Weekly News Roundup: Billionaires Are Following the Disruption, Amazon Web Services Integrates Ethereum, NFTs Are on a Roll and All Financial Markets Are Cooling Off

March 8, 2021

Last week was another crazy week for all things cryptocurrency. The disruption is happening faster than ever before. There’s a lot to cover from last week so let’s get right to it!

Billionaire Money Is Flowing into the Disruption

Canadian billionaire Kevin O’Leary went on the record this week saying that he now has 3% of all of his wealth in Bitcoin. He is essentially doing what institutional investors and publicly traded companies are doing. He’s taking some of the money from his cash reserves and putting it into cryptocurrency.

Shark Tank investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban also appears more bullish on crypto than ever. He believes that Ethereum will disrupt traditional software companies. As the world of NFTs and DeFi continue to grow exponentially, more and more visionaries are going to start to see the light. Ethereum is severely undervalued.

Not only does Cuban believe Ethereum will disrupt software companies, but he also thinks that NBA TopShot has the potential to be a top-three revenue generator for the NBA within 10 years. He’s more bullish on decentralized applications and NFTs than he ever has been before. Perhaps you should be too!

All of the above points stand as fairly good reasons why options traders are currently betting on a USD 75,000 Bitcoin by the start of summer.

Amazon Accepts Crypto, but Not How You Think

Amazon is integrating blockchain technology into its business. It has been doing so for a while now. Amazon Managed Blockchain is a service within Amazon Web Services, one of the company’s primary revenue generators. The news means that Amazon Web Services users are going to be able to connect directly to Ethereum nodes on the Ethereum mainnet.

Application development is about to be decentralized in a whole new way with one of the biggest companies in the world embracing it. Is it only a matter of time before Amazon accepts tokens as payment for toothbrushes and toilet paper? Time will tell.

Grayscale Investments Buys 3,347 Ethereum Tokens in 24 Hours

Grayscale Investments owns more bitcoin than any other company in the world. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is holding onto exactly 649,130 bitcoins at the time of this writing. Earlier this week the company purchased 3,347 Ethereum tokens in one day. With Ethereum currently trading at $1,500 Canadian, that’s $5 million worth of Ethereum tokens.

The smart money was looking for value outside of traditional finance last year. This year they’re going to go outside of Bitcoin and of course, who is leading the way? Grayscale Investments.

Musicians Are Releasing NFTs Now

Kings of Leon is going to be the first major-label rock band to release an entire album through NFTs. Any fan who is lucky enough to get their hands on the NFTs will get exclusive access to future concerts, front row tickets, and other perks along with their purchase.

Canadian rapper and R&B artist Torey Lanez sold 450 NFT tokens worth of exclusive artwork and unreleased songs to his fans through a partnership with Bondly. He sold Them for 0.5 ETH each and the NFTs sold out in 90 seconds. Lanez is the first notable rapper to launch an NFT sale.

The Broader Financial Market Pulls Back

Rising bond yield prices usually mean the stock market cools off. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell didn’t exactly say enough to calm the concerns of investors this week. He hasn’t provided a clear strategy for taking care of Americans financially in a way that will also balance fears of ongoing inflation in the future.

Markets don’t like uncertainty and this is all to affect cryptocurrency without a doubt.

Looking to buy and sell ETH? Netcoins is Canada’s first publicly owned crypto trading platform to be fully regulated. Simply create an account with Netcoins, fund it with an e-Transfer (more funding options available) and head to the trade page to buy ETH. Sign up today!

That said, it’s still been a bullish week for the crypto market overall and it’s clear that innovation is advancing rapidly.