Apple looking for a crypto expert, GameStop building an NFT platform and can Ethereum eclipse Bitcoin? These stories and more, this week in crypto.
A leaked report from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has given Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, a “high chance” of overtaking Bitcoin. Given the importance of real uses, according to Goldman analysts Ether has a high chance of overtaking Bitcoin as a dominant store of value, calling Ethereum the “Amazon of information.”
Apple is now headhunting fintech experts for its alternative payments department. The tech giant is looking for a Business Development Manager with 5 or more years experience working with cryptocurrencies and other alternative payment providers. It is yet unclear what Apple intends to do with cryptocurrencies in the long run but it seems another step towards adoption.
Video game retailer GameStop launched a new website under the domain nft.gamestop.com, with a page featuring an animation with the words: ‘Power to the players. Power to the creators. Power to the collectors.’ The company confirmed it is building a new team for a division called NFTeam at GameStop.
PayPal will allow users to transfer their digital assets to outside platforms and third-party wallets. Up to this point, traders using PayPal to store cryptocurrencies were required to keep their assets with the company and were not given private keys to their stashes, but a PayPal executive confirmed this will change in the future.
Billionaire Ray Dalio admitted in a recent interview that he is invested in bitcoin. While Dalio has not revealed how much BTC makes up his portfolio, the move represents a nice change for someone who at one point was very anti-crypto, even commenting that he could not see institutions investing in it.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at the Consensus 2021 conference that Ripple might soon become a public company. Garlinghouse stressed that any initial public offering plans would have to wait until Ripple resolves its lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over it’s coin, XRP.
After voicing concerns about the environmental impact of bitcoin mining, Elon Musk from Tesla has joined hands with Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy to form the Bitcoin Mining Council. The purpose of the organization will be to “promote energy usage transparency and accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide.”
DubaiCoin—the official cryptocurrency of the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates—has shot up by more than 1000 percent just days after its release. The currency is regulated by authorized brokers and can be used, like cash and credit cards, to purchase various goods and services in Dubai.
That’s what’s happened this week in crypto. Make sure to watch for next week’s episode, when I’ll be reporting from Miami, Florida, the site of Bitcoin 2021. See you next week.
