New White House interest is one more reason you should consider investing in cryptocurrency

Bitcoin, which has been trading below $40,000 since last week, following the instability from Europe, has rallied over 8% at press time, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency surpassing $42,000. The surge follows positive comments about the upcoming executive order bill on cryptocurrencies from Janet Yellen, the United States Treasury Secretary at the White House.

The White House, in 2021, said it was considering a wide-ranging oversight of the cryptocurrency market – including an executive order – to deal with the growing threat of ransomware and other cybercrime. Biden is expected to sign a long-awaited executive order this week directing the Justice Department, Treasury and other agencies to study the legal and economic ramifications of creating a U.S. central bank digital currency. 

In the late hours of Tuesday, Yellen gave insights on what the cryptocurrency community should expect from president Joe Biden’s cryptocurrency executive order, scheduled to be published today.

Traders have been speculating that the Biden administration could impose stricter regulations on cryptocurrencies as part of efforts to stop Russia from evading the multiple sanctions slammed on the country for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. However, positive comments from the US Treasury Secretary seem to indicate that the bill would likely favour the digital asset class.

According to a statement dated March 9, published on March 8, Yellen stated that the Treasury Department would collaborate with interagency colleagues to produce a report on the future of existing payment systems and money. 

“President Biden’s historic executive order calls for a coordinated and comprehensive approach to digital asset policy. This approach will support responsible innovation that could result in substantial benefits for the nation, consumers, and businesses”. 

Yellen has been somewhat anti-crypto in the past, though in more recent times, she seems to have changed tack exemplified by her calling for bitcoin safeguards. Her statement seems to indicate that (U.S. authorities) won’t be taking any swift, major regulatory actions as yet, and will likely be taking a more coordinated and objective approach over time.

Before the statement from the Secretary, Bitcoin was trading around $38,138 Tuesday. And now, the digital asset has made a quick comeback to sit at $42,164 some hours after the statement was released. The comments have allayed market worries about a sudden tightening of U.S. rules around digital assets and further calls for a coordinated and comprehensive approach to digital asset policy (that) will support responsible innovation.

Bitcoin led the rally but other cryptocurrencies also enjoyed a significant boost. The top ten largest cryptocurrencies, according to coinmarketcap, experience an upward profit margin.

Ethereum is up 7.43% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading around $2,758. Similarly, BNB is up 3.53%, XRP, Terra, Sol, ADA, and AVAX have surged 4.15%, 19.63%, 6.55%, 5.52%, and 8.55%, respectively. The general crypto market has climbed to 1.85 trillion too, a 5.91% increase in the last 24 hours.

How it affects you

With the current wave of countries adopting crypto and a significant number of them setting up reasonable institutions to regulate, Bitcoin allows everyone to thrive. And, it is time for Nigerians that are still sceptical to start venturing into crypto trading and investments. 

According to Statista, Nigeria has the highest per capita rate of crypto ownership in the world, at 31.9%. But the fact is crypto has not really penetrated the older age group, as most Nigerian crypto traders and investors are aged 18 to 24.

The current crypto industry’s trends show that Bitcoin has more in store for its users. At the moment, the number of people using Bitcoin is almost the same as the internet in 1997 and experts predict that Bitcoin will have over a billion users in 2024.

Bitcoin presents an entirely new financial system with a transfer, value storage, and exchange. This is the reason why Nigerians may want to register on platforms like Binance, Luno, Paxful GigxPad, to buy, sell and invest in Bitcoin and other coins. One of the upsides is that anybody can purchase a fraction of any virtual asset. Interestingly, no amount is too small to invest or trade.

Bitcoin is undoubtedly an innovation changing the world’s financial landscape. Nigerians cannot ignore the many opportunities therein. However, it is expedient to take some time to learn how this virtual currency works in order to maximise returns from investment.