Weekly Wrap-Up – Bitcoin Hits Php 2.9 Million (March 15, 2021)
Good morning. Welcome to Monday Markets Wrap-up, part of our new series: BitPinas Daily. We will look back at all the major news and updates that happened this week. Crypto is global, but sometimes news that matters happens while we sleep. So we bring to you what’s happening in our space here and abroad. We highlight three to four important news of the past week and list down the rest.
Market Price as of March 15, 2021:
| Bitcoin | $59,429 | -3.08% |
| Ethereum | $1,866.07 | -3.16% |
| BNB | $265.97 | -3.98% |
| DOT | $36.73 | -4.4% |
| ADA | $1.06 | -3.64% |
| SLP | $0.09 | +44% |
Bitcoin closed March 14, 2021, at $59,429 per BTC. We’re up 17% in the last 7 days and up 107% since the year began. This is also 2% below the all-time high of $61,711, which was hit on March 13, 2021.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization stands today at $1,123,840,989,440 which is 60% of the entire cryptocurrency market. The entire crypto market, by the way, now has a market cap of $1,857,753,334,391 (-1.1%).
On the table above, there’s the cryptocurrency SLP. If you wonder what that is, check out this article: Playing Axie Infinity vs Minimum Basic Salary in the Philippines.
NFT
NFT Craze Continues
NFTs have become increasingly popular in the last few weeks, and more so last week when some of its biggest moments have happened.
Beeple’s 500-Day collection was purchased for nearly $70 million in an auction at Christie’s. This makes Beeple the third most valuable artist living today.
Initially, it was thought that Tron founder Justin Sun was the winner of the bid. Turned out he was outbid in the final seconds, by Metapurse, an NFT fund. This is what Metapurse’s Metakovan has to say about their purchase:
“When you think of high-valued NFTs, this one is going to be pretty hard to beat. And here’s why – it represents 13 years of everyday work. Techniques are replicable and skill is surpassable, but the only thing you can’t hack digitally is time.”
And with that, Metakovan became part of Beeple’s collection:
Taco Bell also sold some NFTs. Sold initially for about a dollar, this is how much it is currently being sold:
Jack Dorsey also received an offer to buy the NFT of his first ever tweet. He accepted the offer and he said he’s donating all the proceeds to charity.
MoonCats and Etheria, some of the first NFT projects on Ethereum, resurfaced, with in-game assets sold for hundreds of Ether.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin at $60,000
Bitcoin crossed $60,000 for the first time and $61,000 hours later, setting a new all-time high record of $61,556.59. What’s more, it brought other cryptocurrencies for the ride as well.
A number of narratives, Decrypt and Coindesk said, might have contributed to Bitcoin’s ascent to new price territory.
- “Beeple’s $69 million NFT record demonstrates the true power of crypto, adding curiosity and fuel to the retail fire,” said Jehan Chu, co-founder of Kenetic
- There’s a new stimulus package worth $1.9 trillion in the U.S., putting “$1,400 in the pockets of Americans to help them weather the pandemic.” Some analysts said this money might go to crypto. Of course, many worry that printing more dollars will devalue the currency.
- There’s a third Bitcoin ETF approved in Canada.
Here’s Luis Buenaventura’s Bitcoin price milestone art for $60,000:
Corporates
Chinese Beauty App Meitu buys $40 million in BTC and ETH
In a disclosure to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Meitu said it bought 15,000 units of ETH and 379.12 units of BTC.
“These purchases were made pursuant to a cryptocurrency investment plan previously approved by the board of directors, under which the Group may make a net purchase of up to US$100 million worth of cryptocurrencies, financed by its existing cash reserves other than any remaining proceeds from the Company’s initial public offering.”
PayPal to Buy Digital Asset Security Startup Curv
In a press release, PayPal said the acquisition of the Tel Aviv-based startup will help the company accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
“During our conversations with Curv’s team, we’ve been impressed by their technical talent, entrepreneurial spirit, and the thinking behind the technology they’ve built in the last few years. We’re excited to welcome the Curv team to PayPal,” the fintech giant said in a statement.
The Block noted that this is PayPal’s first acquisition in the cryptocurrency space. The company has long been rumored to be in acquisition mode to boost its crypto capabilities.
Crypto Exchanges
Crypto Exchange Traffic at its Highest since Feb. 2018
#CryptoPH
Moneybees Opens New Outlets
With cryptocurrency transactions in the Philippines expected to increase this year, locally-licensed virtual asset service provider Moneybees is opening more outlets as it eyes Php 2 billion transactions processed through its trading platform.
Get Started on Crypto Art with the Narra Gallery
With news about the exploding popularity of NFTs and crypto art (we have a Beeple news somewhere in this article), the biggest barrier to entry is probably how to get started. Another one is the cost to actually start. For those who have broken this barrier and minted their NFTs, they considered it a life changing opportunity.
Now it’s time for more artists to get onboarded.
If you are an artist in Southeast Asia and would like to mint your first work of crypto art, reach out to the Narra Art Gallery. The fund, now at 7.43 ETH (worth around $13,900), will be used to help ease the barrier of entry for artists who wish to mint their first NFT.
You can learn more about the Narra Gallery here. Reach out to the Narra Gallery Twitter account for more information.
Or check out the website: http://firstmintfund.com/
$1000 to be Won in the Voxel Metaverse
BloomX Enters Tech Agreement with Binance to Offer 250 Cryptocurrencies to Filipinos
BloomSolutions, a local virtual asset service provider licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, said it has entered an agreement with global crypto exchange Binance to leverage its core technology, infrastructure, and liquidity, to allow Philippine residents to access and trade over 250 cryptocurrencies in exchange for Philippine peso (PHP) in the recently launched “BloomX” crypto trading platform.
“The Philippines is a very high-growth cryptocurrency market and we want to accelerate its growth by providing tools to innovative teams like Bloom. The Bloom team has an excellent presence in the local community and we think that BloomX is going to be a great fit with the Filipino consumer.” – Colin Goltra, Binance
BSP Expects Increase in Cryptocurrency Transactions in the Philippines
Virtual asset service providers in the Philippines processed around $1.5 billion (Php 76 billion) between January to September 2020, which is five times more than what was recorded within the same time frame in 2019 ($288 million or Php 14 billion), PhilStar reported.
Meanwhile the total transaction volume from January to September 2020 was 7.2 million. This is a 36% increase versus the volume recorded within the same period in 2019 (5.3 million).
According to BSP’s Melchor Plabasan, the growth in volume can be attributed to the increase in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies, he said, has increasingly become a store of value and this has attracted users in developing countries like the Philippines.
What else is happening
- 85% of Wealth Managers Who Hold Crypto Plan to Buy More
- Associated Press NFT Artwork Sells for $180K in Ether
- Buterin helping to strategize against Ethereum 51% attack possibility
- No, Chinese Ethereum miners didn’t crack Nvidia’s GPU hash rate limiter
- Anthony Scaramucci: I’m Only Focused on Bitcoin, the ‘Big Dog’
- Israeli Pension Giant Put $100M Into Grayscale Bitcoin Trust: Report
- ETH2 Transition Accelerates
This article is published on BitPinas: Weekly Wrap-Up – Bitcoin Hits Php 2.9 Million (March 15, 2021)
