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source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/18/cryptocurrency-news/

Crypto-Backed Lending Service Sees Massive Demand

Crypto-backed lending service CEX.IO LOAN, launched in October 2020, has been experiencing major demand, receiving over $100M worth of loan requests to date. Most of the requests came from institutional investors, despite the service’s popularity among retail clientele, as well.

According to CEX.IO LOAN, such an increase in demand can be attributed to the institutionalization of the crypto-industry. Institutional investors in possession of cryptocurrencies regard it as collateral for borrowing funds and use it as such.

They prefer the company’s service due to the convenience it offers to users. On the CEX.IO LOAN platform, customers can borrow cash against their cryptoassets in a quick and simple manner, without having to deal with credit checks or any unnecessary paperwork.

CEX.IO LOAN serves various cryptocurrency market participants, from retail investors and traders to startups and large enterprises. Users can borrow any amount between $500 and $100,000 at competitive interest rates starting at 8.75% per year and the loan duration ranging from seven days to one year.

The service has already experienced high demand from VIP clients, with 41% of all CEX.IO LOAN customers borrowing cash against Bitcoin, 53% – against Ethereum, and 6% – against decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. 

While retail investors borrow $1,400 on average, VIP clients request larger-sized loans, with the typical amount being $1 million or higher. Institutional clients also need the funds for more extended periods (usually, 6-12 months), which indicates a long-term asset management strategy.

“As institutional investors find the digital asset industry increasingly attractive, it’s a pleasure to serve them with our enterprise-grade instant crypto-backed loan platform. Security, convenience, and compliance are key priorities for corporate clients, which are features that we have been providing to all our clients in the rapidly growing CEX.IO ecosystem,” Anton Chashchin, Commercial Director for the CEX.IO LOAN service, stated.

About CEX.IO LOAN

CEX.IO LOAN is a part of the CEX.IO Group. Founded in 2013, CEX.IO operates one of the largest international exchanges of the cryptocurrency market, which has been featured among Crypto Compare’s ten best exchange services. With offices in the UK, USA, Ukraine, Cyprus, and Gibraltar, CEX.IO serves over 3 million customers worldwide. From entry-level users to professional traders, as well as institutions and businesses, CEX.IO suits the needs of various crypto market participants with a reliable, high-security digital asset service.

source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/16/crypto-backed-lending-service-sees-massive-demand/

Altcoin Season 2021 – $151 Trillion Market Cap?

We’ve written frequently about the 4 year cycle in cryptocurrency prices. Cryptocurrency – this first of which was Bitcoin – was introduced in 2009. Four years later, in 2013, prices surged to a blowoff top. Exactly four years later, in 2017, prices again surged to another blowoff top.

Using this 4 year cycle as a guide, later this year, in 2021, the cryptocurrency market should again experience another blowoff top.

Using this 4 year price cycle in cryptocurrencies, we’ve made predictions on how high the price of Bitcoin could go. We’ve also made 2021 price predictions for altcoins such as Ethereum, Chainlink, EOS, Stellar Lumens and others.

But what about the entire altcoin market as a whole?

Let’s take a look at the previous altcoin season and use that price information to make an educated forecast of where the altcoin market is likely headed later this year.

Whereas Bitcoin was released in 2009, the first Altcoin wasn’t released until 2011. However, Bitcoin is the undisputed leader of the entire cryptocurrency market. The 4 year cycle in altcoins does not see a peak 4 years after the introduction of the first altcoin, but rather the altcoins follow the leader – Bitcoin – and rise and fall in tandem with it.

Here is the chart of the first blowoff top of the entire altcoin market cap:

You can see from the chart above that the total market cap of the entire altcoin market reached its peak of $2,004,339 billion on December 4, 2013.

Like Bitcoin, after reaching its blowoff top in 2013, the altcoins went into a bear market for the next 2 years.

It was not until June of 2016 that the altcoin market convincingly topped its previous all time high, and it wasn’t until more than 3 years later, on December 28, 2016 – exactly 1,120 days – that the altcoin market exceeded its previous all time high for good.

What did the altcoin market do after exceeding its old all time high for good?

The answer can be found in the following chart:

After permanently exceeding the 2013 all time high on December 28, 2016, altcoins then rose for the next 375 days to set a new all time high of $551,926,104 billion on January 5, 2018.

That’s a gain of 27,536%, or stated another way, 275-to-1.

Now let’s take a look at what has happened since then, and see if the altcoin market is following the same pattern, and if so where the 2021 altcoin season is heading.

The 4 Year Cycle In Action

Like what happened in 2013, after reaching its blowoff top in 2017, the altcoins went into a bear market for the next 2 years.

It wasn’t until more than 3 years later, on February 11, 2021 (4 days ago!) – exactly 1,133 days – that the altcoin market exceeded its previous all time high for good.

Wow.

The cycles are amazingly close. In the previous altcoin cycle it took exactly 1120 days for the altcoin market to convincingly exceed its previous record peak, and in the current altcoin cycle it has taken 1133 days to do the same.

The difference in timing is a mere 13 days, which is only one tenth of one percent!

So where to from here?

The Next Altcoin Blowoff Top

Using this cycle as guidance, it would indicate that the altcoin market will go up for the next 375 days and reach a top on February 20, 2022.

If the overall percentage gain is identical, that would place the total altcoin market cap at over $151 trillion.

Is that even possible?

Our opinion: one word, yes.

Let’s see where we are a year from now.

source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/15/altcoin-season-2021-151-trillion-market-cap/

The First U.S. Commercial Bank To Provide Access To Bitcoin

Blue Ridge Bank has announced that for the first time in U.S. history a commercial bank is providing access to Bitcoin at its branch locations. Cardholders can purchase and redeem Bitcoin at 19 Blue Ridge Bank ATM locations, consisting of both branch and off-site ATMs.

“Blue Ridge Bank is excited to continue its evolution to serve the growing needs of our current and future customers,” said Brian K. Plum, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE American: BRBS), the parent company of Blue Ridge Bank. “The ATMs remain able to serve cash-based and inquiry activity, so this is simply layering on more services and reinforces our commitment to the future of banking for all customers.”

Blue Ridge Bank has partnered with BluePoint ATM Solutions, a national ATM operator out of Woodstock, Va., and LibertyX, the leading U.S. bitcoin ATM software provider from Boston, Massachusetts.

BluePoint ATM Solutions CEO Wade Zirkle commented, “We are proud to partner with Blue Ridge Bank and LibertyX to provide ATM management services that are Bitcoin-capable. We predict that more community banks and credit unions will demand innovative fintech solutions like this at their branches, and we are excited to be a leader in this space.”

“We’re honored to work with Blue Ridge Bank and BluePoint. For years, consumers have been asking for the ability to buy bitcoin from their banks. We are proud that BRB is the first bank in the nation to offer bitcoin services on their ATMs,” said Chris Yim, LibertyX Co-Founder & CEO. “LibertyX provides consumers with the trust and ease of going to 8,500 ATMs at local convenience stores, pharmacies, and gas stations. Now they can also buy bitcoin at their local bank ATM.”

Blue Ridge Bank, N.A., is the wholly-owned banking subsidiary of Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, Blue Ridge Bank provides a wide range of financial services including retail and commercial banking, payroll, insurance, card payments, wholesale and retail mortgage lending, and government-guaranteed lending. The bank provides commercial banking services to customers located throughout Virginia and North Carolina.

BluePoint ATM Solutions is one of the largest privately-held ATM management companies in the U.S., with offices in Virginia and Colorado. BluePoint ATM Solutions specializes in providing efficient, outsourced ATM services to Community Banks and Credit Unions across the U.S. and providing customized ATM services to the retail and hospitality industries.

source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/14/the-first-u-s-commercial-bank-to-provide-access-to-bitcoin/

TruckPay to Accept Logistics Payments With Cryptocurrencies

In 2020, TruckPay introduced the first multi-currency, multi-lingual, and multi-metric fleet management logistics platform to serve the needs of the aggregates, asphalt, scrap metal, recycling, demolition, agricultural, and landfill industries. TruckPay has now announced that cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stellar Lumens will be able to be used to facilitate payments on both its TruckPay Fleet Management and MyTruckScales platforms.

Truck Pay’s CEO and President, Barry Honig said, “Given the growing acceptance of cryptocurrency, with companies like Tesla preparing to accept Bitcoin as payment, we feel that it is time to allow users of our platforms to pay their subcontractors and independent owner-operators in a variety of cryptocurrencies, if they so choose.”  Benjamin Honig, TruckPay’s CTO said, “I’ve been active in the crypto industry for the last 4 years and over that time, I have developed a deep knowledge of the space. I appreciate how cryptocurrencies can be used to help serve some of our underbanked drivers and contractor companies, especially ones in places like Latin-America and Africa, that have unstable fiat currencies.”  Benjamin went on to say, “I have also established an extensive network of resources in the crypto software development space that will allow TruckPay to not only initially allow crypto payments on the platform, but will also, eventually, allow us to offer other related value-added services. Barry Honig concluded by saying, “By offering our customers cryptocurrencies as an additional payment method, combined with our multi-lingual and multi-metric features, we will be able to fully realize TruckPay’s goal of making our products accessible to any job creating company, subcontractor, driver, and truck scale owner anywhere in the world.”

TruckPay provides highly secure, mobile and cloud-based, paperless, enterprise truck fleet and scale management platforms. The powerhouse father-son team and company co-founders are Barry and Benjamin Honig. Barry is blind and brings many years of technology and business experience, eliminating paper tickets from trading in the financial services industry to automating logistics. Barry’s son, Benjamin, is a two-time Apple WWDC Scholarship winner. Benjamin has a remarkable talent for creating very user-friendly apps.

source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/13/truckpay-to-accept-logistics-payments-with-cryptocurrencies/

VBit Technologies Looks To Montana To Expand Mining Business

VBit Technologies, one of the only U.S.-based companies developing and hosting Bitcoin mining operations, based out of Philadelphia is expanding its mining business into Montana. Known as the “Known Technology Frontier”, Montana provides access to cheap electricity plus cooler conditions making it an ideal place to turn dormant manufacturing plants into server farms to mine Bitcoin. Yesterday, CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, announced that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, and would start accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for its products. Some are crediting Musk with raising the price of cryptocurrencies. As of today, Bitcoin has broken another all-time high at $48,200 per Coinable price index, so as the market is growing, Bitcoin mining is too.

VBit already has existing mining locations in Calgary and Colorado and is expanding into Montana while actively looking for new locations in Western Pennsylvania as well. Montana with its inexpensive and vast amounts of hydroelectric power and large vacant facilities that have their own power substations and is a prime location for expansion to mine Bitcoin. VBit will deploy its new mining hardware in a data center that is 100% powered by hydroelectricity. 

According to bitcoinenergyconsumption.com, the total power consumption of Bitcoin mining in 2020 is estimated at 77.8 TWh per year which is the equivalent of the entire country of Chile. A single mining transaction uses 686.5 kWh which equates to 23.3 days of power for an average US household (Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index – Digiconomist). This amount of power generation is estimated to add over 36.9 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere which is the same as New Zealand in a year. 

Don Vo, CEO and founder of VBit Technologies, said, “Crypto as an industry has now come of age, and is now firmly in the mainstream – it is here to stay, and so is VBit Technologies. From an environmental standpoint, it’s therefore important for Bitcoin mining to move to a more eco-friendly energy source that not only reduces the cost of electricity consumption but also generates it from renewable sources making it environmentally friendly. In addition, VBit is exploring new liquid immersion cooling technology that will allow for a more reliable mining environment with less failure. If there’s an hour of downtime from a failure, it means we’re losing money, so we need to keep the equipment optimized for profitability and customer satisfaction.”

VBit Technologies has a brand called VBit Mining that provides Bitcoin mining services to thousands of people worldwide, and is on its way to becoming one of the largest Bitcoin mining operations in the world.

VBit Technologies

source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/12/vbit-technologies-looks-to-montana-to-expand-mining-business/

America’s Oldest Bank Embraces Cryptocurrency

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that America’s oldest bank, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., is formally entering the cryptocurrency market:

The custody bank said Thursday it will hold, transfer and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its asset-management clients. In time, BNY Mellon will allow those digital assets to pass through the same plumbing used by managers’ other, more traditional holdings—from Treasurys to technology stocks—using a platform that is now in prototype. The bank is already discussing plans with clients to bring their digital currencies into the fold.

“Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream,” said Roman Regelman, chief executive of BNY Mellon’s asset-servicing and digital businesses.

Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2021

It’s difficult to imagine a stronger signal that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are heading towards mainstream adoption.

HODL.

source https://top5cryptos.com/2021/02/11/americas-oldest-bank-embraces-cryptocurrency/