Kalam Crypto #130: PayPal & Visa expand crypto service offerings

“In my whole life I’ve never been good at something I wasn’t very interested in. It just doesn’t work. There’s no substitute for strong interest.” Charlie Munger

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 130th edition of CoinMENA’s weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto! This week, the Chainalysis Geography Report shows MENA is the 7th largest crypto market in the world, fintech giants PayPal and Visa are expanding their crypto financial services offerings, and we have an update on BTC and ETH ETF flows. All that and more in this week's edition of Kalam Crypto!

Local News 📍

UAE is the third largest crypto economy in MENAT behind Turkey and Morocco: According to Chainalysis' 2024 Geography of Cryptocurrency report, the MENA region is the seventh largest crypto market globally, with Turkey and Morocco leading as the biggest markets. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the fastest-growing crypto economies in the region, with Saudi Arabia growing 154% year-over-year and Qatar by 120%. The UAE ranked third in MENA, behind Turkey and Morocco, with over $30 billion in crypto transactions between July 2023 and June 2024. The majority of crypto activity in MENA is driven by institutional and professional-level activity, with 93% of value transferred consisting of transactions of $10,000 or above.

Global News 🌍

PayPal expands crypto services: PayPal has announced that U.S. business account holders can now buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal business accounts, with the ability to transfer cryptocurrency externally to third-party wallets. This functionality is currently not available in New York State. The move marks another step in PayPal's efforts to enhance cryptocurrency utility, expanding options previously available to consumers. In 2023, PayPal launched PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is now available on platforms like CoinMENA, and recently enabled PYUSD on the Solana blockchain for greater flexibility and control.

Visa is launching the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) on Ethereum: The platform will enable banks to issue fiat-backed tokens using smart contracts for faster settlement and digitized transactions of real-world assets like bonds and commodities. BBVA will pilot the platform in 2025. Visa has been involved in blockchain since 2021, including processing USDC payments on Ethereum and participating in Brazil's central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot.

Tether aids the US Department of Justice in seizing over $6M. The funds were linked to a "crypto-confidence scheme based in Southeast Asia." In the past year, Tether helped U.S. law enforcement seize nearly $15 million in USDT from various fraud operations, including pig butchering schemes and a tech support scam network

Bitcoin Majlis Educational Grant to Muslim scholars and students: This grant offers a chance to explore Bitcoin and Islamic principles. Successfully completing an essay can earn you a reward of at least 0.01 BTC. Today is the last day to apply for this program.

Keep an eye on 👀

BTC & ETF ETF Flows Update: In September, U.S. ETFs purchased 17,800 Bitcoin, coinciding with a 10% rise in Bitcoin's price. On Monday, spot Bitcoin ETFs reported $61.3 million in net inflows, extending an eight-day positive streak, with BlackRock's IBIT leading at $72.15 million. Fidelity's FBTC saw $8.32 million in inflows, while Ark and 21Shares’ ARKB and Bitwise’s BITB experienced outflows. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $822,290 in net outflows on Monday, following $58.65 million in inflows last Friday. Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE) saw $11.81 million in outflows, while BlackRock’s ETHA reported $10.99 million in inflows for the fifth consecutive day.

 CoinMENA News 🗞️

Something exciting is coming your way! Keep an eye on your inbox for a special announcement later this week—you won’t want to miss it!

Stay tuned!

Tweet Of The Week 🐥

The Kingdom of Bhutan (population: 800,000) mines between 55 to 75 Bitcoins weekly, generating a weekly income of $3.6 to $5 million.

The total annual income from Bitcoin mining exceeds $220 million.

This income will account for 8% of the country's total GDP, which is $2.7 billion.

Quiz Corner ✅ 

Last week’s question: which U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF saw the highest inflows last week?

Answer, Fidelity, FBTC

This week’s question is, who are the two fastest-growing crypto markets in MENA?

A) KSA and Qatar

B) UAE and Bahrain

C) Qatar and UAE

D) Kuwait and KSA

See the answer in next week’s newsletter. Or check out our new learning platform https://university.coinmena.com/