One Bitcoin Is Now Worth 2.8 Million Pesos, 3 Million Soon? (Feb. 22, 2021)
Plus a couple of stories from CryptoPH.
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. (Except that we have more than 8 stories this week.)
Market Price as of February 22, 2021:
| Bitcoin | $57,489 | +0.89% |
| Ethereum | $1,933 | +1.05% |
| BNB | $295 | +16.6% |
| DOT | $39.58 | +1.64% |
| ADA | $1.09 | -1.11% |
| SLP | $0.06 | -18% |
Bitcoin closed February 21, 2021, at $57,489 per BTC. We’re up 618 in the last 7 days and up 93% since the year began. This is a new all-time DAILY high. The new all-time high is $58,640, which was hit on Feb. 21, 2021.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization stands today at $1,069,005,863,143 which is 59% of the entire cryptocurrency market. The entire crypto market, by the way, now has a market cap of $1,776,483,984,135 (+2%).
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.
Tesla + Coinbase
Coinbase Facilitated Tesla’s Bitcoin Buy
It does not come as a surprise to me that when all is said and done, we will find out that it was Coinbase that helped Tesla to buy its $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. Unfortunately, both companies did not respond to an inquiry from The Block, the publication that reported the news. But the Block found out that Coinbase executes Tesla’s Bitcoin purchase during the first week of February, over the course of several days.
This is exactly how MicroStrategy bought their Bitcoins. They bought Bitcoin in the open market!
They did it so carefully to ensure they wouldn’t impact the market (and that no one would notice.) This was Coinbase’s statement at that time: “We were able to buy a significant amount of bitcoin on behalf of MicroStrategy and did so without moving the market. MicroStrategy chose Coinbase because of our market leading tools, which include smart order routing and advanced algorithms as well as our white glove sales and trading services.”
Bitcoin and Market Cap
Bitcoin breaks Past $58,000, Market Cap Exceeds $1 Trillion
Bitcoin is now 1,373% up since the March 2020 crash, when it briefly went below $3,800.
To think that it’s just three days since we publish our $50,000 article. But should you get into Bitcoin at this point? Here’s Miguel Cuneta’s (non-financial) advise:
“Get a feel for it, how to use it, how to store it, etc. It isn’t for everyone, not everyone will want or need it, so find out it if it is for you. But it is there, it exists, it is open to everyone, it’s all voluntary.”
Here’s the article: Bitcoin Reaches Past $50,000, Now Worth 2.4 Million Pesos
Nvidia
Nvidia Has a New Processor Chip Built for Ethereum Mining
The graphics card maker has unveiled “Cryptocurrency Mining Processor” (CMP), a product specifically for those who want to mine Ethereum. WIth this product, Nvidia hopes that miners will not compete with gamers seeking out the latest-generation GPUs upon release.
With Ethereum mining revenue on the rise, many miners have bought traditional GPUs, even older ones, which led to a price increase in the market. There were also reports of miners using gaming laptops so they can draw hashing power.
According to The Block, CMP is Nvidia’s attempt to build a business dedicated to crypto and perhaps also to ease the concern of gamers, which is the company’s core audience. To ensure that miners will not seek out GPUs for gaming, it will take a software approach on Feb. 25 to make its top GPUs less useful for crypto mining.
Ethereum
Ethereum Price Eclipses $2,000
At $2,000, Ether has grown 168% since the year began.
According to analysts, this could be fueled by two factors. The first is that the interest in Bitcoin has helped life interest in cryptocurrencies more generally. The other is, of course, decentralized finance, which allow money to lend, borrow, or earn interest with their tokens without any intermediary. According to DeFi Pulse, the total value now locked at DeFi is $42,6 billion.
Tea Company
Chinese Tea Company Pivots to Bitcoin Mining
What’s more interesting is that it isn’t the first company to do so.
Urban Tea, a public company in China engaged in baked goods and tea is pivoting to cryptocurrency mining, as per this report from Decrypt. The company has appointed a new chief operating officer and independent director who had previous stints with crypto and blockchain companies and organizations.
Decrypt noted that the pivot appeared uncharacteristic for Urban Tea. “Goin forward, we expect Urban Tea will start expanding into blockchain ecology, such as cryptocurrency mining, blockchain mine construction and maintenance, and cryptocurrency exchange operations,” the company’s CEO said. In 2017, a company called Long Island Tea Corp pivoted to blockchain. Its stock did pumped up but when the 2018 crash happened, the company had to forego its blockchain ambitions, and its tea business.
MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy Completes $1.05 Billion Debt Offering to Fuel More Bitcoin Purchases
The note said investors carry a 0% coupon and 50% conversion premium, as noted in the firm’s release.
“MicroStrategy estimates that the net proceeds from the sale of the notes will be approximately $1.03 billion, after deducting the initial purchasers’ discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by MicroStrategy,”
“MicroStrategy intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the notes to acquire additional bitcoin.”
The company now has more than 71,000 BTC.
#CryptoArt
Christie’s Auction House Will Now Accept Cryptocurrency
Christie’s, an art auction house, announced it would auction a work by Beeple, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, in a standalone sale. The auction will run from Feb. 25 to March 11. And they will accept Ether.
#CryptoPH
The first Clubhouse chat for #CryptoPH happened last week:
PDAX Suffers Outage
The outage on PDAX came at the backdrop of a new milestone for Bitcoin, having reached $50,000 or 2.4 million pesos on Feb. 16. Some users expressed concerns that they were not able to trade amid this new all-time.
Axie Infinity
4 Pesos per SLP puts completing the daily quest in Axie Infinity on par with the minimum Manila rate.
Context: Playing Axie Infinity vs Minimum Basic Salary in the Philippines
What else is happening
- Novogratz Positions Firm at Center of Hoped-for Crypto ETF Boom
- JPMorgan Joins Choir Warning of Tether’s Sway on Crypto Markets
- Cryptocurrency Sleuths Point to Robinhood as Dogecoin Whale
- MakerDAO is Piling on Fees as Dai Demand Booms
- Morocco Considers Launching a Central Bank Digital Currency
- DeFi Dev Offers $320k to Whoever Finds Critical Bug in Ethereum Dapp
This article is published on BitPinas: One Bitcoin Is Now Worth 2.8 Million Pesos, 3 Million Soon? (Feb. 22, 2021)
