Channel: Crypto Blessing

Category: Entertainment

Tags: starbuckscoinbase etc predictioncoinbase etc classicinstitutional investors bitcoincoinbase custodycryptocurrency custodyetc price predictionsbakkd cryptocurrencymicrosoftinstitutional investors cryptoinstitutional investors cryptocurrencyetc price prediction 2018nysecryptocurrency custodianbtcnew york stock exchangenyse bakkdcoinbasecoinbase ethereum classicethcoinbase etc newsethereum classicthe intercontintenal exchangebakkd crypto

Description: Today we have two breaking stories, first The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has announced the formation of Bakkt. Taken from coinjournal.com: coinjournal.net/starbucks-bcg-microsoft-and-ice-announce-bakkt-a-bitcoin-on-ramp "It is described as “A Global Regulated Ecosystem for Digital Assets”. It will include partnerships with Microsoft, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Starbucks. The point of the project is to enable customers to “buy, sell and store digital assets”. It will include federally regulated markets and warehousing (i.e. storing) for Bitcoin and potentially other cryptocurrencies. Much of it seems like direct competition for Coinbase, the popular exchange funded by Andreessen Horowitz, among others. “Bakkt is designed to serve as a scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security and utility,” said Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler in a press release “We are collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.” The Microsoft partnership comes from the service’s use of the Microsoft cloud platform. Microsoft has been a supporter of bitcoin for years, accepting the digital currency for purchases years ago. They disabled Bitcoin payments when fees became too high but they have overall been bullish on blockchain technology in general. “Blockchain technology holds tremendous potential to enable new business models and trusted ecosystems,” said Sean Collins, Senior Partner, BCG in the same press release. “By leveraging and developing fundamental market infrastructure, the Bakkt platform will enable firms across industries to accelerate a range of innovation.” As for Starbucks, their partnership is more on the customer side of things. The plan is to allow anyone to use Bitcoin at any Starbucks worldwide. Starbucks was a pioneer in mobile payments. Their app allowing mobile ordering set off a revolution that saw nearly every fast food restaurant follow suit. It has not been confirmed that their app will start using a Bakkt-backed bitcoin wallet, but it would be an obvious assumption. ICE, Microsoft, BCG and Starbucks all moving towards Bitcoin. It is becoming clear that 2018, despite the price, is a good year for Bitcoin’s growth in the mainstream. “As three more goliaths enter the cryptoasset arena, 2018 seems to be shaping up as the year mainstream business woke up to crypto.” Explained Iqbal Gandham, UK Managing Director at eToro “These kind of landmarks are coming thick and fast. Rather than focusing only on price movements, companies are rightly spotting the potential for real world applications and want to get in on the action.” Bitcoin has certainly seen increasing interest from mainstream investors. While Goldman Sachs recently declared Bitcoin isn’t coming back, the rest of the financial world seems to be getting on board. And even Goldman Sachs has invested in Circle, itself a blockchain/bitcoin company." So much has gone on in the markets lately. The SEC denied the Winklevoss' BAT Exchange's application for a bitcoin ETF, citing instability and unregulated aspects as well as price manipulation. A SEC Comissioner Hester Pierce publicly disapproved of the rejection citing stalling of innovation and reddit was quick to show their support, announcing her as Crypto Mom. Her twitter has blown up, and it's largely known now that the media publications took the rejection and ran with it, spinning a possible bitcoin price of 5k once again; the fud was spread and damage was done, causing some weak hands to sell at 8k+ causing bitcoin to drop to 7,900 - then quickly was brought up past 8k solidifying the passing of this rejection and a hopeful resume of bullish activity. The Takeaway from this is: Winklevoss' ETF was expected to be denied, CBOE is quite different (retail vs institutional investors) and that no one is certain even the CBOE will get it. Presumably it doesn't happen this year and we look towards more retail driven rallies. Could Cryptocurrency be bearish for another 6months? It could. Is that likely? No, but no one knows the future in this emerging space. Comment below and let me know your thoughts! Also beware of desperate publications reusing old stories for added FOMO and clicks... Learn to trust certain publications and always double check your information across multiple sources. Doing your own research has never been more important. Join Crypto Blessing by subscribing! Also follow us on twitter @BlessingCrypto *** The content seen on this channel is not financial advice, always do your own research (DYOR) and invest wisely. I immerse myself in these markets every day to bring you the relevant news as it happens, and am providing insight that should be considered my opinion! Happy investing everyone!