Bit coin and corona virus

0 15
Avatar for Ben10
Written by
4 years ago

  • Coronavirus Fears Linger

     

    The virus ― which continues unabated in China and to a lesser extent in other countries ― had reached nearly 28,000 reported cases and 565 deaths as of this morning.

     

    Despite the concern, domestic stock markets have seemingly shrugged off coronavirus concerns with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting record closing highs yesterday.

     

    However, outside of U.S. equities, the situation looks less optimistic.

    Oil prices are down more than 23% since early this year. Investors anticipate slowing demand amidst cruise ship and airline cancellations associated with the virus.

     

    This uncertainty has proved positive for the crypto space, however, as investors work to shield traditional assets from global volatility.

     

    Meanwhile, bitcoin has had an explosive start to the year for another reason: One of the largest fintech firms promised to provide resource support to developing the network.

     

    Square Promises Bitcoin Support

     

    In a blog post on January 21, Square promised to allocate resources to the continued development and improvement of bitcoin.

     

    Specifically, the company will tackle areas of the technology which might not be as immediately lucrative to standalone businesses, but will benefit the entire ecosystem.

     

    These functionalities promise to improve the usability and security of bitcoin, enabling better use of the cryptocurrency for small transactions and rapid payments.

     

    Square founder Jack Dorsey (who is also the founder of Twitter) has long been an advocate of bitcoin. In fact, in November he declared his intention to spend six months in Africa this year to promote bitcoin’s use on the continent.

     

    Cryptocurrency investors celebrated Square’s announcement, driving the price of bitcoin back up to the nearly $10,000 mark in recent days.

    Square’s involvement in bitcoin could prove to be hugely significant for the crypto.

     

    Despite its success, bitcoin continues to rely on volunteer development to maintain and improve the network. While the cryptocurrency already has a large base of dedicated developers, Square’s commitment of an entire team of resources will allow the cryptocurrency to advance more rapidly as it seeks broader recognition in financial markets.

     

    Additionally, Square’s continued commitment and investment in cryptocurrency represent a major opportunity for digital currency adoption.

    As mentioned in the past, Square’s Cash App is the No. 1 finance app in Apple’s app store and recently surpassed Venmo to become the largest peer-to-peer payment network in North America.

     

    On top of that, Square is currently accepted by millions of merchants, enabling the potential for a wide audience of adopters within Square’s existing user base.

     

    Add it all up, and the opportunities within cryptocurrencies are set to expand in 2020.

     

    With the shadow of coronavirus still hanging over the market and Square’s peaked interest in bitcoin, cryptocurrencies may be setting up to grow rapidly as a safehaven and usable tool in the year to come.

1
$ 0.00
Avatar for Ben10
Written by
4 years ago

Comments