Visa Now Allows Payments to Be Settled Using Crypto on Ethereum BlockchainIt’s a big win for mainstream crypto acceptance: Visa processed a payment in USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin, on the Ethereum blockchain and plans to roll out the service to its partners later this year. “The Hash” panel weighs in on the significance of Visa’s move and what it might mean for crypto as a whole.Volume 90% Omkar GodboleApr 2, 2021 at 8:52 a.m. GMTUpdated Apr 2, 2021 at 8:42 p.m. GMT

Ether Price Jumps to All-Time High Near $2,100

Ether (ETH, +5.74%) jumped 5% Friday to a new all-time high as the second-biggest cryptocurrency extended its winning streak to five days.

• The cryptocurrency traded as high as $2,097 around 20:41 UTC, according to CoinDesk 20 data, surpassing the previous high of .
• The price has rallied 24% this week in the wake of Visa’s decision to facilitate crypto-based settlements on the Ethereum blockchain network.
• Ether, the native cryptocurrency for Ethereum, has nearly tripled in price this year.
• In an announcement on Monday, the payments giant said it is working on a program to settle transactions in stablecoin USD Coin (USDC (-0.07%)) over Ethereum with its partner Crypto.com.
• Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who hosts the CNBC show “Shark Tank” and owns the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team, said on a recent podcast episode that he’s bullish on cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, but that Ethereum is “the closest we have to a true currency.”

• Ether’s daily chart shows a symmetrical triangle breakout. The pattern indicates that the multi-week consolidation has ended, and the broader uptrend has resumed.
• The options market is making big bets on the second-largest cryptocurrency, as seen below.

• According to data tweeted by options analytics platform Genesis Volatility, traders are aggressively buying the $25,000 call option expiring on Dec. 31, 2021, listed on Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange by trading volumes and open interest.
• Seasonality favors a more substantial rally in ether than bitcoin (BTC, -0.18%) over the near term.
• “Ether has outperformed bitcoin in every May till date,” Timothy Peterson, an analyst at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, told CoinDesk in a Twitter chat.

Source: Coindesk

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