BTC & ETH Rally after Elon Musk Opens ‘The B Word’ Conference with Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wood

Cryptocurrency markets reacted positively to a highly anticipated conversation between Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Cathie Wood. The investment bank JPMorgan begins offering retail clients access to crypto funds and Mastercard plans to simplify crypto-to-fiat conversions.  

• Elon Musk defines personal crypto holdings and the future of Tesla BTC payments
• JPMorgan offers all clients access to cryptocurrency funds
• Mastercard to simplify cryptocurrency to fiat conversions
• AXE releases limited-edition Dogecoin-inspired body spray
• Big-ticket reports to watch out for this week

Elon Musk defines crypto portfolio, Tesla’s future, and SpaceX’s holdings

Actions and comments made by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, have moved the cryptocurrency markets considerably in 2021. Earlier in the year, the entrepreneur led the way with cryptocurrency adoption by allowing bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method for Tesla vehicles. The company also publicly stated that $1.5 billion worth of BTC had been added to its balance sheet. After raising markets with such positive news, Musk then backtracked and removed bitcoin as a payment option due to environmental concerns of bitcoin mining, which is power-intensive. This chaotic move left many investors questioning the actions of the Tesla CEO. 

However, the eyes of the cryptocurrency community were once again on Musk this week as he took part in the ‘The B Word’ video conference. The B Word conference is a live event that was held to ‘demystify and destigmatize mainstream narratives about Bitcoin, explain how institutions can embrace it, and raise awareness for areas of the network that need support’. One of the live sessions during the week saw Elon discuss his views on cryptocurrencies alongside the CEO of Twitter and Square Inc Jack Dorsey, and the CEO of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood. The discussion was moderated by Square Inc lead, Steve Lee. 

When asked about what influences his views on Bitcoin the entrepreneur began singing the virtues of the cryptocurrency industry and the future potential that it holds. During the discussion, Musk outlined his thoughts on investing stating “I’m not an investor” and then explained that the only significant publicly traded stocks he owns are Tesla and SpaceX. Musk continued, “apart from that, I do own bitcoin. Tesla owns bitcoin. SpaceX owns bitcoin…and I personally own a bit of ethereum and dogecoin.”

The comments outlined a few aspects that had not yet been revealed regarding both SpaceX and Elon’s own personal cryptocurrency portfolio. While the knowledge that SpaceX owns Bitcoin was certainly positive news, it may have been his openness regarding his personal cryptocurrency holdings that carried the most weight. The value of cryptocurrency holdings was not discussed.

After commenting on cryptocurrency holdings Musk then moved the discussion to bitcoin’s environmental issues, where he put the question regarding Tesla payments to rest. 

“It is most likely that Tesla will resume accepting bitcoin. I do think there appears to be a positive trend in the energy usage of bitcoin, I actually think part of this is due to the drop in bitcoin price. I want to do a little more due diligence to conclude and confirm that signs of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50% and that there is a trend towards increasing that number. If so then Tesla will resume accepting bitcoin.”

The comments made during the live session rallied cryptocurrency prices with bitcoin and ether both posting the highest daily price increase seen for several months. Bitcoin closed the day above $32,000, up more than 7% from previous daily lows. Ether also closed the day up by an impressive 12%. This trend continued for the remainder of the week.

JPMorgan begins offering cryptocurrency funds to retail clients

The investment bank, JPMorgan, has continued to make headway into the cryptocurrency investment sector by becoming the first large bank to offer crypto-related products to all clients. All of JP’s financial advisors were given the ‘green light’ last week which means it has become the first bank to offer products to clients beyond high-net-worth individuals.  

Buy and sell orders can now be accepted for five different cryptocurrency funds including Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, and Osprey Fund’s Bitcoin Trust. 

The CEO of Osprey Funds, Greg King commented on the integration during the week. “We are excited to be onboarded to the JPMorgan wealth platform. OTBC remains the lowest-priced publicly traded bitcoin fund in the U.S. and we believe JPMorgan’s clients will see value in the product.”  

The move from the investment bank continues to highlight the integration of cryptocurrencies with the traditional finance sector. In 2017, the CEO of JPMorgan had threatened to fire those that were caught trading cryptocurrencies. Since then, the company has been overwhelmed by client interest in the cryptocurrency industry. 

Mastercard simplifies conversion from crypto to fiat

The payments provider, Mastercard, announced last week that it would be upgrading its crypto card program for use with cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges. 

The company commented on the upgrade during a statement released on Tuesday. “[the upgrade] will enhance its card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, making it simpler for partners to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency. Mastercard and its partners will test this new capability to enable more banks and crypto companies to offer card options to people wanting to spend their digital assets anywhere Mastercard is accepted.”

The enhancements will be facilitated through a partnership between Evolve Bank & Trust and Metropolitan Commercial Bank who will issue cards, Uphold and Bitpay that will offer crypto technology, and Paxos and Circle, which will provide conversion from crypto to fiat. The conversion from crypto to fiat will be completed using the US dollar stablecoin, USDC.

AXE offers limited edition ‘crypto scent’ Doge body spray

AXE, the male product manufacturer owned by Unilever, launched a limited-edition crypto body spray last week. Nicknamed the ‘Dogecan’ the body spray is dogecoin-inspired and features the meme of the famous Shiba Inu dog named Doge. The company claims that the can contains ‘crypto scent’.

Dogecoin, the meme-based cryptocurrency, has experienced remarkable growth during 2021. Driven primarily by influencers, and a powerful fan base, the coin’s market cap moved into the top five of all cryptocurrencies in March. In response to the success of the token and to show awareness of the popularity of the cryptocurrency industry among young male investors, AXE decided to release this latest Dogecan product. 

The product, which was only released in the US, was first announced via the company’s Twitter page on Tuesday. The post reads “just gonna drop this here…”, followed by a link to the official AXE website. 

Unfortunately, only 1000 limited-edition cans were up for grabs, with the product selling out within the day. The linked website page now humorously continues to infer dogecoin’s success. The statement on the page reads “Much disappoint. Sorry, people. All the Dogecans are gone. But we’re still going to the moon.”  

Big-ticket reports to watch out for this week:

Monday – US home sales (MoM)

Tuesday – Bank of Japans Speech, US Durable Goods Order, US Consumer Confidence

Wednesday – Australia CPI (QoQ & YoY), Bank of Canada CPI (MoM & YoY), US Interest Rate Decision, US Goods Trade Balance  

Thursday –  US GDP, US Initial Jobless Claims 

Friday – Australia Producer Price Index (QoQ & YoY), European Unemployment Rate, European CPI (QoQ & YoY), European GDP (YoY), US Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index

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