Payment Giants Enter Crypto Assets Industry, New Opportunities Arise

Recently, a globally renowned payment company announced the completion of an innovative initiative that connects the world of Crypto Assets with traditional fiat currency. The company uses the dollar-backed stablecoin USDC for transaction settlement in its payment system via the Ethereum network.

Once this news was announced, the price of Bitcoin surged rapidly, breaking through the $59,000 mark, with an increase of over 8%.

The payment company stated that it has launched a pilot program with a Crypto Assets payment platform and plans to offer this option to more partners later this year.

According to media reports, this payment giant has added a crypto application to its network, enabling its 61 million customers to make payments using crypto assets.

Supporting the use of digital currency as a new settlement currency marks an important advance in the company's "network of networks" strategy. This strategy aims to enhance the flow of funds in all forms both within and outside its network.

By leveraging global influence, partnerships, and brand reputation, the company is committed to adding differentiated value to the ecosystem, making Crypto Assets safer, more practical, and more suitable for payment scenarios.

Institutions Compete to Position Themselves

Since last year, major institutions have begun to布局 in the Bitcoin and Crypto Assets field. This trend has also influenced the decisions of this payment giant to some extent.

Prior to this, another mainstream payment platform had already expressed support for the buying, selling, and payment services of Bitcoin and other Crypto Assets. The platform's CEO even filmed a video demonstrating the process of purchasing jeans with Bitcoin.

Platforms like these hold a critical position in the overseas payment sector. The ability to directly purchase Crypto Assets or use them for payment on such important platforms will undoubtedly bring enormous traffic and positive impact to the Crypto Assets field.

A billionaire venture capitalist stated on social media: "After a certain payment platform announced support for Bitcoin, major banks are discussing how to support Bitcoin; this is no longer an option."

A certain investment fund known as "the Pi Yao of the coin circle" has increased its investment efforts this year. As of now, the number of Bitcoin held by this fund has reached 650,000 coins, making it the largest institutional holder in the world.

The operational model of the fund determines that it can only continuously buy and cannot sell. Investors hand over cash and Bitcoin to the fund, which is equivalent to locking the coins in the fund, and the market does not have to worry about such a large number of coins being sold off significantly.

In addition to institutions that provide "buying assistance services", there is a software company that has become the world's first publicly listed company to officially adopt Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. Currently, the company has purchased more than 20,000 coins through various channels and continues to look for opportunities to increase its holdings at different price levels.

The company's founder has long started accumulating Bitcoin, having purchased more than 10,000 coins, making him a veritable "ten-thousand coin candidate."

After this software company took a series of actions, other large companies also began to hoard coins one after another. In October 2020, a U.S. mobile payment giant announced an investment of $50 million to purchase approximately 4,709 Bitcoins as reserve assets. Five days later, an asset management company managing over $10 billion in assets revealed that it had purchased more than 10,000 Bitcoins, worth about $114 million, as part of its asset reserve strategy.

More notably, on February 8th of this year, a well-known electric vehicle manufacturer suddenly announced a company investment of $1.5 billion to purchase Bitcoin and stated that it would soon support the use of Bitcoin to purchase its products.

This move immediately ignited the market, with the price of Bitcoin rising nearly 14% within an hour, reaching a high of $44,195.

Even some traditional financial analysts who were once critical of Bitcoin and Crypto Assets are beginning to change their stance, with some even predicting that in the bull market of 2021, the price of Bitcoin could reach as high as $400,000.

Toward the Public

Driven by numerous institutions, Crypto Assets were no longer seen as an alternative market in 2021, and an increasing number of institutions and investors began to pay attention to the blockchain and Crypto Assets field.

The entry of this group of institutions may bring the following impacts to the industry:

1. Promote industry compliance and move towards the mainstream world

At the beginning of Bitcoin's birth, it was often used for illegal purposes, bringing many adverse factors to regulation. Regulatory authorities in various countries have always been skeptical and cautious towards Bitcoin and Crypto Assets.

Today, with major institutions entering the market in large numbers, Bitcoin's market value has surpassed a trillion, and the influence of Bitcoin and the Crypto Assets market is now vastly different from before. This has forced regulators to actively respond by formulating relevant laws and regulations to promote compliance in the industry. Countries such as the United States, Singapore, and Japan have begun to actively explore the integration of Crypto Assets with the real financial world at the regulatory level, no longer outright rejecting it. This will provide more policy support for industry development, ushering in a new phase of normalization and mainstream acceptance.

2. Expand market consensus and attract more investors to participate.

In the past, due to the restrictions on Crypto Assets by the government and regulators, many people and investors were unwilling to understand Bitcoin and Crypto Assets, showing indifference to their basic principles and value.

Nowadays, an increasing number of institutions and enterprise platforms support the use of Crypto Assets for settlement or payment, giving more users the opportunity to get in touch with Crypto Assets and recognize their value and advantages. This will gradually change people's attitudes, prompting them to further understand the operating mechanisms of Bitcoin and the Crypto Assets market, ultimately transforming from onlookers to real Crypto Assets investors.

3. Enhance investor confidence and lead a super bull market

The characteristics of large institutions are large amounts of capital and long-term investments, mainly focusing on Bitcoin's anti-inflation and value storage appreciation functions, and they are not easily sold off. As more and more institutions begin to accumulate Bitcoin, it will continuously stimulate investors' enthusiasm, enhance market confidence, and trigger a sustained upward trend. This is also why the bull market of 2021 is considered to have shifted from retail to institutional markets.

Seize the opportunity

Any great new thing faces doubt and criticism in its early development, as its existence often clashes with the times. But they represent the future and a new trend in historical development.

Bitcoin is such a new entity that has been questioned from the very beginning. After eleven years of development, despite facing numerous crackdowns and blockades, it still stands tall, instead highlighting its vigorous vitality and value.

In the upcoming digital economy era, digital assets will become a necessity in everyone's daily life, and allocating quality digital assets will also become a compulsory lesson for every investor.

As more and more institutions and even sovereign countries begin to lay out their plans for Bitcoin, this market will gradually mature and stabilize, and opportunities will not be as abundant as they are now.

As a relatively early participant, what are you waiting for?