Crypto Payment Kings is a dynamic secular fintech theme.
$PYPL 's VENMO and $SQ 's CashApp are #1 and #2 payment apps
FROM The BLOCK's Companies coverage:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/binance-is-reportedly-eyeing-expansion-into-u-s/
Circle set to shut down its payments app
Circle, the Boston-based cryptocurrency firm, announced Thursday that it is shutting down one of its Circle Pay app as the firm shifts its attention
Circle Pay allows users to send and receive digital currencies similarly to payments apps like Venmo and Square's Cash App.
Circle Pay is # 121 for downloaded finance apps.
Venmo and Cash app sit at #1 & #2
No more funds movement by July 8 and funds remaining on the platform after July 31 will be returned to customer bank accounts.
The firm said that it is exploring new products, such as "new wallet services...
Circle runs an OTC trading desk, a security token platform, SeedInvest, and exchange Poloniex. In May, the firm said it laid-off 10% of its staff.
my RANDOM thought: I mused while ago WHAT If PYPL were re-ticker'd as "VnMo" or something? or there was a spinoff?
"Square just reported a record $65.5m in quarterly bitcoin sales.
Assuming average BTC prices in 1Q19 (not perfect) that translates to ~ 17K worth of BTC volume,
up over 70% since 4Q and +5x volumes in 1Q18. Impressive considering April's run hits 2Q's numbers" via TheBlock
https://about.att.com/story/2019/att_bitpay.html
AT&T NOW accepts Bitpay
"AT&T* will now accept online bill payments through BitPay, a respected cryptocurrency payment processor. AT&T becomes the first major U.S. mobile carrier to provide a cryptocurrency payment option to customers."
How fitting that one of the first powerful tech NETWORKS has enabled this option - there's a great book about "Ma Bell" and Theodore Vail, The Master Switch by Tim Wu
"It is easy to forget that every development in the history of the American information industry–from the telephone to radio to film–once existed in an open and chaotic marketplace inhabited by entrepreneurs and utopians, just as the Internet does today."
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1109114656944209921.html
An impressive report by Bitwise on the "real bitcoin market"
A. 95% of reported BTC spot volume is fake
B. Likely motive is listing fees (can be $1-3M)
C. Real daily spot volume is ~$270M
D. 10 exchanges make up almost all real trading
E. Most of the 10 are regulated
F. Spreads are <0.10%. Arb is super efficient
https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nysearca-2019-01/srnysearca201901-5164833-183434.pdf
http://www.bitcointradevolume.com/
"When you remove fake volume, the real BTC volume is quite healthy given its mkt cap.
Gold’s market cap is ~$7T with a spot volume of ~$37B implying a 0.53% daily turnover.
Bitcoin’s $70B market cap would imply a 0.39% daily turnover, very much in-line with that of gold.
Other good news when you focus in on the exchanges with real volume: 9 of the 10 are regulated by FinCEN as Money Service Businesses & 5 of the 10 by NYDFS under the BitLicense.
To summarize: The bitcoin market is smaller, but more efficient and regulated, than reported, mitigating concerns around market manipulation"
https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/17409/most-popular-digital-payment-services-in-china/
China's Most Popular Digital Payment Services by Statista's Katharina Bucholz
"nearly as many Chinese citizens shop online as use the very popular option of pre-ordering.
60 percent of respondents said they used digital financial services daily.
Homegrown companies lead the way in the Chinese digital payments industry, with Alipay by e-commerce giant Alibaba being the most popular, followed by WeChat Pay, QQ Wallet and Baidu Wallet.
Many major internet players in China have spun off their own payment service and are successful at it. International services by big players Apple, Google and Amazon are trailing far behind and not even online payment veteran Paypal can get a foot on the ground.
Facebook Payments so far only offers peer-to-peer payments but is planning to roll out its own full-fledged payment service in China. Breaking into the competitive Chinese market might prove tough, even for the global player."
$TCEHY $BABA $BIDU $FB $GOOG $AMZN $PYPL
$SQ From
last evening:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1108487911802966017.html
"#BitcoinTwitter and #CryptoTwitter! Square is hiring 3-4 crypto engineers and 1 designer to work full-time on open source contributions to the bitcoin/crypto ecosystem. Work from anywhere, report directly to me, and we can even pay you in bitcoin! Introducing
. Why?"
"I ...asked
: “what is the most impactful thing we could do for the bitcoin community?” His answer was simple: “pay people to make the broader crypto ecosystem better.” This resonated with me immediately, so we’re doing it"
"Square’s first open source initiative independent of our business objectives. These folks will focus entirely on what’s best for the crypto community and individual economic empowerment, not on Square’s commercial interests. All resulting work will be open and free"
"Why add a designer into the mix?...this is an underfunded area in the crypto ecosystem. Great design will help more people access this technology faster and better"
@edwardrooster
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cboe-abandons-bitcoin-futures-11552914001
#crypto $BTC.X #futures
This has historical analogues. With every mania there have been many experiments (in retrospect) which "fail". With many ventures, most fail.
Pareto distribution is a real thing. You don't know when you are in the 10 or 20 versus the 80 or 90 in the distribution of a population.
Institutional imperatives can also come with long lag times for entry, adoption and exits.
A band of "traitors" abandoned abrasive semis pioneer Shockley to form what would become the semiconductor industry in what would become "SILICON" Valley. About a generation into that long wave of constant growth in chip power, an oil giant (we know as $XOM today) was in the space with a "diversification" into a company called Xilog. Of course it's no longer in it. Perhaps the CBOE just had this kind of failed experiment by diversifying away from the current mainstream forms of media of exchange, sovereign fiat currencies. End of soapbox. CME is still at it though. :)
https://threader.app/thread/1003760437454778369
A threaderapp compilation of notes about a great podcast between @epsilontheory 's Ben Hunt and Hidden Forces' podcast on #crypto and $BTC.X and financial history
https://www.hiddenforces.io/podcast/ben-hunt-the-narrative-machine
"The Narrative Machine: Investing in a World of Tall Tales, Big Games, and Giant Cons
Demetri Kofinas speaks with investor and author Ben Hunt, about the power of narrative and how it is used to shape and control our behavior as investors. This episode also includes a series of discussions about the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis, identitarian narratives, three-body problems, and crypto ideology."
a series of in-depth discussions about the long legacy of the 2008 financial crisis, identitarian narratives, three-body problems, the challenge of making accurate predictions, and ‘The Great Bitcoin Epic.'
https://bitcoinist.com/lightning-pizza-lets-you-order-dominos-with-bitcoin-for-less-than-1-cent/
buying pizza with bitcoin (YES, I know the story about 2 pizzas for what is STILL a lot of USD based on recent exchange rates much lower than the late 2017 peaks) via #LIGHTING
WATCH for the DEVS in the winter, and APPS via #LIGHTNING (why do you think
was talking about it during this sudden embrace of podcasts?).
https://www.coindesk.com/square-is-expanding-access-to-bitcoin-deposits-for-cash-app-users
$SQ SQUARE is accepting $BTC.X deposits
The app, available on both Android and iOS, now supports deposits for at least some users, according to Twitter posts by bitcoiners and a check by a CoinDesk reporter of his own Square account Tuesday. Previously, users could purchase or sell bitcoin, as well as transfer the cryptocurrency to another wallet.
Square first began allowing select Cash App users to purchase and sell bitcoin in November 2017, announcing a few months later that it would roll that feature out to all users.
It is unclear how long Square has been adding the deposit feature; as of press time, not every Cash App user had the ability to deposit bitcoin.
https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/3107-deposit-bitcoin-into-cash-app
"Support for bitcoin deposits to third party wallets is coming soon.
In the meantime, you can transfer profits from selling bitcoin to any bank account or debit card linked to your Cash App."