Crypto Surges After Powell Says It Has "Staying Power As An Asset Class"

23 June 2023

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Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced a significant surge in value following comments from USA Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jerome Powell, who stated that crypto has "staying power" as an asset class. This endorsement and Wall Street institutions' increasing interest in adopting blockchain technology has boosted the overall crypto market.

Bitcoin saw an 8% increase, crossing the $30,000 mark for the first time since mid-April. Ethereum's Ether also rose by more than 5%, reaching $1,877, its highest point since June of the previous year. Powell's remarks during his testimony before lawmakers emphasized that stablecoins are considered a form of money.

In addition to the market rally, prominent financial firms such as Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities made their entry into the digital asset space by launching the non-custodial crypto exchange EDX. BlackRock further fueled the momentum by submitting an application for a Bitcoin-based ETF, prompting other large institutions to follow suit.

The top ten cryptocurrencies, excluding stablecoins, all experienced gains of at least 2%, with Cardano's ADA seeing an increase of over 7% and Solana's SOL rising nearly 5%.

The endorsement from Powell and the entry of established financial players into the crypto space signal growing acceptance and recognition of cryptocurrencies as a viable asset class with long-term potential. Read more here.

Coinbase Aims to Become a "Super-App" in the Next 5-7 Years

Despite recent regulatory challenges, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong remains optimistic about the future of the digital ecosystem. Speaking at Coinbase's State of Crypto Summit, Armstrong highlighted the potential of crypto beyond just trading and speculation. He emphasized that crypto has numerous use cases and referenced the involvement of traditional financial services firms like BlackRock and Fidelity as a positive shift in the industry.

Armstrong shared Coinbase's ambition to become a "super-app" over the next 5 to 7 years. A "super-app" is an application offering a wide range of services, similar to AliPay and WeChat. Coinbase aims to build a decentralized app (dApp) based on blockchain technology, enabling peer-to-peer services without compromising user privacy.

Despite facing a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that Coinbase operates as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency, Armstrong's positive outlook remains unchanged. The regulatory challenges have alerted the entire crypto industry, but Coinbase's determination to evolve into a comprehensive platform showcases its belief in crypto's long-term potential. Read more here.

The Splitchain Advantage: Why Coinbase Should Consider Integrating Splitchain in their Super-App.

Coinbase's aspiration to become a "super-app" presents an exciting opportunity to leverage the capabilities of Splitchain technology. While blockchain has been a foundational technology for cryptocurrencies, the emergence of Splitchain solves many current layer 1 blockchain limitations.

There are many reasons, but we'll focus on one:

Splitchain's increasingly decentralized scalability means its enhanced transaction throughput addresses the limitations of traditional layer 1 blockchain networks. This means Coinbase could run more of their settlement services directly on Splitchain, instead of having to run their own centralized databases. It's due to traditional blockchains being too expensive with their high fees and much slower settlement times.

Not only does this simplify a company's system architecture, but it should also reduce running costs, overheads and maintenance periods. You don't have to coordinate different systems with different sources of truth, like these companies currently do. This is incredibly important for reliable transactions. Splitchain's protocol takes care of this.

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All the best,
Peter
MyZucoins

Disclaimer: Of course, this is not advice, financial or otherwise. It’s also important to consider the risks and challenges associated with any potential benefits.