Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have probably noticed that Bitcoin has made a significant recovery over the past few months. After crashing to the $4000 levels in March of this year, we saw a massive influx of new buyers, most of which chose to buy Bitcoin at these low prices.
Then, the much-awaited Bitcoin halving occurred. In a short amount of time, Bitcoin nearly quadrupled in price and is now back to its prior ATH. Many expect the popular cryptocurrency to perform very well in 2021, but not many are aware of the factors and platforms that will help its popularity spread on a global scale.
This is exactly why we wrote this article. Over the next few chapters, we will discuss some of the most important platforms that will improve the functionality, onboarding, and value of Bitcoin within the next year. After reading this post, you will have a better idea of where we currently are, and where it is that we are headed. Let’s delve in.
Digital platforms that will improve Bitcoin’s performance
2020 was the year of institutional participation. We saw many public companies enter the space, as well as popular payment systems. These platforms are now buying up more Bitcoin that is being minted on a daily basis, leading to an eventual supply shortage that will increase the value of the popular cryptocurrency. Let’s have a look at the most important platforms that you should know of.
Paypal
Earlier this month, Paypal finally rolled out its much-awaited update. Its more than 380 million users can now purchase cryptocurrency from the comfort of their digital platform. As soon as the update was rolled out, we saw the value of Bitcoin increasing, mainly due to the hype that was caused due to it. While Paypal offers custodial wallet solutions and does not allow its users to transfer funds between one another, it is still one step closer to mainstream adoption. However, keep in mind the cryptocurrency values are slightly bumped compared to more common exchanges.
Microstrategy
The popular software development company was one of the very first institutions to publicly announce the full conversion of their cash reserves into BTC. At the time of this writing, the company holds more than 40.000 BTC in cold storage and motivates more institutions to join the bandwagon. The founder of Microstrategy, Michael Saylor, is also a very big proponent of Bitcoin, as he continues praising its potential on Twitter, as well as many finance podcasts. The value of its stock (MSTR) also exploded in value ever since the first purchase of the company, and continues to do so as the core team is now raising public funds to invest even more money into BTC ($600+ million)
Square
Apart from Microstrategy, another company that chose to invest part of its cash reserves into Bitcoin was Square. Its founder Jack Dorsey (who is also the founder of Twitter) did not only invest $50 million of his company’s capital into the popular cryptocurrency, but did two more things that will improve the performance of Bitcoin within 2021:
- In a public announcement of their decision to make the investment, the public company also attached a PDF file that outlines the exact steps they followed to make such a massive investment. With the help of this document, more companies can follow their steps.
- The company intents to develop Bitcoin mining operations that operate on renewable energy. They already pledged $10 million pledge to the effort, aiming to become the net-zero carbon contributor for operations before the end of the next decade. In short, they will revolutionize Bitcoin mining.
Grayscale
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is an organization that helps investors to purchase and sell shares in trusts which hold large amounts of Bitcoin, as well as Ethereum. Shares in the fund are priced analogous to the value of BTC, helping more traditional investors “stockenize” their cryptocurrency investments.
What is most interesting about Grayscale is that they are possibly the largest Bitcoin holder in the whole crypto space. With more than 500.000 BTC in their possession, they are considered to be one of the largest influencers towards institutional adoption. The best part? The company purchases approximately 60% of the newly minted supply on a daily basis, creating a supply shortage.
Bitcoin’s performance in the year ahead
Knowing that only 4 companies are causing such drastic changes in the price of Bitcoin can be a good way to start out conversations when it comes to the future price of Bitcoin. While most may think we are posed to head higher in price, not many are aware of just how much higher we can possibly go. If both institutions and governments end up joining the revolution, we will most likely see a massive move towards the upside.