Tag: cryptocurrency investment trends

Forbes Cryptocurrency Awards 2020: The $3 Trillion Bitcoin Marketing Campaign

For the first time ever, we are publishing the Forbes Crypto Awards. Not everyone will be happy they’re on the list. Fed chairman Jerome Powell takes the honors as our person of the year: In a pandemic year when the Fed printed so much stimulus money that the central bank saw its balance sheet nearly double in size, our Forbes Awards judge Anthony Pompliano of Morgan Creek Digital credits Powell with running a “$3 trillion marketing campaign for bitcoin.”

Here are our picks for the best products, the most intriguing people and the most interesting trends in crypto this year.

Our inaugural Forbes Crypto Awards were selected in consultation with Anthony Pompliano, who helps manage two crypto funds at New York City-based Morgan Creek, which has $1.5 billion in assets under management, as well as his own recently launched endeavor, Pomp Investments.

The Forbes Person Of The Year In Crypto: Jerome Powell

In an attempt to prevent the U.S. economy from collapsing under pandemic pressure, Powell had the U.S. Federal Reserve buy up a record amount of treasuries, effectively printing more than $3 trillion in new money and nearly doubling the central bank’s balance sheet. Venture firm Pantera Capital called the infusion “two centuries of debt in one month,” creating an environment in which previously skeptical investors including Wall Street whales like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller started taking cryptocurrency seriously. “I think Jerome Powell did the things that he and his colleagues believed were the best things to do in the short term to mitigate pain from the pandemic and economic crisis,” says Pompliano. “But in the pursuit of mitigating short-term pain, they were highlighting for everyone, from retail investors to the largest institutions in the world, what was going to happen over the next decade or two.”

Best Product: Square’s Cash App

In August 2018, Jack Dorsey’s payments giant Square, now valued at $96 billion, was among the first mainstream enterprises to allow bitcoin purchases in all 50 states. Bitcoin has proved a real boon to the company, which generated $1.6 billion in revenue from the asset in the third quarter, an 11-fold increase year over year. “I tend to think that new users give a good signal for something that is usable,” says Pompliano. “Not just by the crypto enthusiasts but by the everyday person, the mainstream.”

Most Intriguing Newcomer: Michael Saylor

Among a slew of names that bought bitcoin for the first time this year, perhaps none were more surprising, or made a bigger impact, than the CEO of struggling MicroStrategy, a Tysons Corner, Virginia-based business software firm. Over the course of five months starting in August, Saylor revealed that his smallish outfit, which competes against giants like Oracle and SAP in data analytics, had bought $475 million worth of bitcoin. That made bitcoin the publicly traded company’s biggest treasury asset. While Citi recently downgraded MicroStrategy as a result of the extremely aggressive play, Pompliano thinks it’s exactly that audacity that makes Saylor so intriguing. “He came out of nowhere,” says Pompliano. “And he has not only lit the bitcoin and crypto world on fire, but he has very quickly ascended to be one of the top bulls in the way he talks about what he’s doing. There’s no hedging in the way he talks about it; there’s no surrender.”

Disruptive Innovator: Caitlin Long

This former head of Morgan Stanley’s pension advisory group was once a rising star in traditional finance. Then, after helping write cryptocurrency-friendly laws in her home state of Wyoming, she was unanimously approved for one of the state’s new bitcoin banking charters in October. “She is disrupting the traditional regulatory framework,” says Pompliano. “And obviously, she was very instrumental there. But then to go build a company, to leverage those rules? I look at that as disruptive in a unique way.”

Outstanding Firm: Ark Invest

After experimenting with many different crypto strategies over the years, Ark’s CEO and chief investment officer Catherine Wood has shuffled most of her ETF firm’s direct bitcoin exposure into a single fund dedicated to “innovative” assets. But a number of other Ark ETFs have indirect exposure in the form of stakes in Silvergate Bank, which banks cryptocurrency businesses; Square and PayPal, which let their customers use bitcoin; and Nvidia, the Santa Clara, California-based computer chip manufacturer whose hardware has long been favored by many bitcoin miners. It’s working: Wood’s flagship fund is up 150% this year, and Ark’s assets under management have skyrocketed to $15 billion. “Cathie is one of those people who she’s not known just for bitcoin, so we kind of dilute her impact,” says Pompliano. “But she believed early; she was the first institution to really kind of go after the GBTC trade. She’s been right. She’s been right about a lot of stuff.”

Catherine Wood
Catherine Wood Eli Warren for Forbes

Annus Horribilis: Libra

Libra exploded onto the cryptocurrency scene in June 2019 when Facebook announced the project would use the blockchain to create a single asset backed by a number of global currencies, including the dollar, the euro and the yen. The original idea was that the Libra would be managed by payments giants like Visa, PayPal, Mastercard and Stripe. But U.S. lawmakers pretty much immediately freaked out, calling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Capitol Hill to explain his work. Most of Facebook’s best-known payment partners quickly backed out.

Invest $500 and get $2500 in a week completely legit

After many compromises to the original vision, a watered-down—although possibly still successful—version of the currency, now called Diem and backed one-to-one by the U.S. dollar, is scheduled to launch next year. “They, me and everyone else underestimated how swiftly and how powerful regulators and governments can be when they decide to attack,” says Pompliano, who worked at Facebook 15 years ago. “In terms of the absolute height of promise, possibility, etc. to the current state, that delta, I don’t think that we’ve seen anything fall as hard as Libra.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images

Forbes Forecast: Bitcoin corporate treasuries

MicroStrategy purchased $475 million worth of bitcoin this year and now has plans to raise another $650 million to purchase more; Square invested about $50 million into the cryptocurrency; and New York City-based asset manager Stone Ridge revealed it owned $115 million worth of the asset. Now that financial giants like Northern Trust, managing $1 trillion worth of assets, have revealed plans to help institutional investors safely custody crypto, it’s a trend that is likely only going to continue. “I think that we will see very, very, very large companies—Fortune 100-, Fortune 500-type companies—putting bitcoin on their balance sheet in 2021,” says Pompliano.

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Michael del Castillo

Michael del Castillo

I report on how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are being adopted by enterprises and the broader business community. My coverage includes the use of cryptocurrencies and extends to non-cryptocurrency applications of blockchain in finance, supply chain management, digital identity and a number of other use cases. Previously, I was a staff reporter at blockchain news site, CoinDesk, where I covered the increasing willingness of enterprises to explore how blockchain could make their work more efficient and in some cases, unnecessary. I have been covering blockchain since 2011, been published in the New Yorker, and been nationally syndicated by American City Business Journals. My work has been published in Blockchain in Financial Markets and Beyond by Risk Books and I am regularly cited in industry research reports. Since 2009 I’ve run Literary Manhattan, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to showing Manhattan’s rich literary heritage.

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Ethereum ETH Price Performance (+7%) | TrustSwap VISA Integration with Connect Financial | Crypto.com Weekly DeFi Update | Litecoin LTC SegWit Adoption and Lightning Network Updates | Binance, SushiSwap and Cover Protocol (-97%) Hack Updates | GreenPro +101% After $100 million Bitcoin Investment Fund | MicroStrategy Stock NASDAQ: MSTR Is Up +12% | Marathon Patent Group to purchase 70,000 Antminer S-19 ASIC miners for $170 million from Bitmain | Forbes 2020 Crypto Awards | Polkastarter tweeted about the listing date of $XED on Polkastarter | REN Protocol $sUSD and $sBTC Updates #bitcoin, #ethereum, #crypto, #greenpro, #microstrategy, #litecoin, #REN, #BTC, #ETH, #LTC, #NASDAQ 🔷 ALTCOIN TRADING SIGNALS – https://t.me/AltcoinBuzzChat 🔥 TOP CRYPTO NEWS – https://www.altcoinbuzz.io 🚀 FREE NEWSLETTER – http://eepurl.com/dnIEz1 🔶 TWITTER – https://twitter.com/altcoinbuzzio 💡 FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/altcoinbuzzio Cryptocurrency And Bitcoin Visa Card – GET $25 FREE ON ► CRYPTO.COM https://platinum.crypto.com/r/ab *Code is AB Trade On Binance! ► https://www.binance.com/en/register?r… *Code is UAMKZ47P Trade On AAX ► AAX EXCHANGE https://www.aax.com/invite?inviteCode… CRYPTOCURRENCY MARKET PRICES AND DATA ► COINGECKO https://gcko.io/altcoin-buzz 🔺 NOTE If you use the above referral links, we receive a commission at no additional cost to you. ⏰ Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 2:10 Ethereum ETH Price Performance (+7%) 3:35 TrustSwap VISA Integration with Connect Financial 4:45 Crypto.com Weekly DeFi Update 5:36 Litecoin LTC SegWit Adoption and Lightning Network Updates 6:32 Binance, SushiSwap and Cover Protocol (-97%) Hack Updates 9:33 GreenPro +101% After $100 million Bitcoin Investment Fund 13:46 MicroStrategy Stock NASDAQ: MSTR Is Up +12% 16:54 Marathon Patent Group to purchase 70,000 Antminer S-19 ASIC miners for $170 million from Bitmain 17:32 Forbes 2020 Crypto Awards 20:43 Polkastarter tweeted about the listing date of $XED on Polkastarter 21:10 REN Protocol $sUSD and $sBTC Updates References: ETH video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZzNm… TESLA video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKjE1… Jeff Kirdeikis interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DqXd…https://twitter.com/TrustSwap/status/…https://trustswap.medium.com/trustswa…https://www.altcoinbuzz.io/cryptocurr…https://twitter.com/cryptocom/status/…https://twitter.com/litecoin/status/1…https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status…https://twitter.com/binance/status/13…https://twitter.com/binance/status/13…https://twitter.com/JulSwap/status/13…https://twitter.com/AlexSaundersAU/st…https://cointelegraph.com/news/cover-…https://twitter.com/binance/status/13…https://twitter.com/blockfolio/status…https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/…https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/grnqhttps://seekingalpha.com/news/3647521…https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/…https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSTR?…https://twitter.com/mokamoto/status/1…https://www.globenewswire.com/news-re…https://twitter.com/ForbesCrypto/stat…https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeld…https://twitter.com/Exeedme/status/13…https://twitter.com/renprotocol/statu…

Facebook’s Libra Is Already Ahead Of Ethereum, Litecoin, And Ripple’s XRP–But Not Bitcoin

Image result for facebook libra

Bitcoin has been around for a little over a decade, while its biggest competitors ethereum, litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP have been knocking around for between seven and four years—but all save bitcoin are already being eclipsed by Facebook’s yet-to-launch libra cryptocurrency.

The bitcoin price has surged over recent months as interest surrounding social media giant Facebook’s planned libra project reached fever-pitch but has swung wildly as global regulators poured cold water on Facebook’s ambitions.

Now, a new survey has found there is “substantial” public interest in Facebook’s potential bitcoin rival, despite a lack of trust in the company, with people already more familiar with it than ethereum, litecoin and Ripple’s XRP.

bitcoin, bitcoin price, ethereum, ethereum price, Litecoin, Ripple, XRP, Facebook, Libra, image

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg might have his work cut out to convince U.S. and global regulators of libra’s potential, but the general public might already be on board.

Bitcoin and Facebook’s libra were given an awareness boost by U.S. president Donald Trump last week when he tweeted his opposition to both technologies but he may have inadvertently introduced the idea of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to a whole new audience.

New research, carried out by U.S. brokerage eToro, has found that while 58% of the U.S. adults have heard of bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency, Facebook’s libra is already known by 16% of people—just a month after it was unveiled.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has achieved only 12% recognition since it went live in July 2015 and it can be assumed that smaller cryptocurrencies litecoin and Ripple’s XRP are still less well known.

“We believe that crypto and the blockchain technology that underpins it will be essential to tomorrow’s economy,” said Guy Hirsch, U.S. managing director of eToro. “By introducing the concept to a new audience, libra could play a vital role in the evolution of decentralized and more democratized finance.”

bitcoin, bitcoin price, ethereum, ethereum price, litecoin, ripple, xrp, facebook, libra, chart

The bitcoin price has been climbing so far this year, largely due to interest in cryptocurrencies from Facebook and the world’s biggest tech companies.

Meanwhile, the survey suggests that people may not be willing to trust Facebook to correctly manage payments, perhaps due to its on-going data-sharing scandal.

A little over half (54%) of respondents, out of some 600, expressed doubts over Facebook’s management of their personal data but only 17% indicated they would be willing to trust Facebook with their money the same way they trust their banks.

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Source: Facebook’s Libra Is Already Ahead Of Ethereum, Litecoin, And Ripple’s XRP–But Not Bitcoin

US Senate Confirms New CFTC Chair to Succeed ‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo – CoinDesk

The CFTC tapped Heath Tarbert as incoming chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), replacing current chairman and “Crypto Dad” J. Christopher Giancarlo. The announcement was made yesterday during a Senate confirmation hearing.

The CFTC is tasked with regulating derivatives, digital assets, and over-the-counter trades. The regulatory authority has taken a light-handed approach towards the cryptocurrency industry under outgoing chair Giancarlo.

“During my time of service, it has been a priority to transform the CFTC into a 21st Century regulator for today’s digital markets. With Dr. Tarbert’s confirmation, I know the agency is in safe hands to continue this transition,” said Giancarlo in a statement regarding the succession.

Prior to this designation, Tarbert served a short stint as Acting Under Secretary for International Affairs, beginning April 16, 2019. Before that Tarbert served as Assistant Secretary for International Markets for two years, to which he was confirmed by a vote of 87-8, showing a high degree of bipartisan support.

Politico previously reported Tarbert would likely succeed Giancarlo as chief derivatives regulator.

Tarbert is a member of the Financial Stability Board, the international body established after the financial crisis to monitor global markets, and serves on its steering committee, according to his Treasury Department biography.

Giancarlo has committed to stay on as chairman until July 15, 2019, as Tarbert completes his current Treasury obligations.

J. Christopher Giancarlo image via CoinDesk archives

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Source: US Senate Confirms New CFTC Chair to Succeed ‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo – CoinDesk

1,000,000,000 XRP: Ripple Unlocks $442 Million in Crypto From Escrow

Ripple has unlocked 1 billion XRP from escrow, worth about $442 million at time of publishing.

The San Francisco startup will sell a portion of the funds to crypto exchanges and institutional participants and return the rest to escrow at the end of the month.

Source: Bithomp

Ripple, which owns more than half of the total supply of XRP, does not reveal the buyers. However, crypto whale watchers are constantly monitoring XRP movements from Ripple’s over-the-counter (OTC) wallets to unknown wallets, which indicate sales of XRP.

Ripple typically sells a fraction of the total amount unlocked each month and releases an overview of the dollar amount of XRP sold each quarter.

According to the company’s last report, Ripple sold $169.42 million worth of XRP in January, February and March.

Source: Ripple

Since 2016, Ripple has sold a total of $890 million in XRP – 34.4% to crypto exchanges and 65.6% to institutions, reports The Block.

Ripple’s sale of XRP recently triggered a lively debate on Reddit on whether it has an impact on the price of the leading digital asset.

Source: Pivot – Blockchain Community

Can Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Power Payments in a Japanese Bar?

A bar in Japan is teaming up with a locally-based lightning startup to let customers pay for sparkling wine and soft drinks using the experimental payments network.

For the month of June, the Japan-based lightning startup Nayuta will be partnering with Awabar Fukouka to trial the payment system in what they’re calling a “field test.”

The Lightning Network is seen by its supporters as the best way to scale bitcoin so that more people can use the payment system at once, but the technology is still rather experimental and even risky to use. To that end, Nayuta sees this project as an way to further analyze how the technology works in the real world and to find out what still needs to be done to make it easier to use.

Though Awabar said their role is “small,” as the bar did not design the technology (Nayuta did), they’re “delighted” to participate, offering a place for the experimental technology to be tested in a brick-and-mortar context.

The company said in a statement:

“We hope it helps familiarize the community with the lightning network payment system.”

The following video shows how the point of sale app (created by Nayuta and run on the open source payment processor BTCPay) will look for customers purchasing their drinks:

Nayuta is known for helping to draw up specifications for the lightning network and recently launched its own implementation of the budding payment layer geared specifically for connected devices or the Internet of Things (IoT).

The idea is that as the tech components grow less expensive, more devices such as refrigerators and TVs will connect to the internet for data collection.

Source: Pivot – Blockchain Community

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