Tag: Bitcoin

  • MoneyGram and Coinme Partner to Improve Bitcoin Access

    MoneyGram and Coinme Partner to Improve Bitcoin Access

    MoneyGram, one of the leading money transfer services, is partnering with Coinme to improve people’s access to Bitcoin.

    While cryptocurrencies are rising in popularity, being able to access holdings and make use of them continues to pose a challenge for some. MoneyGram hopes to change that, in partnership with Coinme, making it easier for people to access their Bitcoin.

    “This innovative partnership opens our business to an entirely new customer segment as we are the first to pioneer a crypto-to-cash model by building a bridge with Coinme to connect bitcoin to local fiat currency,” said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO. “Our unique, global network is an incredibly valuable asset, and we’re excited to open our platform to Coinme as we increasingly look to capture new growth by monetizing our network to new use-cases.”

    The companies especially see an opportunity to help people who are just dipping their feet in the crypto market, making it easy to buy Bitcoin with cash and get cash for their Bitcoin holdings.

    “MoneyGram has spent more than 80 years building one of the world’s largest P2P payment networks,” said Neil Bergquist, Coinme CEO. “By integrating its global infrastructure with our licensed crypto exchange technology, we can enable the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies across its system using cash. This is a major milestone for the bitcoin and cryptocurrency communities, and for the millions of people who will benefit from a trusted, easy and affordable onramp to digital currency.”

  • Tesla’s Bitcoin Reversal Wiped $365 Billion From Crypto Market

    Tesla’s Bitcoin Reversal Wiped $365 Billion From Crypto Market

    Tesla’s decision to stop accepting Bitcoin for payment led to some $365 billion of value being wiped from the crypto market.

    Tesla made the decision in March to accept Bitcoin as payment for vehicle purchases. The move was not surprising, given CEO Elon Musk’s love of crypto. Yesterday, however, the company reversed its plans, with Musk citing the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.

    The decision already appears to have had a major impact on the crypto market, according to CNBC, with some $365.85 billion wiped from the market after Tesla’s announcement.

    In particular, Bitcoin, ether and XRP were all significantly lower than their pre-announcement levels.

  • Tesla Suspends Purchases Using Bitcoin

    Tesla Suspends Purchases Using Bitcoin

    Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for Teslas, reversing a policy only weeks after it went into effect.

    Elon Musk is a big proponent of cryptocurrency, so it’s no surprise that both of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have taken an unconventional approach as well. SpaceX recently announced it had accepted Dogecoin as payment for carrying a satellite on its upcoming mission to the Moon and Tesla was accepting Bitcoin as payment for vehicle purchases.

    Unfortunately, an often overlooked byproduct of cryptocurrency mining is the impact it has on the environment. In fact, as far back as 2018, it was estimated that every $1 of Bitcoin that was generated was responsible for $49 of health and climate damage in the US.

    Musk cited the environmental impact as the primary reason for Tesla’s change of direction. He made the statement via Twitter.

    Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.

    Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.

    Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.

    *Author holds a very small amount of Dogecoin that in no way influenced this article.