Date: 07/09/2021
“By introducing this innovative payment option to our luxury sale, we open up new possibilities and expand our reach into a whole new clientele.” — Wenhao Yu, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery in Asia
Weekly News Report:
1. The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) surged to new highs in the second quarter, with $2.5 billion in sales so far this year, up from just $13.7 million in the first half of 2020, marketplace data showed.
2. Visa said Wednesday that its cryptocurrency-backed credit card is growing in popularity. The company’s chief financial officer said that users of the card had spent more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency globally on goods and services in the first six months of the year.
3. Sotheby’s, the 277-year-old British auction house, sold a rare 101.38-carat diamond for HK$95.1 million (US$12.3 million) in cryptocurrency on Friday in a Hong Kong auction to an anonymous buyer. The auction house said the sale of the gemstone shows that a “milestone was reached in the adoption of cryptocurrencies.”
4. First Midwest Bank Trust Division has $14 billion of assets under management and is the third-largest independent Illinois-headquartered bank which has reported holding 29,498 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust as of June 30, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
5. Bitcoin mining company Gryphon Digital Mining has signed an agreement to purchase 7,200 Antminer S19J Pro mining machines from Bitmain Technologies for $48 million. Bitmain is scheduled to deliver 600 miners on a monthly basis, with the first delivery starting next month.
6. Tetra Trust receives a nod to become a regulated crypto custodian in Canada. The company was certified by the Alberta government to become the country’s first regulated custodian for crypto assets.
7. Growth in Euro stablecoins spurs dreams of the digital gorex market. Glimpses of recent growth in euro-backed stablecoins have some token issuers thinking of a future where digital versions of national currencies easily flow on blockchain-based markets between cryptocurrency exchanges and the fast-developing trading and lending platforms of decentralized finance (DeFi).
8. The central bank’s monetary policy report to congress gave crypto a rare shoutout Friday. The U.S. Federal Reserve singled out a dramatic rise in the price of cryptocurrencies in its overall assessment of the stability of the financial system, according to Bloomberg, which said it’s the first time the center has ever done so. Fed says “Surge” in crypto prices reflects increased risk appetite.
9. The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts, a high-end hotels group, will begin accepting cryptocurrency to book accommodations on Wednesday. The company will allow customers to book rooms with BTC, ETH and 40 other digital currencies.
10. U.S. multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs thinks the native crypto of the Ethereum blockchain has what it takes to unseat BTC as the dominant store of value crypto. The bank believes ether’s use cases currently possess the highest “potential,” being the most popular development platform for smart contracts.
11. Capital International purchased $600M in MicroStrategy stock. MicroStrategy’s stock price rose by more than 1.5% to reach $628.44 at the time of publication, making Capital International’s shares worth roughly $600 million.
12. Research from European blockchain company Guardtime suggests that the current pandemic may have accelerated the launch of a major central bank digital currency by up to five years. “There is also no doubt in our mind that a major central bank will soon launch a digital currency and we expect this to happen within the next three years,” said Guardtime.
