Monday Markets Wrap-up: Portfolios Should Still Be Green Today
PayPal creates a crypto business unit, while Visa will launch crypto-related APIs.
Good morning. Our Twitter has reached 1,310 followers. I feel like mentioning it because I would like to ask you to follow our account at https://twitter.com/bitpinas and myself at https://twitter.com/mmichaels_21. Anyways, despite the weekend pullback, the market is back up again. So portfolios should be green, especially if you only own Dogecoin:
Yes, that’s Snoop.
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 February 8, 2021:
| Bitcoin | $39,279 | +3.34% |
| Ethereum | $1,683.94 | -2.32% |
| Tether | $0.99 | -1% |
| Cardano | $0.62 | +16.98% |
| XRP | $0.44 | +2.27% |
| SLP | $0.032 | +43.8% |
Bitcoin closed February 7, 2021, at $39,279 per BTC. We’re up 18% in the last 7 days and up 34% since the year began. This is 6% below the previous all-time high of $41,940, which was hit on Jan. 8, 2021.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization stands today at $725,439,256,412 which is 59% of the entire cryptocurrency market. The entire crypto market, by the way, now has a market cap of $1,210,092,479,292 (-0.5%).
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.
PayPal
PayPal announced a new business unit focused on crypto
The payments giant is now so far in time when it was previously a crypto skeptic. In its quarterly earnings call, PayPal said it will soon allow its users to use their crypto balance as a funding source when they shop using PayPal.
Additionally, it is expected for PayPal to launch the crypto service to an international market within the next months. (As of today, only users in the U.S. have access to PayPal’s crypto service.)
Finally, PayPal said it is significantly investing in its new crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies business unit. And this is just the beginning of their extensive roadmap around crypto, said Daniel Schulman, PayPal’s CEO.
Schulman noted how PayPal’s crypto users open the app twice as more as they previously did.
Binance
Binance has launched a new payments system called Binance Pay
CZ said it is a move to get people to use crypto and not just hold it. The product’s page says Binance Pay can allow users to make”contactless, borderless, and secure” crypto payments anywhere.
During Binance Blockchain Week, CZ said payments is one of the most obvious use cases for crypto and that Binance is going to spend a lot of effort on Binance Pay this year.
Stablecoin
Stablecoin on-chain volume surpassed $300 billion in January
Stablecoin on-chain volume has breached $300 billion according to data gathered by The Block. $199 billion went to USDT followed by USDC with $63.1 billion in monthly figures.
Visa
Visa to work with banks to allow buying and selling of digital assets
Visa is launching a number of APIs that will allow banks to offer Bitcoin services. Called “Visa Crypto API,” it will allow clients to easily connect to the infrastructure of Anchorage, which is a federally chartered digital asset bank, to allow customers to buy and sell crypto.
The service is set to extend to more cryptocurrencies and stablecoins and not just buying and selling but also trading as well.
According to Coindesk, initiatives like this is a step towards mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. “The “endorsement” of traditional banks, while far from the original ethos of the industry, will go a long way toward encouraging trust in the concept from mainstream clients,“ the publication said in its weekly newsletter.
Guggenheim
Guggenheim’s shilling is well documented
Ethereum
CME opens doors to ETH futures trading
According to The Block, the launch represents an important step in creating financial products around cryptocurrencies.
What else is happening
- FinCEN’s wallet rule aims to close crypto to cash reporting gap, says official
- Binance X invests in Furucombo
- Digital art project sells out $10M in NFTs in four days
- Axie Infinity escapes Ethereum gas fees as Ronin sidechain goes live
- Dogecoin Smokes Its All-Time High After Snoop Dogg Becomes Snoop DOGE
This article is published on BitPinas: Monday Markets Wrap-up: Portfolios Should Still Be Green Today
