10 best crypto wallets for Android

Crypto is bigger than ever, so it's time to get your coins to somewhere safe. Here are the best crypto wallets for Android!

(Source: androidauthority.com)

By Joe Hindy •June 2, 2021

Cryptocurrency took off in a big way over the last couple of years. People made millions off of Bitcoin, Doge, and Etherium. New crypto is minted every day and while most of them are arguably scams, some of them have some real promise. Of course, the rise of crypto popularity means there are a lot of crypto wallets available. Not all of them are good, but some do the job quite well. Here are the best crypto wallets for Android.

The best crypto wallets for Android

1. Bitcoin Wallet
2. Coinbase
3. Coinomi Wallet
4. Eclair Mobile
5. Electrum Boitcoin Wallet
6. Exodus
7. Gemini
8. Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet
9. Trust
10. Some brokerage apps like SoFi
11. Bonus: Hardware crypto wallets
12. Bonus: Bitcoin.org’s Choose you Wallet tool

Bitcoin Wallet

Price: Free / Varies

Bitcoin Wallet is a fairly basic, but functional crypto wallet. The app lets you buy, sell, and store BTC, BCH, and ETH. You can also send and receive the crypto at your leisure. Some other features include swapping between currencies, a live market data widget for the home screen, customizable network fees, and more. The fees can be a bit unfortunate, but it works well for what it does.

Coinbase

Price: Free / Varies

Coinbase is an exchange for crypto, but you can also house and transfer crypto to and from it. The app works as almost like a brokerage but for crypto. You can keep track of the prices of many currencies, even if you can’t buy all of them from Coinbase. It does let you buy plenty, though, including the big ones like Doge, BTC, and ETH. The verification process can take ages and that’s probably our biggest complaint about Coinbase.

Coinomi Wallet

Price: Free

Coinami Wallet is a functional crypto wallet with plenty of features. It supports every crypto based on ERC20/223/723, Omnilayer, NEM, BEP2, and TRC10. That makes it an excellent wallet for folks looking to store a bunch of different kinds of coins. The app also a clean UI, above average security, multi-seed support, a DApp browser, and more. There is very little wrong with this one and we consider it one of the best in the business for crypto wallets.

Eclair Mobile

Price: Free

Eclair Mobile is a Lightning Network compatible Bitcoin wallet. The app has a simple, good-looking UI, and the ability to specify the channels you want to use. It only supports Bitcoin, but it’s a great app for people who are really into Bitcoin. We hope the developers add support for other crypto eventually, but for not it works exceedingly well aside from some minor, cosmetic bugs.

Electrum Bitcoin Wallet

Price: Free

Electrum is one of those apps where it works really well, but only if you need what this app offers specifically. It has some good security features like local encrypted security keys that never leave your phone. The app also loads quickly and has redundant servers to reduce downtime to virtually zero. It also supports cold storage if you need that. The app has some translation issues if you speak something other than English and the UI could use a little work, but it’s otherwise good.

Exodus

Price: Free

Exodus is one of the more popular crypto wallets. It also does almost everything right. It supports dozens of coins, lets you swap between them, and you can send and receive crypto straight from the app. That covers most of the basics for crypto wallets. The app also encrypts your private keys on the device so no one can steal them. The app can be a bit slow on busy days, but honestly it’s otherwise fantastic.

Gemini

Price: Free / Varies

Gemini operates as both a wallet and an exchange. You can buy, sell, and store various coins, including Bitcoin, Etherium, Doge, Bitcoin Cash, and various others. It forces 2FA on every account for added security and it lets you do things like set price alerts so you know when to buy or sell. Finally, it comes with Wear OS support, one of the few apps that do this natively in this space.

Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet

Price: Free

Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet is a stable wallet with some decent features. It supports multiple coins, including ETH, ERC-20, and several others. The app also has good security with 100% control over your private keys, fast connection to nodes, and the usual stuff like sending and receiving currency. The UI isn’t much to look at, but it’s easy enough to use once you get used to it. This one also supports hardware solutions like Ledger and Trezor in case you want to take that extra step.

Trust

Price: Free

Trust is one of the most popular crypto wallets on mobile. It supports the usual stuff like ETH and BTC along with ERC20, BEP20, and ERC721 tokens. You can also add currencies the app doesn’t support as long as you have the proper links. Finally, you can buy crypto from this app, although sometimes they run out if it’s a particularly busy day. Some other features include a DApps browser, the ability to send and receive crypto, and more.

Some brokerage apps like SoFi

Price: Free

Brokerage apps like SoFi (linked at the button) and Robinhood (Google Play) allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrency. However, this is a lot different than something like a true crypto exchange or a wallet app. You buy the crypto and it’ll store it for you until you decide to sell it. Thus, it treats crypto like a stock in the stock market rather than a resource you own. It’s fairly difficult to get your crypto out of these kinds of places. On the other hand, it’s wicked easy to buy and sell so it’s easier to play the market. Plus, these services use fewer fees. Depending on your intentions, a solution like this may be viable for trading crypto, but we recommend checking out a real crypto wallet first.

Bonus: Hardware crypto wallets like the Ledger Nano S
Price: Varies

Another solution is to bypass the need for an app altogether and go with a hardware wallet. These hardware wallets keep track of your crypto for you and are the safest way to do so at the time of this writing. There are a few companies with good products, including Ledger (linked at the button) and Trezor. You can find other options with a few Google Searches. There are apps that let you transfer your currency in and out of a physical wallet like this one and some wallets, like Mycelium, that can interact with them directly. These physical crypto wallets can get pricy, but it’s the most secure method for storing crypto right now.

Bonus: Bitcoin’s Choose your Bitcoin wallet tool

Price: Free

If you are having trouble deciding, bitcoin.org has a tool that can help you figure out which wallet to go with. The tool asks you questions like the operating systems you use, explores whether a hardware option is better for you, and even asks for things like your experience level. It’ll also ask what’s most important to you so it shows you apps with those features. Every app listed on this list can also be found here depending on which criteria you pick. It’s definitely worth a try if you need additional help deciding.

Level Up Marketing with Telecom APIs in 2021

In this article, learn how Telecom APIs unlock the opportunity for companies to scale and build resiliency in 2021.

By Darach Beirne On Jun 4, 2021

(Source: aithority.com)

With the long road of economic recovery ahead, businesses face substantial challenges to getting back on track. In the past year, many company leaders have boosted their company’s digital capabilities by adopting new tools and services that power remote workforces and contactless customer engagement. Because of the flexibility and ease these resources provide, cloud-based technologies have become some of the most popular options for many enterprises.

Following a strong wave of initial cloud investments in 2020, organizations may want to learn how they can expand on these technologies in order to set themselves up for success and future growth. Not only are these businesses well-positioned to go further with their existing tools but they are likely now comfortable with layering on new tools to their suites.

Businesses have several options for tools that can seamlessly integrate with the resources they already have while creating potential for better customer experiences and improved marketing operations. A top choice among these options is telecom Application Program Interfaces (APIs).

Telecom APIs unlock the opportunity for companies to scale and build resiliency by integrating with some of the marketing functions that businesses already use, like calling, messaging and video chat. As customer preferences evolve and the world economy finds its footing, APIs can be a significant resource for businesses that want to refresh their marketing toolkit to meet the demands of today’s market. Below are a few key examples that business leaders will want to consider as they look to level up their marketing in the coming year.

Maximizing Phone Numbers

Shifting communications rapidly to respond to the market is a critical driver of success. Telecom APIs can allow businesses to ensure their communications and marketing efforts remain flexible. If an organization needs to change carriers, for example, number porting APIs make this process simpler and easier to manage, ensuring minimal disruption for sales.

Companies can keep their well-known numbers in use so that customers don’t get confused or frustrated. In addition, an API can be used to scale a channel according to how frequently it is used.

Marketing and advertising campaigns can also benefit from APIs. For example, if an ad campaign doesn’t generate as many customer calls as expected, the company can reuse the phone number from the ad for another purpose. When the market suddenly shifts, telecom APIs are incredibly effective tools to make adjustments to marketing and communications resources as needed.

Powering Modern Messaging

Texting is becoming a common preference for customers who want to engage with a business without using their computer or placing a phone call. In fact, most consumers prefer texting over other communications, with 85% of smartphone users indicating a preference for text instead of email. Customers are simply more responsive to this method of communication, where nine out of 10 of people will read a text message within three minutes of receiving it and reply within 90 seconds.

Some businesses have already caught on to this tend and have implemented SMS and MMS texting as part of their communications and marketing offering. To expand on this initial investment and open up new doors for marketing, organizations can consider using Messaging APIs to create more intelligent SMS or MMS communication.

Businesses can use Messaging APIs to send marketing texts to customers who have opted-in to receiving messaging from the company. These can include links to book discounted services or shop for products on sale from their phones. Being able to make the customer experience simpler and creating more impactful marketing starts with showing up where customers are and Messaging APIs are a useful resource for this purpose.

More Informed Customer Interaction

Not only can telecom APIs make communication resources more powerful, they can also allow companies to deliver a data-informed customer experience. Customer calls that come through a telecom API will create a call detail record (CDR) that is linked to the phone number from the inbound call. The CDR gives businesses a record of previous communications with that customer. Should the same customer reach out to the company using that number in the future, the customer service agent can access detailed engagement information and allow for faster service to the customer.

CDRs are also commonly used by companies to inform their marketing plans and ensure the right operational support is in place for upcoming campaigns. Call records help businesses to get a firmer grasp of trends like call volume and originating location, which may provide an indication as to whether a particular ad campaign is effective in a given area. They can then use this information to inform future campaigns, testing and tweaking messaging to see what resonates most with their audience.

And, with many customer service agents working from home, CDRs can help companies understand whether customer needs are being met or whether they need to scale their service teams up or down to meet demand. Quick access to customer support is an influential driver of customer satisfaction, and businesses will want to be sure they’re doing everything possible to keep customers happy.

Using telecom APIs gives businesses an opportunity to sharpen their marketing approach and be nimble and responsive to customers’ changing needs and preferences. By deepening their existing tools and resources with telecom APIs, companies can confidently forge a successful future—even as they face significant obstacles.

COVID-19 and Artificial Intelligence: How Have Attitudes to AI Changed Through the Pandemic?

(Source: aithority.com)

By James Alty On Jun 4, 2021

Prior to the pandemic, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning had been predicted to grow. But just how far has that demand increased, or has it even reduced due to the COVID-19?

Interestingly, while some industries are finding that the use of AI and machine learning is accelerating, others have seen little or no change in attitude. For businesses that are noticing a higher value in AI during the pandemic, many are recognizing opportunities to prepare for the future whilst also considering the changes necessary in their workplace. However, the fact that some businesses’ attitudes to AI have not changed – or changed minimally – since the pandemic, shows that some sectors have a much higher need for AI than others.

Below, we’ll take a look at instances where AI is helping businesses to triumph in the new normal, as well as the industries that have been making big changes to their use of machine learning and AI since early 2020, and what other businesses could learn from this.

How are industries differing in their attitudes towards AI?

Firstly, let’s take a look at an industry that has made leaps and bounds in their use of AI since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic – healthcare.

There is no doubt that AI has contributed positively to the healthcare sector during this time; for example, the creation of a database that helps to speed up diagnosis of Covid-19 and predict which patients are likely to have a more critical reaction to the disease. There has also been more development in the use of AI to help reduce time on administrative tasks so healthcare workers’ time can be spent on improving care for patients.

In another sector, the fitness industry is also experiencing an AI-led transformation through new products and services that were born as a result of COVID-19 and the social distancing it required. In fact, research predicts that the fitness app market will hit $14.64 billion by 2027. Data, analysis and the application of AI and machine learning to fitness and health are expected to be massive markets in years to come. As health and wellbeing is expected to be more highly valued by consumers post-pandemic, the ability to offer AI driven fitness and wellbeing guidance will be hugely valuable to those businesses that get it right.

Further to that research, an online poll conducted by Apteco during our annual conference held at the end of last year found that a quarter of respondents working in the areas of marketing data science, analytics and campaigning are continuing to prioritise the adoption of AI as planned. For a few (4%), AI and machine learning are now a priority because of the pandemic, but a fifth of respondents have had to put their AI plans on hold due to unexpectedly limited resources as a result of the pandemic.

Interestingly, The McKinsey State of AI in 2020 report highlighted a selection of sectors and business functions where the adoption of AI remained mostly unchanged from the previous year’s survey – these included marketing, along with sales and product development.

How can AI assist businesses in moving out of the pandemic and into the new normal?

The behavior of customers is constantly adapting in line with changes and disruptions happening due to the pandemic. For example, whilst retail footfall has plunged by 60% in some areas, global e-commerce sales are now expected to rise by 20% year on year. This highlights the huge changes in shopping behavior we have each seen in our personal lives since the pandemic began. Who would have thought cardboard delivery boxes would become such a useful resource?

Behind many of these e-commerce businesses and the platforms they use are AI tools helping the online shopping experience. For many, buying goods through a 2D image on a screen is very limited compared to the tactile retail experience of the high street, so AI guidance can help focus searches and make the process enjoyable for the consumer and also effective for the retailer.

Despite the growth of AI varying from industry to industry in the last year, the ability for brands to adapt has never been more important in order to remain competitive and secure.

The role of technology can be extremely positive here, to help give a better understanding of data and reveal new insights about current and potential customers. Used well, this insight will prompt actions that will lead to success and continue to evolve as consumers adjust to the new normal in Covid-19 and beyond. Further to that, research shows that 62% of consumers are willing to use AI to improve their experiences, which is likely to encourage brands to do more.

Automation and AI can also benefit the people behind your brand by automating certain repetitive marketing tasks – such as A/B testing and optimizing communications. This will not only benefit your employees but improve your service to customers as well, which remains as important as ever during these unprecedented times.

Looking to the future

 The COVID-19 crisis has changed many things for industries, businesses, and consumers, however, the way we respond has the potential to improve how we work and how our organizations operate moving forward.

There are some parts of our lives that are highly unlikely to go back to normal – such as remote working, an area in which a McKinsey report found that three to four times as many people could be working remotely after the pandemic than prior to it.

Online shopping is another area that has seen a significant increase in the year since the pandemic started, with online sales in the UK growing by 74% in January 2021 (the largest growth rate since the start of the first lockdown).

While we might expect sectors such as education, fitness, and healthcare to have the largest increase in AI and machine learning usage during the pandemic, this doesn’t mean that other sectors will not soon start AI deployments. The spread of technology and online access is driven by the pandemic provides the space where many sectors can now use AI productively.

Ultimately, when incorporating AI and machine learning into your business’ strategy or transformation, it’s critical to keep trust at the core; more than 3 in 4 businesses reported that it’s vital the results obtained are “fair, safe and reliable”. Consumers, clients, and supporters all need clarity and transparency on how their data is used. If this is followed, and as the benefits and advantages become increasingly clear, we shouldn’t be surprised to see a need for AI and machine learning increase in order to stay competitive, secure, and profitable.

Hedge Funds, Tech Spur Texas Wealth Boom as California Fades

Hedge Funds, Tech Spur Texas Wealth Boom as California Fades

(Source: finance.yahoo.com)

Brendan Case
Fri, June 4, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Big Tech is flocking to Austin. Big Finance is expanding in Dallas. Houston, the epicenter of the U.S. energy industry, is diversifying away from Big Oil.

Florida may be the destination of choice for A-list money managers looking to flee Wall Street. But in the post-pandemic economy, Texas is rising, welcoming a rush of talented, wealthy people from California, New York and Illinois with the lure of lower taxes, luxury suburbs and opportunities to invest their cash -- even as state lawmakers cast a wary eye at their potential blue-state politics.

In the last year, Tesla Inc. broke ground on a pickup-truck factory in Austin, and Oracle Corp. said it would shift its headquarters to the Texas capital. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. announced it was moving to the Houston area. Charles Schwab Corp. left San Francisco for the affluent Dallas suburb of Westlake, where Fidelity already has a campus. Vanguard plans to open an office in the area early next year.

And hedge funds are sprouting up or expanding all over Dallas. Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, which has had offices in Texas since 2016, is backing a new fund, Meridiem Capital Partners, that’s expected to start trading in the second half of this year with $1.5 billion. Canyon Partners, which manages $24 billion, should have 55 employees in town by year end.

“A change of scenery sometimes is a great way to energize an organization, and Texas is clearly a very, very business friendly state,” Canyon co-CEO Josh Friedman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “Dallas has a particularly good base, I think, of very sophisticated families and it’s a good community intellectually in which to run a business.”

Cinctive Capital Management opened an office in Dallas this year with capacity for about 20 people. The fund, which manages about $1 billion, is expanding its Texas operation believing there are talented managers in the state that might be overlooked by other firms. Avidity Partners has more than doubled its footprint in the state since it began in 2019, and its assets have swelled to $4 billion. All of these moves are according to people familiar with each fund’s plans.

A lack of income tax is only part of the draw. Housing is relatively affordable. The health care system in Houston and other cities feature some of the best hospitals in the country. In addition to a warmer climate, plentiful restaurants, activities for families and lots of space to roam, job creation in the state has served as a magnet.

“Employment growth has typically been twice the national average over the years,” said Pia Orrenius, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “And when you compare it with places like California and New York, the cost of living is still substantially lower, even though it’s starting to rise.”

Texas has long used cash grants and local-tax incentives to coax companies to relocate. Now, a slew of growth-minded local businesses are attracting money to an economy that state leaders say would be the world’s ninth largest if Texas were an independent country.

“Covid really just accelerated it,” said Andrew Brock, the Austin-based head of J.P. Morgan Private Bank for Central Texas. “People are coming here to invest. They’re coming here because they believe there are opportunities to deploy capital.”

Family Offices, Private Equity

Brock says Austin is benefiting from an influx of family offices and private equity firms looking to scale up growing businesses alongside established giants as Dell Technologies Inc. and more recent successes such as Yeti Holdings Inc.

Texas was already in the midst of robust growth. In the past decade, Dallas and Houston added more people than any other metro areas, pushing the state population to about 29 million. Austin expanded at the fastest clip for urban areas of at least a million people.

The state picked up two seats in Congress over the last decade while California and New York each lost one. The Golden State lost population in 2020 for the first time. The most popular destination for people fleeing: Texas.

“The dynamic of people leaving the coasts and coming to places like Texas is a durable trend,” said Mark Okada, chief executive officer of Dallas-based Sycamore Tree Capital Partners, which he started last year with Jack Yang and Trey Parker to invest in alternative credit. He points out the state has an optimal tax rate, is a few hours flying distance from both coasts, and is only an hour behind New York.

Real estate agents are trying to keep up. Supply is limited in desirable neighborhoods, and it’s not unusual for houses to attract dozens of bidders -- many of them from California. In some cases, buyers are showing up without a job but with plenty of cash after selling their houses in more expensive locales.

The median home price in Texas jumped 14% in March to a record $283,200, spurred by a 29% surge in Austin and double-digit gains in Dallas and Houston, according to Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Research Center.

“It’s the reverse of the way people used to move to California,” said Marie Bailey, who relocated in 2017 to Dallas’s northern suburbs from the Los Angeles area and became a real estate agent. She started a Facebook group three years ago for Californians moving to Texas and recently surpassed 33,500 members.

Booms -- and busts -- have a long history in Texas. The oil and savings-and-loan industries both flamed out in the 1980s, leaving years of economic wreckage in their wake. These days, the state’s big cities are less dependent on petroleum and natural gas. Houston still feels the pain when energy prices fall, but the city can also fall back on big industries in aerospace and medicine, plus growing clusters in biotech and clean energy.

Property Taxes

The growth comes with headaches. Traffic is getting worse and public transportation is limited. The influx of people is driving up housing prices, forcing up the cost of living by boosting property taxes. Given high levies on real estate and the state sales tax, the fiscal burden on middle-class people is higher in Texas than in California, at least according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

What’s more, Texas can be its own worst enemy when it comes to economic development. The state’s independent power grid failed under the strain of unusually cold temperatures in February, stoking doubts about Texas’s views on electricity deregulation and aversion to federal oversight.

And then there are the recent headlines out of Austin, where the state’s Republican-dominated legislature has spent the past few months taking on a raft of controversial measures, including restricting voting and abortion rights, expanding the ability to carry a gun without a permit, and limiting trans-gender kids’ participation in sports. The debates have drawn the ire of the national media, pleasing far-right conservatives and worrying moderates who fear that state’s brand will continue to become a caricature.

“We’re basically doing things that flat offend highly educated workers we need to attract,” said Ray Perryman, a former economist at Baylor University in Waco who has been tracking the Texas economy for 40 years.

Inequality Fears

Perryman said he’s also worried the state isn’t investing enough in health care or education. More than half of its school kids are Hispanic, but Hispanic families only control about 5% of the state’s wealth, he said. Black children make up more than 12% of students, and African-American families are similarly underrepresented in wealth accumulation.

“I fear that we’re not looking beyond our noses,” Perryman said.

For now, the rush is on. Alex Wilcox, CEO of a small upscale airline called JSX, moved the company to Dallas from California three years ago to tap a labor pool full of former employees of American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. He went looking for a home in the swanky Park Cities area, but instead ended up building a house on an empty lot.

“It sounds extravagant, but it was actually more economical than buying a place,” he said. “We spent half for a 5,000 square foot house of what we would have spent for half that size and 60 years old in Newport Beach.”

(Updates with comment from Canyon co-CEO in fifth paragraph.)

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

This 29-year-old lives with her mom and daughter in a $1,400 a month rent-stabilized 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan

This 29-year-old lives with her mom and daughter in a $1,400 a month rent-stabilized 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan

(Source: cnbc.com)

Published Fri, Jun 4 2021

Nicolas Vega @ATNICKVEGA

Emma Sadler turned her life around during the pandemic, going from a laid-off service worker with $15,000 in debt to a gainfully employed UX designer with almost no debt, earning $75,000 a year through two jobs.

The 29-year-old single mom, who shared her journey on CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series earlier this year, has been lucky. One big advantage is that she and her 9-year-old daughter have been able to live with Sadler’s mother in the one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side where Sadler grew up.

The rent-stabilized unit, which Sadler has lived in since she was a baby, has been in her family since her dad moved into it in the 1970s. Because rent stabilization laws only allow landlords to raise rents by a small, set amount each year, Sadler’s apartment is much cheaper than comparable homes in the area.

The apartment features a cozy dining nook, as well as a living room and separate kitchen. The walls are decorated all the way up to the high ceilings with Sadler’s dad’s artwork. The prime location also puts Sadler close to both the American Museum of Natural History and Manhattan’s spacious Riverside Park.

The rent costs just $1,400 per month, and Sadler pays $400. (The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City is around $2,500.)

As a part of the arrangement she has made with her mother, Sadler also picks up the food bill for the entire family, spending between $450 and $500 each month on groceries and $150 to $200 on takeout. Heat and hot water are included with the rent, while Sadler’s mother pays the internet and electricity bills.

Sadler also pays about $27 per month for the household’s Hulu, Spotify and Disney Plus memberships, and spends $40 every month on her cell phone bill.

Having three generations living in a one-bedroom apartment can sometimes get cramped, but being able to live with her mom during the pandemic has been a life-saver, money-wise, Sadler says. “If I had to pay [more in rent] I would be paycheck to paycheck,” she explains.

The arrangement also benefits the family in other ways. Sadler’s mother is able to spend more time with her daughter and granddaughter, and Sadler is able to avoid some babysitting costs if she needs to leave the house.

Sadler plans to continue living with her mother for at least another two years while building up her investments and putting money into her high-interest savings account. Her goal is to move out eventually, but hasn’t decided yet if she wants to rent or buy.

Sadler’s prime location has also helped her stay active with her daughter without breaking the bank. “The great thing about living in New York City is that there are a lot of free things that you can do with your kids, including going to the park and just taking walks from place to place,” she says.

Pandemic drove small businesses online — and they're staying

(Source: axios.com)

Jun 4, 2021 

Kim Hart, Sara Fischer

When the pandemic forced cities to shut down, millions of businesses moved their operations online — a shift that is having lasting impacts on hiring, real estate and the way we buy goods and services.

Why it matters: Small businesses are the engines of the economy. While many did not survive the last 15 months, new businesses have popped up and found ways to find customers in the new, all-online-all-the-time environment.

By the numbers: Tech giants say they saw massive growth in online adoption by small businesses during the pandemic.

• Stripe CEO Patrick Collison tweeted Thursday that "more businesses launched on Stripe since the start of 2020 than did in the rest of Stripe's history before then." For reference, Stripe launched in 2009.
  
  
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in April that the company now has more than 200 million businesses that use its free services — more than double since 2019 — and that more than 1 million businesses have set up shops on its platform.
  
  
• Etsy: The number of active sellers on Etsy soared from 2.7 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in 2020, the company said in May.
  
  
• GoDaddy: The world's largest internet domain registrar, GoDaddy said last year it added 1.4 million net customers — nearly double the amount it added in 2019.
  
  
• Other firms, including Snapchat, say ad revenues have increased dramatically thanks to more small businesses buying self-serve ads.

Be smart: While most people think of the pandemic's digital revolution in terms of e-commerce, the services sector has perhaps experienced the most fundamental changes during COVID.

• New products and tools from tech platforms have made it much easier for people to obtain services online, like doctor's visits or fitness classes.
  
  
• "We can see in our dataset that services businesses are doing the best right now (digitally) and stores are starting to open," GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani told Fox Business last month.

The big picture: The digital small business boom has been a great opportunity for tech giants to prove their value to society while facing record regulatory scrutiny.

• Google, Facebook and others have spent millions on advertising touting ways they've helped small businesses survive during the pandemic — and helping the overall economy to recover.

Between the lines: The digitization of small businesses wasn't all positive. As companies moved their presence online, many closed up their brick-and-mortar shops, leaving empty storefronts in shopping centers and main streets.

• The workforce needed for all-digital companies is different than what's needed for an office or in-person retail store.
• A recent Facebook survey of more than 30,000 small businesses showed that nearly a third of small- and medium-sized businesses have had to lay off workers as a result of COVID-19. Half say they don't plan to rehire employees in the next six months.

The bottom line: "Overall rate of migration to the internet economy is hard to overstate," Collison noted.

What 110 Months of Price Gains Is Doing to the Housing Market

What 110 Months of Price Gains Is Doing to the Housing Market

(Source: millionacres.com)

Jun 02, 2021 by Aly J. Yale

Home prices have been rising steadily for years -- over nine of them, in fact. And now, the nation’s median home price clocks in at a jaw-dropping $341,600, up 19% from April 2020 and the highest point on record.

The steep increases have had sweeping effects on the market, sidelining hopeful homebuyers, reducing overall affordability, and sending average loan balances upward. For those who already own properties, the hikes have been a boon -- both to selling ROIs and equity gains.

What’s more? Those price gains aren’t slowing anytime soon. According to Freddie Mac’s forecast, home prices will rise 6.6% this year and another 4.4% next year.

Are you planning on making some real estate moves this year? Here’s what these continued price gains mean for the market:

Existing home sales are declining (at least monthly)

At this point, some buyers have been priced out, and others are simply unable to find an affordable property in such a low-supply market. However, you slice it, though, existing home sales are down, at least month over month.

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales fell 2.7% between March and April. It was the third month-over-month decline in a row.

To be fair, sales are still up over last year-- by 20% -- but remember, one year ago was just the start of the pandemic. Home sales were in quite the lull at this time (during the first week of April, purchase loan applications were down 33%).

Overall affordability is down

Mortgage rates are still historically low. Just this week, rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans slipped below 3% again, hitting 2.95%, according to Freddie Mac.

Unfortunately, they’re not enough to offset such steep price increases. In fact, according to the recent Real House Price Index from First American, housing affordability fell for the first time in two years this March. Overall consumer house-buying power is down 2.5%, and “real” house prices — which take into account home prices, incomes, and mortgage rates — are 4.2% more expensive than in February.

Average loan balances are rising

Naturally, as home prices rise, homebuyers need to borrow more to purchase a house. This is wildly apparent in the latest data from Mortgage Bankers Association, which has the average new purchase loan balance sitting at a whopping $411,400. It’s the highest average in months, according to Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president of economic and industry forecasting.

Equity is hitting all-time highs

Property owners are the real winners these days. As prices rise, home equity levels have skyrocketed. According to ATTOM Data Solutions, nearly 18 million residential properties are currently equity-rich, meaning the loans that secure them are 50% or less of the home’s value. This amounts to about 32% of all homes, up from 30.2% in Q4 2020 and 26.5% at the start of 2020.

"It continues to be a great time to be a homeowner most everywhere in the country," said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. "The ongoing price spikes we’re seeing help to cut down the number of seriously underwater properties and boost the level of equity-rich properties."

Sellers are making serious profits

The average home seller is making a profit margin of 34% these days. That’s up from 31% a year ago and amounts to about $70,000 per sale.

In some areas, profit margins are even higher. In Knoxville, Tennessee, for example, sellers are making a whopping 122.1% on their homes. In nearby Nashville, it’s 92.1%.

Only a mere 18 out of the 149 biggest metros saw seller profit margins drop over the year.

The bottom line

As you can see, rising home prices are having a widespread impact -- on buyers, sellers, and investors. Check out our latest real estate trends report to learn more about what’s going on in the housing market.