By TYRONE TOWNSEND Millions of dollars are being spent on digital real estate as investors take their money to the land of the Metaverse. Since Facebook renamed its company to Meta Platforms in October, plot prices have skyrocketed by 500 percent. Meta and other businesses have a long-term ambition of creating 360-degree immersive worlds that people will access through virtual reality goggles. Users may now access these worlds using a standard computer screen. Real individuals engage in these virtual worlds as cartoon-like characters known as avatars, akin to a real-time multiplayer video game. Journalists from the Wall Street Journal recently spoke with companies investing in digital real estate to understand the economic model, and why investors are spending so much…
Good Morning! Today is Friday, Aug. 27. A terrorist attack at the Kabul airport killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 90 Afghans. President Biden said airlift efforts would continue despite the attack. Capitol Police officers sued former President Trump, along with groups like the Proud Boys, over the January 6 riot, saying they incited violence against officials and police. Hawaii’s Governor David Ige asked travelers to stay home through October as hospitals struggle with rising Covid cases. And in mortgage and housing news… Mat Ishbia’s Bitcoin Play Raises Concerns: UWM CEO Mat Ishbia’s announcement that he intends to accept Bitcoin has raised questions among economists and within the industry about encouraging consumers to rely on the “volatile” cryptocurrency for their mortgage payments.…
United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia made headlines with the announcement his company—one of the largest lenders in the U.S.—plans to start accepting Bitcoin as payment for mortgages later this year. “That’s something that we’ve been working on,” Ishbia said, “and we’re excited that hopefully, in Q3, we can actually execute on that before anyone in the country because we are a leader in technology and innovation.” Ishbia’s announcement puts his company on the front line of the debate over the potential dangers of novel techno-currencies like Bitcoin. Bitcoin is among the class of financial products known as “cryptocurrencies,” digital currency systems developed and traded using a variety of computational and security networks. The process of developing and obtaining cryptocurrencies can…
By Elise Daniel Tesla made headlines when the electric vehicle company invested 1.5 million in Bitcoin in February. Last week, Elon Musk announced that customers could now buy Teslas with Bitcoin. Other tech-forward companies including MicroStrategies and Square have also invested in the cryptocurrency. However, many traditional investors and financial institutions are still approaching Bitcoin with skepticism. Warren Buffet has outright condemned Bitcoin, likening cryptocurrency to rat poison and claiming it has no value. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Bitcoin is an “extremely inefficient” currency. Though historically Bitcoin has been very volatile, even skeptics may find it difficult to ignore the recent BTC bull market. The digital currency’s increasing adaptation is attributed to what Bitcoin believers have jokingly called “number go up technology” on the Twittersphere.…
