2021 is the year we can hope to be better. And the starting seems not bad, especially when Cryptocurrency is getting the attention it needed in the entire decade. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices are skyhigh and still rising, and the Dogecoin price is heading to the moon all because of Elon Musk’s constant lame jokes and memes on twitter.
Crypto of the year – Dogecoin
After the $GME and Reddit wall street stuff, the same group of Redditors picked Dogecoin as the target and rose to its price record high for the first time. Thanks to Elon Musk jokingly promoting DOGE (Dogecoin) on twitter. DOGE now sits at 0.703 USD.
Elon Musk has been constantly joking and shitposting about DOGE on twitter and later Snoop Dog too joined the march. This spiked the price of DOGE, and many are planning to buy DOGE to make some quick cash. But the problem is, this creates inconsistent price hikes and falls with people buying in low and dumping lots of it at once when the price hikes.
Some think that Elon Musk did this because he wanted to reduce the price of BTC so Tesla could buy BTC cheaply. I do not know if it’s true, but he said that the jokes and shitposts are only meant to be jokes. Talking about Tesla buying Bitcoin, they really did
Tesla buys $1.5 Billion USD worth of Dogecoin Bitcoin
Tesla joins as one of the large investors on Bitcoin. The company claims to diversify the market by accepting Cryptocurrency as a payment method for its products, such as Tesla Electric cars. So buying real world products with Bitcoin just became much more real. Although BTC is not suitable for buying small stuff because of latency and its technological setbacks, it is fine when dealing with larger transactions like when buying a car. Elon also warned the company about how crypto fluctuates in value.
Tesla is trying to be the futuristic company by providing but also investing in unique stuff. Not only are they doing substantial business selling Electric cars, but they are also crushing big competitors. Their model Y sold more than Lexus NX and BMW X3. With Tesla accepting crypto as payment, many crypto enthusiasts may consider a Tesla car with their own crypto savings.
Apple green lights BitPay Card for Apple Pay
“ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BitPay, the world’s largest provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, today announced that US cardholders of the BitPay Prepaid Mastercard can add their card to Apple WalletTM and spend with Apple Pay®. With Apple Pay, BitPay cardholders can make secure purchases in stores, in apps, and online. In addition, customers waiting on delivery of their plastic card can add their virtual card to Apple Wallet via the BitPay Wallet app and can start spending immediately. Support for Google Pay and Samsung Pay is planned for later this quarter.” – News by Atlanta Business Wire.
So all the Apple pay users now can use BitPay cards with their Apple Pay and use it to pay for tons of commodities. Over two million stores accept Apple Pay, so it is a plus for those who already have BitPay and Apple Pay and want to use both together. Good job BitPay and good job apple.
Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z to fund BTC development
“Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey on Thursday announced a partnership with Jay-Z to start a bitcoin endowment, which will be focused on developing the cryptocurrency in India and Africa. “It’ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us,” Dorsey said on Twitter. Called “₿trust,” the endowment is being funded with an initial investment of 500 bitcoin, worth roughly $23.6 million as of Friday morning. It will initially focus on “teams in Africa & India,” Dorsey said, but didn’t offer additional details.” – MSN
Mastercard to support crypto but…
It is disappointing, but at least Mastercard is finally supporting crypto currency. The disappointing part is they will certainly not support BTC, ETH, or most of the major crypto currencies. They said they will support “selected” currencies that meet their regulation and policy. It is surely disappointing, but there are few things I’m hoping will turn good. Many newer crypto currencies may get a chance of being adopted, and since centralization is not a requirement, we can expect many crypto currencies joining later.
It’s at least something Mastercard is doing when the CEO Ajay Banga wasn’t interested in crypto at all. But since they are doing it, it is still a promotion for crypto currencies. Soon others may join in this new crypto revolution.
Kraken venture is backing crypto startups
“Kraken is supporting the launch of a new independent initiative to actively invest in early stage cryptocurrency and Fintech startups.Kraken Ventures, a global investment operation with a presence in Austin, Berlin, Hong Kong, etc will provide the resources and expertise to developers and respective technologies that will power the next wave of innovation in our industry. The venture offers the best of both worlds in being a completely autonomous fund that’s backed by the resources and expertise of Kraken.” – Kraken Blog
The fund will invest in technologies in areas like Fintech, crypto protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi), artificial intelligence, machine learning, regulatory technology and cybersecurity.
Although the crypto investment is booming and the adoption rate is rising, few countries are blocking Crypto currencies. With some countries encouraging nationwide usage or crypto like California and Miami, Nigeria recently blocked usage, dealing and trading of crypto. A letter from Nigeria’s central bank prompted stopping all trades and exchanges of all crypto currencies. They stated no reasons other than the nature of crypto currency and its volatility.
Recently it has been rumored that India will join the same page by banning crypto currencies. And they will launch their own digital currency. It is still a rumor, though, and already the enthusiasts are talking against it. I think this won’t actually happen and crypto will still live in India. And even if it does, everyone knows that decentralized currencies are hard to regulate.
Conclusion
Crypto has taken over the headlines with new investors, new records, and wider adoption. It is all over the news, all over the world. Could this be the year of crypto currency? Will crypto slowly take part in our everyday finance? I’m still waiting for more southeastern Asian countries to adopt crypto currencies and locally. Maybe it will happen this year. Maybe I’ll get paid by crypto soon. I hope this happens.
We welcome you to discuss this post in the comment section and share your opinion. Thank you for reading and I wish you all a beautiful day.
