eToro SPAC, XRP & BTC Whales, NFTs, Visa Crypto, Dogecoin: Editor’s Pick
In a busy week for news, let’s take a look back at the news stories that dominated the worlds of forex, fintech, and crypto, in our best of the week segment.
eToro Confirms Public Listing with SPAC Merger
The biggest news story of the week was undoubtedly eToro’s confirmed plans to merge with blank check company FinTech Acquisition Corp. V for making its public debut on Nasdaq.
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The combined companies will operate as eToro Group Ltd, and the estimated implied equity value will be around $10.4 billion at closing, which is a value that was expected from earlier reports.
The official announcement further detailed that $650 million will be raised from private placement in the public equity and another $250 million from FinTech V’s cash in trust. Private investors, including ION Investment, Softbank, and Fidelity, will receive the equity at $10 per share.
Read more on the eToro SPAC here.
CFTC Hits Coinbase with $6.5 Million Fine Over Wash Trades
Coinbase has been ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution to resolve civil charges brought by the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission for inaccurate reporting as well as wash trading on its institutional platform.
Following investigations, the US regulator said Coinbase delivered false reports concerning transactions in digital assets traded on its GDAX platform, which was then rebranded as Coinbase Pro.
The CFTC added that a series of unauthorized and fictitious transactions were made on the GDAX platform between January 2015 and September 2018 and possibly more.
Read more on the CFTC Coinbase Fine here.
Dogecoin: From Reddit Meme to Elon Musk’s Obsession – the Evolution of DOGE
After Dogecoin’s explosion in popularity has sent the coin’s price soaring 1150% so far this year, Finance Magnates set about investigating the evolution of DOGE: From Reddit Meme to Elon Musk’s obsession.
A full timeline of events and key points in Dogecoin’s evolution is provided. We also delved deep into Musk’s fascination with DOGE which seems to have started as a joke. However, over time, some of the statements that he has made about Dogecoin appear to be fairly serious.
An unmissable read on Dogecoin here.
Bitcoin and XRP Whales on the Move
It was a week for big crypto transfers. On Tuesday, Finance Magnates reported on XRP Whale Transfering 745 Million Coins. An unknown whale transferred $330 million worth of XRP tokens on the 15th of March after the XRP price jumped more than 10% in 24 hours.
Later on, in the week, one Bitcoin Owner Moved 5,000 BTC from Binance to Xapo. After gaining nearly 6% in 24 hours and hitting $59,320, one BTC user moved 5,000 coins from crypto exchange Binance to digital wallet Xapo.
Creating an NFT from Start to Finish: Here’s What You Need to Know
NFTs are the ‘big thing’ in crypto at the moment. If you are thinking of issuing one or want to know more about the world of NFTs, Finance Magnates brings you the definitive guide to NFTs and the creation of NFTs.
With expert insights from Tal Elyashiv, Founder of SPiCE VC, and Gagan Grewal, CEO of Mogul Productions, here is everything you need to know about creating an NFT creation.
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Read more on NFT creation here.
Ethereum Is Getting Popular among Institutional Investors
As Finance Magnates reported this week, Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, is gaining the attention of major institutional investors around the world. ETH-related investment products attracted $113 million last week, which is almost 50% of the total cryptocurrency inflows
ETH-related investment products attracted a total of $4.2 billion inflows in this quarter, the highest level on record.
The popularity of Ethereum is growing as institutions are accumulating the cryptocurrency in large amounts.
Read more on Ethereum’s popularity here.
Robinhood Lures Investors with Cash Bonus as Stimulus Checks Loom
With the next round of stimulus checks a few days away from being delivered, Robinhood Markets is offering eligible traders up to a 5% bonus for their new deposits. Under the ‘Robinhood Cash Rewards’ program, the broker will match 5% of traders’ next top-up, with a credit of up to $250 over the next two weeks.
The promotion comes as industry surveys show that Main Street investors will plow a large chunk of Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package directly into equities.
Read more on the Robinhood promotion here.
Cardano’s ADA Token Jumps 18% after Coinbase Pro Listing
As Finance Magnates reported this week, Coinbase has officially added Cardano (ADA) token to the supported assets on the exchange’s professional trading platform, Coinbase Pro, as part of its latest order book expansion.
It is the latest move in a series of rapid expansion plays that the popular US cryptocurrency exchange has made as of late in an attempt to further widen its offering and legitimize a variety of new digital assets.
Touted as the ‘next big thing’ after Ethereum, Cardano (ADA) is a blockchain platform built on a proof-of-stake consensus protocol that validates transactions without high energy costs.
Read more on the Cardano Coinbase Pro Listing here.
Visa CEO Reveals Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Plans
Al Kelly, the CEO of Visa, said that the financial services company is planning to enable the buying of Bitcoin on Visa credentials. The latest statement of Kelly came after Mastercard revealed its cryptocurrency plans in February.
During his conversation at ‘Fortune’s Leadership Next’ podcast, Kelly said that the company is planning to work with Bitcoin wallets. In February 2021, Visa announced a partnership with First Boulevard, a digitally native neobank focused on building generational wealth for the Black community, to accelerate the company’s efforts to enter the cryptocurrency market.
Read more on Visa’s crypto plans here.
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Bank Of America Calls Bitcoin ‘Impractical,’ And Crypto Community Has A Lot To Say About That
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Crypto mining stocks have become fashionable lately, especially since they are generally seen as a substitute for owning cryptocurrency. So, instead of buying Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) or Ethereum (CCC-ETH-USD), you can buy a crypto mining stock in the same way people buy gold mining stocks. They see those as an alternative to owning gold. One reason for this is the companies make revenue and have the ability to generate profits. Owning a cryptocurrency does not guarantee you any kind of revenue. Another reason is that a number of these crypto mining stocks have begun holding as well as buying their underlying cryptos. In the case of Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA), the company does not convert its mined cryptos into dollars. It simply holds them on their balance sheet. A third reason is that a number of these companies now have very high gross margins. These windfall profits are due to a wide gulf between the costs of mining, even with heavy electricity costs and high hash rates, and the much higher price of Bitcoin and other cryptos. For example, some of these crypto miners have secured very favorable long-term electricity contracts with their local energy providers.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips 7 Retail Stocks That Are Far Too Close to Failing Therefore, the following four crypto mining stocks are worth considering. Here is the list: Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) Hive Blockchain Technologies (OTCMTKS:HVBTF) Hut 8 Mining Corp (OTCMKTS:HUTMF) Bit Digital (NASDAQ:BTBT) Let’s dive into these stocks. Crypto Mining Stocks To Buy Now: Riot Blockchain (RIOT) Source: Shutterstock Market Capitalization: $4.25 billion Riot Blockchain is a digital currency mining company based in Castle Rock, CO, but its mining operations are in upstate New York. It also buys and sells digital currencies, and provides accounting, audit, and verification services for blockchain-based assets. Riot recently jacked up its mining capacity so that it can achieve an estimated hash rate capacity of 1.06 Exahash per second (EH/s). That is equal to one quintillion hashes per second, a number with 18 zeros behind the 1, or 1 billion billion hashes per second. In addition, with additional application-specific (ASIC) mining rigs, made specifically for Bitcoin mining, the company expects to reach 3.8 EH/s by October 2021. This should make it the largest or close to the largest Bitcoin miners in the world. Riot Blockchain just released its earnings update for 2020 on March 15. It produced 1,005 Bitcoin in 2020, and by February had produced 179 Bitcoins, 43% higher than Jan. 2021. This puts it on a run-rate, which is likely higher now, of 2,148 Bitcoins, or 113.7% higher than 2020. Let’s assume a price of $58,000 per Bitcoin. That equates to a run-rate revenue of $124.58 million. Therefore, assuming it reaches a run rate of 250 BTC per month by October 2021, its revenue rate will be $14.50 million per month, or $174 million annually. As the company claims it will reach 4 EH/s by the end of the year, this could mean a substantially higher level. The earnings update did not release profit numbers, but we can assume that by the end of the first quarter of 2021, the company will be making significant profits. My estimate is that that it will make 90% gross margins. I suspect that the stock has the ability to at least double from here, as long as Bitcoin continues to provide huge windfall profits to Riot. HIVE Blockchain Technologies (HVBTF) Source: Shutterstock Market Cap: $1.3 billion Hive Blockchain is a Vancouver-based crypto mining company with operations in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland. The company produced earnings for its latest quarter ending Dec. 31 on March 2, showing that it generated $13.7 million. It mines both Ethereum (in Sweden and Iceland) and Bitcoin and has gross margins of 77%. Hive Blockchain makes about 20,000 Ether coins per quarter, which at today’s rate of about $1,800 per Ether, equals $36 million. That puts it on an annualized run rate of $144 million in revenue. At its $1.3 billion market cap, that puts Hive stock at about 9 times revenue. 7 Stocks to Buy No Matter What the Treasury Yield Does Hive also announced a $100 million At-the-Market (ATM) equity capital raise, which it will use to repay debt and for corporate purposes. Look for the stock, which is also listed in Canada, to continue to move higher, as it is up about 100% year-to-date, especially as Ethereum rises. Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUTMF) Source: Shutterstock Market Cap: $962 million Hut 8 Mining stock is up about 173% year-to-date, not only because it is a profitable Bitcoin miner but also because it has a big Bitcoin portfolio. The company will announce its earnings results on Mar. 25 for the year ending Dec. 31. Hut 8 says it has one of the highest installed mining capacities in its class. It also says on its website that it has one of the highest installed capacity rates in the industry. It claims to be among the “top 5 largest holders of self-mined Bitcoin of publicly-traded companies in the world.” A recent research report in Seeking Alpha on Hut 8 says it had, as of January 2021, 3,000 Bitcoins in its treasury. At $58,000 per BTC that equals $174 million. The company also says that it has raised $100 million in equity capital. The report in January said that Hut 8 stock was undervalued at the time. A new CEO and two new directors joined the company in November. The report said that the company had operations capable of producing 3.73 Bitcoin per day or 1,358 per year. At $58,000 per Bitcoin, that works out to revenue of about $78 million annually. It’s too early to determine what the company’s profitability really is, on an ongoing basis, without further information. Investors should read its March 25 earnings release carefully to see what its future value could become. However, I expect this to be an extremely positive report, so be prepared to see the stock move higher. Bit Digital (BTBT) Source: biggunsband / Shutterstock.com Market Cap: $822.6 million This is a relatively unknown U.S. and Chinese digital currency miner, but some analysts like this Bitcoin miner the most. For example, a recent Seeking Alpha report on March 10, indicates that it trades at a huge discount on a price-to-sales ratio compared to other miners. In addition, the company was producing 424.7 Bitcoins per month as of January. At $58,000 per BTC, that works out to $24.59 million, or $295.1 million annually. Given its $822.6 million market cap, this puts it roughly at a 3 times run-rate sales. The company has not yet produced its earnings for 2020, so look for more information from the company in order to determine its long-term value. But right now, with this information about its January operations, look for the stock to at least double, if not triple once the market realizes what its comp value is worth. But do be aware that the company recently released a press statement which it said it was providing in response to false allegations about the company’s operations. This may be referring to a Seeking Alpha report in April 2020 (back when the company was known as Golden Bull Limited) citing questionable practices at the company. As always, buyer beware. These crypto mining stocks provide good exposure to digital currencies without having to buy the cryptos themselves. As Bitcoin and Ethereum hit peak prices, these companies are now making superior windfall gross margins, especially compared to their history. 7 Cheap Stocks Under $10 Several of them have raised enough cash to be able to fund their operations with their cash assets, which allows them to keep the Bitcoin they have mined as long-term marketable securities on their balance sheet. This provides an additional upside leveraged exposure into digital currencies for investors. On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake held a long position in Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA). Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post 4 Crypto Mining Stocks To Buy Now To Gain Exposure to Cryptocurrencies appeared first on InvestorPlace.