Date: 05/04/2021
“The Future of Money Is Bitcoin and CBDCs, Feat.” — Nik Bhatia
Weekly News Report:
1. Ether, the digital coin linked to the Ethereum blockchain, hit an all-time high of $3,456.57 on Tuesday as the cryptocurrency extends a rally that has seen its price gain over 350% this year. The surge has helped Ethereum overtake institutions such as The Walt Disney Company and Bank of America in terms of total market capitalization. Ether’s milestone comes with surging trader interest in the leading smart-contracts blockchain.
2. Ethereum price hits a $3.5K record as Winklevoss exchange adds Dogecoin. Gemini follows eToro in integrating Dogecoin, as Ethereum underscores altcoins’ Bitcoin-crushing surge.
3. CEO Jamie Iannone: E-commerce giant eBay is looking at crypto as a payments option. He also said eBay is looking at how to get into the non-fungible token (NFT) game.
4. The Korea Herald: 53.7% of the 500 participants polled by South Korea survey firm Realmeter expressed support for the crypto tax law coming into effect in January 2022.
5. Bangkok Post: Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office announced that as of July, crypto exchanges must verify the identities of new customers in-person using a “dip-chip” machine. It aims to curb new crypto account creation with stringent KYC requirements.
6. Digital Currency Group, the parent company of digital asset manager Grayscale Investments, is now authorized to purchase up to $750 million worth of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
7. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin becomes a billionaire as Ether hits $3K. His crypto holdings have doubled since January 2021 to surge above $1 billion.
8. Nasdaq-traded Mogo, a digital payments/fintech company bought about 146 ether (ETH) at an average price of $2,780 as part of its plan to allocate up to 5% of its cash and investment portfolio to cryptocurrencies.
9. Major League Baseball sells pairs of tickets for 100 Dogecoin each. Fans can use Dogecoin to purchase Major League Baseball tickets to see the Oakland Athletics this month.
10. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, has officially launched its newest Bitcoin derivatives product, setting the stage for wider mainstream adoption of digital assets. The new contract is worth one-tenth the size of a single Bitcoin.
11. Tether, USD Coin, Binance USD, and DAI are now worth more than $78 billion combined. Glassnode predicts: Buyers could soon spark another leg up for the Bitcoin and crypto markets with the circulating supply of the four-largest stablecoins has spiked to new all-time highs.
12. At more than $52 billion, the market capitalization of meme-based cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) has already passed that of Twitter, U.S. car manufacturer Ford, and now, Tether.
13. The financial data giant S&P goes live with Bitcoin, Ethereum Crypto Indexes. The crypto indexes, S&P’s first, carry ticker symbols SPBTC, SPETH and SPCMC — one for bitcoin, ether and a “MegaCap” combo of the two.
