Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Zuck's $19 billion play 🤑

March 12, 2019

Barclays Thinks Facebook Could Boost Revenues $19 Billion With a Cryptocurrency

One Barclays analyst is betting long on Facebook in hopes that the social media giant successfully implements "Facebook coin" - which for now, is nothing but a rumor.

That rumor, however, could be the birth of not only a new product, but also an extra $19 billion in revenue by 2021.

Where's the valuation?

With 3 billion total users across its mega-app platforms including Instagram and WhatsApp, an integrated payment option would net Facebook significant processing fees at scale.

To model this, analyst Ross Sandler compared Google's "Google Play" store and found the venture nets roughly $6 per user in revenue per year.

If Facebook did implement this structure and allowed paid premium content to exist on its platform, Sandler thinks it could be a turning point for the company:

"Any attempt to build out revenue streams outside of advertising, especially those that don't abuse user privacy are likely to be well-received by Facebook's shareholders."

From social to payments

Sandler thinks Facebook coin will open up new doors for revenue outside of payment fees too.

If all goes well, we could see:

Consumer lending
Remittance
Physical payments (eventually)

Though each of those practices brings regulatory scrutiny, Facebook's next move could be its first steps toward the finance industry.

MINING

Chinese Mining Manufacturer Canaan Creative is Now a Unicorn

According to a local report from Securities Times, mining manufacturer Canaan Creative is now valued in the billions after a new multi-million dollar funding round.

"Informed sources" leaked the rough size of the transaction and said it lies somewhere in the hundreds of millions but did not release any information on who the backers might be.

Interesting timing

The funding round comes at an interesting time in the industry.

Right now, Canaan's competitor Bitmain has publicly struggled due to falling market prices and less equipment buyers. The crypto departments of AMD and Nvidia have told similar stories.

But, since Canaan is reportedly looking to complete an initial public offering (IPO), the extra cash injection might allow the firm to beef up its growth before heading to market.

REVIEW

The Accidental $365,000 Ethereum Transaction Fee Was Split With Sparkpool

Late last month, one Ethereum user accidentally fat fingered a transaction that would cause him to rack up a transaction fee of nearly $365,000.

On the flip side, Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool got lucky and mined the precious block to find a reward 600+ times higher than normal.

While some explained that the horrendously large fee was a roundabout way of laundering crypto, others believed it was a total accident.

Let's split it

And it turns out it was. After announcing the absurd mining reward, Sparkpool set out to find the rightful owner and return the Ethereum.

Because of this, the sender was grateful and stated:

"Thank you SparkPool and your miners for helping us to recover our loss, we are willing to share half of 2100 ETH with the miners to thanks the miners' integrity."

BITS

But wait, there's more...

💰 Overstock's investment arm Medici Ventures has acquired a 5.1% stake in banking startup Bankorus.
👮‍♀️ Malta has teamed up with crypto security firm CipherTrace to address financial crimes related to the industry.
🤓 The SEC's Finhub has launched a series of meetups to collaborate with crypto communities.

MEME