Crypto Insights 30/04/2021

by Alex Clark

Ethereum prices hit another all-time high of $2,800 in late trading yesterday. Ethereum’s stellar performance over the past couple of weeks has enabled it to close the gap to Bitcoin in terms of market share, with Bitcoin’s market share falling to 47.9% (a 3-year low) and Ethereum’s share rising to 15.2%. BNY Mellon is one of the many US banks that have turned a new leaf to bitcoin in the past few months, but there is a sense that the bank has missed the bandwagon after blaming the underperformance of one of its technology-focused funds on its lack of exposure to bitcoin and companies invested in bitcoin, including MicroStrategy. Fidelity is bolstering its crypto asset presence with the announcement of an analytics platform called Sherlock which will assist institutional investors and fund managers. The platform will collate data on fundamental and technical analysis, blockchain data, market data, social sentiment analysis, and industry news into one portal. China is reportedly paying more attention to the crypto mining sector, amid concerns of its growing carbon footprint. Beijing sent an “emergency notice” to conduct checks on data centres involved in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining operations, but it has yet to be revealed if the checks will be carried out on a national scale, or what the future ramifications could be. Some fear that more stringent mining conditions could have global effects, with some believing Bitcoin’s sharp crash to $50,000 earlier this month was in part a result of Xinjang’s drop in hashrate due to power outages. Coinbase is allowing U.S. users to buy cryptocurrency with their PayPal accounts in a major expansion of the exchange’s funding rails. Whilst this offers users a workaround to Coinbase’s cumbersome linking process for credit and debit cards and bank accounts and a raise on the $5,000 weekly maximum, users will pay significantly higher fees, losing around 4% of their purchases to PayPal specific fees. It is now possible to buy real estate in Argentina and Uruguay with Bitcoin through Mercado Libre, the leading Latin American online marketplace. The Caribbean island of Bequia has become the first fully bitcoin enabled community with bitcoin being accepted for everything from groceries to real estate.

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