Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Huobi and Seychelles regulators can’t agree on where the exchange is registered

The major crypto exchange has long claimed registration in the famous offshoring haven.　　Despite long claiming to be compliant with local laws, Huobi has not registered with the proper authorities, according to regulators in Seychelles.　　On Monday, the Seychelles Financial Services Authority, or FSA, posted an official statement saying that Huobi Global Limited is not registered in the country, despite being the International Business Company publicly affiliated with Huobi.coms crypto services.　　The FSA stated that Huobi Global Limited does not hold any license issued by the regulator to undertake in virtual asset trading. “Therefore, the entity is not being regulated by the FSA nor has it been in the past,” they said. The authority went on to urge investors and the general public to be alert in respect to services offered by Huobi Global Limited as well as “any other company providing such services.”　　Speaking to Cointelegraph, a Huobi spokesperson denied the FSAs announcement, saying, “Huobi Global Limited is a Seychelles registered company under Huobi Group. It provides services to global customers in accordance with applicable laws.”　　The spokesperson added, “We are currently in good standing with the FSA and communicating closely with them to clarify the situation. It is our understanding that the alert

2021-03-10Deep Dive

Major Swiss retailers set to debut Bitcoin gift cards

Manor and Valora are leveraging the current crypto hype to sell Bitcoin gift cards in their stores across Switzerland.　　Switzerlands crypto boom has entered another dimension with retailers rolling out Bitcoin (BTC) vouchers and gift cards.　　According to Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger, Manor — the countrys largest department store chain — is already selling Bitcoin voucher cards in 59 of its branches.　　Meanwhile, the retail giant Valora will begin selling BTC gift cards in its kiosks across the country starting April 1.　　Dubbed “Cryptonow,” the Bitcoin vouchers are from the stables of Värdex Suisse, a cryptocurrency financial services firm. Värdex is also a subsidiary of major Swiss crypto exchange Bitcoin Suisse.　　According to Simon Grylka, head of operations at Värdex, Cryptonow offers a simple onboarding channel for would-be cryptocurrency adopters daunted by the usual avenues for acquiring virtual currency. For Grylka, the Cryptonow voucher is akin to digital gold coins.　　The Cryptonow voucher cards will be available in three different variants ranging from 100 to 500 francs ($107 to $535). The Värdex Bitcoin gift card product is coming amid continued growth in Switzerlands crypto and blockchain industry.　　As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the top-50 blockchain firms in the Crypto Valley are up more than 680% in value since

2021-03-10Deep Dive

Why Bitcoin Is More Of An Inflation Hedge Than A Tech Stock

Coming to gentle after the monetary darkness of 2007-2009, Bitcoin was birthed—however it doesn‘t have a mother or father or a house. As an asset exactly constructed to cope with the shortcomings of central planning, will or not it’s efficiently examined within the doubtless close to way forward for run-off inflation？　　Coalescing Hyperinflation Narrative　　In a deliberate economic system, you will need to observe what the central committee is as much as. Final week, on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell addressed the Senate Banking Committee. Few had been shocked to be taught that financial hardship and instability will proceed. Accordingly, the Feds present insurance policies will proceed as deliberate.　　Particularly, the Fed funds price—an vital rate of interest set for industrial banks to lend and borrow—should be maintained throughout the vary from 0% to 0.25%, persevering with its historic low.　　Powell famous that sturdy demand is pushing Treasury invoice yields close to zero. When you recall, Treasury yield represents an efficient rate of interest paid by the U.S. federal authorities to borrow cash. Total, Powell concluded that financial restoration is “removed from full”, which necessitates extra Quantitative Easing (QE). In different phrases, additional enhance of the already record-breaking cash provide surge.　　Till the

2021-03-10Deep Dive

Decision Time in the Dollar Could Impact Bitcoin Trend Dramatically

Bitcoin price is back trending upward after reclaiming $50,000 and the pivotal $1 trillion market cap level. With new all-time highs in sight, the only factor that could have a dramatic impact on the current crypto market trend, is a reversal in the dollar. This reversal has been brewing for some time, but has yet to come to fruition. Its now decision time, and what happens in the dollar in the next 24 to 48 hours is especially critical for the continued bull market.　　HOW BITCOIN HAS BENEFITTED FROM ONGOING STIMULUS EFFORTS　　The last year has been among the worst in the dollars history, seeing a historic decline in the face of continued debasement by the US government. As more stimulus packages are approved, the overall fiat money supply continues to balloon and swell to unprecedented proportions.　　With the value of the dollar in decline, investors have sought to put capital in the stock market, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Once Bitcoin and Ethereum took such a commanding lead over stocks, the crypto bull trend kicked into overdrive and has barely looked back since.　　Bitcoin has since emerged as the “stimulus asset” according to economists, making it the best hedge against post-pandemic inflation. However, if

2021-03-10Deep Dive

Digital Assets Firm Taurus Integrates Aave Protocol to Improve Banking Access to DeFi

Taurus Group said it has integrated the Aave Protocols version 1 and 2.　　Swiss fintech firm Taurus Group has integrated the decentralized finance (DeFi) Aave Protocol into its asset infrastructure, allowing banks and exchanges to deposit and borrow digital assets.　　In an announcement, Taurus Group said it has integrated the Aave Protocols version 1 and 2 into its end-to-end digital asset infrastructure.　　Aave is a DeFi protocol used for both retail and institutional clients, providing users with a decentralized backend infrastructure for lending and borrowing.　　The Aave Protocol is being used in the Taurus Group custody product “Taurus-PROTECT” as well as its smart contract issuance and interaction platform “Taurus-CAPITAL,” allowing institutional clients to deposit, withdraw and borrow assets, and stake AAVE tokens, said the firm.　　“DeFi provides transparent, efficient and cost-effective solutions for banks to deploy their capital more effectively. We are excited to work with Taurus, whos a leader in onboarding banks to DeFi through its secure custodian and smart contracts platforms,” said Aave CEO Stani Kulechov.

2021-03-09Deep Dive

Automata Network Launches With $1M in Funding to Help Keep Dapps Private

The seed round was jointly led by KR1, Alameda Research, IOSG Ventures, Divergence Capital and Genesis Block Venture　　Decentralized service protocol Automata Network has announced its official launch, backed by a $1 million investment.　　The seed funding round was co-led by various blockchain and decentralized protocol investors, including Genesis Block Ventures, IOSG Ventures and Sam Bankman-Frieds Alameda Research.　　Automata Network provides what it calls “middleware-like” services for decentralized applications (dapps), helping them maintain privacy while allowing frictionless integration onto platforms like Ethereum and Polkadot.　　The protocol harnesses a cryptographic scheme called “oblivious RAM” to conceal data access patterns, while its privacy relayer will offer functionalities such as tamper-proof data sourcing and anonymous voting.　　Automata will attempt to “capture an immediate market demand for privacy-preserving DeFi applications without having to rewrite them,” according to IOSG partner Xinshu Dong.

2021-03-09Deep Dive

Connect Financial to List CNFI Tokens with BitMax

BitMax.io (BTMX.com), an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of CNFI Tokens under the trading pair of CNFI/USDT on Mar 8th at 9:00 a.m. EST.　　Connect Financial is offering the worlds first true Crypto Visa Credit Card that allows users to use their assets as collateral without spending them. Staking CNFI tokens assigns the　　user a credit card tier and its associated features and benefits. Tier levels are based on　　the number of CNFI tokens staked.　　Other Crypto Card projects are essentially prepaid debit cards, which are often met with　　severe limitations on their usage or acceptance. Most require users to liquidate their cryptocurrency and load their card with fiat currency which they then spend on demand. Other projects even require users to convert their digital assets into their token, which is then used as cash on the card.　　The Connect Financial Crypto Visa Credit Card allows users to hold their crypto as long as they want by offering credit based on their cryptocurrency collateral. Users can choose to convert and spend at the point of purchase or they can carry it forward and pay it off with fiat if they want to keep their crypto

2021-03-09Deep Dive

How do cryptocurrencies differ?

The main differences relate to how coins are produced and spent.　　Some coins, like Bitcoin, Dash and Monero, are created in a process called “mining” which involves using powerful computers to solve complicated cryptographic puzzles. When a puzzle is solved, the system rewards the winning “miner” with coins (bitcoins, dash coins, etc.). The miner can then sell the coins in the market.　　Other coins, like NEM (XEM), have other types of algorithms that don‘t require powerful hardware. And then there are currencies such as ripple and IOTA that can’t be mined – theyre produced by an organization that stands behind the currency.　　When it comes to spending, Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that enjoys the widest acceptance among merchants and service providers. Others, like Litecoin and Dash, are working on giving their holders new spending possibilities. But daily use – buying coffee, clothes and so on – is not the primary goal of some coins. Ether, for example, is meant to be used to pay for the services of the blockchain-based Ethereum platform, to create and use applications on it.　　Other important differences are the privacy and transaction speed that a cryptocurrency offers. At the moment, transactions in Bitcoin are slower and less anonymous, than,

2021-03-09Deep Dive

South African crypto firms warn opaque regulations are harming the industry

South African crypto firms are threatening to move abroad if local lawmakers are unable to provide regulatory clarity to its domestic digital asset industry.　　Speaking to Bloomberg, Sean Sanders, the CEO of local crypto investment platform Revix — who plan to relocate their head office to the United Kingdom, described the South African government as being “incredibly slow” in clarifying regulatory guidelines for the crypto industry.　　“That leads to businesses looking internationally. In an unregulated environment, a customer arrives at our platform with skepticism, and rightfully so,” he said, adding:　　“South Africa seems to go in the opposite direction of some of the more developed market pioneers and innovators in this space. For regulators to apply hundred-year-old securities regulations to the novel cryptocurrency asset class seems lazy.”　　Revix is also planning to launch an additional office in Germany.　　South African crypto firms are claiming the countrys financial institutions are unwilling to provide banking services to them, with Marius Reitz, the African general manager of global crypto exchange Luno, warning the apparent banking embargo will stifle local adoption:　　“This makes it very difficult for customers to buy Bitcoin with their local fiat currency,” he said.　　South African adoption has also been hampered by a recent prevalence of scammers

2021-03-09Deep Dive

Private Blockchain Project Funding Accelerates as Companies Race to Address New Needs

Blockchain operations are increasingly embracing more traditional financing from big-name venture funds to leverage these strategic stakeholders benefits instead of crowdfunding avenues popularized during the last blockchain hype wave.　　Funding Roundup: Concordium, StakeWise, and Automata Reveal Private Capital from Leading Funds　　In a significant departure from the last crypto startup wave focused on raised public capital in the form of initial coin offerings (ICO), token sales, and exchange launches, today‘s advancing blockchain initiatives are increasingly tapping private capital from venture funds. Though the sums awarded aren’t eclipsing the billions raised by projects in previous years, the latest developments are positive for companies, funds, and users at large.　　A blockchain VC investment leverages the expertise and due diligence of the fund itself, lending greater credibility to the underlying project. Accordingly, companies turn to these more traditional funding outlets to bolster project reputations and burnish their credentials.　　Enterprise Blockchain Enters The Fundraising Drive　　As business interest in blockchain continues to accelerate, decentralized blockchain has concluded a €10 million private token sale that is designed to help the blockchain expand its footprint in the enterprise arena.　　Concordium, which recently announced a partnership with Geely Group, plans to deploy the funds to help large companies adopt blockchain across multiple areas

2021-03-09Deep Dive

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