Speaker 1: I've got big crypto news for you. PayPal has opened
Speaker 1: up crypto trading for businesses, and Visa has launched its
Speaker 1: tokenization platform for banks, and Finance has launched spot trading
Speaker 1: with actual tokens. I'll give you all the details. Let's
Speaker 1: get into it. Welcome into the Thinking Crypto podcast. You're
Speaker 1: home for cryptocurrency news and interviews. I'm your host, Tony Edward.
Speaker 1: On your way in. Please sit that subscribe button as
Speaker 1: well as the thumbs up button and leave a comment below.
Speaker 1: If you're listening on a podcast platform such as Spotify
Speaker 1: or Apple, please leave a five star rating and review. Folks.
Speaker 1: I want to start it off by highlighting that black
Speaker 1: Rock yesterday had inflows of near one hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: into their ETF. That's a very good sign we've seen
Speaker 1: when the price starts to move up, that's when the
Speaker 1: inflows come in, and you know some of that is retail.
Speaker 1: They move with the price instead of buying the lows.
Speaker 1: But this is still not a bad entry price given
Speaker 1: we are still in the middle of the book market
Speaker 1: and headed into the last phase or the fifth wave,
Speaker 1: where we may see a blow off top by early
Speaker 1: Q one of next year, but good to see inflows
Speaker 1: coming in and there's less outflows. Now. The big news
Speaker 1: of the day, folks, PayPal has enabled business accounts to buy, hold,
Speaker 1: and sell cryptocurrency. This is huge news. They put out
Speaker 1: a press release today. Let me give you the details.
Speaker 1: PayPal Holdings Incorporated announce it's enabling its US merchants to buy, hold,
Speaker 1: and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal business account at launch.
Speaker 1: D functionality for business accounts will not be available in
Speaker 1: New York State. Today's announcement is PayPal's latest step to
Speaker 1: increase cryptocurrencies utility by making increased functionality available to millions
Speaker 1: of merchants in the US. Folks, you got these payment
Speaker 1: giants like PayPal and Visa and so forth, all building
Speaker 1: the infrastructure not only for retail, but for institutional investors
Speaker 1: and for businesses. So I hope you see how all
Speaker 1: this is going to work. Set up like the Fiat
Speaker 1: system where you can buy and sell and trade and
Speaker 1: do all these things. So all these features and functionality
Speaker 1: is being built for crypto. I mean, that's just incredible, right.
Speaker 1: So the ability for merchants to to accept crypto and
Speaker 1: pay with it, they can do whatever they want with it,
Speaker 1: and obviously retail already has access to PayPal and Venmos
Speaker 1: set up with crypto trading. So here are some more details.
Speaker 1: Since we launched the ability for PayPal and Venmo customers
Speaker 1: to buy, sell, and whole cryptocurrency in their wallets, we
Speaker 1: have learned a lot about how they want to use
Speaker 1: their cryptocurrency set Jose Fernandez, Senior Vice president of Blockchain,
Speaker 1: Cryptocurrency and Digital Currencies at PayPal. Business owners have increasingly
Speaker 1: expressed the desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers.
Speaker 1: We're excited to meet that demand by delivering this new offering,
Speaker 1: empowering them to engage with digital currencies effortlessly. Folks, this
Speaker 1: is so bullish. I hope you see what's happening here.
Speaker 1: This is what you want to see as a cryptocurrency holder. Now.
Speaker 1: Here's what the CEO of PayPal, Alex Christ posted on
Speaker 1: LinkedIn about this news. He said, We're thrilled to share
Speaker 1: that starting today, PayPal business account holders can buy, hold,
Speaker 1: and sell cryptocurrency directly with their accounts. This marks a
Speaker 1: significant milestone in enhancing the utility of digital assets for
Speaker 1: millions of merchants in the United States. As we evolve
Speaker 1: our platform, we're also gaining invaluable insights into the role
Speaker 1: of cryptocurrency in the digital payments ecosystem and continuing to
Speaker 1: shape the future of commerce. Now, it's important to note
Speaker 1: that PayPal has a stable coin called pyusd and this
Speaker 1: is a very smart strategic move by PayPal because many
Speaker 1: merchants will be able to easily use p yus the accepted,
Speaker 1: spend it and so forth because it's denominated to the dollar.
Speaker 1: It's a stable coin, right, you guys know how it works.
Speaker 1: So smart move. PayPal has been ahead of the curve
Speaker 1: when it comes to crypto, and you know game theory
Speaker 1: will play out here. Their competitors are going to follow,
Speaker 1: the banks are going to follow. So so bullish guys.
Speaker 1: And here's some more bullish news. Visa, the credit card giant,
Speaker 1: to help banks issue FIAT backed tokens on etherorem via
Speaker 1: new tokenized asset platform. Now, we had gotten some news
Speaker 1: about this a couple of weeks ago, or about a
Speaker 1: week and a half ago, but we got more details
Speaker 1: and I think it's more official now. So Visa's Tokenize
Speaker 1: Asset Platform VTAP will enable the development of fiat backed
Speaker 1: tokens powered by smart contracts to help digitize and automate
Speaker 1: existing processes that will then power the exchange of real
Speaker 1: world assets RWAs. According to an announcement seen by coindus,
Speaker 1: a bank would use Visa's new platform to purchase tokenize
Speaker 1: RWAs such as commodities or bonds with near real time
Speaker 1: settlement using a token. This statement said one of the
Speaker 1: first financial institutions to use v tap will be Spanish
Speaker 1: bank BBVA, who expects to roll out a live pilot
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. Folks, what have I've been telling you
Speaker 1: all for years? I know I sound like a broken record.
Speaker 1: We're headed to the token economy. Everything running on the blockchain,
Speaker 1: Even your traditional assets like stocks, bonds and commodities tokenized
Speaker 1: on the blockchain. Twenty four to seven, trading, three hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty five days, no more opening and closing bell,
Speaker 1: no more closed on weekends, no more holidays closed, and
Speaker 1: it's a truly global market and it's all running on
Speaker 1: the blockchain. Now you may say, how can I benefit
Speaker 1: from this? Well, it noticed they're building on etherorem. If
Speaker 1: you're an e token holder, you will benefit from this
Speaker 1: adoption and the utility on the blockchain, because one of
Speaker 1: the ways that blockchains have evaluation is the network adoption.
Speaker 1: Metcalfs law study that look at Facebook before they even
Speaker 1: had a business plan on how to monetize user activity,
Speaker 1: they were worth millions. Why because they had activity on
Speaker 1: the platform that was potentially monetizable. Applied that same principle
Speaker 1: here to these blockchain networks, which have an actual token,
Speaker 1: then you see the potential, right. And remember this is
Speaker 1: not a US base blockchain, it's a global blockchains, as
Speaker 1: many blockchains are, so anyone from around the world could
Speaker 1: tap into the network, build on them, especially the public ones, right,
Speaker 1: not the private ones obviously, And then you have the
Speaker 1: public token trading on the markets, and the token helps
Speaker 1: decrease the wheels of the network. So this is, as
Speaker 1: I've said before, the next layer on top of the
Speaker 1: Internet and the ability for us to move value and
Speaker 1: do instant settlement payments and obviously be able to transact
Speaker 1: in a faster way and be able to trust each
Speaker 1: other better, right, avoiding the middlemen, and everything is locked
Speaker 1: up in smart contracts, so you're able to verify it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to trust, you can verify it instantly,
Speaker 1: so incredible stuff, folks. I'm so bullish on the outlook
Speaker 1: of this asset class. And watch what MasterCard and watch
Speaker 1: what the other players are going to do. I said
Speaker 1: before game theory will play out here now. A great
Speaker 1: place that you can buy etherorem and other all coins
Speaker 1: including bitcoin is on Uphold. They have three hundred plus cryptocurrencies.
Speaker 1: I've been using them since twenty eighteen. I've interviewed the CEO,
Speaker 1: the CFO, and many folks there, so they are a
Speaker 1: trusted platform. I can vouch for them, and they are safe.
Speaker 1: They don't commingle or lend out your funds, and they
Speaker 1: have a lot of great features that you can check out.
Speaker 1: You can take a look at their transparency reports. So
Speaker 1: they're fully reserved. And they just launched a really cool
Speaker 1: product that I'm using. It's called USD Interest Accounts, So
Speaker 1: it allows you to park your cash, whether it's your
Speaker 1: dry powder or your crypto profits, and earn up to
Speaker 1: five percent apy per year. The five percent is only
Speaker 1: for accounts what one thousand dollars are higher. Below one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, it's two percent. But best of all, folks,
Speaker 1: there's no lock ups, there's no fees, there's no subscription
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. You can pull your money in
Speaker 1: and out and it is FDIC insured just like a bank,
Speaker 1: so't have to worry about your funds getting stolen or
Speaker 1: loss or things like that. It's all covered. So, like
Speaker 1: I said, I'm using this product. If you like to
Speaker 1: learn more about Uphold, check out the link in the description. Now, folks,
Speaker 1: we've got some updates here around Kamala Harris and her
Speaker 1: crypto policy, which, let's be honest, hasn't been anything. We've
Speaker 1: heard some very small statements. Just recently, she spoke to
Speaker 1: a Wall Street crowd which I reported on, and said
Speaker 1: she's ready to support crypto and along with AI. Well,
Speaker 1: there's some documentation of that on her website. Now, you know,
Speaker 1: in regards to the economic plan, but it's a sentence.
Speaker 1: So this is nothing compared to what Donald Trump is outlined,
Speaker 1: I mean, fully flushed out plans right, what he wants
Speaker 1: to do with bitcoin and the United States purchasing bitcoin,
Speaker 1: using it at a reserve asset. He said he would
Speaker 1: fire Gary Gainst and all that. We've at least got
Speaker 1: some clarity on Donald Trump's side. We don't have much
Speaker 1: on Kamala Harris's side. I'm still optimistic that we may
Speaker 1: get something, and that is not an endorsement to go
Speaker 1: vote for Kamala Harris. So all the Trump people, please
Speaker 1: don't attack me. Please understand my position. Once again. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to make Crypto bipartisan because you need both Democrats
Speaker 1: and Republicans to get this bill through the c through legislation,
Speaker 1: bill through the Senate. And I've been to DC. I've
Speaker 1: seen things. You guys may be looking at it from
Speaker 1: the outside, but I'm telling you what I know from
Speaker 1: the inside, and with the advocacy and lobbying that's happening,
Speaker 1: that over two hundred million dollars that is with the
Speaker 1: Superback is donating to vote Democrats and Republicans, just so
Speaker 1: you know, right, so we need more. I actually tweeted
Speaker 1: out at Anthony Scaramuchi and Mark Cuban, who vote said
Speaker 1: they're talking to the Harris team and said, hey, we
Speaker 1: need more details. I want to take Crypto off the
Speaker 1: election ballot. You guys can vote based on other issues
Speaker 1: happening in the country, which are many, and that's fine.
Speaker 1: Vote who you want to. I'm not here to tell
Speaker 1: you who to vote for. You're all adults. But from
Speaker 1: a crypto standpoint, I want it off the ballot, and
Speaker 1: that is my goal in pushing and putting pressure on
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris and her team. Here Congressman Rocanna, who I've
Speaker 1: had on the podcast. He's one of the top Democrats.
Speaker 1: He said speaking to Fox Business that he was encouraged
Speaker 1: by Kamala Harris's recent statement saying she would encourage innovative
Speaker 1: technologies like AI and digital assets. Here's a quote. Look,
Speaker 1: you can't be against bitcoin or crypto. It's like saying
Speaker 1: I'm against the iPhone or I'm against the laptop. It's
Speaker 1: just a technology. Yes, we need smart regulation, but it's
Speaker 1: a modern store of value in a modern payment system.
Speaker 1: It's a modern version of goal for a lot of
Speaker 1: young people. So he gets it right. He's in the
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley area. He understands tech. But you know the
Speaker 1: problem is Elizabeth Warren's voice has been very loud, and
Speaker 1: she's been coordinating attacks against the industry with Gary Againster.
Speaker 1: But we see that more Democrats are waking up every day.
Speaker 1: They're partnering with their Republican colleagues to pass bills and
Speaker 1: get things through the House and Senate. So we're making
Speaker 1: progress and Elizabeth warning garrigains who are losing now. Today
Speaker 1: Bill Maher, many of you know who he is. He
Speaker 1: tweeted a video about how bitcoin mining is bad for
Speaker 1: the environment and a whole bunch of fud, and he
Speaker 1: said the dirty little secret about crypto and no one
Speaker 1: talks about This seems to be an older video, but
Speaker 1: I don't think it is. But obviously the crypto industry
Speaker 1: weighed in and he got trolled and destroyed. But Brian Armstrong,
Speaker 1: CEO of Coinbase, tweeted at him saying, rare missed by
Speaker 1: Bill Maher, the community notes are on target, so of
Speaker 1: course there was community notes added to the video. He said,
Speaker 1: time to dig in deeper on crypto and avoid spreading misinformation.
Speaker 1: It's all good. It happens to all of us. Happy
Speaker 1: to chat anytime. So that was Brian, you know, talking
Speaker 1: to mar here saying, hey, bring me on. I'll give
Speaker 1: you clarity on what's happening. Now. Speaking of exchanges, we
Speaker 1: got big news around Binance. Here's the headline. Finance launches
Speaker 1: pre market spot trading service with actual choke. Let me
Speaker 1: give it to details here. So this pre market spot
Speaker 1: trading service will enable users to take early positions before
Speaker 1: a tokens spot market listing. Here's a quote. Binance is
Speaker 1: the only crypto exchange to offer pre market spot trading,
Speaker 1: whereby tokens will be exclusively allocated and generated for users
Speaker 1: to hold and trade in pre market on the Binance platform.
Speaker 1: The exchange set on Wednesday. While other exchanges offer pre
Speaker 1: market trading, they typically facilitate the trading of derivatives, whereas
Speaker 1: Binance is the first exchange to have actual tokens for
Speaker 1: users to trade during pre market. Binance's rival by Bit
Speaker 1: also offers pre market spot trading service, but it appears
Speaker 1: to effectively use derivatives rather than actual tokens, So this
Speaker 1: is cool. I like this. And Coinbase International's pre launch
Speaker 1: market service, on the other hand, involves trading perpetual futures
Speaker 1: contracts for tokens that are yet to launch, So really
Speaker 1: great move here by Finance like this, and I personally
Speaker 1: haven't done any pre market trading. I know some of
Speaker 1: you may have, but I like that they're using the
Speaker 1: actual tokens versus derivatives, you know, versus paper trading. It's
Speaker 1: the actual token, so I will always vote for the
Speaker 1: underlying asset being used. So that's really great. Big update here. Now,
Speaker 1: Ripple announced the following Unleashing the Power of AI on
Speaker 1: the XRP Ledger. We're excited to announce a new funding
Speaker 1: track dedicated to AI power projects. So we're seeing the
Speaker 1: conversions of AI and blockchain right and they have a
Speaker 1: symbiotic relationship. AI is helping to enhance certain attributes and
Speaker 1: benefits of blockchain, while blockchain is being used to police
Speaker 1: AI around the fakes and so forth. So I think
Speaker 1: Ripple recognizes this and they're trying to boost the building
Speaker 1: of AI projects and integration. So very smart move here,
Speaker 1: and if you're a developer can get a grant, so
Speaker 1: go check it out, all right, Moving ahead, Initia raises
Speaker 1: fourteen million dollars Series A at a three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million dollar token valuation. So we continue to see
Speaker 1: a lot of firms are getting funding guys, and that's
Speaker 1: a great sign to sign up the bull market. So Initia,
Speaker 1: a blockchain project developing a Layer one network and a
Speaker 1: system for interwoven optimistic rollups, has raised fourteen million dollars
Speaker 1: in a Series A funding round. Tumas Tongans Theory Ventures
Speaker 1: led the round with del Fi Ventures and hacked VC participating,
Speaker 1: Initias said on Wednesday, and they list the other angel investors.
Speaker 1: So the Series A round brings Initia's total founding to
Speaker 1: twenty two point five million dollars, which includes a seven
Speaker 1: point five million dollar seed round earlier this year and
Speaker 1: a pre seed investment from Binance Labs last October. So
Speaker 1: what the hell is Initia? Well, they are developing two
Speaker 1: main products, a layer one blockchain and a platform for
Speaker 1: interwoven optimistic rollups. We are holistically building a new multichain
Speaker 1: world across the architecture, product and economic stacks using the
Speaker 1: Initia l one and an interwoven system of l twos
Speaker 1: on set. Through designing an L one in tandem to
Speaker 1: a network of interconnected l twos, Initia has built a
Speaker 1: system designed for a roll up centric future. Now, you
Speaker 1: know some of you are going to say, oh my god,
Speaker 1: how many layer ones do we need? I know I
Speaker 1: feel that way sometimes and you look at sometimes how
Speaker 1: many Layer twos there are on etherorem. But this is
Speaker 1: a sign of a healthy market. You have competition, You
Speaker 1: have different entrepreneurs and innovators in a race to build
Speaker 1: the best blockchain and Obviously there's not going to be
Speaker 1: one blockchain to rule them all, but you're certainly going
Speaker 1: to have different blockchains that serve different use cases. So
Speaker 1: I love to see this that there's building this competition.
Speaker 1: And keep in mind, just as we saw with internet technology,
Speaker 1: there's going to be different iterations and some of the
Speaker 1: future blockchains are going to be way better than the
Speaker 1: ones we have today. Right. At one point, you remember
Speaker 1: we had the big brick cell phones and eventually now
Speaker 1: we have these incredible smartphones that are even better than
Speaker 1: the computers we had in the eighties and nineties. Right,
Speaker 1: So the technology just evolves, so you're going to see
Speaker 1: evolution of these blockchains and the future is bright, folks.
Speaker 1: It's great to see activity like this, and that's why
Speaker 1: these folks are getting money from investors because everyone is
Speaker 1: trying to bet on the best horse here, or multiple
Speaker 1: horses to see who might be the winner. So really
Speaker 1: really great sign final news item here. Layer zero activity
Speaker 1: surges four hundred and thirty three percent following second air
Speaker 1: drop announcement. So Layer zero, the cross chain messaging protocol,
Speaker 1: is witnessing a resurgence in activity, with daily messages raising
Speaker 1: or rising to ninety eight thousand. On Saturday, the search
Speaker 1: comes hot on the heels of the protocol, announcing a
Speaker 1: second aar drop, breathing new life into the ecosystem. The
Speaker 1: recent spike represents a four hundred and thirty three percent
Speaker 1: increase from the previous low of eighteen thousand, four hundred messages,
Speaker 1: signaling a renewed interest in the protocol. This resurgence is
Speaker 1: particularly noteworthy given the protocol's recent lull in activity, which
Speaker 1: had seen daily messages hovering around the twenty thousand mark
Speaker 1: for several weeks. The announcement of a second air drop
Speaker 1: appears to be the catalyst for this sudden uptick inactivity.
Speaker 1: Layer zero strategic movingcludes and interesting twists. Wallets that claimed
Speaker 1: ZrO tokens in the first air drop, which showed no
Speaker 1: subsequent activity, are excluded from this round, incentivizing sustained engagement
Speaker 1: with the protocol. This criterion serves as a clever mechanism
Speaker 1: to distinguish between genuine users and opportunistic air drop farmers,
Speaker 1: potentially fostering a more active and committed user base. I
Speaker 1: like that I like that they are given this incentivization
Speaker 1: of the air drop, but also putting filters like if
Speaker 1: you're not active, you're not participating on network, then sea
Speaker 1: right or not sea, but you're not going to get
Speaker 1: more benefits. So I think that's smart. More blockchains need
Speaker 1: to do that because you want actual users. You put
Speaker 1: out the incentive, that's fine, but you need people to
Speaker 1: actually use the platform now. To be fully transparent, I
Speaker 1: don't own any ZrO tokens. I haven't participated in any
Speaker 1: ear drops. Just letting you guys know. Some of you
Speaker 1: may have. But there's a lot going on in the
Speaker 1: crypto industry. It's hard to keep up. It's not possible
Speaker 1: to be in every token or every hot project. Right.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I feel that fomo, and I'll give an example
Speaker 1: like Suwey. I'm feeling the fomo to go add some
Speaker 1: to my portfolio because I'm seeing big things. I'm seeing
Speaker 1: the price arch. But I've been doing my research and
Speaker 1: making sure, hey, I'm not buying the top on some
Speaker 1: local top or whatever it may be, and that I'm
Speaker 1: not becoming exit liquidity. I'm being very transparent with you
Speaker 1: guys because I know there's some people who are new
Speaker 1: to this asset class and I don't want you to
Speaker 1: get caught and sucked in into the fomo and the
Speaker 1: greed before you do your research. So you got to
Speaker 1: leave your emotions to the side. So I have not
Speaker 1: taking up position on Suy. I'm still looking. You know,
Speaker 1: if there's another big correction in the all coin market,
Speaker 1: I might, but you know, I only have so much
Speaker 1: capital to invest, and I bought a lot of my
Speaker 1: bags in the bear market bottom. So while this is
Speaker 1: a decent entry point, it's not great. You could make,
Speaker 1: you know, a decent return, but you're not going to
Speaker 1: make the incredible returns as if you had bought in
Speaker 1: December twenty twenty two, January twenty twenty three and so forth.
Speaker 1: When we were a lot of all coins were really down.
Speaker 1: Bitcoin was obviously finding its bottom, and that's where I
Speaker 1: bought a lot of tokens. So I'm sticking to my plan.
Speaker 1: I want to make as much money as possible. And
Speaker 1: you know, if I do change my mind and based
Speaker 1: on research and I see, hey, look a lot of
Speaker 1: liquidity might go to Suiy, you know, I might jump in.
Speaker 1: I'll let you guys know, But right now I'm trying
Speaker 1: to do my research. And you know, as I've talked
Speaker 1: about you for years, it takes discipline to invest into
Speaker 1: key check your emotions, and even though I've been here
Speaker 1: since twenty sixteen, I'm human, so I still feel those
Speaker 1: emotional triggers, so to speak. Ray and you want to
Speaker 1: jump in. Oh man, it's running up. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of news. But wait a minute, get a look at
Speaker 1: the charts. Where are we and is there token unlocks
Speaker 1: coming in? Much more? Anyway, Guys, let me know what
Speaker 1: you think about the PayPal and visa news. Just incredibly
Speaker 1: bullish stuff right leave your comments below. Don't forget to
Speaker 1: subscribe to my free email newsletter. It's one hundred percent
Speaker 1: free on Substack, filled with crypto insights and knowledge. And
Speaker 1: be sure to grab a copy of my book, Rethinking
Speaker 1: Crypto and Amazon. It's available in paperback and digital. Grab
Speaker 1: a copy of the Support the Podcast. Buy a few
Speaker 1: copies for your friends and family so they can learn
Speaker 1: about crypto. And if you bought a copy already, please
Speaker 1: leave a rating and review. Thank you so much. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you all, and I'll talk to you all later.
Speaker 1: The bok past eighty to stand the post to stand