Marcus Sotiriou, Analyst at the UK based digital asset broker GlobalBlock
Whilst Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) holds the $43,000 level as support, Bitcoin adoption continues to expand at a tremendous pace. Two more territories are adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, following El Salvador’s integration in September 2021. These territories are Madeira, an autonomous region in Portugal and Prospera, which is a jurisdiction on the Roatan island off the northern coast of Honduras. Furthermore, Strike announced that Shopify are integrating the Bitcoin Lightening Network at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami. Strike CEO Jack Mallers said Strike have also partnered with NCR (NCR), the world’s largest point-of-sale (POS) supplier, and payments firm Blackhawk. This means you will be able to pay across the Lightning Network at millions of American storefronts. This is a huge milestone for Bitcoin and one which I think is crucial for the expansion of the network.
The metaverse continues to see progress with institutional interest as Volkswagen have joined the bandwagon. They have begun an interactive advertising campaign for their latest Polo model IQ.Drive which will be co-ordinated in the metaverse.
Furthermore, the Starbucks CEO has confirmed the $96 billion company will enter the metaverse this year, potentially with an NFT marketplace. Seen as the biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, is $13 billion in comparison, there is significant scope for businesses like Starbucks to developing businesses related to NFTs and the metaverse.
