PayPal launches crypto checkout service

PayPal Holdings Inc will announce later on Tuesday that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce.

Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases, the company said.

The service, which PayPal revealed it was working on late last year, will be available at all of its 29 million merchants in the coming months, the company said.

“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet,” President and CEO Dan Schulman told Reuters ahead of a formal announcement.

Checkout with Crypto builds on the ability for PayPal users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, which the San Jose, California-based payments company launched in October.

The offering made PayPal one of the largest mainstream financial companies to open its network to cryptocurrencies and helped fuel a rally in virtual coin prices.

Bitcoin has nearly doubled in value since the start of this year, boosted by increased interest from larger financial firms that are betting on greater adoption and see it as a hedge against inflation.

PayPal’s launch comes less than a week after Tesla Inc said it would start accepting bitcoin payments for its cars. Unlike PayPal transactions where merchants will be receiving fiat currency, Tesla said it will hold the bitcoin used as payment.

Still, while the nascent asset is gaining traction among mainstream investors, it has yet to become a widespread form of payment, due in part to its continued volatility.

PayPal hopes its service can change that, as by settling the transaction in fiat currency, merchants will not take on the volatility risk.

“We think it is a transitional point where cryptocurrencies move from being predominantly an asset class that you buy, hold and or sell to now becoming a legitimate funding source to make transactions in the real world at millions of merchants,” Schulman said.

The company will charge no transaction fee to checkout with crypto and only one type of coin can be used for each purchase, it said.

Market movers and shakers

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,782.94 0.69%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,550.02 0.53%

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FTSE 100 – Risers

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 282.50p 2.43%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 427.60p 2.27%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 708.70p 2.22%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 196.45p 2.21%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,687.50p 2.12%

British Land Company (BLND) 522.20p 2.07%

Barclays (BARC) 183.66p 1.82%

Whitbread (WTB) 3,478.00p 1.79%

Evraz (EVR) 571.60p 1.78%

Entain (ENT) 1,536.50p 1.75%

FTSE 100 – Fallers

AstraZeneca (AZN) 7,344.00p -0.68%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,284.00p -0.61%

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 489.80p -0.53%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,330.00p -0.51%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 530.20p -0.45%

Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,505.00p -0.43%

Experian (EXPN) 2,511.00p -0.40%

Next (NXT) 7,886.00p -0.30%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,097.00p -0.27%

Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,658.00p -0.21%

FTSE 250 – Risers

Hammerson (HMSO) 35.19p 5.08%

Just Group (JUST) 101.00p 3.80%

Victrex plc (VCT) 2,210.00p 3.76%

CMC Markets (CMCX) 491.00p 3.26%

Provident Financial (PFG) 216.40p 3.05%

Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 170.90p 2.70%

IP Group (IPO) 123.20p 2.67%

easyJet (EZJ) 962.40p 2.60%

Meggitt (MGGT) 478.70p 2.37%

Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 191.95p 2.32%

FTSE 250 – Fallers

Cineworld Group (CINE) 100.50p -5.77%

Gamesys Group (GYS) 1,910.00p -3.05%

Pennon Group (PNN) 972.40p -2.07%

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 940.00p -1.26%

XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 4,730.00p -1.05%

888 Holdings (888) 400.50p -0.99%

Jlen Environmental Assets Group Limited NPV (JLEN) 110.50p -0.90%

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 406.80p -0.78%

Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 1,752.00p -0.68%

Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 298.00p -0.67%

Tesla now Accepts Bitcoin

Elon Musk, Tesla, and Bitcoin – it’s a match! Earlier this year, Tesla revealed its investment worth $1.5 billion in Bitcoin – the ripples of which vibrated through the entire cryptocurrency industry. During the same announcement, Tesla also revealed that it plans to accept Bitcoin as a payment method for buying its products conditioned upon the applicability of laws. This week, Tesla officially announced that it now accepts payment in Bitcoin. This service is currently reserved for its US clients.

The details – Tesla, the World’s leading automaker, which earlier announced that it plans to offer Bitcoin as a payment method, has now joined companies like Overstock and Starbucks in accepting Bitcoin for its products. Tesla will use only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly.

Tesla’s Plans to Offer Bitcoin

As per its official website, you will be able to pay Bitcoin from your wallet by scanning the QR code or copying Tesla’s Bitcoin address. To buy a Tesla with Bitcoin, you will need to pay the exact amount in a single transaction. The order will be confirmed via email within six hours.

After Tesla’s official announcement on its website, Elon Musk posted a tweet that stated: “Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to Fiat currency”. Currently, Tesla will only accept Bitcoin and no other cryptocurrencies.

Looking ahead – Tesla will offer its non-US clients the ability to pay with Bitcoin this year. The fact that Tesla is not converting its Bitcoin to fiat will likely positively affect the price as it is essentially lowering the Bitcoin supply by holding.

Europe tightens Covid restrictions as ‘third wave’ takes hold.

Countries across the Continent are taking measures to prevent the further spread of coronavirus
Belgium and France have tightened restrictions in an effort to curb a surge of Covid-19 cases, as a third wave of the pandemic takes hold across Europe.

In Belgium, the government announced on Wednesday that schools, non-essential shops and hairdressers will be closed for four weeks from Saturday. In the last week confirmed cases have risen by 40 per cent and hospitalisations by 28 per cent.

“We are facing a third wave,” said Alexander De Croo, the Belgian Prime Minister, adding that B117, the variant first found in Kent, is likely taking a heavy toll.

“We have decided on a short term pain. It’s a heavy decision to take, but if we didn’t the consequences would be more serious.”

Meanwhile in France, a government spokesman warned that the coronavirus situation is worsening in every region of the country and urged people to work from home to curb the virus.

The government also looks set to widen localised Covid-19 restrictions currently in place in Paris to three other high-risk zones, including the Rhone region which houses the major city of Lyon.

And in Poland, where a record 29,978 cases were detected on Wednesday, local media has reported that the government will tighten measures imposed last week ahead of Easter-which is usually marked by packed church services and family gatherings in the deeply Catholic country.

The measures come after the European Commission unveiled new guidelines on exporting coronavirus vaccines to countries outside the block, in an effort to kick-start the continent’s stuttering vaccination campaign.

Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission President, told a press conference that while “member states are facing a third wave” and “not every company is delivering on contract”, it is right for EU states to consider “reciprocity and proportionality” when exporting jabs.

Facebook, Google CEOs suggest way to reform keys internet laws.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg laid out steps to reform a key internet law on Wednesday, saying that companies should have immunity from liability only if they follow best practices for removing damaging material from their platforms.

In testimony prepared for a joint hearing before two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees on Thursday, Zuckerberg acknowledged the calls from lawmakers for changes to a law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives companies like Facebook immunity from liability over content posted by users.

The hearing titled ‘Disinformation Nation: Social media’s role in promoting extremism and misinformation’ is designed to address concerns Democrats have had about the spread of misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic and the presidential election.

It is also likely to discuss ways to hold tech platforms accountable by reforming the internet law. The chief executives of Google and Twitter will also testify at the hearing.

Google’s Sundar Pichai will make suggestions to reform the law but, unlike Zuckerberg, will not advocate for adoption of a set of best practices, according to his testimony. Twitter’s Jack Dorsey will lay out steps the platform has taken to tackle misinformation.

Zuckerberg and Pichai will also urge caution as Congress considers reforming the law.

“Platforms should not be held liable if a particular piece of content evades its detection — that would be impractical for platforms with billions of posts per day,” Zuckerberg wrote in his testimony.

Google’s Pichai also struck a similar note saying “without Section 230, platforms would either over-filter content or not be able to filter content at all.”

Pichai instead proposed solutions such as developing content policies that are clear and accessible, notifying people when their content is removed and giving them ways to appeal content decisions.

Deliveroo on course for the biggest London floatation for almost a decade

Deliveroo expects its forthcoming flotation to value the company at up to £8.8bn, about £1bn more than initially forecast and putting it on course to be the biggest London stock market debut since Glencore almost a decade ago.

Will Shu, the founder of the meal delivery service, which is backed by Amazon, is expected to cash in 6.7m shares worth up to £30m when the company launches on the stock market on 7 April. He will retain a 6.3% stake, worth about £550m. Existing shareholders, including Amazon and private equity firms Bridgepoint, Index and Greenoak, will cash in shares worth £536m, according to the group’s prospectus published on Monday.

Deliveroo said in a trading update that it was continuing to benefit from the food home delivery boom during the latest national Covid-19 lockdowns.

The total value of transactions processed on its platform surged by 130% year on year in January in the UK and Ireland, and 112% in other markets. Overall growth across all markets stood at 121% for the period.

Deliveroo also announced that it had priced its initial public offering at between £3.90 and £4.60 a share. The price range values the business, which has never made a profit, at between £7.6bn and £8.8bn.

This would make it the biggest London Stock Exchange debut since the mining company Glencore floated in May 2011.

At the top end of the proposed price range, Deliveroo would be worth more than the Premier Inns and Beefeater owner, Whitbread (£6.6bn), the luxury goods group Burberry (£8.2bn), the housebuilder Barratt Developments (£7.8bn) and the broadcaster ITV (£4.9bn).

It would also be more valuable than J Sainsbury (£5.4bn) and Marks & Spencer (£3bn) combined. Deliveroo’s rival Just Eat Takeaway, which is now in the FTSE 100 and joined the stock market in 2014 worth £1.5bn, currently has a market capitalisation of £10.2bn.

“We are proud to be listing in London, the city where Deliveroo started,” said Shu.“Becoming a public company will enable us to continue to invest in innovation, developing new tech tools to support restaurants and grocers, providing riders with more work and extending choice for consumers, bringing them the food they love from more restaurants than ever before,” he said. “This will help us in our mission to become the definitive food company.”

The company, which plans to raise £1bn from its stock market flotation, announced its intention to list on the London stock market this month.

Deliveroo is also giving customers who have placed at least one order the chance to buy shares in the business, with what it calls “loyal” customers being given priority. The company has put aside £50m of shares for customers to purchase.

Deliveroo is also planning to launch a £16m “thank you fund” for a quarter of its riders, with those delivering the most orders set to receive up to £10,000. However, unions representing riders said the fund is “no compensation for bad pay”.

Alex Marshall, the president of gig workers’ union IWGB, said: “Deliveroo’s £8.8bn evaluation is an insult to key workers here in the UK who kept riding right through the pandemic. So too is the fact that, denied worker status, riders aren’t even eligible for shares in Deliveroo, which has instead offered a one-time tip as though that compensates for years of precarity and poverty. Riders deserve more.”

Last week it emerged that gig economy companies, including Uber and Deliveroo, have faced at least 40 major legal challenges around the world as delivery drivers and riders try to improve their employment rights. The cases have been brought by gig economy workers seeking access to basic rights, such as minimum wages and holiday pay.

Uber said it would start making these payments, following a supreme court ruling confirming worker status in the UK for its drivers. Just Eat has also pledged to stop using the gig economy model. Documents released before its IPO revealed that Deliveroo had set aside more than £112m to cover potential legal costs relating to the employment status of its delivery riders.

Shift to Remote Working Prompts British Airways to Consider Selling Its Headquarters

U.K. carrier, hammered by the pandemic but pleased with remote work, considers a more permanent flexible-office plan

A sale of British Airways’ headquarters would raise cash and cut costs for a carrier that has been hit hard by Covid-19.

British Airways is considering selling its sprawling headquarters on the periphery of London Heathrow Airport, as the pandemic prompts more companies to embrace remote working in the long term.

The airline, one of Europe’s biggest and the largest unit of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, has been walloped by the pandemic. The company said the move is being considered in light of enthusiasm by employees over remote working. A sale could also raise cash and help British Airways cut costs amid pandemic-triggered financial…

Bitcoin is now ‘too important to ignore’, Deutsche Bank says

Bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization of $1 trillion and potential for continued growth have made the cryptocurrency “too important to ignore,” according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

Deutsche Bank Research, the financial research subsidiary of global banking giant Deutsche Bank, issued a report devoted exclusively to Bitcoin, titled “The Future of Payments: Series 2 Part III. Bitcoins: Can the Tinkerbell Effect Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?”

In the 18-page study, Deutsche Bank Research describes the basic characteristics of Bitcoin and analyzes the key drivers of its historical price growth to a $1 trillion asset.

Deutsche Bank analysts suggested that the Bitcoin price “could continue to rise” further as long as asset managers and companies continue to enter the market. The firm emphasized that central banks and governments now “understand that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are here to stay” and thus are expected to start regulating them by late 2021.

Despite its rising valuation, Bitcoin’s growth as an asset class could be hampered by its “still limited” tradability and liquidity, Deutsche Bank Research warned. “The real debate is whether rising valuations alone can be reason enough for bitcoin to evolve into an asset class, or whether its illiquidity is an obstacle,” the analysts stated.

Bitcoin is expected to “remain ultravolatile” in the short term, Deutsche Bank analysts concluded, forecasting a turning point for Bitcoin in the next “two or three years” as a consensus about its future may emerge.