Presidential Elections, Asset Seizures, PayPal’s Innovations, and New Crypto Adoption Trends
In this edition:
- World of Crypto and the US Elections
- $1B Worth BTC Seized from the Silk Road-Linked Wallet
- PayPal Raises Crypto Buying Limit to $15,000 per Week
- More Nonprofits Accept Crypto in 2020
We still don’t have the official results of the US presidential elections, and many niches and industries have actually been affected by this occurrence – e.g. crypto and the price of BTC. In any case, this week has indeed been very exciting, my fellow Anchorians, so welcome to the 65th edition of our Weekly Crypto Roundup!
Rude of me – how’s YOUR week been? I hope that you are safe and well in these cray-cray times. On the bright side, the world of crypto never ceases to surprise us, and this week was no exception.
We’ll talk, of course, about the presidential race and mostly innovations within the industry. Without further ado, buckle up, because we’re diving straight into the newest edition of Anchor’s Roundup!
World of Crypto and the US Elections
Well, you all know what’s in the spotlight these days. No matter where you’re from, I’m sure the US presidential elections have been the #1 topic in the news. At least in the top 5, you know.
The industry of crypto and blockchain, naturally, hasn’t been idle and here we’ll mention a few key events.
For starters, every state by state count has been recorded on blockchain thanks to the AP news agency. Yes, general controversy, increased voting by mail, speculations about the rigged counting, and so on – blockchain can surely help with this chaotic context everything is happening in.
The results we all follow (literally even Google’s built-in feature) convey the AP’s counting. Ethereum or EOS, whatever you prefer, they are both safe vote storage for now.
The current state of affairs helped the current bullish trend on the BTC market – the price moves from around $15,300 up to $14,000, and it seems this breakthrough momentum will continue. The fact the situation isn’t so good for President Trump at the moment actually has a positive impact on the market, it seems.
Truth be told, it’s a bit childish not to look at the big picture here – the world as a whole is currently a fragile place, especially economically speaking. Events like this shape the lives of many people by putting concrete policies into action. What happens on the crypto market is just one tiny part of it.
Nonetheless, it’s dangerous to make assumptions without all the pieces put in place, and we’ll definitely review the influence of these events on cryptocurrencies when the dust settles. It’s just, everybody thought it will be settled by now, but we live in strange times indeed.
$1B Worth BTC Seized from the Silk Road-Linked Wallet
Alert that $1 billion in BTC was moved from a wallet linked to Silk Road for the first time since 2015 turned out to be a seizure of assets by the US government. Surprised? Not so much. All this happened due to the lawsuit for the forfeiture of thousands of bitcoins.
An anonymous user moved 69,370 BTC on Tuesday from an address associated with the Silk Road darknet market and that was actually the largest the US has ever conducted, according to the Department of Justice.
The mentioned $69k bitcoins were acquired unlawfully, the DOJ stated, and though the assets haven’t been moved for the past 5 years, their origination is connected to the illicit activities, and therefore they have been seized.
Let’s be honest, while revolutionary and beneficial for many good causes, crypto and blockchain are sometimes connected to large illegal transactions, due to their decentralized nature. Illegal is simply illegal and nobody should be above the law. While situations like these can affect the reputation of our community, it’s important to acknowledge their existence.
Luckily for us, there are still many good examples of how innovations in financial and technological landscapes can be beneficial for society and we shall mention them, too.
PayPal Raises Crypto Buying Limit to $15,000 per Week
One of the things we are looking forward to in 2021 is PayPal’s step up into crypto payments, but the good news isn’t over yet.
Initially, PayPal’s switch to a cryptocurrency service meant that you, as a crypto user, are entitled to various purchases within the weekly limit of $10,000. Nevertheless, the fact PayPal’s going crypto per se sparked a vast interest among the community and the company soon came to the conclusion this limit will be raised to $15,000.
Interestingly enough, PayPal is well aware of the rising CBDC trend and is ready to offer its users “the most expansive and compelling digital wallet in the world” meaning whatever type of digital payment and currency you prefer, PayPal is going to take care of it and make it happen.
The third quartal of 2020 has been fruitful for PayPal since the company reported a 36%-increase in new payment volume. COVID-19 and the omnipresent digitization push money transaction into the digital sphere, and thus into the digital payment services.
For crypto adoption worldwide, this is an important step since such a giant company decided to offer crypto services (payment, trading, and storage), among the others. PayPal has been flirting with crypto for some time, since Libra actually, but now all these plans were truly put in motion.
We can’t wait to see how this story unfolds, but rest assured, Anchor will be there to keep you posted about all the thrilling occurrences in the crypto world!
More Nonprofits Accept Crypto in 2020
Many nonprofit organizations, and the charitable sector in general, are already accepting donations in crypto. UNICEF, for example, came up with the idea over a year ago. However, as I mentioned earlier, this year forcefully digitized everything, even the process of raising funds.
“Interestingly, the last six months or so, COVID has actually been a pretty major catalyst for nonprofits accepting crypto because a lot of them are looking for different ways to offset lost revenue, but also diversify their revenue into new things like crypto,” said Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block.
Extraordinary times make you innovate and rethink the way you do things. Crypto donations weren’t a necessity for these organizations e.g. two years ago, and when you benefit from the status quo, you won’t really have the need to change anything. Of course, 2020 changed everything, but most importantly, it challenged our perspective and made us realize there are alternatives for some ways we stuck to.
The problem for nonprofits, according to Wilson, was the lack of knowledge when it comes to cryptocurrencies – how can ‘’crypto money’’ come to us, for starters. Two things happened after: firstly, crypto has made itself more available for the masses, and secondly, some events we can’t control occurred. For a lot of questions, crypto was suddenly an answer.
Imagine what will happen when cryptocurrencies become easily accessible and available for everyone on this planet.
Final Thoughts
Well, my fellow Anchorians, unfortunately, we are at the very end of another Weekly Crypto Roundup. While we wait to find out who the next president of the USA is, the world still keeps spinning.
Crypto prevails and continues to bring interesting events and different viewpoints – you learned about some of them here today. And while we wait for the miraculous 2021, there is no harm in reflecting on what has happened so far.
No matter what, you know I always 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.
