Bakkt would, just like the aforementioned halving, cause a large demand for Bitcoins. It would offer a platform for institutional investors to safely invest in Bitcoins. By speculating on the price, without owning them themselves. Something that is also happening a lot with gold. On the peak day, 95 million euros worth of Bitcoin contracts were traded so far. But if you see that on the same day billions of euros worth of contracts were traded at all trading houses, then it is not that bad. It is a new opportunity for 'the big money' to safely profit from the increasing demand for Bitcoins.
Let silence make the noise
You don't read much about the cool developments in the background or what various companies are building. We mainly saw negative headlines: Bitcoin was used in the big Twitter hack , in the big Wirecard fraud and crypto ads are still not allowed on platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. A TikTok challenge caused the cryptocurrency 'Dogecoin' to increase in value by 683% , while its creator has already stated several times that this coin was a big joke .
The thousands of startups worldwide that are constantly working on the most groundbreaking new solutions, come up with new revelations every day. This has a positive effect not only on the prices of cryptocurrencies, but also on the general interest in them. The practical use and the many possibilities are becoming increasingly clear to the general public. In general, I also foresee a number of major developments in the coming months.
1. European Anti-Money Laundering Directive
Many Dutch companies in the cryptocurrency industry have had a tough start to this year. Due to a minister who wants to be the best boy in the European class, the changes in the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (WWFT) and the implementation of the fifth European Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5).
Although the European Parliament is still investigating russia telegram data the relaxation and different interpretation of the legislation, the mandatory costs for each company from De Nederlandsche Bank and many other requirements from the Dutch government were disappointing. So much so that 14 companies have already stopped and experts have labelled the course of events surrounding the design and approval of the bill as a 'democratic low point' .
The coming period will show what the concrete consequences have been for the Dutch cryptocurrency industry. And what the further steps from the Dutch, European and other governments will be.
Stablecoins aren’t just a great antidote to the volatility of many cryptocurrencies, as I ’ve written about before . Their popularity and use are rapidly increasing as an alternative to bank accounts and payments.
The number of stablecoins doubled last year. In a few months, the value of stablecoins in circulation doubled and their daily trading volume recently even surpassed that of Bitcoin. In terms of size, it is still quite early days. With well-known stablecoin projects such as Facebook's Libra and the Chinese 'Central Bank Digital Currency' on the way, this could change. Many individual countries and the European Union are also busy developing their own stablecoin and the regulations surrounding it.
I really see this as a promising development for the future, for which I and De Nederlandsche Bank want to commit ourselves. There is also enthusiasm for it in the House, I believe. – Minister Hoekstra.
