There is no doubt about the fact that cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology are a disruptive and revolutionary force. Ever since Satoshi Nakamoto first created Bitcoin in 2008, it has redefined the way we look at our financial systems, transaction technologies and governmental control over economy.

In the last ten years, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have established themselves as a real alternative financial asset system to traditional fiat currencies. Likewise, Blockchain technology has also proven itself an incorruptible, fast and efficient mechanism of doing transactions.

In this article, we are going to focus on five industries that are seeing increased exposure from cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology.

Online gaming is a huge multi-billion dollar industry that is experiencing double-digit year-on-year growth for the last five odd years. Experts predict that this industry is going to see an exponential rise not only in the number of players, but also revenues and profits.

Tencent, a leading China based financial investment corporation has bought controlling rights in some of the most famous games ever, including Clash of Clans. Gaming companies are already experimenting with crypto payments and Blockchain technology on a massive level.

One industry, which has faced the brunt of the Coronavirus pandemic, has been the financial investment sector. With markets crashing all over the world, investors have lost trillions of dollars worth of investments in a very short span of time.

The option is either to go back to investing in precious metals like gold and silver (which are hedges against rising inflation) or look towards the future. The future is investing in cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology and getting trustpedia.io. The stability and security of investments has been on display even during the Coronavirus lockdown.

The Coronavirus pandemic saw the worlds worst oil crisis ever. With zero demand for oil globally, the oil and energy sector saw its sharpest fall in recent times. On the other hand, industries, which are powering alternative energy solutions, saw their stocks rise.

Many industries who are innovating on new technology favour cryptocurrencies as the future of financial systems. They are also actively working with Blockchain technology as a fast, safe and efficient model of transaction. This association is expected to get strengthened further in the coming years.

United Nations along with other global organizations like the Red Cross are engaging with cryptocurrencies as a fast model of reaching currency to the most underprivileged parts of the world. During the Coronavirus pandemic, the Italian Red Cross also started accepting donations and emergency funds from donors in Bitcoins.

NGOs all over the world have explored the immediacy, which is associated with crypto and Blockchain technology. This becomes very critical especially when it comes to transferring relief materials and funds to the people most affected by natural calamities, wars, insurgency, etc.

Last but definitely not the least, the IT industry and SaaS service providers are exploring and dealing with cryptocurrencies from a number of clients. They are also reworking their systems and processes at the behest of clients who want to shift to Blockchain technology.

Over the past few years, more and more clients, especially in the Supply and Logistics services like billion dollar fashion brands and huge FMCG manufacturers are experimenting with Blockchain technology on an unprecedented scale. It is expected that this collaboration is going to rise incrementally in the coming years.

While everyone believes in the meritorious nature of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology, brands and industries are still a bit sceptical owing to legal issues and regulations. However, experts feel that the more powerful industries get into the game, the more will be the lobbying effect they will start having on governments and policy makers.

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5 Industries that are going to be dominated by cryptocurrency and blockchain technology - Crypto News Flash

(Photo by David McBee on Pexel.com)

A lawsuit alleging the theft of cryptocurrency in the millions of dollars has been brought against Irvington teen Ellis Pinsky, 18, by Michael Terpin, a marketer and advisor to cryptocurrency and technology companies and an investor in cryptocurrency.

The lawsuit, filed in May in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, names Pinsky and other defendants as being a gang of cybercriminals who used SIM-swapping to steal the Altcoin held in Terpins native wallet. At the time of the crime Terpin alleges Pinsky committed, Pinsky was 15, and according to Terpin the crypto stolen was worth $24 million.

By filing the lawsuit now, Terpin hopes federal criminal charges can be brought to bear against the defendants who, like Pinsky, are now adults.

Elliss attorney, Noam Biale of the firm Sher Tremonte, gave the following statement to the River Journal.

This case is about a grown man using his wealth to bully a defenseless teenager. Ellis should be focused on finishing high school but instead he has no choice but to fight this effort to destroy his life and future. We look forward to helping Ellis stand up to these abusive tactics in court.

Terpin, who grew up in Buffalo NY and attended Syracuse University before moving to the West Coast, seeks monetary damages triple the amount he alleges was stolen from him and is also hoping the lawsuit deters Pinsky and others seeking to engage in this sort of cybercrime in the future. Terpin recently received a judgment against Nick Truglia who also stole crypto from him by SIM-swap and he stands aggrieved by Truglias cavalier attitude about his crime and the punishment he received.

Thats how these kids are thinking, theyre like twenty years old and theyll just have to lay low for a little while and then theyll be able to live like kings. So, this is all about making that not too easy to do.

Biale is going to be responding to the complaint on or before July 31. So far, no criminal charges have been filed against Pinsky or the other defendants and whether this case will affect Pinskys college prospects cannot be determined at this time.

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Irvingteen Teen Faces Civil Suit Over Alleged Theft of Cryptocurrency - River Journal Staff

The cryptocurrency market volatility is on the rise as the market gets ready for Bitcoins futures expiration on CME. These contracts expire every two months and often lead to the sell-off on the spot market. According to the recent data, compiled by Cointelegraph and Arcane Research, BTC/USD tends to lose 2.3% of its value ahead of the expiration. The traders will be closely watching the spot prices to be ready to react to the situation.

Currently, the total capitalization of all digital assets in circulation is registered at $264 billion, while an average daily trading volume reached $110 billion. Bitcoins market share increased to 66%.

Read also:Cryptocurrency Market News: Cardano and Bitcoin set the pace for the end of May crypto rallies

Bitcoin (BTC) hit the intraday high above $9,600 and retreated to $9,450 by press time. At the time of writing, the first digital coin is moving within the strong bearish trend amid expanding volatility. Since the start of the day, BTC/USD has lost nearly 1.5%, though it is still 3% higher from this time on Thursday. The resistance area of $9,500-$9,600 remains unconquered so far. The support is created by $9,000.

Ethereum tested the intraday high of $224.80 during early Asian hours on Friday, but retreated to $220.30 by the time of writing. The second-largest digital asset has stayed unchanged since the start of the day, though it is still nearly 7% higher from this time on Thursday. Despite the retreat from the intraday high, the price is moving within a bullish trend amid low volatility.

XRP/USD has experienced a sharp decline below $0.2000 after a failed attempt to clear a strong resistance at $0.2030. At the time of writing, XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.1980, down 1% since the beginning of the day and mostly unchanged on a day-to-day basis.

Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are also experiencing sharp sell-offs. Both coins has lost over 1% of their respective value in les than 5 minutes. LTC/USD is changing hands at $44.54, BCH/USD - $237.45

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Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin bleeding as the market gets ready for CME futures expiration - FXStreet

The pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, who has yet to reveal their identity, may have indicated that they are still active in the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency a digital currency generated, or mined, when a computer solves a complex mathematical problem and was invented after Nakamoto wrote a white paper on the subject.

Each cryptocurrency can be tracked online on a publicly viewable ledger called a blockchain.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

On 20 May, a tweet from a cryptocurrency transaction tracking account suggested that 40 bitcoins ($391,055) were transferred from an account that had been dormant since 2009.

The coins in this transaction were mined in the first month of Bitcoins existence, the account said.

Speculation quickly grew that the funds could belong to one of the early bitcoin miners, such as Satoshi Nakamoto.

The account, which generated the coins on 9 February 2009 when they were worth zero US dollars, moved them on 20 May 2020.

It is reportedly the first time since August 2017 that someone has spent coins from early 2009.

However, while the age of the coins suggests that it was an account owned by Satoshi, many have raised questions about whether that is the case.

Jameson Lopp, chief technology officer of bitcoin security company Casa, said: Yall need to up your analysis game, arguing that the miner does not fit the Patoshi Pattern. The Patoshi Pattern looks at the cryptographic hash (called nonces) used in the blockchain process.

A flaw in the early bitcoin code means that some blocks have different patterns to others, and so can be identified as belonging to the pattern or not. Coindesks Zack Voell also suggested that this was not Satoshi, based on the Patoshi Pattern, as did the CEO of Blockstream.com Adam Back.

The reason that detecting Satoshis movements is so attractive to the cryptocurrency community is not simply to discover the identity of bitcoins founder; 99.9 per cent of all Patoshi Pattern blocks are unspent, meaning that 1.1 million bitcoins (approximately $7bn) is out there somewhere.

What is Bitcoin Everything you need to know

Satoshis identity is controversially claimed by Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright, who in 2016 said that he would release information verifying that he is the founder of bitcoin. As of writing, such evidence has not been reliably produced, but he has said in the past that he would sue doubters of his claim for defamation. Mr Wright has also been accused of using bogus contracts and false signatures to steal $5bn worth of bitcoin from his late business partner Dave Kleiman.

With regards to this most recent transfer, Mr Wright has reportedly denied that he moved the cryptocurrency. It is reported that Mr Wright made a statement saying: These coins are not my personal coins and I did not move them and as I have mentioned before I have no intent of dumping BTC or otherwise touching trust assets.

That statement, however, has since been removed with Mr Wright also laying claims to the wallet by providing a list of bitcoin addresses to a court as part of an ongoing legal issue against the estate of Dave Kleiman. Included on the list provided was the address used in the transfer, but that does not confirm ownership. Alongside the evidence that the transfer does not fit the Patoshi Pattern, the Kleiman estate has argued that the list provided was fake. We have reached out to Mr Wright for clarification.

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Bitcoin founder may have just moved nearly $400,000 in untouched cryptocurrency - The Independent

One of the major challenges confronting the cryptocurrency sector is the difficulty in finding insurers willing to cover losses.

One of the major challenges confronting the cryptocurrency sector is the difficulty in finding insurers willing to cover losses.

Along with a generally hardening marketplace, entities in the space must also contend with a dearth of historical data, a wide range of business models and a dense and difficult-to-understand technical underpinning.

Combined, these factors are enough to convince most insurers to steer clear of covering cryptocurrency or to price in such uncertainty as to make them cost-prohibitive.

The market is a bit broken, said Raymond Zenkich,president andCOO of Evertas, formerly known as BlockRe before it was rebranded in February 2020 as acryptocurrency insurance company.

Today, the cryptocurrency market is around $250 billion, said Zenkich. But theres really only around $1-2 billion of insurance capacity in the market, which is a small, small fraction of whats needed.

Evertas hopes to ease that disparity in two ways: We will basically be a crypto-asset MGA, and in parallel with that, we are creating an insurance company in Bermuda, said Zenkich.

So that is to provide capacity, but to provide capacity in a very supportive way for the entire industry.

Jacob Decker, vice president and director of financial institutions at Woodruff Sawyer, said he welcomes the added capacity.

If a new market comes online, I will certainly be sending business that way, said Decker.

Garrett Koehn, president of CRC Insurance Group, agreed that there is substantial need. There is no efficient marketplace right now, he said.

It would be a good thing for buyers and a good thing for brokers like us to be able to have some more product to distribute in those areas that nobody seems to want to touch efficiently right now.

Koehn emphasized, however, that different parts of the space are impacted differently.

If its a company that happens to be involved in blockchain, and were doing the D&O for them, thats usually not a problem, said Koehn.

If its a company thats to have an ICO, thats harder. It really depends on what the company is doing and which type of insurance were talking about.

Evertas model is built in part on the proposition that adequate data does exist to accurately price cryptocurrency risk but that most carriers lack the technical knowledge and expertise to understand it.

Weve spent the last two and a half years developing the underwriting approach and framework to make sure risks associated to crypto-assets are correctly measured, said Zenkich.

We have a very diverse group of people that weve used to come up with our underwriting framework, said J. Gdanski, CEOandfounder of Evertas.

Weve [not only] taken an insurance perspective, but also a lot of security, a lot of technology, a lot of audit-type viewpoints as well. I think its very hard to replicate that on a part-time basis without a team of specialists.

But Decker cautioned against underestimating the challenges of the space.

Crypto is uniquely technical and high-risk, he said.

It is not uncommon in crypto to have a startup company that manages and/or processes such significant value in digital assets that the exposure to loss of those assets or litigation far outstrip their balance sheet. That is such an asymmetric counter-party risk that just saying that insurance capacity is an issue is missing the more important point, he said.

Underwriters are understandably wary of providing protections that are substantially larger than what that company would ever be able to fund in the absence of insurance. It is not a surprise that carriers proceed with caution for emerging risks and monitor how both the companies and claim data evolve before committing to large capacity/limits on any one company.

Decker is also concerned about conflicting interests in the Evertas model.

Lets say it starts writing a bunch of business in its capacity as a specialist broker and then obtains authority to underwrite on behalf of a carrier that competes in the broader market for the same kind of business, said Decker. In the long run, that might be seen as a potential conflict, even though this dynamic is not without precedent and can be managed.

Koehn has concerns about the timing.

The insurance market is pretty hard, and there are a lot of areas that are tough and you could kind of make a pretty good career right now focusing on the areas that were all doing already, said Koehn. Especially now with coronavirus going on, its not really a great time to be launching novel products.

He also cites the general slowdown in ICOs after the frenzied pace of the past few years.

If the volume were still going like crazy, people would probably be trying harder to figure it out, Koehn said, but I think the slowdown in that space, as well, also caused some people to focus elsewhere.

Decker shared these concerns.

Insurers are already focused on trying to underwrite risks profitably in this challenging environment, so the incentive for them to all of a sudden also become a first mover in the crypto space doesnt look very attractive, Decker said.

He also has concerns about scale. Theres not enough premium in the market for them to pivot from multi-billion-dollar businesses into an emerging nascent one that is high-risk at a time where theyre just trying to make money at the existing stuff that they do.

Decker also has concerns about the long-tail of liability coverage, citing a slew of newly filed class action suits stemming from events from three or four years ago.

You cant just take a snapshot after one year and say, We took in a million dollars of premium and we only paid 100,000 in claims, Decker said.

You have to let that policy you wrote today season over the full time that our legal system takes before you will have a fully developed loss experience for any given year and know if your pricing was adequate and sustainable.

Ultimately, though, Decker does see a role for Evertas.

If they have the technical expertise to facilitate better underwriting decisions, then thats a really useful tool, Decker said. And I have to think theyll find carriers that are interested in doing that.

Koehn agreed. I dont know what will bring people into the spaces more comfortably, if its just time, but certainly a group like theirs that has reputable people who have a better understanding of it should be able to help, said Koehn.

I think the underwriters should listen to them.

As for timing, Gdanski sees blockchain technology and crypto-assets becoming increasingly integrated into all manner of business.

Theres a real chance that processes and workflows and liability and risk will be shifting around as people start to really utilize technology, not as just a fancy database, but as a way to leverage the difference in workflows and risk, said Gdanski.

I dont think any insurance carrier wants to wake up in 10 years and say, Holy cow, weve missed the entire boat on this. Itd be like in the mid-90s, saying, Ah, Internet, who needs that? &

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Cryptocurrency Insurance: What Will It Take for the Market to Offer Coverage? - Workers Comp Forum

Background

The recent High Court of New Zealand decision of David Ian Ruscoe And Malcolm Russell Moore v Cryptopia Limited (in liquidation) [2020] NZHC 728 (8 April 2020) considered the very much unchartered waters of the legal standing of cryptocurrencies as property.

The decision is an interesting one because it is an example of the courts adapting existing legal concepts to new technologies - in this case cryptocurrency. Many would think that cryptocurrencies would of course be property, but the judgment noted that it appeared to be the first occasion on which this issue had been before the courts in New Zealand. Given the novelty of the issue, the court also considered decisions from other courts in England and Singapore. The decision is also noteworthy because it demonstrates practical difficulties which members of the business community may have with new technologies - here it was insolvency practitioners, and how they should deal with cryptocurrencies where there were competing claims to it.

Cryptopia Ltd (Cryptopia) operated a cryptocurrency exchange, allowing users to conduct online trading of a vast range of cryptocurrencies. Cryptopia generated income by charging fees for deposits, trades and withdrawals. Customers of Cryptopia were able to trade about 900 cryptocurrencies, more than any other exchange in the world at the time.

From its establishment to early 2017, Cryptopia operated as a global business with approximately 30,000 users. After the price of Bitcoin more than trebled in around November 2017, Cryptopias user-base increased to more than 900,000. However, in January 2019, a serious hack of Cryptopias servers caused between 9-14% of Cryptopias cryptocurrency holdings (valued at about NZD$30 million) to be stolen. Following the hack, Cryptopia was placed into liquidation while maintaining 960,143 account holders with a positive coin balance, 104,186 of which had a deemed nil value as a result of the hack.

At the time of liquidation, the liquidators estimated Cryptopias holdings of cryptocurrency to be worth approximately NZD$170 million.

In light of the novel legal issues involved and competing claims to cryptocurrency made by creditors and account holders, the liquidators applied to the court for the determination of:

The liquidators needed guidance on those legal issues in order to assess what assets were the subject of the liquidation, and how those assets should be distributed in the liquidation. The liquidators position was further complicated because there were competing claims to Cryptopias assets by its creditors and accountholders.

Is cryptocurrency legal property?

Ruscoe was particularly concerned with the meaning of property as defined by section 2 of the New Zealand Companies Act 1993, namely that: property means property of every kind whether tangible or intangible, real or personal, corporeal or incorporeal, and includes rights, interests, and claims of every kind in relation to property however they arise.

Whether or not cryptocurrency is property is an important issue for legal purposes. If cryptocurrencies are property, then usual concepts of property law would apply to them i.e. for the recovery of coins when they are stolen or fraudulently transferred, for use as a security, as an asset in a deceased estate and whether it can form the subject of a trust. All these are legal concepts which would flow from cryptocurrency being property.

His Honour noted an extract from the UK Jurisdiction Taskforces Legal Statement on Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts:

Why does it matter if a cryptocurrency asset is capable of being property. It matters because in principle proprietary rights are recognised against the whole world, whereas other personal rights are recognised only against someone who has assumed a relevant legal duty. Proprietary rights are of particular importance in an insolvency, where they generally have priority over claims by creditors, and when someone seeks to recover something that has been lost, stolen, or unlawfully taken.They are also relevant to the questions of whether there can be a security interest in a crypto asset and whether a crypto asset can be held on trust.

Given their nature, cryptoassets do not fit squarely within established categories of property.

For those reasons, Justice Gendall was required to consider the issue having regard to the characteristics of legal property, as provided for in the landmark English decision in National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth. In particular, Justice Gendall noted that: before a right or an interest can be admitted into the category of property it must be definable, identifiable by third parties, capable in its nature of assumption by third parties, and have some degree of permanence or stability.

His Honour considered cryptocurrency in the context of the four requirements for property set out by Lord Wilberforce in National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth. In doing so, Gendall J states from the outset that he is satisfied cryptocurrencies meet the definition of property in this case, and that his decision accords with the approach adopted in the UK Jurisdiction Taskforces Legal Statement on Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts. His Honour reached these conclusions on the four Ainsworth requirements:

His Honour then went on to consider three recent New Zealand cases which considered various kinds of digital information as property. His Honour referred to:

His Honour noted that in the Dixon and Henderson decisions the courts accepted that the orthodox position that digital information is not property does not apply to cases involving digital assets. In those decisions, digital files were seen as property by distinguishing them from pure information. His Honour concluded that the principles in Dixon and Henderson applied to cryptocurrencies in the current case.

Decision

Simply, the outcome of the courts decision was that yes, cryptocurrency is property within the meaning of section 2 of the Companies Act. His Honour also indicated that cryptocurrency was probably property in the common law sense, although was not required to decide that issue. His Honour concluded that cryptocurrencies constitute intangible, personal property and are clearly an identifiable thing of value.

Were the cryptocurrencies held on trust?

After deciding that the cryptocurrencies were property, His Honour then had to consider whether Cryptopia owned the cryptocurrency, or whether it held the cryptocurrency on trust for accountholders.

His Honour concluded that, in the course of Cryptopias operations, a series of express trusts in favour of account holders arose in respect of their digital assets.

In particular, he found that Cryptopia was a trustee of a pool of each of the 900 cryptocurrencies which were held on the exchange i.e. there was a separate trust created for each type of cryptocurrency. The beneficiaries of each of those trusts were the customers who had cryptocurrency stored on the exchange. In reaching that conclusion His Honour paid particular attention as to how the exchange was operated and the terms and conditions of the exchange itself.

The effect of the decision was that the liquidators held the cryptocurrency on trust for Cryptopias customers, rather than them being assets of the company which would then be available for distribution to the creditors.

Takeaway points

The important takeaways from this decision are:

We are not aware of any Australian decision where the issue of cryptocurrency as property has been considered by a court, however the decision reached a similar outcome to a recent English decision of AA v Persons Unknown & Ors, Re Bitcoin [2019] EWHC 3556 (Comm). The reasoning in this decision is likely to be of assistance to Australian courts when the issue arises here.

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Cryptocurrency - Is it property and why does it matter? - Lexology

JACKSONVILLE, FL, May 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- BOTS, Inc. (MCIG) (GERMAN EXCHANGE: M06.SG), emerginginnovator of products, technologies, and services for the rapidly growing robotics industry - announced today the acquisition of DBOT Technology Corp (DBOT).

DBOT has developed several cutting-edge AI powered trading bot platforms (in Beta phase) and has an experienced team of developers with expertise in robotic automation processes and enterprise grade blockchain platforms to deliver advanced crypto and financial services with unprecedented security and transaction speeds.

BOTS, Inc ($BOTStm) plan is to leverage the technological platform powered by DBOT in different industry segments in order to generate revenue by introducing a novel hybrid decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that has many innovative features such as its own unique DEX blockchain.

Market capitalization for all crypto coins currently stands at a quarter of a trillion dollars. Twenty-four-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $110 billion mark according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Decentralized exchanges are rapidly growing in popularity due to fewer regulations and being less susceptible to hacking. In 2019 total volume in USD for this segment grew to 2.5 billion dollars.

If you were worried about having your cryptocurrency stolen from a traditional centralized exchange,you were not alone, said Paul Rosenberg, Companys CEO. From Mt. Gox to Bitfinex and many other crypto exchanges, there have been too many well-publicized news stories around the world of exchanges being hacked and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto being stolen along with personal information. We will offer completely new ways to trade digital currencies without keeping your coins on the servers of third-party exchanges but instead traded utilizing decentralized crypto exchanges known as being DEX powered but in our case, secured by bots.

A recent Forbes.com articlehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/oluwaseunadeyanju/2020/04/28/why-bitcoin-exchanges-are-building-their-own-blockchain/amp/discussed several new developments in the DEX industry, like developing blockchain based crypto exchanges which will be able to grow their market share and operate more efficiently and the fact that the worlds busiest crypto exchanges are betting on decentralized platforms to drive the growth of decentralized commercial applications, particularly toward institutional financial inclusion.

Management believes that in the post-COVID economy, decentralization and more decentralized economies will emerge as being an indispensable addition to any industry.

About BOTS, Inc.

Headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, BOTS, Inc. - publicly traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol (MCIG) and on Brse Stuttgart under ticker (M06.SG) - is a diversified company servicing the robotics needs of its customers. The Company is committed to drive the innovations needed to shape the future of robotic automation management through digital technology and decentralized blockchain solutions. Management is dedicated to the strong growth of Distributed Asset Technology and Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

The Company has been featured in media nationwide, including CNBC, Bloomberg, TheStreet.com. For more information, visit http://www.bots.bz

Visit us on Facebook @https://www.facebook.com/Bots.Bz/

Follow us on Twitter @Bots_bz

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may include predictions, estimates or other information that might be considered forward-looking within the meaning of applicable securities laws. While these forward-looking statements represent the Companys current judgments, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the Companys management only as of the date of this release. Please keep in mind that the Company is not obligating itself to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. When used herein, words such as: potential, expect, look forward, believe, dedicated, building, or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements made by the Company herein are often discussed in filings the Company makes with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at http://www.sec.gov and on the Companys website at http://www.bots.bz.

Story continues

Contact:

Paul Rosenberg

paul@mciggroup.org

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BOTS Inc. Announces Acquisition of DBOT Technology Corp to Make Cryptocurrency Trading Safer and More Accessible to the Public - Yahoo Finance

Shopify's (NYSE:SHOP) platform allows its merchants to accept payments in bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, andover 300 other types of cryptocurrencies. It recently expanded that reach by partnering withcryptocurrency payments processor CoinPayments, which helps merchants process 1,800 types of cryptocurrencies.

Shopify claims the partnership will "make cryptocurrency transactions easier and more accessible while reducing transaction fees." CoinPayments CEO Jason Butcher declared the partnership would deliver a "seamless process for anyone looking to do business using cryptocurrencies."

CoinPayments has processed over $5 billion in cryptocurrency payments since its founding in 2013 and provides clients with various APIs, shopping cart plugins, and digital wallets. Shopify's cryptocurrency expansion isn't surprising, but will this new partnership widen its moat?

Image source: Getty Images.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have gained a lot of attention among speculators in recent years. However, the broad price swings -- which have ranged from about $500 to $19,000 for bitcoin over the past four years -- made them tough to accept as mainstream payments.

Last year, a survey by the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) found that only 30% of cryptocurrency owners actually used the coins forpayments. The vast majority held the coins as investments. A more recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit and digital payments platform Crypto.com found just 34% ofcryptocurrency usersprimarily used digital currencies for online payments.

Crypto Radar recently claimed 6.2% ofAmericans owned bitcoin, and 7.3% planned to buy some in the future. Yet the overwhelming majority (64.8%) didn't own any bitcoin and had no plans to buy any coins in the future. Another 21.8% hadn't even heard of bitcoin.

Those percentages indicate cryptocurrency payments don't appeal to mainstream shoppersyet. Nonetheless, manymajor companies -- including Microsoft, AT&T, and Expedia -- already accept bitcoin payments, though it's unclear how many customers actually choose those options.

Shopify alsorecently joined the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)-led Libra Association, which wants to serve underbanked markets with its Libra cryptocurrency. That decision was surprising, since Libra had already lost many of its top members after regulators opposed its development.

Image source: Getty Images.

However, Libra is being developed as a "stablecoin" which is pinned to fiat currencies instead of mining algorithms. That stability could make Libra a more viable payment option than bitcoin and other volatile cryptocurrencies, and tethering them to Facebook's Calibra digital wallet, Messenger, and WhatsApp could quickly expand its reach.

CoinPayments also processes payments in other top stablecoins like TrueUSD, USD Coin, and Gemini Dollar (GUSD). These currencies could be more appealing to merchants and shoppers, who can sleep easier knowing the value of their payments won't plummet or skyrocket overnight.

Shopify's partnerships with the Libra Association and CoinPayments could pivot its merchants from bitcoin toward less volatile cryptocurrencies. That process might be glacial and won't move the needle anytime soon, but it could enhance its broader platform -- which already serves over a million businesses in more than 175 countries.

Shopify's cryptocurrency partnerships should also widen its moatagainst Adobe's (NASDAQ:ADBE) Magento, which recently partnered with cryptocurrency payments platform Utrust to provide its crypto transactions to over 250,000 merchants. Magento is arguably Shopify's toughest competitor since it's tightly integrated into Adobe's other cloud-based analytics, marketing, and advertising tools.

The cryptocurrency market remains a niche one, butit could still grow from $1.03 billion to $1.4 billion between 2019 and 2024, according to Markets and Markets. Shopify probably doesn't expect cryptocurrency payments to overtake traditional payment methods anytime soon, but it also doesn't want to be left behind a crucial tech curve. If top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin stabilize and stablecoins gain ground, Shopify's recent partnerships could widen its moat against Adobe and other rivals while planting the seeds for future growth.

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Will Shopifys New Cryptocurrency Partnership Widen Its Moat? - Motley Fool

OmiseGO, an ethereum token that energizes smart contract platforms and trades under a sticker known as OMG, surged after popular American based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, revealed that it would list the token on its exchange.

OmiseGO, which is not even in the top 30 most valuable cryptos in the world, has gained over 150% since April 1, according to data obtained from Coinmarketcap.

It was trading at $0.5 on April 1st and is presently trading at %1.26, with a market capitalization of about $276 million.

READ ALSO: Elumelu says Covid-19 Presents Opportunity to Reset Africa

What you need to know: OMG coin was designed as a white-label eWallet. It was designed on the Ethereum blockchain by a Thailand based financial services company called Omise. Its full name is OmiseGo.

OmiseGo helps in easing the transfer of coins from one blockchain to another without using a crypto exchange.

Meanwhile, the broader bitcoin market is closely watching for Bitcoin to break the $10,000 price level, after Bitcoin went through a supply squeeze a few weeks ago. Yet, Bitcoins price has remained around the $9200+ mark in recent days.

However, Teju Adeyinka a product manager at Nigerias fast-growing crypto exchange, Buycoins, explained to Nairametrics why cryptos such as Bitcoin would continue to be a leading force in future. She said:

Bitcoin is the next important thing because it ushers in a new level of financial inclusion for everyone. It is a financial system that is truly democratized and in the interest of the people. It enables people to have total control over their money and decide what it does or where it goes.

READ MORE: Blue-chip stocks take Nigerian bourse to 5 days winning streak, Investors cash in N232 billion

It also opens up borderless trading and enables people who have been previously shut out economically to partake in financial opportunities beyond their geographical boundaries.

For instance, with our new product, Sendcash, people are able to easily receive payments to Nigeria from anywhere in the world.

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Meet Theta Fuel, the cryptocurrency that catches world's attention - Nairametrics

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released a document Tuesday with information for auditors and audit committees about audits involving cryptoassets, such as Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

The Spotlight document, Audits Involving Cryptoassets Information for Auditors and Audit Committees, is part of the PCAOBs Strategic Plan to monitor the development and implementation of emerging technologies to analyze their implications for the quality of audit services.

The PCAOBs staff has noticed that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have recently started to be recorded and disclosed in the financial statements of companies, broker-dealers and other issuers. When doing inspections of auditors of some smaller issuers, the PCAOBs staff has seen situations where transactions involving cryptoassets were material to the financial statements.

The document discusses some of the issues that auditors should consider when handling their responsibilities under PCAOB standards for auditing issuers who are transacting in or who hold cryptoassets.

Some of those issues may involve fraud: In identifying fraud risks, the discussion among the key engagement team members about the potential for material misstatement due to fraud may include, for example: the risk of management override of controls over the private keys, which may result in misuse or misappropriation of holdings of cryptoassets by those who control the keys; the susceptibility of the financial statements to material misstatement through transactions with related parties; the related parties identities may be difficult to ascertain because of the pseudonymous nature of transactions involving cryptoassets.

The document also includes some questions that audit committee members could have for auditors when transactions involving cryptocurrency or crypto holdings are material to the issuers financial statements.

Among the questions are:

The information in the document may be of special interest to auditors and audit committee members of issuers that are starting to transact in, or already hold, cryptocurrencies.

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PCAOB eyes audits involving cryptocurrency - Accounting Today