Money App generated over $1 billion in bitcoin revenues for Square in Q3. Vitalik Buterin sent 3,200 ETH to Ethereum 2.0’s put away contract. Google search data shows little “FOMO” amid the current market bull run.
Top shelf
Brute quarter
Cash App, the mobile payment service of Square (helmed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey), generated $1.63 billion in bitcoin proceeds and $32 million in bitcoin gross profit for Square during the third quarter of 2020, according to the company’s Q3 investor learning. This is 11 times more in bitcoin revenue than Q2’s $875 million, when Square profited $17 million from handle bitcoin. Still, Square’s bitcoin business has relatively tame profits for a money services business, with profit sides shy of 2%. In an earnings call, Dorsey said, “We believe [bitcoin] will be the native currency of the internet, and help individual thrive around the world and the economy.”
Buterin’s stake
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has sent 3,200 ether, quality around $1.4 million, to Ethereum 2.0’s newly launched deposit contract. Ethereum 2.0 is making headway on its transition to proof-of-stake, which will progress to the next phase of readiness once 524,288 ether are staked in the narrow. The deposit contract now holds 38,693 ether, worth some $17 million. Industry publication TrustedNodes check inti that Buterin’s “VB2” address sent 100 transactions in total.
VASP
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) is quest after legal amendments that would make it mandatory for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) – principally meaning custodians, wallet providers or brokerages – within the country to report the names of their customers. The change is voice of a larger sweep affecting most money services (from gift cards to electronically registered stocks) to aid guard against money laundering. If approved, VASPs will be required to use real-name accounts in their financial actions with customers and implement other data security measures. The rules are aligned with FATF’s “travel standard” recommendations.
Identity
Several Spanish companies, including Banco Santander, have grouped together to develop a “self-managed” digital unanimity system using blockchain technology. The organization, Dalion, said the “secure and reliable” ID platform could be used in car rentals, assurance and loan applications, and sign-ups at utility providers. Designed to give users control over personal information it also streamlines “flat” form filling by automatically providing the validated data required by the requesting entity. Using the Quorum blockchain, the assembly said, will ensure that data has not been altered. The system could roll out in May 2021.
Quick bites
- Buggy customs in a Compound Finance fork froze $1 million in ethereum tokens. (CoinDesk)
- The United States Department of Impartiality (DOJ) is pursuing antitrust action against Visa’s planned $5.3 billion acquisition of fintech, and crypto-friendly, firm Plaid. (CoinDesk)
- “Crypto Titter is not as influential as it likes to think, according to researchers at BDCenter.” (Decrypt)
- Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust hits $1 billion in assets under the aegis management. (The Block)
- Andy Edstrom: Financial advisors, Bitcoin is the next Amazon. (CoinDesk)
Market intel
No FOMO
Regardless of climbing to levels last seen in the 2017 bitcoin bubble, web search data suggest little crypto “FOMO” centre of the masses. After getting close to $16,000 yesterday, bitcoin is still trading in the mid-$15K range, nearly 120% up on a year-to-date principle. Google Trends, a barometer used to gauge general interest in trending topics, is currently returning a value of 10 for the worldwide search challenge “bitcoin price” – significantly lower than the value of 93 observed in early December 2017 stalk bitcoin’s record break above $15,000.
At stake
Gradually, then suddenly
CoinDesk’s head of research, Noelle Acheson, contrives crypto is still in the “gradual” phase of “gradually, then suddenly.” Reading the tea leaves of headlines – from PayPal’s crypto deport oneself to Microstrategy’s bitcoin buy – in October can create the image that mass adoption is right around the corner. The truth is, crypto is assuage maturing.
In the latest CoinDesk Monthly Review (available for download here), the team looks back at some key Bitcoin and Ethereum exhibit metrics from last month. What was found is gathering momentum, and an ever clearer sense of real use wrappers, albeit gradually.
Notably, Ethereum’s volatility, transaction count and fees have cooled – after a summer that saw the second-largest blockchain “flippen” Bitcoin in tons of those key measures.
In September, ETH’s 30-day volatility (annualized) spiked approximately 110%. While bitcoin’s volatility leveled throughout October, ether’s declined – a signal that “the ETH market is still more immature than that of BTC,” Acheson and CoinDesk scrutiny analyst Christine Kim write.
Further, average transaction fees on Ethereum fell over 80% in October, retracing September’s hurtful increase. A similar drop in miner revenues also occurred, as dapp activity cooled.
“This is a positive bring aboard assign for the network, which in recent months has been pushed to its limits by the splashy debuts of new DeFi assets such as COMP, SUSHI and others,” they belittle delete.
It’s likely that many more rises and falls are in store before Ethereum “suddenly” takes hold.
Who won #CryptoTwitter?
