Blockchain innovators are riding the tailwinds of a global crypto-industry that’s reached $1.4 trillion.  Whether you’re following the traditional credit card giants …Or the first wave of the payments services innovators …And the backend picks and shovel virtuosos who bring the lucrative world of crypto mining, wallets, banking and exchanges all together under one understandable umbrella …The money is in the blockchain.  Mentioned in today’s commentary includes:  Tesla, Inc. Microsoft Corporation , Visa Inc. , Overstock.com, Inc. , BlackBerry Limited .

Last year marked the start of the “blockchain decade”, according to Deloitte. There’s no industry that it won’t affect–significantly. And it’s so much more than just crypto. It’s a virtual ledger that can process unthinkable volumes of data in a corruption-proof way. It records every single transaction into a “block” of information, in a chain. It’s exactly why Bitcoin has become what it has … a digital currency that managed to top $58,000 in March.

Elon Musk Is Betting On Bitcoin

Tesla  has been one of the most exciting stories on Wall Street for the past two years. And that’s largely thanks to its CEO, Elon Musk. As a visionary in the tech world, Musk built his empire on PayPal and then pivoted to a cause closer to his heart, Tesla. Musk has had his eye on prize long before the green energy hype started building. In fact, he released the first Tesla Roadster back in 2008, making electric vehicles desirable when people were laughing at first-gen electric vehicles.

Elon Musk is a major proponent of bitcoin, like his tech industry peer Square and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. Musk made a number of posts on Dorsey’s Twitter platform highlighting the benefits of cryptocurrency, and even put his own money where his mouth is, announcing that Tesla would be investing $1.5 billion into bitcoin, with plans to begin accepting bitcoin payments for Tesla products in the near to medium-term.

A Blockchain Ecosystem

Through their acquisition of Limitless Technologies, Cloud Nine  is now offering what might be the most all-inclusive setup anyone’s seen in this space, yet. It’s a VPN, a crypto mining tool that makes it easy enough for anyone to do it, an AirBnB-like crypto and digital asset storage system, and an altcoin marketing tool.

It made its name in the development of the cutting-edge Cloud Nine ESL Program for student mobility … Now, it’s moving in on the crypto business in a big way … It recently signed an LOI (Letter of Intent) with Victory Square Technologies Inc. to acquire cryptocurrency and blockchain assets. These aren’t just any assets, and this isn’t just any blockchain company. It incubated the very first publicly traded blockchain company in Canada and has been at the forefront of the blockchain & crypto space.

They now boasts a massive blockchain ecosystem that includes Desktop LimitlessCrypto Miner, a VPN-based patent-pending user-based Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Altcoin miner for household use with a waitlist of over 100,000 users for post-beta March 2021 launch.

It also includes MicroBlock Miner, aka “Crypto in a box”, a crypto-miner that gives users a plug-and-play way to participate in proof-of-work mining protocols like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other Altcoins, and X2Crypto Wallet for Desktop & Mobile,  a crypto credit card paired with user-friendly cryptocurrency banking services on desktop, mobile and hardware wallets.

With Limitless Cloud Nineoffers a fully integrated and closed ecosystem that makes it easy for anybody to mine crypto with no technical expertise required. That means anyone with a computer and an internet connection.

Limitless gives you a plug & play way to mine your favorite cryptocurrencies, which can be then immediately stored in your in-app digital wallet. Even better, it offers an unmatched level of security of a Closed Crypto Ecosystem.

So, what about revenue? Once launched, the Limitless VPN, which is free to download anywhere in the world, will provide the company with immediate revenue and an immediate foundation of over 100,000 users to leverage across the platform.

It generates revenue from mining altcoins using unused processing power from the Company’s and the Users servers. All altcoins successfully mined are immediately transferred into bitcoin, and the revenue is then split 50/50 between Cloud Nine and the User.

Limitless VPN launched in Beta to 10,000 Users, but it’s hard launching in March and has 100k Users on its waitlist. And the Company predicts it will grow its user base to over one million users by the end of 2021!

Cloud Nine Web3 Technologies’  at-home crypto-mining machine, MicroBlock Miner, lets anyone mine from the comfort of home, with no prior experience. And they can store it all in the Limitless X2 marquee asset, which very few companies can boast.

Call it what you will … the “Uber” of crypto, or the Airbnb, or that point where Uber meets AirBnB and … Visa, in the blockchain.

Payments Giants Are Jumping On Board

When it comes to forward-thinking traditional credit card companies, Visa (V) is by far the savviest. What was once its cryptic enemy, is now its biggest ally. It was the first to jump on the blockchain train back in 2016, seeing the fintech writing on the wall. It met the fintech threat head-on.

In 2016, Visa partnered with Chain blockchain infrastructure company to produce Visa B2B Connect for secure, business-to-business blockchain payments. Visa has also made it possible to link credit cards and debit accounts to cryptocurrency wallets, converting crypto into cash. By now, Visa has over 25 digital currency wallets connected up.

So, when you think blockchain in fintech, think Visa because it saw the fintech threat as an opportunity and took advantage of it early on. It’s already being rewarded and more rewards are to come.

Big Tech Is Revolutionizing The Tech Sector

Microsoft (MSFT), as one of the leaders in the technology world, is also building the next generation of hardware and software to help the world tackle some of its biggest and most pressing problems. It’s most exciting developments fall under its Azure cloud computing platform, which includes artificial intelligence, blockchain tech, and even Internet of Things functionality. Its Azure IoT, for example, connects and manages internet-connected solar panels to improve efficiency and open a line for an entirely new way of sharing energy within communities.

Conor Kelly, the software engineer who is leading the distributed solar energy project for Microsoft Azure IoT explained, “We need to decarbonize the global economy to avoid catastrophic climate change.”

Overstock (OSTK)  was one of the first true believers in bitcoin and blockchain technology., and its stock has been climbing all year, with few setbacks. To say it has thrived over the past year wouldn’t do it justice. The e-commerce giant has seen its share price absolutely explode since March 2020, climbing by 2366% in just one year.

There’s constant news flow here, and it’s being helped along by Overstock’s fintech subsidiary, tZero, which announced the purchase of a 24 percent stake in StockCross Financial Services, Inc. a few years ago.  tZero is on the prowl to aggregate all components of its trading, clearing and settlement platform. It’s looking to buy, build or partner, so the news flow is brilliant.

Blackberry Limited (BB) is a company that is no stranger to the tech world. While it has pivoted away from its iconic cell phones of yesteryear, it is still very much involved in pushing the tech industry further. It’s even building a global digitized healthcare database leveraging blockchain technology. From it’s high-profile partnerships with the likes of Amazon and more, to its key posturing in the Internet of Things explosion, BlackBerry is a great stock that could be trading at a relative discount compared to some of its peers.

BlackBerry recently launched a new research and development arm called BlackBerry Advanced Technology Labs. Charles Eagan, BlackBerry CTO. “Today’s cybersecurity industry is rapidly advancing and BlackBerry Labs will operate as its own business unit solely focused on innovating and developing the technologies of tomorrow that will be necessary for our sustained competitive success, from A to Z; Artificial Intelligence to Zero-Trust environments.”

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