Firms Taking Advantage of the Bear Market to Enter into the Crypto Space

[Davidvictorson]

Clearly, the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a bear market. The term “bear market” is defined as a market that has lost more than 20% in a given year. Bitcoin is down -35% in 2022. The bear market has been a blessing in disguise in more ways than one. It is no coincidence that many firms are announcing their entrant into the crypto space. I think that they are taking advantage of the bear market. Listed below are two such companies.

• MoneyGram

On Nov. 1, 2022, MoneyGram announced the launch of a new service enabling consumers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency via the MoneyGram mobile app. This new and innovative feature gives MoneyGram customers in nearly all U.S. states and the District of Columbia1 the ability to trade and store Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) by using the Company's leading mobile app.

• Western Union

On October 25, reports revealed that Western Union, another cross-border remittance giant, filed three trademarks. The filing covered the management and exchange of digital assets and commodities derivatives, Issuing tokens of value, and brokerage and insurance services. Judging from the trademark filings, Western Union plans to offer crypto services. It is the firm’s latest attempt out of several previous ones to enter the crypto space.
[/list]

Kindly add the other companies that you think may have taken advantage of the bear market to get into crypto.

https://bitcoinist.com/moneygram-will-allow-users-store-and-trade-bitcoin/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moneygram-introduces-new-crypto-service-enabling-customers-to-buy-sell-and-hold-cryptocurrency-via-the-moneygram-app-301664682.html

https://www.coindesk.com/learn/crypto-bear-market-opportunities-make-the-most-of-a-crypto-downturn/

[Odusko]

The rate of cryptocurrency adoption has increased lately with merchants now accepting Bitcoin and other altcoins, the bear market has always done more good than bad to smart developers and the bear market serves as the best entry point for companies and other agents that want to increase or own their cryptocurrency assets.
Money gram is one of the online gateways that crypto adoption will give millions of their clients a choice of payment aside from the traditional banking model they're used to.

[DeathAngel]

Smart money always accumulates & makes big decisions when wimpy retail is hiding away having weak hands. The smart money always moves in the dark when others are fearful.

Always do what the majority aren’t doing. Bear markets are opportunity!

[OgNasty]

JP Morgan made some headlines this week for making their first DeFi trade using the Polygon network and MATIC coin.  That's pretty big news that has flown somewhat under the radar.  You can bet that JP Morgan is sitting on a ton of MATIC and building on Polygon (likely have been for a while) so them joining the likes of Disney and others choosing now to enter the space and choosing Polygon as a way to do so seems to be the trend for large companies at the moment.  I'm looking forward to seeing what cool and fun stuff these companies and others build as the metaverse blossoms into a thing.

[Queentoshi]

Kindly add the other companies that you think may have taken advantage of the bear market to get into crypto.

It is possible that many companies took advantage of the beer market and got into cryptocurrency secretly without the knowledge of the public. Companies that have good financial advisors will always tell them of cryptocurrency highlighting it as one of the core investment opportunities for the future. Companies and organisations wants to make profit so on the advice by financial advisor to take advantage of the bear market many companies have followed without making it known to the public, the companies that made their own public just decided to do so.

[jackg]

Smart money always accumulates & makes big decisions when wimpy retail is hiding away having weak hands. The smart money always moves in the dark when others are fearful.

I think these goals for adoption with a lot of companies have been in the pipeline for a while and they've been waiting to add crypto acceptance around now where the sector seems sjlent from the outside.

Companies that join during bear markets are more likely to stay in the crypto economy than ones who join during bull markets imo. Most who join in bull periods don't have the reserves to handle it or don't want to look like they're launching a pump and dump scheme (I think - although it does make it look more like that's what they're doing when they withdraw after large price move).

[romero121]

Both the mentioned firms are into remittance support and this makes it look for more advantageous opportunities available in the market. This is where MoneyGram and Western Union have chosen to provide cryptocurrency related services. This will help with reaching lower level of the people use cryptocurrency, because these services are much used by people working abroad to send money to the home country.

[DaveF]

I agree with jackg, I don't think the bear market has a lot to do with it, more along the lines of they started 18+ months ago when BTC was soaring in early 2021 and it took this long to get it to market.
These are large financial businesses they don't set things up in days or weeks or months. It takes a while to implement things. And then get approval from the needed regulators.

Still good in general for BTC, but the timing and market at the moment mean very little.

-Dave

[348Judah]

Money Gram and Western Union were one of the major available means to make an international cross boarder transaction which many people have previously used before now nit until bitcoin set in to change the whole game, they would have realized a drastic drop in their rate of patronizing customers since bitcoin have the solution to excessive charges and delay in sending money across the boarder, the need for KYC had been dealt with through p2p, they should also reconsider getting back people's interest to their services by certain implementation and making review of their old policy if they truly want to be in the market, i don't expect them from initial to adopt embargo on bitcoin transaction even if government endorses them, but their fear then was that bitcoin could make their role leds effective which is truly what is happening.

[Lucius]

To me, it is somewhat illogical for companies to decide on such moves due to a bear market, because it is enough to look at supply and demand and the price of Bitcoin. What I want to say is that more than 1 year can pass until some new FOMO is created, and it is no secret that a lot of people invest in cryptocurrencies with the intention of short-term profit.

It is known that these large companies evaluate their business several times a year, and if they conclude that something does not bring them income, they simply throw it out of their business. Many companies did this precisely with Bitcoin because they did not have good enough business results, especially during the bear market. If they already wanted to earn something (and they are certainly not Bitcoin fans), a little better timing would definitely make more sense.

[yazher]

Looks like they don't want to be late in this trend and they also having some vision for the next bull runs. Look guys! Big companies are moving fast because they know that this bearish market means opportunity and huge money in the future. They just doing their thing. I mean, probably they gave lots of thought before taking advantage of the crypto market and they were just looking at the history of the crypto market and since it make sense to them, they conclude to join others who already doing this.

As for the small investors, we need to carefully not to jump to any conclusion, because rushing to this hype will not bring us anything good.we still need proper research and patience to hold our horses before investing.

[eightdots]

When to enter the crypto market? The answer to this question is a bear market for many. These companies do. It waits for the right time to do and shapes its investments accordingly. This is a sensible move. Many firms must have secretly invested in crypto. Over time they explain that they did it. This is good news for us crypto lovers. I can't name any other companies right now, but like these companies, many companies have stepped into crypto in the bear market.

[8rch7]

The bear market has always been a very big opportunity for billionaires and big companies, because they have large capital and abundant wealth so they can take every opportunity into big profits in the future, actually they take advantage of our fears, they also take the opportunity of our helplessness, so we should never be afraid of entrepreneurs who want to scare us, then they take advantage of our fears, we must be good at following the rhythms they play so that we are not lulled by their words, because in Our business life must have its own predictions, don't ever want to be afraid.

[pawanjain]

JP Morgan made some headlines this week for making their first DeFi trade using the Polygon network and MATIC coin.  That's pretty big news that has flown somewhat under the radar.  You can bet that JP Morgan is sitting on a ton of MATIC and building on Polygon (likely have been for a while) so them joining the likes of Disney and others choosing now to enter the space and choosing Polygon as a way to do so seems to be the trend for large companies at the moment.  I'm looking forward to seeing what cool and fun stuff these companies and others build as the metaverse blossoms into a thing.

Yeah even I got to know about this yesterday. Not only JP Morgan but also Meta chose Polygon to start their ventures.
The first thing I did after reading this news was to buy Matic 
I was able to get in at $0.94 and now the price has increased to around $1.15 which is more than 20% gains in just 24 hours.
But the thing is I always mess it up by not selling at the right time. Taking profits is a skill which I am not good at.

[BlackHatCoiner]

We have billions of dollars of daily volume. Obviously, some folks are taking advantage. They can be firms, governments, individuals, anything. Some are stacking for good.

Now as for MoneyGram and Western Union introducing cryptocurrencies to their users: I couldn't care less. People must avoid financial institutions, not embrace them. And when financial institutions work on extending their business to projects that supposedly replace them, you know that the fish stinks from the head.

[Asiska02]

This year, a large number of businesses adopted cryptocurrencies as a payment method and made significant investments in them. This serves as good news and the right time to do so for them.

In order to increase users and customers who are primarily engaged in one or two cryptocurrencies trading or investment, the majority of businesses, being business ventures, have accepted the use. This makes it possible for their customers to make payments. This news is merely sending out encouraging signals to the bitcoin market, and I anticipate more to follow before the subsequent halving.

[serjent05]

Talking about the companies that take advantage of the Bear market to enter the crypto space, I think there are lots of them.  This list provides us with some of the company that enter the crypto space this bear market.

Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group's cloud computing unit released new services for NFT platforms for users outside of China, as reported in June 2022. Alibaba Cloud provides content delivery, web hosting, and digital marketing.

Walmart

In January 2022, Walmart Canada used a novel blockchain solution to improve its supply chain. The system reduced disputed invoices from 70% to 1% and reduced the manual effort devoted to payables and receivables. In addition, carriers received timely payments.

In December 2021, Walmart filed for several trademarks involving blockchain, its own cryptocurrency, NFTs, and the metaverse. The organization is also reportedly preparing to become a player in the spaces of two Web3 technologies: NFTs and cryptocurrency.

McDonald's

In February 2022, McDonald's filed applications for ten trademarks describing its plans to offer digital-based products, including virtual restaurants. The company has also reportedly created 10 NFTs.

Nike

Nike acquired next-gen collectibles startup RTFKT Studios in December 2021 to provide collectibles that combine culture and gaming. Nike launched CryptoKicks NFT along with RTFKT in April 2022. CryptoKicks is a customizable sneaker collection based on the Ethereum NFT metaverse. Prices for these sneakers range between $4,000 and $9,500, payable in cryptocurrency. Some of these blockchain-based digital sneakers are selling for over $100,000 on the online platform OpenSea. The company, along with RTFKT, plans to help other designers and influencers launch their own CryptoKicks skins.

Tesla
In April 2022, the electric carmaker Tesla, the payments firm Block, and the blockchain company Blockstream announced their collaboration to mine bitcoin with solar power — an energy-intensive process — in Texas.

Amazon

In January 2022, Amazon announced that it provides Blockchain-as-a-Service for enterprises interested in utilizing blockchain. Amazon Managed Blockchain is an entirely-managed service for producing and managing blockchain networks using open-source frameworks. At present, it supports the Hyperledger Fabric open-source framework.

Walt Disney

Walt Disney announced in July 2022 that it chose Blockchain Polygon as the anchor for its Web 3. The company also selected 2 other blockchain-related firms: Flickplay, which acts as a social media platform for video NFTs, and Lockerverse, which is an e-commerce platform specializing in filing trademarks for NFTs to take part in Walt Disney's accelerator.

Walt Disney launched a blockchain platform named Dragonchain in 2014, which has been described as "a distributed crypto ledger framework protocol that makes it easy to create cost-efficient business networks where virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded."

PepsiCo

In July 2022, PepsiCo Labs collaborated with 6 startups to promote sustainability in its European supply chain. One of these startups, Security Matters, deploys blockchain technology to identify, sort, and pack waste. PepsiCo intends to use Security Matters' blockchain solutions to track recycling and verify sustainability claims.

Financials

Commonwealth Bank Australia

In November 2021, Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) allowed its customers to buy, sell, and hold crypto assets directly through the CommBank app. To this end, CBA entered partnerships with the crypto exchange and custodian company Gemini and the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. In 2022, CBA intends to launch more features for their customers, allowing them to access up to 10 chosen crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

China Construction Bank

In June 2022, China Construction Bank entered into a partnership with Singapore-regulated ADDX, a blockchain-based private market exchange, enabling domestic investors in China to invest abroad.

Bank of America

Bank of America (BofA) offers a global payments platform and blockchain expertise to its clients. The bank publishes its digital asset research in a report entitled 'Digital Assets Primer: Only the first inning,' which provides an investment framework for the digital asset landscape.

BofA has hundreds of patents on blockchain, but it isn't allowed to engage in crypto, according to its CEO in August 2022. According to BofA's CEO, the bank could engage in crypto on the trading side but not on the cryptocurrencies side as regulations don't permit it.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo, along with Citigroup and BNY Mellon, is investing in the institutional digital asset technology provider Talos, which aims to remove "the barriers to wide-scale crypto adoption," according to a May 2022 report.

JPMorgan

Since 2015, JPMorgan Chase has evolved in the blockchain space, and the bank did not slow in this area in 2022. In February 2022, it became the first bank to set up its services in the metaverse by launching the Onyx lounge in Decentraland, a blockchain-based 3D virtual world browser. In May 2022, the bank tested using blockchain for collateral settlements. In June 2022, the bank indicated it planned to bring trillions of dollars of tokenized assets into decentralized finance (DeFi), as mentioned by the head of Onyx Digital Assets.

Healthcare

Roche

In January 2022, NHS Wales and Roche Diagnostics entered into a partnership with Digipharm to use its blockchain platform to achieve better healthcare outcomes. The platform will enable shorter wait times for patients, sustainable procurement policies, quicker diagnostics, and a fair payment structure for the services offered.

Tech, Media, and Telecom

SAP

In March 2022, SAP and Unilever launched a blockchain pilot, GreenToken, to increase traceability and transparency in Unilever's global palm oil supply chain.

China Mobile

In March 2022, Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) announced the inclusion of "Zhong Yi Chain," developed by China Mobile, in its open-permissioned blockchain ecosystem to bolster the growth of home-grown NFTs. The new chain serves users on the BSN-Digital Distributed Certificate network, an infrastructure that allows NFT issuance in China without involving cryptocurrency transactions.

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services announced in March 2022 that it is working on several metaverse projects, including a "virtual bank" for retail transactions and an NFT marketplace using its own blockchain solution.

Adobe

In March 2022, Adobe added support for the Solana and Polygon blockchains to offer NFTs on its art platform, Behance. These two blockchains are more resilient than the Ethereum blockchain because Behance had previously enabled NFTs. Through its Content Authenticity Initiative, Adobe has taken steps to combat fake NFTs in cooperation with NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, SuperRare, KnownOrigin, and Rarible.

Apple

By the end of 2022, Apple plans to enable a feature of crypto payments through "Tap To Pay." The owners of iPhone models XS and higher will have the option to complete all their transactions wirelessly by using near-field communication technology.

In addition to Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards and other digital wallets will be able to conduct transactions without using any additional hardware or payment gateways.

Meta

Despite extensive criticism of NFTs and the crypto space in August 2022, Meta announced a rolling out of NFT support for Instagram. It will continue to develop the digital collectible feature which was piloted on Instagram in more than 100 countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. Through this initiative, the firm is expanding its blockchain support.

Oracle

In May 2022, Oracle announced native NFT support on its market-leading enterprise blockchain, "Oracle Blockchain Platform." Oracle released a blockchain app builder for the Oracle Blockchain Platform, v22.2.1. The release supported NFTs modeled per the ERC-721 specification but contains extended enterprise-focused benefits and capabilities.

Qualcomm

In March 2022, Qualcomm set up a $100M fund for Metaverse Investments. The fund will target developers building immersive extended reality experiences in areas such as gaming, health, education, and entertainment.

Salesforce

In June 2022, Salesforce rolled out its closed pilot program for a new service, NFT Cloud, despite uncertainties in the crypto market. This allows users to manage NFTs for marketing and branding activities.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA launched a program to support artists and content creators who focus on building virtual worlds and products that enrich users' experience in the metaverse. In January 2022, the company announced a series of partnerships focused on sharing metaverse-related content. A few of the company's first deals contain TurboSquid, Sketchfab, CGTrader, and Twinburu.

Energy & Utilities

ExxonMobil

In March 2022, it was reported that ExxonMobil was running a pilot cryptocurrency mining program powered by excess natural gas from oil wells in North Dakota.

The company later reached an agreement with Crusoe Energy Systems Inc. to take gas from oil wells in North Dakota to provide on-site power to crypto mining hardware.

Basic Materials & Industrials

American Express

American Express plans to launch its first crypto rewards credit card on its network in late 2022. The company partnered with a crypto wealth manager, Abra, and will transact in USD. They will also offer crypto cash back on any purchase category and amount.

Mastercard

Mastercard and Nexo launched a crypto-backed payments card in April 2022. Mastercard also reached an NFT payment deal with Coinbase in January 2022. Through partnerships like this, Coinbase customers will be able to use Mastercard credit and debit cards to make purchases in the crypto company's upcoming NFT marketplace.

UPS

In April 2022, it was reported that UPS planned to venture into the metaverse and submitted applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office. The applications included several virtual and NFT goods and services.

Visa

Visa launched a series of crypto-enabled cards in partnership with several fintech start-ups in Latin American countries in June 2022.

PayPal

PayPal launched a service enabling users to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency, allowing it to be a funding source for digital commerce for its 26 million merchants. In June 2022,the company allowed customers to transfer crypto from PayPal to external wallets.

Source: https://www.blockdata.tech/blog/general/the-top-100-public-companies-using-blockchain-in-2022

[Kemarit]

I don't have the list, but I would say that this is also the same thing that happen in 2018, lots of institution slowly getting their hands on Bitcoin because it is very cheap. Some are very vocal about it, but I would tend to believed that there are more companies who secretly invested as early at that time and might be revealing themselves just in the last couple of years.

And I guess majority of them have made the right decision that time to invest and continue to accumulate as obviously we have seen the price risen to an eventual bull run of ATH at $69,000.

[DanWalker]

What about the companies that enter the market during the bull season? I think it has nothing to do with a bear market or a bull market because joining or accepting something new by big companies is evaluated and considered for a long time before making a decision. These companies only accept bitcoins and cryptocurrencies for the purpose of integrating crypto into their applications and providing customers with more choices and for the purpose of attracting customers to them. If they state that they invest and hold any bitcoins or altcoins, it can be said that they are taking advantage of the bear season to enter the market.

[Zaguru12]

Many companies did this precisely with Bitcoin because they did not have good enough business results, especially during the bear market. If they already wanted to earn something (and they are certainly not Bitcoin fans), a little better timing would definitely make more sense.

I have to agree with that they are not friends of bitcoin or trying to advertise it. Rather they have looked some possibilities and how it can come to there advantage. First they look at the bear market and they believe they could earn lots once the bull comes in. Another one could be because of Recession looming about and how it could avoid fiat devaluation, so they just want to reduce the risk of by accepting payment in bitcoin. Thirdly it could be that they found out the cryptocurrency space doesn't not have the Tax inflicted on it just like Hoarding fiat. Most importantly I think they actually wants to draw in costumers to there brands because of the daily evolution of bitcoin and it mass adoption by people. Just like how social media has been used to lure people to some companies they might think people could just easily patronise them ones it has crypto payments options