Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Dogecoin Mania ‘Good for Crypto Industry,’ Says Michael Saylor – Here’s Why

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor says the mania-driven Dogecoin (DOGE) rally is beneficial to the crypto sector at large.　　In an interview on Morning Invest, Saylor, whose company now owns 91,579 Bitcoin, says that the hype surrounding the meme crypto asset and other speculative investing strategies is likely fueled by an utter lack of confidence in traditional financial markets.　　As investors are discouraged by an inflating dollar, reasons Saylor, they are turning to investing opportunities that embody huge risks, like GameStop and meme coins. The increasing risk appetite, notes Saylor, is good for crypto.　　[The public has] lost confidence in conventional strategies, conventional money, conventional bonds, and conventional treasury strategies. Because they‘ve lost confidence, and they’ve literally lost hope, they‘re being driven to speculate more and the result is the GameStop saga, the result is the Archegos saga where they put on huge leverage on equity. The result is the SPAC explosion where people are literally buying speculative shell companies that do nothing but potentially do something that we don’t know what, but they figure thats better than holding cash.　　They‘re crowding into cryptos and the wise [investors] are buying Bitcoin because they understand that this is sound money for the next hundred years, but

2021-05-10Deep Dive

Telcoin: Dark Horse Of Cryptos?

Cryptocurrencies‘ fundamentals have deviated strongly from Bitcoin’s initial proposition of enabling P2P transfers. Driven by speculation and supply and demand, dynamic token prices are derived from platform activities and news, similar to how stocks operate. However, some coins still aim to build upon Bitcoins foundation of creating a decentralized, censorship-resistant network for asset transfers.　　Telcoin is a blockchain adaptation of Western Union or MoneyGram and broke into the top 100 coins by market cap after gaining in 9 out of 10 trading sessions. Telcoin gained over 300% in the past two days, according to data from CoinMarketCap, reaching an all-time high of $0.04911, partly due to trading access on Layer 2 platform QuickSwap.　　A New Form Of Mobile Payments　　Telcoin is redesigning mobile payment transactions and gears its efforts towards P2P transfers through network carriers. According to their website, “there are five times more mobile phones than active bank accounts,” implying the market for remittance payments is not fully developed. There are also more than 1 billion active mobile money accounts in 95 countries, according to a GSMA report. Additionally, $550 billion are sent using remittance services, according to a 2019 report by the World Bank　　Remittance platforms are one use case of blockchain

2021-05-10Deep Dive

The rise of crypto charities: Elongate and Munch raise millions for various causes

The cryptocurrency community is flexing its generosity amid the latest bull market, as charitable donations continue to grow.　　Two unrelated cryptocurrency projects have collectively raised over $3 million for charitable contributions this month, underscoring the potential of digital assets in aiding mission-based non-profits around the world.　　Elongate, a cryptocurrency project that began as a parody of Elon Musks reference to the Watergate scandal, has raised $2 million for various food and general support programs via Human Relief Foundation and Give India. The latter is a Covid-19 relief effort in the South Asian country in the wake of a devastating spike in new infections.　　Some of the biggest Elongate contributors are Children International, Action Against Hunger, The Ocean Cleanup, Big Green, Human Relief Foundation and Give India, among others.　　“In just a month, the Elongate ecosystem has grown to change the face of charity and crypto trading,” said Hasan Aziz, the projects chief technology officer.　　Elongate also announced that its token will begin trading on BitMart Monday, May 10.　　Despite starting off as a meme, Elongate has emerged as a major player in the market for crypto-based charities. The project claims to have over 400,000 holders worldwide.　　Meanwhile, DeFi project Munch has raised over $1 million to aid

2021-05-10Deep Dive

Binance CEO says volatility ‘is not unique to crypto’: Data shows it’s Bitcoin’s jet fuel

During an interview with Bloomberg TV on May 3, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao suggested that Bitcoin (BTC) “is probably less volatile” than the stock prices of Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA).　　Zhao argued that cryptos volatility was not unlike the stock market, adding: that “volatility is everywhere” and that “it is not unique to crypto.”　　However, those involved in cryptocurrency trading probably know that cryptocurrency prices fluctuate a lot more than listed trillion-dollar companies. This begs one to question whether or not Zhao is detecting a trend that some may have missed？　　Both Bitcoin and Tesla share different volatility levels when compared to trillion-dollar stocks like Apple and Amazon.　　Moreover, stocks seem to have experienced a 60-day volatility peak in November 2020, while Bitcoin was relatively calm.　　Tesla is an exception rather than the norm　　Another thing to consider is that Teslas market capitalization is $633 billion, and it has yet to post a quarterly net income above $500 million. Meanwhile, every single top-20 global company is incredibly profitable. These include Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Saudi Aramco (ARAMCO.AB), Alibaba (BABA), and TSM Semiconductor (TSM).　　Zhao may be the founder of the leading crypto exchange, but he doesnt personally trade. On the contrary, he actually recommends

2021-05-10Deep Dive

Bank of Japan Identifies DeFi Pros & Cons, Mentions Uniswap, Yield Farming

A Bank of Japan (BoJ)-issued review has tackled the topic of decentralized finance (DeFi) – and has concluded that while certain “risks” are entailed with DeFi adoption, there could be some positive aspects to greater DeFi proliferation.　　The review was published by the Bank of Japans Payment and Settlement Systems Department, which is in charge of payment policy development at the central bank. The review addressed issues such as yield farming, as well as the “emergence of autonomous financial services” and “the search for governance” in the DeFi sector.　　The media outlet Internet Watch pointed out that one of the review‘s authors, Junichiro Hatogai, translated the Andreas Antonopoulos-penned books Mastering Bitcoin and Mastering Ethereum into Japanese – calling the tomes “the global bibles of the blockchain industry.” The review’s co-author, Masashi Hojo, is in charge of Japans joint central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with the EU – named Project Stella.　　The review focuses mainly on the issue of governance in the DeFi sector, as well as the greater Web 3.0 ecosystem. It concluded that DeFi adoption could “increase rapidly in Japan” and “create new financial services” that meet the needs of a new generation of users.　　Internet Watch pointed out that it was

2021-05-10Deep Dive

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey is Giving Crypto a Thumbs Down — Here’s Why

The Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland; on Thursday, passed a vote of no confidence on cryptocurrencies, stating that investors must get ready to suffer total investment losses eventually.　　“Bitcoin has no intrinsic value” Bailey retorts, consolidating his previous 2020 stance on the future of cryptocurrencies or rather ‘crypto assets’ as he would prefer to call it. Bailey believes all there is to Bitcoin and all other range of altcoins is an extrinsic value ascribed to it by popularity and user consensus – a description that perfectly fits all categories of fiat currencies issued for years by many countries of the world.　　A Centralized View on Decentralization　　Bailey in September 2020, at the Brookings Institution Webinar shortly after resuming the Bank of England Governor role, generally expressed his support for the growth of tech-driven alternative payment solutions and the significant innovation wave sweeping through the world of traditional currencies but cautioned against innovation without any appropriate regulation.　　Even the highly hallowed Stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) were not spared of Baileys subsequent pessimistic perceptions, as he vehemently questioned the extent to which the regulatory arm of the banking sector will be expunged by

2021-05-10Deep Dive

Nuvei to acquire crypto payments processor Simplex for $250 million

Canadian publicly listed payment technology company Nuvei has announced its plans to buy crypto payments processor Simplex, which recently became a member of the Visa network, for $250 million.　　“We expect Simplex to enhance and expand Nuvei‘s steadily growing portfolio of alternative payment methods, adding turnkey simplicity to the process of buying and selling cryptocurrency and converting it back to fiat within a user account—ultimately reducing complexity for merchants and consumers,” said Nuvei’s chairman and CEO Philip Fayer.　　According to the announcement published yesterday, the deal is expected to be finalized “in the second half of 2021.” The acquisition will be “subject to customary closing conditions,” including approval from regulators, the companies noted.　　Additionally, since Simplex is officially licensed in the EU, the acquisition will grant Nuvei a similar “electronic money institution” license. This would allow the company to offer banking IBAN accounts and card issuing services to its clients.　　Bridging crypto to traditional finance　　Founded in 2004, Israeli-based Simplex is a so-called crypto on-/off-ramp payments processor that allows users to turn their fiat currencies into crypto and vice versa.　　Last December, Simplex became a principal member of the Visa network, which allowed it to issue the corresponding debit and credit cards. Thanks to this, SImplex

2021-05-08Deep Dive

Poland Should Introduce CBDC To Protect Its Economy - Stock Exchange CEO

Polands central bank will need to issue its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital zloty, to prevent other countries from imposing their own digital currencies on the Polish economy, Marek Dietl, CEO of the state-controlled Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), said during a recent panel discussion.　　“If we dont introduce the digital zloty, then, whether we want it or not, we will find ourselves using the digital yuan, dollar or euro because it will be more comfortable to use and liquid,” Dietl said during a debate at the annual 590 Congress.　　The chief executive added that the digital zloty would introduce a wide range of benefits to Polish consumers, democratizing their access to various segments of the financial market, as reported by local news site Money.pl.　　“In my opinion, such a digital currency is inevitable, all the more because there will be increasingly efficient safety measures, although there also will be those who will want to override them,” according to Dietl.　　The debate, entitled Blockchain in the practice of financial institutions, also featured a representative of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), the countrys central bank. Marta Gajęcka, Member of the Management Board of the NBP, said that currently, the central bank is not

2021-05-08Deep Dive

S&P Launches First-Ever Crypto Indices for Bitcoin and Ethereum: Why It Matters

S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the worlds largest index providers, launched a new series of digital asset benchmarks.　　Dubbed the S&P Digital Market Indices, the series includes the S&P Bitcoin Index, Ethereum Index, and Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index. Each of these indices will track the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum, with the latter tracking a combination of both. The pricing data is sourced from crypto data provider Lukka.　　Despite choosing to only include the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, S&P stated that it will include other cryptocurrencies through large-cap and broad market indices. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin and Ethereum lead the space with market cap of $1.04 billion and $395 million, respectively. Binance Coin (BNB) is a distant third at $95 million.　　As the market for cryptocurrencies continues and institutional demand continues to rapidly grow, benchmarking crypto and the blockchain space is more essential than ever before. “Traditional financial markets and digital assets are no longer mutually exclusive markets,” said Peter Roffman, Global Head of Innovation and Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices.　　“As cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream, investors now have access to reliable and transparent benchmarks backed by institutional quality pricing data. We look forward to further expanding our new family of

2021-05-08Deep Dive

SEC Chairman Says Crypto Markets Need Regulations to Prevent Fraud

SEC chairman Gary Gensler said on Friday that greater protection for investors is required in cryptocurrency markets.　　Gensler is no stranger to the cryptocurrency world. The former Goldman Sachs investment banker has long been viewed as a strong candidate to take the SEC chairman role.　　Gensler was sworn in a few weeks ago as Joe Biden‘s choice for the next head of the SEC. During Obama’s presidency, Gensler was in charge of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and was in charge of regulating derivatives.　　What makes this particularly interesting is that he will become the first crypto and blockchain expert to hold the highly regarded position. A former MIT professor, he taught a course entitled “Blockchain and Money” and believes the two are a “catalyst for change.” Gensler stated at his SEC nomination hearing:　　“Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have brought new thinking to payments and financial inclusion. But theyve also raised new issues of investor protection that we still need to attend to.”　　Despite his support and optimism, the new SEC chairman also expressed concern about the protections investors are not getting in the crypto asset market. Gensler understands the attraction of bitcoin and other coins, but worries investors are taking on more risk

2021-05-08Deep Dive

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