Innocent BenjaminBitcoin Hits Highest Value Ever
Bitcoin, the most popular digital currency on earth, hit an all-time high value of $49,716.44, a significant increase from the record of $49,000 set on Thursday. This meant that one strand of bitcoin was equivalent to NGN18.9 million, ranking the digital asset as the 6th largest currency in the world.
The crypto has witnessed a stupendous increase in value in the last 12 months, with its valuation sitting at just $10,242 as at February 14, 2020, a staggering difference of over 385%. This rise was instigated by a viral spurt of attention generated by endorsements from major investors, scaling through the bad press presented by the exchanges’ ban in Nigeria and India.
At some point, investors and influencers expressed their optimism that it would cap the golden $50,000 mark before the weekend ran out.
Today feels like a good day for Bitcoin to break $50,000
— Pomp ? (@APompliano) February 14, 2021
Ban In India
India became the second country in the space of days to outrightly ban any form of cryptocurrency within its shores, following in the footsteps of Nigeria.
The legitimacy of the currency in India has been ephemeral and sporadic in the past two years with the Supreme Court overturning a 2018 ban by the Reserve Bank of India in March 2020.
That freedom didn’t last long though, as the Parliament of India are expected to snag any form of cryptocurrency transaction in the coming days.
The ban will however not be imposed instantaneously, as the country will considerably give a grace period spanning 3-6 months for investors to liquidate their investments.
Jay-Z and Twitter CEO Jointly Invest $23m In Bitcoin
While India were restricting the functioning of the currency, the head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey teamed up with American rapper, record producer and business mogul, Jay-Z, to explore and invest in it.
Via Twitter, Jack announced that he and his fellow billionaire, will be investing 500 Bitcoin into a endowment named ‘trust’, further stating the purpose of the move
JAY-Z/@S_C_ and I are giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named ₿trust to fund #Bitcoin development, initially focused on teams in Africa & India. It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start: https://t.co/L4mRBryMJe
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2021
500 BTC is currently worth $23 million.
However, if the rate at which the currency is appreciating is consistently maintained, bitcoin is expected to be worth over $100,000 by November.
If I told you 1 #Bitcoin is going to be worth ~$300,000 on October 21st, 2021 would you pay $46,000 today? Most don’t understand this.
— Jason A. Williams? (@GoingParabolic) February 13, 2021
This announcement also did more good than bad to the Twitter financial coffers as the company’s stock surged to a new 52-week high of $73.18 on February 12, a 20% increase from trading on February 9
Deutsche Bank Unveils Plans To Offer Crypto Custody
Frankfurt-headquarted multinational investment bank, Deutsche, have revealed plans to introduce a digital asset custody platform that provides prime brokerage and storage for clients.
This was disclosed on page 23 of the December 2020 report by World Economic Forum.
The company outlined their plans as thus:
“Deutsche Bank aims to develop a fully integrated custody platform for institutional clients and their digital assets providing seamless connectivity to the
Broader cryptocurrency ecosystem:
– Introduce a secure connected bridge between digital assets and a customer’s traditional banking services
– Manage the array of digital assets and fiat holdings in one easy-to-use platform, and create the gateway for value added services either supplied by the custodian or via third-party providers
– Ensure the safety and accessibility of assets for clients by offering an institutional-grade hot/cold storage solution with insurance-grade protection.”
The firm will become one of a number of increasing financial institutions venturing the beyond Fiat range of currencies into the promising world of digital money.
Deutsche, whose network span over 58 countries across North and South America, Europe and Asia are not only the biggest German banking institution, but also the 21st largest bank in the world by total assets.
James steller
