On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
As enthusiasm for cryptocurrency mounts amid strong demand from retail and institutional investors, financial service providers Simplex and Skrill are building more inroads into the ecosystem, focusing on improving transactability and convenience. The digital payment services continue to expand the accessibility of the cryptocurrency landscape by backing direct token withdrawals and support for in-browser wallets.
Expanded In-Browser Wallet Capabilities
Simplex is partnering with privacy-oriented web browser Opera to provide cryptocurrency support for its in-browser wallet. The wallet will grant Opera users an easy onramp and offramp convert from fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat.
Opera, which holds the title of the first web3 and blockchain-ready browser, already has a native wallet that supports bitcoin, ethereum, and tron. Now with the Simplex onboard process, Opera is expanding the range of supported tokens and coins of its wallet while adding functionality for fiat deposits and withdrawals alongside low conversion costs.
Crypto Withdrawals Without an Exchange Account
Skrill’s latest additions allow users to withdraw tokens from their accounts directly to a bitcoin or ethereum (ETH) crypto wallet address, adding a new layer of fungibility.
Skrill already supports purchases of numerous tokens including litecoin, ZRX, tezos, stellar, dash, EOS, and others in addition to more than 40 fiat currencies. Besides the ability to buy and sell cryptos instantly, the latest withdrawal feature which is being rolled out in the European Economic Area (and the UK later on) will make it easier for users who prefer private custody over their coins for the long-term.
The new services help users expand their portfolios without the need for an exchange account. Eventually, the company plans to allow withdrawals of more cryptocurrencies to designated wallets as its offerings grow.
Keeping Up With the Paypals & Robinhoods
The latest moves by Skrill and Simplex echo a similar direction pursued by other major payment players and exchanges. After introducing buy, sell, and hold functionalities for U.S. customer accounts last fall, Paypal users will be able to fund purchases in cryptocurrencies from 26 million merchants in 2021.
The functionality will effectively allow customers to pay in crypto while merchants receive fiat currency, helping merchants avoid the persistent volatility that has prevented more widespread adoption. Moreover, the company has revealed that Venmo will also begin support for cryptocurrency transactions in 2021.
Not to be outdone by payment providers, online investment platform Robinhood recently announced that it’ll be offering crypto deposits and withdrawals soon. While the platform already allows users to buy and sell certain cryptocurrencies, notably dogecoin, there is only a fiat onramp and offramp for existing traders.
What do you think, when will Paypal finally get on board and fully ‘open up’ to crypto? Let us know in the comments section below.
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