Banking and commercial institutions are gradually bringing cryptocurrency services to their customers. Here's a look at this week's top headlines.
MoneyLion customers benefit from cryptocurrency services
US-based banking and investment company MoneyLion announced on Monday that it had added a cryptocurrency services option to its financial application. The company also confirmed that it remains on schedule to go public at the end of the month. Users will only be able to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum , but the company plans to adopt other cryptocurrencies in the long term.
According to a shared press release, Dee Choubey of MoneyLion noted that the new offering would help customers better manage their finances. Choubey argued that these digital assets were in line with the company's goal of providing education and relevant tools to guide customer decisions. In what he called part of the first steps towards decentralized finance (DeFi) market entry, Choubey added that the company would start by creating more awareness among its consumers.
He also highlighted that the organization could explore more cryptographic products, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and yield products (yield products). FinTech also revealed that it would be sponsoring a $1 million cryptocurrency prize pool guaranteeing first-time MoneyLion Crypto members part of the reward in Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy now has over 114,000 bitcoins
Through a tweet on Monday, Michael Saylor, one of Bitcoin's biggest advocates, announced to the crypto community that his MicroStrategy company had purchased a new stock of 5,050 bitcoins for $242.9 million. The addition means that the company now has a total of 114,042 bitcoins purchased at an average price of $27,713 per Bitcoin.
In addition, files Company to the SEC detailing in the third quarter of 2021, MicroStrategy bought 8,957 bitcoins for an approximate total of $ 419.9 million. Saylor, the company's chief executive, prioritized putting MicroStrategy into the Bitcoin business in 2020 as a security strategy. Jack Dorsey's Square and Elon Musk's Tesla were among the top companies to follow suit and transfer some of their bookings to Bitcoin.
Not all executives seemed impressed by the addition of another significant chunk of cryptocurrency to the company's portfolio. Some would have sold their MicroStrategy shares shortly thereafter, which did little to inspire confidence in Bitcoin's decision. Last week, Saylor made comments that suggested that choosing cryptocurrency over Gold saved his company from making "a billion-dollar mistake."
AMC cinemas accept payments in cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrencies continued to pave the way for popular acceptance. AMC CEO and President Adam Aron revealed on Wednesday that the entertainment company would, by the end of the year, allow ticket purchases via Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash .
This announcement followed an initial announcement made in August, although the previous one only mentioned Bitcoin as the only digital asset to be accepted. In addition, the initial announcement revealed that AMC would enable Apple Pay and Google Pay services in theaters. It is important to note that both services have recently partnered with the open exchange Coinbase for Coinbase card offerings.
Not everyone was pleased with the announcement, and the DOGE community stood out particularly in questioning why currency had been left out of payment options. The community has stated that Dogecoin is significantly used – even more than some of the cryptocurrencies listed. It may be justified to say that the coin has gained popularity as a means of payment, as Mark Cuban recently revealed that his Dallas Mavericks team received 95% of payments from merchandise sales at DOGE.
Interactive Brokers Launches US Cryptocurrency Services
Financial services firm Interactive Brokers announced earlier this week that it would partner with Paxos to bring cryptocurrency trading to its customers. The company revealed that users could trade and hold Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash through the Paxos Trust Company.
The announcement further revealed that the service would initially be limited to US-resident customers, with the company planning to roll it out to international markets in the future. Interactive Brokers becomes only the second major broker after Robinhood to invest directly in cryptocurrencies.
To make its market entry even more attractive, the online broker said it would charge users low fees. Specifically, the platform will charge between 0.12% and 0.18% of the commercial value, depending on monthly volumes, and users would need to stretch to a minimum of $1.75 per order.
Coinbase Sells $2 Billion Debt Offers
Growing market interest has led Coinbase, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, to increase its junk bond offering to about $2 billion from $1.5 billion initially announced. The sale is facilitated by investment banking institution Goldman Sachs.
Quoting an anonymous source, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that investors were offering lower interest rates than Coinbase initially wanted. This showed that investors believed in Coinbase's creditworthiness much more than the company had anticipated. It was also reported that bids of up to $7 billion in total value were seen.
The sale was finally made in equal amounts of seven- and ten-year bonds that would receive interest rates of around 3.375% and 3.265%. However, despite being reduced, these rates are still higher than the average yield of 2.86% obtained on debt with similar ratings. Coinbase intends to use the funds obtained from the development to increase its investment in product development and the likely acquisitions of other technologies, companies and products in the future.