BTC High, Zuck Lawsuit, Google Crash, and Elon Musk Tweets Crypto
BTC High, Zuck Lawsuit, Google Crash, and Elon Musk Tweets Crypto
Hey Redpill Readers!
Today’s newsletter brings you the latest crypto stories and trends.
From Bitcoin’s bullish price hike to a Google crash… and more.
Let’s get to it…
BITCOIN PRICE HITS ALL TIME HIGH
If you’re a Bitcoin holder, congrats!
Today, your patience pays off because...
Bitcoin, the world’s largest crypto, just hit $28K.
It’s been on a tear and has been super bullish!
So, what’s behind Bitcoin’s massive rally?
A quick rewind… the Bitcoin price rally in 2017 was attributed to the surge of retail investors.
Now… the Bitcoin massive breakthrough to $28k is due to the institutional investments pouring in.
A recap of some big names joining the crypto market:
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego who earlier revealed that 10% of his liquid portfolio is a Bitcoin investment...
Big name investors like JPMorgan, Paul Tudor Jones, and Stanley Druckenmiller...
And then there’s PayPal, Square’s CashApp, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy with mind-blowing investment figures...
THE TAKEAWAY
As we expected… Big-time investors publicly acknowledging BTC as a valuable asset (and then entering the crypto space) really strengthened public confidence in the cryptocurrency.
Plus, it facilitated the breakout to the $20k resistance…
And beyond...
Just as our firm predicted.
Will it keep going upwards?
Some experts are calling for $30k BTC by the end of the year. Some liken this massive rally to 2017’s BTC price hike and dip.
But today’s price rally is different. Reason? Institutional investments which were lacking during the 2017 price rally.
With high-net investors backing it, BTC could be stronger than ever.
Our final point… those who embraced BTC during the 2017 dip (or prior) as a buying and hodling chance… well, they’re a lot richer.
And this is why you should listen to the experts, and not the talking parrots on television. They don’t understand economics. And what’s worse, they often work for Wall Street. Not mainstreet investors, like yourself.
Next up…
ZUCK BUCK’S RENAME TO DIEM GETS LAWSUIT THREAT
A quick look back: Mark Zuckerberg has entered fintech. His FB-founded Libra Association is gearing up for the 2021 launch of its digital coin.
In fact, the Libra Association recently renamed itself to Diem.
Why? To avoid its past image which was met with intense regulatory issues.
And its currency is now also called “Diem” which isn’t great.
But here’s the problem: Libra Association picked the wrong name.
A London-based fintech app with the same name, but unrelated to Facebook, or to its backed Libra Association, objects to the rebranding.
Yikes.
Diem threatens to sue Facebook to protect the identity of their brand.
And get this, the Diem Co-Founder and investor Chris Adelsbach said that while he is reluctant to sue the social media giant, legal advice was given to him to protect his company’s brand.
He went on to say…
“It wouldn’t have taken that much effort for Facebook to find out if there’s another Diem in financial services […] They obviously took the view that ‘we can just crush them, we’re Facebook’.”
THE TAKEAWAY
If a lawsuit pushes through… this will be another trademark violation which threatens delay on the launch of Facebook’s cryptocurrency project.
The logo issue: Last year, Current, another fintech company, sued Facebook and its subsidiaries over a Calibra’s logo that looked highly similar to Current’s. The logo has since been changed and Calibra has been renamed to Novi Financial.
In other words? Changes, changes, and more changes.
Now, for some real talk…
If the lawsuit proceeds, it’s a battle of resources – a David versus Goliath thing. But if not, it ends with a settlement. And the only question asked is ‘how much?’
Meanwhile….
BITSTAMP SAYS SORRY FOR ‘TOXIC WASTE’ COMMENT ON XRP
Bitstamp apologized to XRP after calling it trash in a published report.
Full story: Bitstamp, a digital asset exchange, published a Messari report entitled “Crypto Theses for 2021” that called XRP a “toxic waste” and XLM and LTC as “piles of sh*t” in friendly terms.
The next day…
Bitstamp tweeted an apology for the unprofessional language used in the report.
Ryan Selkis, Founder & CEO of Messari also explained in a tweet the purpose of using the offensive language. He says it’s to ‘keep the readers engaged’ in reading the lengthy report.
He went on to say that... “Bitstamp may have expected a more cerebral ‘Pro’ piece from our analysts vs. the yearly [company] hot takes. I don't blame them for being caught off guard.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Our take: The apology was an appropriate response.
But Selkis shouldn’t have been blamed for his relaxed manner of presenting the report. Some prefer the professional and formal way of writing. Some don’t.
Either way…
He has a right to do what he wants, especially when it comes to keeping the readers engrossed up to the end of a lengthy report.
Next up is some FUD of the month…
FRANCE BANNING ANONYMOUS ACCOUNTS IN CRYPTO
France Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire issued orders requiring crypto exchanges to check and authenticate the identity of crypto owners.
Here’s what we know about the regulation…
Cryptocurrency exchanges are required to implement stricter know-your-customer (KYC) system
Stricter ID requirements which will require two proofs of identity of traders for the first Euro spent
Registration of crypto exchanges with France’s financial administrative regulators
The French minister also asked crypto service providers to implement a total ban on anonymous crypto accounts.
He explained that the government must ‘dry up all the terrorist financing circuits for the smallest euro’ and ‘strengthen the fight against anonymity of crypto-asset transactions.’
THE TAKEAWAY
French government remains wary of cryptocurrency platforms being a haven for illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing.
But in fact, traditional finance tops money laundering.
Large banks across the globe facilitate suspicious transfers of huge amounts of fiat money for financial criminals and terrorists with little oversight.
Says who?
Experts on the crypto market have long assured that cryptocurrency takes the smallest of the pie when it comes to illicit transactions.
For one… Binance Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao “CZ” said that it’s ‘probably a thousand times less’ when it comes to the volume of illicit activities compared to fiat.
He added…
Money can hardly be moved anonymously in crypto...
Considering that it’s an ‘open ledger’ and that transactions leave a trace. This means ‘you can trace the funds all the way back to where the coins were mined’ which makes sense.
Final thought: Crippling regulatory measures that defeat the reason for decentralized finance – which is, financial freedom - is quite honestly, a no-no.
But what do you expect from folks like that?
More fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Moving on...
GOOGLE CRASHED – WHY?
A few weeks ago, Google was worthless… just for a few minutes.
Here’s the story: Google services such as Gmail, Google Docs, and YouTube temporarily went offline across the world for approximately 45 minutes.
Users around the globe went crazy as they kept getting error messages when accessing their Google accounts.
‘#Googledown’ trended on Twitter.
And with users trying to figure out what went wrong with Google…
“Is Google down?” was a top search for that day.
So, what went wrong?
Google says it experienced an ‘authentication system outage for approximately 45 minutes due to an internal storage quota issue.’
Whatever that means.
The important thing is Google fixed the issue and restored all services.
Plus… it apologized to its users and promised to make sure that the issue won’t happen again.
THE TAKEAWAY
The Google outage on Monday revealed two things:
Billions of people are reliant on Google's services… For most people, G-services became platforms for remote work and classes particularly during this pandemic.
A bad Google crisis is a possibility… With its vast clients worldwide, Google outages could well disrupt people’s normal routine.
People across the world who are hugely dependent on Google services felt the impact of the brief outage.
But for the crypto space, the good news is…
Despite the Google outage, Bitcoin prices have remained up. And blew past higher prices going into Christmas and the days following.
And lastly, in some rather shocking (and bullish news) for Bitcoin...
TESLA’S ELON MUSK ASKS ABOUT CONVERTING ‘LARGE TRANSACTIONS’ TO BITCOIN
Musk also fired off a series of entertaining – and a little racy – tweets (here, here, here, and here). And get this, in one of them, he said...
"Bitcoin is almost as BS as fiat money," which could be taken as a backhanded compliment. But we know the truth.
Elon knows more about BTC and cryptos than he lets on.
But what better way to spread awareness than being a troll and making the sheep think (for once in their lives)?
One of those R-rated Bitcoin tweets prompted a response from the new leader in oru space, MicroStrategy's Saylor, who's a big Bitcoin bull. And who has loaded up his company's treasury with BTC.
"If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favor, convert the $TSLA balance sheet from USD to #BTC. Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead & in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favor," Saylor wrote.
Musk soon replied…
"Are large transactions even possible?" To which Saylor responded: "Yes I have purchased over $1.3 billion in #BTC in past months & would be happy to share my playbook with you offline - one rocket scientist to another."
THE TAKEAWAY
In short? We’re no longer going to the moon folks… we’re going to mars. So, get ready Redpill investors. It’s going to be quite the ride!
MORE REDPILL CRYPTO NEWS
Ruffer Investment Company Ltd. buys $744M worth BTC. The UK-based investment manager moves to BTC and reduces their gold position. Reason? For the “continued devaluation” of fiat money.
Bitcoin Senator Lummis seeks BTC awareness campaign in the US Senate. Always a good sign.
Another big-fish investor… MassMutual bought $100M Bitcoin
Joining the crypto club… CNBC host Jim Cramer says he bought BTC at $17k. He’s been wrong about so much, but he finally made a smart decision with this purchase. Good for him.
Glassnode CTO Rafael Schultze-Kraft describes BTC market indicators as ‘insanely bullish’ and predicts BTC price to increase tenfold from here. $30k? $50k? $100k? Time will tell.
CNBC reports cryptocurrency XRP plunged 25% after the SEC filed a nasty lawsuit against Ripple – ouch
Michael Saylor is back at it again. The CEO of MicroStrategy splurged another $650M on the latest Bitcoin investment
Who else? Anthony Scaramucci from SkyBridge Capital. They plan on investing $25 million in Bitcoin (possibly more)
Also, thanks to the Coinbase IPO, the price of a bunch of crypto companies is “about to go way way higher” – says Barry Silbert
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