Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary said he was “not against Bitcoin” but would invest far more into the crypto asset if it were backed by regulators.
Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary, who appears on the reality TV show Shark Tank, has seemingly softened his stance on Bitcoin after speaking with Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano.
In an episode of the Pomp Podcast released today, Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary appeared to be moving past his statements last year when he declared that Bitcoin (BTC) was “not a real currency” — though he still expressed concerns about the crypto asset’s volatility.
The businessman said that he already owned some BTC and he might consider investing “a little bit more” of his $400 million net worth in the cryptocurrency.
“I am not against Bitcoin, I'm not against it,” said O’Leary. “But when you're talking about putting millions of dollars to work you really want to understand that you can think long term about it and I have a feeling there'll be other alternative ideas.”
O'Leary said his main concern over investing anywhere from 1% to 2.5% of his portfolio — half what he holds in gold — into Bitcoin is the crypto asset doesn’t have the backing of regulators yet:
“Maybe I’ll put a little bit more [into Bitcoin] just for the heck of it. I have a little bit just so I can watch the price but it bothers me when I can't get the regulator on board.”
However, if governments were to get behind digital assets, the businessman said he would consider putting a larger percentage of his portfolio into crypto. “The globe needs a digital currency,” he said.
“If you told me the Swiss and the Euro and the American and the Canadian, Australian governments agreed to whatever that is, I would put up to 20% of my portfolio in it.”
The Shark Tank star’s comments seemingly show a greater acceptance of crypto assets given what he said last year. In a 2019 CNBC interview, O'Leary referred to crypto as a “rogue currency” because one couldn’t pay taxes using it and was largely unregulated:
“I have no interest in doing any of this crypto crap because it is not compliant.”
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Ether price has rallied 322% year-to-date and its $67 billion market cap now surpasses General Motors and CME Group.
2020 has been an impressive year for the Ethereum network and Ether (ETH) price. In November the Eth2 deposit contract quietly launched and before the end of the month the contract had reached capacity with 524,288 Ether locked.
When Black Thursday occured on March 12, nearly every cryptocurrency had its price crushed and Ether was not spared from the carnage. After trading for as little as $86 on March 12, Ether price recovered to post a year-to-date gain of 322% and the altcoin set a 2020 high at $635.70 on Dec.1.
Despite the accolades being lauded upon Bitcoin as it broke to a new all-time high today, Ethereum price has actually outperformed BTC in 2020.
Ether versus Bitcoin performance (year-to-date). Source: Digital Assets Data
Despite this stellar performance, Ether is still approximately 59% below its 2018 all-time high at $1,431 all-time high. Even with the price sitting far below its all-time high, the top altcoin’s $67 billion market capitalization has surpassed automaker General Motors and that of the CME Group.
It is worth noting that these comparisons are debatable as listed companies have assets, liabilities, capital expenditure, sales, and employees. While the same cannot be said for Ether, traders will compare the two nonetheless.
Long-term investors tend to establish multiple competition scenarios, growth analysis, and run valuation multiples. Meanwhile, traders will care mostly about price and volume.
Aside from the differences in the two assets and the drivers of their value, it is worth noting that some of the newer trading platforms offer cryptocurrencies and stock trading simultaneously.
Mobile app-based brokerages like E*Trade, RobinHood, and eToro have tens of millions of users and as the effortless on-ramp offered by these platforms will make it easier for a wider swath of investors to interact with digital assets.
How Ether compares against companies with similar market capitalization
Colgate-Palmolive is a member of the S&P 500 index and the company has a $73 billion market cap. The company was founded in 1806 and presented a $2.7 billion net income over the past 12 months.
U.S. Bancorp also has a $67 billion market cap, is the fifth-largest American bank and also is a member of the S&P 500. The company was founded in 1968 and also owns Elevon, a credit card processor.
Lastly, at a $64 billion market cap, CME Group owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which was founded 172 years ago. Its net income totaled $2.1 billion over the last 12 months, and the stock also comprises the S&P 500 index.
While Ether shares a similar sized market cap, it is nothing like the companies listed above. The cryptocurrency holds no balance sheet or income statement. Therefore Ether behaves more like commodities like gold, oil, and Bitcoin. The chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has also expressed a similar point of view.
ETH vs. similar market capitalization companies, USD billion. Source: TradingView
As clearly depicted in the chart above, there are hardly any similarities between Ether and listed companies. While those stocks trade an average of $283 million per day, the cryptocurrency does over $2 billion, according to data from Messari.
The same can be said about Ether’s volatility, the standard measure for average daily price oscillations. Cryptocurrencies tend to have much stronger movements, mostly because they do not rely on sales or growth expectations.
90-day volatility of ETH, USB US, CME US, CL US. Source: TradingView
While Ether’s annualized 90-day rate surpasses 80%, it stands at 20% for Colgate-Palmolive and 32% for CME. Meanwhile, U.S. Bancorp shows a 47% volatility and, although this is unusually high for most equities, it is still a mile away from the levels seen among cryptocurrencies.
Growth companies have given Ether a run for the money
Not all companies are alike, and a select few tech ones have been competing with Ether’s bull run. For example, Zillow has been on a run with a $25 billion market capitalization, and so has Square, which is at $94 billion.
Ether (ETH) vs. Zillow (Z US) and Square (SQ US). Source: TradingView
Both Zillow and Square managed to double their revenue over the past two years and each tremendous potential market share growth within their sector.
Unlike Ether, they carry the weight of capital expenditures, marketing, and other growing pains. Despite this, both still managed to post 220% gains over the past thirteen months.
Crypto and stocks are becoming less of an apples and oranges conversation
It is a relatively fruitless exercise to imagine the potential market for Ether. First, cryptocurrency penetration is minimal, and recent studies show that only 7% of Americans have bought Bitcoin. Therefore, the percentage of those effectively using the Ethereum ecosystem is much smaller.
Unlike the listed companies, Ether is a part of an open-source software. Thus upgrades and new system interconnections are possible. While it’s difficult to affix value to the network’s ability to evolve, the launch of today’s Ethereum 2.0 genesis block could be viewed as an example since Ether price saw an impressive rally leading into the upgrade.
To conclude, it is fair to say that Ether has much higher potential than the vast majority of listed companies but this doesn’t mean investors will disregard evaluating its market capitalization against growth tech companies.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of theauthorand do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.
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The mandatory license will allow Crypto.com to issue crypto debit cards in Australia.
Crypto exchange and debit card provider Crypto.com has completed the acquisition of an Australian financial services company in order to secure an Australian Financial Service License, or ASFL.
The acquired firm, named The Card Group Pty Ltd, has been described as specializing in "prepaid card, mobile, and wearable solutions" for enhancing cardholders' engagement. Crucially, the firm was already approved by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, paving the way for Crypto.com's ASFL.
With an ASFL under its belt, Crypto.com will be licensed to legally issue its proprietary card in Australia and to establish direct relationships with domestic consumers along with actors in the wider Australian financial services system.
Crypto.com — which operates an app, an exchange and a DeFi wallet, as well as a Visa card — has already made some first steps toward establishing an Australian user base; it recently enabled Australian dollar transfers in and out of its platform via NPP (PayID) or BPAY from user bank accounts.
All blockchain businesses whose activities encompass certain financial services are required to secure an ASFL to operate in Australia, which means they are obliged to comply with the country's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.
As a recent Cointelegraph analysis piece outlined, Australia is considered by crypto business operators to be "a relatively permissive jurisdiction" from a regulatory perspective. The measures the country has introduced so far draw on a long-term awareness of the nascent sector, dating back to as early as 2014 — well before the 2017 hype and bull run of the asset class. From the perspective of blockchain technology more broadly, however, the country's national blockchain roadmap has drawn some criticism for its ostensibly narrow vision.
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One of the largest Bitcoin purchases in 2020 took more than five days to complete.
Coinbase, the United States’ largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced that itfacilitated one of the largest institutional Bitcoin (BTC) purchases in 2020.
According to an official announcement, Coinbase was selected as the primary execution partner for MicroStrategy’s $425 million purchase of Bitcoin in September 2020.
Brett Tejpaul, head of institutional sales at Coinbase, provided more details about the purchase as well as the company’s aim to facilitate institutional purchases in a Dec. 1 blog post.
“Using our advanced execution capabilities, leading crypto prime brokerage platform, and OTC desk, we were able to buy a significant amount of Bitcoin on behalf of MicroStrategy and did so without moving the market,” Tejpaul said. According to the post, MicroStrategy chose Coinbase because the platform provides a number of market tools like smart order routing and algorithmic trading tools.
According to a case study on the MicroStrategy trades, Coinbase conducted a series of pre-trade calls with MicroStrategy prior to the $425 million purchase in order to better understand trade execution goals and develop a trading plan.
Following the successful test, Coinbase began to execute the larger trade, involving the “Time Weighted Average Price” algorithm to execute the trade over a period of five days.
Over the course of the trade, MicroStrategy had a 9 a.m. call each day with the Coinbase trading team to start trading and report overnight fills. After completing an initial $250 million investment over a period of five days, MicroStrategy went on to invest an additional $175 million in Bitcoin following the success of the first trade, for a total investment of $425 million.
In the post, Coinbase expressed its willingness to help more institutions looking to buy crypto:
“We hope that this is an inflection point for the cryptoeconomy and look forward to helping more corporate companies and institutions looking to diversify their capital allocation strategies with crypto. Working on an agency basis, clients can be sure our interests are aligned as we seek to find the best prices available in the market.”
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BTC price trims $1,600 in under two hours thanks to pressure from sellers near $20,000, while Ether also tanks below $600.
Bitcoin (BTC) continued an intense day of volatility on Dec. 1, hitting lows of $18,400 just over an hour after challenging $20,000 and breaking a new all-time high.
Cryptocurrency market overview from Coin360
Bitcoin sheds $1,600 in under 2 hours
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView tracked BTC/USD as it delivered some of its most unpredictable moves in history.
At press time, the pair was moving in a range roughly bordered by $18,500 and $19,000, with conditions changing by the minute.
Just an hour previously, an attempt to crack $20,000 resulted in a firm rejection along with a $1,000 dive to $19,000 in under ten minutes.
The move mimics Bitcoin's behavior from last week, during which an initial attempt to break $19,500 also sparked major problems.
As reported on Monday, traders will now likely be watching the newly established BTC futures gaps, between $16,900 and $18,300, which may get "filled" if the price corrects futher.
Ether price disappoints at Ethereum 2.0 launch
Meanwhile, volatility spilled over to altcoins, with Ether (ETH) abruptly losing $600 to trade closer to $575 at press time, thus reversing the previous day’s gains.
Tutors, taxi drivers and repairmen will be able to take advantage of Alfa-Bank's blockchain-based services.
Alfa-Bank, one of the largest private commercial banks in Russia, is exploring blockchain technology in its services for freelancers.
According to a Dec. 1 announcement, Alfa-Bank will use blockchain-based applications to automate services for freelancers and self-employed workers. Based on Waves Enterprise’s blockchain platform, Alfa-Bank’s new service covers the entire process of registration and remuneration for self-employed individuals, including payments settlement, income registration and tax payments.
Denis Dodon, director of Alfa-Bank’s research and development center, told Cointelegraph that the new blockchain-based service enables freelancers to get direct remuneration via any bank:
“DLT and embedded smart contracts with an end-to-end integration into the banking core settlements and clearings system allows to effect automatic formation of payment instructions [...] with direct transmission of payment instructions via DLT to cards and bank accounts of self-employed in any bank.”
The new service comprises two applications including the enterprise-focused “Alfa.Corporate” and “My Income” platform for individuals. Igor Kuzmichev, chief commercial officer at the Waves Enterprise, said that Waves Enterprise's blockchain technology provides a secure data exchange between the bank and a business as well as transparent and immutable data storage.
Kuzmichev noted that Waves Enterprise is acting as a primary tool for the bank’s so-called "Bank-as-a-Service" approach:
“Thanks to blockchain core features — data transparency and immutability — new bank services can now be developed at customer’ side but not in the core banking system environment. This approach significantly boosts time-to-market and brings new developers into the fintech ecosystem.”
Kuzmichev said that the new service’s target audience includes self-employed workers such as taxi drivers, cleaning and repair services, tutors, and others.
Alfa-Bank has emerged as one of the most blockchain-friendly banks in Russia. In early November 2020, Alfa-Bank became the first Russian bank to join Contour, a DLT platform connecting the world’s financial giants like HSBC, ING and Citi.
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Ethereum’s proof-of-stake transition takes another step toward completion.
After literally years in the making, the genesis block of the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain has finally seen the light of day.
The repeatedly delayed scalability and security upgrade to the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap confidently took its first breath as planned, at just after 12 pm UTC on Dec. 1. The launch suffered no hiccups and immediately reached the required stake participation rate to finalize the blockchain.
Vitalik Buterin joked about how the first block did not include any meaningful messages “about some giant leaps for mankind or whatever.”
Normal people: we should really put something profound in the first block of the ethereum PoS chain, something about giant leaps for mankind or whatever.
The biggest change is the introduction of a proof-of-stake consensus to the network, which has previously been purely based on the same proof-of-work consensus as Bitcoin.
PoS aims to provide a more energy-efficient method of securing the network by requiring validators to lock Ether (ETH) into a staking contract, rather than solve cryptographic puzzles using computing power.
The planned launch date was confirmed just a week ago, as the seven-day countdown could only be initiated once a total of 524,288 Ether had been deposited in the staking contract.
After a painfully slow start, the staking total was reached with just hours to spare in order to hit the anticipat target of Dec. 1.
The transition to PoS paves the way for future planned upgrades to be implemented, such as sharding to improve scalability.
Currently staked ETH are likely to be locked up until Phase 1.5 of the Ethereum 2.0 rollout, currently planned for late 2021 or early 2022. This will see the current Ethereum mainnet merge with the new beacon chain and sharding system.
Anticipation for the Eth2 launch has been building throughout 2020, and has been reflected in the price of Ether, which started the year at just $130 but is currently riding high at over $600.
The launch will be especially welcomed by those in the decentralized finance community. The explosion of DeFi during 2020 saw a huge increase in traffic and gas fees on the Ethereum network.
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