Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Online Retail Giant Rakuten Allows People to Load Payment App With Cryptocurrencies

The firm Rakuten Inc., often referred to as “the Amazon of Japan,” announced customers can now load up Rakuten Pay accounts with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and bitcoin cash. In order to commemorate the latest crypto service, Rakuten is also offering bonus points to people leveraging “Rakuten Cash” via crypto assets.　　Crypto Can Pay for Rakuten Goods and Services, Alongside Mister Donut, Familymart, and McDonalds　　The massive Japanese electronic commerce and online retail company based in Tokyo is now allowing crypto users to leverage the company‘s Rakuten Pay service in order to load up on Rakuten Cash. The payment service with crypto asset support provides clients with access to a wide range of Rakuten’s services and products including the firms travel services, Kobo e-books, and mobile.　　Moreover, users can load their Rakuten app with BCH, BTC, or ETH in order to purchase items at Familymart, McDonald‘s, 7-11, and Mister Donut to name a few. Digital currency proponents, particularly from Japan, we’re extremely happy about Rakutens new crypto support.　　“This news is huge for Japan,” explained one individual on Twitter. “You can now pay at McDonalds and 711 and perhaps hundreds of thousands of other stores with Crypto.”　　Rakuten‘s announcement details that crypto users can also

2021-03-01Deep Dive

Ghana to Prioritize Blockchain Projects in New Regulatory Sandbox

The sandbox will target a wide range of financial service innovations and hopes to improve financial inclusion.　　The central bank of Ghana has launched a fintech regulatory and innovation live testing pilot that will give preference to projects using blockchain technology.　　According to a press statement published by the bank on Thursday, the sandbox will cover a broad spectrum of innovations in the financial services sector, targeting women and improving financial inclusion in the country. The bank is on the lookout for remittance products, crowdfunding products and services, e-KYC (electronic know your customer) platforms and new merchant payment solutions for small to medium-sized businesses.　　“The sandbox will be available to banks, specialized deposit-taking institutions and payment service providers including dedicated electronic money issuers as well as unregulated entities and persons that have innovations that meet the sandbox requirements,” the statement said.　　The statement also said the Bank of Ghana wants to use this project “to reaffirm its commitment to addressing the financial inclusion needs of the unbanked and underserved persons and businesses.”　　A Bank of Ghana representative told CoinDesk the institution will publish detailed requirements for prospective applicants soon, and that successful applicants will have 90 days to pilot their projects.　　“The sandbox will admit innovations

2021-03-01Deep Dive

SEC Inspectors Outline Crypto Examinations Playbook in Compliance Notice

Examiners at the U.S. governments top securities watchdog outlined their framework for vetting digital asset investments in a compliance notice Friday.　　Naming custody, record keeping, registration requirements and conflicts of interest protocols on their exhaustive list of focus areas, officials from the Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) Division of Examinations reminded mainstream financial players like broker-dealers and investment advisors to tread carefully when bringing digital asset products into the traditional financial world.　　The release, which did not appear to be targeted at any one event, nonetheless comes as ever more U.S. corporates grapple with how to handle their digital asset endeavors without stoking regulatory ire.　　On one end of this spectrum is MicroStrategys ban on employees trading bitcoin (BTC, +3.13%) ahead of potentially market-moving corporate buys. And on the other is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who yesterday expressed hope that rumors are true the SEC is investigating his DOGE (+1.22%) tweets, which tend to precede with price jumps.　　SEC examiners framed the notice as a reminder of the novel risks associated with distributed ledger technologies and digital assets, and of the responsibilities market participants have to hedge those risks with thorough compliance frameworks.　　Many of their focus examination points simply reapply traditional bookkeeping practices to

2021-03-01Deep Dive

Crypto Long & Short: How Coinbase Going Public Is Reshaping Trust in Markets

The data divulged in Coinbase‘s long-awaited S-1 filing is eye-opening. But it’s what the document means for the crypto markets of today and the capital markets of tomorrow that is more meaningful.　　Finally, what we‘ve been waiting for: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commisison has published Coinbase’s S-1, clearing the way for a direct listing on Nasdaq.　　While some major details are still missing (most notably when they plan to list), we now have a glimpse into how a major crypto exchange works, what its worried about and just how much the market is growing.　　The figures are indeed eye-opening: in the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of verified users on Coinbases platform reached 43 million after adding almost 45,000 new users a day. The average number of monthly transacting users grew by over 30% in the fourth quarter alone, to 2.8 million.　　Also eye-opening is the inflow of institutional investors, something that weve talked about often in this column. Over the fourth quarter, institutional trading volume grew over 110% to $57 billion, while retail trading volume grew by almost 80%. The company services 7,000 institutional accounts.　　The Coinbase filing gave everyone who works in this industry something to chew on. There was the

2021-03-01Deep Dive

Privacy Coin Firo Temporarily Disables Protocol to Investigate ‘Suspicious Transactions’

The team behind the privacy coin Firo has identified multiple Lelantus transactions that are “suspicious,” according to project steward Reuben Yap. In response, developers have activated their emergency switch to temporarily disable Lelantus to give them time to investigate and identify the issue.　　In a post last night announcing the issue, Yap wrote:　　“Our core team is working with several parties, including engineers from Trail of Bits (who audited our Lelantus cryptographic library), another cryptographer and a black hat to identify the issue. We have made significant progress in narrowing down the cause and are working on a proof-of-concept code to verify that what weve found is the core issue before resuming Lelantus functionality. Our team is also determining a plan to restore Lelantus functionality with minimum impact.”　　Read more: Privacy Coin Firo Launches ‘Privacy by Default’ Protocol on Mainnet　　The Lelantus protocol was launched in mid-January 2021. It introduced “on-by-default” privacy and prompts users to anonymize their funds with the goal of ensuring transactions sent by official Firo wallets stay private. Transparent transactions will now have to be explicitly selected. It also allows for partial redemptions of Firos burn-and-redeem model, which previously had to be redeemed in full.　　This is the second in a

2021-03-01Deep Dive

Google Finance Adds Crypto Data Tab

Right at the top of the page, where users can “compare markets,” crypto is listed among the five default markets, which also includes U.S., Europe, Asia and “Currencies.”　　For some, like the “Documenting Bitcoin” Twitter account that surfaced the new feature, this appears to be a signal of cryptos growing mainstream presence.　　Bitcoin has surged to ever new heights this year, propelled primarily by institutional adoption of the asset. From MassMutual to MicroStrategy, bitcoin is increasingly a part of the corporate world.　　This sets it apart from the bull market of 2017, which was primarily driven by retail investors. According to Google Trends, searches for “bitcoin” in the past several months have yet to meet the frenzied searching seen three years ago. (Significantly more people are searching “crypto” than “google finance,” for what its worth, according to Google Trends.)　　Still, crypto is becoming part of the financial firmament.　　At the moment, it appears Google Finance only tracks a limited number of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash are displayed by default when clicking the crypto tab.　　A search for Cardano‘s ADA, Polkadot’s DOT, Stellar‘s XLM tokens return no results – for either the protocol or the token’s ticker. XRP returned a result for the Ripple

2021-03-01Deep Dive

Xminer Mining - A Simple Way to Cloud Mine Cryptocurrencies

Mining profitable cryptocurrencies like bitcoin can be very expensive, including maintenance costs and electricity costs. Cloud mining is best suited for novice miners that would like to mine cryptocurrencies but dont possess the capital or technical know-how.　　There Are Three Primary Models of Cloud Mining　　1. Hosted mining refers to a cloud mining model where the mining hardware is located in a remote data center. Users are given full control of mining hardware setup and configuration. Users only pay the mining company fees for maintenance and electricity costs. In this type of mining, the user must have the technical knowledge to set up the mining hardware.　　2. Virtual Host Mining- This form of cloud mining deploys a virtual machine to mine cryptocurrencies.　　3. Leashed Hashing Power- This is a form of cloud mining where mining companies rent hashing power from mining rigs. In this form, you rent hash power to mine cryptocurrencies and receive rewards.　　It is common for a cryptocurrency mining company to set up mining farms in areas that can utilize cheaper electricity with maximized efficiency. One example of such company is Xminer.io.　　Xminer is one of the oldest crypto mining companies and offers cloud mining services for miners globally. Xminer specializes in building

2021-03-01Deep Dive

Crypto Exchange INX to Raise C$25M, List on TSVX for ‘Added Credibility’

INX Limited, a cryptocurrency exchange that went public through a token offering on Ethereum in 2020, is looking to raise an additional CAD $25 million (USD $19.6 million) in a new listing on the TSX Venture Exchange.　　The company, which made history last year by conducting an initial public offering (IPO) on the Ethereum blockchain, said it intends to list on the TSXV for “added credibility.”　　INX said that the public reporting and transparency required by the TSVX listing will help it attract “Fortune 500 strategic partnerships and institutional investors.”　　The plans were disclosed in a supplemental filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 25.　　According to the filing, INX will offer 20 million shares priced at $1.25 CAD. Proceeds will go to research and development, sales, marketing, general expenses and M&A.　　The exchange company, which acquired the alternative trading system OpenFinance last year, said its has a pre-money valuation of $225 million.　　The INX exchange will debut in Q2 2021, according to the filing.

2021-03-01Deep Dive

DeFi, Islamic Finance, and Crypto Culture in the UAE

IN BRIEF　　BIC explores how DeFi projects rising in the Islamic world are impacted by Islamic finance.　　BIC interviewed Saeed Al Darmaki of Alphabit Digital Currency Fund.　　BIC spoke to Rim El Aridi, the co-founder and managing director of Agora Group.　　The cryptocurrency and DLT space are growing in the Islamic world. BeInCrypto explores the relationship between Islamic finance, DeFi, and how local culture in the UAE is impacted.　　Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has the cryptocurrency world experiencing a new buzz. Enthusiasts in wealthy countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are making the most of the space.　　At the same time, a set of cultural norms permeate society in these mostly Muslim countries. These would not accept some of the current ideas in DeFi. Particularly, Islam has a list of rules called Sharia Law. These govern various areas of finance, namely interest and how money can be used.　　These rules give rise to Islamic finance. This is an area of finance that assures the financial systems in the Islamic world comply with Sharia Law.　　In this article, BeInCrypto explores how DeFi projects rising in the Islamic world are impacted by Islamic finance. BeInCrypto also looks at how compliance may change the nature of DeFi projects in the

2021-03-01Deep Dive

How Long Does It Take to Mine One Bitcoin in 2021?

IN BRIEF　　What does bitcoin mining look like today？　　What happens when the 21 million supply is exhausted？　　How long will it take a person to mine one bitcoin？　　After wrapping up 2020 on a very high note, bitcoin (BTC) has continued to thrive amongst institutions, social media, and the world of mainstream finance.　　The use of bitcoin as a store of value has grown tremendously. Bitcoins attraction has revived a much more positive reception of blockchain networks and cryptocurrencies in general.　　The Bitcoin network and mining　　Amid the 2008 Wall Street financial crisis, an anonymous author and developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, published a whitepaper proposing a decentralized currency model independent of governments and central banks. For this digital currency, transactions would be conducted on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis and confirmed by solving cryptographic equations in a mining process.　　Mining is a multiplex process of adding new “blocks” of transactions to a blockchain network by solving complex mathematical equations. To create a decentralized P2P technology where transactions would be forever immutable, Satoshi developed a solution where miners on the open network confirm a new transaction through a series of cryptographically processed mathematical challenges. Overall, every node on the network must arrive at a consensus for a transaction to be

2021-02-26Deep Dive

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