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The Monthly Drop
 
 
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THE BIGGEST WAVES HITTING THE CRYPTO SHORE

DECEMBER 2020

 

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HIGHLIGHTS
  • How does one even explain 2020? 
  • Will XRP soon be RIP? 
  • Bitcoin ... 👀
 
 

30 DAYS IN 1

BIGGEST TRADING NEWS & MORE

 

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A 'Glass-Ceiling' Shattering Year. While 2017 was marked as the 'ICO BOOM' year, 2020 marked a record breaking year with serious sectoral growth as well as a growing interest by institutional investors.

Nasdaq Adoption:

+15% - was the influence on PayPal's stock since its announcement during Q3, on its plans to offer its customers the ability to buy, sell, and hold crypto on its platform.


+20% - On October 8, Square a commerce ecosystem company announced the purchase of $50 million in BTC, through what they define as a part of a larger investment in cryptocurrency. Square, was the first U.S. public company to offer buy, sell, and withdraw crypto services through its Cash App already in 2018. Dipping its legs in crypto waters, not only through its App, has proven to be rewarding with its stock soaring by +20% through the end of 2020.


+125% - While there is no trace of crypto or blockchain in this business intelligence company's, MicroStrategy sure has become an industry magnate, while its CEO becoming one of the most outspoken members of cryptotwitter! This publicly traded company purchased its first BTC on August 10 of this year as a “reasonable hedge against inflation policy”, ending 2020 with over $1B in crypto holdings, which have doubled their value since and led the company stock to a skyrocketing appreciation of 125%.


The institutionals could no longer turn a blind eye to the light at the end of the tunnel. The Corona virus pandemic not only revealed the many cracks that lie in the foundation of the world's monetary systems, but it also put the infamous crypto "it's a bubble" narrative to rest. Every economy's resilience to the pandemic was put to a test like never before. The way the crypto 'economy' responded to and recovered is a testament that it is real, here to stay, and very likely to become the norm in the near future.


In 2019, the avg. daily large transactions (+$100K) had a traded value of $7B, which grew exponentially to $30B a day. At the start of 2020, Bitcoin was valued at approx. $7.2K. On December 1st, Bitcoin was trading at $18.8K and ended the year at $29K, not only surpassing its long forgotten $20K ATH but setting new records for the asset! This price rally was driven by the Institutionals, whether it was direct investments into the currency or through the institutional-favored vehicle, GBTC (Grayscale's Bitcoin Product). In December alone, banks, BBVA, Citi, Standard Charter, and the Swiss Stock Exchange made announcements to launch crypto custody and/or trading services!

2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

 

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Cementing the Cracks in the Foundation. Crypto mom, Hester Peirce, just got her ‘partner-in-crime’. In her newly appointed role as US Senator, Cynthia Lummis seems to be empowered by Bitcoin. As a BTC holder since 2013, Lummis has seen what a great store-of-value the digital asset has been and wants to show her counterparties how it could be a means for reducing national debt. “There is a backstop available to every government in the world and that backstop is bitcoin."

 

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Ripples through Ripple. Right as the most unpredictable year, that is 2020, was coming to a close, the SEC savaged Ripple, which has been in business since 2013. According to the SEC’s complaint, Ripple’s token, XRP, is classified as a security, and hence, accuses Ripple of running a $1.3 billion unregistered offering. In the wake of this news, not only has the token taken a hit in value, XRP has been delisted off 26 exchanges (at time of writing), effectively halting majority of trades of the cryptocurrency.

 

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A Bitcoin Bull We Never Saw Coming. Publicly traded business intelligence firm, MicroStrategy (MSTR), will forever be the maiden company to make a digital asset its treasury reserve asset! Since it first purchased 21,454 BTC (purchase price $250M) in August, a few “minor” things happened. First, MSTR closed at $388.55 on December 31st, increasing the share value by 214% since August 10th (day before first BTC purchase)! Second, MicroStrategy added more BTC to its balance sheet, totaling its holding to a whopping 70,470 Bitcoins! The company went as far as to issue debt in order to fund its latest $600 million Bitcoin purchase. The company has spent upwards of $1.1 billion on bitcoin to-date. And third, at the time of writing, the company’s BTC holding has just about doubled in value! The latest company to follow in its footsteps is AR company, NexTech AR, converting 15% of its available cash to Bitcoin.

 

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Grayscale Scaling Past Mount Everest. As crypto has held its ground through the economic cycle this year with its genetically low correlation to traditional asset classes (especially in light of the covid-induced fiscal fiasco that is the world economy), institutionals have become more convinced about digital assets and their potential. Nonetheless, direct investment in crypto still hasn’t gained momentum. Which brings Grayscale to the big-boys table. Its exchange-traded crypto products have become the primary vehicle for active institutional adoption. So much so, that the Bitcoin Trust alone gained by 74% in the month of December, and on the last day of 2020, Grayscales total crypto AUM surpassed the $20 Billion threshold!

 

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Your Pleasure Comes with a New Price. Boasting impressive credentials with over 3.3 billion site visitors in November alone and being the 10th most visited website worldwide, access to Pornhub’s premium content now comes with a new price. Payment companies, Visa and MasterCard, have revoked their merchant services to the adult website, making crypto the only payment method available to access premium content.

 

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Rehab or Relapse? Once upon a time, Mt. Gox exchange handled 70% of global BTC trades, until it lost 850,000 BTC. With 150,000 BTC in refund money, Mt. Gox has submitted a rehabilitation plan to compensate 20,000 victims who had filed a complaint 7 years ago. The compensated are in for a joyride, as the value of Bitcoin has appreciated by over 4000% since 2014!

 

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A Wolf in Sheep’s Skin. Facebook had left nearly every single regulator with a severe case of PTSD with its plans for a ‘multi-currency basket’ known as the Libra coin. Since the 2019 upheaval, the ‘Libra’ concept has been simmered down to something of a dollar-pegged stable coin which has been rebranded and is now called Diem-dollar. Having said that, the Diem Association’s primary application to Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, the most widely used social applications, still gives Facebook the power to be the head of a currency monopoly.

 

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Pay me in Bitcoin. Paid in Bitcoin. NFL player, Russell Okung, truly believes in the power of manifestation as he became the first NFL player to convert his paycheck to crypto! Bitcoin payment company, Zap, has converted half of Okung's $13 million annual fee into Bitcoin. And it is not just Okung who joined the program. Zap is in talks with several NBA and MLB players who are seeking out the same salary structure. 


    

THE ALGOZ-CAL

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