Ripple XRP (XRP) is stillarguablythe most polarizing digital asset in the cryptocurrency space.

Powered by a network of less than 100 validators, Ripple Labs pitches XRP as a liquidity tool for the traditional finance sector. Its supporters fervently believeadoption is coming, while critics have long claimed that regulators may one day classify XRP as a security.

[READ:XRP bag holders are begging Ripple to stop dumping its coins]

Still, quarter after quarter, Ripple Labs sells millions of dollars worth of XRP to investors. This quarter saw the firm earn $13.08 million by selling XRP, down from $66.24 million in the previous three months.

Ripple, like Bitcoin, declined in value for most of 2019s third quarter. XRP opened July trade at just above $0.41, but would fall more than 40 percent to hit $0.24 by the end of September.

Swing traders were practically without luck. Aside from a handful of ineffectual bounces, the price of XRP was more often than not in the red.

Even the most obvious bounce, which occurred mid-September, didnt leave speculators with loads of opportunity. That event only pushed XRPs price up roughly 16 percent, with any momentum generated unfortunately short-lived.

2019s fourth quarter gave traders a little more room to breathe, with market performance generally split in half.

From October 1, XRPs price gradually rose from $0.257 to just reach $0.30 on November 6. This would however mark its high for the quarter, with XRP retracing more than 35 percent to end the years trade at $0.194.

Those who opened longs at the start of October wouldve done well to get out before mid-November. In fact, market bounces were incredibly shallow for the rest of the year, which rendered swing trading relatively ineffectual.

At most, traders who bought XRP at the very start of the quarter couldve made around 20 percent had they bought XRP at the very start of the quarter and sold the $0.30 top.

Last quarter saw Ripple Labs (the company behind XRP) complete its acquisition of a $50 million stake in MoneyGram, a US-based money transfer firm, one of the largest in the world.

This means Ripple now owns a little less than 10 percent of MoneyGrams outstanding common stock.

The firm also invested $750,000 into mobile wallet provider BRD through its investment arm Xpring. The deal aims to support a new strategic partnership between the two companies, with XRP added to the app so that users can hold, buy, sell, and send the cryptocurrency.

Aside from investments, Ripple continued to deal with an ongoing class action lawsuit that alleges it illegally sold unregistered securities in the form of XRP cryptocurrency.

The adoption of XRP cryptocurrency by the internets cyberbaddies also reportedly grew, with cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic providing evidence of $400 million in illicit XRP transactions.

Ripples year-to-date market performance has been pretty strong. Backed by a resilient Bitcoin, the price of XRP is up almost 24 percent this year, rising gradually from $0.19 to $0.235 at pixel time.

Its unlikely that these gains would continue without Bitcoin also moving upwards, so speculators would be wise to keep an eye out on sudden short-term downtrends in more dominant markets.

On the horizon, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse teased the companys IPO plans, noting that he didnt want to be the first or the last cryptocurrency company to go public.

This post is brought to you by eToro. eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptocurrencies, as well as trading CFD assets.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Cryptocurrencies can fluctuate widely in price and are, therefore, not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptocurrencies is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This is not investment advice. Your capital is at risk.

Published January 31, 2020 15:29 UTC

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XRP Q4 2019: Crypto traders had one shot to make 20% profit - The Next Web

Last week, I took out a loan without meeting anyone, signing anything, or even interacting with a human being.

I also invested in a variety of assets that earn interest of up to 5.9 percent a year. I did it all on my own, from my computer. All I needed was some cryptocurrency and a knowledge of how these systems work.

The amounts were tiny: The loan was $30, and I had $95 worth of crypto earning interest. But I could've easily done the same with much larger amounts, at those exact same terms.

To do all this, I was using freely available DeFi, or decentralized finance, services based on the Ethereum blockchain. DeFi is one of the key usages of Ethereum, which, besides being a cryptocurrency, is also a decentralized app platform where most of the currently available DeFi apps reside.

DeFi, in general, encompasses financial services which are transparent, decentralized, and trustless. Instead of having to go to a bank to get a loan, provide your ID and credit score, then have a human assess your situation and decide whether you can get the money, with DeFi it's all algorithmic. A smart contract, with an open-source code available to everyone to check, handles everything. All you need is to provide some ether or ETH the currency of Ethereum or another crypto asset as collateral and choose what you want to do. The smart contract takes care of the rest.

Like I said, all of these services are trustless and decentralized up to a degree. Some require you to create an account; with others, you don't even have to enter your email anywhere. Of course, rules apply: You cannot just lend thousands of dollars worth of crypto without any collateral.

It's been possible to do this for quite a while, thanks to startups such as Maker, Compound, Nexo, and others. But the process wasn't always simple for someone who doesn't know much about Ethereum and cryptocurrencies in general.

However, a new Ethereum mobile wallet called Argent removes nearly all the friction from DeFi literally anyone can use it with very little or no prior knowledge. Argent is currently in an invite-only beta, but it's fully functional, and everything I've done with it was real actual cryptocurrency was moved around and locked in smart contracts that provided the functionality described above.

Making a savings account in Argent is dead simple.

Image: stan schroeder/Argent/mashable

Let's say you're a complete newbie when it comes to cryptocurrencies. After installing Argent, which is a regular mobile app (I used the iOS version, but it's also available for Android), you have the option of adding funds via Apple Pay or Card, or a bank transfer, or you can send cryptocurrencies directly from a wallet or exchange. Going through an exchange may be cheaper, but adding funds with Apple Pay is the simpler option.

So you've bought some ETH (you can buy other coins, too, but let's stick to ETH, as it's the basis for the DeFi services covered in this text). Switch to the Finances tab, and you'll be presented with two options: One is Savings, which uses another service called Compound to invest your funds. There really isn't much more to it: You select one of the assets you own, in this case ETH, and Compound will lock it into a smart contract, which will immediately start giving you a return, calculated in real time.

My small portfolio is growing.

Image: stan schroeder/argent/Mashable

Not all assets carry an equal risk and reward, and not all are equally volatile. For ETH, you'll get a tiny, 0.02% yearly interest rate, and since the price of ETH can be very volatile, you should lock your ETH into this contract only if you plan on holding onto it regardless of price changes. On the other hand, DAI is a stablecoin whose value closely tracks with that of the dollar, making it far less volatile. It also currently yields a better return 5.88% annually at the time of writing so if your goal is to protect your principal in dollar terms and earn some money, it's a better option.

Taking out a loan uses a service called Maker, which isn't very easy on its own, but Argent simplifies that process, too. It lets you borrow a loan against collateral in ETH, to a certain point. Your collateral is locked in a smart contract, and will be returned to you when you pay off your loan plus interest (which, for me, was 9% annually).

Getting a loan in DAI requires you to lock some ETH as collateral into a smart contract.

Image: stan schroeder/argent/Mashable

To do this, all you need to do is play with a couple of sliders, which let you adjust your collateral and the amount of money you want to loan. However, you need to know that Maker contracts also include a liquidation price if the price of ETH falls below that price, your collateral will be liquidated to pay off the loan, together with a certain penalty. You don't want that to happen, so you should choose a safe loan-to-collateral ratio which is also clearly laid out in Argent's interface.

Note that this is different from getting a bank loan, which in some cases requires no collateral besides proof of good standing with your employer. But the advantage of decentralized finance is obvious: You can put your money to work, or take out a loan, without asking anyone for permission. Everything is taken care of algorithmically.

In theory, yes. In practice, I wouldn't trust any of these services with large amounts of money just yet. There are several reasons for this: There could be a bug in the smart contract's code that someone could exploit to steal your money. These contracts are often verified by experts, but bugs sometimes do go unnoticed. The volatility of cryptocurrencies ETH, for example, often loses or gains 5% in value in a single day is an issue, as well. Yes, you can use a stablecoin like DAI or USDC to avoid volatility, but in the case of an (unlikely) catastrophic ETH crash, even DAI could become unstable.

Also, note that my "portfolio," as described above, isn't the greatest. I'm paying a pretty high interest rate on my loan while at the same time receiving a paltry interest for my savings. But it was all done just to illustrate the potential of DeFi; I'd do it differently if I wanted to make the most of it.

All of the services I've used are on the Ethereum blockchain. There are a few on competing blockchains, like EOS and Tron, but the vast majority of DeFi services run on Ethereum.

Argent, which was used for this example, is just one of many cryptocurrency wallets you can use and definitely not the only option for DeFi. I've chosen it because it has a nice, clean interface, and it greatly simplifies the process of taking out a loan on Maker. For more options, check out this website.

DeFi is in a nascent stage. Some of these services, like Maker, have been around for years, but were (some still are) too complex even for techies, let alone people who aren't very tech-savvy.

But this is changing. Services like Compound and apps like Argent are making DeFi accessible to everyone. And while I'd always advise learning about how these services work in the background before investing even a cent of your money, the fact that DeFi is getting simpler means more people will get on board.

DeFi is also quickly spreading to cover far more complex financial products. Every week, I hear about new products or services, or even entire new classes of services. A few examples: A service called Rocket allows you to get a loan using collectibles as collateral; PoolTogether is a lottery in which you cannot lose, only win; and Synthetix offers digital assets tokens on the Ethereum blockchain that provide exposure to other assets, such as Tesla stock, or gold.

The examples I've given are just a small taste of what may come in the future.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.

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I took out a loan with cryptocurrency and didn't sign a thing - Mashable

Cryptocurrency wallets play a significant role in securing your digital holdings while also facilitating trading in a convenient manner. In simple words, a cryptocurrency wallet is a program or a service which helps in storing the public or private keys of the owners allowing them to control ownership of their assets as well as facilitate receiving or spending of cryptocurrencies. Anyone who keeps oneself brushed up with the latest crypto arena developments is well aware about the importance of crypto wallets. Presently, the crypto market is flooded with an array of variants of digital wallets that compete each other by launching innovative services infused with highest security and operability features.

One of the prominent names in cryptocurrency wallet industry is Argent- a safe, simple, and easy to use wallet, which offers some unprecedented benefits to its customers. The solution takes pride in being a user-controlled wallet rendering the customers to be the sole owners of their digital assets. Designed to offer the best of facilities to the customers, the wallet uses AND security mechanism. The new revolutionary pedagogies used in the wallet are an upgraded version of what other wallet solutions have been using up until now while placing it a notch higher in comparison to others.

Argent wallets have been designed in a way that they cater to the requirements of the customers in the most secure, transparent, and reliable manner. The customers are in full control of their assets stored in the wallet solution as they get the opportunity to lock and unlock their wallets according to their will. The wallet helps the customers to set a daily limit on their assets which helps in keeping track of the assets conveniently. It also helps to manage large volumes of transactions in a hassle-free manner and helps to tackle fraudulent transactions as well.

Holding crypto assets in a digital wallet has gained a lot of popularity in the recent times, primarily because of the complexities involved with storing crypto in an exchange or with a custodian. Argent is a smart wallet which frees the customers from the complications of seed phrases, gas prices, and cryptic addresses. The recovery of seed phrase in case of phone theft becomes a major problem for the customers but Argent keeps its customers free from such cumbersome incidences with the help of Ardent Guardians. Argent allows its customers to hold their assets in a smart contract on the blockchain network. The assets can be accessed through the private key stored on the phone. In case of phone theft or loss, Argent Guardians help to recover wallet on a new phone instantly.

A Guardian serves as an account working on the Ethereum blockchain that is granted permission by the customer to help in the recovery of a lost wallet. It can be:

Argent makes use of the wide range of security features available for both iOS and Android devices, including biometrics, keychain, and six-digit user pin code which helps to encrypt the private key adding more security to the assets.

Apart from these regular features, Argent wallets come studded with an array of distinctive attributes as well that make it a first choice for global customers. The wallet system uses smart contracts to secure the assets. This restricts the attack of any intruder on the customers wallets. It helps in the integration and direct use of DeFi applications in the wallet. The owners of Argent wallets can easily leverage the lending capacities of MakerDAO and Compound Finance seamlessly. Argents integration with MakerDAO protocol rendered the customers to withdraw credit directly from the app.

One of the prominent features of the wallet is its ability to set daily transaction limits. The customers are notified through an alert whenever their transactions touch the daily limit mark set up by them. The wallet delays the clearance of over the limit transactions by 24 hours. Over the limit, transactions are approved by the Guardians. There exists also a feature to change the Guardians by following a simple procedure. The change gets activated within 24 hours span.

The world of cryptocurrencies is fast developing and evolving in heaps and bounds. The blockchain technology is being seen as the future of the industrial domain because of its wide array of offerings. Argent crypto wallet strives to offer the best services to its customers with an intention to encourage mass adoption of cryptocurrencies as a community in the global market space.

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Argent Wallet Ensures Unprecedented Protection of the Cryptocurrency - CryptoNewsZ

Cryptocurrency businesses operating in Singapore will need to register and be licensed to continue serving customers in the country.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Tuesday that the Payment Services Act will now be enforced.

First passed in January last year, the act gives the regulator supervisory authority over all paymentbusinesses in the country.

[Read:Singapores financial regulator wants its banks and blockchains to be friends]

Companies now have a month to register with MAS. Once they do so, businesseswill have six months to apply for a payment institution license.

Services that MAS will now be regulating are domestic money transfers, merchant acquisition, and digital payment token services,said Mr Ong Ye Kung, minister for education, in a speech last year.

We will be among the first few financial services regulators in the world to introduce a regulatory framework for digital payment token services, or what is commonly understood as cryptocurrency dealing or exchange services, they added.

Back in October 2018, the regulator revealed that it would help local cryptocurrency companies get traditional bank accounts.

Singapore is known for its expanding fintech ecosystem with blockchain technology playing a significant part in that.

Earlier this year, a report found that blockchain development was the fastest-growing skill in Singapore.

In November 2018, the Singapore government said it would provide seed funding for companies todevelop a blockchain platform to connect all industry stakeholders.

Published January 28, 2020 09:30 UTC

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Singapore tightens AML restrictions on cryptocurrency companies - The Next Web

Tax season is here in the U.K. and its time crypto investors buckled down to file their cryptocurrency tax returns correctly. There have been a lot of indications that the U.K.s Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is starting to take a stern view of crypto tax evaders.

The first cryptocurrency guidance was released back in 2018 after a special report was submitted by the Cryptoassets Taskforce an initiative launched by the HMRC in collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England. These guidelines clarified some important details about how HMRC views cryptocurrencies, which many see as a prelude to a stricter approach toward crypto taxation.

HMRC also sent requests to some major crypto exchanges (including Coinbase) for information about their U.K.-based investors in August of 2019. This is exactly what the United States IRS did before they sent out warning letters to suspected crypto tax evaders.

All this is to say that HMRC looks to be fairly serious about crypto tax evasion which means that tax filings will become especially important this year. Here are some of the most important things you should know about crypto taxes in the U.K.

For all practical purposes, cryptocurrency is a digital currency. However, when it comes to taxation, HMRC looks at cryptocurrency as an asset. This means that disposal of crypto is subject to Capital Gains Tax. This categorization is being widely adopted by tax agencies; even the U.S.s IRS views cryptocurrency as property for tax purposes instead of a currency.

HMRC says that you need to pay capital gains tax on every disposal of cryptocurrency. Disposal here refers to the following:

Its important to keep in mind that charitable donations of crypto are not subject to capital gains tax. Of course, if the donation is tainted or if it the crypto is sold to the charity at a price greater than the acquisition cost, then capital gains tax will apply.

The actual capital gains tax to be paid will depend on your income tax bracket and the marginal tax rate. Keep in mind that there is an exemption limit of 11,700: If your gains are lower than this amount, you dont need to pay any capital gains tax. If you end up selling crypto which is more than four times the exemption limit (or over 46,800), you will still have to report the capital gains in your tax returns even if the actual gains are below the limit.

In the U.K., cryptocurrency gains are calculated using share pooling. Most people are familiar with accounting methods such as FIFO and LIFO when it comes to taxes. However, share pooling is quite different and involves using the average cost of all current assets to determine the cost of the assets being sold.

There are also additional rules like the same-day rule and the 30-day bed and breakfasting rule that are used to prevent tax loss harvesting or the practice of selling assets at a low price and rebuying it afterward to sustain taxable losses.

Crypto transactions also happen in other forms, for instance:

In each of the above cases, you will have to pay income tax and national insurance contributions. When you dispose of the assets, you will also have to pay capital gains tax in a similar manner as discussed before. It is important to separate the source of your crypto assets when preparing crypto taxes in the U.K. as HMRC has specifically classified hard-fork proceeds and airdrops as income.

If you trade cryptocurrencies as part of your business, then trading profits will be subject to income tax. This kind of trade is similar to trading in securities, shares and other financial instruments the HMRC Business Income Manual (BIM56800) deals with these transactions in detail.

HMRC recommends keeping detailed records of all your crypto transactions. Since even crypto-to-crypto trades are taxable, you will need to figure out the value of the crypto at the time of sale which could prove very time consuming if you are running bots.

Another thing to consider is that crypto exchanges dont always provide complete records, so its best to be proactive and keep a log of your trades. Nowadays, there are also tools such as Koinly, Cointracking, Lukka (formerly Libra), BitcoinTaxes and others that can help you with your record keeping for tax purposes.

Given that HMRC has made it a point to clarify regulations around crypto taxes and has also started asking for information about U.K.-based traders from crypto exchanges, its high time to get your affairs in order. If your crypto tax returns arent completely up-to-date, you should use this year to get things sorted even filing amended returns if you need to. The tax returns for the 20182019 tax year are due at the end of January!

This is a guest post by Robin Singh, founder of Koinly, a cryptocurrency tax startup. Views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Bitcoin Magazine or BTC Inc. This article is for information purposes only and should not be construed as financial or tax advice. Consult with a tax professional to properly assess your particular tax situation.

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Cryptocurrency Taxes in the UK: What You Need to Know - Bitcoin... - Bitcoin Magazine

Image: Chainalysis

In 2019, hackers have successfully breached 11 major cryptocurrency exchanges and have stolen more than $283 million worth of cryptocurrency, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

The 11 hacks represent the highest number of security breaches at cryptocurrency exchange portals recorded in a single year in the last decade, up from six incidents recorded in the previous year, in 2018.

However, despite a rise in the number of reported hacks, attackers didn't make the profits they expected, netting only $283 million. The number is far below the $875.5 million hackers made in 2018 from just six hacks, and the $483 million they made in 2014, from only three breaches.

According to Chainalysis, the sharp rise in the number of successful hacks can be attributed to attackers evolving to use more sophisticated methods for infiltrating cryptocurrency exchanges, which allowed them to carry out more hacks than before.

On the other hand, cryptocurrency exchanges didn't sit idly either. Chainalysis reports that many invested in improved security features and transaction verification systems, which, in turn, reduced the amount of funds hackers managed to steal before being detected and transactions reversed and funds recovered.

But when hacks are successful, Chainalysis reports that "the majority of funds stolen in exchange attacks end up being sent to other exchanges, where they're likely converted into cash."

However, Chainalysis also reports that "a substantial portion of funds sit unspent, sometimes for years."

"In those cases, there may still be an opportunity for law enforcement to seize the stolen funds," researchers say.

Chainalysis experts report that over the course of 2019, they traced more than $2.8 billion in Bitcoin that moved from known criminal entities to a few exchange portals, where they were quickly cashed out into fiat currency.

The $2.8 billion figure, besides funds hacked from cryptocurrency exchanges, also includes other types of illegal transactions, such as ransomware payments, funds from phishing operations, online scams, and funds associated with known criminal and terrorist groups.

Of these $2.8 billion, Chainalysis says that more than 50% of the funds were transferred to accounts on the Binance and Huobi exchange platforms -- two of the internet's largest cryptocurrency exchanges -- where crooks laundered the stolen coins into cash.

"Overall, just over 300,000 individual accounts at Binance and Huobi received Bitcoin from criminal sources in 2019," Chainalysis reported.

"That may come as a surprise given that Binance and Huobi are two of the largest exchanges operating, and are subject to KYC [Know Your Customer] regulations," experts added.

KYC regulations, which are in effect in almost all countries over the world, mandate that companies require customers to authenticate and verify their identities before doing business on their platforms.

However, Chainalysis reports that many criminal groups are skirting this requirement by using entities called OTC (Over The Counter) brokers.

OTC (Over The Counter) brokers are entitites that operate on classic exchange portals and act as intermediaries that can facilitate trades between buyers and sellers who don't want their identity or accunts associated with transactions on open blockchains.

"The problem, however, is that while most OTC brokers run a legitimate business, some of them specialize in providing money laundering services to criminals," the Chainalysis team says.

"OTC brokers typically have much lower KYC requirements than the exchanges they operate on," researchers added. "Many of them take advantage of this laxity and help criminals launder and cash out funds, usually first by exchanging Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into Tether as a stable intermediary currency before they presumably cash out into fiat."

But tracking illegal transactions on public blockchains isn't an accurate science. Researchers need to discover and then track the blockchain addresses used today's secretive criminal and terrorist operations.

Of all illegal activities and transactions happening on public blockchains, ransomware payments are the easiest to track, as the ransom payment address is usually included in ransom notes that cyber-security firms can obtain from analyzing malware samples.

The Chainalysis team says that based on their data, in 2019, ransomware gangs received just over $6.6 million in ransom payments, "largely driven by an October surge in attacks carried out using the Bitpaymer, Ryuk, and Defray777 ransomware strains."

However, Chainalysis is the first one to admit that this number is "almost certainly an underestimate" and that ransomware gangs most likely earned a figure larger than the $6.6 million they managed to confirm and track.

More details on the blockchain ecosystem and the criminal underground will be available later this month when Chainalysis publishes its 2020 Crypto Crime Report.

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2019 saw more cryptocurrency hacks than any other year - ZDNet

The Indian Government, under the chairmanship of Subhash Garg, appointed a committee for evaluating the working of cryptocurrency and its future scope. In its July 2019 report, the committee submitted a draft bill for the banning of cryptocurrency on the pretext of itsillegitimate existence and its direct challenge to the legal tender of the government (Indian Rupee). Cryptocurrencies, which shot to fame after the 2008 economic meltdown, are a unique method of virtual transaction, run on blockchain technology, instead of the conventional banking sector where there is a third entity to regulate the transaction of the individual, like a bank. The blockchain technology does away with that third party transaction and instead gives peer-to-peer transaction. However, due to its fluctuating nature, the cryptocurrency is not getting enough support from the government; in addition to that the whole premise of cryptocurrency has an essence of extreme libertarianism, with a hue of anarchism. During the 2008 economic meltdown, where most of the banks went bankrupt and millions of dollars were lost, economists blamed the banking sector for its overemphasis on unsecured loans. This distrust on the banking organisation boosted the blockchain technology, which was primarily introduced to support the mechanism of cryptocurrency. Under the blockchain technology, the nodes were able to transact without any third party interference on a peer-to-peer level and as the transactions were open to all the nodes to see, it became impossible to change any of the block of the blockchain, which brought in the immutable characteristics of the cryptocurrency. It is not that blockchains were immune to shortcomingsthere is a possibility of 51% attackbut the possibility of that happening is very rare.

The main heading of the bill showsits objective clearly minted on its text that is Banning of the Cryptocurrency. Keeping this predetermined objective of the bill in mind, it defines as to what qualifies to be called as a cryptocurrency. The bill says under Section 2(1)(a),

Cryptocurrency, by whatever name called, means any information or code or number or token not being part of any Official Digital Currency, generated through cryptographic means or otherwise, providing a digital representation of value which is exchanged with or without consideration, with the promise or representation of having inherent value in any business activity which may involve risk of loss or an expectation of profits or income, or functions as a store of value or a unit of account and includes its use in any financial transaction or investment, but not limited to, investment schemes.

If we emphasise on the term with the promise or representation having inherent value the definition here is targeting the fluctuating nature of the cryptocurrency. Due to the possibility of chances involved in a cryptocurrency, it makes cryptocurrency volatile.

Further, the bill specifically lays down that Cryptocurrency not to be used as legal tender. Under Section 6 of the bill, it prohibits the use of cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange. While Section 6 lays down a general ban on use of cryptocurrency, Section 7 of the bill deals with particular activities where it cannot be used.

The last two years have been a relentless endeavour from the central government to reconcile with the technological advancement of the world. Either it is Data Protection Bill, 2018 that is running a risk of turning redundant on grounds of its non-application on blockchain technology, or it is this particular bill. However, the irony is that both of them are still bills and not laws. The next important question that needs to be asked is whether it was required to have a law for banning cryptocurrency, or if the data protection law itself could have been good enough to handle the case of cryptocurrency. As cryptocurrency is primarily dependent on the blockchain technology for its existence, the question is whether data protection law, if amended appropriately, could have handled the blockchain technology and, by default, handled cryptocurrency. Or, the step of bringing in a new bill to specifically target cryptocurrency represents the fear about the sovereignty of the country being in threat.

Ashit Kumar Srivastav

Jabalpur

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Banning Cryptocurrency - Economic and Political Weekly

XLM is the native cryptocurrency of the Stellar network, a blockchain-powered solution pitched to make cross-border payments more efficient.

Stellars consensus architecture is relatively centralized when compared to Bitcoin. While this does allow it to process transactions with low fees and fast confirmation times, it does require users to place more trust in the validators on the network.

Regardless of this sacrifice, Stellar XLM is almost always listed in the top cryptocurrencies. XLMs market cap is currently $1.19 billion, and ranked 14th just behind Monero.

As with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, Stellar had a pretty tough third quarter. A floundering Bitcoin led altcoins to suffer alongside it, and XLM was no different.

XLM opened the quarter at just over $0.10, and aside from two short periods between mid-July and mid-September, price action was pretty much entirely in the red.

In fact, Septembers 40-percent run from $0.058 to $0.083 marked the biggest opportunity for speculators throughout the whole quarter.

XLM opened fourth-quarter trade at just above $0.061, where it hovered for the first two weeks of October.

Volatility increased in XLM markets leading up to the second half of the month, when Bitcoin jumped from $7,500 to clear $9,600.

It took around a fortnight for XLM to follow, but eventually its price broke out to increase 31 percent between October 31 and November 5 from $0.064 to $0.084.

That week would represent the last time traders would find opportunities to make relatively simple gains.

XLM bulls would retest those highs just once on November 11, before the markets began a slow decline that would last for the rest of the year. Stellar closed the fourth quarter of 2019 at $0.045.

The plight of the Stellar Foundation to airdrop two billion XLM tokens to Keybase users ruled related headlines for the quarter, no doubt.

Indeed, the planwas abandoned after only three out of the originally planned twenty months worth of giveaways.What resulted was an airdrop of 300 million XLM shared in $10 batches, estimated to be worth around $16 million.

The Stellar Foundation eventually blamed the canceled airdrops on spammers who had flooded Keybase to collect as much free cryptocurrency as possible.

November also saw Stellar Foundation devs announce it would burn 55 billion XLM, representing over half of its supply.

This permanently decreased the total amount of XLM on the market by 50 percent immediately, and its positive effect on the markets was felt with a 14-percent push in the first week of November.

Were almost one month into 2020, and things have been relatively strong for XLM likely the result of resilient Bitcoin trade.

So far, the price of XLM increased 33 percent from the start of the year, from $0.045 to just over $0.06.

It might however prove difficult to keep this up, as the effects of the coronavirus outbreak (supposedly) threaten market sentiment moving forward.

Published January 29, 2020 16:21 UTC

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Q4 2019: Stellar gives away $16M, burns 50% of XLM price still drops - The Next Web

January 31, 2020 / by Crypto.IQ

Cambodia, a Southeast Asian nation with 15 million people, is the latest country to show interest in launching a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), i.e. a cryptocurrency managed by the government.

Specifically, the National Bank of Cambodia has undertaken Project Bakong, a blockchain-based peer to peer payment and money transfer system that will launch in Q1 of this year.

Apparently Project Bakong already launched in a trial phase starting in July 2019, and the trial has apparently gone well so the CBDC will be operational nationwide sometime in the next few months.

One of the major benefits of this Cambodian CBDC is that citizens will be able to send payments to each other regardless of which bank they use, and 11 banks are already onboard. Also, the crypto wallet will be directly attached to an individuals bank account, facilitating easy transfer between the CBDC and hard currency.

Further, it is expected that using the digital currency will be cheaper and faster than conventional methods like credit cards. Therefore, this new CBDC could potentially be a boon for the Cambodian economy.

Cambodia is just one of many nations which have showed interest in operating a CBDC, although it appears Cambodia is further along in the development process than most other countries.

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Cambodia To Launch A National Cryptocurrency In The Coming Months Crypto.IQ | Bitcoin and Investment News from Inside Experts You Can Trust -...

In laymans terms, a cryptocurrency is a type of private, decentralized digital currency. Although Bitcoin is the most well-known and successful cryptocurrencies, there are many other currencies that have found success, including Monero, Ethereum, and Tether.

What contributes to the popularity of certain currencies? Its all about the users. When Bitcoin was first created back in 2010, most people werent aware of it. Over the years, thats changed. Other cryptocurrencies are also attracting more and more users.

Hype isnt enough to sustain any digital currency though. The 2018 crypto crash helped to demonstrate the limitations of hype.

Still, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have managed to stick around in spite of setbacks and criticisms. These currencies were able to survive even after the crash thanks to the wide base of users and the ability to use these currencies in the real world. Many examples help to back up this point.

According to financial experts from MaxFunding, a number of multinational firms have made use of blockchain when managing supply chain and logistics. Maersk established the TradeLens blockchain solution in 2018. Currently, Thailands customs agency uses this solution and it has an impressive 90 partners. Another strong example is Coca-Cola. After launching their pilot solution, they quickly went from two partners to seventy.

Its clear to see how blockchain is providing value to the gaming industry. The virtual goods market is a massive one. In-game assets have a worth of more than $50 billion. Of course, these assets dont have any real worth on their own. The publishers and developers are the ones that control them.

Blockchain has the ability to change this. Gamers can truly own unique assets thanks to non-fungible tokens. Games like CryptoKitties have already experimented with this, and its likely that well see this in even more games in the future.

Of course, cryptocurrency can play other roles in the gaming industry as well. As an example, royalty payments have been an issue for many developers. This is partially because calculating and distributing payments can be difficult. Microsoft solved this problem by working with Ernst & Young to create a streamlined blockchain solution for royalty payments.

Bitcoin was initially created as a way to store value. Today, thats still one of the main things driving the currencys growth. In many countries, such as Argentina, Iran, and Venezuela, people have used cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to protect the value of their wealth against the impact of hyperinflation. More people across the globe may use cryptocurrency to protect the value of their wealth depending on future political events.

Using blockchain to protect wealth against hyperinflation is just one of many examples of the ways in which new technology can solve current economic problems.

Even though cryptocurrency has made great strides, there are plenty of ways it can be improved. As an example, it can be difficult for new users to put money into cryptocurrency. While things are easier now than they once were, people still may have to deal with new and unfamiliar technologies and platforms if they want to own digital currency.

People that are technologically savvy may be up to the challenge, but other people avoid cryptocurrency for these reasons. Thankfully, there are organizations like Skrill that are aiming to make this process easier.

Another issue is the reputation of cryptocurrency. Scams are unfortunately common, even now. Attacks are also frequent.

In 2019, exchanges suffered 12 major attacks. Because the major stories about cryptocurrency tend to involve some sort of scandal, this shapes the way people see Bitcoin and other currencies. People were fascinated by the Missing Cryptoqueen podcast from the BBC, which tackled the disappearance of Dr. Ruja Ignatova, the founder of OneCoin.

When people are largely unfamiliar with cryptocurrency, its only natural that these news stories and podcasts would lead to certain misconceptions.

Luckily, key figures in the world of cryptocurrency have been putting in the effort to improve its reputation. As an example, Coinbase has strived to prove that cryptocurrency exchanges can comply with regulations and still thrive. This was the second company to win the sought-after New York Bitlicense.

Companies like Xapo and Bitstamp followed in their footsteps. Kraken Futures, which is based in the United Kingdom, is supervised by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.

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Cryptocurrency Businesses Are Booming. What Lies Ahead? - BlockPublisher