There is already fear that Bitcoin is still headed down in the future. And in fact, there is even a prediction that claims Bitcoin is on its way to zero. But should we really be alarmed? Brad Garlinghouse who is Bitcoin’s CEO came in to defend Bitcoin. He mentioned that its value is basically “derived from the utility it delivers”.
And for this reason, it is important to know more about updates regarding blockchain adoption. Is there any development that could support the Ripple CEO’s claim that Bitcoin isn’t headed to zero?
Economic Problems and Bitcoin Adoption
Iran is currently dealing with hyperinflation. The government is even looking closely at the possibility of cutting zeros. The same thing goes for Venezuela. Both countries are suffering from hyperinflation. And with the US sanctions at play, both countries have increased adoption of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.
For Iran, there was a report by Localbitcoins.com that Iran’s trading spiked right after the US withdrew from the nuclear agreement that was signed by the Obama administration. And with falling oil trade in the country, hyperinflation has been seen as a reason why Bitcoin trading has suddenly picked up in the country.
The same goes for Venezuela. Now, you have businesses accepting Dash. You also have a good number of people who are maximizing the limit on the electrical bill by mining cryptocurrencies.
NASDAQ Moving Into Crypto
Institutional investors are seen as the savior of cryptos for many crypto observers. Recently, Nasdaq made a big move in favor of the crypto industry. Nasdaq led a $20 million Series B round of funding Symbiont which is a blockchain tech company. Nasdaq has been joined by the likes of Galaxy Digital, Citi Ventures, and Raptor Group.
For Symbiont, it calls Nasdaq as its “anchor partner”. It mentioned about developing applications on its “Assembly”. It mentioned that “Assembly provides the opportunity for new participants to enter the digital asset market and offers existing participation a superior infrastructure on which to build the future of financial markets”.
This platform will be used by Nasdaq in order to “explore new business opportunities” for clients that are looking for smart contracts. Nasdaq tweeted that “We are excited to welcome @SymbiontIO, a market leading platform for institutional applications of #blockchain technology, to @Nasdaq Ventures”.
This could potentially “Include the integration of Symbiont’s enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform into the Nasdaq Financial Framework”.
Could this mean that there will be a Nasdaq token trading platform in the near future? For CEO Mark Smith, he gave a vague comment saying that the funding was a “huge opportunity to be able to go all over the globe with Nasdaq”.
This is definitely a positive development not only for Bitcoin but for the rest of the crypto market. In fact, though you have a Bitcoin ETF that is still uncertain to this day, Nasdaq’s recent move shows that it sees the potential of the crypto market. This is so far the biggest investment made by Nasdaq. Though Nasdaq joined Fidelity in the past to invest in ErisX, it has been discovered that it wasn’t really the biggest investor.
Does it mean that Bitcoin is here to stay? Does it mean that Bitcoin isn’t exactly about to hit zero? Will there be mass adoption that is going to happen this year?
