Bitcoin Price Goes Through $20,000; Bitcoin Beat the Stock Market for 8 of the Past 10 Years; Coinbase Files for IPO; SBI Financial Acquires B2C2l

Hey, ?? fellow Blockchain & Crypto aficionados! Hope you are all keeping well and safe during these unprecedented times. Enjoy best Weekly Digest thus far!

P.S. Before we dive into what happened in Blockchain & Crypto last week, check out my Connecting the Dots Newsletter, where you will get much more. Every Sunday????

Last week (14-19 December) was super hot in Blockchain & Cryptocurrency space this year. Again, it was all about Bitcoin breaking records and getting all the attention. Further, Coinbase has confidently filled for an IPO, Sygnum became the first bank to tokenize its own shares, and more exciting developments and insights.

Without further ado, let us dive into what has happened in the financial technology sector this week. Let’s connect the dots.

Bitcoin Price Goes Through $20,000

Bitcoin recently hit an all-time high, and now it’s breaking even more records.

Bitcoin’s price has broken the $20,000 barrier, doing so less than a month after recording a new all-time high of $19,850. Its price just rose up to $20,100 in a sudden surge.

It has been an eventful few months for Bitcoin. After embarking on a bull run starting this September—which saw the cryptocurrency’s price increase from about $10,000 to $19,000—Bitcoin crashed during the US Thanksgiving Day weekend, dropping to the $16,351 mark. On November 30, Bitcoin finally broke its all-time high. 

Now, it’s set another record, pushing up and beyond the $20,000 mark. 

At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price is around $23,700, according to data from Coindesk. 

THE TAKEAWAY

There are several drivers for the Bitcoin recent run. First, it’s institutional investors jumping in on crypto and getting more comfortable in allocating a fraction of their portfolios to the biggest crypto out there (MicroStrategy is leading the pack here). Second, it’s getting easier and easier to buy and sell crypto, hence, retail adoption is growing too. The question remains how sustainable is it. Any ideas? ??

Bitcoin Beat the Stock Market for 8 of the Past 10 Years

Bitcoin has brought its investors’ sky-high returns. Except for those two years in which it crashed hard. 

Investors reaped higher returns from Bitcoin than the stock market for eight out of the past 10 years, according to data from YCharts.

As it can be seen from the above data, Bitcoin brought investors astonishing returns when stacked up against other asset classes, such as the stock market, bonds, gold, and the US dollar. 

The only 2 years when Bitcoin brought negative returns were in 2014 and 2018.

THE TAKEAWAY

Numbers don’t lie. Buy Bitcoin - short dollar? ??

Coinbase Files for IPO

On Thursday the company announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form is expected to go into effect after the SEC completes its review process.

One day after cryptocurrency market operator Coinbase announced that it confidentially filed the regulatory paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO), a report indicates that the issue's leading banker will be Goldman Sachs.

An article published by Reuters on Friday and citing "a person familiar with the matter" said Goldman had been formally hired to bring the company to market. Presumably, this means that the storied investment bank will lead the syndicate of banks underwriting the deal, although few details were provided.

THE TAKEAWAY

The timing couldn't be any better. The stock market is frothy, and times of optimism are always good for IPOs since investors are being asked to put their money in a company as yet untested by the public markets. Cryptocurrencies are also doing extremely well in this era of economic stress; the far and away crypto leader, bitcoin, is trading at all-time highs.

Extra Reads & Quick Bites for Curious Minds??:

• Over a thousand startups lost their crypto licenses in Estonia this year. The country's Ministry of Finance rang the warning bells after the crypto sector was linked to a "high risk" of money laundering. Crypto scammers have allegedly thrived under a separate Estonian legal program as well.
• London-based asset manager, Ruffer Investment Company, today announced that it allocated 2.5% of one of its funds to Bitcoin. The firm manages $20.3 billion in assets. It joins a whole host of other “traditional finance” firms and bigwigs who are placing their bets on cryptocurrency.
• Paxos has raised a fresh $142 million to facilitate the mainstream adoption of digital assets.

Quote of the Week/??Food for Thought??

Graph of the Week

The number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least $1 million has gone parabolic. It increased by +150% to 66540 addresses. Reason - Bitcoin crossing $20k has turned all early miner addresses (50 BTC block rewards, unspent or lost) into millionaire addresses.

Week in Brief

Bitcoin recently hit an all-time high, and now it’s breaking even more records.

Bitcoin has brought its investors’ sky-high returns. Except for those two years in which it crashed hard. 

On Thursday the company announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form is expected to go into effect after the SEC completes its review process.

Continue reading by subscribing to Connecting the Dots Newsletter. You will receive fresh news about Blockchain & Cryptocurrency with hot takeaways every Sunday.

P.S. You might enjoy my earlier pieces as well:

?? These are the Best Performing Stocks of the Last Decade

?? Welcome to the Google Bank - Your Everyday Banking from Google, NOT a Bank.

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About: I am a business developer, sales professional, FinTech strategist, as well as Cryptocurrency and Blockchain enthusiast. I'm highly passionate about Financial Technology and Digital Innovation, and strongly believe that it will change the world for the better. Apart from my daily job at a global payments startup where I'm leading the company's expansion into Europe, I'm an active member of the FinTech community and a TechFin evangelist.

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