- Bitcoin breaks through $19,000
- SBI Holdings has launched ‘crypto lending’ services
- Goldman Expects Digital Yuan to Reach 1B Users Within 10 Years
Bitcoin breaks through $19,000
After rising by $7,000 in a month, Bitcoin broke through $19,000 on Tuesday, which is just one step away from its all-time high of $19,783, reached on December 17, 2017. According to data provided by crypto analysis company CryptoQuant, Bitcoin’s market value also hit a record high this week, at approximately $329 billion.
On Friday, Rick Rieder, chief investment officer at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said on CNBC bitcoin could take the place of gold to a large extent because crypto is “so much more functional than passing a bar of gold around.”
Guy Hirsch, managing director for US at eToro, said 2020’s bull market “debunks” the idea that bitcoin is a “tulip bubble” because “tulips never had a second wave of buying the same way bitcoin has.” Hirsch added that as retail portal platforms including PayPal and CashApp are more common in 2020 than in 2017, the price of Bitcoin may exceed $20,000 “in the near future”, and predicts that retail investors will join the market and Promote price increases.
According to recent news from CryptoQuant, as more institutional investors enter the Bitcoin market and miners do not liquidate their positions, prices may continue to rise.
SBI Holdings has launched ‘crypto lending’ services
SBI Holdings, a major Japanese financial services company, has launched a ‘crypto lending’ services, which will allow users to deposit Bitcoin (BTC) and earn interest.
The company’s announcement stated that the “VC Trade Lending” service will allow users to deposit bitcoins into SBI VC Trade and earn interest at an annual rate of 1%. According to the announcement, the minimum and maximum amounts that Bitcoin users can deposit are 0.1 BTC and 5.0 BTC, respectively. SBI Holdings will not charge account management fees or membership fees for this service. SBI Holdings also stated that it plans to expand to other cryptocurrencies in the future, including XRP and Ethereum.
Goldman Expects Digital Yuan to Reach 1B Users Within 10 Years
Goldman Sachs said in a report shared with CoinDesk on November 17 that the Digital Yuan is China’s planned national virtual currency. It will account for 15% of total consumer spending within ten years, which will help commercial banks from financial technology companies Gain more market share there.
The 81-page report stated that digital currency electronic payment (DC/EP) may be a more attractive alternative to existing digital payment services provided by financial technology companies in a cashless environment. The report also pointed out that anonymity enabled by the separation of a bank account and the digital yuan wallet, offline payment and interconnectivity with various payment options as contributing to the digital yuan’s success.
The report states: “Within ten years, we expect DC/EP to reach 1 billion addressable users, 1.6 trillion yuan ($229 billion) in issuance, and 19 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion) in total annual payment value. (TPV) and accounted for 15% of total consumer spending.”
Goldman Sachs stated that consumer payments will be where banks and financial technology providers compete most. “Consumption is the main source of income for third-party payment providers because the adoption rate is higher than transfer and financing; therefore, payment institutions treat consumer payments as “commercial payments.”
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