Bitso Allows Users to Accept Ether in Exchange for Argentine Pesos

Bitso allows appropriating this crypto directly with regional currency from Argentina.

Bitso recalled that the Ethereum crimson was created in 2014 by a team of programmers. The goal of Ethereum is to build a decentralized network that permits the creation of smart contracts that execute an exit activity upon an entry order. These contracts are unalterable when written on the Blockchain.

With this new addition, Bitso adheres more direct import features on top of bitcoin and DAI. As indicated by the firm, the objective is to congratulate all Argentine users and grant them the possibility of dealing with an internationally regulated cryptocurrency platform’s security standards.

Bitso Seems to be Seeking New Alternatives

Andres Ondarra, Place Manager for Bitso in Argentina, argued about the incorporation:

“We are pleased about the growth of our services in Argentina and, after hearing from our clients the great interest in buying ETH more easily, we have empowered the communication to this cryptocurrency directly from Argentine pesos. In this way, we expand our proposition of communication and use of the most relevant digital assets in the world through our global platforms.”

Ether has been one of the best-performing assets during this subsequent year. On 1/1/2020, one Ether was worth $ 183. Recently, it came to over $ 1,800. This asset keeps catching the attention of investors and those interested in crypto worldwide. Some relevant aspects elevate Ether, according to Bitso.

The first aspect is that The Ethereum community received Serenity, an update of its Blockchain. This expansion will allow solving scalability and saturation troubles when there is high traffic.

Another highlight is that The Chicago Mercantil Exchange, one of the most critical institutions in the world when it comes to futures, chose to offer ETH futures that remain available since February of this year. Futures are products where they agree to buy or deliver a particular asset in a future term at a predetermined price.

The growth of decentralized finance: DeFi (decentralized finance) has now the full attention of new investors, institutions, and governments. This ecosystem strengthens users and encourages them to purchase financial products and services without interaction with third parties.

ETH Price Fluctuation and its Relationship with Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies might receive some influence from the value of BTC. It is essential to take into account a series of aspects. One is how both currencies correlate.

The Beta serves to get an idea of how correlated the prices are between two assets: BTC and ETH. With the Beta being a subscription (the maximum correlation is 1), these two assets link to their respective prices. If one rises in price, the other will also do so. The cost of ETH is highly correlated to that of BTC. This trend is tending to decline these latest months.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The Traditional Financial System and the Crypto-Environment Must Adapt and Evolve

In the fourth quarter of 2020, PayPal saw considerable growth in its number of transactions (36%), about 277,000 million dollars. The surge started in the third quarter of 2020, right after the company introduced cryptocurrency transactions.

The traditional financial system needs to adapt to new technologies. According to the Cambridge Center for Choice Finance, the number of cryptocurrency users is increasing rapidly; it has tripled from 35 million people in 2018 to 101 million in the third quarter of 2020.

Another study from the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom revealed a 78% growth since 2019.

The most relevant Cryptocurrency trading feature is its is profitability. In the fourth quarter of 2020, PayPal surpassed its number of transactions by 36%, about 277,000 million dollars. The surge reached such a stage in the middle of 2020 when the company launched the availability of cryptocurrency transactions.

On the other hand, China was the first to promote its electronic yuan thesis, dubbed the Digital Currency Electronic Term or DCEP. China is focused on infrastructure because several local banks have already developed or are working with their electronic wallets.

The Chinese electronic yuan is the best, if not the only example of parné electronic from central banks that currently work.

More than 60 Central Banks Worldwide are Increasing their Interest in this Matter

It is essential to consider that more than 60 central banks worldwide are increasing their interest in the cryptocurrencies. DCEP focuses on centralized blockchain technology, managed entirely by the Central Strip of China. This technology permits a complete handle of every single financial transaction, increases the collection of taxes, and avoids criminal economic behavior.

Other prominent players in this game are the international payments system Visa which recently moved its pieces to launch a protocol for offline transactions with central band digital currencies.

This protocol aims at the enrichment and acceptance of offline payments by merely downloading an app. CBDCs then essentially replace the cash parné, which means a growth in the transactions under issuer and other financial intermediary’s control.

The Creation of a Multi-format Finance and Crypto User’s Experience

The multi-format monetary situation might be turning into a requirement for many financial instruments in the environment. Banks will find the need to ensure such a fiat.

The creation of a multi-format finance possibility needs some requirements. One of them is a unified approach to compliance if each service performs anti-money laundering checks for CBDC and cryptocurrency transactions following its policy.

The crowd of outers (people who don’t share any involvement with the crypto world) may think that digital assets cannot integrate into traditional business processes.

But this is a thought far from being a reasonable truth. Crypto user’s experience assures that it is necessary to develop a unified approach to compliance; the same goes for traditional fiat and crypto.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Due to Disinformation Campaign against Bitcoin, the OKCoin Exchange Withdraws Bitcoin Cash and BSV

OKCoin seeks that new users do not confuse BCH and BSV with Bitcoin (BTC). Craig Wright, who calls himself Satoshi Nakamoto, has led the attacks on Bitcoin.

The OKCoin exchange will withdraw cryptocurrencies Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) from March 1st. Hong Fang, CEO of OKCoin, said that they will take out BCH and BSV cryptocurrencies from their platform. The attacks that actors connected to these projects launch against Bitcoin (BTC), as both a protocol and a cryptocurrency, are the reason for this.

According to the exchange, members of the BSV and BCH communities have led a disinformation campaign against Bitcoin. The official statement points to Craig Wright as the main promoter of the campaign in the Bitcoin SV (“Satoshi Vision”) community.

Wright has filed lawsuits against users who host the Bitcoin white paper on their websites. OKCoin claimed that this situation has led them to have a hard time.

They have also stated that they have not been able to verify whether Wright is the creator of the first cryptocurrency. Hong Fang, the CEO of the exchange, explained that the Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV brands tend to confuse new investors.

Reasons to Make that Decision

They said that they made that decision to support the spirit of open-source communities. Additionally, they explained that they seek to support the Bitcoin ecosystem and protect new investors.

Besides, they clarified that they are not against hard forks or alternative projects that arise from a pre-existing network. They said that they are also not against the communities that support these cryptocurrencies and build solutions with them.

“Many cryptocurrency projects, like Litecoin, have forked from the source code of Bitcoin, but they have their own name and logo,” said Fang. OKCoin says that they cannot accept anyone trying to pass it off as “the real Bitcoin”, as has happened with Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.

Fang raised that OKCoin has to prevent new investors from mistaking these cryptocurrencies for the real Bitcoin. Many users applauded this move, but some objected to it mainly in defense of Bitcoin Cash.

Origin of Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV

In 2017, a part of the community decided to fork the Bitcoin network, which gave rise to Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Those people did it because they disagreed with the scalability solutions (SegWit) implemented on Bitcoin at the time.

They chose to increase the size of the blocks on the Bitcoin Cash chain to process more transactions. On Bitcoin, they rejected the implementation of this measure, since it would lead to errors and security breaches.

Bitcoin Cash has a market capitalization of USD 13 billion and a price of around USD 730. The criteria for using the cryptocurrency is to facilitate fast payments with low fees. So far, it has undergone forks as a result of disagreements within the community.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) emerged in 2018 from a contentious fork to Bitcoin Cash. Its creators claimed that it fulfilled Nakamoto’s vision of what Bitcoin should be. This cryptocurrency has a capitalization of USD 4 billion and a price of around USD 240.

Concerning Bitcoin, the pioneering cryptocurrency recently reached USD 1 trillion by market capitalization. Also, its price currently exceeds USD 55,000 in most world markets.

By Alexander Salazar

In Bermuda, Digital Dollar Connected with the Stellar blockchain is Enough to Buy Rum

The goal at the moment is to connect people with blockchain technology. Bermuda reaffirms its friendly stance towards the use of new technologies in financial services.

Bermuda is testing a local digital dollar as a first step towards the adoption of blockchain-based payments. Canadian fintech company Bidali, along with local authorities, has launched this pilot project to accredit the technology and allow people to start experimenting with it.

Currently, the digital currency of the project, based on the Bermudian dollar, is only valid to buy in the store of Gosling’s Limited, the most recognized brand of Rum in the Caribbean island, which is celebrating the re-launching of its retail store for alcoholic beverages.

Ambrose Gosling, Chief Financial Officer of Gosling’s Limited, told the media: “This company is the largest exporter and the oldest trading house in Bermuda. We are honored by the opportunity to work with Bidali and the FinTech office on this project.

 Work With Bidali and the FinTech Ofice on this Project

By doing so, we contribute to the growth and development of this payment solution, which we believe has the potential to generate efficiencies and significant cost savings.”

The first stage of this project is under Penrose Partners’ coordination. Penrose Partners is an emerging technology consulting firm from Canada and Bermuda, which led workshops to train people on cryptocurrency payment technology.

Although the pilot project is going on a small scale, it is the first time that the Stellar network serves real-world transactions with a national government’s support.

Bermuda might be Joining the Global Financial System

Denis Pitcher, the chief financial technology adviser, said that since there are 60,000 people, it seems to show excellent conditions to show what is possible to do as this technology evolves.

Pitcher also explained that Bermuda does not have access to payment platforms currently operating in other countries, such as PayPal or Square. Under these conditions, he considers that cryptocurrency platforms can link to the island with the global financial system.

Pitcher knows that there are many challenges to achieve the goal of consolidating an emerging digital economy. One of those might be the banks’ consensus, the foreign debt that might be surpassing the 3 billion dollars, the novelty of this technology, among others. Thanks to the laws that Bermuda approves, many companies are eager to participate with more clarity and confidence.

Bermuda Shows More Crypto-Friendly laws

Bermuda’s digital dollar initiative began in 2018 when the country launched a new licensing regime for companies and made a proposal regarding a regulatory framework around the cryptocurrency ecosystem with the Digital Asset Business Act.

This law provides a beautiful legal basis for FinTech. Such law includes cryptocurrency and blockchain companies to have an ideal field to experiment and demonstrate their technology’s value over other traditional systems.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Bitcoin Whales Have Moved around 158,585 BTC

Whales may have deposited part of their Bitcoin holdings to different exchanges expecting it to continue its bullish trend. The pioneering cryptocurrency recently went from nearly USD 46,000 to more than USD 57,000, that is, an increase of USD 11,000.

In the last week, Bitcoin whales have moved about 158,585 BTC through 116 transactions. An analysis shows the overall performance of whales as Bitcoin exceeds its highest price and highest market capitalization. There is a summary of all the data on Twitter cryptocurrency analysis account Whale Alert.

Whales have not been particularly interested in selling their Bitcoin holdings these days. They may be expecting the main cryptocurrency to gain more ground and continue its bullish trend in the short term. However, no one discounts the possibility that they have taken part of their Bitcoin holdings to different exchanges.

First of all, Bitcoin Whales transferred most of the tokens between unknown wallets. It is about 91,432 BTC, which represents 57.65% of the total that they have moved during the week.

Besides, whales accumulated a total of 28,361 BTC, that is, they withdrew this amount from exchanges and deposited it to unknown wallets. In contrast, 26,563 BTC entered the market or exchanges from unknown wallets. These amounts represent 17.88% and 16.75% of the total that they moved, respectively.

Although the sales trend was not prevailing, it is possible to perceive that it is not very far from the accumulated total. For that reason, some whales may be looking to take advantage of the gains that Bitcoin offers them in the short term. However, there are still whales that choose not to sell yet, thereby withdrawing liquidity from the market. Finally, a record shows that whales have moved 12,229 BTC between exchanges.

Other Details on Bitcoin Whale’s Report

Bitcoin whales accumulated the most Bitcoin on February 17th. However, the largest number of transfers to exchanges occurred two days later.

The largest amount of Bitcoin Whale’s transfers and activity also occurred on February 19th. The price of Bitcoin reached USD 50,000 and USD 55,000 on the 17th and the 19th, respectively.

In other words, the whales that accumulated on February 17th predicted the increases of February 19th. They even sought to drive the price of Bitcoin by gradually withdrawing liquidity from the market.

Bitcoin’s Performance Analysis

In the last seven days, the pioneering cryptocurrency went from touching USD 46,000 to exceeding USD 57,000. In other words, the increase that Bitcoin had is equivalent to USD 11 thousand. For that reason, the annual returns to date are 94.70%.

Although this event does not make sense, it is an important milestone for Bitcoin to become a significant part of the global financial ecosystem.

Bitcoin is now worth more than Facebook and could even outperform Alphabet, the parent company of Google, or Amazon. It is unlikely that the entire global economy will ever be denominated in satoshis, and even less in “bits”. However, the open protocol that Satoshi Nakamoto created could become a viable global reserve asset.

By Alexander Salazar

The New Normality among Cryptocurrencies Seems to Be that of Breaking All-Time Highs

In the past seven days, some cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Binance Coin reached new all-time highs. The Motley Fool and Bill Gates talked about Bitcoin, with the former admitting to investing in the cryptocurrency.

The cryptocurrency market seems to be getting used to reaching one all-time high after another. It is very difficult to keep up to date with so much information flow, especially when the main cryptocurrencies do not stop exceeding all-time highs.

Just over a week ago, the price of Bitcoin was below USD 50,000. More exactly, the price of the crypto asset was USD 48,300 per unit. However, the current price of Bitcoin is around USD 57,350, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

For that reason, the cryptocurrency market practically saw Bitcoin break its all-time high daily in the last week. In fact, on February 17th, the pioneering cryptocurrency broke the USD 50,000 barrier for the first time.

Right at that moment, an indicator suggested that the crypto asset would continue to rise further. Specifically, the Coinbase Premium Index indicated that Bitcoin would break the barrier and could continue to rise.

Since then, the cryptocurrency has not stopped breaking its all-time high time after time until reaching the current level. That led to its market capitalization exceeding USD 1 trillion.

The Motley Fool Invests in the Pioneering Cryptocurrency

Breaking all-time price highs are not the only thing that the cryptocurrency market is getting used to. It is also getting used to welcoming institutional investors.

Great figures and institutions have given their opinion on the pioneering cryptocurrency in the last week. The Motley Fool, a website that advises investors, said that Bitcoin is a profitable investment.

As if that were not enough, they also announced that they had invested USD 5 million in the pioneering cryptocurrency. That piece of news became one of the catalysts for the crypto asset.

Bill Gates Takes a Neutral View on Bitcoin

The founder of Microsoft recently said in an interview with television channel CNBC that he has taken a neutral view on Bitcoin (BTC). He also made it clear that he has not invested in the main cryptocurrency on the market.

In 2018, he thought that the main characteristic of Bitcoin was its anonymity, which he did not consider good. In other words, he thought that the pioneering cryptocurrency “as an asset class, does not produce anything.”

Ether Breaks another All-Time High

Bitcoin was not the only cryptocurrency to break its all-time high in the past seven days. The Ether (ETH) price exceeded USD 2,000 after growing by more than 7% for a week.

However, the cryptocurrency failed to hold on to the level that it reached. Just 24 hours later, it fell by almost 3% to position slightly below USD 2,000.

BNB Breaks All-Time High in Market Capitalization

Binance Coin (BNB), the cryptocurrency of the Binance exchange, also reached a market capitalization of USD 19 billion. This happens three and a half years after the cryptocurrency exchange was born.

The price of the crypto asset has increased by 125% in the last seven days, reaching USD 284. Similarly, it currently ranks third by market capitalization.

By Alexander Salazar