Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Bitcoin Saves Luxury Wine Retailer During Crisis

As the wine industry is struggling to recover from its pandemic-induced crisis, one luxury retailer is thriving.　　In an article published by Drinks International magazine, Bordeaux-based BTC Wine is doing “very well” after Bitcoin shot up to an all-time high of $42,000 last month.　　It was launched by French fine wine trading firm Lasserre s director of sales.　　“We have a new kind of customer. They have a lot of Bitcoin, and they want to spend it. Fine wine is a status symbol. They have bought the cars and the real estate, and then they go directly to the fine wine, so its a good market for us.”　　Exclusive Burgundy wines as well as top Spanish wines are among the merchants most notable offerings, which include 200 items in total.　　Apart from Bitcoin, those who want to get a taste of a purple-hued 2005 Latour can also pay in Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash. All payments are processed by crypto old-timer BitPay.　　Exploring more opportunities　　BTC Wine wants to go beyond accepting Bitcoin as a payment method, exploring the possibility of integrating the blockchain technology into the supply chain. As reported by U.Today, IBM and eProvenance introduced a blockchain-powered product for tracking the entire process of winemaking last

2021-02-05Deep Dive

Norwegian Oil Giants To Incorporate Blockchain Technology

Norwegian oil giants, Equinor, announced that they would be incorporating blockchain technology to drive down costs and promote green practices.　　The government owns 70 percent of Equinor, so they need to make oil production complement the Scandanavian countrys environmental policy. CEO Anders Opedal aims to make Equinor a carbon-friendly, “net-zero” oil company by 2050.　　Equinors Involvement With Blockchain Technology　　Back in 2019, Equinor did a pilot project with blockchain technology. After its success, they decided to invest $6 million in Data Gumbo – a startup based in Houston that runs its own blockchain ledger GumboNet.　　Johan Sverdrup, Equinors 300-foot-tall platform, integrates blockchain technology and conducts vital operations, such as tracking the drilling of new wells, measuring the quantity of oil being produced, and many other core functions. The information is all being transmitted to Data Gumbo. Following Johan Sverdrups success, Equinor will roll out this tech to 10 of their other projects. In its first year of operations, Equinor expects to save $20 million.　　Blockchain Picking Up Popularity Among Oil Companies　　In 2020, several oil companies already started adopting the technology. The formation of the OOC Oil s success, 2021 could see several major oil companies follow suit.

2021-02-05Deep Dive

DeFi Adoption: How Wall Streets just made a case for it

The early weeks of 2021 have been filled with unprecedented drama, but one is standing heads and shoulders above the rest. It is a rehash of the David vs. Goliath Bible story, but this time, there are no stones or slings; it is all about a battle of wits between Wall Streets big hegemony against a bunch of “amateur” traders.　　It all started when some traders on a subreddit known as WallStreetBets noticed that a top Wall Street firm was shorting Gamestop shares, this alerted the traders to start buying up the shares. Before anyone could tell what was happening, the stock price had risen beyond what the hedge funds and brokers had in mind, leading to tons of losses for the Wall Street firm.　　Wall Street has claimed that this was pure market manipulation and even called for such trading to be outlawed. The retail investors, however, would consider it as an economic victory because it is simply a case of the amateurs beating the professionals on their turf.　　While the Gamestop situation drew attention to the stocks market, its aftermath will help the crypto industry, further making a case for a decentralized finance (DeFi) system.　　For several years, financial liberalization and DeFi

2021-02-05Deep Dive

Bitcoin for Corporations- Michael Saylor Expects an 'Avalanche' of Firms to Own Bitcoin

On February 3 and 4, the firm Microstrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) held an event called “Bitcoin for Corporations,” which aims to entice corporate entities to get into the leading crypto asset. In 2020 and into 2021, theres been a major expansion of the M2 money supply as estimates believe 25-30% of all USD in existence was printed last year. This has led to a number of firms exchanging cash and bonds for bitcoin (BTC) in order to protect the company from devaluing fiat.　　Microstrategy executive, Michael Saylor, wholeheartedly believes in bitcoin, as the firm has sparked a trend of companies adding BTC to their treasuries. This week, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Saylor predicting a massive shift in investor interest from gold to bitcoin. That same day, Microstrategy announced that the firm had purchased another $10 million worth of BTC. The business intelligence (BI) company now holds an aggregate total of 71,079 BTC, worth $2.6 billion using todays exchange rates.　　The day before Microstrategys corporate virtual conference, Saylor said that 1,400 firms would be joining the event. “If you are interested in the legal considerations firms face while integrating bitcoin into their corporate strategy, you are not alone,” Saylor tweeted. “We have professionals from more

2021-02-04Deep Dive

Forbes Publishes Its Top 50 Blockchain Firms of 2021

Forbes has published its Blockchain 50 list, outlining some of the most notable blockchain companies in operation today.　　Who Is On the List？　　The list includes several notable crypto exchanges, such as Binance and Coinbase, alongside derivatives exchanges such as CME Group and the Intercontinental Exchange (via Bakkt).　　A number of payments companies are also on the list, including Square (which supports Bitcoin payments and is led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey), PayPal (which recently added crypto sales) and Visa (which has just announced support for Bitcoin banking).　　The list also includes several blockchain friendly banks, including Credit Suisse, which uses Paxos to settle stock trading. It includes HSBC, which uses blockchain for forex trading, and ING Group, which uses blockchain for AML compliance. JPMorgan Chase, with its interbank blockchain Liink, is also on the list.　　Investment companies are featured as well. Grayscale and Fidelity Digital Assets, both of which offer institutional Bitcoin investment funds, have both made the list.　　The remainder of companies listed largely use blockchain for data management and supply chain purposes. The list includes household names such as IBM, Microsoft, and Walmart.　　New Companies Added　　This publication is Forbes third annual list. 21 new companies were added, while previously high-ranking companies such as Facebook,

2021-02-04Deep Dive

CrossTower Launches Bitcoin Fund to Compete With Grayscale’s GBTC

Crypto capital markets firm CrossTower, based in Bermuda, is launching a hedge fund at the end of the month in a bid to compete with Grayscales Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and other bitcoin funds for accredited investors.　　Similar to how Teslas boom created a larger demand for electric-vehicle stocks, the success of GBTC with $20 billion in assets under management (AUM) has caused a plethora of funds to follow suit, said crypto analyst Kevin Rooke. (Grayscale is owned by Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.)　　Most recently, crypto lender BlockFi registered a Bitcoin Trust with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Bitwise announced it was seeking regulatory approval to publicly trade shares of its bitcoin fund on an over-the-counter marketplace, similar to GBTCs secondary market.　　CrossTower Bitcoin Fund wont trade in a secondary market, but it is trying to compete on management fees and liquidity.　　The fund charges a management fee of 60 basis points, or 0.6%, compared to GBTCs 2% management fee, said CrossTower co-founder and president Kristin Boggiano. It trades at net asset value (NAV) of bitcoin and has no lockups, letting investors redeem within a day.　　“This is the most plain-vanilla of the suite of offerings that we expect to

2021-02-04Deep Dive

Bitcoin Market Eyes Grayscale Premium as Unlock Looms

The premium for Grayscales Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares slid into the negative territory yesterday, a rare occurrence for the asset. With another unlock coming up, the premium could face further downside.　　Grayscale at a Critical Juncture　　GBTC shares representing 20,000 Bitcoin (worth nearly $700 million) will be unlocked beginning this week. However, a discounted price of GBTC shares threatens to disrupt the “Grayscale effect,” where price surges follow unlocking events.　　This week, GBTC shares turned negative for the first time.　　Grayscale share unlocking has previously had a positive impact on the price, as institutional investors have been known to re-buy the asset. The primary driver of the investment in the past has been its “premium.”　　In 2020, GBTC shares traded at a premium of roughly 15-20% to Bitcoins Net Asset Value price.　　Institutional investors have been known to use the premium to their advantage by executing low-risk arbitrage trades since Grayscales launch—the average premium on the product since launch is 38%.　　Hence, when GBTC shares unlock, investors sell their shares at a premium on brokerages like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and TD Ameritrade to reinvest in the trade again, causing an uptrend in price.　　The trend first discovered by Jarvis Labs Ben Lilly followed perfectly during the last unlocking.　　The

2021-02-04Deep Dive

Binance Pay Beta Launched: Will It Turn Into The Crypto PayPal?

The worlds leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance, has launched a beta version of a contactless and borderless crypto payments product by the name of Binance Pay. The exchange will enable its users to send and receive crypto payments worldwide, similarly to PayPal.　　 The Crypto PayPal？　　Presented earlier today by the companys CEO, Changpeng Zhao, Binance will launch its latest product – the Binance Pay. Currently, in a beta stage.　　“Binance Pay is a basket product that we plan to spend quite a lot of time developing this year as we think that payments are one of the most used cases of crypto.” – said CZ during a live AMA session.　　Users will be able to set up their Pay wallets in a way that the wallet will spend their preferred currencies. For now, the only way to top up the Binance Pay wallet by transferring funds from the Binance Spot wallet on Binance.　　Its worth noting that the Binance Pay wallet and the Binance Card wallet are actually the same. Meaning that incoming or outgoing funds will be reflected in the same wallet on the exchange.　　During its beta stage, Binance Pay is restricted to a daily spending limit of $1,000, and a

2021-02-04Deep Dive

Countries Lack Guidance on DeFi Taxes: Library of Congress

In brief　　Congress commissioned a report from the Library of Congress on countries tax policies toward mined and staked tokens.　　The report shows most of the surveyed countries do not have specific guidelines for proof-of-stake currencies.　　Congressional Blockchain Caucus Co-Chair Tom Emmer sees a chance for the US to lead in digital asset tax policy.　　As it turns out, theres no one way to tax a token—but just about every country could do a better job communicating the rules.　　A new report from the Law Library of Congress, “Taxation of Cryptocurrency Block Rewards in Selected Jurisdictions,” drills down on 31 countries policies. It notes that most countries havent figured out how to tax gains from decentralized finance applications.　　“While tax authorities of a number of countries have published guidance on the taxation of mined tokens such as Bitcoin and other ‘proof-of-work’ cryptocurrencies, only a few specifically address the taxation of tokens received through staking, a term used to describe the process of obtaining reward tokens in the newer ‘proof-of-stake’ cryptocurrencies,” the report reads.　　Which includes pretty much anything DeFi—the set of applications that take banks and clearinghouses out of the process of lending and trading. Everyday users of DeFi on the (still proof-of-work) Ethereum blockchain, for instance,

2021-02-04Deep Dive

PayPal Q4 Transaction Revenue Report: Great Achievement Since Adding Crypto

In the final quarter of 2020, PayPal gained 16 million in net new active accounts and handled $277 billion in total payment volume.　　The earnings are the payment giants first since rolling out crypto buying and selling late last year. It removed the waitlist for BTC , ETH , LTC and BCH to all of its 350 million users on Nov. 12, 2020.　　Customers who purchased crypto through the platform have been logging into PayPal twice as much as they were before buying crypto, the company said in its investor update.　　PayPals transaction revenue increased by around 12% from Q3 to $5.7 billion. The company also notes it will recognize transaction revenue from its crypto buys, sell and hold product, but it will not include transactions related to crypto in its total payment volume.　　Notably, PayPals spending in technology increased year over year by more than 30% to $732 million.　　“The volume of crypto traded on our platform greatly exceeded our projections,” PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said on the company‘s fourth-quarter earnings call. “We’re excited to build on this early success by allowing customers to use their crypto balance as a funding source. … We hope to launch our first international market in the next

2021-02-04Deep Dive

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