Coinbase published a report recently which revealed that Ethereum trading interest has risen above Bitcoin.
A new report published by the Coinbase team revealed that commercial interest in Ethereum grew dramatically during the first half of this year. Greatly surpassing what was seen with Bitcoin within the same period.
This was revealed by Coinbase in its new semi-annual report. This suggests that the growth of Bitcoin’s trading operations is lower than that of Ethereum. It is indicated that the volume of operations with Ethereum increased more than 1,400% in the last six months. Totaling around $1,400,000 million commercialized through its commercial platform. Meanwhile, in the case of Bitcoin, it increased by 489%, capitalizing a total of $2,100,000 million.
Although Bitcoin continues to move the largest amounts of capital within the exchange, it was a pleasant surprise for the Coinbase team to see the increase in ETH trading through its platform. For the first semester, they capitalized about $92,000 million.
Another notable aspect is that the highest capitalization of ETH took place during the month of May of this year, at which point the digital currency registered the highest values of its entire day after exceeding $4,000 per unit. This is in contrast to what was seen with Bitcoin, as the highest trading volume took place during the first months of 2021.
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Lender used Bitcoin as collateral to refinance a home loan
One of Southern California’s largest independent escrow firms, Glen Oaks Escrow, has announced its first property refinancing with a Bitcoin-backed loan.
The company stated that it is the first time that a refinance has been completed using Bitcoin as collateral. In the July 28 announcement, he added that he has previously facilitated a series of real estate transactions that used BTC as a form of payment.
Glen Oaks Escrow, which began accepting Bitcoin payments in 2018. He sees it as proof that Bitcoin’s value proposition is becoming clearer to debtors and creditors. The company’s chief operating officer, Joe Curtis, commented:
“Seeing that a lender uses cryptocurrencies for a refinance shows us that this payment method continues to grow in terms of how it is used and who uses it.”
He added that seeing the lender and not the home buyer using BTC in a real estate transaction “tells us that this technology has the potential to remain more prominent. Even if it is still considered new to our industry.
In another cryptocurrency-related real estate novelty, a Dogecoin aficionado from the US state of Utah has offered a 10% discount on his property if the buyer pays in DOGE.
Ghana Vice President Says Africa Should Embrace Bitcoins and Digital Currencies
Ghana’s Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia believes that African governments should embrace Bitcoin and digital currencies to facilitate trade across the continent.
As reported by Ghanaweb, Bawumia outlined his argument during the 5th Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference, whose theme was “Facilitating Trade and Trade Finance in the AfCFTA; the role of the financial services sector ”. The vice president argued that trade between African countries requires a “centralized single payment” system. Currently, the transport of goods across African borders is expensive and slow. Dr. Bawumia believes that a digital payment system would solve these problems.
“Digitization has also become one of the most consistent policies of the Nana Akufo-Addo government,” said Dr. Bawumia.
“When the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced many economies into partial and total quarantines. It reinforced the need to pursue digitization.
Earlier this year, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed that it is developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Dr. Bawumia highlighted the intention of the bank and believes that it will bring credibility to the country in the digital world.
PayPal super wallet to launch soon
Payment provider PayPal said that its users might not have to wait much longer to get more Bitcoin and cryptocurrency functionality through its platform.
During PayPal’s Q2 2021 Investor Update Call, CEO Dan Schulman. He said the code for the initial version of the company’s super wallet app was complete. The president of PayPal said that the company planned to have its cryptocurrency wallet fully deployed in the US within the next few months.
The “super wallet” will feature high-yield savings, early access to directly deposited funds, messaging capabilities, “additional crypto capabilities” and more. Schulman said that each wallet would be “unique, powered by advanced AI and machine learning capabilities.”
PayPal reported that it had more than 400 million active user accounts as of June 30, with $311 billion in total payment volume during the second quarter of 2021. The firm also added 14.5 million new active accounts, which raises its user base to 392 million. Venmo, the PayPal-owned payments firm that enabled the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in April, had approximately $58 billion in total payment volume for the second quarter of 2021, with 76 million active accounts.
Bank of America rates CBDCs as ‘more effective’ than cash in research note
Bank of America (BofA) called the central bank’s digital currencies “a much more effective payment system than cash.” In a research article published Wednesday. As reported by CoinDesk.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, the second-largest in the US by total assets, said CBDCs could “replace cash entirely in the (distant) future.”
The report comes amid growing interest among central banks. A May report from blockchain infrastructure platform Bison Trails found that around 80% of central banks are exploring use cases involving CBDC, and 40% are already testing proof-of-concept programs.
