Date: 05/14/2021
“There are a number of advantages to utilizing crypto online payment methods including security, convenience, and cost savings.” — Hercules Cummings, finance director for the City of Williston
Weekly News Report:
1. Elon Musk says Tesla is suspending Bitcoin payments over environmental concerns. However, Tesla will not be selling any of its bitcoin anytime soon.
2. The backlash to Elon Musk’s Bitcoin bombshell as traders start to buy the dip. Tesla’s decision to suspend accepting Bitcoin as payment has sent crypto Twitter into a frenzy, with some onlookers alleging a ‘pump n dump’ while others are boldly buying the dip.
3. Ether breaks the $500-billion market cap for the first time, which is now larger than payments giant Visa or major investment bank JPMorgan in terms of market capitalization. At publishing time, Visa’s market valuation amounts to $481 billion, while JPMorgan’s market cap stands at $488 billion.
4. After working at Goldman Sachs for 14 years, a senior manager at banking giant Goldman Sachs in London has reportedly left the company after making a fortune on meme-based cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE). Since the beginning of 2021, Dogecoin has emerged as the fastest-growing digital currency, posting up to 13,500% growth year-to-date, and surging from just $0.005 to an all-time high of $0.68 on May 7.
5. MoneyGram customers in the United States will soon be able to buy Bitcoin in the country’s retail outlets across the country. Crypto adoption among mainstream payment service companies continues to grow, with MoneyGram set to join the list.
6. DeFi tokens Aave and Uniswap climb while ETH and BTC udmp. “The crypto market is primarily focused on Ethereum and the catapulting DeFi sector right now,” said one analyst.
7. Bitcoin dominance, the ratio of cryptocurrency’s value to the overall market cap of digital assets, is at the lowest level since April 2018. Bitcoin adoption continues to grow even as the largest cryptocurrency loses market share to several altcoins.
8. Digitization in healthcare is increasing, and this blockchain-based project R-DEE offers a suite of tools that tackle the widespread inefficiencies that exist in current systems. R-DEE streamlines communication, collaboration and data transmission, meaning patient files become truly interoperable and available anywhere in real time.
9. Blockchain-based Alchemy Toys is based loosely on PopCap’s Alchemy video game, which revolves around taking two items and transforming them into something new. Take a classic mind puzzle game, turn it into a massively multiplayer online tournament, add in NFTs imbued with intrinsic value, and then put it all on a DeFi framework and you’ve got a product that is both addictive and lucrative.
10. A Bank of England official has spoken of the institution’s plans to launch a U.K. central bank digital currency (CBDC), now often dubbed “Britcoin.” Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor for financial stability, expressed the concern that consumers may find stablecoins more attractive than bank offerings.
11. Economic uncertainty drives crypto growth in Sri Lanka. “The average monthly volume so far in 2021 is three times what we saw in 2020,” said Danny Stagg, director of communications at Paxful, the P2P bitcoin trading platform.
12. Spanish stock exchange Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, or BME is set to test its blockchain infrastructure for small- and medium-sized enterprise financing following a successful pilot run back in 2020.
