News 
Market Data 
Discover
Replies to post #43380 on Microelectronics Technology Co. (fka MELY)
01/23/15 5:20 PM
"Big Wall Street Players Investing in Bitcoin Startup"
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/big-wall-street-players-investing-in-bitcoin-startup-cm435611#ixzz3PbYq24Fe
Quote:
"The number of merchants accepting Bitcoin exploded from 36,000 to 82,000. The number of Bitcoin wallets more than doubled from 3.19 million to 7.95 million. Bitcoin ATMs went from just four to 341.
And Bitcoin investment accelerated as well.
It especially picked up at the very end of 2014, doubling from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.
For the year, venture capital investment in Bitcoin rose to $336.87 million - more than triple the previous year.
With the $75 million investment in Coinbase, the tally for 2015 is already $80 million. And we're only three weeks into the year.
The trend is likely to keep accelerating. Now that several heavy hitters have started investing in Bitcoin, more will follow.
One thing we know about Wall Street types is that they all fear missing out on the next hot trend. And as the Bitcoin venture capitalists like to point out,Bitcoin technology will likely be as disruptive as the Internet was 20 years ago.
So now that the New York Stock Exchange and Vikram Pandit are investing in Bitcoin, a lot of Wall Street antennae are going up.
The amount of Wall Street money invested in Bitcoin will snowball in 2015. The boost from this new source of capital will cause total investment in Bitcoin to double or even triple again this year.
Also, remember that Bitcoin startups will expand as they gain more capital. For example, Coinbase plans to use its fresh funding to pay for fees to obtain licenses to transmit money, as well as to expand its global footprint from 19 to 30 countries.
That kind of expansion will attract still more big-name attention - and further rounds of investment.
"Make no mistake: Bitcoin is growing up."
AI
