Crypto Shake

2022-05-13 22:00:04 ​​ECB lays out ‘anonymous’ digital euro as public opposes ‘slavecoins’

The ECB released another working paper on the digital euro, providing an extensive technical analysis of a potential European CBDC and its position in the existing financial system.

Issued on May 13, the working paper aims to study issues like financial intermediation, payment choices and privacy in the digital economy, providing a large number of related algebra-based conclusions.

The study suggests that a “CBDC with anonymity” is preferable to traditional digital payments like bank deposits but it “may become supplanted” by digital currencies, or “payment tokens” issued by technology giants.

“This risk would be particularly tangible if those platforms compete with banks in the market for financial services. However, an optionality for data sharing features may result in a widespread CBDC adoption,” the working paper reads.

According to the ECB, one of the main problems of cash is that it cannot be used for more efficient online transitions while it still preserves anonymity. In contrast, bank deposits can be used online but do not provide enough anonymity.

Finally, digital currencies issued by tech platforms “allow merchants to hide from banks but enable platforms to stifle competition,” the ECB wrote, adding:

The European Central Bank (ECB) continues pushing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project despite Europeans apparently not feeling too much positive about a digital euro.

“An independent digital payment instrument — a CBDC — that allows agents to share their payment data with selected parties can overcome all frictions ... The introduction of a CBDC with anonymity enables merchants to prevent banks from extracting information from payment flows.” Open / Comment

2022-05-10 21:00:03 ​​Nigeria’s Central Bank to Allow Bill Payments in eNaira (Report)

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will reportedly enable locals to pay their bills, TV subscriptions, and flight tickets using the eNaira. The move is part of a campaign that aims to popularize the financial product and encourage people to employ it more often in their daily transactions.

The Upgrade of Nigeria’s CBDC
It is safe to say that the most populated country in Africa – Nigeria – is among the leaders in terms of CBDC efforts. Last year, the authorities introduced the eNaira under the slogan “Same Naira, more possibilities.” The nation’s central bank raised hopes that the product will make financial transactions “easier and seamless for every strata of the society.”

According to a recent coverage, the CBN will upgrade its CBDC next week, allowing members of the public to use it as a payment method for bills, flight tickets, or TV and Internet subscriptions. To do so, the financial institution partnered with the mobile banking firm – Bizi Mobile. Providing more details was Bariboloka Koyor – Branch Controller at the CBN:

“Starting from next week, there is going to be an upgrade on the eNaira speed wallet app that will allow you to do transactions such as paying for DSTV or electric bills or even paying for flight tickets.“

The bank asserted that more Nigerians will become aware of the product as a result of the upgrade. They should also start using it more often as a means of payment and thus, strengthen its presence around the country.

“This is a project that the CBN has rolled out to reach out to every Nigerian in terms of financial inclusion and in terms of efficiency, reliability, and safety of banking transactions so that we can do banking transactions very easily and safely and the people in Nigeria can enjoy the benefit of the eNaira,” Koyor concluded.

Nigerians Are Keen on Crypto
Despite the CBN’s attempts to introduce the eNaira to the locals, it remains uncertain how successful that move would be. The reason is that Nigerians are highly intrigued by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (which are entirely different from CBDCs).

A recent study estimated that over 33 million of Nigeria’s adults have owned or traded digital assets in the past six months. 52% of those have invested more than half of their wealth into the market, while 70% vowed to increase their exposure by the end of 2022.

The research determined that the high interest in the asset class is fueled mainly by the accelerating inflation levels. Many locals decided to convert their devaluating fiat currency into crypto, hoping to preserve their wealth during the financial turmoil.

The fact that a considerable chunk of Nigerians lacks access to basic financial services is another reason why they have jumped on the digital asset bandwagon. Open / Comment

2022-05-08 22:00:02 ​​Humswap to launch BOWL NFT staking in May, will reward users with NEP-17 HUMS tokens

Humswap is launching its NFT staking feature, planned to go live at 2:30 a.m. (UTC) on May 19, 2022. Staking will be available for the BOWL collection, with plans to enable this functionality for the Ants and Tiger NFT collections. Other non-Humswap projects could also be added in the future.

Humswap is a DeFi platform built on Neo N3 that aims to offer liquidity pools for various tokens, a marketplace for NFTs, token swapping, and games.

When staking a BOWL NFT, users will receive HUMS NEP-17 token rewards. HUMS is the platform’s utility token, which can be used to acquire future NFTs. It will also be used in an upcoming game, resulting from a partnership with DogeRift. When unstaking BOWLs, there will be no lock-up period allowing users to move or trade the NFT immediately. Open / Comment

2022-05-06 22:19:00 ​​MultiBank announces crypto arm, landmark golf partnership

The MultiBank Group, a world-leading online financial derivatives broker, has launched MultiBankio, its blockchain and cryptocurrency arm, Invezz learned from a press release. The highly regulated derivatives broker introduces its Web3-focused epoch with a new sponsorship of Danny Willett, the Masters Golf Tournament winner.

Official Partner in pro golf tournaments and exhibits
The new branch has been named Willett’s Official Partner in all professional golf tournaments and exhibitions for the 2022 season. The partnership will launch with the Betfred British Masters 2022, to be hosted by Danny Willett at The Belfry from May 5 to May 8, 2022. MultiBankio logo’s will be featured on the left collar of his playing shirt.

Willett also plans to drop an NFT series in partnership with MultiBankio and will be featured on MultiBankio marketing materials and the official website.

The new branch will begin to provide digital asset services in the middle of the year. It is the first foray into blockchain and crypto from MultiBank Group with a paid-up capital of over $322 million.

MultiBank Group Chairman Naser Taher commented:
Unveiling the new MultiBankio brand is the first step in a multi-year blockchain and cryptocurrency roadmap for the MultiBank Group. We look forward to revealing more detailed plans in the near future for our community of 320,000 global users. But as we’ve shown in building MultiBank Group into one of the world’s largest derivatives providers over the last 17 years, our goal is to compete at the forefront of the industry. We are excited to bring a fresh, compelling offering to the digital assets trading market, combining our proven pedigree in financial innovation with the endless possibilities of Web3 technology.

Zak Taher said:
We’re launching an ambitious suite of blockchain and crypto-enabled financial services this year and we’re partnering with only the best. Danny Willett is world-class and we are enormously proud to be partnering with a sportsman of his caliber. He has winning pedigree with a Masters victory and another seven international titles to his name already, and we wish him the greatest success for this season.

Danny Willett said:
I’ve been looking at getting into the world of cryptocurrency and digital assets for some time now but didn’t have enough knowledge, experience or confidence in that area. That was until I was introduced to the MultiBank Group. I’m delighted to be working alongside them as I start out in cryptocurrency, and we’re all excited to see the new MultiBankio platform go live in the coming weeks. Open / Comment

2022-05-04 20:00:04 ​​Sanctioning Russia On The Blockchain: Following The Money To A Network Of OTC Providers

Sanctions can only work if those who are supposed to enforce them understand exactly what to do so that they cannot be circumvented easily. Russia's extensive network of Over-The-Counter (OTC) providers requires an extensive review by sanction committees, as they might be adopted to circumvent sanctions.

As described in the previous release, due to the limited liquidity of cryptocurrencies and Decentralized Finance space in general, it remains close to impossible for Russia to circumvent SWIFT-based systems by using crypto. However, Russians might still hold up to $200 Billion USD in crypto assets, besides running the third-largest crypto mining industry in the world. These funds can potentially be cashed out with Russian OTC providers.

The fifth EU sanction package on Russia limits the crypto asset holdings of Russian nationals, individuals, and legal entities established in Russia to €10,000 (with the same account, wallet or custody provider). The use of Russian OTC providers, which represents a network of physical providers offering cash payouts from crypto, could be adopted to circumvent these sanctions.

In oversimplified terms, OTC refers to a process in which individuals theoretically could agree on a price and meet to complete a transaction. An example of such a process could be a personal meeting in which one side brings bags with cash or any other pre-agreed means of value, and the other side could conduct a transaction on the blockchain on the spot. Transactions primarily with larger sums of money could be risky, to say the least. Contrarily to peer-to-peer exchanges (P2P) which involve independent parties, OTC exchanges act comparable to physical pawn shops. At dedicated physical locations with announced opening hours, individuals can visit and exchange their cryptocurrencies in Russia for cash or bank transfers.

Depending on the business models of virtual assets service providers (VASPs), both OTC and P2P providers have existed in various jurisdictions since the beginning of financial interactions between individuals. An example of such a platform in the EU is LocalBitcoin, registered with the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority. Unlike Russian OTC providers which are subject to the 6th Anti Money Laundering Directive of the EU and connected to its so-called Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) legislation, LocalBitcoin is a unique case.

Existence of such a platform in the EU is only possible in Finland, as the rest of the EU has followed the recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to define and include Digital Assets in the national legislation and created an oversight program as a regulator. It can be argued that the current regulatory frameworks remain far from perfect, but there is increased interest in incorporating DeFi into traditional financial compliance programs.

Such requirements to register a P2P or OTC exchange are way different within the Russian Federation. On the one hand, Russia approved use of cryptocurrency as an investment tool or a payment method as of Q1 2021 but on the other its national bank proposed a long list of bans that should outlaw the circulation of cryptocurrencies within the country.

Due to such unclear legal circumstances, licensing and supervisory programs are close to non-existent. In the absence of platforms that have chosen 'compliance excellence' as their differentiating business strategy, for example, Coinbase or some Scandinavian VASPs, many Russian providers have to operate in the gray space to say the least.

What is surprising is the fact that even though Russians store up to one fifth of the national bank's reserves in digital assets, the public side has decided to not provide much clarity for the VASPs or any other players in Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Open / Comment

2022-05-02 23:20:15 ​​Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Fires Back At Warren Buffett’s Bitcoin Slander

Bitcoin is not topping the list of the favorite investments of some big names in the financial sector. One of those is billionaire Warren Buffett who has not been shy to voice his displeasure with the digital asset. This time around, Buffett has once again made known his hatred for the digital asset by saying that he would not buy all of the BTC in the world for $25. This has drawn the ire of investors in the space, one of which is Mexico’s third-richest man, Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

Warren Buffett Disses Bitcoin

Billionaire and legendary investor Warren Buffett recently made some remarks about bitcoin. The most popular of these have been the fact that he said that if he were offered all the bitcoins that exist for a measly $25, he still wouldn’t take the deal.

The Berkshire Hathaway head said this at the annual shareholder meeting where he once more reiterated his disdain for cryptocurrencies. He explained that bitcoin had nothing to offer, making it an unproductive asset with no tangible production.

Related Reading | Tether (USDT) Q1 Trading Volume Plunges To $5.3 Trillion In Quarterly Low

He compared the digital asset to other stores of value which include land and apartments. Both of these, the billionaire admitted he would jump at a chance to put money into them. However, he wouldn’t do the same for bitcoin because it doesn’t produce anything and he would “have to sell it back to you one way or another.”

Despite the popularity of the digital asset over the years, the billionaire is still not convinced of its valuability. He pointed to the fact that he can’t tell for sure where the asset will be in the next five or 10 years but remains completely sure of the fact it does not produce anything.

“It’s got a magic to it and people have attached magics to lots of things,” Buffett noted. Open / Comment

2022-04-29 22:00:04 ​​WisdomTree's Q1 Crypto Assets Managed Increases by 23% to $324M

Asset manager WisdomTree (WETF) said that it managed an average of $324 million worth of crypto assets in Q1, an increase of nearly 23% on the equivalent figure of $264 million a year ago.

However, the Q1 crypto assets managed decreased 20% compared to the average of $406 million in the previous quarter.

WisdomTree recorded a net loss of $10.3 million across all aspects of its business for the quarter ending March 31, compared to profit of $15.1 million for the year-earlier period.

The figure also compares to net profit of $11.2 million in the quarter-ended Dec. 31, 2021.

In March, WisdomTree listed exchange-traded products tracking Solana's SOL, Cardano's ADA and Polkadot's DOT on Swiss SIX stock exchange.

The asset manager's attempts to list a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S. continue to be frustrated however, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delaying its decision on the application in March. Open / Comment

2022-04-28 18:00:10 Last month, Axie Infinity, the most famous game based on the “play-to-earn” model, was attacked by hackers. As a result, more than $600 million in cryptocurrency was stolen.

Will the company be able to regain the trust of users or will it decide to launch a new project? Does Axie have signs of a crypto pyramid? What was the reason for the incredible boom?

Answers to all these questions you will find in a new video on the TrustCrypto channel.

At TrustCrypto you can regularly watch interviews with Top Managers of companies from CoinMarket-100, be the first to know about the hottest projects of the industry, get information from experts about NFT, DeFi, Metaverse and other Web3.0 trends.

Watch, comment, be crypto! - https://bit.ly/3kh5ciG Open / Comment

2022-04-27 15:00:08 ​​FTX and Scaramucci's SALT welcome 2,000 of the biggest digital asset backers to Crypto Bahamas

The Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami added to the Florida city’s growing reputation as one of the key locations for cryptocurrency and blockchain development. Now, thousands of crypto enthusiasts are now traveling to another major event, this time in the exotic location of the Bahamas.

Specifically, an invitation-only event dubbed ‘Crypto Bahamas’ is taking place between April 26 and April 29 and its 2,000 participants will include some of the most notable names supporting the crypto industry, according to the event website and The Information newsletter from April 25.

Some of the names that will join up for the four-day collaboration and networking include quarterback and crypto startup investor Tom Brady and the former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who will be discussing topics ranging from Bitcoin (BTC), NFTs, decentralized finance (DeFi), web3, regulation, gaming, and more.

Other notable speakers include Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood, FTX Ventures’s Amy Wu, and Katie Haun of Katie Haun Ventures. Founders of new crypto unicorns like Circle, Dapper Labs, and Alchemy, are also expected to join.

Crypto meets Wall Street
It is important to note that the event is organized by the Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX and Anthony Scaramucci’s forum SALT, demonstrating the changing perspective on Wall Street towards cryptocurrencies.

In fact, SALT is the global thought leadership forum on finance and technology founded by Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director and founder of SkyBridge, the New York asset management company specializing in hedge fund solutions and opportunistic investment vehicles.

‘The Mooch’, as he’s affectionately nicknamed, is a long-time crypto enthusiast who has recently slammed anti-crypto personalities Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, and Blackrock’s Larry Fink, over not doing ‘their homework’ on crypto.

By contrast, almost half of SkyBridge’s $3.5 billion in assets under management is linked to cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Algorand, and publicly traded, crypto-related stocks, according to an interview he recently gave to Bloomberg. Open / Comment

2022-04-25 19:05:00 ​​Hashdex Receives Approval For Crypto ETPs In Switzerland, Is U.S. Next?

Hashdex, Latin America’s largest crypto asset manager, received approval from a Swiss exchange to list crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), the company said on Monday. The Brazil-based crypto asset manager seeks to expand its crypto products and services to Swiss and European investors as crypto adoption grows in Europe.

Hashdex serves over 260,000 investors and has more than $750 million in assets under management.

Hashdex seeks Europe expansion
Launched in 2018, Hashdex has successfully expanded into Brazil, the U.S., and now, Switzerland. In March-end, the crypto asset manager named crypto ETP and ETF expert Laurent Kssis as managing director and head of Europe to show its intention to expand drastically across the continent.

Bruno Sousa, Head of Global Expansion of Hashdex, asserts that the company’s foothold in Zurich, Switzerland will help expand its crypto ETPs and other services across Europe. He said:

“Building on the success of our range of solutions on the other side of the Atlantic, our goal is to make them available in Switzerland first and soon across European investors. Switzerland offers a legal framework conducive to crypto assets and is a crucial step in our global development.”

While some crypto players do offer ETPs focused on a single cryptocurrency, Hashdex aims to offer exposure to multiple cryptocurrencies through its products. The crypto asset manager is currently recruiting employees across European countries’ capitals including London, Paris, Lisbon, and Zurich.

In fact, several companies, including WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Helveteq have launched crypto-based ETPs on the SIX Swiss Exchange as the demand for crypto gained popularity from institutional and retail investors.

Crypto ETFs face a wall in the U.S.
But while Europe, Brazil and Canada have seen a flourishing number of crypto-related ETFs, the United States has lagged them in approving a spot Bitcoin ETF. The strict stance of the Securities and Exchange Commission and several leaders has hampered attempts by companies such as Greyscale, Ark Capital, and Skybridge to list an exchange traded fund that directly tracks crypto prices.

Hashdex also has a horse in the race for a U.S. spot ETF. A recently approved Teucrium Bitcoin Futures ETF now carries the Hashdex brand, and could eventually lead to the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF. The SEC also faces growing pressure from industry bodies to approve a spot ETF. Open / Comment