Impressive Barça’s Fan Token, Aussies to Buy BTC in Post Offices, Sweden’s CB Reports on CBDCs, PayPal Goes Crypto
In this edition:
- FC Barcelona’s Fan Token Skyrockets
- Australians Can Now Buy BTC in Post Offices
- Sweden’s Central Bank Releases a 98-Pager on CBDCs
- PayPal Hires Crypto People – Direct Purchases or Not?
Welcome, my dear Anchorians, to the 46th edition of Anchor’s Weekly Crypto Roundup! Good to see you again, fellas. And if you are here for the very first time, here is the tea: we are going to break down this week’s latest news from the world of crypto for you. Ready?
It never ceases to amaze me how crypto and blockchain are changing the conventional way of living, doing business, financing, etc. The best part – it’s happening on a global scale. And in this Roundup, we are traveling the world! Okay, at least mentally, you know… Spain. Australia. Sweden. The USA. These are the destinations of today’s article and I am sooo excited.
Oh, by the way, where are y’all from? Share it with us in Anchor’s Telegram Community and let’s see which country has the most representatives there. Should be fun! Now, since you are here for the news – I give you the news! Embark on.
FC Barcelona’s Fan Token Skyrockets
So, Visca El Barça? Even if you are not a fan of this football club from Catalonia, you have probably heard of their fan token (BAR) initiative. And, yes, we can now freely congratulate the person whose idea this was! Good job, indeed.
For starters, all tokens were sold out in less than two hours via Chiliz.net and Socios.com platforms. The sale of $1.3 million in total had its peak of $777,000 earned in just two minutes! Wow! Talk about a fan base. So, more than 4,000 fans from 106 countries participated in this BAR token sale, mostly from Turkey, Poland, Japan, France, Spain, the UK, and Italy.
And what is the point of these tokens? According to Barcelona’s official statement, this:
‘’As well as giving fans the right to vote on different topics during the season, fans can also earn rewards linked to the club, including innovative digital experiences and real-life activations, such as the chance to meet players before a game, or to watch a match live as a VIP guest at the Camp Nou.’’
But we did not even come to the most interesting part. After the official sale, BAR generated nearly $2.5 million in trade volume in less than 24 hours! This even became the second most traded market on Chiliz after BTC/USDT. The price per one token went from an initial $2.32, to the highest $12.05, and then to the current trading price of $6.25.
Now, this is what we call a great collaboration between the two ‘’worlds’’ – crypto and football. Naturally, FC Barcelona was not the only interested party regarding issuance of a fan token, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain have also had their own projects and ideas. All of these are well-known football clubs with a global fan base, so it is only logical for them to pursue the idea of a token that will allow an equal chance of participation for their fans, no matter where they are.
We salute this idea! Truly, it is wonderful to see how crypto can push the limits for the better, especially in these uncertain times. And if another great pro-crypto initiative in the sports industry emerges, you will be the first to know.
Australians Can Now Buy BTC in Post Offices
This depends on where you are from, of course, but post offices are somehow always related with the ‘’old-school’’ way of doing things. Well, not in Australia! In Australia, you can deposit money for BTC in a post office.
New collaborations are booming these days! The local exchange Bitcoin.com.au decided to make the purchase of cryptocurrencies more available to Australian people by partnering up with 3,500 post offices in this country:
“For many people, paying for Bitcoin at an Australia Post office feels safer than transferring funds online — particularly for first-time buyers. We’re proud of this partnership and would like to thank Australia Post for their continued openness to new technologies.”, said the company’s CEO, Holger Arians.
I mean, just imagine – you are going to the post office, you are sending a package or paying your bills, and simultaneously you can buy BTC as well. If this is not a step towards mass crypto adoption, I don’t know what is. If you are reading our Roundups on a regular basis, you know we talked about initiatives like these in Australia in our earlier editions.
And not just Australia, remember the 7-Eleven stores’ initiative in the Philippines? Yes, you can buy crypto there, too. Crypto is not supposed to stay a secret, and the sooner we take off this veil of mystery from cryptocurrencies, the better are our chances to engage more ‘’regular’’ people.
Not everyone wants to go through the trouble of opening a hot wallet, or trading on exchanges – a simplified process, related to the trust-worthy institutions, can definitely help crypto take over the world. We are looking forward to it!
Sweden’s Central Bank Releases a 98-Pager on CBDCs
We always love to hear interesting CBDC-related news, right? And Sweden somehow seems to be in the mix on a regular basis. After all, we have been familiar with the concept of e-krona for some time now.
The Central Bank of Sweden, Sveriges Riksbank, released a 98-page report on central bank digital currencies, while also explaining its own plans regarding the e-krona’s variations. More precisely, the report consists of six major topics – the rationale for issuing e-krona in the digital era, central bank currency importance to the monetary system, competitive aspects of an e-krona, the Riksbank’s seigniorage and the e-krona, central bank digital currencies: supply of bank loans and liquidity provision by central banks, and e-krona design models: pros, cons and trade-offs.
If you are a CBDC enthusiast, feel free to dive into the full report but this article might intrigue you as well.
Anyhow, CBDCs are definitely the hot topic among central banks in 2020, partially due to the current pandemic/recession landscape. Still, Sweden and many other countries showed an initiative towards central bank digital currencies before COVID-19. The thing is – the number of interested countries constantly rises, as we discussed in the 45th edition of our Roundup.
This report weighs the pros and cons of both centralized and decentralized systems and illustrates the technological scenery in each case. Also, Riksbank explains the role of intermediaries, especially in terms of AML and KYC. It is really great to see dedication and thoroughness from the Swedes! Stay tuned for updates.
PayPal Hires Crypto People – Direct Purchases or Not?
Rumor has it – PayPal will soon enable direct cryptocurrency purchases on its platform. We are talking about 325 million people who could become potential crypto holders. New dawn indeed! CoinDesk’s source said: “My understanding is that they are going to allow buys and sells of crypto directly from PayPal and Venmo.”
While potentially big news, this comes as no surprise since PayPal already has a history with the Libra project. It seems as if the ambitions to become a crypto platform remained, only without a privately-issued currency.
Though these theories are still on a speculating level, PayPal is openly looking to hire crypto engineers. PayPal’s job postings state they need a ‘’Technical Lead – Crypto Engineer’’. Additionally, many other positions require experience with C++, asymmetric cryptography, and cryptographic libraries. You know what they say – if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Digital payments are the present, there is no doubt about that, but digital payments in crypto could be the future. And if a giant like PayPal recognizes that fact, the chances are good it is true.
Be that as it may, we are going to learn more about PayPal’s plans very soon, and hopefully, we shall celebrate another huge step towards mass crypto adoption.
Final Thoughts
Okay, my fellow Anchorians, good job! You read another thrilling edition of Weekly Crypto Roundup and I salute you for that. What are your thoughts?
Personally, I am always delighted to see collaborations and initiatives that bring crypto closer to all people around the world. Next time, when somebody with no knowledge of cryptocurrencies asks you what it is, even with a negative connotation, do not say it is too complicated. Try explaining it to them and, in this manner, you can help in driving the mass adoption as well! Anyhow, you know the drill – I wish you fair winds and the following seas!
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.
