The past week was another one to be rich in news about the cryptocurrency. Certainly one of the highlights of the week is the euphoria over NFT, which has not subsided since the $ 2.9 million sale of the first Twitter post by Jack Dorsey. These and other events have excited the whole world, and should certainly assist to the adoption of Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies.
News digest of the past week
The past week has traditionally surprised us with its events, ranging from Bitcoin, which is again courting the $ 60K mark, trying to make it a support level, to the complete madness with NFT. And so, let’s get started:
- UniSwap Ad Sold as NFT for Over $500,000
No, it’s not a joke. A video advertising the decentralized crypto exchange UniSwap was actually sold for more than half a million dollars (310 ETH).
The NFT industry is booming, and you can see digital works selling like hot cakes at crazy prices. Sale of NFT Beeple for 69 million $ surprised the world, not to mention the NFT of the first post on Twitter, which sold for $ 2.9 million.
The animated video for UniSwap, which is the work of the artist Pplplezer, simply shows the unicorn, which is the mascot of a well-known crypto exchange, and as an advertisement, was broadcast after the launch of a new algorithm on the crypto exchange platform.
Plplezera also works with other DeFi projects, including Pickle Finance, Harvest Finance, Yearn Finance, and SushiSwap, for which he produces promotional videos.
She lives in Taiwan and has a background as a graphic designer, most notably working on the films Batman v Superman and Wonder Woman.
While the $ 500,000 price tag may come as a surprise, the funds raised will go to charity, NFT Pplpleaser was bought by several fans of the crypto artist.
- PayPal now allows users to pay in BTC, ETH, and LTC.
In its press release, PayPal announced the launch of “Checkout with Crypto”, a new option that will allow users to pay with cryptocurrency from merchants on the network.
A year ago, cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, LTC and BCH were integrated into the system, with which you can make purchase and sale transactions using the PayPal interface. Now even residents of the United States can pay with merchants of these cryptocurrencies through their wallet of the payment system.
PayPal is one of the companies that can effectively drive the adoption and use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method, using 375 million users worldwide.
Dan Shulman, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said:
“As the use of digital payments and digital currencies accelerates, the implementation of Checkout continues to focus on the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies, while continuing to provide customers with choice and flexibility in how they can pay with a PayPal wallet.
Making it possible to buy cryptocurrencies from companies around the world is the next chapter in increasing the ubiquity and mass adoption of digital currencies.”
One of the strengths of this new payment option is that it allows any merchant to accept payments in Bitcoin without the need to install special payment software or use an external vendor.
- Bot Trader Buys BTC As Soon as Elon Musk Talks about Bitcoin on Twitter
A bot trader reacting to Elon Musk at the mention of Bitcoin on Twitter-this idea clearly makes sense, given the media influence, as soon as the Tesla CEO just talks about Bitcoin, Dogecoin or something else on social media.
Andrey Badoyu created a crypto bot that buys BTC as soon as a tweet from Elon Musk about the Cue Ball appears, the purpose of which is to profit from the price increase, and then resell the BTC at a profit. The developer says that the bot starts trading within seconds of Elon Musk’s tweet.
However, setting up such a bot for cryptocurrency trading requires some technical skills if we turn to a website that explains how to create and install this “Mask Bot”.
The tutorial for this unique crypto bot immediately specifies the resources needed to set up this trading robot.:
- A MetaTrader5 account.
- Demo account with XBTFX so that you can safely test your strategy.
- A Twitter developer account.
- A Tweepy API account.
This list will scare off the uninitiated and the general public, who have no idea what these various applications are, and what to do with them.
The effectiveness of Andrey Badoyu’s crypto bot can be evaluated in the following tweets of Elon Musk, when he discusses Bitcoin.
- BlackRock Investment Fund starts trading Bitcoin futures
In February, we already revealed that the investment giant BlackRock is interested in Bitcoin, and its CEO did not give additional explanations or details about the amounts that will be used to trade cryptocurrency or Bitcoin futures.
BlackRock is the largest investment fund in the world, with about $ 9 trillion in assets under management.
BlackRock Global Allocation Fund said it owns 37 futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which expired on March 26.
These $ 6.5 million contracts held by the asset manager are valued at $ 360,458, and the company’s profit from Bitcoin futures is just 0.00142% of BlackRock’s global distribution fund.
So this is the first step for BlackRock, which is testing the Bitcoin market without actually buying it.
Faced with demand from many companies and institutional investors, BlackRock may soon move to a higher level, and specifically invest in BTC. Some large banks that were opposed to crypto eventually gave up, and now offer their clients to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Yes, BlackRock joins other well-known financial companies such as Fidelity, BNY Mellon and JPMorgan Chase to offer products related to PTSD. Thus, Bitcoin is taking an increasingly important place as a new investment asset, and is beginning to seriously overshadow gold.
- The Central Bank of Russia opposes private stablecoins
While planning to issue its own digital ruble, at least one official at Russia’s central bank seems to be eyeing private stablecoins with suspicion.
Ivan Zimin, who heads the Financial Technology Department of the Central Bank of Russia, told the Russian Trade Association on Friday that stablecoins are a problem for the ruble’s dominance in Russia. He went even further, saying that most likely, restrictions are needed.
“We have already taken the first step in restricting the use of cryptocurrencies, and we will probably take the second step by restricting the use of stablecoins when making payments,” Zimin said.
As the Central Bank of the Russian Federation plans to release a prototype of the digital ruble later this year, Zimin’s remarks point to a somewhat defensive stance in the face of private competition. “Stablecoins, unsecured private cryptocurrencies, and various other monetary equivalents cannot be used as means of payment,” he said.
Russia has struggled with its approach to cryptocurrency for much of the past year. The recently signed law “On Digital Financial Assets” similarly confirmed that cryptocurrencies, although allowed for trading, “are not a legal means of payment in the territory of the Russian Federation.” However, stablecoins are gaining momentum even at the highest level.
Sberbank, the largest bank in the Russian Federation, has announced plans to create a platform for trading assets based on blockchain, and an application to issue its own ruble-denominated “Sberbank” with the central bank.
- Global Regulator Calls for Stronger Regulation of the Crypto Space
The global regulator, the Bank for International Settlements (BOIS), has called for stricter regulation of cryptocurrencies by central banks and other financial authorities around the world.
Agustin Carstens, CEO of BOIS, made the call, saying that digital and virtual currencies have yet to have a real impact on global finance, and that these digital assets are being used as a tool to evade policies imposed by the authorities.
A representative of the global regulator said all this in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. He said that money laundering and terrorism are factors that require serious regulation of the cryptocurrency industry. He noted that crypto-skeptics are aggressive, because cryptocurrency is used to commit crimes. However, Carstens said that the virtual currency is only a tool for crime in world trade.
The global regulator said that cryptocurrencies are linked to crime because of their specific nature of transactions. However, research and analysis companies continue to work with regulators to expand forensic capabilities, and to trace the nature of Bitcoin, which has allowed authorities in several countries to put an end to child pornography-related crimes.
Similarly, illegal darknet merchants who receive payments in cryptocurrency continue to be arrested and prosecuted in a number of criminal cases around the world.
Carstens noted that the cryptocurrency does not pose a threat, but needs proper regulations to narrow down the scope of their illegal use. He said that the crypt in no way threatens the world’s financial institutions. However, earlier in 2019, he stated that private cryptocurrencies could exclude central banks from the global financial architecture.
The CEO sees no path to global cryptocurrency dominance. He said that virtual currencies have not made much progress in being used as money.
Speaking about stablecoins, Carstens said that fiat-linked stable currencies may not be widely accepted, and they do not pose a threat to central bank-backed fiat currencies. He argued that there are regulatory issues with stablecoins like Diem, as they are tokens that require special laws to ensure they will be “fit for purpose.”
Source: https://news.bit.team/crypto-space-hot-news-review-dated-05-04-2021/
