Visa and Coinbase Partner Up, Crypto Appears on The Simpsons, Bank of England Favours CBDCs and CZ Comes to Rescue
In this edition:
- Swipe Right for Crypto: Visa Grants Principal Membership to Coinbase
- We’re Official Now: Cryptocurrencies Appeared on The Simpsons!
- Bank of England Shows Interest in CBDCs
- CZ’s Advice: ‘’Now It’s Time to Buy BTC!’’
Ahoy, fellow Anchorians! Lately, I’ve been following the CBDC narrative around the globe attentively and, honestly, can’t’ help but deduce it will be one of the ‘’sexiest’’ topics in 2020! Of course, we have been familiar with the concept for years now and we’ve met the most important pilot projects. Yet it seems as if the world’s most developed economies have just discovered the perks of national digital currencies… and they are going for it hard! Nonetheless, in this edition of Weekly Crypto Roundup, we will comment on other news-worthy events as well.
Visa and Coinbase took a leap towards mass crypto adoption, creating an important precedent for future collaborations between these two industries. But can we talk about crypto appearing on the Simpsons, too?! Somehow, it made me feel 10 again since something I’m into now was part of a cult show I grew up with!
So, let’s dive into this eclectic Roundup together and see what’s going on in the crypto community!
Swipe Right for Crypto – Visa Grants Principal Membership to Coinbase
Swiping your Visa to pay with crypto in a supermarket is a reality now. Wait, what?! Coinbase is officially the first crypto firm to become a principal member of Visa, meaning they have the ability to issue debit cards without involving a third party!
A week ago, this announcement shook the entire community but also made us contemplate what this means for the future of the cryptocurrencies industry. Though a legit possibility, Coinbase stated that they won’t issue cards to other crypto companies at the moment. Can’t blame them, this thing is big and could be a great revenue stream for the firm, so it needs to be done cleverly.
Frankly, the adoption of cryptocurrencies is still in its early phase, mostly because people out of the industry find them very difficult to use – they are volatile, hard to spend and, in some countries, you’re not even sure what you’re doing is legal. Partnerships like this one give certainty and make these problems go away.
The ‘’magic’’ card that converts crypto into any fiat currency the merchant is accepting will be available in 29 countries (the US is not among them) later this year. Apart from BTC, other cryptocurrencies at hand will be ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, BAT, REP, ZRX, and XLM. Happy spending, non-hodlers!
We’re Official Now: Cryptocurrencies Appeared on The Simpsons!
We all know that Simpsons have a knack for predicting the future! And, well, anyone who aspires to be someone recognizes that appearing on The Simpsons kinda makes it official. You’ve made it! Should we expect a bull run?
In a funny manner, cryptocurrencies were explained to Lisa by Jim Parsons (a.k.a Sheldon Cooper) along with the basics of the blockchain technology. If you read the fine print carefully, you could’ve seen the ‘’we know who Satoshi is, but we’re not telling’’ part. Darn, we believe you!
The crypto community loved it and soon we saw comments on how this means crypto is being more accepted globally and that finally, BTC is not a synonym for all cryptocurrencies. Opinion, of course, varies, but one thing is certain – everybody had fun watching the video!
So, if you missed it, we got you covered. Enjoy!
Bank of England Shows Interest in CBDCs
Fear of missing out (FOMO) – a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. In other words – ‘’I need to be there!’’
This expression can be used to describe what some central banks around the world are feeling at the moment. Whether it’s private companies or government bodies, nobody wants to be on the losing side.
Bank of England’s chief cashier, Sarah John, recently urged fellow central banks to consider developing their own national digital currencies in response to vast interest on the matter in the private sector. If you want to learn more about CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), I recommend this article.
Anyhow, John said that the last thing central banks need is to be forced to play catch-up with private firms that already are in the digital payment niche. It seems that projects like Libra got everyone thinking ‘’okay, this could actually happen, we cannot let that happen’’.
Central banks need to find a way to become companions with emerging technologies, and they are well aware of that. Though some countries still use harsh rhetoric on crypto, there are many governments that are slowly changing their minds.
Stay with us and we will keep you posted on the direction of these developments!
CZ’s Advice: ‘’Now It’s Time to Buy BTC!’’
Don’t be afraid of the bears! I mean, BTC price fell below $9k recently, but we are already used to it, aren’t we? Maybe this is the time to buy your first bitcoin (or ‘’a Satoshi’’ of it, we don’t judge here!) and wait for its price to skyrocket later this year! At least, that’s what Changpeng Zhao says.
CZ, CEO of Binance, is very influential in the crypto community, and perhaps that’s the reason why he was wary of making predictions regarding BTC price movements. Nevertheless, CZ couldn’t hide his optimism in an interview for the news site BlockTV. He said that giving market predictions is not his cup of tea since ‘’he could be wrong 50% of the time’’. Of course, common sense and basic economic theories tell us that, after the BTC halving in May 2020, bitcoin price will most probably go up!
We talked about Pomp’s latest prediction, too. Remember, he said that we will witness BTC price going over $100k by the end of 2021. Fixed supply, increasing demand, the price goes up – it looks pretty simple, right? Well, let’s be honest here – nothing in the world of crypto is simple and easy to predict. So, make some room for doubts, too!
Sharing is caring, my fellow Anchorians! Feel free to join our Telegram community and let’s discuss halving and what happens after.
Final Thoughts
I don’t know about you, but this week I’ve been all over the place. Somehow, I feel as if the same thing was happening to the crypto community, too. Precedent partnerships, steps towards mass adoption, people confused with the BTC price dip, central banks seriously considering CBDCs…
Being a crypto enthusiast was never easy! Every day, you are a part of a community that at the first glance looks chaotic, but in the end, somehow everything comes to its place.
So, I’ll take a moment to appreciate every single one of you! For those who are here from the early beginning – thank you for every piece of advice and love for the industry that doesn’t fade away. And for those that came here more recently – thanks for your bravery and curiosity!
Until next week, once more I wish you fair winds and following sea!
Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not legal, accounting, or financial advice. I am not a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor. I am not registered as an investment adviser with any federal or state regulatory agency. The Information should not be construed as investment or trading advice and is not meant to be a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any cryptocurrencies.
