Bitcoin Above 50,000 | Formula 1, NBA Issue NFTs

IS CRYPTO THE REAL ROBINHOOD?

Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, was hauled in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday alongside several other key actors involved in the tumultuous trading activities in recent weeks. A dominant line of inquiry focused on the subtle, and perhaps hidden, drawbacks and fine print that come with the popularization of no commission trades, pay for order flow revenue models and the ease of use (i.e. gamification) of the Robinhood app. Witnesses were also quizzed about the efficacy and stability of today’s dominant ways of clearing and settling securities, which tend to happen two days after order execution (known as T+2 settlement).

The hearing did not arrive at any concrete solutions, however crypto enthusiasts see blockchain technology as a way around the T+2 setup by offering real time settlement for trade execution. This sentiment was echoed by committee member Warren Davidson, a leading crypto advocate in congress. More hearings are expected to continue.

BITCOIN SCALES $50,000

Currently priced above $56,000, bitcoin is up over 90% year-to-date. With a market capitalization above $1 trillion itself, the asset has been buoyed by from support by Elon Musk's Tesla, major bitcoin-buyer MicroStrategy  (which announced plans to buy almost another $1 billion worth this week), and traditional Wall Street giants such as Morgan Stanley looking to increase its exposure to the asset class. Furthermore, investment options for accredited investors and institutions continue to evolve, with the launch of the Osprey Bitcoin Trust , an ETP designed to compete with industry-giant Grayscale by offering lower fees.

However, bitcoin is not the only crypto asset having a stellar 2021. This month, ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin with a total value of around $220 billion, surged past its previous all-time high set in early 2018. Ethereum is up 162% since January 1, adding to gains of more than 645% over the last year.  Elsewhere, the prices of cardano and polkadot, two leading tokens that power blockchains designed to rival ethereum, have climbed as traders speculate they could win market share from ethereum. Polkadot is up 296% since January 1, while cardano has climbed 423%. Finally, binance coin has seen a recent surge, making it the third largest crypto by market capitalization, at least temporarily. It is up 710% year to date.

NFT LIFTOFF

In 2020, the trade volume of the non-fungible token (NFT) market surpassed $250 million, a four times increase from 2019, while the market capitalization of the nascent industry of tokens representing an array of items, including artwork and game collectibles from organizations such as the National Basketball Association, reached $338 million, according to a report published with the help of independent BNP Paribas subsidiary, L’Atelier. As an example, over the weekend of December 11-13 2020, digital artist Mike Winkelmann—better known as “Beeple” or @beeple_crap--sold 20 of his digital artworks for more than $3.5 million.

Similar to bitcoin, NFTs rely on blockchains to prove they are scarce, a necessary attribute of digital trading cards, works of art and other collectibles. Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, each one is unique. Many experts believe that NFTs will be one of the significant growth vectors in crypto throughout 2021.

ELSEWHERE

Coinbase, Readying for Public Listing, Gets $77B Valuation From Nasdaq Private Market [Yahoo Finance]

BNB Gains 45% in 24 Hours as PancakeSwap ‘Flippens’ Uniswap Volume [CoinDesk]

Janet Yellen Calls Bitcoin a ‘Highly Speculative Asset’ [Decrypt]

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