Last week in review: Visa launches crypto advisory service

A lot happened in crypto last week. Here are our top picks. Visa launches a crypto advisory service, Australia embarks on its biggest payments reform in 25 years and Google reveals crypto is among its most popular search terms.

Visa launches crypto advisory service

What

Visa has launched a crypto advisory service for its clients and merchants

Why

It is intended to help clients who have crypto holdings or who are considering getting some

What next

Visa is set to launch services this year that will allow buying, selling and custody of digital currency through its banking partners

Read the full story here.

Institution behemoth Fidelity Investments set to launch spot BTC ETF

What 

Fidelity Investments, the world’s fourth-largest asset manager, is launching a spot BTC ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange this week 

Why 

The Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) will invest in “physical” bitcoin, whereas other BTC ETFs have been solely futures-based. It will make Fidelity the largest asset manager to have entered the crypto-ETF space 

What next

Fidelity’s entry into the cryptocurrency market is further testimony to a surge of interest in bitcoin among large institutional investors, further blurring the lines between traditional finance and the cryptosphere 

Read the full story here.

Australia makes biggest payments reform in 25 years 

What

Australian government will overhaul its regulatory framework around crypto exchanges

Why

Over 800,000 Australians have owned a form of cryptocurrency and that number is expected to rise going into 2022

What next

New regulations will “broaden the definition of services and products that can be regulated,” according to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg

Read the full story here.

Latest fork will take Ether further away from proof of work

What

The Arrow Glacier upgrade to the Ethereum network is planned for this week  

Why

It should move the network away from being a proof of work-based system

What next

This fork gives developers more time to work on Ethereum 2.0

Read the full story here.

Over 25% of US households own Bitcoin

What

A Grayscale Investments survey suggests that over 25% of American households own Bitcoin

Why

Grayscale says 55% of Bitcoin investors started in 2021

What next 

Adoption is expected to rise in 2022

Read the full story here.

Crypto among most popular search terms in Google’s Year in Search 2021

What

Cryptocurrency was among the most searched topics on the internet in 2021, according to Google’s annual Year in Search report

Why

Crypto has evidently filtered into mainstream conversation, considering that “how to buy Bitcoin” searches outranked “how to buy stocks” in February 

What next

Six of the 10 top “Where to buy” searches were related to cryptocurrencies, further suggesting an increase in crypto adoption

Read the full story here.