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Crypto.com is capitalizing on the Bitcoin boom

TokenTrends Staff

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Crypto.com is capitalizing on the Bitcoin boom

Crypto.com is everywhere. That’s it the name is stamped on the house of the NBA’s most famous franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers. It is sponsoring Formula 1 races and UFC matches. Your ads are back to the airwaveswith Eminem declaring during the NBA playoffs that “fortune favors the brave.”

Crypto.com is also nowhere to be found. It doesn’t have a flashy CEO like FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (who is currently in prison) or CZ from Binance (who is going to prison). On the contrary Coin base, regulators don’t seem to be sniffing around. Sure, the company has top-notch marketing efforts, but on a day-to-day basis, Crypto.com doesn’t appear much.

Crypto.com is one of those things I put in my “I wonder what the problem is” column a long time ago, along with Jojo Siwa, bird fluIt is the difference between F1 and NASCAR. It seems impossible to watch a sporting event without seeing your name somewhere, but I rarely talk to someone who uses it or come across their name in the headlines. Part of the problem is that I live in New York, where their services are not permitted. (That’s not a knock on the company — for many cryptocurrency exchanges, the Empire State is a tough nut to crack.) But it’s also a pretty nebulous entity in the American market. It says it has 100 million users around the world, but it still seems to go a little unnoticed.

Often when I mention Crypto.com to someone who works in the crypto industry, they tell me they know about it, of course. When I ask exactly what they know about it, they come up pretty blank. Maybe it’s popular mainly abroad, they speculate, or just for newbies. Google data indicates that while a good portion of search interest comes from America, a greater portion comes from outside the US, namely Singapore, Nigeria and Bulgaria.

“Huh, I guess it’s bigger than I thought,” commented one cryptoevangelist after checking its trading volume.

“They own the Lakers arena? I was always very confused about how they did it,” said another crypto entrepreneur. (To be fair, the company doesn’t own the arena; it just bought the naming rights.) He created an account on Crypto.com during the 2021-2022 market cycle to make a specific move not currently permitted on Coinbase. . time, but he hasn’t really used it since.

When I asked Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Ventures, about the company, he responded via email: “It’s kind of a mystery, yes.” . “But I think it reflects the user base – it’s not necessarily crypto-natives, but rather retail that wants a casual and accessible experience (as I see it),” he said.

Crypto.com is positioning itself as the new face of crypto, although it itself remains faceless. It could prove to be a smart move – you’re boosting your brand and, in turn, your consumer base, while avoiding much of the scrutiny that other exchanges have faced. For now, Crypto.com is balancing between notoriety and infamy. It is moving smoothly, but with a large advertising budget.

Although Crypto.com has only really emerged on the American scene in the last four years or so, it has been around for some time. Originally called Monaco, the exchange was founded in 2016 in Hong Kong by Kris Marszalek, a Polish-born businessman with a colorful past, and several others. Amid the 2017 crypto rush, it raised money from the public through an initial coin offering – creating and selling its own digital token, similar to a stock market IPO. In 2018, the company nabbed the coveted Crypto.com domain name, purchasing it for an undisclosed sum from an academic who had long refused to sell it. (Even more confusing, Crypto.com is technically operated by Foris DAX Asia, which, according to a Reddit scan, can confuse many users when their tax documentation arrives. It’s also the name under which Crypto.com lobbies.) Crypto.com’s main business is a cryptocurrency exchange, which works as an intermediary for people buying and selling crypto, but also offers other products, including crypto Visa cards.

The 2021-22 market cycle is when Crypto.com, now based in Singapore, made a big splash. At the end of 2021, bought the naming rights to what was then the Staples Center in Los Angeles as part of a 20-year, $700 million deal. He signed sponsorship deals with the UFC and F1, while also launching his “fortune favors the brave” ad campaign, which originally featured Matt Damon. Crypto.com was looking for brand recognition and was willing to spend millions and millions to do it.

“This is a brick in a larger wall to introduce Crypto.com as a brand to the world and communicate what our core values ​​are,” said Steven Kalifowitz, chief marketing officer at Crypto.com. told Business Insider at the time.

Many crypto mini-emperors ended up having no clothes.

At the moment, everything made sense. FTX was flying high and paid $135 million to put its name on the Miami Heat’s stadium. Its founder, SBF, hung out with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in the Bahamas and suggested he would spend a billion dollars on the 2024 elections. Binance’s CZ was talking about investing US$200 million in Forbes, saying this would push media companies to adopt cryptography and lead to the decentralization of the industry. But we know how the story ends: FTX implodedalong with some other high-profile crypto projectsIt is crypto winter setting in. A lot of crypto mini-emperors He ended up having no clothes.

Crypto.com, however, managed to weather the storm, albeit not perfectly. The company accidentally sent around $400 million to the wrong account in November 2022, causing some users to withdraw their money from the platform. In early 2023, laid off 20% of its workforce, blaming economic headwinds and the collapse of FTX. The Financial Times reported last June that Crypto.com was operating in-house proprietary trading teams, for which US regulators criticized Binance, although Crypto.com insisted everything was fine. The regulatory environment in the US seems to have made the company a little nervous – it closed its American institutional exchange in the middle of last year.

In the US, Crypto.com managed to avoid much of the setback that its competitors faced. (This is not the case in other countries – in the Netherlands, for example, it was fined for operating without registration.) While the Sthe Securities and Exchange Commission went after Coinbase and Kraken, because they operate unregistered exchanges, didn’t give a damn about Crypto.com. So far, Crypto.com has avoided attention, even though it is running pretty much the same playbook. In April, the company’s chief operating officer acknowledged in an interview with Decrypt that its big-budget marketing efforts could put a target on its back, but said the payoff was worth it.

Crypto.com’s determination to move forward, both loudly and quietly, has prepared it to try to capitalize in the recent market rush. Bitcoin is once again on the rise, as is Crypto.com. The company is hiring again, it’s advertising aggressively again, and it’s talking a lot about its business prospects — its CEO, Marszalek, told Bloomberg in April that he aimed to triple its number of registered users.

Data from marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates that U.S. crypto advertisers’ digital spending increased 185% year over year in the first quarter of 2024. Crypto.com spent eight times more than Coinbase on digital advertising during that period. (It’s worth noting that in Q1 2021, Crypto.com spent slightly more than FTX on digital ads.)

But the thing about all of Crypto.com’s advertising dollars is that they seem to be barely effective. Data compiled by CCData shows that Crypto.com has a 2.3% market share in spot market trading volumes globally, which is about half that of Coinbase, which has 4%, and just slightly above Kraken, which has 1.4%. (Globally, Binance is still dominant.) According to Sensor Tower, Crypto.com saw a 140% increase in downloads in March from the previous month, although it lagged slightly behind Coinbase, which saw a surge of 160%.

All that buying stadiums and renaming things is considered ridiculous by most people in crypto.

Crypto.com did not respond to multiple interview requests or comment for this story. Most people I spoke to gave the verbal equivalent of a shrug when I asked what they thought of the company.

One crypto executive said part of the problem is that Crypto.com, being an Asian upstart, is somewhat outside Silicon Valley’s mainstream crypto circles. Similar to clubby”PayPal mafia” what software dominated in the 2010sa sort of Coinbase team controls the crypto industry of the 2020s. The executive also wasn’t too happy with Crypto.com’s flashy advertising, describing it as “seedy” and irresponsible.

“All that stadium buying and renaming things is seen as ridiculous by most people in crypto,” they said. “I think the tackiest and frankly irresponsible thing to do is run FOMO ads. ‘Buy crypto or get left behind’ is a really irresponsible message. JPMorgan doesn’t do that.”

And despite the company’s ability to avoid serious regulatory scrutiny, it hasn’t generated much goodwill among some cryptoevangelists.

“I support bitcoin, but I think Crypto.com is, in general, a huge negative for the American public. It’s very confusing. It’s a casino,” said Alex Gladstein, who, as chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation, argued that bitcoin is important for advancing human rights and freedom. “When you go to the site, they encourage you to try and bet on these coins that go to zero. I don’t think it has anything to do with financial empowerment for people or any kind of alternative wealth building.”

To be sure, the casino thing could be said about most crypto exchanges – and sports betting apps and many regular trading apps. Crypto.com appears to be careful about toeing regulatory lines. The head of its legal department in the Americas just published a “crypto legal manual,” which, OK.

Crypto.com is embedded in our culture, but it isn’t. It’s a sort of FTX cloak, but with a more anonymous bent. For the company, it’s a pretty smart space to operate in: omnipresent but relatively anonymous. For everyone else, your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about it all. It’s a good reminder that whatever the company, it’s best to use exchanges just to trade your crypto assets, not to store them.

Maybe Eminem won’t regret releasing these ads like Matt Damon did. Or maybe five years from now we’ll be looking back and saying, “Remember that crypto company? Is that still where the Lakers play? Or is it something else now?”

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent for Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

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We are the editorial team of TokenTrends, where seriousness meets clarity in cryptocurrency analysis. With a robust team of finance and blockchain technology experts, we are dedicated to meticulously exploring complex crypto markets with detailed assessments and an unbiased approach. Our mission is to democratize access to knowledge of emerging financial technologies, ensuring they are understandable and accessible to all. In every article on TokenTrends, we strive to provide content that not only educates, but also empowers our readers, facilitating their integration into the financial digital age.

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Bitcoin

RIOT, MARA and CLSK shares at risk

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Bitcoin price nears key support: RIOT, MARA, and CLSK stocks at risk

Bitcoin (BTC) Mining stocks like Riot Platforms (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) retreated in pre-market trading as BTC retreated.

RIOT, MARA and CLSK all fell more than 2%, while other crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell 1.5%.

Bitcoin sell-off continues

Crypto-linked stocks retreated as Bitcoin resumed its downtrend on Wednesday. After rising to $63,750 on Monday, BTC is hovering at $60,0000 and it is unclear whether it will recover.

More importantly, Bitcoin is dangerously close to the crucial support at $58,273, which is the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The next support level for Bitcoin is $56,426, representing its lowest level in May.

Bitcoin Price Chart

If Bitcoin drops below this price, it will be a sign that the bears have prevailed, which could take it to the $50,000 level, if not below.

This decline happened after a whale deposited nearly 2,000 Bitcoins to Binance in two separate transactions. While this isn’t always the case, deposits to exchanges often happen when holders are exiting their positions.

The whales’ action coincided with a period in which the German government continues to sell off its Bitcoin holdings. It transferred $52 million worth of coins to exchanges on Tuesday.

As a result, data from CoinGlass shows that the volume of Bitcoin balances on exchanges has started to increase. The volume rose to 2.49 million on Tuesday, from last month’s low of 2.47 million.

Bitcoin Balances

Bitcoin balances on exchanges

Bitcoin Mining Companies at Risk

If the Bitcoin sell-off continues, it will put Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon, CleanSpark, and Riot Platforms at risk. These companies have tended to have a close correlation with Bitcoin in the past.

This drop is happening a few months after the halving event, reducing the amount of Bitcoins that miners receive.

To compensate for this drop, most of these companies have added their mining equipment. CleanSpark has reached a hash rate of 20 EH/swhich helped her mine 445 coins in June after mining 417 coins the previous month. She did this after purchasing 5 mining sites in Georgia.

Digital Marathon mined 590 coins in June, down 40% from the same month in 2023 and flat from May.

Riot Platforms, on the other hand, focused on acquiring Bitfarms, a company that mined 189 coins in June.

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Michael Saylor Issues Statement on Bitcoin Amid Crypto Market Sell-Off by U.Today

TokenTrends Staff

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Michael Saylor issues statement on Bitcoin amid crypto market sell-off

U.Today – Amid an ongoing sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, Michael Saylor, a prominent advocate and president of MicroStrategy, made a statement on X (Twitter) that reverberated across the crypto space: “Just Bitcoin.”

This two-word tweet comes as the cryptocurrency market faces significant sell-offs as the price of Bitcoin plummets.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, began its decline in Tuesday’s trading session, hitting $63,223 at one point before falling further.

Losses deepened on Wednesday as investors considered remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, with Bitcoin hitting intraday lows of $59,509. At the time of writing, BTC is down 2.85% over the past 24 hours to $60,274.

According to data from CoinGlass, the sell-off has resulted in a significant amount of cryptocurrencies being liquidated in the past 24 hours, totaling over $166 million. However, this has not deterred Saylor’s confidence in Bitcoin, as he reiterates his longing for the crypto asset in his tweet.

Cryptocurrency market crashes

Cryptocurrencies fell on Tuesday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank needs to see more progress on inflation before cutting interest rates, which are now at 5.25%-5.50%. Powell revealed at a monetary symposium in Sintra, Portugal, that the United States is moving closer to a disinflationary path.

“We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably downward toward 2% before we begin the process of tapering or easing policy,” Powell said.

Market losses deepened after Wednesday’s economic releases that indicated the labor market is cooling. Recent data showed weaker-than-expected private payroll growth in June, but weekly jobless claims were higher than economists had forecast. The latest figures come ahead of the highly anticipated June nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

As the cryptocurrency market goes through a period of uncertainty, the coming days and weeks will be crucial in determining the direction of BTC’s price.

This article was originally published on U.Today



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Bitcoin and Ethereum in GTA 6? Still rumors — for now

TokenTrends Staff

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Bitcoin and Ethereum in GTA 6? Still rumors — for now

Rumors that the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 will use cryptocurrency that has been circulating for more than a year now—and they’re spinning again.

On Wednesday, a pseudonymous Crypto Twitter influencer named Gordon — apparently named after Gordon Gekko from the iconic 1987 film “Wall Street” —shared to his nearly 500,000 followers that “GTA 6 will allow cryptocurrency payments” and that “so far only Bitcoin, EthereumIt is USDT [are] confirmed.”

But in reality, no cryptocurrency has been confirmed for Grand Theft Auto 6, despite ongoing chatter about the rumors. Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two have made no such announcements this week on the subject, nor have they made any prior announcements, and official trailers and announcements have made no mention of cryptocurrency being included.

However, the tweet — which also included a fake trailer for the game — quickly went viral, with over 500,000 views as of this writing in a matter of hours. When Twitter users asked Gordon for his sources, he would jokingly respond that his “uncle works there” or say that previous reports on the matter were “old” at this point.

But really, nothing has changed since then. DecipherGG’s reported in previous rumors in May 2023, not even since the first official trailer — which initially leaked with “BUY BTC” stamped on itApparently by the leaker in question—premiered last December.

DecipherGG reached out to Rockstar Games for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Could Grand Theft Auto 6 implement a crypto element when it releases in 2025? It’s certainly possible, and if so, it would be a transformative moment for cryptocurrency adoption by the traditional gaming industry.

Take-Two Interactive has explored the space before, acquiring casual gaming giant Zynga in early 2022, when Take-Two founder and CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested there were “Web3 opportunities” that they could explore better as a team. Zynga has launched its first blockchain game on Ethereum, called Sugartownbut Take-Two has yet to get involved with other brands.

Rockstar Games, on the other hand, prohibited the use of cryptocurrency or NFTs on player-run Grand Theft Auto 5 servers in late 2022, following a rise in the use of NFTs to represent unique player-owned assets on modded game servers.

And given Grand Theft Auto’s satirical tone, the game may be more likely to criticize cryptocurrency and poke fun at caricatures of crypto fans and NFTs, for example, rather than trying to launch its own on-chain currency. But that’s all speculation at this point, as there are relatively few official details about GTA 6.

For now, at least, don’t believe the hype. While Rockstar Games hasn’t officially closed the door on cryptocurrency usage in Grand Theft Auto 6, it hasn’t confirmed anything about it either. However, it’s sure to remain a hot topic in the long run leading up to release, which is currently scheduled for fall 2025.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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Crypto President Trump’s ‘Lesser’ Regulation Will Bless Coinbase’s Bitcoin Leverage, Expert Says – Coinbase Glb (NASDAQ:COIN)

TokenTrends Staff

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Crypto President Trump's 'Lesser' Regulation Will Bless Coinbase's Bitcoin Leverage, Expert Says - Coinbase Glb (NASDAQ:COIN)

Chris SenyekChief Investment Strategist at Wolfe Researchrecently expressed his opinion on the potential impact of a Donald Trump win the 2024 elections in the cryptocurrency market.

What happened: Senyek suggested that a Trump presidency could ease cryptocurrency regulations, benefiting companies like Coinbase Global Inc. COIN due to its importance Bitcoin BTC/USD Leverage.

“Trump would be less harsh on crypto regulation, and Coinbase would be a big beneficiary of that given its influence on bitcoin,” Senyek said during CNBC’s “Last Call” on Tuesday.

See too: Enhance Your Retirement Portfolio: The Benefits of Adding Cryptocurrency

Why does this matter?:Senyek’s comments come in the context of the former president Donald Trump‘s reported plans to participate at the Bitcoin 2024 convention, which could reinforce his image as a “Crypto President”.

Trump’s potential participation in the Bitcoin 2024 convention, a major event on the cryptocurrency calendar, could have significant implications for the industry.

Pratik KalaHead of Research in DigitalX Limitedhe has predicted a Trump victory in the upcoming elections, but warns that immediate cryptocurrency-friendly regulations may not be a priority.

A recent report by 10x Search explore the recent rise in Bitcoin price and its potential connection to Trump’s strong position in the 2024 election race. The report, titled “Is the Bitcoin Trump Pump Sustainable?”, highlights a 4% spike in Bitcoin’s price following the news that the president Joe Biden will remain in the race despite a poor performance in the presidential debate.

Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading 2.10% lower at $60,860.66, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Image created using photos from Shutterstock

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari

News and market data brought to you by Benzinga’s APIs

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