Date: 01/04/2021
Weekly Headline News
- Retail investors are largely uninvolved as Bitcoin price chases $40K
Coin Telegraph - Bitcoin Mining Machine Shortage Worsens as Bitmain Sells Out Through August
CoinDesk - Ukraine Government Picks Stellar Development Foundation to Help Build National Digital Currency
CoinDesk
Summary
Retail investors are largely uninvolved as Bitcoin price chases $40K
Coin Telegraph
● The last time Bitcoin (BTC) traded anywhere near this level was during the bull run of 2017, when it reached a peak of about $19,783. Now Bitcoin’s price has established a new all-time high of $34,778.
● Back then, it was the “average Joe” powering Bitcoin’s more-than-1,300% gain that year, as pointed out in the Wall Street Journal by IG Group chief market strategist Chris Weston. Fast forward to 2020, and the investor landscape has changed dramatically. The “average Joe” is no longer running the show. In fact, many of the leaders in corporate America who are now entering Bitcoin for the first time are now the very people who dismissed Bitcoin back then.
● Channels to entry are growing rapidly, with new exchanges increasingly coming online. As the moderate companies lower their fees and the predatory Bitcoin ATM operators fade, retail investors can once again enjoy easy access to a digital asset whose popularity is only growing stronger.
Bitcoin Mining Machine Shortage Worsens as Bitmain Sells Out Through August
CoinDesk
● Even though leading bitcoin mining manufacturer Bitmain doubled prices to capitalize on overwhelming demand resulting from the surge in the price of bitcoin, it still pre-sold three months of inventory in a few weeks.
● In early December, Bitmain was pre-selling bitcoin ASIC miners with an expected shipping date of May 2021, per CoinDesk’s prior reporting. Less than a month later, Bitmain has sold out through August 2021 and has raised its prices significantly.
● Kevin Zhang, vice president of business development for New York-based mining company Foundry, noted that demand for new ASICs shows no sign of abating soon. “But there also has been very limited extra allocation for May though July next year for S19s and S19 Pro models.” The surge in mining activity comes as bitcoin ended 2020 with a more than 300% gain.
● Fabiano described the current mining machine market conditions as a “perfect storm” for supply constraints. At this rate, hardware procurement will continue to be an obstacle throughout 2021.
Ukraine Government Picks Stellar Development Foundation to Help Build National Digital Currency
CoinDesk
● Ukraine’s government has chosen the Stellar blockchain network as a platform to build a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
● Stellar, the cryptocurrency and non-profit organization launched in 2014 by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, was selected last month by German bank Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH) as the means to issue a euro stablecoin. German regulator BaFIN has also approved the issuance of tokenized bonds on Stellar.
● Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon said the partnership with Ukraine’s government and other stakeholders to digitize the hryvnia will officially launch this month.
