The CEO of credit card giant Mastercard is optimistic that the day will come when there is worldwide adoption of cryptocurrency. In a new interview with Yahoo Finance, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach says the company is investing in the crypto space with the belief that mass adoption of digital currency is “entirely possible” over time […]
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Famed crypto and tech investor Tim Draper believes the retail purchasing power of women, paired with Bitcoin acceptance at merchant stores, could send the asset to new highs above $250K.
Renowned billionaire investor Tim Draper insists that a time will come when women begin driving up the price of Bitcoin as more retailers start offering it as a more cost-effective payment option at shops.
Draper, a Bitcoin (BTC) investor himself, told host Scott Melker on the Wolf of All Streets YouTube show last week that women could be key in pushing the largest crypto by market cap up to $250,000 per coin.
He reasons that as store owners begin to accept BTC as payment more widely, “all of a sudden, all the women will have Bitcoin wallets and they will be buying things with Bitcoin.”
“Then you’re going to see a Bitcoin price that’ll just blow right through my $250,000 estimate.”
Draper believes it is in retailers’ best interest to begin accepting BTC sooner than later. He acknowledges that most store owners operate on low margins so the reduced transaction fees compared to working with major credit card companies Visa or Mastercard could increase BTC’s incentives.
Fantastic podcast with @TheWolfofAllStreets. I recommend you listen to me at 2X speed. Slow speech day. Important points. #centralafricanrepublic #elsalvador #jeffbezos #bitcoin #freedom #trust https://t.co/nqXD3tLCZY
— Tim Draper (@TimDraper) May 28, 2022
The average credit card transaction costs merchants up to 2.9% in-store and 3.5% online per purchase according to CreditDonkey. By comparison, the average BTC transaction fee comes in at a flat $1.4 per transaction according to Bitcoin data compiler BitInfoCharts.
Draper hints that the benefit to retailers is obvious. He said that women “control about 80% of retail spending,” and that retailers can save a lot on fees paid to credit card companies by choosing Bitcoin. Women constitute 30% of all crypto owners in the US according to The State of Consumer Banking & Payments by research firm Morning Consult.
Related: Hodler's guide to travel: Which platforms accept cryptocurrency?
The level of adoption that Draper hopes for may not be far off as Morning Consult found that about 24% of American households own crypto, which is up 2 percentage points from July 2021.
If Draper is right, then it could start a cascade event which would also validate Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach’s prediction that the global payments system SWIFT would not exist in five years. Miebach made the shocking prediction last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard told an audience of blockchain executives that he expects SWIFT to phase out of existence in as little as five years' time.
Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said on Tuesday that he does not expect SWIFT, one of the most widely used platforms for cross-border fiat transactions, to exist in five years' time.
Miebach was speaking at a panel session on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), as part of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC)’s Blockchain Central Davos conference, which ran adjacent to the World Economic Forum 2022 in Davos, Switzerland.
Kicking off GBBC’s #BlockchainCentral Davos session on CBDCs with @eva_szalay @FT @YuvalRooz @digitalassetcom @Jbrookslassiter @Digital_Dollar_ @MiebachMichael @Mastercard @BIS_org @DBTreat @Accenture pic.twitter.com/C2fvgy0Bij
— Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) (@GBBCouncil) May 24, 2022
Towards the end of the panel discussion, when the moderator asked each panelist whether they thought SWIFT would still exist in five years' time, Miebach caused the audience to gasp in shock after answering “no”, according to a Cointelegraph reporter who attended the session.
The response had not been expected given his position at Mastercard, and that the panelists before him, including Jon Frost, a senior economist at Bank of International Settlements and Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of the Digital Dollar project, an organization tasked with exploring a United States CBDC had answered in the affirmative.
Other panelists following Miebach also took the affirmative viewpoint, including Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, a data technology company and David Treat, director at Accenture and co-lead of the company’s blockchain business.
Cointelegraph approached Miebach immediately following the panel discussion, but was denied any further comment on the subject.
Later, a Mastercard spokesperson downplayed Miebach’s comments in an email statement:
“Let us clarify the intent of the on-stage comment, as it’s not as simple as a yes or no answer. Michael was simply reinforcing what SWIFT has previously said – their operations continue to evolve. Its current form will not be the same in the future. They are adding more functionality and moving past just being a messaging system.”
SWIFT processed 42 million messages a day last year, but transactions on the network can take several days to complete. The company has been striving to maintain its relevance in the international economic order, especially in regard to CBDCs.
To this end, SWIFT has been exploring the use of CBDCs to facilitate seamless cross-border payments from as early as May 2021 when it released a joint paper with Accenture looking at how digital currencies can help cross-border payments.
Related: WEF 2022: Blockchain community breaks stereotypes at Davos
On May 19, 2022, SWIFT announced its second round of experiments involving CBDCs, collaborating with French IT company Capgemini to explore the linking of domestic CBDCs to facilitate seamless cross-border payments.
We’re collaborating with @Capgemini to explore how SWIFT can interlink the multiple domestic-based #CBDC networks emerging worldwide to make cross-border payments with #DigitalCurrencies more seamless & frictionless.
— SWIFT (@swiftcommunity) May 19, 2022
Learn more: https://t.co/SgvjDf1dl4 pic.twitter.com/99g99A070H
Cointelegraph reporters on the ground at Davos noted that in another panel session titled “Rules of the Road for Digital Economy,” Miebach talked about the role regulation can take in reducing the unnecessary noise around a nascent technology like crypto.
“Not everyone is screaming for regulation but it does reduce the noise in the crypto world. Engaging actively with regulators and being principled, I am optimistic,” he said.
