Plus... Bitcoin can now be purchased at Walmart (kind of,) Facebook partners with Coinbase for a trial of its new Novi digital wallet, and Steam bans NFT games.
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CoinMarketRecap, hosted by Connor Sephton, aims to break down the week's crypto news in a fun and accessible way.
Research continually shows that consumers find cryptocurrencies difficult to understand — and we're determined to change that.
Here's what happened on this week's show:
Bitcoin Hits Record Highs: What’s Next?
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The arrival of America’s first-ever Bitcoin exchange-traded fund helped the world’s biggest cryptocurrency secure a new all-time high at $67,000 on Wednesday.
Finder.com’s global cryptocurrency writer James Edwards joined us to share predictions of where BTC will be by the end of 2021, 2025 and 2030 — as determined by a panel of 50 fintech experts.
Overall, they believe Bitcoin will peak at $80,000 this year, before cooling slightly to $71,415 by the end of December. But just look at their long-term forecasts — $249,578 in 2025 and a jaw-dropping $5,237,082 by the end of 2030.
On the other hand, the panel projects that Ether will only hit $4,500 by the end of 2021 — suggesting it will underperform against Bitcoin. James said:
“I think $4,500 for Ethereum is still actually remarkably bullish. Ethereum has an enormous amount of competition — it's not like Bitcoin. ETH has the longest list of competitors in the entire crypto sphere.”
James also revealed that 30% of panelists believe Ethereum will lose market share to rival layer-one solutions — and about 13% think Solana has the potential to become the world’s main platform for decentralized finance in the future.
In other developments, Finder’s global cryptocurrency adoption index has polled more than 41,000 people in 22 countries — revealing which countries are ahead of the curve (and behind) when it comes to owning digital assets.
Plus… the data reveals that the most popular coins vary by country. James explained to us why this might be.
News Roundup: Walmart, Facebook, NFTs
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CoinMarketCap’s Molly Jane Zuckerman also gave her reaction the Bitcoin’s dramatic rise this week — and the pullback below $61,000 that later followed.
We also discussed how 200 Coinstar kiosks in Walmart stores across the U.S. can now be used to buy Bitcoin. Although the fees for this service are insanely high, Molly Jane believes it could be a promising milestone when it comes to adoption.
Make sure you also tune in to hear our take on the news that Facebook’s Novi wallet is now being trialed in the U.S. and Guatemala through a partnership with Coinbase — and why American politicians are furious.
We’ve also got a roundup of the week’s developments in NFTs, with Steam banning blockchain-based games from its platform, NBA Hot Shot’s retro collections selling like hotcakes, and the Associated Press launching NFTs to mark some of the biggest news stories over the past 100 years.
