1) Blockchain will be used for Carbon Tracing.
World Economic Forum’s Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative (MMBI) has launched a proof of concept to trace carbon emissions in collaboration with Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals, Eurasian Resources Group, Glencore, Klöckner & Co, Minsur, and Tata Steel. MMBI has launched a new carbon tracing platform named COT. Nadia Hewett, WEF’s blockchain project lead said:
The distributed nature of blockchain technology enables cross-enterprise collaboration and makes it the ultimate networked technology […] This opens exciting new possibilities that organizations otherwise would not have the capability to deliver on their own.
2) Banca Generali to start providing Crypto services in 2021.
Banca Generali, an Italian private bank has partnered with Conio, an Italian custody service provider to come up with a Conio wallet. Bank’s spokesperson also made it clear that the bank has no plan to launch a cryptocurrency exchange in the near future. Banca Generali is not the only Italian bank entering the crypto industry as Banca Sella had announced its own Bitcoin trading service in March 2020.
3) Binance users in Europe will soon receive their physical Binance Visa Cards.
On 14 December 2020 Binance announced that its user in the European Economic Area will receive their physical Visa Cards. Binance has also added Ether to its Crypto Debit Card. The physical Binance Visa card comes with a daily spending limit of 8,700 euros and daily ATM withdrawals amount to 290 euros. Not only this but the cards feature up to 8% cashback and zero fees until 2021.
4) PayPal’s Stock rose 17% since launching Crypto purchasing in the US.
On November 12, PayPal had launched its Crypto purchasing services in the US. On December 14, PayPal stock reached record highs. If we compare PayPal’s stock price before launching crypto trading to the present then we see a rise of 17%. Data also shows that PayPal may have taken 70% of newly mined Bitcoin.
5) Senator-Elect believes if fiat currency fails Bitcoin will come to the rescue.
In the recent episode of the podcast ‘What Bitcoin Did’ Cynthia Lummis, United States Senator-elect said:
If we reach the point where we have overspent so much that things start crashing down, the black swan event occurs with regard to any fiat currency — whether it’s ours or yours or China’s or Japan’s — that there is a backstop available to every government in the world, and that backstop is Bitcoin.
She also added
Increase the understanding in the Senate about Bitcoin, what it is, what it does, how it can be an asset that can grow and develop as an adjunct, so basically alongside our fiat currency, and that it should be allowed a clear path and avenue — an interstate highway in fact — to grow and develop alongside our fiat currency.