The dominos keep falling for bitcoin adoption … what it means for the broader altcoin universe … an example of one of Matt McCall’s premier altcoins
The snowball continues barreling down the mountain, getting bigger and faster …
Last fall, global payments giant, PayPal, began allowing customers to buy and sell bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from their accounts. Bloomberg reported that a full 26 million merchants in PayPal’s network now accept cryptocurrencies.
On Tuesday, the company took it one step further …
From MarketWatch:
PayPal Holdings Inc. will start letting its U.S. customers purchase items with cryptocurrencies in the latest embrace of digital assets by a traditional payments player.
The company announced Tuesday that U.S. customers who hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal mobile wallets will be able to use those digital assets to buy goods from PayPal merchants beginning today.
This is a significant step toward mainstream adoption.
Keep in mind, Tesla announced a similar decision last week. It too will begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for U.S. customers (extending to global customers soon).
And don’t forget Mastercard, which plans to begin letting merchants directly accept some cryptos later this year.
Then there’s Square, which now lets customers buy and sell bitcoin through its mobile wallet.
***And that brings us to huge news from Visa …
On Monday, it announced it would become the first payments company to settle payments in actual cryptocurrencies, rather than the U.S. Dollar.
From Fortune:
Visa is seeking to be a leader in the booming cryptocurrency industry.
On Monday, Visa said it accepted a virtual currency payment for the first time, marking a milestone for the 62-year-old company.
Specifically, the payments giant settled a transaction using cryptocurrency plumbing known as the Ethereum blockchain, a distributed accounting ledger based on the technology behind Bitcoin.
Visa said the move is part of a pilot program to make life easier for cryptocurrency businesses.
Visa wants to eliminate the hassle of it requiring customers to convert their cryptocurrency holdings into fiat currency, like U.S. dollars, before settling up their accounts on the Visa network.
The company said it plans to expand the feature to other members of its payments networks, and potentially to other virtual currencies, later this year.
The bottom-line is that everywhere you look, there are signs that bitcoin, altcoins, and blockchain are moving into the mainstream. Any crypto-bear who tries to argue otherwise is just sticking his head in the sand.
***Last week, our two crypto experts, Matt McCall and Charlie Shrem, sat down in a special event to discuss the wealth-generating opportunities in the crypto sector
From Matt:
(Charlie) knew that Bitcoin — and the blockchain technology it runs on — would unleash the most powerful wealth creation force in American history years before it actually occurred.
And we agree that what is coming now is even bigger. There’s even more money to be made …
We are entering a new phase in the evolution of cryptocurrencies … what Charlie and I call “Blockchain 2.0.”
Bitcoin earned the bulk of the gains during the first phase. But this new era belongs to hypergrowth altcoins.
So, let’s ask the obvious question …
Why?
What is the inherent value in altcoins that is going to drive gains for investors?
In short, altcoins cut out the fat.
***Regular Digest readers know how Matt views altcoins — as incredibly powerful software programs
Their value lies in how they eliminate leeching middle-men, antiquated middle-processes, and all sorts of “junk” that weighs down a transaction.
Back to Matt:
Thanks to altcoins, anyone with an internet connection can access crucial financial services all in one place — cheaper, easier and safer than if they went with a big institution.
With just a single click of your finger, you’ll be able to take out a loan or mortgage … buy a new insurance policy … make money loaning out your money … invest in stocks, bonds or any other asset class.
You’ll do all of this in one place. And the best part is that you won’t have to deal with a middleman and their unnecessary fees.
This is a massive cryptocurrency catalyst that is about to fuel select altcoins to never-before-seen heights.
It’s a global movement toward an open financial system … and the biggest revolution to occur in finance in centuries.
The flood gates are just beginning to open.
Regular Digest readers recognize the name Brian Hunt. He’s InvestorPlace’s CEO, as well as an accomplished investor in his own right.
Here’s how he recently described how altcoins are disrupting traditional financial systems:
Technology is helping to upend big, bureaucratic institutions by cutting out the middleman — and this is bringing massive changes to things like banking, hedge funds, stock trading, insurance, and real estate …
As a result, a huge amount of money could be up for grabs for the “little guy …”
To illustrate this “huge amount of money” for the little guy, we can look to Matt’s Ultimate Crypto service.
He launched this altcoin-focused newsletter in January 2020. As I write Thursday at lunch, the average return of the entire portfolio is 858%.
The lowest returning recommendation is a crypto that Matt recommended last Wednesday (3/24). It’s up 13%.
The highest returner is up 3,129%. And to be clear, this isn’t a hypothetical. This is what Matt’s Ultimate Crypto subscribers, who bought according to official buy-recommendations, are seeing in their own accounts in this position.
Incredibly, Matt believes this is still just the beginning of this type of gain.
***So, where does the altcoin world go from here?
As bitcoin continues to make inroads into broader culture, it’s paving the way for potentially even bigger gains, with less resistance, for top-tier altcoins.
Here’s Matt on this note, from Tuesday’s issue of Ultimate Crypto:
Bitcoin still leads the way, so we follow it closely.
You know I like bitcoin and own it myself. But you also know we see even bigger opportunities in altcoins.
Bitcoin is up a strong 21% since our last issue on February 23, and our altcoins have surged 71% on average — or nearly 3.5X more than bitcoin.
The great thing about blockchain 2.0 is that it is like a second chance to get in at the very beginning. And there are still plenty more big profits to come.
***The key is delineating between the truly valuable altcoins and all the imposters
Take Dogecoin, which we profiled here in the Digest when the Reddit-crew began pumping up its price earlier this year.
If you recall, even Dogecoin’s creator, Billy Markus, was baffled — that’s because he created the coin as a joke.
From Markus:
The idea of Dogecoin being worth 8 cents is the same as GameStop being worth $325: It doesn’t make sense. It’s super absurd. The coin design was absurd and it was meant to be absurd.
Now, compare that with how Matt relayed recent updates about Chainlink to his Ultimate Crypto subscribers in his most recent issue (Chainlink is one of the altcoins Matt holds in his portfolio. Subscribers are currently up 1,372% in the position):
Chainlink announced a partnership with decentralized file storage project Filecoin. The goal is to create an end-to-end Web 3.0 development stack that will allow communication between Filecoin and smart contracts.
I like this deal.
Filecoin is the 16th largest crypto by market cap and represents yet another example of Chainlink developing major partnerships to further its oracle services.
A total of 461 projects have now integrated its technology, making it the industry leader by a wide margin. Hold LINK.
As we wrap up, mainstream adoption of bitcoin keeps coming. And that’s paving the way for explosive gains for select, premium altcoins.
This is one of the few sectors today that’s offering the potential for major returns from a small initial investment. If altcoins aren’t a part of your portfolio, I encourage you to give them a serious look.
Here’s Matt’s take:
(Altcoins are) essentially early-stage technology investments.
And my research shows we’re about to see an altcoin hyperboom …
Wall Street doubted bitcoin, but in the end, it piled into this asset and continues to do so. Now we are seeing new hedge funds launched with the sole purpose to buy altcoins.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see major banks and money managers get into this space soon. Which means now you have an opportunity to beat Wall Street to altcoins. And get in at ground-floor prices we may never see again.
This makes right now the best time to get in …
And I recently laid out all the details on the best way to claim your stake in altcoins in a special broadcast called The Main Street Revolution Event.
For a limited time, you can watch the event by going here.
One final note — tomorrow, Matt will release his latest altcoin recommendation in Ultimate Crypto. If it leads to fireworks in the coming weeks and months, we’ll let you know here in the Digest.
Have a good evening,
Jeff Remsburg