- Bitcoin daily high at USD 9,469 so far
- Bitcoin outperforming gold and stocks as US Federal Reserve promises unlimited money pumping
- Crypto charity to drive mainstream adoption, says Binance CEO
Bitcoin buyers went on a shopping spree today, and at one point was up almost 18% on the day, with prices punching through a USD 9,000 to create a high of USD 9,469 (CoinDesk), before retracing slightly to current levels just above 8,800.
And of course, the rest of crypto followed, but even as Ethereum climbed well above USD 210 and even Ripple (XRP) looked at 23 cents, they eventually could not keep pace but posted considerable gains nevertheless. Bitcoin, in a class of its own, is now outpacing the majority of US stocks, who have performed drably after the US central bank yesterday promised to keep injecting new money into markets even as state data shows an economy heading for a recession.
When looking at how it has performed year to date, Bitcoin has jumped 20%, well past gold who could only manage 12%. Crypto investors, even after March took down the market on Black Thursday, continue to see Bitcoin as a hedge instrument against inflation, much as traditional investors saw gold as such. And this, some believe, is a consequence of all the long-term “not QE” measures and cash injections by the US Federal Reserve. It’s not the only central bank doing so though, with Deutsche Bank estimating that its bank balance sheets have expanded by some USD 3.7 trillion just since last month.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell promised to keep benchmark US interest rates close to zero, pledging again to keep buying US Treasury bonds and other assets for as long as it takes. Several economists already believe the bank is a step away from tapering the asset purchases. That, and emergency lending programs have now pushed the Fed’s balance sheet beyond USD 6.5 trillion for the first time in its 107 years of existence. Powell said determinedly:
“It’s clear that the effects on the economy are severe. We won’t run out of money. It’s an unlimited pot.”
It’s not all bad news everywhere, and blockchain and crypto continue to be the bearer of good news. One of the largest exchanges in the world, anyway thinks so. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was saying at the Virtual Blockchain Week (VBW) that stablecoins and charity initiatives were how the sector could drive meaningful cryptocurrency adoption.
He had been discussing the work of his Binance Academy project with Chinese government institutions, focusing on blockchain, and reiterated his hopes that the company could have a say on how China’s regulatory strategy might shape up.
Zhao insisted that it was crypto-based charity programs who were the ones driving meaningful cryptocurrency adoption all over the world today. He stated:
“If I’m going to give you some donation in crypto, you are more likely to go and get a wallet or register an account on an exchange to accept it. That type of adoption is a positive first-contact for a lot of people. So it does increase adoption. We also see that it also helps the Binance reputation […] We have been much better received in a lot of […] countries due to the charity initiative. So there [is] some selfishness to it.”
Today, Binance Charity announced a commitment of USD 666,666 towards the distribution of vital medical supplies to hospitals and health workers in Puerto Rico and the surrounding Caribbean islands.
Zhao added:
“Before [stablecoins] it was like two extremes — you either stay in USD or Fiat, [or] you’re either BTC or Ethereum or BNB, and the price fluctuates against fiat… [crypto is] really troublesome for a shop owner because their expenses are in fiat.”
The Binance CEO also said that its recently launched Blockchain Research Institute in Shanghai would focus on looking up new applications for distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to work together with the central Chinese state, noting how the government has a strong push to get its agencies to learn all the blockchain skills possible.
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