Date: 05/17/2021
“It’s only a matter of time that digital currency is going to overshadow all the other forms of money.” — Neeraj Khandelwal of CoinDCX
Weekly News Report:
1. Bitcoin drops after Musk suggests Tesla may sell holdings, says it hasn’t yet. Bitcoin loses 6% in an hour after Tesla drops payments over carbon concerns. BTC dropped to a 3.5-month low and touched nearly $42,000 on Monday after Elon Musk’s tweets triggered a $250 billion crypto market sell-off, confirming the biggest price pullback of the current bull run.
2. According to Galaxy’s estimates, the annual energy usage of Bitcoin stands at 114 TWh, while the banking industry consumes over 260 TWh each year. The banking system consumes two times more energy than Bitcoin.
3. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during a Thursday earnings call that the cryptocurrency company is preparing to list Dogecoin on its platform. Dogecoin’s market value is currently listed at more than $70 billion and is now a top-five cryptocurrency.
4. Coinbase ranked first in the U.S. Apple App Store for the first time. Coinbase App sees 2 million downloads in April amid increasing popularity.
5. The cryptocurrency market now accounts for 2% of the global money supply as DeFi and stablecoin growth point to steady increases in adoption.
6. In a Twitter thread on May 15, billionaire investor Mark Cuban weighed in on the current state and the future of blockchain technology and investment, ultimately concluding that while there are real obstacles to adoption asset prices are increasingly reflective of real “utility” and “demand,” and that the day will eventually come when crypto is “mature to the point we wondered how we ever lived without.”
7. India’s crypto demand is growing like crazy since the ban attempt. It’s only a matter of time that digital currency ‘is going to overshadow all the other forms of money,’ says Neeraj Khandelwal of CoinDCX.
8. Galaxy Digital said in March, Morgan Stanley began offering its wealth management clients access to a number of its bitcoin funds. Galaxy digital Q1 AUM rose 58%, net comprehensive income more than doubles.
9. Montreal mega-club Beachclub which is the largest outdoor club in North America announced that the club will be accepting crypto payments like Bitcoin and Ethereum and the first Canadian club to start.
10. BIT Mining Limited will be added to the MSCI China Small Cap Index, effective as of market close on May 27, 2021. The MSCI China Small Cap Index has been widely recognized as a benchmark for global institutional investors to optimize their investment portfolios.
11. Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) may be “disruptive” and could result in disintermediation between deposits and the banking system, adding to credit strains and pushing up interest rates, according to Fitch Ratings.
