Ant Group Explains What its 100m per Day ‘Digital Assets’ Uploads Are
Alibaba affiliate Ant Group has revealed details about the nature of the 100 million+ “digital assets” it said are uploaded onto its AntChain blockchain network “every day.”
As reported, the Ant Group earlier this week announced that it has launched AntChain, calling it a “new technology brand for the Ant Group’s blockchain-based solutions.”
The company claimed that it “now has the largest productivity blockchain platform in China, with the ability to process and support one billion user accounts and one billion transactions every day.”
Cryptonews.com asked the Ant Group to clarify what these digital assets were, and the Chinese company responded, explaining via email,
“Digital assets are things like transaction records, shipping information, invoices, copyright certificates and so on. They are typically uploaded by companies using AntChain.”
The company added that in the case of shipping-related firms using the platform, multiple “digital assets” can be uploaded to use the platform to enable them to conduct faster and more effective transactions.
The firm stated that shipping companies, logistic sub-contractors as well as last-mile delivery vendors can all upload their records onto the AntChain network, so that each participant can know the status of shipping assignment without having to verify through traditional means, such as making a phone call or sending a fax.
The company also explained that its solution is finding a home in the world of trade and supply chain financing.
In the case of a supplier who “receives a receipt after sending a batch of components to a client factory,” the company noted that “usually the factory won't pay immediately but will pay in a few months’ time.”
Instead, the company stated,
“The supplier can then take the receipt to a bank and ask for a loan. However, traditionally it's very complicated and costly for the bank to verify if the receipt is real or not, but if the supplier, factory and the bank all use AntChain then the moment the factory issues the receipt (which represents a certain amount of account receivable), the bank will know instantaneously that it’s real and can then automatically assign a credit line based on the receipt for the supplier.”
The process of creating digital assets is completed, said Ant Group, when “the supplier can then use the credit line to purchase additional raw materials if another factory places a new order. In this case, every time the upload of a receipt happens, it is considered a digital asset.”
The Ant Group has made no secret of its fast-growing blockchain plans. Earlier this month, media outlets in China reported that its Ant Blockchain subsidiary was planning to build up a talent pool of blockchain specialists from some of the top tech universities in the world to last it “the next 20 years.”
The company is famously the operator of the Alipay e-pay solution, which together with Tencent-run WeChat Pay, has cornered around 15% of the Chinese payments market.
Alibaba affiliate Ant Group has revealed details about the nature of the 100 million+ “digital assets” it said are uploaded onto its AntChain blockchain network “every day.”
As reported, the Ant Group earlier this week announced that it has launched AntChain, calling it a “new technology brand for the Ant Group’s blockchain-based solutions.”
The company claimed that it “now has the largest productivity blockchain platform in China, with the ability to process and support one billion user accounts and one billion transactions every day.”
Cryptonews.com asked the Ant Group to clarify what these digital assets were, and the Chinese company responded, explaining via email,
“Digital assets are things like transaction records, shipping information, invoices, copyright certificates and so on. They are typically uploaded by companies using AntChain.”
The company added that in the case of shipping-related firms using the platform, multiple “digital assets” can be uploaded to use the platform to enable them to conduct faster and more effective transactions.
The firm stated that shipping companies, logistic sub-contractors as well as last-mile delivery vendors can all upload their records onto the AntChain network, so that each participant can know the status of shipping assignment without having to verify through traditional means, such as making a phone call or sending a fax.
The company also explained that its solution is finding a home in the world of trade and supply chain financing.
In the case of a supplier who “receives a receipt after sending a batch of components to a client factory,” the company noted that “usually the factory won't pay immediately but will pay in a few months’ time.”
Instead, the company stated,
“The supplier can then take the receipt to a bank and ask for a loan. However, traditionally it's very complicated and costly for the bank to verify if the receipt is real or not, but if the supplier, factory and the bank all use AntChain then the moment the factory issues the receipt (which represents a certain amount of account receivable), the bank will know instantaneously that it’s real and can then automatically assign a credit line based on the receipt for the supplier.”
The process of creating digital assets is completed, said Ant Group, when “the supplier can then use the credit line to purchase additional raw materials if another factory places a new order. In this case, every time the upload of a receipt happens, it is considered a digital asset.”
The Ant Group has made no secret of its fast-growing blockchain plans. Earlier this month, media outlets in China reported that its Ant Blockchain subsidiary was planning to build up a talent pool of blockchain specialists from some of the top tech universities in the world to last it “the next 20 years.”
The company is famously the operator of the Alipay e-pay solution, which together with Tencent-run WeChat Pay, has cornered around 15% of the Chinese payments market.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Set to Drop for the First Time in Two Months
The short string of very high highs in Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty is to be broken today according to the current estimates, with miners about to see a difficulty drop instead.
Per the current estimations by mining pool BTC.com, the difficulty will decrease by more than 3% to 16.8 T.
This would be the first drop since early June, and the smallest one since late February.
As reported, the months of June and July - or the last three difficulty adjustments in BTC mining difficulty, the measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards - have seen two major levels surpassed.
To be precise, one - the 16 T level - was surpassed yet again, but in such a way that it was completely skipped over, with the difficulty jumping from 15.78 T and hitting a new all-time high of 17.35 T two weeks ago.
The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is adjusted every two weeks (every 2016 blocks, to be precise) to maintain the normal 10-minute block time. Rising to more than 12 minutes on July 17, it is currently around 9 minutes, according to BitInfoCharts.com.
Following a drop in mid-July hashrate, or the computational power of the network, was on a rise until yesterday - going up 8.6% in five days. It's less than 2% lower than it was during the previous adjustment.
During the previous adjustment, the situation was somewhat different. Earlier this month, Tim Rainey, Chief Financial Officer of Greenidge Generation, New York-based fully compliant cryptocurrency mine-power plant hybrid, said that the reason behind the then rising hashrate while the market dropped is mainly newer-generation machines coming online from pre-orders, which were placed a few months ago.
At the same time, CEO of BTC.TOP, a Bitcoin mining pool and mining services provider, Jiang Zhuoer, estimated hat no significant percentage of mining machines would be forced to shut down inside China, which accounts for approximately 70% of the total hashrate.
Since then, there have been reports of devastating flooding coming out of the country, as well as the world's largest hydropower station, the Three Gorges Dam, being under major stress. However, industry observers said that this seems not to have had an impact on the miners in the country, though they noted that very little information of their exact state is available.
As long as hashrate remains above c. 110 EH/s with the BTC price of c. USD 9,300, "the best we can do is keep an eye on block times and speculate that Bitcoin mining isn't being impacted significantly," Daniel Frumkin, researcher at Braiins, the company behind Slush Pool and the Stratum V2 protocol for pooled mining, told Cryptonews.com last week.
The short string of very high highs in Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty is to be broken today according to the current estimates, with miners about to see a difficulty drop instead.
Per the current estimations by mining pool BTC.com, the difficulty will decrease by more than 3% to 16.8 T.
This would be the first drop since early June, and the smallest one since late February.
As reported, the months of June and July - or the last three difficulty adjustments in BTC mining difficulty, the measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards - have seen two major levels surpassed.
To be precise, one - the 16 T level - was surpassed yet again, but in such a way that it was completely skipped over, with the difficulty jumping from 15.78 T and hitting a new all-time high of 17.35 T two weeks ago.
The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is adjusted every two weeks (every 2016 blocks, to be precise) to maintain the normal 10-minute block time. Rising to more than 12 minutes on July 17, it is currently around 9 minutes, according to BitInfoCharts.com.
Following a drop in mid-July hashrate, or the computational power of the network, was on a rise until yesterday - going up 8.6% in five days. It's less than 2% lower than it was during the previous adjustment.
During the previous adjustment, the situation was somewhat different. Earlier this month, Tim Rainey, Chief Financial Officer of Greenidge Generation, New York-based fully compliant cryptocurrency mine-power plant hybrid, said that the reason behind the then rising hashrate while the market dropped is mainly newer-generation machines coming online from pre-orders, which were placed a few months ago.
At the same time, CEO of BTC.TOP, a Bitcoin mining pool and mining services provider, Jiang Zhuoer, estimated hat no significant percentage of mining machines would be forced to shut down inside China, which accounts for approximately 70% of the total hashrate.
Since then, there have been reports of devastating flooding coming out of the country, as well as the world's largest hydropower station, the Three Gorges Dam, being under major stress. However, industry observers said that this seems not to have had an impact on the miners in the country, though they noted that very little information of their exact state is available.
As long as hashrate remains above c. 110 EH/s with the BTC price of c. USD 9,300, "the best we can do is keep an eye on block times and speculate that Bitcoin mining isn't being impacted significantly," Daniel Frumkin, researcher at Braiins, the company behind Slush Pool and the Stratum V2 protocol for pooled mining, told Cryptonews.com last week.
Dovish Fed Remarks Send a Message to Bitcoin Holders Too
With the US Federal Reserve (Fed)’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) signaling continued economic stimulus, crypto holders may be in for another run higher as it seems that the traditional market just got what it wanted - US stocks rose, dollar fell on dovish Fed remarks. (Updated at 18:30 UTC: updates in bold.)
The Fed said that it "is committed to using its full range of tools to support the US economy in this challenging time" and it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent.
"The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals," it said.
Also, the Fed said that in order to support the flow of credit to households and businesses, over coming months it will increase its holdings of Treasury securities and agency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities at least at the current pace. The central bank expects that this will sustain smooth market functioning and foster "effective transmission of monetary policy to broader financial conditions." In addition, the Open Market Desk will continue to offer large-scale overnight and term repurchase agreement operations.
While the Fed was not expected to announce any major changes to its monetary policy today, the meeting was still seen as important for the traditional financial markets as players were largely expected a further easing of monetary policy to help markets – and in turn the larger economy – through the COVID-19-triggered downturn.
And with the traditional financial markets more or less demanding monetary policy support – which also may include ‘money printing’ – bitcoin (BTC) holders may also have something to look forward to as excess liquidity finds its way to scarce assets such as bitcoin and gold.
It is important for the Fed to sound “very dovish” today, Priya Misra, global head of rates strategy at TD Securities told the Financial Times, adding “the Fed knows that the market is going into this meeting with expectations. They need to feed it with something.”
“Dovish” might mean an easy monetary policy from the central bank, something which in theory should benefit hard assets. Conversely, a hawkish central bank focuses on limiting the supply of currency, which would typically strengthen fiat currencies and weaken hard assets like gold, silver, and bitcoin.
A similar expectation was also voiced by Ethan Harris, head of global economic research at Bank of America, who told Marketwatch that certain new tools may also be on the table for the Fed, and that the most likely action would be to publicly pledge to keep interest rates at zero until inflation reaches or moves above its 2% target.
“I think there is a good chance that it comes at some point, either in the fall if the economy doesn’t pick up, or some point down the road,” Harris was quoted as saying. “Yield-curve control is much easier than trying to fiddle around with quantitive easing], and is the one macro tool that would show a significant step forward,” he added.
Further, it was also expected that Fed Chairman Powell could use the occasion today to put pressure on members of the US Congress to get them to pass a new round of stimulus checks to US residents.
According to the Financial Times, Democrats in the US House of Representatives have already passed a bill that would secure jobless benefits of USD 600 per week to Americans, while Republicans in the Senate are considering a USD 200 per week plan. An agreement between the two sides would lead to checks being sent out, with some of the money possibly finding its way into bitcoin and other cryptoassets.
With the US Federal Reserve (Fed)’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) signaling continued economic stimulus, crypto holders may be in for another run higher as it seems that the traditional market just got what it wanted - US stocks rose, dollar fell on dovish Fed remarks. (Updated at 18:30 UTC: updates in bold.)
The Fed said that it "is committed to using its full range of tools to support the US economy in this challenging time" and it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent.
"The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals," it said.
Also, the Fed said that in order to support the flow of credit to households and businesses, over coming months it will increase its holdings of Treasury securities and agency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities at least at the current pace. The central bank expects that this will sustain smooth market functioning and foster "effective transmission of monetary policy to broader financial conditions." In addition, the Open Market Desk will continue to offer large-scale overnight and term repurchase agreement operations.
While the Fed was not expected to announce any major changes to its monetary policy today, the meeting was still seen as important for the traditional financial markets as players were largely expected a further easing of monetary policy to help markets – and in turn the larger economy – through the COVID-19-triggered downturn.
And with the traditional financial markets more or less demanding monetary policy support – which also may include ‘money printing’ – bitcoin (BTC) holders may also have something to look forward to as excess liquidity finds its way to scarce assets such as bitcoin and gold.
It is important for the Fed to sound “very dovish” today, Priya Misra, global head of rates strategy at TD Securities told the Financial Times, adding “the Fed knows that the market is going into this meeting with expectations. They need to feed it with something.”
“Dovish” might mean an easy monetary policy from the central bank, something which in theory should benefit hard assets. Conversely, a hawkish central bank focuses on limiting the supply of currency, which would typically strengthen fiat currencies and weaken hard assets like gold, silver, and bitcoin.
A similar expectation was also voiced by Ethan Harris, head of global economic research at Bank of America, who told Marketwatch that certain new tools may also be on the table for the Fed, and that the most likely action would be to publicly pledge to keep interest rates at zero until inflation reaches or moves above its 2% target.
“I think there is a good chance that it comes at some point, either in the fall if the economy doesn’t pick up, or some point down the road,” Harris was quoted as saying. “Yield-curve control is much easier than trying to fiddle around with quantitive easing], and is the one macro tool that would show a significant step forward,” he added.
Further, it was also expected that Fed Chairman Powell could use the occasion today to put pressure on members of the US Congress to get them to pass a new round of stimulus checks to US residents.
According to the Financial Times, Democrats in the US House of Representatives have already passed a bill that would secure jobless benefits of USD 600 per week to Americans, while Republicans in the Senate are considering a USD 200 per week plan. An agreement between the two sides would lead to checks being sent out, with some of the money possibly finding its way into bitcoin and other cryptoassets.
Russian Roulette: Central Bank Calls Crypto Investment ‘Gambling’
The crypto-skeptic Russian Central Bank (CB) has taken another swipe at crypto – equating investment in digital tokens to “playing roulette” or investing in “pyramid schemes.” Meanwhile, some experts have suggested that new Russian “suspicious funds” seizure laws could be applied to crypto holdings.
In a YouTube video released by the CB, the bank’s First Deputy Governor Sergey Shvetsov, stated,
“The CB, as a financial regulator, holds the position that the acquisition of cryptocurrencies does not represent an investment. It is more like a financial pyramid or a game of roulette. Gambling of this sort should not apply to the financial market and citizens buying cryptocurrencies should not be encouraged either by the state or by financial intermediaries.”
He also warned that tokens “are also used to circumvent anti-money laundering regulations.”
He added,
“We certainly do not support citizens’ investments in this criminal sector.”
The comments appear to show that the CB will attempt to hold no prisoners as it faces off against pro-crypto and pro-business advocates in the weeks ahead. An industry insider has told Cryptonews.com that the government is hoping to create a law governing crypto investment in the coming months. Doing so will involve striking a compromise between the CB and the pro-industry forces.
Elsewhere, RBC reported that crypto owners could come under threat from a new legal proposal from the nation’s Ministry of Finance.
The ministry wants to give law enforcement agencies the power to confiscate funds of citizens from affect owners of “capital” who cannot prove the legality of their funds’ acquisition. Seized funds will be transferred to the national pension fund, if the ministry gets its way.
RBC quotes Mikhail Uspensky, a partner at Taxology and a teacher at the Moscow Digital School, as stating that the measures would likely be applicable to bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptoassets. However, he added that attempts to police the nation’s crypto funds thus would be beset with technical difficulties that the authorities would likely struggle to overcome.
The crypto-skeptic Russian Central Bank (CB) has taken another swipe at crypto – equating investment in digital tokens to “playing roulette” or investing in “pyramid schemes.” Meanwhile, some experts have suggested that new Russian “suspicious funds” seizure laws could be applied to crypto holdings.
In a YouTube video released by the CB, the bank’s First Deputy Governor Sergey Shvetsov, stated,
“The CB, as a financial regulator, holds the position that the acquisition of cryptocurrencies does not represent an investment. It is more like a financial pyramid or a game of roulette. Gambling of this sort should not apply to the financial market and citizens buying cryptocurrencies should not be encouraged either by the state or by financial intermediaries.”
He also warned that tokens “are also used to circumvent anti-money laundering regulations.”
He added,
“We certainly do not support citizens’ investments in this criminal sector.”
The comments appear to show that the CB will attempt to hold no prisoners as it faces off against pro-crypto and pro-business advocates in the weeks ahead. An industry insider has told Cryptonews.com that the government is hoping to create a law governing crypto investment in the coming months. Doing so will involve striking a compromise between the CB and the pro-industry forces.
Elsewhere, RBC reported that crypto owners could come under threat from a new legal proposal from the nation’s Ministry of Finance.
The ministry wants to give law enforcement agencies the power to confiscate funds of citizens from affect owners of “capital” who cannot prove the legality of their funds’ acquisition. Seized funds will be transferred to the national pension fund, if the ministry gets its way.
RBC quotes Mikhail Uspensky, a partner at Taxology and a teacher at the Moscow Digital School, as stating that the measures would likely be applicable to bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptoassets. However, he added that attempts to police the nation’s crypto funds thus would be beset with technical difficulties that the authorities would likely struggle to overcome.
MXC Global Joins Hands With MenaPay To Expand Turkish Market Operations
Serving the community as a highly acclaimed digital trading platform, MXC Global has announced its strategic collaboration with MenaPay, a blockchain-powered mobile payment solution. The integration will aid the MXC network to proliferate deeper into the Turkish and Islamic marketspaces with necessary support from the MenaPay community.
Hello, Turkey#MXCExchange MXC has reached strategic cooperation with @menapayio, a compliance payment platform. #MenaPay will provide compliance legal currency channel for MXC, and as a channel agent, assist MXC to focus on developing markets in Turkey and Islamic countries. pic.twitter.com/eSTn8hHG1j
— MXC Exchange (@MXC\Exchange) July 30, 2020
MenaPay shines as the first, fully supported, and blockchain-leveraged non-bank mobile payment application and Super Application, which runs its operations in the MENA region. This geographical space depicts eighteen countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The total population of the region is nearly 441 million and the financial management here is carried in accordance to the Islamic Finance rules and regulations.
Henry Wu stated, VP, MXC Group,
Henry Wu stated
With Turkey fast evolving as the third biggest market for cryptocurrency trading operations, all the big crypto firms are hustling hard to take advantage of this situation. The MXC Global team is striving to expand the Turkish market with crucial collaborations and partnerships with market leaders. On March 17, MXC Global became an active member of the Blockchain Turkey Platform (BCTR). The firm has taken several crucial steps to strengthen the hold in Turkey. The Turkish language has been included in the service page of the company, and the firm is working to create its Turkish community for better access to resources and opportunities in the country.
Çağla Gül Şenkardeş quoted, CEO, MenaPay,
Çağla Gül Şenkardeş quoted
BCTR works as an independent, non-profit organization designed with support from the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV). The platform aspires to lay the foundation of a system involving local and international participation from a wide range of sectors like the public sector, universities, science, business, and technology academics. It boasts of a strong customer base, which includes one of Turkey’s biggest bank AKBank and Turkey-based Beilbim, the Electronic Money and Payment Services firm.
The MXC Global network has entered to various important partnerships with leading portals. In January, it partnered with payment processing solution Banxa and launched MX/VND trading pair by teaming up with Bvnex, Vietnam-based compliance solution.
Serving the community as a highly acclaimed digital trading platform, MXC Global has announced its strategic collaboration with MenaPay, a blockchain-powered mobile payment solution. The integration will aid the MXC network to proliferate deeper into the Turkish and Islamic marketspaces with necessary support from the MenaPay community.
Hello, Turkey#MXCExchange MXC has reached strategic cooperation with @menapayio, a compliance payment platform. #MenaPay will provide compliance legal currency channel for MXC, and as a channel agent, assist MXC to focus on developing markets in Turkey and Islamic countries. pic.twitter.com/eSTn8hHG1j
— MXC Exchange (@MXC\Exchange) July 30, 2020
MenaPay shines as the first, fully supported, and blockchain-leveraged non-bank mobile payment application and Super Application, which runs its operations in the MENA region. This geographical space depicts eighteen countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The total population of the region is nearly 441 million and the financial management here is carried in accordance to the Islamic Finance rules and regulations.
Henry Wu stated, VP, MXC Group,
Henry Wu stated
With Turkey fast evolving as the third biggest market for cryptocurrency trading operations, all the big crypto firms are hustling hard to take advantage of this situation. The MXC Global team is striving to expand the Turkish market with crucial collaborations and partnerships with market leaders. On March 17, MXC Global became an active member of the Blockchain Turkey Platform (BCTR). The firm has taken several crucial steps to strengthen the hold in Turkey. The Turkish language has been included in the service page of the company, and the firm is working to create its Turkish community for better access to resources and opportunities in the country.
Çağla Gül Şenkardeş quoted, CEO, MenaPay,
Çağla Gül Şenkardeş quoted
BCTR works as an independent, non-profit organization designed with support from the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV). The platform aspires to lay the foundation of a system involving local and international participation from a wide range of sectors like the public sector, universities, science, business, and technology academics. It boasts of a strong customer base, which includes one of Turkey’s biggest bank AKBank and Turkey-based Beilbim, the Electronic Money and Payment Services firm.
The MXC Global network has entered to various important partnerships with leading portals. In January, it partnered with payment processing solution Banxa and launched MX/VND trading pair by teaming up with Bvnex, Vietnam-based compliance solution.
Bitcoin to Gold Correlation Rises, Physical Metal Buyers Pay Premium
After seeing a decline for more than 3 months, the correlation between bitcoin (BTC) and gold is once again on the rise, with the sharpest increase seen in late July as gold, silver, and bitcoin have all soared higher in price. At the same time, investors are forced to pay premium over the spot prices for access to physical bullion.
According to data from Coin Metrics, the correlation between bitcoin, often referred to as digital gold, and the yellow metal is now back in positive territory, hovering around levels not seen since late April this year, after dipping into negative territory in June.
The news of an increasing correlation between the traditional safe-haven metals and bitcoin also comes as the US Mint, which produces investment-grade gold & silver coins as well as circulating US coinage, last week announced that they have had to reduce the number of employees working per shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
And according to a Bloomberg report from this week, citing an internal document from the Mint, the reduction in on-site staff has also forced the government-owned entity to reduce the number of gold and silver bullion coins it supplies to distributors.
The document, which was reportedly presented to authorized purchasers of US Mint bullion coins, said that the Mint’s West Point production facility is no longer able to produce gold and silver coins at the same time, meaning it must choose one metal over another, the report said.
The news of a reduction in the supply of physical gold and silver from the US Mint comes at a time when the physical precious metals market is seeing high demand from investors, who are already forced to pay premiums over the spot prices for access to physical bullion.
Judging from prices on APMEX, one of the largest online bullion dealers in the US, buyers of the US Mint’s American Eagle gold coin must now fork out a minimum of USD 2,115 per ounce, approximately 7.5% over the current spot price. Meanwhile, American Silver Eagles retails for USD 34.8 per ounce for the largest quantities, a whopping 47% above spot.
After seeing a decline for more than 3 months, the correlation between bitcoin (BTC) and gold is once again on the rise, with the sharpest increase seen in late July as gold, silver, and bitcoin have all soared higher in price. At the same time, investors are forced to pay premium over the spot prices for access to physical bullion.
According to data from Coin Metrics, the correlation between bitcoin, often referred to as digital gold, and the yellow metal is now back in positive territory, hovering around levels not seen since late April this year, after dipping into negative territory in June.
The news of an increasing correlation between the traditional safe-haven metals and bitcoin also comes as the US Mint, which produces investment-grade gold & silver coins as well as circulating US coinage, last week announced that they have had to reduce the number of employees working per shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
And according to a Bloomberg report from this week, citing an internal document from the Mint, the reduction in on-site staff has also forced the government-owned entity to reduce the number of gold and silver bullion coins it supplies to distributors.
The document, which was reportedly presented to authorized purchasers of US Mint bullion coins, said that the Mint’s West Point production facility is no longer able to produce gold and silver coins at the same time, meaning it must choose one metal over another, the report said.
The news of a reduction in the supply of physical gold and silver from the US Mint comes at a time when the physical precious metals market is seeing high demand from investors, who are already forced to pay premiums over the spot prices for access to physical bullion.
Judging from prices on APMEX, one of the largest online bullion dealers in the US, buyers of the US Mint’s American Eagle gold coin must now fork out a minimum of USD 2,115 per ounce, approximately 7.5% over the current spot price. Meanwhile, American Silver Eagles retails for USD 34.8 per ounce for the largest quantities, a whopping 47% above spot.
10Ks, 11Ks, Launching, Soaring and 20 Crypto Jokes
This week, the Cryptoverse saw BTC finally going over USD 10,000, and hitting USD 11,000 along the way, while BTC mining difficulty dropped. Also, XRP soared, LEND jumped, Solana rallied as FTX used its blockchain a basis for a new ecosystem project, Maker became the first DeFi protocol to reach USD 1 billion in total value locked, and there was talk again of litecoin leading bitcoin. Ethereum started training ETH 2.0 validators, and Augur launched its second iteration. And then we learned Ledger suffered a data breach.
In other crypto news: Philippines central bank may decide on CBDC issuance soon, the Fed sent a message to BTC holders too, four major South Korean banks will contribute to a blockchain-powered DeFi solution for foreign currency exchange rates, and SBI Holdings unveiled a digital tokens issuance platform on the Corda blockchain. Meanwhile, controversial Zeus Capital was hard at work trying to short LINK, while Chinese police arrested 27 suspects in the PlusToken scam. BTC.TOP’s B.TOP started offering "joint mining", and following major losses, Tetras Capital reportedly closed its doors.
Let’s laugh at some jokes now.
This week, the Cryptoverse saw BTC finally going over USD 10,000, and hitting USD 11,000 along the way, while BTC mining difficulty dropped. Also, XRP soared, LEND jumped, Solana rallied as FTX used its blockchain a basis for a new ecosystem project, Maker became the first DeFi protocol to reach USD 1 billion in total value locked, and there was talk again of litecoin leading bitcoin. Ethereum started training ETH 2.0 validators, and Augur launched its second iteration. And then we learned Ledger suffered a data breach.
In other crypto news: Philippines central bank may decide on CBDC issuance soon, the Fed sent a message to BTC holders too, four major South Korean banks will contribute to a blockchain-powered DeFi solution for foreign currency exchange rates, and SBI Holdings unveiled a digital tokens issuance platform on the Corda blockchain. Meanwhile, controversial Zeus Capital was hard at work trying to short LINK, while Chinese police arrested 27 suspects in the PlusToken scam. BTC.TOP’s B.TOP started offering "joint mining", and following major losses, Tetras Capital reportedly closed its doors.
Let’s laugh at some jokes now.
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❓Who We Are❓
Breezecoin is a new blockchain company targeting the real estate market. We are currently listed on Bithumb Global, ProBit, CoinTiger, Sistemkoin, CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko Markets.
Coin holders benefit from monthly interest payments.
We are offering a new benefit for those who refer a friend to us:
💥 In the Affiliate program, you can earn without any INVESTMENT TERMS!
📨 All you need is to share your affiliate referral link with your friends!
📌Affiliate Packages Monthly Alternative Return Table
💰5000 - 5%
💰2500 - 4,5%
💰1000 - 4%
💰500 - 3,5%
💰250 - 3%
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👉Register to our backoffice by clicking on the link below until 8th of August, and earn extra 10%; in total - 20% bonus per refer!
👉e.g. If you will make only 2 sales per week, you will earn 1000 USD sacrificing just a little amount of your spare time.
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New Asian Crypto Behemoth Blessed But Merger Delayed
Japanese regulators have given their approval to a proposed merger between chat app giant Line and the Softbank-backed Yahoo Japan.
Per multiple media outlets, including Fn News, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the government body responsible for regulating economic competition in the country, granted permission for the deal to go ahead.
However, the world may have to wait a little longer before the new tech giant makes its debut on the scene. Digital Today reported that although the operators had hoped to complete the merger at the end of September this year, it now looks like the firms will complete the deal on February 28 as a result of coronavirus pandemic-related delays.
Both firms have numerous crypto connections – and the deal could potentially create a new Asian crypto behemoth.
Line was founded by Naver, South Korea’s biggest search engine operator. It has since spun off into a separate company, headquartered in Japan – where it claims to have upwards of 81 million monthly active users, in addition to a large user base in Southeast Asia. However, Naver still retains a major interest in Line, with many South Korean media outlets referring to it as a “Naver subsidiary.”
Line operates a number of crypto exchanges, including the licensed Bitmax trading platform in Japan, which links directly to the Line chat app. It also operates the Bitbox exchange via a Singapore-based subsidiary.
Naver is also a major investor in blockchain-related business and blockchain gaming.
Yahoo Japan, meanwhile, is a 40% shareholder in the Taotao crypto exchange, which it has linked to the accounts of Yahoo Japan’s 50 million or so active account holders.
Yahoo Japan, which is 48% owned by Softbank, also operates PayPay, an e-pay platform that uses Ripple’s MoneyTap solution.
Also, it has been a momentous day for Line, which also today won regulatory permission to list its native link (LN) token on Bitmax. LN pairings will be added to Bitmax on August 6.
Japanese regulators have given their approval to a proposed merger between chat app giant Line and the Softbank-backed Yahoo Japan.
Per multiple media outlets, including Fn News, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the government body responsible for regulating economic competition in the country, granted permission for the deal to go ahead.
However, the world may have to wait a little longer before the new tech giant makes its debut on the scene. Digital Today reported that although the operators had hoped to complete the merger at the end of September this year, it now looks like the firms will complete the deal on February 28 as a result of coronavirus pandemic-related delays.
Both firms have numerous crypto connections – and the deal could potentially create a new Asian crypto behemoth.
Line was founded by Naver, South Korea’s biggest search engine operator. It has since spun off into a separate company, headquartered in Japan – where it claims to have upwards of 81 million monthly active users, in addition to a large user base in Southeast Asia. However, Naver still retains a major interest in Line, with many South Korean media outlets referring to it as a “Naver subsidiary.”
Line operates a number of crypto exchanges, including the licensed Bitmax trading platform in Japan, which links directly to the Line chat app. It also operates the Bitbox exchange via a Singapore-based subsidiary.
Naver is also a major investor in blockchain-related business and blockchain gaming.
Yahoo Japan, meanwhile, is a 40% shareholder in the Taotao crypto exchange, which it has linked to the accounts of Yahoo Japan’s 50 million or so active account holders.
Yahoo Japan, which is 48% owned by Softbank, also operates PayPay, an e-pay platform that uses Ripple’s MoneyTap solution.
Also, it has been a momentous day for Line, which also today won regulatory permission to list its native link (LN) token on Bitmax. LN pairings will be added to Bitmax on August 6.
Bitfinex Steps up Hunt For Its Hackers, Promises USD 400m In Rewards
Major crypto exchange Bitfinex has offered a multi-million dollar reward to anyone who can lead it to the hackers responsible for the the theft of nearly bitcoin (BTC) 120,000 in August 2016 - even to the hackers themselves.
Today's value of the bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex four years ago is around USD 1.34bn.
"The aggregate rewards available under this programme could be worth up to approximately USD 400 million at the current BTC price if all bitcoins are fully recovered," the company said, adding that the hackers themselves will also be rewarded for returning the stolen property.
"We will reward anyone with information that can put us in direct contact with those responsible for the 2016 security breach at Bitfinex. ... The hackers will receive a share of the returned property," Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex said.
The company added that "the bitcoins stolen minus recoveries in 2019 are worth USD 1.344 billion today, with 30 per cent of that amount equal to USD 403,288,427."
The reward will be given once the identity of the hackers is confirmed. These informants will get 5% of the total property recovered or "equivalent funds or assets at current market values." The hackers themselves can get their reward if they return the stolen bitcoin, and their share will be 25%.
"Any payments made to those connecting Bitfinex will work to ensure this can be done securely, thereby protecting the identities of all parties, and Bitfinex reserves the right to impose conditions on any transfers in order to verify claims and ensure a secure process," they added.
On August 2, 2016, hackers made 2,072 unauthorized transactions, representing BTC 119,755 in aggregate. As part of Bitfinex’s recovery plan, they provided BFX tokens to all affected users, with each token representing USD 1 of losses. The investigation into the breach by law enforcement is ongoing.
Major crypto exchange Bitfinex has offered a multi-million dollar reward to anyone who can lead it to the hackers responsible for the the theft of nearly bitcoin (BTC) 120,000 in August 2016 - even to the hackers themselves.
Today's value of the bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex four years ago is around USD 1.34bn.
"The aggregate rewards available under this programme could be worth up to approximately USD 400 million at the current BTC price if all bitcoins are fully recovered," the company said, adding that the hackers themselves will also be rewarded for returning the stolen property.
"We will reward anyone with information that can put us in direct contact with those responsible for the 2016 security breach at Bitfinex. ... The hackers will receive a share of the returned property," Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex said.
The company added that "the bitcoins stolen minus recoveries in 2019 are worth USD 1.344 billion today, with 30 per cent of that amount equal to USD 403,288,427."
The reward will be given once the identity of the hackers is confirmed. These informants will get 5% of the total property recovered or "equivalent funds or assets at current market values." The hackers themselves can get their reward if they return the stolen bitcoin, and their share will be 25%.
"Any payments made to those connecting Bitfinex will work to ensure this can be done securely, thereby protecting the identities of all parties, and Bitfinex reserves the right to impose conditions on any transfers in order to verify claims and ensure a secure process," they added.
On August 2, 2016, hackers made 2,072 unauthorized transactions, representing BTC 119,755 in aggregate. As part of Bitfinex’s recovery plan, they provided BFX tokens to all affected users, with each token representing USD 1 of losses. The investigation into the breach by law enforcement is ongoing.
Grayscale to Bring Crypto Ads to US Homes Amid Economic Crisis
Grayscale, a major crypto asset management firm owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG) , is launching a national ad campaign in the US. It comes at the time of great socio-economic and geo-political uncertainties - which might be turning people's head towards financial and monetary alternatives.
2019 had a Grayscale 'drop gold' campaign, but 2020 is getting an ad campaign to promote crypto.
"Are you ready," asked in a tweet today Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of DCG and Grayscale, moving on to announce that a national ad campaign will be starting next week in the USA. Per Silbert, a TV ad will be shown on CNBC, MSNBC, FOX, and FOX Business. "We're going to brrring crypto to the masses," he added.
What this ad looks like, and what results it will produce, is yet to be seen. What is certain is that an ad promoting cryptoassets is arriving to people's homes, on major television networks, when the world is going through a major health crisis, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which subsequently triggered an economic downturn - both on global and local levels, forcing people to look for a safe haven for their assets.
Marcus Swanepoel, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Luno, is one of many industry insiders who said that this crisis is actually good for bitcoin (BTC).
Julian Sawyer, Gemini's Managing Director for Europe, told Cryptonews.com that recession, a more favourable regulatory view, a better understanding of the technology, and traditional investors turning to crypto are all beneficial for crypto, as people will save more and look to take control over their own finances.
Furthermore, it is the active involvement of the Cryptoverse itself that will help bitcoin skyrocket in these unstable times, Zac Prince, Co-founder of major US-based crypto lending startup BlockFi, told Cryptonews.com earlier this year.
Grayscale, a major crypto asset management firm owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG) , is launching a national ad campaign in the US. It comes at the time of great socio-economic and geo-political uncertainties - which might be turning people's head towards financial and monetary alternatives.
2019 had a Grayscale 'drop gold' campaign, but 2020 is getting an ad campaign to promote crypto.
"Are you ready," asked in a tweet today Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of DCG and Grayscale, moving on to announce that a national ad campaign will be starting next week in the USA. Per Silbert, a TV ad will be shown on CNBC, MSNBC, FOX, and FOX Business. "We're going to brrring crypto to the masses," he added.
What this ad looks like, and what results it will produce, is yet to be seen. What is certain is that an ad promoting cryptoassets is arriving to people's homes, on major television networks, when the world is going through a major health crisis, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which subsequently triggered an economic downturn - both on global and local levels, forcing people to look for a safe haven for their assets.
Marcus Swanepoel, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Luno, is one of many industry insiders who said that this crisis is actually good for bitcoin (BTC).
Julian Sawyer, Gemini's Managing Director for Europe, told Cryptonews.com that recession, a more favourable regulatory view, a better understanding of the technology, and traditional investors turning to crypto are all beneficial for crypto, as people will save more and look to take control over their own finances.
Furthermore, it is the active involvement of the Cryptoverse itself that will help bitcoin skyrocket in these unstable times, Zac Prince, Co-founder of major US-based crypto lending startup BlockFi, told Cryptonews.com earlier this year.
South Korean’s Silicon Valley Turns to Blockchain-powered Pay
Seongnam, a major satellite city on the outskirts of the capital Seoul, South Korea, is set to expand its blockchain-powered payment program with a new digital gift certificate issuance project.
The new platform will make use of an app called Chak, and will be built by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) – now the operator of scores of local stablecoin and blockchain-powered digital gift token projects nationwide.
The firm said its stablecoin and blockchain projects have helped it post record-breaking operating profits this year.
Seongnam is one of the biggest tech cities in Gyeonggi Province – where three major stablecoins are currently going strong. The province’s government has spoken out about the possibility of stepping up its stablecoin initiatives in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – and is even contemplating a universal basic income project that makes use of local stablecoins.
But although the latest project makes use of blockchain technology, it is not a token, per se.
Instead, per Kyunghyang Shinmun, Seongnam authorities said that the digital gift certificates will be issued via the Chak app, but will be able to function without the need for QR codes – using existing credit and debit card reader technology. This, said the authorities, will make it easier for elderly and middle-aged residents to use and understand.
Residents will instead be issued with a PIN that they will need to enter in order to process a payment.
The authorities stated that 45,000 merchants in Seongnam would be able to accept the gift certificates, and claimed that younger residents preferred digital payment methods to paper-based alternatives.
Some 13,837 merchants based in Seongnam would also be able to accept mobile payments using the certificates, they added.
The city has over 1 million residents, and is the home of the Pangyo Tech Valley, an IT complex built to mirror America’s Silicon Valley. The complex houses the headquarters of tech giants like the Kakao Group, software firm AhnLabs, gaming behemoth (and crypto exchange owner) Nexon and two major SK Telecom subsidiaries.
Seongnam, a major satellite city on the outskirts of the capital Seoul, South Korea, is set to expand its blockchain-powered payment program with a new digital gift certificate issuance project.
The new platform will make use of an app called Chak, and will be built by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) – now the operator of scores of local stablecoin and blockchain-powered digital gift token projects nationwide.
The firm said its stablecoin and blockchain projects have helped it post record-breaking operating profits this year.
Seongnam is one of the biggest tech cities in Gyeonggi Province – where three major stablecoins are currently going strong. The province’s government has spoken out about the possibility of stepping up its stablecoin initiatives in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – and is even contemplating a universal basic income project that makes use of local stablecoins.
But although the latest project makes use of blockchain technology, it is not a token, per se.
Instead, per Kyunghyang Shinmun, Seongnam authorities said that the digital gift certificates will be issued via the Chak app, but will be able to function without the need for QR codes – using existing credit and debit card reader technology. This, said the authorities, will make it easier for elderly and middle-aged residents to use and understand.
Residents will instead be issued with a PIN that they will need to enter in order to process a payment.
The authorities stated that 45,000 merchants in Seongnam would be able to accept the gift certificates, and claimed that younger residents preferred digital payment methods to paper-based alternatives.
Some 13,837 merchants based in Seongnam would also be able to accept mobile payments using the certificates, they added.
The city has over 1 million residents, and is the home of the Pangyo Tech Valley, an IT complex built to mirror America’s Silicon Valley. The complex houses the headquarters of tech giants like the Kakao Group, software firm AhnLabs, gaming behemoth (and crypto exchange owner) Nexon and two major SK Telecom subsidiaries.
Chinese Province Says It Will Nurture 20 Blockchain Companies by 2022
Hebei Province, China, has embarked on an ambitious three-year blockchain development plan – and has pledged to foster 20 “leading” blockchain firms by 2022.
Per Shanghai Securities News, the plans were unveiled by the IT arm of the Hebei Communist Party of China Provincial Committee Secretary.
The authority stated that its goals for the end of 2022 were the following:
-establish 20 “leading” blockchain-related firms
-foster a number of blockchain apps and/or products
-create 1-3 nationally recognized blockchain brands
-create three blockchain parks
The province also announced a regional research push, focusing on blockchain-related R&D.
It also announced its intention to collaborate with innovators based elsewhere in the country, co-build a blockchain industry technology innovation alliance – and work with overseas-based innovators. The province also wants local firms to begin creating blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) offerings.
The local government said that it would look to support progress by implementing pro-business policies and provide financial support.
The move follows similar pledges from other provinces and major cities made earlier this year. Guizhou and Hunan provinces made their own pledges last month, with the former vowing to nurture some 100 locally bases blockchain firms by 2022. Hunan said it will construct five blockchain-specific tech parks by 2022.
Beijing, meanwhile, has promised to create a blockchain technology talent training authority in the same time period, as well as a city-run fund that will invest in promising blockchain firms.
Hebei Province, China, has embarked on an ambitious three-year blockchain development plan – and has pledged to foster 20 “leading” blockchain firms by 2022.
Per Shanghai Securities News, the plans were unveiled by the IT arm of the Hebei Communist Party of China Provincial Committee Secretary.
The authority stated that its goals for the end of 2022 were the following:
-establish 20 “leading” blockchain-related firms
-foster a number of blockchain apps and/or products
-create 1-3 nationally recognized blockchain brands
-create three blockchain parks
The province also announced a regional research push, focusing on blockchain-related R&D.
It also announced its intention to collaborate with innovators based elsewhere in the country, co-build a blockchain industry technology innovation alliance – and work with overseas-based innovators. The province also wants local firms to begin creating blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) offerings.
The local government said that it would look to support progress by implementing pro-business policies and provide financial support.
The move follows similar pledges from other provinces and major cities made earlier this year. Guizhou and Hunan provinces made their own pledges last month, with the former vowing to nurture some 100 locally bases blockchain firms by 2022. Hunan said it will construct five blockchain-specific tech parks by 2022.
Beijing, meanwhile, has promised to create a blockchain technology talent training authority in the same time period, as well as a city-run fund that will invest in promising blockchain firms.
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Did Russian COVID-19 Vaccine News Crash Bitcoin and Gold Prices?
Following a crash in both gold and bitcoin (BTC) prices yesterday that sent the much-discussed gold-to-bitcoin correlation even higher, the discussion is now on about what caused the sell-off, and whether a Russian COVID-19 vaccine could potentially be hurting the price of both assets.
At the time of writing (09:39 UTC), bitcoin was still down by 2.6% over the past 24 hours, trading at USD 11,459, after a correction that started Tuesday night and continued into the early hours of Wednesday brought it down to the USD 11,200 level before a recovery towards USD 11,500 began. Meanwhile, the price of gold also saw similar declines, dropping steadily over the same time period before somewhat recovering in early Wednesday trading.
Russia said yesterday that it had approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, as the nation’s Ministry of Health issued what’s called a registration certificate for a vaccine candidate that has been tested in just 76 people. However, the vaccine cannot be used widely until 1 January 2021, presumably after larger clinical trials have been completed, according to Science. However, scientists around the world immediately denounced the certification as premature and inappropriate, as it has yet to complete a trial that convincingly shows it is safe and effective in a large group of people, the report added.
Also in Russia, media outlets are asking what a vaccine could do to BTC prices. For some, the concept of avoiding a second wave is vital.
RBC quotes Oleg Abelev, an expert at the Lemon for Tea investment group as stating that while crypto prices rallied this year, that growth could evaporate if the virus-related death toll starts to rise again. A second crypto market dip due to panic selling, he opined, was almost a “100%” certainty.
The media outlet also quoted experts as saying that while an effective coronavirus vaccine could cause volatility in traditional markets – sparking bond sell-offs – BTC is much harder to predict.
RBC stated that the consensus among the experts it spoke to was that a second wave would negatively affect crypto prices, and bitcoin in particular. However, a vaccine could help offset these fears, meaning that BTC’s USD 3,800 low (in March this year) was “probably not going to be repeated.”
Meanwhile, although several other factors than a COVID-19 vaccine may have been the primary driver for the gold sell-off, including modest outflows from gold-backed ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and an unusually overbought reading on the Relative Strength Index (RSI), it seems that hopes for a quicker economic recovery have put some pressure on gold in the short-term.
If the correlation between the two forms of safe-haven assets does hold up, the profit-taking in gold could potentially also extend itself to bitcoin, with the bitcoin-to-gold “realized correlation” recently hitting an all-time high, according to crypto analytics firm Skew.
Following a crash in both gold and bitcoin (BTC) prices yesterday that sent the much-discussed gold-to-bitcoin correlation even higher, the discussion is now on about what caused the sell-off, and whether a Russian COVID-19 vaccine could potentially be hurting the price of both assets.
At the time of writing (09:39 UTC), bitcoin was still down by 2.6% over the past 24 hours, trading at USD 11,459, after a correction that started Tuesday night and continued into the early hours of Wednesday brought it down to the USD 11,200 level before a recovery towards USD 11,500 began. Meanwhile, the price of gold also saw similar declines, dropping steadily over the same time period before somewhat recovering in early Wednesday trading.
Russia said yesterday that it had approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, as the nation’s Ministry of Health issued what’s called a registration certificate for a vaccine candidate that has been tested in just 76 people. However, the vaccine cannot be used widely until 1 January 2021, presumably after larger clinical trials have been completed, according to Science. However, scientists around the world immediately denounced the certification as premature and inappropriate, as it has yet to complete a trial that convincingly shows it is safe and effective in a large group of people, the report added.
Also in Russia, media outlets are asking what a vaccine could do to BTC prices. For some, the concept of avoiding a second wave is vital.
RBC quotes Oleg Abelev, an expert at the Lemon for Tea investment group as stating that while crypto prices rallied this year, that growth could evaporate if the virus-related death toll starts to rise again. A second crypto market dip due to panic selling, he opined, was almost a “100%” certainty.
The media outlet also quoted experts as saying that while an effective coronavirus vaccine could cause volatility in traditional markets – sparking bond sell-offs – BTC is much harder to predict.
RBC stated that the consensus among the experts it spoke to was that a second wave would negatively affect crypto prices, and bitcoin in particular. However, a vaccine could help offset these fears, meaning that BTC’s USD 3,800 low (in March this year) was “probably not going to be repeated.”
Meanwhile, although several other factors than a COVID-19 vaccine may have been the primary driver for the gold sell-off, including modest outflows from gold-backed ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and an unusually overbought reading on the Relative Strength Index (RSI), it seems that hopes for a quicker economic recovery have put some pressure on gold in the short-term.
If the correlation between the two forms of safe-haven assets does hold up, the profit-taking in gold could potentially also extend itself to bitcoin, with the bitcoin-to-gold “realized correlation” recently hitting an all-time high, according to crypto analytics firm Skew.
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Could Belarus Use Bitcoin to Beat US-EU Sanctions?
With much of the international community enraged at the Alexander Lukashenko-led government of Belarus following a controversial recent general election, the threat of a new wave of United States-led economic sanctions against the nation and its leadership has become very real.
The European Union yesterday stated that its foreign ministers were already considering “targeted sanctions,” with America’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also talking up the notion of imposing financial penalties on Minsk.
The move has led many in the region to question whether Belarus’ fledgling crypto industry might come into play, become a target – or even help Minsk avoid the fallout of sanctions.
A number of nations that have found themselves at odds with the United States have already attempted to turn to the crypto sector – with mixed results.
While North Korea has reportedly been perfecting the art of raiding crypto exchanges based in American-allied nations, Venezuela has had less luck – instead leaving its president “sitting on” large amounts of bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) he is reportedly having trouble shifting.
Speaking to Russian media outlet RBC, experts stated that even if Belarus were to find a way to get around sanctions using crypto, this would be little more than a “band-aid,” with the economy sucked into recession due to the wider implications of economic sanctions. Similar crypto-powered efforts in Venezuela and Iran, the experts stated, had largely failed to save those nations' economies.
Belarus’ situation is somewhat different, however, as the nation has been actively pushing pro-crypto policies for over two years now – and has built up a very profitable crypto industry at the multi-million-dollar Hi-Tech Park in Minsk.
The park has been an economic success, pulling in USD 2 billion worth of revenue in 2019 – 4% of the country’s GDP. As such, it could well become a target for those drawing up sanctions plans.
The same media outlet quotes Valery Petrov, Vice President of Market Development and Regulation for the Russian Association of the Cryptoindustry and Blockchain, as stating that should sanctions be imposed in the IT sector, they may “instantly” polarize the Belarusian crypto sector.
He said,
“Sanctions against the IT industry in Belarus will make the industry either Russia- or Poland-aligned, as enterprises will instantly vote with their feet.”
EU-led sanctions, Petrov added, would effectively force Belarus to pick a side, and could even see it attempt to align with China – which is also actively pursuing a glut of pro-blockchain business moves.
With much of the international community enraged at the Alexander Lukashenko-led government of Belarus following a controversial recent general election, the threat of a new wave of United States-led economic sanctions against the nation and its leadership has become very real.
The European Union yesterday stated that its foreign ministers were already considering “targeted sanctions,” with America’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also talking up the notion of imposing financial penalties on Minsk.
The move has led many in the region to question whether Belarus’ fledgling crypto industry might come into play, become a target – or even help Minsk avoid the fallout of sanctions.
A number of nations that have found themselves at odds with the United States have already attempted to turn to the crypto sector – with mixed results.
While North Korea has reportedly been perfecting the art of raiding crypto exchanges based in American-allied nations, Venezuela has had less luck – instead leaving its president “sitting on” large amounts of bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) he is reportedly having trouble shifting.
Speaking to Russian media outlet RBC, experts stated that even if Belarus were to find a way to get around sanctions using crypto, this would be little more than a “band-aid,” with the economy sucked into recession due to the wider implications of economic sanctions. Similar crypto-powered efforts in Venezuela and Iran, the experts stated, had largely failed to save those nations' economies.
Belarus’ situation is somewhat different, however, as the nation has been actively pushing pro-crypto policies for over two years now – and has built up a very profitable crypto industry at the multi-million-dollar Hi-Tech Park in Minsk.
The park has been an economic success, pulling in USD 2 billion worth of revenue in 2019 – 4% of the country’s GDP. As such, it could well become a target for those drawing up sanctions plans.
The same media outlet quotes Valery Petrov, Vice President of Market Development and Regulation for the Russian Association of the Cryptoindustry and Blockchain, as stating that should sanctions be imposed in the IT sector, they may “instantly” polarize the Belarusian crypto sector.
He said,
“Sanctions against the IT industry in Belarus will make the industry either Russia- or Poland-aligned, as enterprises will instantly vote with their feet.”
EU-led sanctions, Petrov added, would effectively force Belarus to pick a side, and could even see it attempt to align with China – which is also actively pursuing a glut of pro-blockchain business moves.
Cardano’s Upcoming Shopify Integration Will Enable ADA Payment in over 500,000 Online Stores
As Cardano staking pools continue rising in numbers, they are also gaining their own personalities. The latest in unique pools of the Shelley Network is the ‘SHOP stake pool’ that’s developing the first Cardano e-commerce integration for Shopify which will enable ADA payments in over 500,000 online stores.
As detailed on GitHub, a developer known as UniVocity is going to build Cardano integrations with e-commerce and enable customers to pay for their online purchases with ADA for zero fees and commissions.
“Initially, we’re going to release and maintain an official Shopify app, which will be immediately accessible to more than 500, 000 online businesses around the world who generate million dollars per minute.”
The app will even be better with smart contract integration as it will support the introduction of subscriptions and recurring payment in both ADA and other native tokens that’ll be running on Cardano.
One of the main aspects of the project is that neither the shopper nor the online retailer will have to pay any fees in commission to the platform on top of the price of items bought.
Decentralized Funding
The project will be funded through staked ADA on the SHOP pool. It is a double win for ADA’s decentralization and for availing Cardano as a payment gateway for everyone.
The pool has 580,000 worth of ADA already pledged to Shopify’s integration at a pool fee of 1.74%.
“Pool fees will help to support the development and maintenance of our e-commerce integrations which will depend on servers to be online, certificates to be paid and other constant running costs.”
Apart from staking, UniVocity also stated that further donations are accepted in ADA, Bitcoin or via Paypal, on Binance and Coinmama.
Cardano’s Fast-paced Development
Cardano’s development is moving fast barely a month after Shelley’s hardfork, with its creator initially getting a little bit of criticism for promising to start building native assets and smart contracts as early as 2020’s third quarter.
However, with a possible reach of 500,000 stores, Cardano’s use case will be a solid start to push for further adoption and boost ADA’s price to $1. Additionally, Shelley was acclaimed to have one of the best codebases in all blockchain platforms and the highest developer activity between July and August.
UniVocity further states that development won’t stop at Shopify, as other large e-commerce platforms like Woocommerce by WordPress and Magento are also on his radar. Developers will also be able to customize and deploy the fully-opened source code on their own servers.
As Cardano staking pools continue rising in numbers, they are also gaining their own personalities. The latest in unique pools of the Shelley Network is the ‘SHOP stake pool’ that’s developing the first Cardano e-commerce integration for Shopify which will enable ADA payments in over 500,000 online stores.
As detailed on GitHub, a developer known as UniVocity is going to build Cardano integrations with e-commerce and enable customers to pay for their online purchases with ADA for zero fees and commissions.
“Initially, we’re going to release and maintain an official Shopify app, which will be immediately accessible to more than 500, 000 online businesses around the world who generate million dollars per minute.”
The app will even be better with smart contract integration as it will support the introduction of subscriptions and recurring payment in both ADA and other native tokens that’ll be running on Cardano.
One of the main aspects of the project is that neither the shopper nor the online retailer will have to pay any fees in commission to the platform on top of the price of items bought.
Decentralized Funding
The project will be funded through staked ADA on the SHOP pool. It is a double win for ADA’s decentralization and for availing Cardano as a payment gateway for everyone.
The pool has 580,000 worth of ADA already pledged to Shopify’s integration at a pool fee of 1.74%.
“Pool fees will help to support the development and maintenance of our e-commerce integrations which will depend on servers to be online, certificates to be paid and other constant running costs.”
Apart from staking, UniVocity also stated that further donations are accepted in ADA, Bitcoin or via Paypal, on Binance and Coinmama.
Cardano’s Fast-paced Development
Cardano’s development is moving fast barely a month after Shelley’s hardfork, with its creator initially getting a little bit of criticism for promising to start building native assets and smart contracts as early as 2020’s third quarter.
However, with a possible reach of 500,000 stores, Cardano’s use case will be a solid start to push for further adoption and boost ADA’s price to $1. Additionally, Shelley was acclaimed to have one of the best codebases in all blockchain platforms and the highest developer activity between July and August.
UniVocity further states that development won’t stop at Shopify, as other large e-commerce platforms like Woocommerce by WordPress and Magento are also on his radar. Developers will also be able to customize and deploy the fully-opened source code on their own servers.
4 Reasons Why Bitcoin’s Price Hike Beats Every Other Asset Class - Report
With the price of bitcoin (BTC) rising by more than 71% (Tuesday 14:00 UTC) since the beginning of this year, a recent analysis points to four factors which have allowed the cryptocurrency to generate a return that beats out every other asset class' performance.
The primary drivers that have pushed up the price of bitcoin can be summed up in the following manner, according to the analysis by crypto resource news site Bitrawr:
1. Money Printer Go Brrrr
During the previous global crisis that started in 2008, the U.S. Federal Reserve launched a scheme called Quantitative Easing under which it injected some USD 3.9 trillion in the U.S. economy until October 2014.
The “QE policies launched in the wake of the COVID crises are more significant in both scale and scope when compared to the previous rounds,” the analysis stated, adding that this time, the Fed has vowed to inject virtually unlimited funds to kickstart the economy, and move its focus away from Treasury bonds.
Learn more:
Fiat Money Printer 'Goes BRRR,' Is It a Time To Sell All Cash For Bitcoin?
How BRRRing Money Printers Today Might Lead to Higher Taxes Tomorrow
2. Citizens in Emerging Markets Are Fleeing Failing Fiat
The U.S. dollar continues to serve as the dominant currency of the global trade, but many local currencies worldwide are increasingly seen by their countries’ populations as unsafe and wobbly assets, encouraging a move toward crypto. This is particularly observed in countries such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe where hyperinflation is devouring citizens’ savings.
Learn more:
Argentina, Venezuela Seek Crypto-powered Solution to Economic Despair
Washington Warned: Launch Digital Fiat or Say Goodbye to USD Dominance
3. Bitcoin’s Institutional Adoption is Rising, Even Amongst Ex-Haters
Institutional investors are rapidly changing their approach to crypto, as exemplified by the recently revealed list of 20 financial industry players that invested in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). These include some of the leading mutual funds such as Boston Private Wealth, Ark Investment Management, and Horizon Kinetics, which have more than USD 23bn in aggregate funds.
Learn more:
These Two Institutional Investors Allocated At Least 1% To Bitcoin
Institutional Investors Set for Herd-like Move to BTC, Says Kraken CEO
4. Bitcoin Mining Economics Are Pushing The Network to Efficiency
Bitcoin mining is designed in a way which pushes out inefficient miners, driving the system towards more efficiency and cheap electricity, “constantly adjusting in order to make sure that the network is producing a new block every 10 minutes,” according to the analysis.
“Currently, the entire Bitcoin network is performing 100 exahashes a second, which translates to 1020 hashes, or ‘guesses’, each second,” the analysis stated. "The fact that Bitcoin’s hash rate is so gigantic is not a mathematical curiosity, it is an essential component of the network’s security. To date, the world’s most powerful supercomputer is the Japanese Fugaku, with more than 7 million cores, and a power of 415.53 petaflops. Comparatively, the entire Bitcoin network is 194 thousand times more powerful than Fugaku."
With the price of bitcoin (BTC) rising by more than 71% (Tuesday 14:00 UTC) since the beginning of this year, a recent analysis points to four factors which have allowed the cryptocurrency to generate a return that beats out every other asset class' performance.
The primary drivers that have pushed up the price of bitcoin can be summed up in the following manner, according to the analysis by crypto resource news site Bitrawr:
1. Money Printer Go Brrrr
During the previous global crisis that started in 2008, the U.S. Federal Reserve launched a scheme called Quantitative Easing under which it injected some USD 3.9 trillion in the U.S. economy until October 2014.
The “QE policies launched in the wake of the COVID crises are more significant in both scale and scope when compared to the previous rounds,” the analysis stated, adding that this time, the Fed has vowed to inject virtually unlimited funds to kickstart the economy, and move its focus away from Treasury bonds.
Learn more:
Fiat Money Printer 'Goes BRRR,' Is It a Time To Sell All Cash For Bitcoin?
How BRRRing Money Printers Today Might Lead to Higher Taxes Tomorrow
2. Citizens in Emerging Markets Are Fleeing Failing Fiat
The U.S. dollar continues to serve as the dominant currency of the global trade, but many local currencies worldwide are increasingly seen by their countries’ populations as unsafe and wobbly assets, encouraging a move toward crypto. This is particularly observed in countries such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe where hyperinflation is devouring citizens’ savings.
Learn more:
Argentina, Venezuela Seek Crypto-powered Solution to Economic Despair
Washington Warned: Launch Digital Fiat or Say Goodbye to USD Dominance
3. Bitcoin’s Institutional Adoption is Rising, Even Amongst Ex-Haters
Institutional investors are rapidly changing their approach to crypto, as exemplified by the recently revealed list of 20 financial industry players that invested in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). These include some of the leading mutual funds such as Boston Private Wealth, Ark Investment Management, and Horizon Kinetics, which have more than USD 23bn in aggregate funds.
Learn more:
These Two Institutional Investors Allocated At Least 1% To Bitcoin
Institutional Investors Set for Herd-like Move to BTC, Says Kraken CEO
4. Bitcoin Mining Economics Are Pushing The Network to Efficiency
Bitcoin mining is designed in a way which pushes out inefficient miners, driving the system towards more efficiency and cheap electricity, “constantly adjusting in order to make sure that the network is producing a new block every 10 minutes,” according to the analysis.
“Currently, the entire Bitcoin network is performing 100 exahashes a second, which translates to 1020 hashes, or ‘guesses’, each second,” the analysis stated. "The fact that Bitcoin’s hash rate is so gigantic is not a mathematical curiosity, it is an essential component of the network’s security. To date, the world’s most powerful supercomputer is the Japanese Fugaku, with more than 7 million cores, and a power of 415.53 petaflops. Comparatively, the entire Bitcoin network is 194 thousand times more powerful than Fugaku."
This position may be plausible as data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts the country’s unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020 at 27.1%, a period which may overlap with the Statista.com survey.
Nigeria’s embrace for cryptocurrencies: how sustainable is it?
For a country that is known for performing low in major ranking indices among the league of nations, being the top ranking in the Statista survey comes off as a major thrill. The question of sustaining this growth remains a major factor to consider.
Ever bullish on the potentials of cryptocurrencies and its growth in the country, Onoboh stated that:
“we can sustain this momentum because a lot of Nigerians have tested freedom, Bitcoin is freedom and we are not going back. It is from here onward.”
Meanwhile, Akraka said that the surge in cryptocurrency activities will reverse. He noted:
“When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the activities will definitely drop. Though I don’t know how much it would drop or how drastic it would be, as foreign exchange inflows will bring back relaxed regulations on international transactions, a major reason why the Nigerian millennials switched to cryptocurrencies in the first place”.
Despite the ranking though, many analysts find that Nigeria has a long way to go with regards to blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption as the surge in crypto usage is mostly among millennials. But with improved regulations and awareness, the older generation might come to appreciate the potentials of digital currencies as well.
Nigeria’s embrace for cryptocurrencies: how sustainable is it?
For a country that is known for performing low in major ranking indices among the league of nations, being the top ranking in the Statista survey comes off as a major thrill. The question of sustaining this growth remains a major factor to consider.
Ever bullish on the potentials of cryptocurrencies and its growth in the country, Onoboh stated that:
“we can sustain this momentum because a lot of Nigerians have tested freedom, Bitcoin is freedom and we are not going back. It is from here onward.”
Meanwhile, Akraka said that the surge in cryptocurrency activities will reverse. He noted:
“When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the activities will definitely drop. Though I don’t know how much it would drop or how drastic it would be, as foreign exchange inflows will bring back relaxed regulations on international transactions, a major reason why the Nigerian millennials switched to cryptocurrencies in the first place”.
Despite the ranking though, many analysts find that Nigeria has a long way to go with regards to blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption as the surge in crypto usage is mostly among millennials. But with improved regulations and awareness, the older generation might come to appreciate the potentials of digital currencies as well.
