Time Magazine continues to warm up to cryptocurrency. It named Coinbase and Digital Currency Group (DCG) in its 2021 Top 100 Most Influential Companies list. The Top 100 list was published on April 27 emphasizing the impact the two cryptocurrency giants have made in the last 12 months.
The list comprised of four different categories including Innovators, Pioneers, Disrupters, and Leaders. Digital Currency Group was included in the Disrupter category together with other major names like Huawei, Clubhouse, Tesla, and Shopify.
Time Magazine noted that DCG is currently “demystifying crypto for investors” through its subsidiaries, crypto news website CoinDesk and asset manager Grayscale. As of today, Grayscale has more than $45.5 billion total assets under management (AUM):
“In January 2020, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust became the first financial product backed entirely by digital currency to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission—opening the Trust (and, by extension, the blockchain) to more potential investors.”
While Grayscale had a major performance in the last year, its parent firm’s inclusion on this list may also be influenced by a recent partnership with Time. The publication together with Grayscale is teaming up to drop multiple educational videos based on cryptocurrency, with Time also acknowledging to be paid by Grayscale in Bitcoin and hold BTC on its balance sheet.
Coinbase was listed under the Titan category along with mainstream giants Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Walmart, and Google. The crypto exchange was described as “shoring up crypto’s credibility” with regards to its direct listing on the Nasdaq on April 14. This exchange earned more revenue in Q1 this year than all of 2020, with a reported $1.8 billion in Q1 2021 compared to nearly $1.2 billion in all of 2020:
“It’s been a huge year for cryptocurrencies, but nothing’s been as validating as the April 14 direct listing of Coinbase, which operates an exchange where 56 million users buy and sell Bitcoin and more. Coinbase ended its first day of trading worth nearly $86 billion—making it the most valuable U.S. financial exchange, and giving cryptocurrencies a boost of Wall Street cred.”
The inclusion of Coinbase and Digital Currency Group is another step along the road of mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency. Just some time ago it would have been quite challenging to imagine the duo elevated into the company of renowned institutions in the Top 100 list such as PayPal, AirBnB, Disney, Spotify, Adidas, and BP.
Time Magazine was first published in March 1923, and the magazine and online publication has continued to gradually expose itself to the cryptocurrency world. In March 2021, it auctioned off its first set of tokenized magazine covers as NFTs, with the highest-selling NFT fetching nearly $250,000.
In the past week, it announced a partnership with Crypto.com to accept one-time cryptocurrency payments for its 18-month digital subscription, providing 10% cashback to readers who paid in Cypto.com’s CRO coin.
