日期: 2021-05-18

The company said it expects to see 40% growth from Bitcoin payments in the first year.

A luxury yacht firm has announced it will begin accepting cryptocurrency for its services and expects to see an immediate 40% growth increase from Bitcoin (BTC) payments in the first year.

In addition to accepting Bitcoin payments, the firm also announced that it would base its web and mobile services on blockchain technology as it provided more transactional security than any other system.

The firm stated that it expects to see $6.5 million in revenue in the coming year, primarily from its yacht charter service and the bespoke experiences it hosts for clients.

Co-founded by two Colombians and operational in North America, Prime Experiences has apparently ear-marked Miami as a possible future source of collaboration. The company’s president, José David Tobón, said the firm was already in talks with Miami’s crypto-friendly mayor, Francis Suarez, who has previously pushed for progressive cryptocurrency laws, and recently suggested Miami’s citizens should be able to receive salaries in Bitcoin.

“With this type of currency many doors have opened, we are currently in talks with the Miami Mayor, who is interested in expanding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the city. Miami could be the next Silicon Valley as most of the large companies such as Tesla, Facebook and Google are looking to enter the city,” said Tobón.

The range of services opting to accept cryptocurrency as a means of payment has grown more varied in recent years. Once largely the currency of choice for mostly web-based services, more and more physical establishments have started to accept crypto of late, including real-estate firms, auction houses, music schools, and baseball teams.

Crypto adoption is booming in 2021, but how long can the celebrity-fuelled hype train last?

Cryptocurrency adoption on a United Kingdom-based payment app is booming in the first quarter of 2021, but whether that trend continues could depend on the actions of Bitcoin (BTC) evangelists like Elon Musk, warns STICPAY director James Bay.

The mobile payments app reported a 48% increase in crypto deposits in the first quarter of the year, while fiat deposits remained static. Bitcoin is apparently the currency of choice for most of STICPAY’s e-wallet users, with Bitcoin deposits eclipsing deposits of Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT) and Litecoin (LTC) 38 times over.

The firm also reported a 185% increase in the number of users converting fiat to crypto via the wallet’s built-in currency converter, compared to the same time last year. This was accompanied by a 12% decrease in the number of users swapping crypto back to fiat.

Client service director James Bay said more cryptocurrencies were gaining reputations as potential stores of value but said Bitcoin was still at the forefront.

“Cryptocurrencies are increasingly being accepted as a trusted store of monetary value. But we have to say it’s Bitcoin that’s leading the change in payment habits and outlook that’s challenging fiat currencies,” said Bay.

“The switch to cryptocurrencies is moving at breakneck speed, but whether that trend continues remains to be seen,” warned Bay, whose comments come as the cryptocurrency market experiences a violent dip after months of rapid growth.

Bay thinks the continuation of the trend could depend on the actions of public figures such as Elon Musk, whose influential tweets have been shown to boost (or sink) the prices of whichever coin he mentions.

“Even today, high-profile Bitcoin evangelist Elon Musk announced Tesla will no longer be accepting the currency citing environmental concerns, all of which comes after March’s announcement that the business would take payment in Bitcoin,” said Bay, referencing Elon Musk’s sudden reversal on Tesla’s decision to allow Bitcoin as a payment method for its electric vehicles.

Another high-profile Bitcoin evangelist, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, announced the purchase of another 271 BTC on May 13, hours after Musk’s reversal on Bitcoin payments. The total amount of Bitcoin on MicroSTrategy’s balance sheet stands at 91,850 BTC, with various amounts having been purchased at different prices beginning last year.

Meanwhile, over $1 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin remains on Tesla’s balance sheet — a fact that has drawn criticism from industry observers who see Musk’s willingness to profit from a coin he deems environmentally hazardous as a sign of hypocrisy.

While CBDCs could help central banks address the decline in cash payments, some risk factors remain.

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, could pose a threat to financial systems if related risks are not managed, Big Three credit agency Fitch Ratings has warned.

Fitch Ratings released a report on Monday entitled “Central Bank Digital Currencies: Opportunities, Risk and Disruption,” which discussed the major trade-offs between risks and benefits associated with CBDCs.

Fitch Ratings stated that the key benefits of a retail CBDC lie in its potential ability to expand government-backed cashless payments in an effort to keep up with the wider digitalization of society. The biggest reasons to explore a CBDC for central banks and some emerging markets are the opportunity to bank the unbanked as well as reduce the cost and speed of payments.

Fitch Ratings also noted that some CBDC proponents see state-backed digital currencies as a way to address challenges of the declining use of cash with the private sector iactively involved in digital payments. “Widespread use of CBDCs could erode these providers’ control over payments-related data and improve central banks’ capacity to track financial transaction data, aiding the prevention of financial crime,” the credit agency wrote.

However, people may be deterred from using CBDCs if they offer less privacy than cash, or severely limit amounts stored on electronic wallets, Fitch Ratings noted.

The firm warned that the widespread adoption of CBDCs may be disruptive for financial systems if authorities do not manage risks like financial disintermediation caused by the potential for funds to move quickly into CBDC accounts from bank deposits. Fitch Ratings also pointed out increased cybersecurity risks as “more touchpoints are created between the central bank and the economy.”

More governments worldwide are actively exploring CBDCs, including countries like Georgia and Kazakhstan. In the meantime, countries like The Bahamas have been preparing for a nation-wide CBDC push this summer. In early May, the United States’ Digital Dollar Foundation finally announced their first pilots. 

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原文链接：音乐版税投资公司 ANote Music 将在其 NFT 交易平台集成 Algorand 区块链

链闻消息，DeF 项目 SushiSwap 现已推出 IDO 发行平台 MISO。SushiSwap 此前表示，Miso 是 IDO Launchpad，允许项目方用更灵活的方式开始代币预售，包括荷兰拍卖、联合曲线、分级系统、ETH 认购等。

原文链接：SushiSwap 正式推出 IDO 发行平台 MISO