Date: 04/23/2021
“Bitcoin is easily transportable and can be sent anywhere in the world if you have a smart phone so it’s a much better version, as a store of value, than gold.” — Bill Miller
Weekly Headline News
1.WeWork Will Now Accept Cryptocurrency Payments
PYMNTS
2. Deutsche Telekom invests in the mobile-focused public blockchain Celo
THE BLOCK
3. Bitcoin rally this year is the start of going mainstream, not a bubble, says investor Bill Miller
CNBC
4. UAE employs blockchain tech for remote litigation services
Cointelegraph
5. Bitcoin transactions fees in US dollars near all-time high levels
Cointelegraph
6. Despite scams, Australian securities regulator keen to support crypto industry
Cointelegraph
7. 64% of US adults are interested in crypto, new survey shows
Cointelegraph
8. Expert explains why Britain needs a digital pound
Cointelegraph
9. Bitcoin and Gold Are Complementary Investments
Coindesk
10. Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Prada to Use Bespoke Blockchain to Tackle Counterfeit Goods
Coindesk
11. Anonymous Dogecoin Donor Pays Adoption Fees at Florida Dog Shelter
Coindesk
12. Ark Investment Management Increases Coinbase Holdings to 1.5M Shares
Coindesk
13. 3iQ Plans to Raise $200M+ From Bitcoin ETF’s Dubai Listing: Report
Coindesk
Summary
WeWork Will Now Accept Cryptocurrency Payments
● WeWork has begun accepting some forms of cryptocurrency for inbound and outbound transactions, the shared office space provider announced on April 20. Working with the crypto payment service provider BitPay, WeWork will accept bitcoin, Ethereum, USD Coin, Paxos and numerous other cryptocurrencies as payment for its services, while also holding the currency on its balance sheet. WeWork says it will pay landlords and third-party partners with cryptocurrencies when applicable using Coinbase, a WeWork member and the country’s largest trading platform for cryptocurrency. Coinbase will also become the first WeWork member to pay for its membership with cryptocurrency.
Deutsche Telekom invests in the mobile-focused public blockchain Celo
● German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom has invested in the public blockchain network Celo, the firm announced Tuesday. Celo is an open-source global payments platform that allows users to make payments with a mobile phone. Deutsche Telekom purchased an undisclosed amount of CELO tokens and plans to stake them. Through doing so, the company’s subsidiary T-Systems MMS will operate as a validator using the Open Telekom Cloud (OTC), a scalable cloud infrastructure system the company developed.
Bitcoin rally this year is the start of going mainstream, not a bubble, says investor Bill Miller
● Longtime value investor Bill Miller told CNBC on Tuesday he believes bitcoin is firmly entering into the mainstream, contending the cryptocurrency’s rally in recent months is significantly different from its 2017 ascension and subsequent plunge. “Supply [of bitcoin] is growing 2% a year and demand is growing faster. That’s all you really need to know, and that means it’s going higher,” said Miller.
UAE employs blockchain tech for remote litigation services
● The UAE government’s adoption of blockchain technology for its legal notary services builds on its ambitions to go completely digital. The UAE’s deployment of blockchain technology forms part of its plans to create a remote digital framework for all of its internal operations, something it refers to as a “unified digital government platform.” The UAE’s ongoing digital transformation will reportedly include the creation of a digital ID dubbed the “UAE Pass,” which will enable users to interact with aspects of the legal process from remote locations.
Bitcoin transactions fees in US dollars near all-time high levels
● The latest spike in BTC transaction fees comes amid a major decline in the Bitcoin network hash rate. Bitcoin transaction fees measured in United States dollars are near 2017 levels amid a massive hash rate drop on the Bitcoin network. According to data from several Bitcoin monitoring resources, the average BTC transaction fee in U.S. dollars is near the all-time high recorded back in 2017.
Despite scams, Australian securities regulator keen to support crypto industry
● The Australian Securities and Investments Commission wants to support the local cryptocurrency industry despite receiving large numbers of reports about crypto scams. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, has expressed its desire to support the crypto industry, noting the challenges associated with regulating innovative technologies. Armour highlighted one such innovation, noting the Australian Securities Exchange’s plan to replace its Clearing House Electronic Subregister System with a distributed ledger-based system.
64% of US adults are interested in crypto, new survey shows
● The number of U.S. crypto investors is set to almost double in 2021, according to a new survey by Gemini. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States are interested in learning more about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or holding them soon. Crypto investors are potentially set to double this year as roughly 13% of respondents indicated plans to purchase crypto in 2021. “This adds up to approximately 19.3 million adults — which would nearly double the current crypto investor population,” the report notes. According to a February 2021 poll by global consumer research platform Piplsay, 25% of Americans already own crypto, with another 27% planning to invest later this year.
Expert explains why Britain needs a digital pound
● One of the contributors to the Bank of England’s preliminary CBDC research tells us why a digital pound is necessary in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the launch of a CBDC task force this week, bringing together the Bank of England and Her Majesty’s Treasury to coordinate the exploration of a potential central bank digital currency. The task force will consider the implementation of a CBDC from every available angle, but Welfare said one of the biggest boons offered by a digital pound could be financial inclusion, citing the ubiquity of mobile devices and their commonplace use among the population.
Bitcoin and Gold Are Complementary Investments
● Rather than view crypto and gold as competitors, an acceptable analogy might be to consider crypto as the legitimate offspring, or spinoff, with certain common markers. They both have a low correlation to other families of assets, and they are inflation–sensitive, great diversifiers and alternatives to fiat issues.
Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Prada to Use Bespoke Blockchain to Tackle Counterfeit Goods
● A trio of high-end luxury companies is coming together to tackle counterfeit goods through a blockchain-based seal of authenticity. Louis Vuitton parent firm LVMH, Prada and Richemont-owned Cartier unveiled the Aura Blockchain Consortium on Tuesday. The collective effort aims to give shoppers a level of assurance that the pricy products being purchased are authentic. LVMH enlisted a full-time blockchain team under the Aura codename to develop a cryptographic provenance platform for the luxury market. The team worked closely with Ethereum design studio ConsenSys on a project that finally appears to be coming to fruition.
Anonymous Dogecoin Donor Pays Adoption Fees at Florida Dog Shelter
● According to a report by FOX6, the woman paid for the donation fees of all dogs ready to be adopted at the Halifax Humane Society and signed off the donation under the moniker “Doge community.” “Basically [the woman] had made a very wise investment in some cryptocurrency,” said Barry Kukes, community outreach director at the Halifax Humane Society. “[She] said it changed her life [and] that she wanted to do something nice.”
Ark Investment Management Increases Coinbase Holdings to 1.5M Shares
● New York-based Ark Investment Management has once again significantly increased its holdings of Coinbase’s (COIN) shares following the exchange’s debut on Nasdaq last week. Bitcoin bull Cathie Wood’s firm purchased another 244,717 COIN Wednesday worth an estimated $76.3 million. The shares were split between 195,108 bought by the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) and 52,609 by the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). Three ARK funds also sold a combined 21856 shares in NVIDIA worth around $13.4 million.
3iQ Plans to Raise $200M+ From Bitcoin ETF’s Dubai Listing: Report
● Canada’s largest digital asset manager, 3iQ Corp, aims to raise over $200 million in proceeds from the dual listing of its 3iQ Coinshares bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Dubai. Launched in 2020, 3iQ’s ETF is the first cryptocurrency fund to go public in the Middle East. The company received regulatory approval for the dual listing earlier this week, as per Reuters.
