PayPal CEO Is Bullish on Bitcoin as a Currency; XRP Surges to 2-Year High; Facebook's Libra to Launch in January 2021

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Last week (23-28 November) was another interesting one in Blockchain & Cryptocurrency space this year. PayPal CEO is bullish on Bitcoin as currency; XRP is now at a 2-year high, while Facebook’s Libra is set to launch as early as January next year, 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.

PayPal CEO Schulman Say He’s Bullish on Bitcoin as a Currency

PayPal (PYPL) CEO Dan Schulman said bitcoin’s usefulness as a currency will ultimately prevail over the buy-and-hold ethos, in an interview with CNBC Squawk Box on Monday.

"I think that there'll be more and more use cases for cryptocurrencies," that make Bitcoin more widely accepted, more stable, and probably "more valuable" over time, said Dan Schulman.

As reported earlier, PayPal will begin allowing users to transact with crypto as a funding instrument across 28 million businesses early next year.

Also, Schulman said that central bank digital currency is a global inevitability. As that happens, "you'll have more and more utility happen with cryptocurrencies," he said.

THE TAKEAWAY

Bitcoin is slowly but surely starting to take attention from the Big Guys, and PayPal is one of them. PayPal's cryptocurrency purchasing services are scooping up an overwhelming number of newly minted Bitcoins, according to various reports. It’s yet another illustration that crypto will soon be an integral part of our economies.

XRP Surges to 2-Year High

XRP has performed an impressive rally to two-year highs in the last few days, and a coming airdrop may be driving the gains.

The world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market value is up 130% from lows near $0.30 seen on Saturday. Prices reached a high of $0.79 earlier on Tuesday, the highest level since May 10, 2018.

The on-chain activity has picked up the pace alongside the price rally, with the new account activations on the XRP Ledger rising more than 200% to a record high of 5,562 in the past five days, according to data source XRPScan.

According to some analysts, the surge in XRP’s price and other metrics with the smart contract platform Flare Network’s airdrop of “spark” tokens to XRP holders.

The free distribution of 45 billion spark tokens, based on a snapshot of XRP addresses on December 12, is supported by Ripple’s investment arm RippleX (formerly Xpring).

THE TAKEAWAY

XRP is great again. The aforesaid airdrop is supercharging the XRP bull market. With the imminent launch of Flare, a smart contract utility fork of XRP, the pair will attempt to challenge Ethereum’s dominance in decentralized finance and decentralized applications.

Facebook's Libra to Launch in January 2021

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is reportedly preparing to launch with a single cryptocurrency, a scaled-down version of its original plan.

Facebook’s stablecoin, Libra might get off the ground as early as January 2021, albeit in a more limited format than the original multi-currency basket envisioned, according to CoinDesk.

Citing the Financial Times, CoinDesk mentioned that the Libra stablecoin project might launch a single dollar-pegged stablecoin in 2021. In June 2019, the project proposed that Libra might be pegged to a basket composed of multiple fiat currencies. But the plan was reconsidered by project leaders in April 2020 because of regulatory pressure from lawmakers in the US and abroad.

The project’s leaders announced Libra could launch as a series of stablecoins (e.g. LibraUSD, LibraEUR, LibraGBP, LibraSGD), each pegged to a fiat currency, rather than one multi-currency basket during that revamp.

THE TAKEAWAY

Facebook wants to create internet money. Being at the center of social media, the tech giant wants to be part of the monetary system too. Will regulators allow that though? ??

Extra Reads & Quick Bites for Curious Minds??:

• Fidelity: Bitcoin's Institutional Adoption Is Having a ‘Watershed Moment’
• Coinbase now custodies $20 billion in institutional assets.
• Coinsquare files applications to operate a regulated digital asset marketplace in Canada.

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

What’s the game going to look like in 2021? ??

Graph of the Week

The price of Bitcoin has fallen suddenly in 24 hours. From about $19,500 on Thursday, Bitcoin crashed to $16,350 on Friday, a slide of about 15%. Bitcoin price crashes are generally a result of force liquidations at crypto derivatives exchanges. Indeed, nearly $1.9 billion worth of open interest was liquidated from exchanges in the last 24 hours, according to The Block Research.

Week in Brief

PayPal (PYPL) CEO Dan Schulman said bitcoin’s usefulness as a currency will ultimately prevail over the buy-and-hold ethos, in an interview with CNBC Squawk Box on Monday.

XRP has performed an impressive rally to two-year highs in the last few days, and a coming airdrop may be driving the gains.

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is reportedly preparing to launch with a single cryptocurrency, a scaled-down version of its original plan.

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