Crypto this week

Bitcoin stages stealth rally with third-straight weekly gain

While Bitcoin's price has meandered the last few days, the largest cryptocurrency by market value has staged a modest under-the-radar recovery from its wintertime swoon. Bitcoin is on pace to post its third consecutive weekly increase, climbing almost 19 per cent during the stretch, to trade around US$43,500 as of 1.06 pm on Feb 12 in New York. It dropped below US$33,000 on Jan 24, a decline of more than 50 per cent from its all-time high of almost US$69,000 reached in early November.

The crypto market has been rattled as of late by growing expectations that central banks, led by the Federal Reserve, are poised to pull back on the pandemic-era stimulus that many observers credit for fuelling the surge in risk assets over the past few years.

The crypto and equity asset classes continue to mimic each others movements, particularly the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index. The correlation between the two stands at 0.42.

Uber CEO says app will eventually accept crypto as payment

Uber Technologies will one day join the likes of Microsoft by accepting Bitcoin as a payment option on its app.

Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive officer, said Uber will accept cryptocurrencies "at some point" in the future. "This isn't the right point," he said Feb 11 in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Khosrowshahi cited the cost of exchanges, which can carry high transaction fees, and the environmental impact of digital mining on the energy grid as reasons for why Uber has not yet incorporated the technology.

"We're having conversations all the time," Khosrowshahi said. "As the exchange mechanism becomes less expensive and becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us leaning into crypto a little bit more."

Crypto paychecks have more appeal outside the US, says hiring firm

Employees all over the world are opting to get paid in cryptocurrencies, though they are still in a small minority, according to global payrolls and hiring company Deel.

Out of 100,000 hires in more than 150 countries that Deel has been involved with over the past 6 months, about 2 per cent opted to take at least part of their salaries in currencies not backed by a sovereign, the firm's data show.

Bitcoin accounted for about two-thirds of the crypto payments since Deel began offering that option in July last year. Deel's data set is weighted toward employees in technology and finance, who may be better informed about crypto.

The company said the highest level of crypto payments was in Argentina, notorious for its high inflation rates, where one-third of hires chose that option for some of their pay. In Nigeria it was about one-fifth, while for Brazil the figure drops to around 3 per cent.

In the US - where several high-profile football players as well as the mayors of New York City and Miami, Eric Adams and Francis Suarez, have taken pay checks in Bitcoin - the overall share among Deel hires was just 1.2 per cent.

Since laws in many countries, including the US, do not permit employees to get paid in cryptocurrencies, Deel partners with crypto platform Coinbase so that payments are directly converted into the currency of their choice.

Companies report the payments in local currency terms for income tax purposes. The volatility of cryptocurrencies means some employees risk getting charged taxes based on payments that have subsequently dropped in value. BLOOMBERG