US Attorney General William Barr speaks on Operation Legend, the federal law enforcement operation, ... [+] during a press conference in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 2020. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Department of Justice recently released a report that served as a Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework as part of the Attorney Generals Cyber Digital Task Force. The full contents can be read here. What follows are some key takeaways from the report and some additional context.

1- Distributed ledger technology and even cryptocurrency itself is regarded as a potential positive technological force by the Department of Justice

At the outset, it bears emphasizing that distributed ledger technology, upon which all cryptocurrencies build, raises breathtaking possibilities for human flourishing. in almost the beginning of the report this key point stands out almost right away a somewhat positive attitude to DLT and blockchain.

The report then brings up case studies of DLT usage in the federal government, from the FDAs pilot of a machine learning and blockchain-based system to modernize food safety to the Department of Defenses consideration of blockchain to provide increased effectiveness, efficiency, and security.

Even cryptocurrencies, often shorn by states and condemned by European financial institutions and Chinese ones alike, get some light credit in the first section though its in the context of the Federal Reserve piloting digital currencies, not in the context of independent peers arriving to a global consensus in other words, cryptocurrency concepts without the governance and political choices that make cryptocurrency special.

2- Three categories of crime involving cryptocurrency fall into special scrutiny by the Department of Justice: financial transactions involved with criminal activity (such as buying illegal drugs with cryptocurrencies), money laundering/evading tax laws, and crime such as theft of cryptocurrencies that directly affect cryptocurrency markets

Very early on (in the first ten pages), its clear that the Department of Justice is uniquely focused on specific times of crime associated with cryptocurrencies mostly ones that involve either crimes committed in cryptocurrency markets or criminals using cryptocurrency to hide information or financial flows that can be associated with criminal activity.

Two difficulties for the Department of Justice come up often in this discussion: the technical know-how to understand what is going on, and the global nature of the distribution of cryptocurrencies. Theres a commitment to dedicate resources and tap long-standing international partnerships to help allay some of those issues, but its clear that these are regarded as fundamental challenges in the scope of what the Department of Justice seems most interested in: direct criminal activity in cryptocurrency markets, or information that can tie financial flows to criminal activity.

3- The Department of Justice tries to make clear, at least on a broad level, that its tracking key terms and innovations in cryptocurrency, especially privacy-preserving ones

Early on, a section is devoted to the Departments view on Web 3.0, which seems to combine an awkward mash-up of strong Web 2.0 concepts (algorithmic personalization of content) vs. Web 3.0s effects (less reliance on centralized service providers, whether ISPs or cloud services).

It seems to ignore the central thrust of Web 3.0 and mesh networks as one being oriented towards independent peer-to-peer communication and hosted services on self-owned and self-managed instances. Yet the message is clear: the Department of Justice is trying to figure out what these new ideas and technologies mean for its enforcement of the law. This appears largely because the report is a skimmed summary of Binances summary of Web 3.0 with important context removed, one of the few times and perhaps the only time the report cites a cryptocurrency source that is quasi-official.

Privacy-preserving technologies or cryptocurrencies such as Monero and mixing are specifically name-checked and expanded upon. In fact, the Department of Justice specifically cites even just the usage of what they describe as anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies (specifically citing Dash, Monero and ZCash) as a high-risk activity that is indicative of potential criminal activity on page 41 of the report.

Decentralized finance is also briefly mentioned in a way that suggests that the Department of Justice is aware of the trend though is not yet ready to dedicate pages of case studies. ICOs have their own spotlight when it comes to cooperation with the SEC. Yet the central focus is very much on privacy-focused cryptocurrency chains and methods of privacy-enhancement for now.

4- The Department of Justice is very focused on pre-defined rogue states, terrorist groups, and individuals using cryptocurrencies on Darknet markets

Most of the case studies cited are either individuals operating on the Darknet with cryptocurrencies (ex: DeepDotWeb), terrorist groups in Syria asking for bitcoin donations or rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran, with a specific case study on the SamSam ransomware the Department of Justice claims was created by Iranian hackers. Interestingly, despite the rise of the digital yuan (DCEP) and heavy burdensome restrictions on cryptocurrency exchanges and users, and the Department of Justices increasingly China-centric focus, China was not mentioned once in the report as either an example or counter-example.

Clearly, for now, the Department of Justice sees the upholding of the traditional financial order and the definition of rogue states as its framework for how to comprehend cryptocurrency, rather than great power conflict frameworks it has read into other parts of its enforcement powers.

5- The Department of Justices relationship and architecture with other government agencies with regards to cryptocurrency is fully sketched out, and occupies large parts of the report

A large part of the report is spent on case studies and specific examples/instances of the Department of Justice collaborating with different government agencies on cryptocurrencies and the way it thinks about those relationships, from FinCENs settlement with Ripple (which mitigated possible criminal charges from the Department of Justices parallel investigation with FinCEN) to how the SEC and the Department of Justice worked together to tackle the Telegram ICO.

Emphasis is placed on the Department of Justices long-standing relationships with regulatory agencies within the federal US government, as well as its surprising cooperation with state attorneys in New York state as well as international collaboration with the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), especially surrounding antimoney laundering provisions.

6- Most of the sources it cites are from the Wall Street Journal or internal government references

It appears that the Department of Justice is most comfortable citing the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and an array of internal sources or other government agencies.

The only external source of note the author noted was a reference to Binance Academys Wiki section of Web 3.0, to make an adjacent point about Web 3.0 that was not central to the thurst of the article. This suggests an unwillingness to cite if not consult sources that might be closer to the ground on cryptocurrency terms and innovations, and which might have a slightly different or diverse perspective than the Department of Justice.

7- While potential for distributed ledger technologies is mentioned, it still feels like the Department of Justice sees cryptocurrencies as more threat than opportunity

The overwhelming part of the report is filled with case studies and specific statutes and crimes that were or could be committed with cryptocurrencies. Despite some encouraging and more balanced words at the beginning of the report, it seems that for the most part, the Department of Justice sees cryptocurrencies as more threat than opportunity. This is especially the case with regards to its opinion on privacy-enhanced cryptocurrencies such as Dash, Monero and ZCash the line that even usage of them might be considered suspicion of committing crimes is a strong one, and would be akin to pre-suspecting anybody using end-to-end encryption of possible criminal activity.

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Seven Key Takeaways From The Department Of Justices Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework - Forbes

If you are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency it is unlikely you will know what Decentralised Finance (DeFi) is. Those who do, know that today anyone can exchange their money for a stablecoin (a cryptocurrency backed by a reserve asset), invest them in a promising project and hopefully watch their investment grow.

Is this a variation on the classic pyramid scheme? Not in the sense of Charles Ponzi. But it is clear that the explosive growth of DeFi platforms is driven by a rapid influx of liquidity into the new market, and cannot continue indefinitely. Nevertheless, the technologies embedded in this infrastructure open up tremendous opportunities for rebuilding the global financial system.

The author of this column has devoted 25 years of his life to banking. Having bought the dwarf National Reserve Bank in Moscow in 1995, I sold it this year as one of the most reliable banks in Russia. It is a shadow of its former self, 20 times smaller, but with no liabilities or obligations.

For a quarter of a century I was the CEO of the third largest private bank in Russia in equity capital terms, after Sberbank and VTB. I was also the constant target of corporate raiders backed by corrupt werewolves from the FSB, which destroyed my business.

Modern bankers ruin their banks by pocketing clients money. Since the late 90s, thousands of Russian "banksters" (a portmanteau of "banker" and "gangster") from thousands of banks, appropriated more than $100 billion of their clients money and left the country with their stolen money. Or they opened a new "business" at home, depending on the thickness of the krysha [roof" in Russian, signifying criminal protection] in government.

The social function of banks is to serve as the circulatory system of the economy. They allow transactions in exchange for goods and services, they are engaged in lending, ensuring production, and accumulation of resources. However, the world banking community has turned into an anti-bank, whose function is to misappropriate customers assets and launder dirty money, the volume of which is increasing globally by $1 trillion every year.

Further confirmation of this can be found in the recent publication by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) of the leaked reports of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN a division of the US Treasury). According to these documents, the five largest international banks laundered $2 trillion even after US authorities had already fined them for previous misconduct.

As a result, a huge parasitic class has been formed, made of bankers, fake investors, lawyers, auditors and service personnel, who rule entire states called "offshores" and the countries that are invented in them. This class produces nothing but "dirty money".

Alas, national law enforcement structures and courts are not able to resist this evil on a systemic level they only provide palliative care, by fighting against individual scams. My appeal for the creation of new international structures remains a lonely one.

Meanwhile, people who really add or invent tangible value in society, by furthering scientific and technological progress or culture, are less and less able to access financial resources. Their income is incomparable with the wealth of those who are involved in the global oligarchy, which has no physical or intellectual labour at its source.

Billions of people are completely cut off from banking services partially due to their high cost and lack of interest in the poor clients on the part of the banksters, who have nothing to steal from them. A system of financial apartheid drives nations and entire continents into poverty.

This conflict is becoming especially obvious now, amid the backdrop of a recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Now money itself, which is printed in huge and unsecured quantities by national financial institutions, is increasingly devaluing.

Sooner or later, this upside-down pyramid must collapse, and the bubble inflated in the stock markets must burst. Excess liquidity from the stock market will inevitably rush into the real world, turning the depreciating money into dust, regardless of their denomination. This will lead to another apocalypse-scale heist.

Fortunately, the human mind does not stand still. Cryptocurrencies, which 10 years ago were perceived as a joke and a toy, are today an important part of the international financial system. The next step will be the "digitalisation" of real assets, including production facilities, real estate, goods and services, with their holding in distributed ledgers.

Many governments that foresee the benefits of these technologies are beginning to implement them. In March, the German Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin) recognised cryptocurrencies as financial instruments. On 11 August, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) and the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) presented a bill on blockchain-based digital securities. Xi Jinping, the leader of the most populous and second richest country in the world, said a year ago that the development of blockchain is one of the most urgent tasks for the state.

Last April, the Central Bank of China, as part of a pilot program, introduced a national cryptocurrency (DCEP) in four major cities in the country. The site for the 2022 Winter Olympics, to be held in Beijing, will also be the basis for exploring opportunities with DCEP.

The latest news, on 3 September, is that the Swiss canton of Zug began accepting tax payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum. n 21 September, the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a stablecoin guide, which provides the first detailed national guidance on how fiat-backed cryptocurrencies should be treated in accordance with the law. Thus, the regulators gave the green light to work with the issuers (or founders) of stablecoins.

Take a look around: tools that until recently were the dreams of science fiction are becoming reality. Artificial intelligence is already driving vehicles, and the profession of driver may die within the next decade. In the same way, blockchain technologies and smart contracts will make it unnecessary to employ the vast majority of people in the financial sector, and will thus eliminate "banksters" as a social phenomenon.

With Decentralized Finance (DeFi), it became possible to directly connect clients of traditional banks without the participation of an intermediary in the form of the bank itself, the functionality of which in this case is performed by a so-called smart contract. At the same time, no one will be able to steal a clients money, because the DeFi system protects them from greedy bankers. A smart contract obeys only the laws of mathematics and, aside from the risk of computer hacking which also exists in conventional banking, it is incorruptible and it does not need villas on the French Riviera, nor private jets or yachts.

The current DeFi projects are based on the exchange of liquid tokens (mainly decentralised cryptocurrencies) on the principles of collateralised lending. They are quite primitive and serve either for simple mortgage lending, or for the so-called Yield Farming empty inflation of liquidity for the sake of stock growth with their subsequent sale on the free market. For example, I have invested $100,000 in one such DeFi platform licensed in Estonia, just out of curiosity. Three days later I checked my digital wallet and found out that I had already earned over $300, which I easily transferred to my bank account via crypto exchange. (I should point out this isnt investment advice and people should check before putting their money in any particular crypto-currency or platform).

The Independent Decentralized Financial Ecosystem (some might call it a "bank 2.0"), which I am looking to set up with some partners, represents a new generation of bank in which all participants are simultaneously beneficiaries. It would offer customers the full range of services of traditional banks. Those include currency exchange, deposits, lending, settlement and cash services, local and international transfers. The fundamental distinctness of this platform comes from its supranationality.

The system for the execution of smart contracts based on blockchain technology is located on the network simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. Whatever happens to the people who manage the system, all obligations will be fulfilled, since they are not dependent on personal decency, rather they are enshrined in smart contracts. In this case, of course, it is necessary to monitor the full legal compliance of the issue of credit-collateral tokens with the legislation of the country in which it is carried out.

The most significant aspect of this project will be to provide a working platform for a huge number of third-party start-ups and innovation. This is a mechanism that will ultimately connect a Thai-based IT creator in need of funding, or a waste recycling entrepreneur in Zimbabwe, with a potential investor from Norway or Japan. The system will include hundreds and thousands of projects of talented people, each of which will become part of the global infrastructure just like any major bank has hundreds and thousands of projects, related to a financial institution.

Besides, this system will provide additional opportunities for financial transparency in the implementation of non-profit projects for example environmental protection. Or charity, which, alas, suffers from the fact that half of the hundreds of billions USD donations allocated annually around the world are simply stolen directly or through so-called "management expenses".

This year my son Evgeny and I visited Chad to support the local national park. At N'Djamena International Airport, against the backdrop of several dilapidated ancient Cessnas, sat a new Bombardier Global Express jet white with blue letters UN OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). I once had one, it costs $60m.

And when we flew away, there was a similarly "branded" Embraer Legacy worth $30m. There are cargo planes for the transportation of humanitarian aid, which are much cheaper and more spacious. I wondered how many hungry Chadians could be helped with this money from the international community, spent by UN officials for their own comfort?

Crypto-economics allows a donor of any amount, even one pound, to follow their donation to a poor child in Bosnia in need of an expensive operation, to a farmer in Uganda in need of new technology, or to a particular elephant in Gabon. All this information can be completely opened up to the relevant parties through the charity token blockchain.

Perhaps we are on the verge of a real revolution in the international financial system, and the end of the bankster. I do not pretend to be the ultimate oracle of truth; there is much to debate in my piece. Yet one thing is indisputable: in the form in which this system exists now, it is leading the world economy to disaster.

Alexander Lebedevs family co-own The Independent and Evening Standard titles

See the article here:
Cryptocurrency has the power to revolutionise a corrupt banking system - The Independent

Bengaluru-based crypto exchange startup Unocoin looks to launch lending and interest-earning features on its platform

Indias crypto community joins hand to push regulatory sandbox, headed by crypto exchange BuyUCoin

UK-based crypto banking platform Cashaa expands into India to offer deposits and withdrawals of cryptocurrencies

Last week, American venture capital investor Tim Draper announced that he has invested an undisclosed amount in a Bengaluru-based crypto exchange startup Unocoin, in a Series A funding. The round also witnessed participation from XBTO Ventures and 2020 Ventures among other investors in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Unocoin said that it will be using the fund to scale its business and enable it to further expand its team and enhance its product. Backed by FundersClub, Blume Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures among others, the company has raised up to $3.6 Mn in funding.

Founded in 2013, Unocoin was founded by Sunny Ray, Abhinand Kaseti, Harish BV and Sathvik Viswanath. The exchange claims to have about 1.3 Mn users, of which 350K accounts are KYC verified.

Sharing the business strategy with Inc42, Unocoin CEO and cofounder Viswanath said that there are some interesting features in the pipeline, including lending and interest-earning features to its users.

Elaborating on the same, he said:

Our customers can use their Bitcoin as collateral and get money to their bank account. Here, they will be paying some percentage of interest to us, and eventually can pay their principal amount to get the collateral Bitcoin release. This is on the lending side of things.

Similarly, on the interesting-earning feature, Viswanath said that their customers can also do the fixed deposit of USDT (stable coin), and earn some interest on top of that.

These are some of the two new features that Unocoin is looking to release in the coming months, which are both similar to how banks operate, where customer can keep the fixed deposit on one side and give loans on the other and percentage of the difference between the two goes to the banks as part of the revenue for their operations, he explained.

With a lot of commotion already happening around cryptocurrency in relation to the lost Bitcoins, crypto ban and at the same time, announcements of crypto platforms releasing new tokens, Viswanath said that until the regulations come out these things will continue to make noise in the ecosystem. We are staying away from these things as much as possible, he added.

However, sharing the opportunities in the space, Vishwanath said that many companies have been working on creating de-centralised financing which is really fascinating. Also, when it comes to the non-fungible token, there isnt any company in India which is working towards developing this technology.

Non-fungible tokens are a form of tokens which could hold value in the physical world. For those unaware, fungibility is one of the features of the currency, but not a feature of a commodity.

For instance, when a consumer buys a limited edition Rolex watch, using this technology, a token can be generated on the blockchain which represents the ownership of the object and its value. Now, when this limited edition Rolex watch is sold in the market in the near future, it not only represents the authenticity of the product, but also the ownership gets transferred to the new customers, and so does the value.

In another update, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of writing was $11,369 with a market cap of 210 Bn, compared to last week (October 6, 2020) which stood at $10.760, with a market cap of $198 Bn.

Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, was priced at $319.17, with a market cap of $42.6 Bn at the time of writing, compared to last week (October 6, 2020), where the price of the cryptocurrency was $349.47, with a market cap of $39.45 Bn.

Amid the noise around cryptocurrency ban, Indias crypto community have come together to propose an alternative. Headed by crypto exchange BuyUCoin, the sandbox proposes a regulatory framework to bring crypto assets under existing regulations while also setting up a supervised space for startups to develop products in the sector. Accordingly, the community has suggested developing an open-source interface to track crypto transactions and trace anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance.

UK-based crypto banking platform Cashaa to launch its own crypto pro internet bank in India soon. According to CryptoDaily, the founder Kuman Gaurav said that this expansion will allow companies in India as well as other individual entities to open a savings account which will provide access to save and store cryptocurrencies. For lending, we will be adding crypto assets class together with gold and real estate as collateral, he added.

Further, the founder claimed that Cashaa will be the first registered bank to allow for deposits and withdrawals of cryptocurrencies. It also said that it was able to get the approval from lawmakers within the country to operate as a crypto-friendly internet banking platform.

Read more:
Cryptocurrency This Week: After Raising Fresh Fund From Tim Draper, Unocoin Looks To Launch Lending Featur ... - Inc42 Media

The cryptocurrency revolution: How Europe could take the lead in the 'money of the future'

The slow progress of authorities in Europe and elsewhere to regulate it and the struggle to fully understand and legislate without killing it, significantly changed in the summer 2019.

Libras earthquake

That June, Facebook announced that it would launch in 2020 a stablecoin, a digital currency backed by the best performing independent currencies, to offer cheap and fast means of payment to users.

The announcement provoked an immediate backlash from governments and central bankers. Users were also uneasy with the social networks intentions to build an alternative global system for instant payments, in light of its poor record respecting their private data.

Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the US House Committee on Financial Services in Washington, October, 2019. National authorities fear that their cryptocurrency project, Libra could destabilise the global economy, given the substantial reach by the social media giant.

The irruption of the social network pushed cryptocurrencies to the top of the priority lists for regulators across the world, concerned not only about their price instability and dodgy users, but also the implications for the global economy as a whole.

The reason is that Libra is a stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency backed by a reserve asset, in this case a basket of sovereign currencies.

By being tied to national currencies, Libra wants to address the high volatility of cryptocurrencies. But national authorities fear that it could destabilise the global economy, especially when you can reach potentially 2.7 billion users around the world.

We will not accept that Libra is transformed into a sovereign currency that can endanger financial stability, French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, told us in an interview in July 2019, on the eve of the G7 finance ministers meeting, where France sent a strong warning to Facebook.

Dante Disparte, deputy chair of the Libra project, said in December last year that we have always said that the project would seek to be regulated.

But he asked for the same risks, same rules principle that regulators defend in Europe.

Dont push Fintech innovations of any size offshore from the European market because, in the long run, it is going to be bad for the economic competitiveness of the region, he stressed.

The concerns erupted across the world, and the withdrawal of some initial partners from the Libra project, including Visa and Mastercard, led the Libra Association this spring to lower its ambitions, by offering primarily stablecoins backed by only one sovereign currency, becoming in practice digital versions of national money.

By scaling down their plans, Facebook intends to convince financial supervisors of their reasonableness in order to win their approval when it is finally launched in the EU. But it wont be easy.

While US authorities apply existing rules on cryptocurrencies, the Commission drafted new legislation (announced for autumn 2020) to rein in these digital assets.

The rules will come after more than two years of slow but steady progress to regulate cryptocurrencies, a Commission official told The Brussels Times magazine. Libra was a wake-up call to take seriously these developments.

The EU executive was wary from the outset of the risks of over-regulating because of Libra, as Europe could strangle the innovation brought by smaller Fintech firms.

As a result, the Commission designed a set of rules that will be proportionate to the level of risks. Less risky cryptocurrencies will face lighter legislation, while for global cryptocurrencies such as Libra, rules would be stronger, given that they are likely to raise challenges in terms of financial stability and monetary policy, warned Dombrovskis before the summer break.

The new European framework will substitute the national rules that are starting to emerge in a few member states, including France, Germany and Malta. Once the cryptocurrencies win regulatory approval at EU level (by following a series of requirements, depending on their risks), they would obtain a EU-wide passport to operate in the bloc.

Our central banks account

Libra also became a wake-up call for central bankers. A recent survey among 66 central banks by the Bank for International Settlements showed that more than 80% are working on central bank digital currencies, including the ECB.

Yves Mersch, member of the executive board of the ECB said last May that Frankfurt wants to be ready to embrace financial technological innovation, which has the potential to transform payments and money faster.

Although most of the money issued by central banks is in fact already digital, it is accessible only for banks. Their new digital currencies could make their balance sheets accessible to citizens, a true game-changer. In other words, we could have a deposit account in our central bank.

This scenario would have major consequences for the banking industry, as savers would prefer to have their money in the safe hands of the ECB or the Federal Reserve, given the long history of banking crises.

For that reason, central bankers are thinking twice about how to design their digital currencies without provoking a financial earthquake.

The journey wont be either short or easy, as every step forward in the crypto-world has brought new challenges. While stablecoins addressed the volatility of Bitcoin and the first cryptocurrencies, Libra still does not meet the standards of commercial bank money.

Meanwhile, central bank solutions still raise profound questions about the shape of the financial system and the implications for monetary and financial stability, and their own role in the system, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said on 3 September.

Like every new technology, cryptocurrencies must overcome numerous obstacles and address many outstanding risks. But the sense of direction is clear. The future of money is already here.

By Jorge Valero

Link:
cryptocurrency revolution: How Europe could take the lead in the 'money of the future' - The Brussels Times

Nicole Junkermann is an international entrepreneur and investor, and the founder of NJF Holdings, an international investment company with interests in venture capital, private equity, and real estate. Through NJFs venture capital arm (NJF Capital), Nicole oversees a portfolio across Europe and the US similar in size to a small venture fund, including in healthcare, fintech, and deep tech.

Rapid advancements in technology, globalization, digitalisation and now, a pandemic, have led to an important milestone in the history of digital finance. Lockdowns and lack of money-printing has focused attention on the inefficiency and cost of conventional money, pushing many, including new users, towards cryptocurrency. In July, Forbes reported that Bitcoin surge to over $11,000 per bitcoin, triggered by a retail trading boom. Moreover, the Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study published in September 2020 by the University of Cambridge recorded 101 million cryptocurrency users worldwide.

Cryptocurrencies, which are designed to be a secure type of electronic cash, exist virtually and rely on a peer-to-peer implementation system; ie there is no central bank or government to manage the system or step in if something goes wrong. As we move into an increasingly digital age, the future of cryptocurrency is going to become ever more important. According to Chief Economist at DBS, Taimur Baig, cryptocurrencies are expected to see a pandemic-led acceleration of adoption. Thats how Singapore-based DBS Bank describes the current state of digital assets in its quarterly report on cryptocurrencies published in August 2020.

I have made a range of investments across the FinTech space, one of which is in blockchain.com. This investment was the perfect opportunity to allow me to enter a market in which I felt there was a real potential for growth, but by backing an exchange platform, I have been able to take a watching brief as to how the actual individual cryptocurrencies are developing over time.

It has been interesting to see how the likes of Ripple, Ethereum, and Litecoin battle for supremacy, how these currencies have been adopted much quicker in the emerging markets rather than in traditional economies and particularly among younger people in these markets, and how cryptocurrencies have remaining relatively stable among the uncertainty in financial markets caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Blockchain.com

Blockchain.com is a Crypto Exchange designed to provide a secure wallet to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. Since its founding in 2011, the Company now holds over 47 million wallets across 140 countries and has facilitated more than 100 million cryptocurrency transactions with a total value in excess of US$200 billion.

The company has raised US$70 million to date. I am proud to have invested alongside leading investors from across Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and London, including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Lake Star, Lightspeed, and Mosaic Ventures.

Throughout its success, Blockchain.com has focused on delivering on its vision to offer financial empowerment to its customers through creating a secure and private platform allowing users to Be Your Own Bank. Blockchain.com continues to be led by its co-founders, Peter Smith, a renowned thought-leader in the FinTech space, and, serial entrepreneur and technologist, Nicolas Cary.

As an investor, I am excited to see how this sector develops and, in particular, I am eager to see how the currencies adapt to the inevitable and necessary changes in this industry, such as clearer regulation and governance, as well as enhancements in cyber security protection.

Digital payments, alongside the infrastructure and technology upon which this industry is founded, have been around for a long time. However, it has recently become clear that this virtual currency has become a global phenomenon. Growing global connectivity and technological advancements has also led to an enhanced sophistication in the cryptocurrency market and it will be interesting to see how this continues to advance.

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Nicole Junkermann on the future of cryptocurrency | Business Leader News - Business Leader

As an emerging and continually evolving sector of the financial markets, cryptocurrency

offers huge potential to traders of all levels. Only a few years ago, crypto trading was largely limited to the spot markets, with little opportunity to short trade and profit from bear markets.

These days, cryptocurrency traders can choose from an array of different ways to gain exposure to digital assets. Cryptocurrency futures are booming, with open interest having reached an all-time high in late August. Options are also a fast-growing market, while decentralized finance has opened up a whole new sub-sector of yield farming.

However, no matter how you choose to trade or invest in crypto, a certain amount of risk is inevitable. Therefore, rather than getting blinded by the possibilities of profits, the most successful traders focus on how to mitigate the downside. The best way to do this is by making use of the multitude of trading tools available, either via exchanges or via external sites.

Exchange trading tools to offset risk

In the 24/7 cryptocurrency markets, where volatility is the norm, it can be a risky proposition to walk away from an open position. A flash crash or sudden price spike could wipe out your profits in seconds. Therefore, many exchanges offer conditional ordering, enabling you to configure an optimal exit point where youll either take profit or stop loss.

HollaEx is the first open-source exchange that gives traders the ability to make their own order warning pop ups that will trigger when a trade goes beyond your predetermined set amount. This simple but effective measure helps prevent small typos from turning into big losses.

Phemex is the first exchange to pioneer bracket ordering, allowing traders to place a limit order, with take-profit and stop-loss orders that only become active once the primary limit order is fully filled. They effectively serve as a One Cancels the Other (OCO) order.

A feature like this can help a trader to maximize profits and decrease losses within the same order. It reduces the risk that if they arent keeping an eye on the markets, they may risk missing the optimal exit price.

Perhaps not quite as automated, but in a similar vein, Bybit recently rolled out its strategy alerts feature. This is a customizable feature that will send an alert to users, via the exchanges app, when a particular market event occurs. Along with specific price alerts, it can also notify traders regarding particular market trends, or if theres a turning point from bull to bear markets.

Trading bots

Many traders prefer to go full-on with the hands-off approach and automate their trading using bots. Using a bot can reduce the burden of repetitive tasks, achieve pinpoint precision in timing a trade, and simplify complicated sequences of trades.

Deciding which bot is right for you very much depends on your trading style. For example, if youre trading relatively infrequently and just want a bot to rebalance your portfolio, then Shrimpy is a solid choice.

Its specifically designed for portfolio management and allows you to configure your ideal asset balance. You can set a tolerance threshold for movements, and how often youd like the portfolio to rebalance. It will then automatically buy or sell assets based on price movements to achieve your desired portfolio allocation.

At the other end of the scale is HaasOnline, one of the most advanced automated trading bots. It uses its own scripting language so that traders can design and configure complex algorithms as they wish. Theres also the option to take advantage of the platforms own pre-built bots, and everything can be back-tested before executing in a live trading environment.

If you are looking for a more heavy duty solution, then bitHolla offers a range of liquidity bots that gradually allows big traders to accumulate crypto at the best prices across a range of different exchanges.

Analytical tools

Coinmarketcap might be the go-to aggregator for checking a spot price, but there are plenty more sophisticated aggregators and tools available for traders looking for deeper market insights.

One of the most popular is TradingView, which has become the de-facto platform for charting and technical analysis. With a free account, you get access to basic charting, plus some research and analysis regarding particular assets.

However, more advanced traders are usually willing to stump up the monthly fee for access to extra features. These include the ability to apply multiple indicators per chart, show multiple charts in one window to compare performance, and get rid of advertisements.

Beyond the technicals, many traders also like to keep abreast of news and developments in the cryptocurrency space, which can provide insights into the fundamental factors driving the price. However, there are dozens, if not hundreds of news outlets covering crypto, which is where crypto panic comes in.

Its a news aggregator site that allows you to configure your preferences so you can follow the stories related to assets in your portfolio. It also offers a pro feature giving access to instant alerts about news stories.

With the crypto markets becoming ever-more complex, its more important than ever to pick the right trading tools that work for you. Which ones you choose will depend on the type of trader you are, how much youre willing to spend, which exchanges you like to use, and much more. As with any decision in cryptocurrency, do plenty of research to find a suite of tools that will serve you best.

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A Guide to Cryptocurrency Trading Tools - Legal Reader

The Phenomenon of Cryptocurrency

The world has witnessed various forms of currencies as mediums of money. These currencies have mostly been centralized to their geographical origin. However, a new phenomenon, traditionally known as the cryptocurrency was invented back in 2009. Investopedia identifies cryptocurrency as an internet-based digital medium of exchange (virtual currency), which uses secured cryptography to protect the financial transactions conducted over the internet. The most significant feature of a cryptocurrency is that it is not controlled by any central authority: the decentralized nature of thesystem which keeps the records of transactions of a cryptocurrency makes it more immune to third-party interferences such as the government or other regulatory bodies. The two parties involved in the transaction of cryptocurrencies can carry the transaction directly through the use of encrypted public or private keys. These transfers can be done with minimal processing fees, allowing users to avoid the steep fees charged by traditional financial institutions.

There have been claims of attempts on cryptocurrency with ledgers secured by encryption prior to the invention of bitcoins as well, e.g. online currencies. Two examples of these were B-Money and Bit Gold, which were formulated but never fully developed. In 2008, however, an individual or a group of individuals known by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the concept of a cryptocurrency, when they published a paper titledBitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, on the domain named bitcoin.org. In January, 2009, Nakamoto rolled out the bitcoin software as an open-source code, which marks the global introduction of the bitcoin cryptocurrency system. Learn more at bitcoin champion

The general unit structure of bitcoins has 1bitcoin (BTC) equivalent to 1,000 millibitcoins (mBTC), 1,000,000 microbitcoins (BTC), or 100,000,000satoshis. The symbols for Bitcoin are or .The bitcoin activity went underway when on 3rd January 2009, Nakamoto created the Bitcoin Network and mined the first block of the chain. Just three days later, the first official transaction of the bitcoin took place when Finney downloaded the Bitcoin software on its release date, and on 12 January 2009 received ten bitcoins from Nakamoto. The Bitcoin Network reported its first commercial transaction when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought twoPapa Johnspizzas for 10,000 (Ten Thousand Bitcoins). It is estimated by Blockchain Analysts that Nakamoto himself mined one million Bitcoins initially, before any transactions began.

The concept of removal of intermediaries such as the financial institutions and Governmental Regulatory authorities was one of the main features which attracted investors and markets towards the Bitcoin cryptocurrency system. Its peer-to-peer encrypted transaction and a public ledger known as the Bitcoin Blockchain also attracted people towards its use. Following the first few proven transactions, the first regular users of Bitcoins were black markets such as the Silk Road. The discrete nature of the Bitcoins transactions without the interception of accountability bureaus attracted he black markets. In the article Bitcoin, Economics, Technology and Governance, it was reported that in its 30-months existence, The Silk Road transacted 9.9 million in Bitcoins, which were equivalent to $214 million at the time.

At the beginning of 2011, the exchange rate of Bitcoin to US Dollars was low, at $0.30 per Bitcoin. However, by the end of the year, the rate rose to $5.27 per Bitcoin. Initially there was fluctuation in the exchange rate as the price rose to $31.50 during June and fell to $11.00 within a month. This variation persisted as during the next month it fell to $7.80, and in another month to $4.77.

In 2012, bitcoin prices started at $5.27 growing to $13.30 for the year.By 9 January the price had risen to $7.38, but then crashed by 49% to $3.80 over the next 16 days. The price then rose to $16.41 on 17 August, but fell by 57% to $7.10 over the next three days.

To deal with this fluctuation in Bitcoins value, The Bitcoin Foundation was founded in September 2012. The purpose of the foundation was to promote bitcoins development and uptake. The Bitcoin Network later underwent several systematic upgrades in order to improve its softwares interface and connectivity efficiency, and took the world economy by storm.

More:
Foundation of Bitcoins The Age of Cryptocurrency - Australian Times

Everybody knows about Bitcoin these days as it is the de facto cryptocurrency. It is used in an almost mainstream way to pay for a variety of goods and services. There are even ATMs where you can withdraw Bitcoins.It is far from being the only cryptocurrency out there, however. There are lots of other coins that all have some value and have some investors very excited, indeed. In fact, if you are looking to do things other than just buy and sell crypto, it is worth noting that other coins have a variety of uses.

In this article, I will give you some information on other coins so you can get an idea of whether you think they are worth buying for your specific needs.

# Dogecoin

What started out as a gag coin to poke fun at the hype of the cryptocurrency craze has become an actual currency. It is the darling of the counterculture styles that are interested in cryptocoins. But, dont be fooled, it does have some value and can be considered a good investment choice.

The strength of the coin lies in the fact that it sticks to the original ideal of what Bitcoin was supposed to represent back in its early days. Dogecoin has a massive community feel to it where the people act almost democratically and with a common sense of togetherness. It doesnt have a centralized authority and has something of a friendly vibe surrounding it.

You can check out the DOGE to BTC ticker and see that it is quite a stable coin and may make a good investment for some looking for a stable return and a good market cap.

# Ripple

One of the biggest problems with Bitcoin is its network latency. Since the hashes need to be encrypted one at a time and the process can take time, there is a slowdown when many transactions are happening at once. And the cost to mine them is quite high so fees are on the higher side with regards to other coins.

Ripple has done away with mining since every coin on its blockchain has been mined at the very beginning making it much faster and leaner than bitcoin.

It is also popular with investors because it has proved itself popular with traditional banking institutions. Since cross border transactions are very easy and fast with Ripple, they love to use it over their very own systems. Ripple has a very tangible value which traditional investors like.

# Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash owes its very existence to the slowness and lack of scalability with bitcoin. It was created after a hard fork was made on the blockchain which has larger blocks. The blocks on the Bitcoin Cash chain are 8mb rather than the traditional 1mb so they have much more computing power which speeds up the transactions.

Once again, since it is a coin that solves a problem, it has usefulness beyond just a vehicle for speculation so investors are very enthusiastic about it.

*This article has been contributed on behalf of Paxful. However, the information provided herein is not and is not intended to be, investment, financial, or other advice.

Excerpt from:
The 3 lesser known cryptocurrency that are worth looking into - InfotechLead.com

The present trends and macros surrounding the worlds flagship crypto Bitcoin suggest that there seem to be more than meets the eye. Nairametrics computed five major fundamentals that give the worlds most attractive crypto an edge that a good investor cant afford to ignore.

1.The decline of Bitcoins on crypto exchanges is at a record low

When coins on spot exchanges drop, its a sign that new buyers are coming in to scoop coins off the markets and move them into cold storage HODL, and we are seeing new HODLers right now. Very macro bullish.

READ: GTBank, Zenith Bank, MTN record gains, investors up by N50 billion

With so much demand, especially from institutional investors like Grayscale and Microstrategy, it might just be a matter of time for the worlds flagship crypto to jump the bullish wagon in the long term.

The decline of BTC exchange balances signals reduced selling pressure. In August 2020, 2.6 million BTC was being held on exchanges. This is significantly lower than the last time Bitcoin hit a local top a year ago (2.8 million), and lower than before the sell-off in March (2.9 million).

READ: Nigerias Broadband subscriptions peak at 82.7m Prof. Danbatta

2. The number of entities with a balance equal to or above 1000 BTC continues to rise

The signs are bullish, as we still havent broken the upward trend line, despite the dip at the start of September.

As BTC whales accumulate BTCs, Bitcoins circulating supply reduces, and this can weaken any bearish trend that BTC finds itself in. This means that over time, its possible that as Bitcoin approaches its fixed supply of 21 million coins, the price of BTC will go up, with BTCs present demand factored in.

READ: Ripple opens 1,000,000,000 XRP

3. Many Bitcoin holders are refusing to sell

Recall thatNairametrics about two months ago, revealed how investors remain bullish in the long term, despite the blurred global economic outlook and resurgence of the COVID-19 virus.

The percentage of supply owned by entities holding 10 $BTC grew from 5.1% to 13.8% in 5 years, while the percent held by entities with 100-100k BTC declined from 62.9% to 49.8%.

READ: Tron Whale transfers 306 million TRX

These show that more retail investors are grabbing a stake in the most popular crypto asset, thereby diminishing the strength of BTC whales.

4. Bitcoin has safe haven properties

Bitcoin has a significant first-mover advantage, not only because its the first crypto as we know it, but because it was the first one with a gold-like store of value properties.

READ: PZ incursN1 billion in exchange rate loss

As such, it enjoys tremendous network effects (not dissimilar to those experienced by social networks like Facebook and Twitter) due to its vibrant community of users, developers, miners, exchanges, custodians, etc.

Nothing demonstrates this better than the fact that Bitcoin is an open-source project that can be copied or forked by anyone in the world at any moment. And yet despite being forked many times over the years, it remains the dominant crypto (store of value or otherwise) both in terms of market capitalization and liquidity. This race is Bitcoins to lose.

READ: Bitcoin robbers transfer stolen BTCs worth $13.2 million

5. Public-listed global brands are using Bitcoin to hedge inflation

Some weeks back, MicroStrategy, a publicly-traded company based in America, adopted Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset to hedge against fiat inflation. This is a big deal, as BTC is being used as intended a hard money/savings instrument.

Our investment in Bitcoin is part of our new capital allocation strategy, which seeks to maximize long-term value for our shareholders, said Michael J. Saylor, CEO, MicroStrategy Incorporated.

READ: U.S public listed company allocates $425 million into Bitcoin

This investment reflects our belief that Bitcoin, as the worlds most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash, he added.

Disclaimer: The objective is to give the needed insight on the worlds most valuable crypto prevailing in the ever-changing global financial market. This should not be seen as a piece of investment advice or guide, as Nairametrics advises one to seek the services of a certified financial advisor for such.

Readers should also note that the historical performances of this financial asset do not guarantee future performance. Therefore, Nairametrics doesnt bear any responsibility for any trading loss you might incur as a result of using this data.

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5 major reasons it's good to buy Bitcoin - Nairametrics

In brief

If the Republic of the Marshall Islands state-sponsored cryptocurrency, the Sovereign or SOV, takes off, SFB Technologies, the software company building the coin, would become incredibly wealthy.

The SOV is a fully-fledged cryptocurrency. The Pacific Island nation, home to about 60,000, is considering issuing it to end its decades-long reliance on the US dollar.

SFB Technologies would receive 7.5% of the coins supply, which it could use after five years of its launchwhich could be at any point after the 18-month-long presale begins, if the government implements the idea.

We are not in the business of pumping and dumping, Dr. Peter Dittus, the cofounder of SFB Technologies, and a member of the advisory committee of the SOV Foundation, the non-profit that governs the network, told Decrypt. But we wouldnt keep on holding it, because we dont have intrinsic interest in holding currencies of sovereign countries.

The SOV Foundation, the non-profit overseeing the development of the project, will hold its presale for SOV in the next couple of months, just in case the Marshall Islands government, which is still deliberating whether to issue the coin, goes ahead with the project.

Dr. Dittus, who is also a former Secretary-General of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), explained why it might be in favor of the coin.

First, many of its inhabitants live or study in the US. And they are spending lots of money, both ways, to children who are studying [abroad] and to the people who are working, Dr. Dittus told Decrypt.

It's very difficult and very costly for normal people using Western Union or MoneyGram, he said. Western Union charges $5 to send small amounts of money from the Marshall Islands to the USA. The SOV, built on Algorand, aims to reduce those transaction fees, which rack up for smaller amounts.

Second, without a central bank, the Marshall Islands are still dependent on the economy of the USA, the superpower to whom the island nation is attached. A cryptocurrency affords it greater autonomy.

The Feds profligate money printing is hard to reconcile with the functioning financial system of any market-based system, said Dr. Dittus.

But the SOV will, like clockwork, increase its monetary supply by 4% each year, meaning it would be a non-inflationary currency; an alternative to the existing fiat currencies. Still, in case of an unexpected hiccup, the nation still has the US dollar to fall back on, he said.

The Marshall Islands final judgment may be influenced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has objected to the coin since 2018 on the grounds that it may cause economic, reputational, and governance risks. In May, it said that those concerns still stood.

Dr. Dittus said that these concerns did not amount to an objection, The IMF, with whom we have had extensive discussions, together with the Marshall Islands government have to be very careful.

The advice, he said, was to be careful, make sure you fully understand it before you go ahead [and] that youre on top of it, that you can handle it; make sure that you dont fall victim to half baked measures and half baked institutions.

The presale for the SOV will begin in the next few months, and last for 18 months. By the end of the presale, the Marshall Islands must have made its final decision on the cointhough itll probably make it earlier, said Dr. Dittus.

For Dr. Dittus, the Marshall Islands is an experiment. When he gets the SOV up and running in the Marshall Islands, or if the government opts to scrap it, Dr. Dittus said that hell take the underlying technology to one of several small, developing nationshe declined to say which oneswho have expressed interest in the coin.

Read more from the original source:
Inside the Marshall Islands New Cryptocurrency: The SOV - Decrypt