Users of crypto lending platform Celsius Network can now purchase gold-backed stablecoin Tether Gold (XAUT), using credit and debit cards. 

Purchases with debit and credit cards have been made possible through a partnership with Simplex – with users also being able to buy the network’s native token, Celsius (CEL), Bitcoin (BTC), and Ether (ETH), with cards. 

The minimum purchase requirement for XAUT is just USD $50, and Celsius’ interest-bearing accounts are currently offering an annual interest rate of 4% on XAUT. 

Tether Gold is a currency pegged to real, physical gold, stored in vaults in Switzerland. Every XAUT token is representative of one ounce of real gold, and is issued on the Ethereum and Tron blockchains. 

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that German neobank Bitwala had partnered with Celsius Network to launch a Bitcoin (BTC) Interest Account product, offering users interest rates of up to 4.3%. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With the world facing an unprecedented economic crisis due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, investors are increasingly looking for safe haven assets, so Tether Gold, which combines the world’s oldest safe haven asset with the benefits of its newest, could well find plenty of demand – and Celsius Network just made acquiring it a whole lot more convenient.  

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is engaging in an unprecedented buying spree, scooping up Bitcoin quicker than it can be mined.

Yet another signal that some serious investors are increasingly confident in Bitcoin’s (BTC) long term prospects has emerged, with Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust buying more BTC since the halving than has been mined during the period. 

According to independent researcher Kevin Rooke, Grayscale has bought 18,910 BTC since the halving, whereas only 12,337 have been mined in that period. 

Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust bought 18,910 Bitcoins since the halving.

Only 12,337 Bitcoins have been mined since the halving.

Wall Street wants Bitcoin, and they don’t care what Goldman Sachs has to say. pic.twitter.com/Br6a4ijuze

— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) May 27, 2020

It prompted Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, to comment:

“There isn’t enough new supply to go around, even for just one guy.”

Rooke had previously estimated that Grayscale had secured between 33% and 34% of new BTC supply during the first quarter of 2020 – equating to 60,762 BTC over one hundred days. 

Average weekly investment into Grayscale’s trust during the first quarter was just shy of $30m – an 800% increase year-on-year. 

Hinting at even more dramatic things to come, replying to Rooke’s tweet, Grayscale founder Barry Silbert said: 

“Just wait until you see Q2.”

This month’s Bitcoin halving, coupled with the growing expectation of an unprecedented global economic crash triggered by the COVID-19 lockdowns, are helping fuel speculation of a significant bull run for the world’s oldest cryptocurrency. 

Last week we reported that Robert Kiyosaki, author of New York Times bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad had advised people to buy Bitcoin to save themselves from the coming economic catastrophe. While earlier in the month, former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager and current Global Macro Investor CEO, Raoul Pal, said he considered $1M BTC is more now more likely than ever. 

Two weeks ago we also reported that Open Interest on Chicago Mercantile Exchange Bitcoin options had exploded, surging over 1,000%. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Noone really knows what will happen, and we’re certainly not giving any kind of investment advice here, but it does seem that many crypto analysts have been caught off-guard by the rapidly approaching global economic crisis. Many were seemingly so transfixed on the halving, that they totally missed the COVID-19 induced economic tsunami that is about to make landfall. And it is that crisis, not the halving, that has the potential to drive BTC to new heights. 

Interesting times…

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Crypto sportsbook and casino Cloudbet has added USD Tether to the portfolio of cryptocurrencies it supports. 

After a month of testing with a small group of players, Tether has become the first stablecoin to be accepted by the operator. All customers can now deposit, withdraw and bet with USDT – which is pegged to the US dollar. 

New players depositing with USDT at Cloudbet are also eligible for a welcome bonus of up to 1,000 USDT, and customers can buy Tether directly on the site using credit cards or Apple Pay. 

Cloudbet launched in 2013 as a Bitcoin (BTC) casino. In early 2018 it added Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and earlier this year it added Ether (ETH). In April this year the operator launched a new improved website. 

The new site also added UFC in-play betting, new language options, and a comprehensive selection of esports. 

Discussing the news a Cloudbet spokesperson said:

“We’ve accelerated our feature rollouts tremendously, thanks to the systems and processes we put in place to build the new website. The market can look forward to many more new features and new coins in the coming months.”

“Since launch, a fundamental part of our philosophy has been about empowering players with technologies that solve their problems. USDT and stablecoins are an extension of that.”

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has confirmed it is acquiring prime crypto brokerage Tagomi. 

In a statement announcing the news, Coinbase said it had seen a surge in demand for crypto investment opportunities from institutional clients over the past twelve months, stating:

“The acquisition will cap off a period of strong institutional focus for Coinbase, and comes at a time when the world’s most recognized professional investors and funds are giving increasing attention to the asset class.”

The growing institutional interest in crypto led Coinbase to launch margin trading for selected users, new tools to help investors segregate their trading strategies, and has seen demand for its professional custody service, Coinbase Custody, grow considerably. 

Coinbase’s new focus on institutional services also saw the company establish an entity in Ireland in January this year, enabling it to offer crypto custody services to European clients.

The rumours were true then…

Coinbase’s acquisition of Tagomi isn’t exactly surprising, with rumours of the acquisition floating around since Autumn 2019 – when Coinbase was prompted to deny it had already acquired the brokerage. 

At that time, some speculated that Tagomi was in Coinbase’s crosshairs because its increasing appeal to retail trading and high-net-worth clients was putting it in direct competition with Coinbase’s own Coinbase Pro platform. 

Founded by Greg Tusar, Jennifer Campbell, and Marc Bhargava, and backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Tagomi only launched 18 months ago, but has quickly established itself as a leading, regulated cryptocurrency brokerage firm. 

The platform counts notable traders, hedge funds, and family offices, including Yale-backed Paradigm Fund, Pantera Capital, Bitwise, Morgan Creek, Galaxy Digital, Founders Fund, and Multicoin Capital, among its clients. 

It is also a member of the Libra Association, the governing body for Facebook’s stablecoin project, and has a partnership with Binance.US, the US branch of the major Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange. 

AYO.NEWS says:

As we’ve noted previously, although institutional investors were slow to get involved in the crypto space, now the regulatory environment is clearer and infrastructure is more sophisticated and resilient, we expect to see them drive the market over the long-term, and hopefully add some much-needed stability. 

Staying with Coinbase, last week we reported the company had said it would transition to a “remote-first” future after the COVID-19 crisis had passed. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

eMusic has become the first major music service to launch a digital token (eMU), to help build a sustainable music ecosystem for artists, fans, and music services. 

A digital music pioneer, New York-based eMusic was founded in 1998 and is famous for launching the world’s first online store for MP3 downloads. Now it has launched the eMU decentralised digital currency, to make payments to artists more efficient and transparent. 

According to the company, the blockchain-based system will remove the need for intermediaries, allowing music artists to keep more of the royalties they earn for purchases, and provide real-time visibility into how their music is being consumed and by whom. 

Discussing the token President of eMusic, Tamir Koch, said:

“Streaming has dramatically increased revenues and adoption, but the model has proven itself to be fundamentally flawed. Hard-up artists receive a fraction of the royalties, while intermediaries take an ever-growing slice of the pie and leading services remain loss-making.

“The eMU token is now here to reinvent music distribution. It creates a brand-new commercial model built on fair compensation and transparent flow of funds between fans, artists and music services”.

eMU tokens can now be purchased on digital asset exchange Bibox, at a base price of $0.39 per token. Users are guaranteed that each token will always buy at least one song from the eMusic store. 

Commenting on the listing Managing Director at Bibox, Guojie Liu, said:

“eMusic pioneered the concept of digital music and was among the very first music subscription services. When they say that blockchain is the future, the music industry should take note. We are delighted to be listing eMU on our exchange and anticipate strong demand for using the token on the eMusic platform and beyond.”

Fans will also be able to earn instant rewards from their favourite artists for engagement, such as sharing music and reviews, and even help crowdfund artists’ tours. 

The eMU token and blockchain platform are also intended to help artists to build sustainable careers, allowing them to independently upload their own content to the eMusic store and elsewhere. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Several companies are harnessing blockchain to enable more transparency and efficiency for music rights management and royalty collection. 

In January we reported London-based Ditto Music had announced the launch of Bluebox – a blockchain-based recording solution, while last year Bitfury Surround partnered with music rights management company SoundVault, to improve creative opportunities with blockchain and AI. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Eidoo, the Swiss DeFi startup, has partnered with Contis to launch a new Visa crypto debit card. 

The new Eidoo card has been approved by Visa and will be accepted by 40 million merchants worldwide. It uses regulated stablecoins to enable crypto-to-fiat conversions, supporting major currencies including the euro (EUR) and British pound (GBP). 

Contis, a principal member of Visa Europe, acts as the issuer of the new card, while the Ethereum-based stablecoins used are issued by UK-based financial services firm Moneyfold. According to Eidoo, the new card represents the first time the backend of a cryptocurrency card is done via stablecoins and DEXes. 

People can pre-order an Eidoo Card by staking or burning Eidoos native EDO token (minimum burn 100 EDO, or minimum stake 25,000). There are three levels of account available: BASIC, VIP, and BLACK. 

The company says nearly 3,000 cards have already been pre-ordered, with more than 3m EDO tokens staked.

AYO.NEWS says:

Cards like this really do make cryptocurrencies as convenient as cash, and will be a major driver of mainstream adoption. At the end of March we reported that Malta-based crypto company Binance had launched a Visa debit card, with initial roll out in Malaysia. Meanwhile, US-based Coinbase has been steadily adding more countries and cryptocurrencies to its Visa debit card program.  

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020