Chinese exchange Crypto.com has announced a global partnership with Visa, to accelerate the global adoption of cryptocurrencies and crypto-payment methods using the MCO crypto card.
With a principal membership, Crypto.com can now issue directly bitcoin credit cards and ship them all over Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. The alliance will also include the principal membership in Visa’s network in Australia.
We’re proud to announce our Global Alliance Partnership with Visa.
Together we are accelerating mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency.
We can now ⚡ Bring world-first products to market 🌎 Accelerate new market launches 💳 Issue cards directly as a Visa Principal Member pic.twitter.com/h6VrsEMr1T
In December, Crypto.com received an Australian Financial Service License (ASFL), as required by all blockchain-based companies. With this licence, the exchange was finally allowed to issue crypto-debit cards all around the country.
Now the exchange plans to expand the reach of crypto-debit cards all over Australia, and in several APAC (Asia-Pacific) countries.
Crypto as Collateral
The exchange will introduce “Spending Power” a new product for cardholders allowing them to check in on the current price of their funds in their crypto-wallets, and to lend fiat using crypto as collateral.
As per the blog post, Kris Marszalek stated that both companies seek to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies worldwide:
Digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places—and we’re eager to work with companies bringing this vision to life. Through our partnership with Crypto.com, one of the largest Visa card programs connected to a crypto exchange available today, we are making it quicker and easier for people to spend digital currency worldwide.”
With the crypto market reaching over 1.80T in market cap, Visa stated their intentions to work with crypto exchanges to trade Bitcoin for fiat currencies, thus making crypto-payments acceptable in any place that accepts visa —which would be 70 million places globally.
Sean’s Outpost is one of the first homeless outreach programs in the world that is primarily funded by cryptocurrency. The charity provides shelter and food to the homeless to help them get back on their feet.
Titled on reddit “some rich bitcoiner bought 8 acres of land to house the homeless” which is the private land they call “Satoshi Forest”. Co-owner Jason King is a regular presence on the Bitcoin Reddit community, where he has successfully managed to raise bitcoin funds to fuel the charity.
In response to a series of anti-homeless ordinances passed by the City of Pensacola and Escambia County, Satashi Forest was purchased in 2013. The idea was simple: to exist as a privately owned block of land, where no-one would be harassed for being homeless.
A Drawn Out Legal Battle
In 2018, after three years of legal battle against Escambia County, Sean’s Outpost was issued a permit to continue operating Satoshi Forest for the foreseeable future and it was authorised as a temporary home for the area’s homeless.
Co-founder of Sean’s Outpost, Mike Kimberl shares:
Our court case with the county determined there were things that we needed to do to come into compliance and that was to put in a driveway, put in fire extinguishers and then we had to put up fencing.
For the past three years, Satoshi Forest has been able to exist as a safe place for the homeless in the area, giving them a chance to get back on their feet. Say Kimberl:
This is not an end goal. This is not a retirement plan. Our goal is to get them back into better accommodations.
How to Donate To Support Satoshi Forest
You can donate by sending some BTC (check the website seansoutpost.com for the BTC deposit address).
Update 08/03/2021: Please note before donating that we are waiting to hear back from them directly as to whether they are still in operation.
According to research by strategists at leading U.S. financial investment bank, JP Morgan Chase, Bitcoin (BTC) retail investors have out bought institutions this quarter (Q1 2021), picking up the slack and helping drive the price of Bitcoin to $61,000.
The decline in institutional buying may be one of the reasons the price didn’t hold, as well news about India’s policy regarding cryptocurrencies which is said to have hit the token hard.
Increased Interest From Retail Traders
According to Chainalysis, in 2017, the majority of Bitcoin buyers were retail investors purchasing the cryptocurrency using personal funds. However, 2020 saw a change as mainstream companies and financial institutions were buying up most of the Bitcoin due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
As seen in the breakdown below retailers bought more BTC in Q3 2020 and Q1 2021 than Wall Street buyers. According to the data, itBit daily volumes (which the bank uses as a proxy for PayPal) nearly doubled between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. Meanwhile, bitcoin payments facilitated by Square also doubled.
Table shows a breakdown of bitcoin flows since 3Q 2020. Source: JPMorgan
Bitcoin’s latest rally meant that it is up by 100% since the start of the year and more than 500% over the past six months. The indicator for CME Group only inched up slightly from 1,284 to 1,449.
Growing Interest in Bitcoin
The number of new participants in the #Bitcoin network is unprecedented.
Over the past weeks, we have seen a large growth of new entities. This is a strong indication that new retail investors have been entering the space.
Now, with the Reddit-fueled meme stock craze cooling and novelties such as digital artwork setting records, retail traders — some now armed with $1,400 stimulus checks — are taking control.
Senior market analyst at Oanda Corp, Ed Moya
Brian Vendig, president of MJP Wealth Advisors, stated that retail need has actually been driven by fear of losing out (FOMO) following the current wave of institutional financial investment into Bitcoin.
More Opportunities for People to Learn, Own, and Transact with Crypto
As reported by Reuters Bitcoin ATMs have been increasing in numbers across the U.S. and Bitcoin’s growing popularity has been a major driver for these new installations (more than 10,000 in the last five months).
Source: Piqsels
The influx of retail buyers might be due to increased exposure through social media, celebrities championing crypto related technologies, NFTs, and simpler technologies that facilitate the acquisition of crypto. When individuals are well-informed they are more likely to participate.
A new survey out of Mizuho Securities on Monday estimates that 10%, or nearly $40 billion of the $380 billion in direct stimulus checks, may be used to purchase Bitcoin(BTC) and stocks.
According to CNN as it stands, 90% of American households qualify for the $1400 per person (including dependants) stimulus check, following the U.S. President Joe Biden signing the stimulus package into law.
People Prefer Bitcoin
Yahoo Finance reported Monday that Mizuho managing director Dan Dolev and his team surveyed approximately 235 individuals with less than $150,000 of household income. Of that, about 200 said they expect to receive the third round of direct stimulus payments in the coming days.
Stimulus check BTC and stock allocation
The results show that 35% – 40% of the people that participated in this survey are aiming to invest some of it in crypto (Bitcoin) or stocks, with 61% saying they would choose Bitcoin over equities.
The survey predicts that bitcoin will account for 60% of total incremental investment spend. We calculate it could add as much as 2-3% to bitcoin’s current $1.1t trillion market value
Dan Dolev, Mizuho Securities, MD
Source: Know-your-meme
Considering the sample size of the survey is only 235 it remains to be seen whether these outcomes will come to fruition, yet the outlook is positive that a reasonable part of the stimulus will find its way into the crypto economy.
Others Also Weighed in on How Stimulus Checks Might be Spent
Mizuho isn’t the only one making predictions, David Kostin, Goldman’s chief U.S. equity strategist recently stated :
We expect households will be the largest source of equity demand this year […] A good chunk of the new stimulus money about to be funnelled into American households shortly via the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill may find its way into the stock market
David Kostin, Goldman’s chief U.S. equity strategist
Ray Dalio also commented yesterday on investing and that money shouldn’t be spent on bonds due to “ridiculously low yields” and rather encouraged people to buy higher-returning, non-debt investment assets in a LinkedIn Blog post.
While Bitcoin remains the leading crypto in the market by adoption, some issues remain with it’s scalability and use as a medium of exchange. With the question being asked, is it just a store of value?
If it is to ever be used for payments globally it will have to solve this issue. Otherwise it could just be a store of value and other cryptocurrencies with much lower fees such as Litecoin may take over the payments sector.
On a typical day, on average Bitcoin only does 4-5 TPS vs VISA’s 3,900 TPS which is a considerable difference. The fee structure is different with VISA charging a percentage of the transaction amount and BTC having a fixed rate for any amount. This may make BTC cheaper for large transactions but way more expensive for small transactions.
Average Transactions
VISA
Bitcoin(BTC)
Ether
Litecoin
Avg Transactions per second
3,900
4-5
15
56
Avg Total Transactions per day
84 Million
350,000
1.3 Million
110,000
Avg Price per Transaction
0.5-2%
US $20
US $20
$0.036
Daily Transaction Volume
$31 Billion
$12 Billion
$7 Billion
$1.5 Billion
Bitcoin vs VISA transactions data as at 17 March 2021
VISA TPS data is calculated from Q4 2020 data (3 months) showing 30,676 Million VISA (and related VISA) network transactions. VISA Daily Volume is calculated by 11.6 Trillion per year recorded in 2019 Annual report.
Data shows that companies globally have spent $2B to research and integrate blockchain technology, being Bitcoin’s network the most popular option for businesses.
This year, Bitcoin’s network shows between 2-6 TPS (Transactions Per Second)
The problem is Bitcoin has a limited rate for transaction processes. The network can only handle block sizes of 1-4 MB. At a maximum, that would still only be 5-7 TPS.
Number of transactions per month. Source: Wikipedia
Developers need to address scalability issues even before traditional institutions in the industry start implementing blockchain technology.
Ethereum 2.0 Blockchain Technology
Since blockchain technology emerged, the scalability issue has been a long discussion. Developers are currently exploring new ways to improve the overall ecosystem for blockchains.
Moreover, developers from other protocols, like Ethereum, are taking important steps to improve blockchain technology. Such as implementing new consensus protocols to enhance issues like scalability, speed, and interoperability.
For instance, ETH 2.0 seeks at least 100,000 TPS, compared to the 30 TPS of Ethereum.
Is Bitcoin Just a Store of Value?
Despite acting poorly as a medium of exchange, Bitcoin is considered as one of the greatest stores of values against declining fiat. According to Bloomberg, investors are replacing gold with Bitcoin as a better store of value.
Digital #Gold Pushing Aside the Old Guard – Gold will always have a place in jewelry and coin collections, but most indicators point to an accelerating pace of #Bitcoin replacing the metal as a store of value in investor portfolios. pic.twitter.com/RR0CCWmksF
Naturally, investors will always seek to add new products to their portfolios. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for an alternative hedge against declining fiat, and a bearish stock market heavily affected by the virus.
Likewise, since the pandemic started, the numbers of Aussies using SMSF to invest in crypto increased. As Bitcoin started its institutional-driven bull run, many investors and traders flock to popular exchanges, like Binance Australia or CoinSpot.
Aussie investors are even choosing crypto over gold. At least 12% of investors are adding Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple’s XRP to their portfolio instead of gold.
As reported, 45% of citizens are investing in crypto for the increase in price, and at least 12% considering digital assets as a better store of value.
Bitcoin (and cryptocurrencies in general) have the potential to reshape the financial aspects of the world. While its crypto-technology brings several advantages, it still has a long road to becoming a part of businesses globally.
A man from Germany has fallen victim to a Bitcoin scam, losing over AU$700,000 to a fake Elon Musk giveaway.
Sebastian (not his real name) said that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, tweeted, “Dojo 4 Doge” and was curious about what he meant as Musk often tweets about crypto. Apparently, under the tweet, there was a link to an event that was giving away Bitcoin, which Sebastian clicked on.
Seemingly run by Musk’s Tesla team, the so-called giveaway invited people to send anything from 0.1 Bitcoin (AU$7,700) to 20 Bitcoin (AU$1.5 million) with the promise of sending back double the amount, reports the UK’s BBC News. A common impersonation scam which we’ve covered in our Bitcoin Scams Guide.
Believing he was on to a good thing, Sebastian sent 10 Bitcoin, amounting to over AU$700,000. For the next 20 minutes, Sebastian waited for his Bitcoin wallet’s value to increase.
It was only after the countdown ended that Sebastian realized he’d been scammed. He said:
I realized then that it was a big fake. I threw my head on to the sofa cushions and my heart was beating so hard. I thought I’d just thrown away the gamechanger for my family, my early retirement fund and all the upcoming holidays with my kids.
Even though he tried to get his money back, he finally accepted he wasn’t going to see it again.
Crypto Scams Soar
In recent years, crypto scams have risen targeting unsuspecting people with false promises that they can earn more if they just give a little. According to data from Chainalysis, scams made up the majority of all crypto-related criminal activity at 54%, in 2020, representing AU$3.35 billion.
Value received by illicit services monthly 2020 [source: Chainalysis]
Fake crypto giveaways are also gaining traction and often target high-profile pages in the hopes that they will trick people into thinking it’s real. They either achieve this by disguising the account to look like the real one or hacking into the account. Musk is one figure who has been used before.
However, it was in 2020 when hackers managed to steal AU$153,000 after a short-lived hack enabled them to tweet from celebrity accounts, including Bill Gates and Kim Kardashian-West.
Unfortunately, with interest in crypto continuing to rise amid increasing prices, crypto scams are going to remain. Speaking on this, Whale Alert founder Frank van Weert, said:
When the Bitcoin price goes up, people go crazy and a lot of them are new to the market and they want this idea of quick money.
Local building company, Broadwater Builds, is the first in the the state to accept digital currencies as a form of payment. Clients can pay using Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance and Ripple, with other options to be added.
Director Louis Gonzalez holds a strong belief that cryptocurrencies will revolutionise the world of finance in the future. He says,
We see bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as being here to stay. by providing the ability for people to use cryptocurrency as a form of payment, it shows we are prepared for the future and at the forefront of technology change.
How Does It Work?
There’s no doubt that there’s a high level of volatility when it comes to cryptocurrency, making it hard to predict how much it will be from one moment to the next. Louis Gonzalez shares,
For client interested in using cryptocurrency for transactions, we will need to agree upon an exchange rate at the time of transaction.
Owners and directors Louis and Nathan have more than 22 years’ industry experience in the residential and construction industry. Broadwater Builds offers new homes, renovation and extensions, kitchens, bathrooms, demolish and builds, developments, unfinished homes and more.
Broadwater Builds – Nathan Dreibergs and Louis Gonzalez
Cryptocurrency is growing in popularity, and we are starting to see many online shops – including giants Tesla and Apple – support them as a payment method.
This highlights the potentials of cryptocurrency becoming a legitimate form of value transfer.
Get Involved
If you’re looking to accept cryptocurrencies for your business we have a guide to help you set that up. And if you’re a customer in Perth looking to build a house, get a renovation or new kitchen/bathroom then get in touch with Broadwater Builds on 08 6468 6384.
Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy has bought some additional 262 Bitcoins (AU$ 19,300,000) for $57k. The crypto community was surprised the company bought at such a high price, but many believe this is only the start of a greater bull run for BTC.
MicroStrategy has purchased an additional ~262 bitcoins for ~$15.0 million in cash at an average price of ~$57,146 per #bitcoin. As of 3/12/2021, we #hodl ~91,326 bitcoins acquired for ~$2.211 billion at an average price of ~$24,214 per bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/QIQP30rv2q
Some argue that MicroStrategy bought a level considered dangerous due to heavy resistance with a double top pattern. But others think of it as a move against the potential inflation that the U.S. Dollar could face anytime soon.
The U.S. Senate has passed a COVID-19 relief bill, providing stimulus checks of $1,400 for its citizens. Naturally, this means the Federal Reserve will print 1.9 trillion in the upcoming days.
Haha more like right at the time the US government is about to print 1,900,000,000,0000 dollars.
Many in the crypto community have their eyes on a $100k price for Bitcoin. Even private banks like JP Morgan predicted higher prices for BTC. The chart below shows a double top pattern, but the sentiment remains bullish.
As MicroStrategy invest $15 million at a level of $57,000, this could be the beginning of a new All-Time high, probably reaching levels over $60k in the upcoming months.
How Much Would you Have if you Invested in Crypto Back Then?
Investing in Bitcoin with $1,000 back in 2020 would result in profits of $9,000 – $10,000, considering BTC was priced at barely $7,000 back then. Likewise, traders who bought ADA last year at levels below .50 cents would be sitting on profits of $42,000 right now.
It’s worth noting that the sentiment in Australia for Bitcoin has been bullish since January. Around 70% of Aussie traders believe BTC will reach over US$ 90k by the end of 2021.
We recently saw the USA approve a $1.9 Trillion Dollar stimulus package, which in turn may suggest the purchasing power of the US Dollar vs Bitcoin might be on further decline.
If we take a look at the USD price vs the Satoshi (1 hundred millionth of a Bitcoin) we can see it’s losing up to 99% of it’s purchasing value every year since Bitcoin was created.
Date
Price
Percent Change
1 year ago
12,577 sats
– 86.038%
2 years ago
25,698 sats
– 93.167%
3 years ago
10,967 sats
– 83.988%
4 years ago
81,334 sats
– 97.841%
5 years ago
238,159 sats
– 99.263%
6 years ago
340,290 sats
– 99.484%
7 years ago
158,380 sats
– 98.891%
8 years ago
2,257,851 sats
– 99.922%
9 years ago
20,366,599 sats
– 99.991%
10 years ago
108,932,462 sats
– 99.998%
USDSAT Historical Performance
The $1,400 stimulus checks that are being dished out by the US Government could see this trend continue, with downtrend for the US Dollar vs Bitcoin.
US Dollar Purchasing Power
Since the year 1900 the US Dollar has lost approximately 97% of its purchasing power, according to data provided by Statista.
This essentially means when converted to the value of one US dollar back in 1900, goods and services that cost $1 would now cost $31. It is important to remember that the prices of individual goods and services inflate at different rates than currency, therefore the numbers must only be used as a guide.
Purchasing power of one US dollar (USD) – Statista
Understanding Purchasing Power And Inflation
Key points:
Purchasing power is the amount of goods or services that a unit of currency can buy at a given point in time.
Inflation reduces the value of a currency’s purchasing power, having the effect of an increase in prices.
Central banks try to keep prices stable through maintaining the purchasing power of the currency by setting interest rates and other mechanisms.
As a general rule, countries attempt to keep inflation fixed at a rate of 2 percent as moderate levels of inflation are acceptable, with high levels of deflation leading to economic stagnation.
Retirees must be particularly aware of purchasing power loss since they are living off of a fixed amount of money. They must make sure that their investments earn a rate of return equal to or greater than the rate of inflation so that the value of their nest egg does not decrease each year.
Australia: Inflation rate from 1984 to 2025* – Statista
Australia has one of the world’s largest economies and is a significant global importer and exporter. It is also labeled as one of the G20 countries, also known as the Group of Twenty, which consists of 20 major economies around the globe. The Australian economy is highly dependent on its mining sector as well as its agricultural sector in order to grow, and it exports the majority of these goods to eastern Asian countries, most prominently China. Large quantities of exports have helped Australia maintain a stable economy and furthered economic expansion, despite being affected by several economic obstacles.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Australia has been rising pretty consistently for the past 10 years.
Australia Consumer Price Index (CPI) Percent Change Per Quarter
Along with the total quarterly data, you can also check individual the CPI groups such as Food, Alcohol, Transport, Clothing and Housing. And also drill down even further by city into Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and other major cities. We can use this data to keep an eye on the cost of living in Australia, as ordinary living expenses start to rise.
Weighted average of eight capital cities – CPI Percent Change Last Quarter
When a currency’s purchasing power decreases due to excessive inflation, serious negative economic consequences arise, including rising costs of goods and services contributing to a high cost of living, as well as high interest rates that affect the global market, and falling credit ratings as a result. All of these factors can contribute to an economic crisis.
It has been just four days since Goldman Sachs re-opened its crypto trading desk for its clients. Now the famous American investment bank is under heavy pressure from investors, who are now more keen than ever to invest in Bitcoin.
According to John Waldron, Chief Operating Officer, the bank is trying to please client’s rising demand for BTC while also keeping up with regulations from institutions (like the Securities and Exchange Commission).
Client demand is rising. We are regulated on what we can do. We continue to evaluate it and engage in it.
The large inflow of clients is followed by the recent price increase of Bitcoin, reaching a new All-time of $57,000, flirting with trading levels up to $58,700. The bullish sentiment remains strong despite the abrupt and fast-paced price increase.
BTC/USD Chart
Demand for a Bitcoin ETF
Currently, the bank seeks to open a Bitcoin Exchanged-traded Fund, but they are not the only institution looking for it. The NYDIG (New York Digital Investment Group) filed weeks ago to the SEC to open a Bitcoin ETF together with Morgan Stanley.
Waldron believes that digital commerce would likely hit a milestone in 2021. Cryptocurrencies could take a greater role in the digital economy now that these institutions are trying to pave the way for broader adoption.
There is no question in our mind there will be more digital commerce and the use of digital money. The pandemic has been a significant accelerant.
