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EBay Inc (EBAY.O) is open to the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment in the future and is looking at ways to get non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its platform, the company said on Monday.

A growing number of companies have begun to accept virtual currencies as a form of payment, taking an asset class that had been shunned by major financial institutions a few years ago, a step closer to becoming mainstream.

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is already accepting bitcoin as payment for its electric cars, while payments giant PayPal (PYPL.O) last year started allowing customers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies using its online wallets. read more

"We are always looking at the most relevant forms of payment and will continue to assess that going forward. We have no immediate plans, but it (cryptocurrency) is something we are keeping an eye on," eBay said in a statement to Reuters.

In an interview with CNBC, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Iannone said that accepting virtual currency was an option the company was looking at.

EBay, which disappointed investors with a weak second-quarter profit forecast last week, said it was looking at a "number of ways" to get into the NFT space. read more

NFTs, a type of digital asset that exists on a blockchain, have exploded in popularity this year, with NFT artworks selling for millions of dollars and musicians such as the Kings of Leon rock group embracing them for their latest album. read more

"We're exploring opportunities on how we can enable it (NFTs) on eBay in an easy way," Iannone said on CNBC.

...

https://www.reuters.com/technology/ebay-ceo-says-looking-cryptocurrency-payment-option-cnbc-2021-05-03/

Cryptocurrency ether broke past $3,000 on Monday to set a new record high in a dazzling rally that has outshone the bigger bitcoin, with investors betting that ether will be of ever greater use in a decentralised future financial system.

Ether , the token transacted on the ethereum blockchain, rose 3% on the Bitstamp exchange to $3,144.81 in morning deals in London. It is up 325% for the year so far, easily outpacing a 95% rise in the more popular bitcoin.

In part, the big rally is a catch-up to late 2020 gains in bitcoin, said James Quinn, managing director at Q9 Capital, a Hong Kong cryptocurrency private wealth manager.

It also reflects improvements to the ethereum blockchain, he said, and a growing shift towards "DeFi", or decentralised finance, which refers to transactions outside traditional banking for which the ethereum blockchain is a crucial platform.

"At first, the rally was really led by bitcoin because as a lot of the institutional investors came into the space, that would be their natural first port of call," Quinn said.

"But as the rally has matured over the last six months, you have DeFi and a lot of DeFi is built on ethereum."

The launch of ether exchange-traded funds in Canada and surging demand for ether wallets to transact non-fungible tokens such as digital art have also pushed up the price.

The ether/bitcoin cross rate has soared more than 100% this year and hit a 2.5-year high on Sunday, pointing to a degree of rotation into the second-biggest cryptocurrency as investors diversify their exposure.

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https://www.reuters.com/technology/ethereum-breaks-past-3000-2021-05-03/

Nexon Co. said it bought $100 million worth of Bitcoin, joining a list of tech companies embracing the digital currency.

The online game provider acquired 1,717 Bitcoins at an average price of about $58,226 each, including fees and expenses. The purchase represents less than 2% of Nexon’s total cash and cash equivalents on hand, and is the largest-ever purchase of digital currency made by a company traded in Tokyo, Nexon said.

“Our purchase of bitcoin reflects a disciplined strategy for protecting shareholder value and for maintaining the purchasing power of our cash assets,” Owen Mahoney, Nexon’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “In the current economic environment, we believe Bitcoin offers long-term stability and liquidity while maintaining the value of our cash for future investments.”

A growing number of global firms including Tesla Inc. and Square Inc. have moved to purchase Bitcoin in recent months, with more starting to accept the cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Firms in Japan, which was an early leader in Bitcoin acceptance, have been slow to join this trend.

Nexon said it intended to guard itself against a potential drop in the value of non-digital currencies in case of inflation, with Mahoney seeing Bitcoin as a “form of cash likely to retain its value, even if it is not yet widely-recognized as such.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-28/nexon-joins-tesla-in-bitcoin-bet-with-100-million-purchase

#dogecoin

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1387290679794089986

#Cryptowaves is not just music and art, but an entirely new experiment to amplify artists' ability to create outstanding work, supported by their community via #decentralized approaches

Read More and follow the story here: https://medium.com/staxe/cryptowaves-pt-1-cfec3a814eda

“The charts.” I pointed along the craggy, upward graphs as we flipped through each cryptocurrency. “They look like wavetables that I’d use in my synthesizers.” This immediately felt like cosmic foreshadowing [...]“Maybe I could make that my first NFT?”

ill-esha tells us her journey about how her art and crypto world connect in a unique cosmic ride.

Follow ill-esha below for the full story:

https://medium.com/staxe/cryptowaves-pt-1-cfec3a814eda

No signs of selling as miners hoard their earnings and institutions keep piling into the latest Bitcoin exposure products to hit the market.

Bitcoin is looking shaky at the start of a new week as $60,000 remains out of reach — could anything change in the coming days?

After an average weekend that failed to deliver the breakout that many had hoped for, Bitcoin (BTC) is clinging to the mid-$50,000 range.

Cointelegraph takes a look at five factors that can help shape future price performance.

Coinbase IPO a beacon in flat macro sea
Stock markets were unimpressive on April 5, with many Asian markets closed for public holidays and United States futures seeing little movement.

Following the Suez Canal debacle, oil was the only commodity with noticeable energy as a decision from OPEC+ countries to increase supply put pressure on prices.

With a lack of momentum available, Bitcoin, therefore, had little to sustain any macro-influenced price run, and $60,000 resistance remained in place at the time of writing.

One major event that crypto analysts are eagerly waiting for, however, is Coinbase’s initial public offering, set for April 14.

As Cointelegraph reported, the event is a milestone for the industry but could be accompanied by selling on launch day — a practice seen with other IPOs both old and new.

Elsewhere, U.S. bond yield rises remained a worry this week, with their upward trajectory coinciding with a lack of progress for safe havens more widely.

“The repricing of inflation risk and U.S. rates, which will impact discount rates of future earnings and the way stocks are being valued is a source of uncertainty,” Johanna Chua, chief economist for Citigroup Global Markets, told Bloomberg.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-big-60k-hodl-is-on-5-things-to-watch-in-bitcoin-this-week

A cyber yuan stands to give Beijing power to track spending in real time, plus money that isn’t linked to the dollar-dominated global financial system

A thousand years ago, when money meant coins, China invented paper currency. Now the Chinese government is minting cash digitally, in a re-imagination of money that could shake a pillar of American power.

It might seem money is already virtual, as credit cards and payment apps such as Apple Pay in the U.S. and WeChat in China eliminate the need for bills or coins. But those are just ways to move money electronically. China is turning legal tender itself into computer code.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have foreshadowed a potential digital future for money, though they exist outside the traditional global financial system and aren’t legal tender like cash issued by governments.

China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which will issue the new electronic money. It is expected to give China’s government vast new tools to monitor both its economy and its people. By design, the digital yuan will negate one of bitcoin’s major draws: anonymity for the user.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-creates-its-own-digital-currency-a-first-for-major-economy-11617634118

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced late Tuesday that it is now possible to buy Tesla vehicles in the U.S. with bitcoin.

The automaker last month revealed that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and that it would soon start accepting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

“You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin,” tweeted Musk, who was officially made the “Technoking of Tesla” this month.

A support page on Tesla’s website explains how customers can pay for a Tesla using digital currency. The company’s electric vehicles typically cost between $37,990 and $124,000 before tax.

People outside the U.S. will be able to buy a Tesla with bitcoin “later this year,” Musk said, without specifying which countries.

In order to accept the payment, Musk said Tesla is using “internal” and “open-source software.”

He added that Tesla “operates bitcoin nodes directly.” Nodes are computers on bitcoin’s network that work to verify transactions and avoid the cryptocurrency from being spent twice.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/24/elon-musk-says-people-can-now-buy-a-tesla-with-bitcoin.html

2017 ICOs, 2018 Smart Contracts, 2019 Stablecoins, and 2020 DeFI. It’s Time to Pass On the Torch: Non-Fungible Tokens in 2021.

It’s no secret that people like collecting things. The types of items you collect depend on your particular interests and passions or whether those collectibles resonate with you on an emotional level. Think of how you might have collected Pokémon cards, stamps, video games, books, posters, maybe even marbles or bugs as a child. Your collection may look pretty different as an adult. Perhaps you now collect fashionable bags and shoes, tech gadgets, antiques or artwork. Or maybe you still collect the same things you did as a child.

But what if your physical collection can be expanded to a digital and virtual world? What if UFC fans can collect and own their favorite Conor McGregor (or other fighter) moments? For Nike fans, how about traversing virtual gaming worlds while donning your favorite kicks? What if you can now own that pet dragon you’ve always secretly wanted in a virtual home? For the art collectors out there, imagine having a virtual gallery of digital artwork that you can fit in your pocket and take around with you to show your friends and family. How about owning your favorite celebrity’s memorabilia and behind the scenes rarities? Well, you might not need to imagine for much longer because the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the crypto world are going to make your wildest imaginings and dreams real — virtually real. And here’s a heads-up to Star Trek fans, you may soon be able to own William Shatner’s tokenized memories in the form of trading cards, one of which will be a poignant image of Shatner hugging longtime friend Leonard Nimoy.

NFTs have been the source of whispers across the globe over the past few months and are a strong contender to steal the spotlight in the 2021 crypto world. The relatively short history of the crypto world has been characterized by waves of trends: the 2017 ICO boom, 2017–18 smart contract platform era, 2018–19 stablecoin era, and 2020 DeFi craze. Although DeFi has been the focus for most of 2020, NFTs have steadily been gaining traction in recent months. Ilya Abugov, project manager at DappRadar, recently told Cointelegraph: “There is more hype around NFTs right now. To some extent it’s an extension of the DeFi excitement.”

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-2021-year-non-fungible-tokens-nfts-ruben/

This webinar will take place on Zoom. Click here to register for free: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hz-7KYnFTz2SkXg923X58A

After the recent Bitcoin price surges, and increased interest from central banks regarding CBDCs and stablecoins, it is clear that cryptocurrencies have come a very long way since Satoshi published the famous Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008. Now, over a decade later, the industry seems to be in a transitory period, where important players (central banks, tech companies, and market makers) are experimenting and leading the way to the future of finance. What will the crypto world look like in 10 years, or even 20 years, and what technological advances will need to happen to make that a reality?

We invited industry experts to share their ideas and to talk about what technological innovations could emerge in the years to come.

Speakers include:

-Pietro Grassano, Business Solutions Director Europe at Algorand
-Dr. Marion Laboure, Macro Strategist at Deutsche Bank and Harvard University lecturer
-Henry Holden, Adviser at the BIS Innovation Hub at the Bank for International Settlements
-Francisco Spadafora, Head of Blockchain Service Line at NTT Data Italy

The discussion will be moderated by Mike Rogers, Research Analyst at The Block.

A replay of the webinar will be available for those who cannot attend the live event.

Bill Barhydt about Bitcoin price of $5. Should he talk again now?

📈 All token prices grew except ADA (-4.12%).
📊 Price index climbed, while volume dropped & volatility indices had mixed results
👀 Check the latest prices on crypto.com/price

What moved the market last week👇🏻
https://lnkd.in/gpqQk4P

Pomp speaks about

- Hardware wallets
- Open source wallets
- Apple
- Google
- Decentralized internet
- Restricting innovation
- Future Foundation products

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/511-zach-herbert-on-building-crypto-hardware/id1434060078?i=1000512682660

Major players in the blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market are IBM, Microsoft, SAP-SE, Ambrosus, Arc-net, OriginTrail, Rip. io, Provenance, ChainVine, and AgriDigital. The global blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market is expected to grow from $128.

The blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market consists of sales of blockchain services in the agriculture and food supply chain by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that provide blockchain services to the agriculture and food supply chain.Blockchain technology enables the traceability of information in the food supply chain and thus helps improve food safety.

It also provides a secure way of storing and managing data, which facilitates the development and use of data-driven innovations for smart farming and smart index-based agriculture insurance.

The blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market covered in the report is segmented by type into public blockchain, private blockchain, consortium/hybrid blockchain; by stakeholder into growers, food manufacturers/processors, retailers; by application into product traceability, tracking, and visibility, payment and settlement, smart contracts, governance, risk and compliance management.

North America was the largest region in the blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market in 2020. The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.

Blockchain in food and agriculture market can be expensive and this can hinder market growth.Obtaining the data uploaded to a blockchain can be costly, and this can create a barrier to the adoption of blockchain technology in the agricultural sector.

For instance, the DNA of livestock animals could be expensive.The average cost of data collection is lower for larger farms than smaller ones, which raises the concern of increasing the income discrepancy.

Therefore, obtaining data in a blockchain is expensive and hinders market growth.

...

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/08/2188585/0/en/Blockchain-In-Agriculture-And-Food-Supply-Chain-Global-Market-Report-2021-COVID-19-Growth-And-Change.html