some anyway.” Arya Stark always did her own thing.

Paris Hilton is an American celebrity, actress, model, reality TV star, DJ and singer who has also become a renowned entrepreneur through various retail ventures.

In 2017, Hilton made a small foray into the cryptocurrency space during the height of the initial coin offering frenzy. In a now-deleted series of Twitter posts, Hilton expressed her interest in the ICO of LydianCoin, which later became embroiled in serious legal battles.

Hilton later distanced herself from the project after its founder was convicted of domestic violence and battery, and she seemingly walked away from the world of crypto — until 2020, that is.

In August, Hilton made headlines after announcing that she had sold a digital art piece of her cat, Munchkin, for a total of 40 Ether (ETH), which was worth around $17,000 at the time. Hilton’s digital painting was sold on an Ethereum-based auction platform called Cryptograph.

— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) August 13, 2020

Hilton pledged the proceeds of the auction to three United States-based charities: the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Meals On Wheels and Backpack Bed for Homeless.

Following in the footsteps of Williams, American rapper Logic was also bitten by the Bitcoin bug recently. In a short video posted to his Instagram story on Nov. 20, Logic said that he’d bought $6 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in October, before saying YOLO — you only live once.

While it’s hard to tell if the 30-year-old rapper, who recently signed an exclusive deal with streaming platform Twitch, was being serious, his big-money move would have appreciated dramatically in the month since he bought Bitcoin.

Logic’s Bitcoin acquisition would have snapped up 433 BTC at a price of around $13,850. Fast forward one month to Dec. 20, and his Bitcoin holdings would be worth in excess of $9 million if he kept on hodling.

While a few notable celebrities have either entered the cryptocurrency space or made some meaningful contributions, a couple have exited the environment in unceremonious circumstances.

American actor Steven Seagal aligned himself with a questionable cryptocurrency project in 2018 called Bitcoiin2Gen, which at the time claimed to be a “superior” version of Bitcoin. Seagal came on board as a brand ambassador for the project’s ICO, a move that would eventually land him in serious trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Seagal’s deal saw him promote the Bitcoiin2Gen ICO on his social media channels for a number of months, in exchange for $250,000 in cash and $750,000 in B2G tokens. The project caught the attention of state-level regulators and received cease-and-desist orders, while Seagal ended up being a major target of legal proceedings by the SEC.

In February, Seagal was ordered to pay back the compensation he’d received from Bitcoiin2Gen. According to documents filed with the SEC, Seagal maintained that he only received $157,000 from his promotional deal. The actor eventually agreed to settle the charges with the SEC, paying $330,000 to the commission.

The SEC once again warned celebrities that they were bound by law to disclose any compensation received for using their social media platforms to promote securities.

2020 also saw a couple of additional big-name celebrities exploring the world of cryptocurrencies through the use of their social media platforms, although they may well have been trolling the ever-zealous crypto-faithful.

J. K. Rowling, world-renowned author of the Harry Potter series, took to Twitter in May to ask what she probably assumed was a simple question about Bitcoin in a thread with cryptocurrency journalist Leigh Cuen.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 15, 2020

Much like Williams’ situation, Rowling’s question caught the attention of the entire cryptosphere, with the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, crypto author Saifedean Ammous, podcaster Laura Shin and even Elon Musk getting in on the discussion.

The debate went on for days, while Rowling continually said that she still had not grasped how the cryptocurrency worked. The author was so inundated with responses that she eventually tweeted a day later that she might not ever be able to log back onto the social media platform without being derided for not owning Bitcoin. The hilarious incident and subsequent response from the cryptocurrency community is a reminder of the influence that celebrities can have on the space.

Rowling was not the only major celebrity to get Crypto Twitter riled up in 2020. Enter Musk, CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX. He’s been known to jump onto Twitter from time to time and stir the pot with cryptic Tweets about the crypto space.

Twice this year, Musk caused the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) to surge in value by simply mentioning its name in tweets. The latest incident happened in December as Musk “trolled” Bitcoin, describing it as “almost as bs [bullshit] as fiat money” before posting a short tweet reading: “One word: Doge.”

The tweet saw the price of Dogecoin appreciate by 25% as the cryptocurrency began to trend on the platform. The thread of tweets also drew the attention of influential figures in the world of crypto.

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy’s CEO, Michael Saylor, joined the conversation and offered to share his own Bitcoin acquisition strategy with Musk. MicroStrategy has bought more than $1 billion worth of BTC in 2020, having adopted the cryptocurrency as its primary treasury reserve asset. He stated:

“If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to #BTC. Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor.”

Musk replied asking if “such large transactions” were even possible, before Saylor offered to share his “playbook” offline with Musk “from one rocket scientist to another.” The MicroStrategy CEO holds dual degrees from MIT in aeronautics and astronautics, and in science, technology and society. So, let’s just hope that these two bright minds did actually slide into each other’s DMs to compare notes on all things crypto.

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biggest names in the world of entertainment have made waves in the crypto space for endorsing or investing in projects, tokens and companies. Some have stayed, others have gone and a few have ended up in hot water for their forays into the crypto cauldron.

2020 has also seen a number of celebrities from different walks of life enter the fray, and as per usual, the cryptocurrency community has been abuzz about the newcomers and their involvement. So, let’s take a look at the most notable celebrities who have joined, those who have left, and those who showed increased interest in the cryptocurrency ecosystem in 2020.

Senegalese-American music star Akon is adored around the world not only for his chart-topping hits but also for his philanthropic and entrepreneurial work over the years. His Lighting Africa initiative has helped provide solar power energy solutions to 28 countries on the continent, and he’s also become a proponent for the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

In 2018, Akon revealed plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Akoin that will become the native currency of a futuristic city that he envisions building in his home country of Senegal. Fast forward a couple of years, and these plans were finally fleshed out and released to the public.

Akon City is set to be a $6 billion cryptocurrency-powered city built on 2,000 acres of land that was reportedly given to him as a gift by Senegal’s president, Macky Sall. The city will be located near the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

The first phase of construction of Akon City is expected to begin in the next few months and is touted to be completed by the end of 2023, with a construction contract having already been awarded to an American engineering firm.

Primary infrastructure including roads, waste services and a solar power plant will be built in the first phase alongside a hospital campus, a mall, residential accommodations, hotels and a police station. In addition, parks, a sports stadium, an industrial complex and a university have been earmarked for construction in phase one as well. The city will also be largely dependent on renewable solar energy.

As the project’s white paper details, the second phase of development is expected to take place over five years, from 2024 to 2029, and will culminate in the completion of Akon City and its running solely on an economy powered by the Akoin cryptocurrency and ecosystem.

While Akon City may only become a living, breathing, crypto-powered city in 2030, Akon’s vision and ability to launch the plan into action in 2020 has certainly earned him a place on this list.

The final season of Game of Thrones may have left many fans feeling underwhelmed, but its characters and their real-life actors have become beloved by many around the world. Maisie Williams, who plays the diminutive but deadly Arya Stark in the TV series, is another celebrity who joined the crypto community in 2020.

In November, Williams took to Twitter to ask her 2.7 million followers if she should “go long on bitcoin” in a poll that garnered over 900,000 votes, 3,400 retweets, 3,700 comments and 16,000 likes.

— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) November 16, 2020

While the tally of the votes as of the end of December resulted in 53% of voters saying “no,” a swathe of influential figures from the world of cryptocurrency, blockchain and beyond added their two cents to the post.

Renowned crypto podcast host Peter McCormack gave Williams a very maximalist response in his comment saying “Bitcoin and nothing else,” while Barry Silbert made reference to the deadly affliction known as “greyscale” in Game of Thrones when he suggested Williams explore investing through Grayscale’s digital-asset trusts.

At the end of the day, Williams made up her own mind and “bought some anyway.” Arya Stark always did her own thing.

Paris Hilton is an American celebrity, actress, model, reality TV star, DJ and singer who has also become a renowned entrepreneur through various retail ventures.

Hilton later distanced herself from the project after its founder was convicted of domestic violence and battery, and she seemingly walked away from the world of crypto — until 2020, that is.

In August, Hilton made headlines after announcing that she had sold a digital art piece of her cat, Munchkin, for a total of 40 Ether (ETH), which was worth around $17,000 at the time. Hilton’s digital painting was sold on an Ethereum-based auction platform called Cryptograph.

— Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) August 13, 2020

Hilton pledged the proceeds of the auction to three United States-based charities: the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Meals On Wheels and Backpack Bed for Homeless.

Following in the footsteps of Williams, American rapper Logic was also bitten by the Bitcoin bug recently. In a short video posted to his Instagram story on Nov. 20, Logic said that he’d bought $6 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in October, before saying YOLO — you only live once.

While it’s hard to tell if the 30-year-old rapper, who recently signed an exclusive deal with streaming platform Twitch, was being serious, his big-money move would have appreciated dramatically in the month since he bought Bitcoin.

Logic’s Bitcoin acquisition would have snapped up 433 BTC at a price of around $13,850. Fast forward one month to Dec. 20, and his Bitcoin holdings would be worth in excess of $9 million if he kept on hodling.

While a few notable celebrities have either entered the cryptocurrency space or made some meaningful contributions, a couple have exited the environment in unceremonious circumstances.

American actor Steven Seagal aligned himself with a questionable cryptocurrency project in 2018 called Bitcoiin2Gen, which at the time claimed to be a “superior” version of Bitcoin. Seagal came on board as a brand ambassador for the project’s ICO, a move that would eventually land him in serious trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Seagal’s deal saw him promote the Bitcoiin2Gen ICO on his social media channels for a number of months, in exchange for $250,000 in cash and $750,000 in B2G tokens. The project caught the attention of state-level regulators and received cease-and-desist orders, while Seagal ended up being a major target of legal proceedings by the SEC.

In February, Seagal was ordered to pay back the compensation he’d received from Bitcoiin2Gen. According to documents filed with the SEC, Seagal maintained that he only received $157,000 from his promotional deal. The actor eventually agreed to settle the charges with the SEC, paying $330,000 to the commission.

The SEC once again warned celebrities that they were bound by law to disclose any compensation received for using their social media platforms to promote securities.

2020 also saw a couple of additional big-name celebrities exploring the world of cryptocurrencies through the use of their social media platforms, although they may well have been trolling the ever-zealous crypto-faithful.

J. K. Rowling, world-renowned author of the Harry Potter series, took to Twitter in May to ask what she probably assumed was a simple question about Bitcoin in a thread with cryptocurrency journalist Leigh Cuen.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 15, 2020

Much like Williams’ situation, Rowling’s question caught the attention of the entire cryptosphere, with the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, crypto author Saifedean Ammous, podcaster Laura Shin and even Elon Musk getting in on the discussion.

The debate went on for days, while Rowling continually said that she still had not grasped how the cryptocurrency worked. The author was so inundated with responses that she eventually tweeted a day later that she might not ever be able to log back onto the social media platform without being derided for not owning Bitcoin. The hilarious incident and subsequent response from the cryptocurrency community is a reminder of the influence that celebrities can have on the space.

Rowling was not the only major celebrity to get Crypto Twitter riled up in 2020. Enter Musk, CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX. He’s been known to jump onto Twitter from time to time and stir the pot with cryptic Tweets about the crypto space.

Twice this year, Musk caused the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) to surge in value by simply mentioning its name in tweets. The latest incident happened in December as Musk “trolled” Bitcoin, describing it as “almost as bs [bullshit] as fiat money” before posting a short tweet reading: “One word: Doge.”

The tweet saw the price of Dogecoin appreciate by 25% as the cryptocurrency began to trend on the platform. The thread of tweets also drew the attention of influential figures in the world of crypto.

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy’s CEO, Michael Saylor, joined the conversation and offered to share his own Bitcoin acquisition strategy with Musk. MicroStrategy has bought more than $1 billion worth of BTC in 2020, having adopted the cryptocurrency as its primary treasury reserve asset. He stated:

“If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to #BTC. Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor.”

Musk replied asking if “such large transactions” were even possible, before Saylor offered to share his “playbook” offline with Musk “from one rocket scientist to another.” The MicroStrategy CEO holds dual degrees from MIT in aeronautics and astronautics, and in science, technology and society. So, let’s just hope that these two bright minds did actually slide into each other’s DMs to compare notes on all things crypto.

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Bitcoin has crossed the $40,000 mark after breaking $30,000 for the first time a few days ago. This extends the bull run beyond the holiday season. By the close of 2020, bitcoin had increased by over 300 percent.

“The $1 trillion mark cements cryptocurrency as an investable asset class that no longer sits on the fringes of Traditional Finance as a toy for retail investors. It demonstrates that this asset class is large enough to absorb large orders like we have seen recently with the slew of institutions entering over the last few months,” Jack Purdy, a Messari decentralised finance analyst, told Coindesk.

Besides the impact from institutional investors, bitcoin could also be rallying as holders move their money from altcoins like XRP that are facing regulatory issues to BTC.

Interestingly, bitcoin is moving up in the ranks of the top currencies in the world. According to FiatMarketCap, bitcoin ranks 16 after currencies such as the US dollar, the Euro, and the Russian Ruble. However, the cryptocurrency is ranking higher than the Norwegian Krone, the Swedish Krona, and the Mexican Peso.

The value of bitcoin has also surpassed that of several publicly traded companies like Alibaba, Samsung, Walmart, Walt Disney, and Visa. According to Coinmarketcap, the total market capitalisation of bitcoin is about $716.5 billion.

Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has updated its terms and privacy policy giving users an ultimatum to accept the new rules. If a user fails to accept the new terms by February 8, they will not have access to the app.

In 2016, WhatsApp users got a one-time opportunity to withdraw from the data sharing option. However, users will now have to allow the platform to share their data if they want to continue using the app.

“As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from and shares information with this family of companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings,” WhatsApp writes in the updated privacy policy.

The platform collects information like your phone number, the phone numbers of the people in your address book, your profile picture, and your status information. The status information includes when you were last seen online. Facebook has in the past come under fire and received fines over how it handles the privacy of its users.

What’s more, the Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra has received a lot of criticism from financial regulators since it was announced in 2019. As a result, the project has lost several partners, including PayPal and Visa. Moreover, the Libra Association rebranded to the Diem Association in December ahead of the launch this month.

To learn more about Bitcoin, download the Bitcoin Beginner’s Handbook for free.

Weekly Roundup: Binance Records 5 Million Trust Wallet Users, Bitcoin Price Hits $29,000

Scam Alert! Scammers in Kenya are Now Using Facebook’s Libra to Defraud Crypto Users

Beyond the Hype – Understanding Bitcoin’s Unique Route to Mass Adoption

Emerging Markets More Likely to Adopt Cryptocurrencies from Global Brands, Luno Study Says

Top 5 Freelancer Jobs Platforms That Enable You to Get Paid in Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s 10th Birthday: 10 Bitcoin Predictions with CoinCorner

In the last week of our news compilation series in 2020, we feature new data from Binance and bitcoin’s latest price rally.

With regard to P2P trading, Binance reported total order volumes of $6 billion in 2020. Also, active P2P users rose by 760 percent from 2019. The peer-to-peer service now supports 51 local currencies.

The average daily trading volume on the exchange increased by 36 percent to $3.88 billion. Additionally, over 110 exchanges, lending, and payment platforms have listed Binance USD (BUSD) in 2020 from more than 20.

Binance has also announced that it is supporting SegWit deposits for bitcoin. Users can now select the BTC (SegWit) network to transfer funds to a SegWit address. By using SegWit, you can cut down the fees you pay. Note that Binance already supports SegWit withdrawals for bitcoin. Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a bitcoin protocol upgrade that boosts the network’s transaction throughput.

Bitcoin exceeded $26,000 on Saturday as institutional investors continue to drive the present bull-run. Additionally, the US dollar inflation could also be contributing to the increasing bitcoin price as people turn to the cryptocurrency for protection.

About two weeks ago, bitcoin surpassed the $20,000 mark for the first time since 2017. Some of the institutional investors that could be behind the bull-run, according to an article on Coindesk are SkyBridge Capital, Guggenheim, and MassMutual.

Currently, the bitcoin price is above $29,000 and investors like Scaramucci from SkyBridge Capital believe this is just the beginning.

“In 2021, the success (or not) of their decisions will become clear. This could motivate a whole new wave of institutional investors to follow their lead. MicroStrategy’s $425 million investment in bitcoin, for example, has already more than doubled in value (as of 18 December 2020). These are numbers that will interest any business or investor,” he writes.

Bitcoin news coverage on mainstream media could rise if the price continues increasing beyond $30,000, he says. Although the coverage this year has not been as huge as it was in 2017, it has been positive.

Furthermore, Swanepoel thinks the bitcoin price could rise to new highs if it follows the 2017 halving pattern. Since the May 2020 halving, the bitcoin price has grown steadily. The same trend could persist into 2021.

In this week’s news roundup, we feature the partnership between Paxful and Kenyan music band Sauti Sol and more.

The representative of the band, Colin Gayle, said: “Sauti Sol is excited to partner with an innovative company like Paxful. […] We are hoping to show more Kenyans the wonders of bitcoin and take crypto adoption in the country to the next level.”

Furthermore, Paxful announced that it has registered more than 60,000 new Kenyan users in 2020. The company is also building a school in Machakos County and has set up handwashing stations in Kibera, the largest informal settlement in Africa.

“COVID-19 has dealt a huge blow to many people in Kenya and across the globe. Paxful is committed to reaching as many people as possible to help them better understand the opportunities presented by the crypto-economy. With this in mind, we have a new team in Kenya. The team will continue to learn from our Kenyan users and provide them with the best education and support,” said Paxful CEO Ray Youssef.

Blockchain startup, Electroneum, has expanded its electricity top-up service to four more African countries. These nations include Togo, Ivory Coast, Benin, and Sierra Leone. The in-app service is currently available in Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia.

“Electricity and mobile phone top-ups are a great way for people living and working away from their home countries to help friends and families by sending them airtime and data or by refilling their electricity meters,” stated Electroneum CEO Richard Ells.

Using the Electroneum app to top-up and send electricity, users can save time and money. Interestingly, Electroneum is the only company that facilitates electricity top-ups with crypto.

“Once the Akoin wallet [has funds, you can transfer the money to another] wallet as long as you are enlisted,” said MMTC CEO Dr. Maurice Simunyu. Furthermore, he explained that you can convert the akoin cryptocurrency to other currencies like USD and the KES. Currency conversion attracts zero fees.

The pilot stage roll-out of the akoin cryptocurrency, which is invite-only, will take place at MMTC. Moreover, it will be the main currency of use in the medical and technology city.

MMTC “is a US $2 billion sustainable metropolis centred around a state-of-the-art medical and technology complex.” The city is located in Butere, Western Kenya. It will have a shopping complex, a hospital, a private airport, and a golf course, among other developments. Also, the development is over 70 percent complete and has been operational since July 2019. The developers could complete the project this month.

“We just announced our partnership with Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC). Akoin will process all the transactions occurring within the city,” the Akoin project said in a statement earlier this year.

Bitcoin has made history this week by reaching a new all-time high past the $20,000 mark. This week’s roundup features this story and other news to keep you informed.

“Like with any record-breaking event, it will prompt the question: what is next? In a year of economic uncertainty, bitcoin has not wavered, outperforming the likes of gold and other stocks and shares, so a further increase in 2021 is certainly on the cards,” Luno CEO Marcus Swanepoel reacted.

The new all-time high could partially be attributed to the increasing interest from institutional investors. Additionally, experts are optimistic that the new adopters will stick around because of the increased activity in the space compared to 2017. For instance, there are more uses, protocols, and services in lending and trading.

According to data on Coinmarketcap, bitcoin has a market dominance of 65.4 percent. Moreover, other cryptocurrencies like ether and litecoin are also enjoying increased prices.

Africa is the future of decentralised finance (DeFi), according to the CEO of IOHK, Charles Hoskinson. IOHK is the technology company behind the Cardano network.

Speaking in a YouTube video, Hoskinson said: “Who will be the consumers of DeFi? Who is need of identity systems and payment systems and new ways of representing equities? Will it be the ossified highly regulated markets of the western world, which are invitation-only, or will it be the agile and nimble countries of Africa, Southeast Asia, [which] have no incumbencies and are desperate to compete and thus are open and friendly to retooling and ideas? Given that the human capital, physical capital, and economics are all moving in the right direction, it is my belief that Africa will be the most promising economic environment in the next ten years.”

Cardano plans to focus its long-term development goals on Africa. While he did not reveal the specific details of these plans, Hoskinson said that the project has created the right networks and relationships to roll out flagship deals.

Furthermore, Patrick Rawson from Curve Labs told Cointelegraph during an interview that he believes the next wave of DeFi adoption will take place in Africa.

The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will begin on 1 January 2021. This is after African nations signed their approval of the agreement at a recent meeting. 54 African countries have signed the agreement, while 41 nations have presented their tariff offers.

AfCFTA will facilitate trade on the continent by increasing output in the manufacturing, natural resources, and services sectors. It will also change African markets and economies for the better. For example, the agreement could help to elevate 30 million people from extreme poverty, as stated in a World Bank publication.

The implementation of the agreement will focus on small-medium businesses, women in trade, and young entrepreneurs.

According to President Ramaphosa of South Africa, the next step is a single African currency, which could potentially be a digital currency.

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rapper Lil Yachty has joined the fray of crypto affiliates in the music industry, dishing out fan tokens in some record time.

Social tokens are digital assets that allow artists and other famous personalities to monetize their fan engagement. With the entertainment industry affected significantly by the coronavirus, many artists have looked into several ways to keep their revenue streams flowing.

Data from the Fyooz app showed that the token began selling on Thursday for $15 each. In just 21 minutes, the tokens sold 25,000 units, worth a total of $375,000.

Fyooz added that each token would allow fans to get exclusive access to the rapper. These includes surprise boxes from his mother, Venita, who recently released a book titled “Raising a Rapper.” Token owners can also participate in online parties with the rapper and get personalized items from his entourage.

Lil Yachty’s digital token comes after the successful launch of a similar project from Selah’s Christian music group. The group launched its token earlier this month, following its latest album, “Step into My Story.” While the album is the group’s 16th studio project, it is also his first under its record label, 3Cre8tive.

The group explained that the token – named 3CR8 – will give fans access to exclusive benefits like video chats, private messages, and signed merchandise.

At launch, fans will be able to spend $200 worth of tokens to have a 10-minute video call with a member of the three-person band. They could also spend $150 on a personalized greeting and $20 to get a signed album or CD.

The tokens are available on Rally, an open platform that allows creatives to launch their cryptocurrencies. All assets are minted on an Ethereum sidechain, with supply and pricing determined by a token bonding curve. The more coins are available, the more expensive they get.

While fan tokens are growing in popularity, some rappers are also getting into mainstream crypto investments. Last month, Logic – real name Sir Robert Bryson Hall II – bragged about a Bitcoin purchase in an Instagram post.

The rapper, who recently quit music following his “No Pressure” album, has been building his business portfolio. He explained that he invested $6 million in Bitcoin in October. With the asset on a rally, he most likely already made some impressive gains on that investment.