Crypto Scoop: DeFi Sector valued at $100 billion

On this week’s episode of Crypto Scoop:

• DeFi Industry now valued at $100 billion
  
• Coinbase now allows U.S customers to buy crypto with PayPal
  
• Japanese gaming giant, Nexon purchases 1,717 bitcoin

The DeFi sector is now worth $100 billion

DeFi means Decentralized Finance, which is essentially an upgrade from the regular financial service sector and means that services in this industry are not regulated and controlled by a single or central entity hence the word ‘decentralized.’

The total market cap of the DeFi industry is now worth more than $100 billion with CoinGecko pegging its actual market cap at $128 billion. This is worth a lot more than the market cap of Coinbase who had listed DeFi as a potential competitor when it filed for a public listing. However, DeFi’s success isn’t really measured by its market cap but instead by the value of assets that have been put into DeFi apps. Similar to its market cap ,there has been over $100 billion worth of assets deposited into DeFi.

Read also: 5 DeFi Projects Making Waves In 2021

Coinbase now has a ‘buy with PayPal’ option

On Thursday last week, Coinbase announced that it would begin to allow its U.S customers to buy cryptocurrency using their PayPal accounts. This means that customers will not need to add their bank accounts before being able to purchase crypto but will instead be able to select PayPal as a payment option and then will automatically be taken to a PayPal screen. According to the company, “you can make a purchase of up to $25,000 a day with your PayPal account.”

The company says it has plans to extend this option to its users in other countries soon. However, using PayPal as a payment option means that users will lose almost 4% of their purchase in fees to PayPal which would be adding to Coinbase already high fees. The company has however stated that these fees are what is used to cover the cost of processing payments.

PayPal itself also offers its users the opportunity to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies.

Nexon, a Japanese company buys $100 million worth of bitcoin

Japan’s gaming firm, Nexon has reportedly purchased 1717 bitcoin at about $100 million at an average price of $58,226 per bitcoin. This total price is inclusive of all fees and expenses incurred during the purchase. The CEO of Nexon, Owen Mahoney stated that “In the current economic environment , we believe bitcoin offers long term stability and liquidity while maintaining the value of our cash for future investment.”

The company also made it clear that only 2% of its total cash and cash equivalent on hand represent the purchase. Nexon is a major gaming company with over 10 franchises, 60 different live games and available in about 190 countries. This purchase put Nexon among countries like Meitu, Tesla and Microstrategy who have all bought bitcoin.

Read also: How to Store Your Crypto with Yellow Card