roadrunner

A former CEO of Citigroup said that every major bank and securities firm will consider crypto trading or services within one to three years. He also hopes that central banks worldwide will adopt digital currencies. Former Citi CEO Expects All Major Banks to Embrace Crypto in 1-3 Years Indian-American banker Vikram Pandit, a former CEO of Citigroup, talked about the outlook for cryptocurrency and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at the Singapore Fintech Festival event last week. Pandit became the CEO of Citigroup in December 2007 and led the U.S. bank during the financial crisis. Prior to Citi, he joined Morgan Stanley in 1983 and ultimately became president and chief operating officer of the company’s institutional securities and investment banking businesses. He co-founded investment firm Orogen in 2016 where he currently serves as the chairman and CEO. He explained at the fintech conference that all major financial institutions will soon be thinking about trading or providing services in cryptocurrencies, stating: [In] one to three years, every large bank and, or securities firm is going to actively think about ‘Shouldn’t I also be trading and selling cryptocurrency assets?’ A growing number of major banks are getting involved in crypto, including Australia’s Commonwealth Bank, Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, US Bank, and Singapore’s DBS. Major investment banks have also begun offering crypto investments to their clients, including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. In addition, payments giants, including Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal, all have several crypto projects going on. Regarding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), Pandit said that moving money around the world while trying to modernize a paper-based banking system is “cumbersome” and creates a lot of “deadweight” costs, Bloomberg reported. He envisions, “a central bank digital currency, which is available to you and me, and every other retail participant around the world,” elaborating: My big hope is that central banks around the world understand the benefit of a central bank digital currency, and move on to accept, adopt them. A growing number of central banks worldwide are exploring launching their own CBDCs. According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, 87 countries are now exploring a CBDC. Among them, seven have launched, 17 are being piloted, 15 are under development, and 39 are being researched. Do you agree with the former Citigroup CEO’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Another major cryptocurrency exchange has added support for the meme cryptocurrency shiba inu. Gemini has begun supporting SHIB alongside a few new defi, metaverse, infrastructure, and data management tokens. Meanwhile, the petition for Robinhood to list the shiba inu crypto has garnered more than 531K signatures. Shiba Inu (SHIB) Now Supported on Gemini Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced its support for the meme cryptocurrency shiba inu (SHIB) Friday. The company wrote: We are delighted to announce support for shiba inu (SHIB) as well as a range of new defi, metaverse, infrastructure, and data management tokens. The exchange detailed: “shiba inu (SHIB), audius (AUDIO), mask network (MASK), wrapped centrifuge (WCFG), quant (QNT), radicle (RAD), burn (ASH), superrare (RARE), fetch.ai (FET), and numeraire (NMR) are now supported for deposits and custody on Gemini.” The company added: We believe these tokens will provide value to our users and will continue to support defi, the budding metaverse, decentralized infrastructure, and data management environments. Following Gemini’s announcement, Shiba inu investors are hopeful that the trading platform Robinhood will be next to support SHIB. The proponents of the meme cryptocurrency have been petitioning for Robinhood to list shiba inu; the petition on Change.org has gained more than 531K signatures at the time of writing. However, Robinhood recently discussed its coin listing strategy, indicating that it is in no hurry to add new coins to its platform but did not say definitively whether it will or will not list SHIB. Meanwhile, Coinbase made shiba inu available to New York residents early this month in addition to adding some SHIB trading pairs. The Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange has been offering SHIB on its platform for several months. Crypto exchange Kraken, however, said on Twitter that it would list the shiba inu token if its tweet got 2K likes. However, when the SHIB community delivered more than 80K likes, the company walked back on its promise and failed to list SHIB. What do you think about Gemini adding support for shiba inu (SHIB)? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Visa’s head of crypto sees a “whole new class” of mainstream consumers entering the crypto space due to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The executive further says: “Crypto is becoming cultural. It’s becoming cool.” Visa’s Executive: ‘Crypto Is Becoming Cultural, It’s Becoming Cool’ Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, talked about cryptocurrency during a panel discussion early this week at the Singapore Fintech Festival. He explained that a “whole new class” of mainstream consumers are entering the crypto space because of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The Visa executive added that people who are interested in art, music, or culture are “setting up crypto wallets in waves,” noting that they are excited to create their own NFTs and support other creators. Before the NFT boom, Sheffield said crypto assets mainly attracted people who are interested in gold and finance. “It used to be that if you were investing in crypto, you were kind of weird,” he opined, elaborating: Crypto is becoming cultural. It’s becoming cool. The Visa executive further explained that people are now using crypto wallets for more reasons than they used to. Previously, crypto wallets were mainly used to store cryptocurrencies. Now people are using them to discover new music, he described, adding that they are increasingly becoming more of a “super app” that influences consumers’ life. In August, Sheffield was asked whether he thought NFTs will go mainstream. “Only time will tell,” he replied. “What’s certain is that curiosity, an open mind, and active experimentation are the best approach when new technologies and use cases come on the scene.” He added: We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce. Visa has been a supporter of NFTs. The company launched an NFT program to support digital artists in October. In August, Visa purchased an NFT from the Cryptopunk collection for $165K in ether. “To recognize the role that Cryptopunks have played as an historic NFT project, bridging culture and commerce, Visa has decided to purchase Cryptopunk 7610, Sheffield said at the time. What do you think about the Visa executive’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. ChangeHero instant cryptocurrency exchange listed SHIB on its platform. Customers can exchange SHIB against over 80 cryptocurrencies without an account. Now crypto enthusiasts can easily exchange or buy SHIB not only with Ethereum based tokens but also with cryptocurrencies of different blockchains. To celebrate the listing, ChangeHero announced a zero fees exchange offer for SHIB. Users can exchange SHIB to any other cryptocurrency or the other way around without any fees. The offer is valid until November 15, 2021, and available only on the web version of the platform. One can make a simple exchange with SHIB using the Best Rate type of transaction on ChangeHero. Please note that the zero fees exchange offer is not valid for the Fixed Rate type of transaction. There are no additional requirements such as a registration for the users to enjoy the offer. Furthermore, there is no maximum limit on the amount of SHIB that can be exchanged in a transaction. About Shiba Inu (SHIB) Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a memecoin that aspires to be the “Doge Killer”. The community-run token is building an ecosystem of DeFi products on Ethereum, with the DEX ShibaSwap being its flagship product. The ecosystem also includes an NFT incubator and two other tokens: LEASH and BONE. About ChangeHero ChangeHero is redefining crypto swaps with its instant cryptocurrency exchange. The platform offers crypto-to-crypto exchange of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and over 80 other cryptocurrencies. The exchange is completely account free, and anyone can swap crypto in a matter of minutes. ChangeHero is specifically aimed at beginners and also crypto experts who prefer a clean UI. There is also 24/7 customer support to assist the users during the process of exchanging crypto. Please get in touch with ChangeHero regarding any queries: Website: https://changehero.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Changehero_io Media: marketing@changehero.io Business Development: partners@changehero.io Customer Service: support@changehero.io This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

A recent report by CR2 on Africa’s fintech transformation suggests traditional financial institutions can still be a part of the fintech financial revolution if they leverage one of their most significant assets: client trust. Partnerships Between Banks and Fintechs The report urges financial institutions that wish to accelerate their advance to success in the fintech space to forge partnerships with fintech startups and technology companies. Having such partnerships, as well as their longstanding client networks and more defined regulatory environment, means financial institutions can still grow their share of Africa’s digital market. To illustrate the importance of the collaboration between banks and fintech, the CR2 report makes reference to the story of how one Nigerian bank, GTB, lost clients after its mobile banking platform went offline. The report then contrasts GTB’s misfortunes with the rise of the VC-backed fintech startup Kudabank, which saw its customer base rise from 300,000 to 1.4 million in less than three years. However, the report argues that traditional financial institutions can still compete with VC-backed fintech startups if they decide to leverage their most significant asset: client trust. This perceived client trust advantage is backed up by a fintech study conducted in Nigeria by the consulting firm McKinsey Consulting. Trust Remains Key According to the findings of the study, about 67% of banked customers in Nigeria had more trust in their bank than in fintechs. Although this study concluded that Nigerian banks had occasionally made some missteps, it still found that there is still some hesitation by consumers to shift to fintech products. Therefore, while access and convenience are important considerations for customers, trust is still critical and this gives financial institutions the edge. In conclusion, the CR2 report urges banks to seize the opportunity to grow their share of Africa’s digital finance market. The report says: “Longstanding financial institutions must respond with innovation services built through collaboration with enabling digital banking platform partners. Those banks that pair their customer trust advantage to novel innovation on the product and platform side stand to excel in Africa’s 21st-century fintech landscape.” Who do you trust more, traditional banks or fintech startups? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

A group of South African cryptocurrency investors have voiced concerns about the fate of their investment in the Fight to Fame (F2F token) after they reportedly were unable to withdraw their funds as promised. Token Sale Attracts Over 2,000 Applicants According to an IOL report, the investors had invested in a token that was promoted by Marius Fransman, a former regional leader of South Africa’s governing party, the ANC. Some media reports suggest Fransman’s company may have received over 2,000 applications from investors that include actors, writers, musicians, and directors that wanted to be a part of the project. Fransman had planned to use the funds that were raised to promote an international TV reality boxing show called “Fight to Fame.” The report adds that Fransman’s company, F2F SA, would host large entertainment events at venues such as big casinos, where the tokens would be the means to access the venue and also to be exchanged for gambling chips. Yet as one anonymous holder of the token explained, problems began when investors were unable to access their funds as promised. Instead of honoring the pledge to enable withdrawals after nine months, Fransman’s company allegedly told investors they were only entitled to a loan that amounted to just a portion of their initial investment. It is seemingly this unilateral change to the terms of the investment agreement that has sparked fears among F2F token holders that they may not recover their funds. Impact of Pandemic on Fransman’s Plans Meanwhile, the report quotes Fransman — who appears to acknowledge that this company is failing to honor its pledge — explaining how Covid-19 and lockdowns have affected his company’s plans. He said: The unpredictability of Covid-19 and its variants has meant that the ICO could not take place then or now, at least until the pandemic starts to dissipate or die down completely. Arising from this hiatus, F2F SA has now received requests from various individuals wishing to opt-out, as they have their own challenges. Fransman insists his plan was to only allow individuals to trade in their tokens after the launch of the ICO. However, Fransman suggested that his company is willing to consider, on a case-by-case basis, the buyback of the F2F tokens. What are your thoughts about this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

While the price of bitcoin has been volatile during the last seven days, a number of smart contract platforms have been performing far better this week. Statistics indicate that the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) is $267 billion and the TVL held on Ethereum commands the lion’s share of this value. Ethereum is the largest smart contract platform today, in terms of market valuation, but a number of competitors have increased significantly in value over the last 12 months. 3 Smart Contract Tokens Surpassed Ethereum’s 12 Month Gains by a Long Shot The largest smart contract platform Ethereum (ETH) has a market valuation of around $555 billion and it commands 18.7% of the entire crypto economy’s net value. Metrics also show that there’s $267 billion TVL in defi today, and the Ethereum protocol captures $179 billion or 49.16% of the overall TVL in defi. In terms of trade volume, ether has $15.5 billion in global swaps today, which is much larger than its competitors. ETH has outpaced BTC in 12 month gains with 914% during the last year, compared to BTC’s 299% increase in value. However, a number of other smart contract platforms have outperformed ETH’s 12-month stats. For instance, while solana (SOL) holds the fifth largest market capitalization, in terms of smart contract platforms it is the second-largest chain with an overall valuation of $71.2 billion. ETH’s 914% 12 month gain is decent but SOL jumped 12,337% during the last year. Solana’s market capitalization dominance is 2.39% on Saturday. The TVL held in defi on the Solana network is $14.22 billion, which is the third-largest TVL by chain below the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Cardano (ADA) is the third-largest smart contract platform with a market capitalization of around $66.5 billion today. ADA has also outperformed ethereum’s (ETH) 12-month gains as ADA has risen 1,881% this past year. In terms of TVL in defi, metrics from defillama.com do not include any statistics for the Cardano blockchain. Cardano’s market capitalization on Saturday is around 2.23% of the whole market economy. The fourth-largest smart contract platform in terms of overall market valuation is the crypto asset avalanche (AVAX). 5th Largest Smart Contract Token Chainlink Sees Smaller Gains Than Ethereum This Year — LUNA and MATIC Climb in Value Avalanche (AVAX) has a market capitalization of around $20 billion on Saturday and there’s $625 million in global AVAX swaps during the last 24 hours. Avalanche is represented on defillama.com’s chains market metrics, and is the fifth-largest defi chain in terms of TVL ($10.11B) under Terra. Avalanche is also under the market valuation of terra (LUNA) as AVAX holds the 13th largest market position. 12-month metrics indicate that AVAX too has outpaced ethereum’s gains as AVAX climbed 2,598% year to date. Chainlink (LINK) is the fifth-largest smart contract platform by market capitalization with an overall valuation of $15.9 billion today. The $15.9 billion puts LINK in the 15th market position out of the 10,000+ crypto-assets in existence. Unfortunately for ‘LINK Marines,’ chainlink has not outpaced ethereum in terms of gains. Year-to-date, LINK has gained 175% in value after hitting the crypto asset’s all-time high six months ago on May 10, 2021. Still, in terms of smart contract platforms, the sixth-largest chain Algorand (ALGO) needs to jump 17.61% higher in order to surpass LINK’s market valuation. Other top-performing smart contract platform tokens include terra (LUNA) up 15,925% year-to-date, polygon (MATIC) jumped 10,859% in the last 12 months, and fantom (FTM) up 14,924% during the course of the last year. Top defi TVLs without mentioning ETH, SOL, AVAX, include blockchains like Binance Smart Chain ($21.07B), Terra ($10.91B), Tron ($6.45B), Fantom ($5.48B), and Polygon ($5B). What do you think about the top five smart contract platforms by market capitalization and their market performances during the last 12 months? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Following the passing of the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill, the U.S. president appears to be nearing his decision on whether or not he will reappoint Jerome Powell, the current Federal Reserve Board chairperson. According to a few reports Powell may be chosen, but other reports say the Fed’s Board of Governors member, Lael Brainard, could also be a frontrunner for the position. President Biden to Choose Fed Chair ‘Fairly Quickly’ Amid the rising inflation and supply chain woes, U.S. president Joe Biden is thinking about who will run the Federal Reserve when Jerome Powell’s term ends next February. Media pundits say the timing “is crucial,” as the U.S. central bank has been discussing tapering back quantitative easing (QE) and adjusting rates upwards. Of course, these have all been just conversations so far and the members of the Fed have yet to decide on tapering back large asset purchases and hiking the benchmark rate. Meanwhile, rising inflation has reared its ugly head in the lives of Americans, and purchasing power has been eroding over the last 12 months. This week’s data from the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 6.2% from a year ago and stock markets shuddered after the news broke. The latest CPI data even pushed Biden to make a statement about the rising inflation as the U.S. president said the White House would be focused on getting people back to work, “getting prices down,” and “making sure our stores are fully stocked.” Now various reports say that Biden is in the midst of choosing a new Federal Reserve Board chairperson or planning to let Jerome Powell keep his post. CNN contributors John Harwood and Phil Mattingly explain that “[Jerome] Powell [is] seen as the frontrunner to be Biden’s pick for Federal Reserve chair as he nears a decision.” The CNN report notes that Biden’s decision could happen as early as next week. It is also assumed that Biden will sign the new infrastructure bill on Monday. Brainard ‘More Aligned With Left-Leaning’ Politicians, Financial Services Committee Members Urge Biden to Choose New Lead, Powell Still ‘Favored’ by ‘Both Sides’ 11 days ago, Biden spoke about his decision about the Fed chair position at a news conference and hinted at choosing “fairly quickly.” “I’ve given a lot of thought to it, and I’ve been meeting with my economic advisors on what the best choices are, and we’ve got a lot of good choices,” Biden told reporters. “But I’m not going to speculate now,” the president added. Despite CNN’s report, other editorials claim that Biden may choose the Fed’s Board of Governors member Lael Brainard. Rob Garver, a contributor to voanews.com, says the recent inflation spike may sway Biden’s Fed chair decision. Garver highlights that Powell is a Republican and was chosen by former U.S. president Donald Trump. As far as Brainard is concerned, she is a Democrat and is “more aligned with left-leaning members of her party, such as U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts,” Garver details. However, Garver further explains that the current Fed chair is “favored” at the moment. Christopher Russo, a research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, told VOA’s Garver: “Powell has built up a great amount of credibility with both sides, both Republicans and Democrats.” Russo further added: In the pandemic, the Fed adopted a flexible average inflation target, meaning that they are going to run inflation above target after periods where it ran below target, and Powell has done a lot of work to explain the importance of that policy to skeptics in Congress. The reports concerning Biden choosing a new Fed chairperson soon follow the mid-September “sources with ties to Washington,” saying that Biden will renominate Jerome Powell. However, three politicians from the House Financial Services Committee have been urging Biden to choose a new Fed chair who will address social justice and climate change. U.S. Democratic representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley stressed on August 30: Under his leadership, the Federal Reserve has taken very little action to mitigate the risk climate change poses to our financial system. The recently passed 1,600-page ‘Build Back Better’ infrastructure bill allocates around $550 billion toward fighting the alleged climate crisis in the United States. Despite the massive amounts of quantitative easing (QE) tactics and a benchmark rate suppressed at zero, Jerome Powell’s efforts since being appointed by former president Trump may not be good enough for members of the Democratic party. What do you think about Joe Biden possibly choosing a new Federal Reserve Board chairperson next week after signing the new infrastructure bill? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

U.S. law enforcement agents have “kidnapped” crypto entrepreneur Denis Dubnikov in Mexico, before transferring him to the Netherlands where he was arrested, his lawyer told Russian media. Dubnikov is suspected of money laundering and faces up to 20 years in prison if extradited to the United States. FBI Accused of Kidnapping Russian Citizen With Cryptocurrency Business The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has “practically kidnapped” Russian national Denis Dubnikov in Mexico, later arrested in Amsterdam on Nov. 1, his lawyer Arkady Bukh alleged, speaking to Sputnik. The co-founder of crypto trading platforms Coyote Crypto and Eggchange was first held at the airport in Mexico City while on vacation and then boarded a flight to the Netherlands where he was detained by Dutch authorities. The defense attorney explained: Mexico has not let him enter the country. The US intelligence services have put him on a plane to the Netherlands and sent him there having paid for his ticket. In other words, he was kidnapped in fact. According to Bukh’s description of the events, Dubnikov was expelled from Mexico because the country’s extradition policy is not as “ideal” as that of Holland. “They have bought a ticket, in other words, they have in fact kidnapped him and sent him to the Netherlands because extradition from the Netherlands is in fact guaranteed,” the lawyer elaborated further. The legal representative also revealed that the Russian citizen is currently held in a Dutch jail and noted that the defense expects his extradition to the United States. Denis Dubnikov has been accused of conspiracy to commit money laundering through wallets operated by his crypto businesses and may face up to 20 years in prison in the U.S., Arkady Bukh detailed, adding: So far, we do not agree to extradition, but we will probably give our consent later because the Netherlands is a country where the fight against extradition is statistically meaningless. We are studying: maybe it is worth agreeing to a quick extradition and sorting it out here. Dubnikov’s Arrest Linked to Ryuk Ransomware Group According to the Sputnik report, Dubnikov’s detention is among the first arrests in the case against the Ryuk group which is linked to ransomware attacks on hospitals in the U.S. Authorities there believe Dubnikov has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bitcoin, a portion of which was allegedly obtained through Ryuk ransomware strikes. Denis Dubnikov is not the first Russian national with a cryptocurrency business detained on request by the U.S. In 2017, IT specialist Alexander Vinnik was arrested in Greece during a trip with his family. American prosecutors claim Vinnik, an alleged operator of the infamous BTC-e, has laundered up to $9 billion through the now-defunct exchange. He was later extradited to France and sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering. In May, a French court rejected an extradition request from Moscow. The news of Dubnikov’s arrest came after a Bloomberg report unveiled that his Eggchange is being investigated for money laundering in Europe and the United States. The U.S. has been targeting other Russian crypto platforms lately, based on similar accusations. In September, the Treasury Department blacklisted Suex, a Czech-registered crypto broker operating out of offices in Russia and suspected of processing hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto transactions related to scams, darknet markets, and ransomware actors such as Ryuk. This week, the department sanctioned Chatex, a crypto exchange bot linked to Suex, as well as two other ransomware operators. Do you expect Dutch authorities to extradite Denis Dubnikov to the United States? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

On November 6, 2021, Alchemy Pay’s Chief of Staff, Karmen Tang, delivered her keynote address at the Epicenter Crypto Conference in Lisbon. Tang took the audience through a brief history of Alchemy Pay and the broad ecosystem they have now built within blockchain infrastructure. The founders of Alchemy Pay come from giants of traditional payments such as Mastercard, QFPay, PayPal, and Tencent. “Experience, expertise and networking have all been key to what Alchemy Pay does. That gives us that edge over others in the crypto payment space,” said Tang. Significant Network Growth In the past year, Alchemy Pay has achieved significant growth and secured new partnerships including access to PayPal payment channels in Q4 of 2020, and to Visa and MasterCard payment channels earlier this year. Today, Alchemy Pay is in over 60 countries, and provides over 200 payment channels for fiat and crypto acceptance. The industry still faces a lack of real-world use cases and in order to solve this Alchemy Pay functions as a bridge to enable transactions between crypto and fiat. Tang went on to explain that Alchemy Pay’s payment ecosystem is divided into four main categories: Customers and consumers; merchants and institutions; transaction service providers; and software technology developers. These are some of the different areas of blockchain infrastructure that Alchemy Pay has been able to bring together. Over the past year, Alchemy Pay has established partnerships with Shopify and Binance and this summer their ACH token was launched on Coinbase, which led to a 150-fold increase in value. ACH is now also supported by Gemini, Crypto.com, Poloniex, CoinOne, and Changelly. Their social media community has also increased substantially, growing to over 200,000 followers across Twitter, Telegram and Reddit. Tang also revealed that Alchemy Pay has recently set up a new joint venture with one of the largest conglomerates in the Middle East. Due to a non-disclosure agreement, however, the name of this conglomerate could not be revealed. A hybrid solution for modern day finance Alchemy Pay’s hybrid payment solution allows everyday crypto payment, large or small, and the ability to bypass the costly Interchange means that Alchemy Pay’s merchants can expect to save 50-70% in fees in comparison to traditional digital payments. Merchants receive their money within two to three days. White Label Products Alchemy Pay offers white label products such as crypto-linked cards and enables businesses to issue loyalty tokens of their own. Merchants can issue virtual cards linked to Mastercard and Visa and give their users their own branded token rewards when they spend with them. Tang stated, “we recognise there is huge potential in this area and what blockchain offers in terms of tokenization is something we are very excited about.” The Blockchain Infrastructure Alliance The crypto payment space today is still fragmented and lacks comprehensive interoperability. With this in mind, Alchemy Pay, along with other founding members – Polygon, NEAR, NEO, and Conflux, alongside other investment veterans and incubators, have come together to form the Blockchain Infrastructure Alliance (BIA) and collectively lift the blockchain industry. By bringing together thought-leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs, the BIA will create countless synergies between members across all areas and establish pooled resources for promotion, research, and development. The BIA will be creating ecosystem funds with selected public blockchain members to incubate projects with the overall goal of advancing cryptocurrency functionality. This initiative enables the co-branded ecosystem funds to attract high quality projects while the partnered public blockchains enjoy additional products and services built on their networks. The BIA will work with over thirty academics from top universities around the world who will help identify the best opportunities for solutions and development. Societal Benefits of Cryptocurrency Payments Crypto is gradually disrupting traditional finance and, in doing so, is unlocking a multi trillion dollar opportunity that will benefit society as a whole. Karmen Tang concluded her keynote speech with conviction, “when we look to the future, we envision a world of greater financial empowerment, inclusion, and transparency for people regardless of geography or status. We understand that this won’t happen overnight but Alchemy Pay’s crypto-fiat solution has a big role to play in that by making crypto payments work seamlessly.” About Alchemy Pay Alchemy Pay is an integrated fiat and cryptocurrency gateway solutions provider, powering seamless crypto and fiat acceptance for merchant networks, developers and financial institutions. The company drives adoption of blockchain technology by making crypto investment, commercial transactions, and DeFi services readily accessible to consumers and institutions in the fiat economy. Today, Alchemy Pay supports over 60 countries with 200 payment channels and has touchpoints with more than 2 million merchants through partnerships with industry giants such as Binance, Shopify, Arcadier, QFPay and more. Website: alchemytech.io Twitter：twitter.com/alchemypay Telegram：t.me/alchemy_official This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

In mid-June, the ‘Speedy Trial’ lock-in period for the Bitcoin network upgrade Taproot locked in at block height 687,285 and was mined by the bitcoin mining pool Slushpool. Taproot is expected to activate on the network on Saturday, November 13, 2021, and the upgrade is considered one of the largest changes the protocol has seen since Segregated Witness (Segwit) went live in 2017. Bitcoin Upgrade Taproot Expected to Activate on Saturday Taproot is expected to activate and go live on the main network on Saturday, November 13, 2021, following the lock-in period this past summer. When activated, Taproot is expected to enhance the digital currency network’s scripting capacity and the ability to leverage Schnorr signatures (BIP340) will be made available. Taproot is also expected to amplify bitcoin transactions by allowing certain types of complex, ‘smart’ transactions. People say this often but this is actually the first time I do… this may literally be the last dip before a HUGE rally…#Bitcoin Taproot upgrade happening this weekend + the middle of November Q4 on a bull run has always been super bullish… Buckle up people!! 🚀 — CryptoSeñorita® (@CryptoSenorita) November 12, 2021 Schnorr signatures can help transactions scale as they are more compact than ECDSA. Schnorr can also allow key aggregation, which provides a slew of multi-signature transaction schemes. While Taproot (BIP341) creates new rules for a new Pay-to-Taproot (P2TR) output type, the upgrade is a soft fork and is entirely opt-in like its predecessor Segwit. “Taproot is a proposed Bitcoin protocol upgrade that can be deployed as a forward-compatible soft fork,” the Github “Taproot-Activation” documentation notes. “By combining the Schnorr signature scheme with MAST (Merklized Alternative Script Tree) and a new scripting language called Tapscript, Taproot will expand Bitcoin’s smart contract flexibility, while offering more privacy by letting users mask complex smart contracts as a regular bitcoin transaction.” Decentrader Market Analyst Expects ‘the Price to Rally up to the $85K – $90K Region in the Coming Weeks’ — Taproot Upgrade Could Also Be Priced In Discussions concerning the Taproot upgrade are all over cryptocurrency forums and social media platforms during the last few days. The much-anticipated Taproot upgrade will officially go live at block height 709,632. The activation of this specific upgrade has caused people to speculate that BTC’s price may spike significantly higher after a successful soft fork. $BTC sitting at the weekly support zone (former resistance), while the taproot upgrade is coming👀 To be honest things are looking bullish📈 By Alex 👤 pic.twitter.com/NEQr6bLDts — IAMTHEONE👽🦕🦬 (@BigShortRare) November 12, 2021 On November 12, a bitcoin market update blog post published by decentrader.com says that market sentiment could spark a rally after the Taproot upgrade. Despite bitcoin’s (BTC) current volatility after the crypto asset tapped $69K, Decentrader explained the analysts are still “bullish” about BTC’s price rising higher. The market update states: We remain bullish on high time frames and continue to expect price to rally up to the $85,000 – $90,000 region in the coming weeks, which aligns with the 1.618 fib retracement level. Overall, people believe that once the network gets improved scalability and fungibility, the upgrade could bring a new all-time high (ATH). The Bitpanda Pro Twitter account discussed Taproot today and noted that the upgrade comes at a very opportune time. “The Taproot upgrade comes at a very bullish time,” Bitpanda tweeted on Friday. “Both for the total crypto market, which recently surpassed a value of €2.6T for the first time, and for Bitcoin itself, which has hit new ATHs multiple times over the past few weeks.” However, Bitpanda also admitted that the upgrade’s value could already be priced in, and the recent ATH to $69K could have been the spike. “However, it appears that the bulls may still have some power left to push the price higher once the upgrade comes into effect,” Bitpanda added. “Taproot, after all, is here to make Bitcoin better, more efficient, and more private, all of which are factors that could justify a higher price,” the digital asset exchange concluded. What do you think about the upcoming Taproot upgrade? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

ADALend, currently in the process of developing a decentralized financing (DeFi) project has just announced its plans to start the development of its cross-platform integrations very soon. The cross-platform integrations will simplify and allow access to decentralized financial services by a larger segment of users around the globe. ADALend’s GM, Javed Khattak, has earlier announced that ADALend will work on its UI and the platform’s user experience and simplicity to provide less barriers of entry for traditional users to get involved with decentralized financing. About ADALend ADALend is a decentralized lending protocol governed by the Cardano system. Within this Cardano system, ADALend will influence the flexibility of digital finance markets by providing a basis for immediate access to loans and collaterals, resulting in sustained liquidity of the blockchain assets of the lender. Permissionless Lending On Any Pairing Guarantees the users will always be granted the best offers available secured by multiple layers of oracles removing the need for permissions on any pairings. Incentivised Liquidity The idea behind incentivizing deposits will keep ADALends’ pools highly liquid, securing low-interest rates and the availability of assets for borrowers. Community Governance Governance proposals issued by the ADALend or the community will have to reach a consensus by the token holders through a system of voting. Guarantee that the project will always be propelled in the best interest of the user and the ADALend community. Ecosystem Foundation Layer The ADALend project will host a layer of financial products aimed at developing the entire project as its own financial solutions platform providing users with a complete independent ecosystem to replace traditional and non-traditional financial solutions. ADALend encourages all to read its published whitepaper and get familiar with all the amazing features and protocols that the project encompasses. For more information please visit https://adalend.finance This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

On Friday, November 12, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Vaneck’s bitcoin spot market exchange-traded fund (ETF). The U.S. regulator noted that the denial was due to the lack of prevention toward “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” SEC Turns Down Spot Market ETF – US Regulator Believes There Should be More Manipulation Protection for Investors Following the approval of a few bitcoin ETFs that leverage future markets, the SEC has rejected Vaneck’s bitcoin spot market ETF on Friday. So far, the U.S. regulator has not approved any bitcoin ETFs that are tethered to spot market prices. In its ruling, the SEC explains spot market ETF offerings have not “met its burden” when it comes to “[protecting] investors and the public interest.” The Vaneck ETF was turned down over “the requirement that the rules of a national securities exchange be “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” For one, standards need to include “surveillance-sharing agreements,” as they “provide a necessary deterrent to manipulation because they facilitate the availability of information needed to fully investigate a manipulation if it were to occur,” the SEC ruling details. The SEC also cited the denial of the Winklevoss ETF the two investors tried to get approved years ago. In the case of most commodity-trust ETPs, the fund must enter into some kind of “surveillance-sharing agreements” or “Intermarket Surveillance Group (“ISG”) membership” tied to the type of market, the U.S. regulator’s ruling explains. The ruling details that the fund BZX believes “such manipulation concerns have been sufficiently mitigated, and that the growing and quantifiable investor protection concerns should [be] sufficient to justify dispensing with the requisite surveillance-sharing agreement.” The SEC ruling concludes that the central consideration right now for the regulator is the “potential manipulation of bitcoin.” What do you think about the SEC denying Vaneck’s bitcoin spot market ETF? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Two days ago on November 10, a mystery whale transferred 20 block rewards from 2010, which saw the movement of 1,000 decade-old bitcoins worth $68 million at the time of transfer. Two days later on November 12, the miner from 2010 returned once again, in order to transfer another string of 20 block rewards from 2010 worth roughly $64 million at the time it was sent. After Transferring 1,000 Bitcoins 2 Days Ago, the Mega-Whale From 2010 Has Returned Again Last year, Bitcoin.com News, the members of the Telegram research group GFIS, and the creator of Btcparser.com discovered an extraordinary bitcoin (BTC) whale that spent decade-old block rewards from 2010 in strings of 20 blocks at a time. To date, the whale has transferred a total of 13,000 bitcoins that derived from mined blocks in 2010. Using today’s exchange rates that’s close to a billion dollars ($829M) but this whale transferred the 13,000 during various BTC price ranges. The day bitcoin (BTC) reached an all-time price high on Wednesday, November 10, the mystery whale returned for the first time since June 9, 2021. Two days later on Friday, November 12, the whale came back to spend another 1,000 bitcoins from a string of 20 decade-old block rewards. These types of bitcoins are referred to as ‘sleeping bitcoins’ because they have not moved from the original address since the day they were mined. There are lots of ‘sleeping bitcoins,’ and onchain researchers love to discover spends from 2009 through 2013 because of the age of these blocks. For instance, the last 2009 block reward transfer derived from a block mined on February 9, 2009, was last year on May 20, 2020. 2010 block rewards that have been idle for more than a decade are also rare to see spent ten years later, but this particular whale has a large sum of bitcoins mined at that time. So far, this entity has moved 20 block rewards from 2010 on 13 separate occasions (3/11/20 – 10/11/20 – 11/7/20 – 11/8/20 – 12/27/20 – 1/3/21 – 1/10/21 – 1/25/21 – 2/28/21 – 3/23/21 – 6/9/21 – 11/10/21 – 11/12/21). The 13th Mega-Whale Sighting — 13,000 Bitcoins Distributed So Far Today’s block reward spend was yet another consecutive 20 block rewards from 2010 that was transferred at block height 709,305. Just like the 20 block reward transfers two days ago, the mystery miner spent the corresponding bitcoin cash (BCH) as well. The miner did not transfer the 1,000 bitcoinsv (BSV) and those coins still remain idle today. All the bitcoin (BTC) was consolidated to this address and then the 1,000 BTC was distributed to wallets holding 10 BTC per address. The bitcoin cash (BCH) was consolidated into a wallet with 1,000 BCH and those coins were distributed to wallets holding 50 BCH per address. According to Blockchair’s privacy-o-meter tool, the 1,000 BTC move from 2010 suffered from “critical” privacy issues. Five privacy issues were tethered to the whale’s transaction including matched inputs and outputs. Blockchair utilizes over 100 indicators to measure the privacy scores of bitcoin transactions. Our onchain research friends at GFIS believe this whale’s movements have been quite interesting. “This is the 13th awakening that our team has noticed, as we are constantly analyzing the Bitcoin blockchain,” GFIS told our newsdesk. “More interestingly, the manner of these awakenings and distributing funds is always the same,” the onchain researchers added. GFIS continued: The mined virgin bitcoins from 2010 are taken, transferred to a P2SH address (which possibly performs the escrow address function), and then the funds are distributed mostly between bech32 addresses in amounts of 10 bitcoins per wallet. The creator of Btcparser.com also noted that there were very few legacy addresses (7) and a lot more P2SH addresses (65), while the majority were bech32 addresses (125 total – five P2WSH and 120 P2WPKH). “In terms of distribution of funds, 96 addresses received exactly 10 bitcoins,” the researcher remarked. “One received 32, another one received 7.27. And 99 addresses received less than 1 Bitcoin in total (an average of 0.006498879 to be more precise).” The transfer today, if exchanged for U.S. dollars, the 1,000 BTC stash was worth $64 billion at the time the transaction occurred. The corresponding BCH was worth $656K at the time of the original transfer. What do you think about the 2010 mining entity that has been spending 20 block rewards with 1,000 bitcoin in strings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

At the World Digital Mining Summit in Dubai, the leading application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin mining rig manufacturer, Bitmain, revealed the company’s most powerful bitcoin mining device to date. The new Antminer S19 XP will boast up to 140 terahash per second (TH/s) and uses 27% less electricity per terahash than the most efficient and profitable bitcoin miner today. The New Antminer S19 XP Boasts 140 TH/s and 27% Less Electricity Consumption per Terahash This week the bitcoin mining industry has been buzzing about a new ASIC SHA256 mining rig manufactured by the company Bitmain. News about the new miner was first leaked by the Chinese journalist and former Bitmain employee Colin Wu. The journalist wrote that compared to the current generation of Antminer S19s, the latest in the series of models has “been greatly improved.” Following Wu’s tweet on November 6, Bitmain hosted the World Digital Mining Summit (WDMS) in Dubai and revealed the firm’s next-generation machine. New S19XP @BITMAINtech presented at #WDMS conference pic.twitter.com/fkLryIhdIx — Denis Rusinovich (@DenisRusinovich) November 10, 2021 Bitmain’s new miner will pack a lot of computing power as 140 TH/s will be the most powerful mining rig released on the market to date. The new rig’s specifications show the miner’s efficiency is 21.5 joules per terahash (J/TH), which is considerably more efficient than the S19 Pro’s 29.5 J/TH. The S19 XP not only will use 27% less electricity per terahash, it also claims to provide 37% more hashpower per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The S19 XP leverages the SHA256 mining algorithm and has a power consumption of 3,010 watts off the wall. Five Selected Companies Will Be First to Acquire Bitmain’s New Machines According to the announcement, the machines will be available to the general public in July 2022. However, it seems that five bitcoin mining operations have been selected to be Bitmain’s first S19 XP customers. Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:GREE) was one of the companies selected and Ault Global Holdings’ (NYSE American:DPW) subsidiary Bitnile was also chosen to partner with Bitmain. Milton “Todd” Ault, III, the company’s executive chairman, tweeted some photos of himself signing a contract on stage in Dubai. Full house for the new s19 XP bitmain miner reveal. #WDMS pic.twitter.com/RRmIeiAiXa — Alejandro De La Torre (@bitentrepreneur) November 10, 2021 Bitnile disclosed the new shipment of Antminer S19 XPs will be leveraged at the firm’s Michigan data center and “result in a significant increase in Bitnile’s Bitcoin mining capabilities and future revenues.” The announcement stemming from Greenidge details that the company aims to deploy its units “at a facility to be developed in South Carolina or Texas.” Greenidge also explained that the delivery of S19 XPs will occur in the “third quarter of 2022.” Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP will also boast 5-nanometer (5-nm) chip technology and the semiconductors come from Taiwan. In the Greenidge S19 XP acquisition announcement, Bitmain’s business development director of the NCSA region, Irene Gao, discussed the new S19s. “Like Greenidge and many of our customers, Bitmain is dedicated to improving the carbon footprint of the bitcoin mining industry. That is why we’re thrilled to announce not only the S19 XP but also the green Antminer S19 XP.” Gao concluded: Bitmain is manufacturing a limited edition green Antminer S19 XP and is offsetting 100% of the carbon footprint associated with the production and the first year’s operation of these miners by purchasing carbon offset credits. What do you think about the latest Bitmain miner announcement? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Sydney, Australia – Cardingo is an NFT series and Cardano NFT marketplace that has secretly been in the works for months. While the world waited for Cardano smart contracts, the Cardingo team busily went to work on a series of NFTs and a unique marketplace to satisfy the tastes of Cardano fans worldwide. CNFTs started selling long before smart contracts. Platforms like cnft.io and easycnft.io have offered CNFTs for months. They have been so successful in fact the platforms are inundated with an overwhelming and constant flow. Cardingo aims to stand out by providing a curated marketplace, which mints NFTs only by selected artists. This brings a unique and exclusive touch and Cardingo will always be searching for additional high-quality art and high profile artists to join the platform. Extra effort is being applied into seeking Aboriginal art and artists to expand their income potential and help share their culture and history with the world. A CARDANO MASCOT – OUTBACK STYLE In addition to a solid CNFT Marketplace, Cardingo aims to be a loyal defender devoted to stomping out Cardano Fud. This playful, yet serious side gig, will offer Cardano fans a new mascot to root on and cheer as the new era of Cardano takes hold. THE CARDINGO NFT COLLECTION The Cardingo NFT Platform will launch with a carefully developed series of NFTs: HoskeyChains are the first collection that offer computer generated keychains in a huge variety of Cardano inspired characters. HoskeySmokeys offers artist generated pixel animations that depict the beloved hero Charles Hoskinson in an animated pixel that literally blows smoke. HoskeyMates are another artist generated NFT that depicts Charles Hoskinson, in pixel form, wearing a variety of costumes or depicting different characters. HoskeyMation are another artist generated NFT that depicts Charles Hoskinson in pixel animations displaying different levels of Hoskeys such as noob, pro and more. HoskeyPunks are computer generated NFT that depicts Charles Hoskinson, in pixel form, wearing a variety of costumes or depicting different characters. There is also a Special Hoskey Edition rare Charles Hoskinson collection that include illustration and animation, details on this rare NFT will be released later. THE AUSTRALIAN DINGO Cardingo intends to spread awareness and love for the Dingo. Cardingo has partnered with the Dingo Foundation and will help promote and raise awareness for the Dingo and also donate to the Dingo Foundation charity. Lyn Watson, Head of the foundation, said “we’ve been really hard up for funding due to the lockdown and lack of visitors,” but she is thrilled to partner with Cardingo and thinks the added global attention and donations will help her accomplish her goal of “federal protection for the species.” Dingoes are native and a valuable piece of the Australian Ecosystem, and as an apex predator, they are vital to keeping the environment in balance. Over the years they have been hunted, trapped, poisoned, and generally thought of as pests. Lyn fears the species will eventually become extinct if protection measures are not taken soon. The dingo population at the Dingo Sanctuary are a species “insurance population, which is a big responsibility.” Recently, their most famous Dingo, Wandi, fathered a litter of pups at the Dingo Sanctuary. Wandi’s story went viral when the world learned the tale of a Dingo pup that was dropped from the talons of an eagle to land in a suburban backyard. Wandi even has his own book that soon may be incorporated into Australian schools nationwide. Lyn hopes Wandi will help the next generation learn to love and appreciate Australia’s most valuable predator, rather than try and push it to extinction. By partnering with Cardingo, Lyn aims to help continue her quest to change the reputation of the Dingo and preserve it for future generations. She has hopes in the future to build a visitor center and art gallery that will feature Dingo and aboriginal art for visitors to enjoy and appreciate. AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART Cardingo will also incorporate Australian Aboriginal art. The first evidence of Aboriginal philosophy is evident in the still visible rock art which dates back more than 20,000 years. There is no written language for Australian Aboriginal People so in order to convey their important cultural stories through the generations it is portrayed by symbols or icons through their artwork. Cardingo aims to provide avenues for aboriginal artists to pass on information and to preserve their culture. Indigenous art is centered on storytelling and used to convey knowledge of the land, events, and beliefs of the Aboriginal people. FUTURE CARDINGO The first Cardingo series NFT drop will be happening sometime around the first week in November 2021. Soon after Cardingo will hold the public launch of the utility token for the marketplace which will offer future staking options and additional rewards for Cardingo token holders. This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), still has “serious concerns” about cryptocurrency from a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint. Furthermore, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says he doubts the veracity of the number of Indian crypto investors reported by the media. RBI Has Serious Concerns About Crypto, Governor Doubts Veracity of Media Reports on Crypto Sector The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, reiterated that the central bank still has “serious concerns” about cryptocurrencies at Business Standard’s BFSI Summit this week. He was quoted by local media as saying: Cryptocurrencies are a serious concern to RBI from a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint. He added that the central bank has “given our detailed suggestions” regarding cryptocurrency to the government, which is now “actively looking at the issue and will decide on it.” However, the central bank governor noted, “But as the central banker, we have serious concerns about it and we have flagged it many times.” The RBI has voiced its concerns over cryptocurrency on several occasions. In September, Das similarly said: “We have serious, major concerns on cryptocurrency with respect to financial stability, [and] have conveyed the same to government of India.” The Indian government is currently working on crypto regulation. According to reports, a finance ministry official recently said that the government is trying to “fast track” a cryptocurrency bill to be introduced in the winter session of parliament. Governor Das also cast doubt on the number of Indian crypto investors and the size of the crypto sector in India reported by the media. “I am not sure about the veracity of these numbers. Of course, my view may not be fully right as we don’t get full information about these currencies as they aren’t regulated by us or by any other central bank,” he described, elaborating: But I still think the number of investors look clearly exaggerated as the bulk of them, say over 70%, have invested only about Rs 1,000 each in cryptocurrencies. Das said that since many people only invest Rs 1,000 ($13.43), it suggests that there could be an effort at crypto exchanges to enroll as many people as possible. According to research firm Crebaco, there are about 105 million Indians who have invested in crypto assets. In addition, the firm said the total crypto investment made by Indians is about $10 billion, and 20% of crypto investors are between the ages of 18 and 20. What do you think about the RBI governor’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Most game developers in U.S. and U.K. are now using blockchain elements in their games, according to a study released this week. The study, commissioned by a company named Stratis, reveals that the popularity of blockchain, NFTs, and the new play-to-earn model in the crypto market is making game developers change the traditional ways in which games are produced, with the intention of enticing new players and accessing new markets. Blockchain and NFTs Becoming Mainstream in Video Game Development The trend of including blockchain elements and NFTs in video games is here to stay. According to a study released this week commissioned by blockchain platform Stratis, and by a research firm called Opinium, 58% of the 197 surveyed developers in the U.S. and U.K. are beginning to use blockchain elements in their games. Furthermore, according to the same study, 48% of these developers are incorporating NFTs in their games. This is a testament to how the use of these elements, which increase the link that players have with their digital worlds, is slowly creeping into mainstream gaming companies. Some of the biggest gaming companies, like EA, believe that these new technologies are part of the future of the gaming industry. The survey seems to confirm this trend, with more than 70% of respondents saying they would consider using these technologies for new games with 56% planning to do so in the next 12 months. The reason for this is clear. Innovation and securing value for players in the game were the first two more popular use cases that respondents cited as a reason to use these blockchain elements in the gaming industry. The play-to-earn element, this is, rewarding players with real-word value, followed as the third most popular use case. AAA Studios Interested, but Indies Are Already Here Chris Trew, CEO of Stratis, a company that offers an SDK to include blockchain elements in game engines, stated: With renowned platforms such as Epic welcoming blockchain-based games and NFTs, we certainly expect AAA studios to launch titles incorporating these technologies in the coming years. But there are so many indie game developers that will get there first. While big companies like Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts have been flirting with blockchain and NFTs for some time, there are already several independent (indie) studios that have embraced and included these elements with success. This is the case of Axie Infinity, the game created by Sky Mavis, that made the play-to-earn model popular in the last year and also includes NFT elements to support its economy. What do you think about blockchain and NFTs going mainstream in video game design? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

While Nigerians have seemingly embraced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s digital currency, skeptical analysts believe a lack of trust in the government will ultimately limit the e-naira’s prospects for success. Threat From Fintech Startups In addition, some analysts insist the digital currency’s already tenuous position is made worse by the fact that it has to compete with fintech startups. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria is home to some of the biggest fintech startups and is a country that receives a relatively large chunk of the continent’s fintech investment. According to a Financial Times report, it is this threat from well-funded fintech startups that raises questions about the e-naira’s chances of fulfilling some of the CBN’s goals like bringing more people into the financial system or allowing for more targeted social and welfare spending. One of the analysts who is quoted in the report casting doubts about the e-naira’s prospects of succeeding is Adedayo Ademuwagun, an analyst at Songhai Advisory. According to Ademuwagun, most of the goals that the CBN hopes to achieve with the digital version of the naira are already being addressed by privately owned fintech startups. He explained: The issue is that all of this can already be adequately addressed using the existing financial payments system. Nigeria is the fintech capital of Africa, so there are just so many options, so many ways to pay somebody, and pay them fast, already. Trust Issues However, another analyst, Ronak Gadhia of EFG Hermes thinks the belief the government will monitor all e-naira transactions may be enough to dissuade some from using the e-naira. “The government effectively knows every transaction you carry out [with a digital currency] and in a place like Nigeria where there’s a bit of mistrust between ordinary Nigerians and the government there may be skepticism in terms of adoption,” the report quoted Gadhia explaining. Further, to support his argument, Gadhia points to how the Nigerian government was able to suffocate the End Sars protests by simply freezing the bank accounts of individuals that had organized the protests. Despite expressing his doubts about the e-naira’s prospects, Gadhia insists it is still too early to judge or dismiss the digital currency’s potential. What are your thoughts about this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

OVR has decided to upgrade its token economics to make its own tokens more rare and valuable. Last May, the OVR team burned about 1 million OVR tokens to celebrate the first six months of the project. Now it is announcing an exciting decision to make token burn an integral part of its token economics. OVR’s token economics plan On November 1, a full-fledged token burn program was officially kicked off. The project team has decided to take 50% of the revenue generated from the ongoing sale of OVRLand on a monthly basis and manage it in the following way: 40% is directly used to burn tokens the remaining 10% is used to incentivize the sale of OVRLand. A sort of “lottery” takes place in which one of the OVRLand buyers is drawn each month, with the use of Chainlink VRF, to win the remaining 10% of the revenues. It goes without saying that the more OVRLands tokens an investor has, the better his chances of winning 10% of the revenues. Potential issues The burning program seems to be a very good way to accelerate the token economics of the project. However, one might wonder how sustainable this periodic burning can be and, as a direct consequence, how many OVRLands can be sold. The answer to this legitimate doubt is very reassuring. Data tells us that there are more than 1.6 trillion OVRLands covering the surface of the planet but not all of them can be sold, such as those covering oceans, deserts, rainforests etc. Nevertheless, by intentionally making a low estimate and considering only the OVRLands points of interest recorded by Open Street Map, we still arrive at around 100 million. If we were to be even more cautious in making assumptions, we might consider that none of these are larger than one OVRLand. Strengths Starting from this figure and considering 10 OVRs with a price of $1 each, we would arrive at 1 billion in sales, resulting in 400 million OVRs to be potentially burned against the 100 million of the current total supply. OVR’s new token economics are already making current and future investors dream. For the more sceptical, here is the link to the smart contract that does the burning: https://etherscan.io/token/0x21bfbda47a0b4b5b1248c767ee49f7caa9b23697?a=0xd56e993edbe4a23fb527b8ad92a9157a0a6e350d This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The digital ruble is what Russian citizens need as it will facilitate inexpensive and reliable payments, the head of Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, told participants in an international banking forum. The governor also warned that cryptocurrencies and fiat-backed stablecoins create risks for financial stability. CBR’s Nabiullina Praises Digital Ruble Concept, Rejects Cryptocurrencies The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) takes very seriously cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as they pose risks to the financial stability of the country, the head of the monetary authority said during a conference organized by Bank of Finland’s Institute for Emerging Economies. Russia takes a cautious view on both of these types of private tokens, Elvira Nabiullina told the audience via a video call while also sharing the Russian perspective on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The entrance of cryptocurrencies and especially global stablecoins into emerging markets may increase currency substitution, crowding out fiat currencies, Nabiullina elaborated. As a result, financial stability risks may increase while the monetary transmission mechanism may weaken, the high-ranking official added during her presentation devoted to Russia’s digital ruble project. She further emphasized: That’s why we think that CBDC is the proper solution to give people what they need – a cheap, reliable, and protecting personal data solution for payments. The executive remarked that Bank of Russia does not allow the use of private cryptocurrencies in the Russian payment system. Her statement reiterated the regulator’s long-standing position against permitting the free circulation of bitcoin and the like, which it often calls “money surrogates.” The central bank maintains that under current Russian law the ruble is the only legal tender. The digital ruble, the third incarnation of the national fiat currency after cash and bank money, will also have legal tender status, which means it will be mandatory for merchants to accept it, Elvira Nabiullina explained. The Russian Federation is now preparing to adopt the necessary legislation, launch a prototype, and begin trials with the participation of commercial banks and other organizations. The chair of the CBR described the transition to CBDCs as a significant development. In her opinion, the state-issued digital currencies will facilitate more advanced, as well as cheaper — which is important for Russia — payment solutions. They also promise to simplify and accelerate cross-border transactions in the longer run, Nabiullina noted. Bank of Russia started contemplating a CBDC in 2018 and after analyzing the pros and cons, decided to explore the possibility of issuing a digital ruble last year. A consultation paper was published in October with a long list of questions to gather feedback from the financial sector and other stakeholders. In April, the authority released a digital ruble concept outlining the CBDC’s principle architecture. CBDC Wallets to Be Linked to Identities of Holders The digital ruble will be a retail CBDC and all individual wallets will be opened on Bank of Russia’s balance sheet and on a centralized ledger operated by the CBR. Commercial banks and other financial intermediaries will provide access to customers’ wallets through their apps. Due to anti-money laundering considerations, cash-like anonymity is not an option, Nabiullina stressed, adding: We shall also keep in mind that the flip side of anonymity is a much greater exposure to fraud of all sorts. “The digital ruble wallets will be linked to the identities of their owners, thus from the standpoint of access mechanics, this clearly fits in the definition of an account-based system,” as opposed to a token-based solution where the formula involves knowing the key to an anonymous account, the central banker detailed. Nevertheless, it will be possible to tokenize the currency in the account-based wallets. According to the CBR official, there’s a strong consensus that the design of the digital ruble should put an emphasis on its use as a medium of exchange while limiting its appeal as a savings vehicle. “With that in mind, the Bank of Russia made the definitive decision that the digital ruble will not be interest-bearing” in order to avoid competition with bank money in the savings space, Nabiullina revealed. At the same time, she believes the digital fiat will challenge the banking sector’s monopoly on electronic payments, leading to lower commissions and higher interest payments. To avoid bank runs, imposing a limit on the amount a person can transfer from a regular bank account to a digital ruble account “may be advisable,” the governor stated. Another option is to cap the amount of funds that can be stored in a single digital ruble wallet, she added. Elvira Nabiullina expects a prototype of the digital ruble platform to be available at the beginning of next year and piloting to commence later in 2022 to “test and refine all aspects of using the digital ruble.” Once the pilot phase is completed, financial authorities in Russia will take a final decision on the launch of the digital ruble. Do you expect Russia to eventually issue a digital version of the ruble? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

The U.S. Treasury Department proposed regulating stablecoin issuers as banking institutions, which may be a great idea if stablecoin issuers are offered the same privileges as regulated banks. US Treasury Department Report: Stablecoins Regulation Is Urgently Needed The rise of stablecoins within the crypto ecosystem serves as a glaring reminder that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have outgrown their humble beginnings, gradually positioning themselves as challengers of brick and mortar finance’s existing hegemony. With the market capitalization of stablecoins expanding at an unprecedented rate, governments and financial regulators worldwide have started focusing on better regulating this rising asset class. By design, stablecoins are backed by “stable” assets that allow them to maintain a constant value relative to the underlying asset. Due to this feature, stablecoins are increasingly used to facilitate lending, borrowing, and trading other digital assets. The stablecoin market is currently valued at more than $135 billion, with significant chances of explosive growth as it starts gaining mainstream attention from businesses and individuals as an accepted mode of payment. Due to their embedded qualities like low costs, scalability, and near-instant settlement, stablecoins could end up displacing bank transfers. As such, governments and financial regulators worldwide are striving to regulate this growing asset class. The Idea of Regulating Stablecoin Companies as Banks At this point, almost every country is either experimenting or has implemented regulatory guidelines on cryptocurrencies. But the U.S. government is one of the first to take great interest in stablecoins. From Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urging the need to regulate stablecoins —especially those that are pegged 1:1 with the U.S. Dollar — to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler highlighting the benefits of regulation for both service providers and consumers, stablecoins have become a central attraction for policymakers. Another risk that has alarmed regulators is the clarity of the asset that is backing the stablecoin. While the coins may appear pegged to the U.S. dollar, significant portions of the most popular stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and BUSD are actually backed by commercial paper and U.S. treasuries, which act as “cash-like” securities. The U.S. Treasury Department’s most recent report says that regulation is urgently needed regarding stablecoins, as they pose risks to the integrity of financial markets, including conformity with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) laws. The report further points out that since stablecoins play the same role as bank-regulated fiat currencies in the traditional economy, stablecoin companies should be regulated like banks. Need for a Level Playing Field Although the Treasury Department’s report highlights the financial risks of stablecoins, it misses out on something fundamental. On the one hand, it recommends that stablecoins be treated as fiat currencies and regulated accordingly, but it fails to consider the companies’ perspectives behind these stablecoins. There is no denying that regulating stablecoins could be a game-changer for defi and tradfi. Still, to do so, governments and regulators must also ensure that stablecoins get equal privileges as fiat currencies and that the companies also receive similar treatment as regulated banks. Simply put, if the U.S. Treasury Department wants to regulate stablecoins as banks, it should also allow stablecoin companies to maintain a fractional reserve model. Right now, stablecoins are backed by a near 1:1 ratio with USD and cash-like equivalents. By comparison, deposit-taking banks in the U.S. are generally required to hold just a certain proportion (usually around 10%) of all aggregate deposits in cash. Because of the fractional reserve system of banking, all regulated banks in the U.S. hold just a fraction of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve and can lend the remainder out to borrowers as needed. This enables them to reinvest the money in high-yield assets instead of holding the entirety of the deposits in cash or cash equivalents. Stablecoin platforms have to hold all their deposits in cash or cash equivalents like treasuries or commercial paper, and the money pooled in these platforms sits idle and doesn’t serve any other purpose. Take, for instance, the recent disclosure by Paxos about assets backing stablecoins like PAX and BUSD, which states that 96% of the reserves are in cash and cash equivalents, while 4% have been invested in U.S. Treasury bills. The Long and Stable Road It is difficult to tell how things will play out for stablecoin issuers in the long run, but regulating them as banks without equal privileges is nothing short of hasty and myopic, given the potential benefits that can be harnessed from this technological revolution. Still, a comprehensive audit and compliance framework is necessary to deliver the transparency and assurances needed to attract greater adoption. Hopefully, the Treasury Department’s latest report will play a critical role in laying the groundwork for congressional leaders to establish new regulatory guidelines in the coming months to allow stablecoins to expand their reach. Do you think stablecoins should be regulated as banks? Let us know in the comments section below. 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PRESS RELEASE. If You ever heard of CryptoPunks and always wanted to create an NFT yourself – now it’s Your time! Create 888 unique Martians! Collaboration of Mars4 and Sketchar announces exclusive Martians888 Art Contest. Open up your inner Leonardo da Vinci to create a one-of-a-kind Martian avatar. Best 888 Martian NFT avatars will form an exciting component of the Mars4 Metaverse – P2E gaming ecosystem where you can explore a geographically exact 3D virtual Mars, own and customize your land and even reap the rewards of the world’s first revenue-generating NFT! MARS4 Metaverse. Why should I get excited? Mars4 – centered ecosystem where you can explore a virtual Mars Metaverse, own and customize your land property with MARS4 Tokens and even reap the rewards of the world’s first revenue-generating NFT! Attractive tokenomics of Mars4 leverages NFT Mars Land, Gamification, and Token Redistribution. The Mars4 project’s development team has modeled a detailed 3D map of Mars’ terrain after NASA’s Mars data. Think of it as Mars’ equivalent of the 2001 Google Earth 3D map. The total area of the Red Planet is divided into 99.888 unique land plots, each represented by a unique NFT. Mars4 is a platform that allows people to own and access the virtual Metaverse world which features the fourth planet in our solar system, Mars. The Mars4 Metaverse will have multiple play to earn games combining the best of Decentraland, Star Atlas and Axie Infinity. The NFT project is powered by cryptocurrency, which makes it more accessible to people all around the world. Dual tokenomics of Mars4 contains Mars Land NFTs and MARS4 dollars. There is an initial supply of 4 billion MARS4 Tokens that are used as the main currency on the Metaverse of which 1/3rd will be sent to mint the limited supply of NFT land plots. Earn passive income by simply holding Mars Land The platform operates on the Ethereum, allowing users to benefit from high transaction processing speeds. Aside from owning a parcel of land on Mars, users also get the opportunity to benefit from their land plots. In the future, Mars NFTs will be open for staking, and liquidity mining, thus earning passive income to their owners. The Mars4 platform is the first blockchain-based project to allow collectors to receive passive income through their NFTs. When a collector owns a land plot NFT, they are automatically included in the Mars4 yield generating system. This system ensures each transaction performed on the platform redistributes MARS4 tokens to the NFT holders. Before the launch of Metaverse, epochs are introduced to redistribute passive income for Mars landlords. The scarcity model is designed to provide a yield for NFT owners as soon as possible, as there are no transactions until the game is not yet launched. Each Epoch starts after a new batch of 10,000 NFTs are sold. 51% of income from the Land NFTs are redistributed to the previous NFT owners, starting in Epoch 1. As more than 50,000 NFTs were sold already, Mars4 entered the first epoch on September 24th 2021. There already sits more than 17 million MARS4 tokens in Epoch1 Redistribution. Mars4 and Sketchar Collaboration: Martians888 Mars4.me, a Mars themed Metaverse powered by Mars Land NFTs and Play to Earn (P2E) gaming mechanics is announcing a campaign for artists to contribute to the creation of 888 unique Martian Avatars (imagine CryptoPunks on Mars) that will be minted as NFTs and form a core part of the Mars4 world. This is a unique chance for artists to break through and make a name for themselves in the exciting world of Web3, NTFs and P2E gaming. Mars4 collaborates with Sketchar to make the Martians888 collection come to life! Open up your inner Leonardo da Vinci and create one of 888 unique Martians on Sketchar application. All you need to do is download the Sketchar app, tap the Martians icon in the Creative Hub, fill the outline template for a Martian in your style and share it on the Martians888 collection. You will need to keep the initial outline of the Martian, but you can add accessories or environments. Art contest started on November 8th and will end on 30th. Sketchar is a mobile platform with a suite of tools for growing artistic skills, creating art, and selling it right from the application. It provides augmented reality for drawing, artificial intelligence for turning images into cartoons, and more to enhance people’s artistic skills. The company is backed by Snap, Boost VC, and IMI.VC. Sketchar has been honored with the Webby Awards for Best Use of Augmented Reality 2018, the most prestigious award for digital products. For more information, please visit sketchar.io. The 888 best Martians will be selected by the Sketchar community and a special jury composed of the Mars4 executive team and experts from the world of Crypto Art and NFT gaming. If your Martian is chosen, you will receive a share of the $35,000 USD bonus pool. These artworks are going to be promoted and sold on the Sketchar marketplace and other NFT marketplaces. Conclusion Mars4 NFTs are a rare combination of the NFT benefits of proof of ownership of something both scarce and beautiful, and passive income generation. Unlike other NFT projects, Mars4 has revenue assurance from its NFT yield generating protocols. It is therefore not just an artistic and exploration medium for content creators, individuals, and businesses, but an excellent source of passive income. Without further delay, be a part of the exciting Martians888 collection! Start crafting your NFT avatar right away and let it celebrate with his other 887 friends on Mars. This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that crypto assets are providing another means of payment for people who want to conduct criminal activity. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey Sees Crypto Helping Criminal Activities The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said during an online question-and-answer session organized by the British central bank that the rise of cryptocurrency is helping illegal activities. He was quoted as saying: The advent of digital means of payment, and in particular crypto assets, I’m afraid that the evidence suggests … that it is providing another means of payment for people who want to conduct criminal activity. Governor Bailey has warned about various aspects of cryptocurrency on several occasions. He said in May: “I’m skeptical about crypto-assets, frankly, because they’re dangerous and there’s a huge enthusiasm out there.” He also stated that cryptocurrencies “have no intrinsic value.” However, the Bank of England governor added that it does not mean people do not put value on them, noting that “they can have extrinsic value.” Nonetheless, Bailey emphasized: “I’m going to say this very bluntly again. Buy them only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.” The Bank of England governor is not the only one worried about crypto being used in illicit activities. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, said in May that cryptocurrencies are prone to money laundering. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has talked about crypto being used in illicit financing several times this year. In February, she stressed the importance of crypto regulation to ensure bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are not used in illicit transactions. Furthermore, U.S. President Joe Biden said in October: “The United States will bring together 30 countries to accelerate our cooperation in combating cybercrime, improving law enforcement collaboration, stemming the illicit use of cryptocurrency, and engaging on these issues diplomatically.” What do you think about the Bank of England governor’s warning? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Amid an ongoing lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over XRP, Ripple is launching a new product, Liquidity Hub, which aims to be “a one-stop shop for enterprises to source any tokenized asset.” The product “will allow customers to seamlessly access crypto assets from a variety of global venues, including market makers, exchanges, OTC desks and in the future decentralized venues,” the company detailed. Ripple Liquidity Hub Allows Customers to ‘Seamlessly Access Crypto Assets From a Variety of Global Venues’ Ripple announced Tuesday that it is launching a new product called “Ripple Liquidity Hub.” The announcement explains: Ripple Liquidity Hub will allow customers to seamlessly access crypto assets from a variety of global venues, including market makers, exchanges, OTC desks and, in the future, decentralized venues. Asheesh Birla, general manager at Ripple, explained that the new product aims to be “a one-stop shop for enterprises to source any tokenized asset.” Ripple Liquidity Hub is expected to launch in 2022. “The product will support turn-key integration and smart order routing to source digital assets at optimized prices giving customers the ability to easily buy, sell, and hold crypto assets,” Ripple explained. Initially, the platform will “support BTC, ETH, LTC, ETC, BCH and XRP (availability will vary by geography), with plans to expand to more tokenized assets,” the company added, noting that “In the future Ripple plans to add additional features such as support for staking and yield generating functionalities.” The announcement notes that Ripple has been using Liquidity Hub internally for almost two years “for internal liquidity management as part of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product, powering millions of transactions, worth billions of dollars.” Ripple’s first partner to use the product is crypto-to-cash network Coinme. “Initially, Coinme will utilize the underlying technology platform of Liquidity Hub, with plans to unlock additional functionality as it becomes available,” Ripple detailed. This product launch announcement came as Ripple continues its legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The securities regulator sued Ripple Labs, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen for allegedly raising more than $1.3 billion through XRP which the commission considers an unregistered security offering. Ripple and its executives are fighting the lawsuit, insisting that XRP is not a security. What do you think about Ripple launching Liquidity Hub amid an ongoing lawsuit with the SEC? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article