Square's Bitcoin Hardware Wallet ??; Goldman Sachs is Confident in Ether ??; NFTs Aren’t Over Yet ??

Hey Everyone,

Quick announcement - in case you missed it, I've launched a?daily newsletter?on all things where Finance meets Technology. Delivered every morning, it will be the only newsletter you need to keep a pulse, and most importantly - make sense, on FinTech.

3 stories with 3 takeaways, things worth watching, and money moves will focus on the things that matter for the industry professionals and practitioners like myself. Easy to read, digest, and see the bigger picture, it will help you to save time and most importantly - stay ahead. Always.

Check it out here????

Last week (5-10 July) was another interesting week in the?Blockchain & Cryptocurrency?space. Jack loves Bitcoin, and hence?Square is building a Bitcoin hardware wallet;?Goldman Sachs thinks that Ether?might unseat?Bitcoin?as the dominant store of value; while?NFTs are continuing to bloom, and other super interesting news and developments.

Without further ado, let us dive into what has happened in the world of Blockchain & Crypto this week. Let’s connect the dots.

Square Will Make Bitcoin Hardware Wallet ??

Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square has decided to make a bitcoin hardware wallet.

Square, the payments company headed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has confirmed it will make a bitcoin hardware wallet. The decision comes a month after Dorsey?said?Square was considering making one.

"We have decided to build a hardware wallet and service to make bitcoin custody more mainstream,"?tweeted?Square's hardware lead Jesse Dorogusker on Thursday. Dorsey?confirmed?the news in a separate tweet.

A personal hardware wallet is non-custodial, meaning crypto holders stay in control of their own private keys instead of letting third parties like crypto exchanges handle the keys for them.

THE TAKEAWAY

Jack loves Bitcoin ???And it pays off… Square's Cash App already allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, and this business line has been a moneymaker for the company. Square?generated?$3.51 billion in bitcoin revenue during the first quarter of this year and $75 million in bitcoin gross profit during the same period. The firm also?holds bitcoin?on its balance sheet. Hence, making the Bitcoin wallet an integral part of Square and Cash App is a huge value add that could potentially bring in more usage and effectively - revenues for the firm.

Goldman Sachs is Confident in Ether

Ether Could Overtake Bitcoin as Store of Value, Goldman Sachs Says.

U.S. multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs thinks the native crypto of the Ethereum blockchain has what it takes to unseat?bitcoin?as the dominant store of value crypto.

According to a report by?Business Insider?on Tuesday, the bank believes?ether’s?use cases currently possess the highest “potential,” being the most popular development platform for smart contracts.

The report cited Goldman’s Tuesday note to clients which, while bullish on ether, denied cryptos’ superiority to gold when it came to taking the top spot among safe-haven assets.

“Gold is competing with crypto to the same extent it is competing with other risky assets such as equities and cyclical commodities,” the note said. “We view gold as a defensive inflation hedge and crypto as a risk-on inflation hedge.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Ether for the win? ???Goldman said Ether had the highest “real use” potential among cryptocurrencies (which many Bitcoin advocates would definitely disagree with). On the other hand, the banking giant also said cryptocurrencies don’t directly compete with gold as safe-haven assets due to their high volatility… Can Ether > Bitcoin in the long-run, or there’s place for many? ??

NFTs Aren’t Over Yet

NFT Sales Climb to $2.47B in First-Half 2021.?Sales in Q2 were $1.24 billion, in line with $1.23 billion in Q1.

Non-fungible token (NFT) sales rose to $2.47 billion in the first half of 2021, according to data by DappRadar.

Sales in the second quarter were $1.24 billion, only slightly eclipsing the first-quarter figure of $1.23 billion, Reuters?reported?Tuesday, citing DappRadar data.

The figures dwarf those of first-half 2020, when NFT sales totaled $13.7 million, Reuters said.

This surge represents the explosion in interest around NFTs in the last 12 months, buoyed by platforms such as NBA Top Shot, which have?enjoyed?considerable popularity.

THE TAKEAWAY

NFTs are here to stay? ???While the prices of most of the top crypto assets plummeted in Q2, NFT sales remained strong, even slightly eclipsing first-quarter figures of $1.23 billion. Compared to the first half of 2020, sales are up as much as >1,700%. It could potentially indicate that the market hype for NFTs is ongoing and reaching dizzying heights.?Non-fungibles might be here to stay after all…

Extra Reads & Quick Bites for Curious Minds??:

• The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, filled a new role — that of chief digital currency adviser, unveiled on July 6, recruiting Michele Korver for the job. Korver has an array of experience in crypto regulation, including serving as digital currency counsel for the United States Department of Justice.
• Regulatory complications surrounding the Binance crypto exchange continued to surface this past week, with several news developments on the scene. In light of recent regulatory moves around Binance related to Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom, the ruling body of Poland’s finance scene, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, or PFSA, cautioned Polish Binance users on their interactions with the exchange, as well as with crypto in general.
• The mining difficulty of the Bitcoin network has dropped by 27.9%, as the network adjusts to the massive drop in hash rate. This is the biggest decrease in mining difficulty since the network went live in 2009.
• Crypto exchange Crypto.com has signed a deal with the UFC, becoming its global official fight kit partner. The goal of the deal is to “bring crypto to the mainstream,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek told The Block.

??Money Moves??

• Bullish, the cryptocurrency exchange backed by Block.one,?revealed?Friday its plans to go public via a SPAC deal, making it the latest company in the digital asset market to announce its intentions to list its shares on an equity exchange.?
• DeFi investing platform?Zerion raised $8.2M?in a Series A.

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

What’s next? ??

Graph of the Week

VCs are super bullish on Blockchain/Crypto firms. The money never lies ??

Week in Brief

Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square has decided to make a bitcoin hardware wallet.

Ether Could Overtake Bitcoin as Store of Value, Goldman Sachs Says.

NFT Sales Climb to $2.47B in First-Half 2021.?Sales in Q2 were $1.24 billion, in line with $1.23 billion in Q1.

Continue reading by subscribing to?Linas's Newsletter.?You will receive fresh news about Finance + Tech (including Blockchain & Crypto) with hot takeaways every day.

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

???The Perfect Pitch Deck: How Coinbase Raised Seed Capital and Began Journey Towards $100B Worth Public Company

???Cutting Through the Noise: Bitcoin Fundamentals & Why it Was Created

***

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.

If you've enjoyed this piece, don't hesitate to press like, comment on what you think, and share the article with others. Let's spread the knowledge together!

For more, hit the?subscribe?button, follow me on?LinkedIn?&?Twitter. I'm building the best community the social world has ever seen!????