Keith Asmussen, Joshua Ebedes, Preston Sledge, Max Bibeau
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Market Summary
Dotted lines represent non-trading days (weekends, holidays, etc.)
Top Stories
PayPal, Venmo to Roll Out Crypto Buying and Selling: Sources
Worldwide online payments system PayPal plans to roll out direct sales of cryptocurrency to its 325 million users. A “well-placed” industry source stated that PayPal and Venmo will allow for the direct buying and selling of crypto with built-in wallet functionality and can be expected as soon as within the next three months. The incentive for fintech apps to offer crypto is rapidly increasing as CashApp recently reported $306 million in Bitcoin Revenue for Q1 2020.
IBM Spawns Blockchain for Norwegian Salmon Fisheries
Five “high-quality” fishing operations of The Norwegian Seafood Association have teamed up with IBM and Atea to create a blockchain-based track-and-trace system. The traceability of IBM Blockchain Transparent Supply ensures the quality of the national brand as it allows for the ability to trace where the fish came from, how it was grown or how it was stored. The Norwegian Seafood Association joins an ever growing list of food distributors partnering with IBM Food Trust.
EU Creating a Regulatory Regime for Cryptocurrencies, Says Economic Chief
Valdis Dombrovskis, lead economic minister of the EU, emphasized his belief that Europe should be one of the first to exercise their regulatory strength on digital finance. Dombrovskis stated that he intends to be the global standard-setter citing that the lack of legal certainty is the largest barrier to developing a sound crypto-asset market in the EU. Although he mentioned that support and innovation should not be hindered by regulation, Dombrovskis stated that the EU is especially keen on monitoring and bringing stricter rules to “global stablecoins” that could disrupt financial and monetary stability.
Chart of the Week
This graph - courtesy of @_TheRange on twitter - depicts the current top 12 defi projects and their market caps. Over the past year, and especially over the last month, defi has become much more popular.
Top Tweets
Thanks @zerohedge. It doesn’t matter how much money you have it matters what you can buy.
Check out this 14 part thread on Bitcoin investor confidence by @n3ocortex. He does a great job explaining his case and uses some clean charts to do it.
Another thread, this one by @cartethomas. Real cogent and helpful take on the Macro investment environment at the moment.
@pierre_rochard explains why inflation is a tax on the poor/middle class.
Brilliant tweet by @CryptoCharles__. The future is now.
@cryptunez helps us out with some investment advice for the current market.
Video of the Week
Chamath Palihapitiya: Why Bitcoin will be ‘the Category Winner’ - Unchained Ep. 178
Laura Shin, Host of the ‘Unchained Podcast’ and crypto journalist, interviews Chamath Palihapitiya, the CEO of Social Capital and chairman of Virgin Galactic. In this one hour podcast they discuss Bitcoin, COVID, civil unrest, and economic trends and forecasts.
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Texas Blockchain’s ‘State of the Market’ is a student-led editorial. None of the views expressed by the authors should be taken as the view of the University of Texas at Austin or the Texas Blockchain organization. Furthermore, none of the views expressed should be taken as financial advice in any circumstance.