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Five High Profile Crypto Adoptions in 2019

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While most of the cryptoverse in 2018 has been dominated by the bear market, some industry experts are optimistic looking ahead to 2019.

And there’s plenty of reason to be. There are a number of high profile crypto adoptions in various stages, from planning to in progress to done deals. Each one of these moves digital currency a bit closer to wider, mainstream adoption.

Here’s a look at five ways cryptocurrency is finding its place in 2019 and beyond.

Binance Announces Users Can Pay For Crypto with Credit and Debit Cards

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, recently announced a move that makes it easier for anyone to buy cryptocurrencies.

In late January, the exchange announced Thursday that it partnered with Simplex, a payments processing firm, to allow Visa and Mastercard holders to purchase bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and XRP. Those currencies can, in turn, be traded for more than 151 other tokens on the exchange.

“Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a statement. “The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world’s money is still in fiat.”

The adoption isn’t comprehensive just yet, however. Six U.S. states are not yet supported, among them New York, Georgia, New Mexico, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Washington.

Overstock Goes All In on Blockchain

It’s safe to say that Partick Byrne, founder of Overstock, is bullish on cryptocurrency.

Byrne, Both Overstock and Byrne, have deep ties to crypto and blockchain technology. In 2014, the retailer was among the first to accept Bitcoin. Ever since, the CEO and founder has been vocal about the potential of crypto and blockchain.

Even more recently, Bryne has stated that he believes that decentralised, stateless cash will be part of the larger future of humanity.

Referencing Overstock’s efforts to integrate the underpinning tech into its platform, Bryne stated “We think we’ve got cold fusion on the blockchain side.”

If that’s not a ringing endorsement, we don’t know what is.

Fortnite Begins to Accept Crypto

There are few things more popular than the online, “battle royale” style game Fortnite. There are more than 125 million users worldwide. The vast majority of them are under 18, and it’s been said – only half jokingly – that the user base knows more about crypto currency than most adults.

In the first week of of 2019, that was evident when the game briefly accepted the cryptocurrency Monero. According to Holiday 2018 consumer reports, youngsters were keen on using a cryptocurrency as a payment option – instead of cash – on Fortnite merchandise store.

The game relies on micro transactions for revenue, and putting that Monero logo in front of all those young eyes in the Fortune online store surely made an impression. Fortnite’s CEO removed the option after a few days, claiming that it had been added by mistake.

Still, the cat was out of the bag. “That’s some pretty awesome adoption,” a user said in the Monero sub-Reddit. “It’s a fantastic exposure of millions of people who might ask “What’s that groovy M? And why is it better than regular payment?”

Bitcoin Accepting Venues Explode in Number

The infrastructure necessary to accept Bitcoin isn’t going anywhere, and in fact is only getting stronger.

According to coinmap.org, the number of venues that accept Bitcoin and other currencies increased by 25%, to 14,137 in 2018. Alongside that, Bitcoin ATM installations absolutely bursted through the stratosphere, increasing by 98%, to grand total of 4,108 in 2018, according to coinatmradar.com.

A good number of those several thousand locations that accept crypto include increasingly big names like sandwich giant Subway, as well as an airline that can, quite literally, take crypto to the moon, Virgin Galactic.

Facebook Develops New Coin for WhatsApp Transactions

In addition, the Ethereum Constantinople hard fork will also occur on February 27. Hard forks can be controversial depending on their circumstances. All one needs to do is look at the recent bitcoin cash fork that occurred in November 2018 to understand, and volatility can often increase following the establishment of a new chain, thereby leaving room for ether prices to move up in early or mid-March.

The biggest item worth noting is that February 27 is when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to finally make its decision regarding a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) submitted by the joint venture VanEck SolidX. These companies have been working to get a bitcoin ETF approved since March 2017, though most early attempts have proved fruitless.

A Long Journey Concluded?

Facebook acquired messaging app WhatsApp in a high profile trade. The social media company paid $19 billion dollars in exchange for the app and it’s whopping 1.5 billion users. It’s inside that ecosystem that Facebook plans to develop a coin for money transfers using the app.

Initial details are scarce, but the word is that the currency will be in the class of stablecoins, and focus on targeting the remittance market in India, considered a sphere of influence for Ripple and their XRP coin, who boasted of holding a near fifty percent market share earlier in the year.

In contrast to the investment-focused assets like Bitcoin and others, stablecoins provide a more consumer-friendly landscape for digital transactions. And it’s no doubt that with Facebook going all in on its own cryptocurrency, it’s a simple matter of time until other internet behemoths follow suit. Tweetcoins, anyone?

Hopefully, with more widespread adoption in 2019 and more investors in the mix overall, the bear goes back into hibernation.

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Crypto Custodianship Grows Increasingly Important

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In the end of 2017 as well as the first half of 2018, the cryptocurrency sector has seen an increased emphasis on both regulatory best practices, and the importance of crypto custodianship. The issue of crypto custodianship ultimately caught mainstream attention following a blog post by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong last year. “By some estimates there is $10B of institutional money waiting on the sidelines to invest in digital currency today,” Armstrong said. “When we speak with these institutions, they tell us the number one thing preventing them getting started is the existence of a digital asset custodian that they can trust to store client funds securely.”

Major technology platforms and mainstream financial institutions alike have begun to take note and capitalize on this major opportunity. Let’s take a look at some of the major players.

Coinbase Launches Coinbase Custody

Coinbase announced the launch of Coinbase Custody in late 2017, and announced that it was officially open for business in July 2018. With the mission to make digital currency investment accessible to every eligible financial institution and hedge fund in the world, Coinbase Custody combines its cold-storage solution, comprehensive phone support and dedicated account representatives, insurance (in some cases), and more in order to a be a trusted solution for institutional investors.

“The next step to accelerating the world’s adoption of digital currencies is to unlock the institutional money preparing to enter the space,” Armstrong said, and with Coinbase Custody’s robust list of offerings, it looks as if it is in the process of doing just that.

Goldman Sachs Throws its Hat into the Crypto Custody Game

Sources from Goldman Sachs have revealed that the bank is seriously considering a custodial service for cryptocurrency investment funds. “In response to client interest in various digital products we are exploring how best to serve them in this space. At this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering,” a spokesperson at Goldman Sachs told Bloomberg.

The bank, which announced the launch of a Bitcoin trading platform earlier this year, appears to be warming up to Bitcoin, especially given that David Solomon will assume the role of CEO at the end of September. Known for expressing a more positive attitude towards crypto than some other mainstream finance leaders, Solomon has said, in regards to crypto, that the bank must “evolve its business and “adapt to the environment.”

While Goldman Sachs’ plans to launch a custodial service are still in the works, Solomon’s, tech-savvy and forward-thinking approach indicates that such an initiative is likely to launch in the near future.

CBOE’s VanEck SolidX Bitcoin ETF Application Offers Custodianship and Comprehensive Insurance Plan

In late June, the CBOE filed an application with the SEC to open the world’s first Bitcoin ETF. While the SEC has recently rejected a string of Bitcoin ETF applications, many are optimistic that CBOE’s application will be accepted, as it addresses many of the current pain points in the marketplace surrounding custodianship and insurance. SolidX would handle custody of Bitcoin using a cold storage solution, and the ETF would also offer a comprehensive insurance policy that “will carry limits of $25 million in primary coverage and $100 million in excess coverage, with the ability to increase coverage depending on the value of the bitcoins held by the trust.” With such extensive safeguards set in place, many believe that the CBOE application should be accepted. In the event that it does, it seems very likely that massive increase of institutional investors will be drawn to the space.

“I believe security is the fundamental pillar for the industry to continue existing. It’s paramount for crypto and blockchain’s survival,” Binance CEO ChangPeng Zhao said in an interview with Forbes this year. Ultimately, after reports of hacks and scams in the crypto sector, it seems like a natural progression for there to be an increased emphasis on accountability and security in the space.  Offering crypto custodianship appears to be a necessary response.

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Goldman Sachs’ Next CEO is Big on Crypto

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Now that David Solomon has been confirmed as the new CEO of Goldman Sachs, people who buy bitcoin can expect to see some changes in how the financial institution approaches investments in cryptocurrencies. The change in leadership could also create a ripple effect that influences how other institutions, including the government, view non-fiat currencies like bitcoin.

Goldman Sachs Already Has Some Investments Connected to Bitcoin

During a conversation with Bloomberg, Solomon mentioned that Goldman Sachs already has investments connected to bitcoin in the form of publicly-traded derivatives. The new CEO then revealed that Goldman Sachs is “clearing some futures around Bitcoin, talking about doing some other activities there…”

Some of the bank’s cryptocurrency investments came at the urging of investors who want to explore new opportunities to earn money. The existing investments, however, shouldn’t come as a surprise given that former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein held a cautiously optimistic view of emerging currencies. While Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, called bitcoin a “fraud” and stated that he wouldn’t “talk about Bitcoin anymore,” Blankfein admitted that he had marginal knowledge of the currency and believed that his lack of experience doesn’t reflect negatively on decentralized currencies.

Dimon, by the way, later backtracked on his statement, saying that he regretted calling bitcoin a fraud and admitting that blockchain technology was real. In fact, JPMorgan Chase launched a blockchain-based system capable of reducing the amount of time that it takes to verify global payments from weeks to hours.

Change in Leadership Creates Opportunities for Innovation

Although Blankfein deserves applause for his position, it often takes a change in leadership for large corporations to explore the latest innovations. Solomon seems just like the type of person willing to challenge preconceptions and invest in future blockchain innovations. The 56-year-old investment banker also performs under the name DJ D-Sol. Most of his musical work falls into the electronic dance music (EDM) genre, which suggests that he’s more familiar with technology than the average banker.

Don’t expect Solomon to make sweeping changes, though. As an investment banker, he understands the importance of caution. Each step that Goldman Sachs takes toward investing in crypto will face extreme scrutiny.But if a titan like Goldman Sachs shows that it finds value in crypto, it is likely other institutions will follow suit.

Could Goldman Sachs Influence the Government’s Position on Crypto?

The strong connection between Goldman Sachs and the United States government could also influence how political leaders view non-fiat currencies. If Solomon finds that cryptos offer rewarding opportunities for investors at Goldman Sachs,  his opinion, combined with the SEC’s emphasis on crypto regulation, could prompt many banks and government officials to see digital currencies in a more positive light.

No one knows exactly how the future will unfold. Putting a pro-crypto investment banker in charge of Goldman Sachs, however, shows shifting attitudes. These days, investing in cryptos isn’t just for young, tech-savvy people who spend their whole days on computers. Increasingly, cryptos are becoming valuable investments for all types of people.

Goldman Sachs has confirmed Solomon’s position as CEO, but he will not take the seat until October. Expect to hear a lot about what he plans to do once he takes over the company. A lot of organizations are looking to him to set the right tone to make cryptos even more mainstream.

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[Press Release] Stellar Lumens is Now Bitcoin IRA’s Third Most Popular Cryptocurrency

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SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Bitcoin IRA, the world’s largest and most secure cryptocurrency IRA platform that allows customers to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for their retirement accounts, is excited to announce that Stellar Lumens is now the company’s third most popular currency.

“We just launched Stellar Lumens and Zcash this past June, and it’s exciting to see both coins take off so quickly,” said Bitcoin IRA Chief Operating Officer Chris Kline. “With so much momentum in the crypto sector in recent months, I feel confident that the bull market is here to stay.”

To build upon the excitement surrounding the success of the Stellar Lumens launch, Bitcoin IRA put together a comprehensive eBook supplement titled 5 Reasons the Bull Market is Here to Stay: Redefining Retirement with a Bitcoin IRA. These include:

  • Increased Emphasis on Portfolio Diversification
  • Bitcoin ETFs on the horizon
  • Wave of institutional Adoption
  • Support from Silicon Valley
  • The transformational power of blockchain

Don’t miss out on this life-changing opportunity! Bitcoin IRA, the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency IRA platform that allows customers to purchase Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies for their retirement accounts, to learn more about you can redefine your retirement and diversify your portfolio using cryptocurrencies. Call Bitcoin IRA today at (877) 936-7175.

About BitcoinIRA.com

BitcoinIRA.com is the world’s largest and most secure cryptocurrency IRA platform that allows customers to purchase Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies for their retirement accounts. The full-service solution includes setting up a qualified cryptocurrency account, rolling over funds from an existing IRA custodian, executing a live trade on a leading exchange and then moving funds into an industry-leading multi-signature digital wallet.

In 2017, BitcoinIRA.com has processed over $300 million in investments, gained more than 3,000 customers, and received more than 600 customer reviews. The company has been featured extensively in the media, with coverage in Forbes magazine, CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications.

BitcoinIRA.com is privately funded and based in Los Angeles.

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[Press Release] Bitcoin IRA Adds Stellar Lumens and Zcash to its List of Cryptocurrencies

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SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — BitcoinIRA.com, the world’s largest and most secure cryptocurrency IRA platform that allows customers to purchase Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies for their retirement accounts, has announced it is adding leading coins Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Zcash (ZEC) to its list of available digital currencies. These new coins join BitcoinIRA.com’s other digital offerings including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Stellar Lumens, a decentralized payment network and protocol, has caught the attention of the crypto community due to its unique cross-border transactions as well as its lucrative partnerships with mainstream companies such as IBM and Deloitte. So too has Zcash, the first open, permissionless cryptocurrency that can fully protect the privacy of transactions using zero-knowledge cryptography.

“As the preeminent company for crypto retirement investments, we’re excited to meet the high demand for both Stellar Lumens and Zcash in the marketplace by making these coins available to customers looking to diversify their retirement portfolios,” said Chief Operating Officer at BitcoinIRA.com, Chris Kline.

BitcoinIRA.com selected these coins based on a variety of factors including customer requests, overall marketplace acceptance, product development progress and regulation factors.

“Both Zcash and Stellar Lumens have established their influence in the competitive cryptocurrency space,” said Camilo Concha, CEO and co-founder of BitcoinIRA.com. “Zcash’s zero-knowledge cryptography is a powerful solution to privacy concerns regarding visibility of transaction history. And Stellar Lumens, with its impressive partnerships, fast transaction times, and altruistic mission, has also established itself as a valuable currency to look out for.”

BitcoinIRA.com’s customers benefit from an industry-leading security system and a $1 MillionConsumer Protection insurance policy that covers consumers on the transactional side from any internal cases of fraud or theft.

Consumers can learn more about BitcoinIRA.com and its new coin offerings at https://bitcoinira.com.

About BitcoinIRA.com

BitcoinIRA.com is the world’s largest and most secure cryptocurrency IRA platform that allows customers to purchase Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies for their retirement accounts. The full-service solution includes setting up a qualified cryptocurrency account, rolling over funds from an existing IRA custodian, executing a live trade on a leading exchange and then moving funds into an industry-leading multi-signature digital wallet.

In 2017, BitcoinIRA.com has processed over $300 million in investments, gained more than 3,000 customers, and received more than 600 customer reviews. The company has been featured extensively in the media, with coverage in Forbes magazine, CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications.

BitcoinIRA.com is privately funded and based in Los Angeles.

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[Infographic] Top 5 Cryptocurrency Scams

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Until recently, the crypto world was relatively unregulated. Unfortunately, this drew an increase of bad actors to the sector. For novice consumers, it could be difficult to know who to trust. Fortunately, the industry has grown increasingly regulated in recent months, but there is still work to be done. Protect yourself and be on guard for these top 5 scams.

Silicon Valley Continues to Invest in Blockchain Technology

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Like cloud computing, machine learning, and the internet of things, blockchain technology is on the cusp of transforming the tech world as we know it. IT research and analysis firm Gartner projects that blockchain will add $176 billion of business value by 2025, and then surge more than tenfold to $3.1 trillion by 2030.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the most visible applications of blockchain right now, and major Silicon Valley investors are still eager to join the party. Tech venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz recently announced that it would launch a new investment fund for cryptocurrencies, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has reportedly invested as much as $20 million in Bitcoin.

Yet, the blockchain has serious promise well beyond crypto, and major tech companies are taking notice. IBM has partnered with the non-profit Sovrin Foundation to build a blockchain-based global identity network, helping to reduce fraud and improve trust online. Meanwhile, electronics giant Samsung is considering switching to a blockchain ledger for managing its supply chain, potentially slashing shipping costs by 20 percent.

Let’s take a closer look at three major tech companies that bet big on blockchain technology in recent weeks.

Amazon

Amazon Web Services has already become one of the leading providers of cloud services, making it simple for even the latest tech-savvy businesses to enjoy all the benefits of the cloud. However, one of the barriers to greater blockchain adoption is that the technology has a steep learning curve.

This May, Amazon announced a new partnership with the blockchain startup Kaleido, so that AWS customers can find it easier to use blockchain in their own businesses. According to a statement released by AWS, the Ethereum-based SaaS (software as a service) Kaleido platform is intended to “help customers move faster and not worry about managing blockchain themselves.”

Facebook

Facebook, too, is throwing its hat in the ring by launching a small team to explore blockchain technology. The team will be led by David Marcus, former president of PayPal and current vice president of Facebook’s Messenger division and will include staff from Facebook’s Instagram unit.

Although it remains to be seen how blockchain will align with Facebook’s business objectives, the most obvious use is within Messenger itself. Facebook already allows users to send and receive money during a chat, and the company may be looking to expand payment options to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Square

Not to be outdone, credit card processor Square is looking to more closely integrate Bitcoin payments into its payment platform. Since the company began allowing Bitcoin trading through its Cash mobile app in January, Square has sold a total of $34.1 million in Bitcoin.

Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, also the CEO of Twitter, has revealed his interest in Bitcoin on several occasions. In a recent interview, Dorsey said that he was a “huge fan” of Bitcoin, and hoped that it would one day become the “native currency” of the internet. The end goal, Dorsey said, would be to use the Square app to purchase a cup of coffee using Bitcoin, perhaps without the cashier even being aware of it.

I believe that both Bitcoin and the blockchain technology that powers it are changing the world today. To learn more about how you can diversify your retirement portfolio with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, give one of our IRA specialists a call today at 877-936-7175.

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Will Facebook Adopt Litecoin?

Will Facebook Adopt Litecoin (LTC) digital currency?

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Back in December 2017, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee announced that he sold and donated all of his Litecoin holdings, attributing the decision to a potential conflict of interest. Around the same time that he sold his stake, a Facebook VP of messaging products joined the board of directors at Coinbase. Many have put the two events together, speculating that the potential conflict of interest that Lee was referring to relates to Facebook’s potential intentions to take on LTC as a cryptocoin within its platform.

So, are the rumors true?

At this point, it’s hard to say. But Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has certainly expressed the importance of cryptocurrencies in light of a larger debate surrounding centralization versus decentralization in the technology sector today.

“Technology was expected to give people more control over their lives,” Zuckerberg wrote. “But as a handful of technology companies become the dominant players and governments used technology to monitor citizens, people increasingly believe technology is becoming a controlling, centralized power.”

In this type of landscape, decentralized technology is gaining prevalence as an increasingly important- and viable- alternative. “[Cryptocurrencies] take power from centralized systems and put it back into people’s  hands. But they come with the risk of being harder to control. I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how to best use them for our services,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Why Litecoin?

There are multiple reasons why Litecoin could be the cryptocurrency that Facebook chooses to utilize on their platform. Technically similar to Bitcoin, Litecoins are also created through the process of mining, but Litecoin has 84 million while Bitcoin will only have 21 million. This means that as demand increases, there will be a larger circulation of Litecoin to go around.

Furthermore, Litecoins are more susceptible to up-scaling than Bitcoin. Both employ the Proof of Work concept, but use different algorithms to do so. Bitcoin uses SHA-256, a complex algorithm and form of data processing that uses a large amount of energy. Litecoin, meanwhile, uses Scrypt, which is easier to run and more energy-efficient.

Additionally, the generation times of Litecoin is significantly faster than Bitcoin’s block generation time of Bitcoin (2.5 minutes versus 10 minutes), and the transaction fees are much smaller, making it a more appealing choice for large enterprise adoption.  

Litecoin in Your IRA

If Facebook partners with Litecoin and offers the cryptocurrency as a payment option in the platform, it could set Litecoin’s price to a record level high. If you’re looking to diversify your retirement portfolio with alternative assets, now is the prime time to consider adding Litecoin.

Here at Bitcoin IRA, we’re the world’s first company to allow customers to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for their IRA or 401(k) retirement accounts, and Litecoin is one of our supported coins. Give us a call today so we can facilitate the process.

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