Weekly Bitcoin Review

Jackson, Tennessee adds Bitcoin as a city payroll conversion option

A report from Jackson News claims that the city is working on making it an option for employees to receive payment in Bitcoin. This change can happen as early as in the first few months of 2022. Miami is the only other U.S. city that is in a similar position to add Bitcoin to their payroll. However, at the current rate it seems Jackson will be the first city to do so. This news is much needed after a rocky couple of weeks for Bitcoin. In the months of November and December, the digitized asset saw dips in price and building online skepticism.

Gwyneth Paltrow endorses Bitcoin on Twitter

Actress and businesswoman, Gwyneth Paltrow announced a Bitcoin giveaway on Twitter. The tweet, posted at 11am on December 20, states her partnership with CashApp in order to giveaway $500k worth of Bitcoin. She is not the first celebrity to do this. Megan Thee Stallion and Odell Beckham Jr. are two other major public figures who have done similar partnerships with CashApp on Twitter. The main goal of these partnerships is to generate buzz around Bitcoin. Additionally they add more users to CashApp’s cryptocurrency trading. As celebrities continue to advertise the asset, it will help generate positive media and attention for Bitcoin online.

Study shows 10,000 investors own 27% of the Bitcoin supply in circulation

A study released by The National Bureau of Economic Research, claims that .01% of Bitcoin holders own 5 million BTC. There is 18.9 million BTC in circulation currently, so that would add up to roughly 27% of the total circulating supply. Many of these holders have likely owned Bitcoin for years, and bought it at a much cheaper price than it currently sits at. This report is alarming to some, as it shows that a small amount of holders control a large amount of the price, and if they chose to sell off, it could cause major dips in price, and surges in volume. However, there is also the factor that lots of Bitcoin is lost in dead wallets. When someone throws their wallet away, destroys it, or loses their seed phrase to access it the wallet becomes “dead”.

Although Bitcoin has had a turbulent end of 2021, it still performed very well as an asset in yearly returns. The alarm around the asset is mostly gratuitous, as adoption continues to be widespread in a variety of sectors. Only time will truly tell how Bitcoin performs, but the celebrity endorsements, giveaways, and citywide adoption is definitely a good start.