If you think the unrelenting volatility in cryptocurrencies is hurting the industry, think again.
A recent Bitcoin (BTC) conference in Miami drew a stunning 25,000 enthusiasts from around the world.
That’s nearly 50% more than the seats you find for a basketball game at Madison Square Garden and double what the event brought in last year.
And it came on the heels of a new survey by a major bank that shows Bitcoin is on the verge of mainstream adoption.
The latest report comes from BNY Mellon, a New York-based financial firm with $2.7 trillion in assets under management.
Conducted along with the Harris Poll, this was the first-ever global survey of family-run investment firms.
The stunner: some 77% said they are exploring or actually investing in cryptocurrencies.
That’s why today, I’m going to reveal a great market-crushing fintech leader and Bitcoin pioneer that needs to be on your watchlist…
Financial Firms Plan to Adopt Cryptocurrencies
With cryptocurrency transactions all happening online, you might wonder what the cryptocurrency conference in Miami was all about. Well, Bitcoin 2022, as it was called, was a huge hub for deals.
Cryptocurrency “miners,” the companies that use super-fast computers to create new bitcoins and other cryptos, were scouring the conference for smaller companies to acquire, or firms with new crypto-mining technology.
Financial firms hosted events with many of these companies, and some used the venue to announce IPOs and other financial deals.
No wonder the conference was such a success. As I mentioned above, a recent poll by BNY Mellon and Harris Poll revealed that 77% of family investment offices are looking at getting into cryptocurrencies.
Some 64% of people surveyed said they see cryptocurrency as important to the next generation of investors while almost half say that’s what’s driving their interest in crypto investments.
Meanwhile, fundraising for cryptocurrency startups is skyrocketing. PitchBook, the private market data company, estimates that venture capital firms invested $32 billion into crypto startups last year.
That’s 370% more than the year before.
In other words, Bitcoin and other cryptos are on the verge of becoming fully adopted in the mainstream.
And the company that stands to benefit the most from that is Block Inc. (SQ) – more commonly known as Square.
This fintech and digital payments firm popularized the Square payment platform for small businesses, allowing them for the first time to easily accept card and touchless payments without having to invest in huge and expensive point-of-sale systems.
The high cost of those systems left some 28 million small businesses in just the U.S. eager for Square’s smaller payment devices and software, accounting for around 55% of all retail sales and retail sector jobs.
But Square has long since moved past just handling physical credit card payments. Just before it announced its name change, founder and CEO Jack Dorsey also announced he was leaving his position as CEO of Twitter Inc. (TWTR) to focus on Block.
The result has been exactly what you’d expect from a company named after the blockchain.
For one, the company has bought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the digital currency directly, and has made a handsome profit on it, too.
It has also begun incorporating Bitcoin into its merchant payment platform to allow for seamless payments in bitcoin in all the stores serviced by Block’s Square payment technology.
The company has also laid the groundwork for the general public to adopt Bitcoin. See, Block is the developer of the wildly popular Cash App, a peer-to-peer payment service for smartphones.
But the Cash App is fast becoming one of the go-to apps for business transactions as well. With the click of a button, people can buy products and send payments to merchants across the country.
Cash App also offers a checking account, which allowed people to have their COVID-era stimulus checks deposited directly into the app.
Today, the app also allows for stock investments, and most importantly, for users to buy and sell Bitcoin, convert it into U.S. dollars, and even withdraw to or deposit from another Bitcoin “wallet.”
With Cash App, this is all just as easy as using dollars. Users can even move their bitcoin between them without paying any fees.
With 36 million monthly active users, Block’s Cash App represents a huge opportunity. That’s 36 million consumers who can start paying in bitcoin the second a merchant starts accepting crypto as payment.
And it’s 36 million reasons for merchants to do just that.
That’s why Block is moving to upgrade the Cash App to support the “Taproot” upgrade to the Bitcoin blockchain. This upgrade will speed up transactions, cut transaction costs, and make the whole system safer to boot.
As you can see, Block is set to profit hugely as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies become accepted by mainstream investors, businesses, and consumers.
Now, the stock has unfortunately gotten slaughtered the last few months along with many former tech highfliers this year.
But that’s largely because it had gotten ahead of itself during COVID, and the share price was overextended.
The numbers show the share price is set to keep growing. Over the past three years, average per-share profits grew 56%. Even at half that rate, we’d see an earnings double in three years.
Add it all up, and you can see that Block still has a lot of long-term potential left.
Cheers and good investing,
— Michael A. Robinson
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Source: Strategic Tech Investor