Ethereum has reached an all-new high, topping $4,400 and showing impressive gains for 2021.
Bitcoin may be the biggest and most well-known cryptocurrency, but Ethereum is solidly in second place. The crypto began the year at roughly $383, but briefly topped $4,400 Thursday evening.
As CNET points out, Ethereum owes much of its success to the fact that developers use the Ethereum network for other altcoins and NFTs, making ether the default currency.
Tesla has officially said it may “restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies,” although it has not provided a timeline.
Tesla became one of the first major companies to accept bitcoin as payment for its products. The company’s decision was hailed as a big win for crypto, but the victory was short-lived. Due to concerns over the environmental impact of bitcoin mining, the company suspended its crypto transactions after just a couple of months.
In a filing with the SEC, however, Tesla says it may once again accept crypto at some undisclosed point in the future.
“During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we purchased an aggregate of $1.50 billion in bitcoin,” the company writes. “In addition, during the three months ended March 31, 2021, we accepted bitcoin as a payment for sales of certain of our products in specified regions, subject to applicable laws, and suspended this practice in May 2021. We may in the future restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies (‘digital assets’) for our products and services”
Cryptocurrency exchanges are scrambling to deal with the fallout of China’s recent ban on all crypto transactions and mining.
China stepped up its war against crypto, announcing a near total ban just days ago. With all transactions and mining banned, it creates real problems for the crypto industry since the vast majority of mining occurs within the country.
According to Reuters, crypto exchanges are trying to cut ties with Chinese users, lest they get caught up in China’s campaign.
“On the very day we saw the notice, we started to take corrective measures,” Du Jun, Huobi Group co-founder told Reuters.
It remains to be seen how widespread the fallout will be, but the action being taken by the exchanges would seem to indicate it could be significant.
The Dallas Mavericks are doubling down on their crypto support, giving $25 gift cards to anyone using crypto to buy $150 in merchandise.
The Dallas Mavericks were one of the first major organizations to embrace Dogecoin, with Mark Cuban announcing the organization would accept the crypto as payment.
The organization is now rewarding users who purchase at least $150 worth of gear using eligible cryptos.
Mavs Cryptomania: Free $25 e-gift card for purchases made with eligible cryptocurrency on DallasMavs.Shop! Must spend minimum of $150 (before tax and shipping.) Only one e-gift card per transaction. E-gift card will be emailed 5-7 business days after order is placed and expires 12/31/21.
Continuing its transformation into a serious cryptocurrency, Dogecoin now accounts for 62% of Robinhood’s crypto revenue.
Robinhood issued its first quarterly report since going public, and the report shows the increased importance of crypto trading to the firm. According to CNBC, 52% of Robinhood’s transaction-based revenue came from crypto, reaching some $233 million. In comparison, crypto only accounted for $5 million in the year-ago quarter.
The report also shows the increased importance of Dogecoin. Two months ago, Dogecoin made up 34% of the company’s crypto revenue. The company’s quarterly report, however, revealed that Dogecoin now makes up 62%.
Given that Dogecoin began as a meme and a joke, Robinhood’s report is another indication of just how important the crypto has become.
Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer has slammed the cryptocurrency market, dashing hopes he might one day return to it.
Palmer co-created Dogecoin as a meme, although the currency has since gone on to become a major force in the crypto market. In fact, at one point Dogecoin was the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency.
Despite its success, and despite crypto’s reputation as a decentralized currency, Palmer has no intention of returning to the market and is now slamming it.
Palmer says the crypto market, rather than being decentralized, is actually controlled by a wealthy few.
Palmer’s commentary is likely to anger some and validate others, but is nonetheless a fascinating take on the crypto industry.
El Salvador has gone down in the history books, being the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Bitcoin is the most valuable, and most well-known, cryptocurrency, hitting a record price of $64,829.14 in April. As its value has soared, so has its mainstream acceptance, with financial companies and businesses alike moving to adopt it.
El Salvador, however, has become the first country to adopt it as legal tender, with the Bitcoin Law passing the Salvadoran Congress with supermajority support. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced the law’s passage on Twitter.
The #BitcoinLaw has been approved by a supermajority in the Salvadoran Congress.
62 out of 84 votes!
History! #Btc🇸🇻
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
There’s still many details to be worked out, especially given Bitcoin’s volatility. But the law promises to “promote the necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions.”
Fintech bank Revolut is the latest institution to add support for Dogecoin, as the crypto continues to gain acceptance.
Dogecoin started out as a meme but has increasingly been making headway as a serious cryptocurrency. Dogecoin’s market valuation surged to a whopping $70 billion in May, making it the fourth most valuable crypto.
Revolut is now adding support for Dogecoin, thanks to popular demand.
Capital at risk. The value of the crypto is variable and can go down as well as up significantly. Past performance or experience does not necessarily give a guide for the future.
— Revolut (@RevolutApp) June 8, 2021
JPMorgan’s CEO isn’t likely to win friends in the crypto market, slamming it as not ‘having much value.’
Traditional financial institutions are still trying to figure out cryptocurrency. Some, such as Visa, have begun accepting crypto. Others are still trying to figure out the best way to support it.
JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, is cautioning investors not to invest in crypto. In a congressional hearing, Dimon didn’t mince any words regarding his thoughts on crypto.
“Put aside blockchain and put aside stable coins, which is support by assets. Something that is not supported by anything, I do not believe has much value,” the JPMorgan CEO said.
“My own personal advice to people is stay away from it,” Dimon continued. “That does not mean the clients don’t want it – this goes back to how you have to run a business. I don’t smoke marijuana, but if you make it nationally legal, I’m not gonna stop our people from banking it, etc. I don’t tell people how to spend their money, regardless of how I might personally feel about some of the items that people might buy with their money.”
Dimon then said JPMorgan is debating the best way to safely integrate crypto, but ultimately believes unsupported cryptos are dangerous.
“We’re debating should we make it available in some way, in a safe way that people can buy and sell it and put it in their statement systems,” Dimon added.
“My one personal view: It’s nothing like a fiat currency, it’s nothing like gold. Buyer beware.”
NVIDIA has posted its quarterly report, beating estimates on record revenue, thanks to its Gaming and Data Center business.
Unlike many companies that have been hurt by the pandemic, NVIDIA has experienced significant growth. Multiple factors have helped the company, including people turning to gaming more during lockdowns and quarantine.
NVIDIA’s GPU chips are also popular with cryptocurrency miners, leading the company to cripple them when mining is detecting, in an effort to preserve its GPU supply for gamers. The company has even announced a processor designed specifically for miners to help address the issues.
All of the above has helped propel the company to a record quarter, bringing in $5.66 billion, an increase of 84 percent from a year earlier. Gaming revenue accounted for $2.76 billion, an increase of 106%. Data Center revenue accounted for $2.05 billion, an increase of 79%.
“We had a fantastic quarter, with strong demand for our products driving record revenue,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
“Our Data Center business continues to expand, as the world’s industries take up NVIDIA AI to process computer vision, conversational AI, natural language understanding and recommender systems. NVIDIA RTX has reinvented computer graphics and is driving upgrades across the gaming and design markets. Our partners are launching the largest-ever wave of NVIDIA-powered laptops. Across industries, the adoption of NVIDIA computing platforms is accelerating.
“Mellanox, one year in, has exceeded our expectations and transformed NVIDIA into a data-center-scale computing company. We continue to make headway with our planned acquisition of Arm, which will accelerate innovation and growth for the Arm ecosystem. From gaming, cloud computing, AI, robotics, self-driving cars, to genomics and computational biology, NVIDIA continues to do impactful work to invent a better future.”