The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a sharp increase in the past week, up over 30% — this has led to increased interest from investors all around the globe, including Wall Street. Aside from the price increase, the bitcoin network has been growing at a steady pace with approximately 400,000 daily Bitcoin transactions compared to only 200,000 daily transactions during the previous year.

Lately, Bitcoin has been making headlines in the news and other media outlets resulting in high demand, generating serious interest from investment banks, venture capitalists, hedge funds and even retail investors. Partnerships, acquisitions and other deals are actively taking place around Bitcoin-related projects in the private equity world, as well as public markets.

On Wednesday, a publicly traded over-the-counter U.S. stock, Social Detention Inc. (SODE) announced the acquisition of Bitplaza, a retail tech company that developed the world’s first bitcoin-dedicated shopping app, which is globally available on the app stores.

Social Detention President and CEO Robert P. Legg II said the following about the acquisition,

When we first saw what Bitplaza was doing with Blockchain we had to be a part of it. It is literally the first Dedicated Marketplace that accepts Bitcoin. We see Blockchain as a catalyst and space that will provide Social Detention Inc. significant shareholder value as we now have another path to profits in a growing sector. This acquisition allows us to benefit immediately as the technology is launched and generating revenue.

Back in March, crypto investment app Donut raised $1.8 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Redalpine with participation from several funds, including EarlyBlock and Entrepreneur First.

Major tech companies are also showing interest and developing technologies in the cryptocurrency space.

Sony CSL, a subsidiary Sony Corporation (SNE) and Samsung developed its own cryptocurrency wallets and they actually have some pretty unique features. The Samsung Blockchain KeyStore app is a cold storage wallet which is built-in the new Galaxy S10 smartphone. The wallet offers some cool features such as biometric security solutions with its ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Additionally, Sony is putting some resources into developing cryptocurrency-based technology, making their own contribution to the industry. They successfully developed a card-like thin physical cryptocurrency hardware wallet using IC card technology and the company also mentioned their plans to commercialize the crypto wallet in the future.

Final Take

2019 has been a solid year so far with many developments and the price action is starting to reflect the progress made within the industry. Many crypto investors, traders, enthusiasts and industry professionals are confirming a trend reversal suggesting a new bull market ahead. Privately-held and publicly traded companies on the stock exchange are also benefiting from the new bullish market cycle. Partnerships and acquisitions are actively taking place and in addition to that, new companies are frequently entering the industry and shifting their team efforts to develop blockchain technology making Bitcoin easier to use.

The bitcoin network itself is also getting larger, the number of transactions is increasing, suggesting a bright future ahead with a growing user-base in many new regions of the world.

Edited by Tom Stankewicz

Disclaimer: This guest post is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. It does not reflect the views of SludgeFeed or our editorial staff. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investments.