It has been another big week in the world of cryptocurrency. Here are the biggest news and notes so you can stay up to date on everything that has been happening.
Upcoming Federal Reserve meeting predictions cooling the market
Just like the stock market, the upcoming monetary policy from the U.S central bank is casting a shadow over all cryptocurrencies. The Fed’s monetary policy group (the Federal Open Market Committee) is meeting next week, and due to the expectation that they will raise interest rates by a half-point, it’s been a quiet week for all coins across the market.
Elon Musk buys Twitter, cryptocurrency industry reacts
Eccentric billionaire Elon Musk is in the process of purchasing social media giant Twitter for around 44 billion dollars in a move that could see a wider adoption of cryptocurrency by the company.
Musk is known for his very enthusiastic and public support of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, with Tesla previously buying Bitcoin as a treasury asset. If this occurs with Twitter and the company acquires Bitcoin to hold on its balance sheet there could be some major positive implications.
Stripe offers Cryptocurrency payments via Twitter
In other news involving Twitter, Third-party payment provider Stripe has confirmed that they will now allow businesses to offer payments to their customers in crypto. The first of their partners to offer this is Twitter, which will use the service to make payments to the digital wallets of premium content creators that sell to their followers on the platform.To minimize fluctuations in the value of payments, the coin that has been chosen by Stripe is Stablecoin (USDC) which is index-linked to the US dollar.
Kraken to join the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)
Kraken, an exchange platform that operates that has 9 million-plus customers across 60 countries now has a license to operate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, unlike their competitors, they have not chosen to set up a base in Dubai, but in Abu Dhabi.
The main point of Kraken’s expansion is to allow investors in the region to be able to deposit, withdraw, and trade in crypto without having to transfer it into foreign currencies beforehand. Currently, all crypto deals have to be converted from Emirati Dirham (AED) to USD, EUR, or GBP, and then into crypto. However, with the opening of the Kraken exchange in Abu Dhabi, local investors will be able to trade directly in the local currency with the Emirati Dirham (AED).
Fidelity announces that it will offer Bitcoin in Its 401(k) Accounts
U.S.-based financial services firm Fidelity Investments has shared plans that later this year it will allow investors to put Bitcoin into their 401(k) retirement savings accounts. While the maximum cap expected to be no more than 20%, this move would give people the opportunity to gain exposure to Bitcoin as part of their investment strategy without needing to use a cryptocurrency exchange.
Fidelity’s 401(k) assets held an estimated $2.4 trillion in 2020, which is more than a third of the market at the time, so this news could mean a huge influx of people embracing Bitcoin.
