Last Week in Review: PayPal launches stablecoin on Ethereum, and trading on X?

The highlights from last week’s headline grabbers. All the important news, numbers and events from the world of crypto in one place. 

News from the block

🫰 PayPal launches a stablecoin 

• Payments giant PayPal has launched a stablecoin.
  

• PayPal’s stablecoin, PayPal USD, is backed by US dollar deposits and short-term US Treasuries, similar to the USDC stablecoin issued by Circle.
  
  
• Patrick McHenry, the committee’s Republican chair, said that PayPal’s announcement is an indication that stablecoins “hold promise as a pillar of our 21st century payments system,” according to Reuters.
  
  
• Still unclear about what a stablecoin is? Brush up HERE. 
  

✖️ Trading coming to X?

• Elon Musk may be looking for business partners to help build out a trading platform on X, formerly Twitter, according to Semafor.
  
  
• “The company formerly known as Twitter is seeking a financial-data giant to build a trading hub inside the app, according to a request for plans viewed by Semafor and people familiar with the matter,” the publication said
  
  
• “Real-time information is a powerful force, especially in the world of investing,” reads the request,” Semafor reported, which was sent to big providers in recent weeks asking for proposals for financial content, real-time stock data, and other features. 
  

🔻 Litecoin drops on day of halving

• Litecoin dropped 6% yesterday to a 1-month low on the day of its halving, an event that has historically seen an increase in the cryptocurrency’s price.
  
  
• “Litecoin’s halving cycle has been one of anticipation, where it troughs and peaks ahead of its halving event,” Greg Cipolaro, global head of research at digital asset investment firm NYDIG, wrote in a report last week. “This is opposed to bitcoin, which has peaked well after its halving in its cycles,” as reported by CoinDesk.
  

🟠 Michael Saylor wants to buy more BTC

• MicroStrategy announced its plans to sell $750 million worth of shares and use the money to buy bitcoin, among other things, as reported by CoinDesk.
  
  
• In the SEC filing, MicroStrategy said it will “use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin and working capital.”
  

• “We believe that bitcoin is attractive because it can serve as a store of value, supported by a robust and public open-source architecture, that is untethered to sovereign monetary policy,” MicroStrategy said. “We also believe that, due to its limited supply, bitcoin offers the opportunity for appreciation in value if its adoption increases and has the potential to serve as a hedge against inflation in the long-term.”

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TL;DID read

Court rules that XRP sold on public exchanges is not a security, but what could it mean for the future of crypto?

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Crunching the numbers

💸 200 – The rough number of stablecoins currently in existence. PayPal recently launched its own stablecoin on Ethereum. 

🐦 $4 billion – The worth of Twitter’s brand value before it became X, according to brand valuation consulting firm Brand Finance.

🤑 152,800 – How much bitcoin MicroStrategy currently holds. Founder Michael Saylor announced he’s planning to add more BTC to the company’s treasury. 

⛏️ 11 million – How many Litecoins are left to mine as of July 2023. The coin’s value dropped 6% following its halving event last week, confounding some analysts. 

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Crypto trivia

What is USDT (Tether?)

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Protect your crypto 

The first step to protecting yourself against scams is staying up to date with the various ways criminals can get access to your crypto investments. We’re here to help you. 

Read below how you can avoid falling prey to crypto romance and dating scams.

💔 What are crypto romance and dating scams?