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Weekly Roundup 29.09
Chase U.K. Customers Face Restrictions on Crypto Transactions
From October 16, Chase Bank’s UK customers will face restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions.
Chase Bank, part of the JPMorgan Chase financial group, has announced that it will halt all crypto-related transactions for its U.K. customers. From mid-October, UK account holders won’t be able to use their debit cards or make outgoing bank transfers for cryptocurrency transactions.
The bank’s decision stems from a concerning rise in crypto-related frauds and scams. Data from the UK’s fraud watchdog, Action Fraud, reveals a 40% year-on-year spike in crypto fraud as of May 2023, with losses exceeding 300 million British pounds (AUD $570 million). Should customers try to initiate a crypto transaction, they will receive a declined transaction alert.
A Chase spokesperson emphasised the bank’s commitment to safeguarding customer funds, stating, “Given the uptick in crypto scams targeting UK residents, we’ve chosen to block crypto purchases via Chase debit cards and transfers to crypto platforms from Chase accounts.”
This follows a similar movement from Commonwealth Bank of Australia, who announced back in June they were limiting customers from sending money to certain crypto exchanges as well as implementing a monthly limit of AUD $10,000 on crypto purchases and 24-hour holds as part of their measures to fight against the growing number of scams and fraud.
Globally, Chase Bank operates over 4,600 branches and boasts more than 50 million active users. However, this new policy will affect only about 2% of its global user base. As of September 2022, Chase had 1 million users in the U.K.
Microstrategy Buy Another 5,445 of BTC
MicroStrategy, a prominent business analytics company and significant Bitcoin enthusiast, has shown its continued confidence in the cryptocurrency by procuring another substantial batch of BTC.
On September 25, co-founder Michael Saylor shared on X (formerly Twitter) that the company had bought an additional 5,445 BTC. This acquisition, amounting to $147.3 million (AUD $229 million), was made at an average rate of $27,053 per Bitcoin, which is about 9% less than their overall average spending on Bitcoin.
According to the official document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, this purchase was made between August 1 and September 24. To date, the combined Bitcoin holdings of MicroStrategy and its affiliated companies stood at about 158,245 BTC, with an average cost of around $29,582 per coin, considering all associated costs. The total investment for all their Bitcoin assets is approximately $4.68 billion. Talk about dollar-cost-averaging…
In what is another major purchase by MicroStrategy further shows their optimistic view of Bitcoin. Earlier, in June 2023, they had acquired 12,333 BTC at an average price of $29,668 each, amounting to $347 million (AUD $539 million).
In the first quarter of 2023, MicroStrategy experienced its initial profitable quarter since 2020, attributed to a one-off tax benefit. The company continued this positive trend, announcing a net profit of $22.2 million (AUD $34.5 million) in the subsequent quarter.
Are Microsoft About to Incorporate Crypto Wallets on the Next XBOX?
Now I’m more of a Playstation fanboy, but also being a Bitcoin lover, this got me excited.
Microsoft’s intentions to incorporate cryptocurrency wallets into the next Xbox have been exposed through leaked court documents.
These internal documents, which surfaced on the ResetEra gaming forum this week, indicated that Microsoft’s Xbox had plans in May 2022 to support crypto wallets. The details of this integration, however, are still unknown.
The leak’s origin was linked to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) legal proceedings against Microsoft. The FTC’s resistance to Microsoft’s $69 million (AUD $107 million) acquisition of Activision Blizzard led to the inclusion and subsequent leak of these documents.
Phil Spencer, the chief of Xbox, expressed his disappointment over the leak but also mentioned that some of the plans have since been revised. He commented, “It is hard to see our team’s work shared in this way because so much has changed and there’s so much to be excited about right now, and in the future.”
Despite the possibility of altered plans, the crypto community remains hopeful. Tyler Winklevoss, one of the founders of Gemini, emphasised the magnitude of the global gaming sector.
“Crypto is gamer money and gaming is a bigger industry than Hollywood and the music industry combined.”
Cameron Winklevoss
This revelation has led to discussions about potential new applications for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) within the Xbox platform. However, these are currently just speculation, as Microsoft hasn’t made any official announcements. The crypto community’s positive reaction, though, highlights the importance of mainstream tech companies recognising and integrating with the crypto sector. It just makes sense.
Previously, in August, Microsoft had deepened its ties with the crypto world by partnering with Aptos Labs (APT), developers of the layer1 blockchain network Aptos (APT). This collaboration is focused on enhancing the web3 ecosystem’s functionalities.
It will be interesting to see whether their plans have changed considering this document was before the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem and fall from grace by Celsius, BlockFi and most notably FTX.
Author
Investified
Investified is an online education, research and community app designed to take everyday time-poor Australians from confused to confident with their crypto investing.
