Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Colombian capital supports blockchain and emerging tech with $2.3M fund

Blockchain development is one of four major programs in Bogotás new tech innovation fund.　　Colombia‘s capital of Bogotá is funding blockchain development as part of the city’s broader investment in innovative technologies.　　According to a Monday announcement on the city of Bogotá‘s official website, the municipal government will provide 8.8 billion Colombian pesos ($2.3 million) to local companies as part of four new programs in the city’s Innovation, Technology and Creative Industries Fund, or FITIC.　　The new funding includes a contribution of of 2.8 billion pesos, ($739,000) to the development of local blockchain startups through a program called “Hub Blockchain Bogotá.” The project aims to support 100 blockchain-focused companies in order to boost their competitiveness on the global market and provide tech advice for implementing blockchain within participating companies.　　The new innovation funding campaign is organized with support from the Superior Mayor of Bogotá, the District Secretariat for Economic Development, Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, state entrepreneurship body Innpulsa, and Singapore-based blockchain accelerator Tribe Accelerator.　　Related: Colombias oldest commercial bank pilots crypto services　　Bogotá Mayor Claudia Lopez took to Twitter on Monday to invite local businesses to apply for the program starting on June 25. “Each company will be able to receive from the FITIC from 10

2021-06-26Deep Dive

Athena confirms plans to bring 1500 Bitcoin ATMs to El Salvador

Accessing BTC is about to get a lot easier in El Salvador with the crypto ATM rollout.　　U.S. company Athena intends to supply El Salvadors new crypto-based economy with 1500 Bitcoin ATMs, a company representative has confirmed.　　The rollout will start small, trialing a few dozen machines to establish a business model. The Chicago headquartered firm plans to invest more than $1 million to install cryptocurrency ATMs, targeting regions where residents receive remittances from abroad.　　Along with installing the new machines it will also hire staff and open an office to carry out operations in El Salvador.　　Athena currently operates just two ATMs of this type in El Salvador, one at El Zonte beach as part of an experiment called “Bitcoin Beach” aimed at making the town one of the worlds first crypto economies, and the other in El Tunco, according to CNN.　　Athenas director for Latin America, Matias Goldenhörn, told Reuters that Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele had “presented us with a tough challenge of 1,500 ATMs, we will go for that, but in phases. We are a private company and we want to ensure that our development in the country is sustainable.”　　On June 17, Athena posted about its plans to expand in the country

2021-06-25Deep Dive

Bank Israel menguji shekel digital menggunakan Ethereum

Pada bulan Mei, Bank of Israel menerbitkan laporan yang meminta komentar orang ramai mengenai kemungkinan penerbitan shekel digital. Bank itu, yang mengatakan telah mempertimbangkan isu CBDC sejak tahun 2017, menulis bahawa ia belum memutuskan apakah ia ingin mengeluarkan shekel digital, tetapi mengingat perkembangan pesat dalam ekonomi digital dan pembayaran, dan di Memandangkan kerja bank pusat utama dalam isu ini, Bank of Israel mempercepat penyelidikan dan persiapannya untuk kemungkinan penerbitan shekel digital.　　Monica Singer, pemimpin Afrika Selatan untuk syarikat perisian blockchain Consensys, mengatakan kepada Forkast.News: “Banyak bank pusat yang menguji kemungkinan pelaksanaan CBDC melakukannya dalam ekosistem izin swasta, dan banyak dari mereka menggunakan Ethereum.” Ethereum adalah blockchain sumber terbuka yang terdesentralisasi dengan fungsi kontrak pintar.　　Konsep wang yang boleh diprogramkan adalah konsep yang paling penting, kata Singer. “Kontrak pintar akan membolehkan bank pusat menetapkan tahap transaksi CBDC di mana privasi akan dibenarkan dan melebihi jumlah tertentu maka privasi tidak boleh dibenarkan untuk mencegah pencucian wang, misalnya. Anda boleh memprogram agar cukai dibayar dalam masa nyata. Di negara-negara di mana perbendaharaan mencadangkan untuk mengagihkan geran sosial, dana pencen kerajaan atau pendapatan asas sejagat kepada warganya, ini akan dilakukan secara real time ke dompet warganegara. Tidak perlu cek atau berdiri di luar cawangan bank untuk

2021-06-25Deep Dive

Aeternity (AE) Cloud Computing Scam

As for a project named “AE cloud computing” recently, people with registration can receive a mining machine issuing 100 AE coins per month. How attractive it is! But is this project reliable？ The answer can be found herein.　　A threshold has been set on withdrawals from this project. If you want to withdraw your capital, you have to invite more people to the exchange for registration, aiming to help your hash rate reach 1 GH/s, coupled with the required purchase of a mining machine and the mining of another 120 coins. In addition, the amount of handling fees for transactions via the platform is enormous with a jaw-dropping proportion of 20%!　　Although the worth of the AE coin is shown as USD 0.4 on the platform, the figure is only about 0.13 on average according to the current prices. As such, investors definitely choose to trade via the platform as the selling price of AE coin is much higher than its market average, together with a hundred-fold growth hyped up by the platform.　　However, the growth may be increased by manipulation backstage. As such, the more it increases, the more coins will be bought and invested into the platform by investors. All this

2021-06-25Deep Dive

Will Elon Musk Take the Jack Dorsey Challenge to Discuss Bitcoin Adoption by Institutions?

A new war of words has triggered on Twitter between the two business tycoons Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, who are currently in opposite camps with their views on Bitcoin. Earlier on Thursday, June 24, Dorsey announced “The B Word” community to expand the Bitcoin development and push further its use among institutions and companies.　　In a bizarre response to Dorseys announcement, Musk tweeted “Bitcurios”？　　Responding to it, the Twitter CEO has challenged Musk to have a conversation/debate with him at the event. “You can share all your curiosities,” added Jack Dorsey.　　After briefly promoting Bitcoin earlier this year, Elon Musk has been now turned critical about the crypto as Tesla dropped BTC payments at the company citing Bitcoins environmental issue. However, Musk has said that Tesla might again accept BTC payments once 50% of Bitcoin mining turns green again.　　With his recent responses to Dorsey, Bitcoin proponents lashed out at Elon Musk for playing around with the worlds largest cryptocurrency. Musk has responded with a tweet targeting Bitcoin maximalists.　　About “The B Word” community　　As per the official website, this is a “Bitcoin focused initiative that aims to demystify and destigmatize mainstream narratives about Bitcoin, explain how institutions can and should embrace it, and raise

2021-06-25Deep Dive

Crypto-Earning App Celsius Shutters UK Operations Amid Regulatory Uncertainty

Celsius has announced that it will close its operations in the UK, citing a lack of regulatory certainty around cryptocurrencies in the country.　　The team behind crypto-earning app Celsius has announced that the companys business operations in the UK are shutting down. The company said that regulatory uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies was a key driver for the decision.　　The post indicated that business operations would be moved to the United States, but it is unclear in which state Celsius will base its operations.　　Celsius is a lending and borrowing platform that lets users earn up to 13% on certain crypto holdings. The interest rate increases if users opt to earn their interest in Celsius native token, CEL. Though its services resemble those of a traditional bank, the company is not insured by any government body nor a private insurer.　　Per yesterdays announcement, the company also revealed that it would withdraw its temporary registration application with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British regulator ordered cryptocurrency businesses to register in 2020, setting a January 2021 deadline. Due to the pandemic and a large number of applications, the FCA extended this deadline and established a “Temporary Registration Regime.”　　Celsius fell into this category, a sort of regulatory limbo—that

2021-06-25Deep Dive

Palestine’s Central Bank Is Reportedly Considering a CBDC Launch

Palestinians have been without their own currency for 70 years.　　The Palestinian Monetary Authority, Palestines central bank, is looking into the development of a digital currency, according to a report from Bloomberg on Thursday.　　Feras Milhem, the governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, told Bloomberg Television that two studies on cryptocurrencies are being done with the hope to eventually use digital currency for domestic and international payments.　　Palestine has not had an independent currency for 70 years, and the Palestinian economy primarily relies on the Israeli shekel for day-to-day transactions, with the Jordanian dinar and U.S. dollar acting as stores of value.　　Palestines consideration of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) puts it in league with other major geopolitical players including China and Sweden that have begun rolling out CBDCs.　　However, regional economic analysts have expressed hesitation about the feasibility of a Palestinian digital curency.　　“The macroeconomic conditions dont exist to allow a Palestinian currency – digital or otherwise – to exist as a means of exchange,” Raja Khalidi, director of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, told Bloomberg.　　The Palestinian Monetary Authority‘s push to develop a digital currency is likely impacted by Palestine’s dire economic situation.　　Israeli anti-money laundering laws have left Palestinian banks with an abundance

2021-06-25Deep Dive

JPMorgan Mengeluarkan Amaran Bitcoin yang Serius

Harga bitcoin jatuh ke paras terendah $ 28,600 per bitcoin di bursa Bitstamp yang berpangkalan di Luxembourg minggu ini sebelum melonjak kembali lebih dari $ 30,000 - anda mengaut harga $ 6,000 dalam beberapa jam. Sementara itu, ethereum sepuluh cryptocurrency teratas yang lain, Binances BNB, cardano, dogecoin dan Ripples XRP juga turun dengan mendadak, menghapuskan nilai ratusan bilion dari pasaran kripto $ 1.4 trilion.　　Kini, setelah memanggil bitcoin dan crypto terbaru dengan betul, penganalisis di Wall Street gergasi JPMorgan telah meramalkan harga bitcoin cenderung bergerak lebih rendah dalam jangka masa sederhana.　　“Masih memerlukan penurunan harga ke tahap $ 25,000 sebelum momentum jangka panjang akan memberi isyarat kapitulasi,” tulis ahli strategi JPMorgan yang diketuai oleh Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou dalam catatan yang pertama kali dilaporkan oleh Bloomberg, memberikan bitcoin nilai wajar antara $ 23,000 dan $ 35,000 untuk jangka masa sederhana, berdasarkan perbandingan turun naiknya berbanding emas.　　Walaupun JPMorgan telah memberikan bitcoin harga sasaran teoritis $ 140,000, berdasarkan penumpuan volatiliti bitcoin dengan emas, bitcoin hampir enam kali lebih mudah berubah seperti emas, memberikan nilai wajar satu perenam dari $ 140,000, atau $ 23,000.　　“Walaupun pembetulan minggu ini, kami enggan meninggalkan pandangan negatif kami untuk pasaran bitcoin dan crypto secara umum,” tulis para penganalisis, sambil menambah bahawa walaupun

2021-06-25Deep Dive

How comparing TradFi with DeFi reveals the future of finance

A unique combination of lockdowns, March‘s stock market crash and Robinhood’s commission-free trading innovation created a massive surge of a new class of investors. At an average age of 31, millions of novice traders replaced sports betting, movie-watching and other hobbies with obsessive staring at stock charts on their newly discounted brokerages apps.　　Robinhood alone went up from 10 million users in 2019 to over 13 million in 2020, having increased its YoY revenue by 514%, at $682 million thanks to its payment-for-order-flow (PFOF) business model. Social media became a multiplying force for this army of retail investors, so much so that Wall Street became weary of the so-called “Portnoy Top” effect as it introduced a new level of volatility on stocks price moves.　　At the end of the year, staying at home while socially networking reached a crescendo with millions of people trying to short squeeze GameStop, AMC and other stocks under short-selling assault by Wall Street hedge funds. This saga, more than anything, revealed the seedy underpinning of stock trading, leading to multiple congressional hearings. During this same period, from June 2020 to today, decentralized finance (DeFi) achieved spectacular growth, accruing over 2.6 million investors.　　DEFIS TVL (TOTAL VALUE LOCKED) HAD

2021-06-25Deep Dive

ZKSwap: The Blockchains’ Cross Chain

Since the conception of blockchain technology, there has been exponential growth in the development of decentralized technologies. Decentralized Finance or DeFi is one of the leading tech innovations in the 21st century. Adoption has grown and use cases have continued to diversify. The total value locked in the DeFi protocols have long exceeded $10 billion.　　But like every technology, there are always hiccups. DeFi requires cheap or free, fast, a trust system, frictionless settlements to be truly decentralized. However, with the rise of Decentralized Exchanges (DEX), high gas fees, slow transaction time, and minimal transaction capacity have been consistent problems.　　These drawbacks are common, leading to unsatisfactory experience and creating a barrier of entry for users. Hence, ZKSwap. A truly decentralized exchange built on layer-2 scalability that seeks to solve the existing problems in the DEX space.　　Whats ZKSwap？　　ZKSwap is a decentralized exchange built on the Ethereum testnet as a token swap exchange. It allows its users to exchange tokens from one blockchain to another in a frictionless and easy manner. The DEX enables a cross-chain token swap function between Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Huobi ECO chain, and OKChain blockchains.　　The whole set of DEX functions is implemented in Layer-2 thanks to ZK-Rollup technology,

2021-06-25Deep Dive

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