Currency

Ethereum price hits $3.5K record as Winklevoss exchange adds Dogecoin

Posted by WILLIAM SUBERG

on Tuesday, 4 May 2021 6:51

 

Gemini follows eToro in integrating Dogecoin as Ethereum underscores altcoins’ Bitcoin-crushing surge.

Ethereum doesn’t stop at $3,500

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Tradingview followed ETH/USD as the pair broke through its latest historic boundary and continued climbing.

At the time of writing, the largest altcoin by market cap was in pure price discovery mode as it sought resistance above $3,500.

The week had already seen new highs for Ether price on a daily basis, with seven-day gains standing at 36%.

Among analysts and traders alike, the sense of excitement on the day was palpable.

“I have been calling for $3600 $ETH for well over a month, but think it can go much higher,” Scott Melker told Twitter followers.

Short-term price targets had called for $5,000 while zooming out, $10,000 and even $20,000 were not unheard of as Ether outperformed Bitcoin in dollar gains throughout the past year.

Read More

 

Wealthsimple raises $610M at a $4B valuation

Posted by Darrell Etherington

on Tuesday, 4 May 2021 6:36

 

Canadian fintech giant Wealthsimple has raised a new round of $750 million CAD (~$610 million) at a post-money valuation of $5 billion CAD (~$4 billion). The round was led by Meritech and Greylock, and includes funding from Inovia, Sagard and Redpoint, Two Sigma Ventures, TCV, as well as individual investors including Drake, Ryan Reynolds and Michael J. Fox (basically, all the most famous Canadians).

Wealthsimple’s big new raise more than triples its valuation from its last round, a $114 million CAD (roughly $93 million) funding announced last October, which carried a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion CAD ($~1.22 billion USD). The Toronto-based company has been a leader in the realm of democratizing financial products for consumers, including stock trading, crypto asset sales and peer-to-peer money transfers.

The company says that it experienced significant growth during the pandemic, which is likely one big reason why its valuation rose so much between its most recent raise and this one. Its commission-free retail investment platform has grown “rapidly” over the course of the past 14 months, the company says, and the crypto trading platform that it launched last August has also seen strong uptake given the recent surge in consumer interest in cryptocurrency assets.

Full Article

 

Capital Gains Tax Changes Would Impact Millions

Posted by Robert Frank

on Tuesday, 4 May 2021 6:32

KEY POINTS
  • Wealthy families could face combined tax rates of as much as 61% on inherited wealth under President Joe Biden’s tax plan, according to a recent analysis.
  • Biden’s plan proposes to nearly double the top tax rate on capital gains and eliminate a tax benefit on appreciated assets known as the “step-up in basis.”
  • The combined tax rate would be the highest in nearly a century, according to the tax policy research group.

Wealthy families could face combined tax rates of as much as 61% on inherited wealth under President Joe Biden’s tax plan, according to a recent analysis and tax accountants.

As part of his American Families Plan, Biden is proposing to nearly double the top tax rate on capital gains and eliminate a tax benefit on appreciated assets known as the “step-up in basis.” Combining the estate tax, the new higher capital gains rate and the repeal of step-up in basis could bring total effective marginal rates as high as 61%, according to an analysis from the Tax Foundation.

The rate would be the highest such rate in nearly a century, according to the tax policy research group.

“It’s a big number,” said Brad Sprong, KPMG partner and private enterprise tax leader. “That’s why we’re telling our clients to be smart and start preparing now.”

It’s unclear whether Biden’s plan can pass Congress, even with changes. Many moderate Democrats are likely to push back against his proposal to raise the capital gains rate to 39.6% as well as the plan to eliminate the step-up. What’s more, only a small number of the wealthiest taxpayers would ever face a rate of 61%. Many others would look to avoid it through tax and estate planning.

Read More

 

Now is a great time to sell your old car

Posted by Peter Valdes-Dapena

on Tuesday, 4 May 2021 6:25

 

(CNN) If you’ve got a car you don’t use very much, congratulations. You’ve got gold in your garage.

 

With the auto industry thrown into disarray by shortages of computer chips and other components needed to build cars and trucks, shoppers are regularly paying nearly full sticker price for new vehicles. Thinning supplies of factory-fresh new cars have also made it difficult for some shoppers to find the new vehicle they want with the paint color and options they’re looking.
Accordingly, many are turning to used cars instead. That, in turn, has driven up used car prices.
Lightly used vehicles — those that are a couple of years old with low mileage — are now selling for 75% to 80% of their original sticker price, said Ivan Drury, an auto industry analyst with Edmunds.com. As recently as 2019, a more normal year, those cars would have been going for65% to 70% of their original price.
“If somebody has a second or third or fourth vehicle or whatever that they’re not using, they can definitely capitalize on that right now,” said David Paris, a vehicle valuation analyst with J.D. Power.

Big Fat Idea – Investing in AdTech

on Monday, 3 May 2021 13:27

The driving engine of the e-commerce boom has been the shift to digital advertising. The underlying technology has revolutionized the industry and is the foundation of the Big Tech behemoths like Amazon, Google and Facebook. Martijn van den Bemd of Adcore joins Mike to explore opportunities for Canadian investors going forward.