UK: There are Bitcoin Companies Operating outside the Law

Jenson Nunez
-
0
UK: There are Bitcoin Companies Operating outside the Law

FCA is finding it risky to invest due to the complexity of some cryptocurrency-linked products, those who find troublesome any investment may not receive any help nor support coming from the government.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning to investors earlier today. The warning goes about some companies that guard a close relationship with bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies that offer high profits and are operating without a license. “Operating without registration is a criminal offense,” they clarified in the warning statement.

The FCA warning also relates to the implementation of new regulatory requirements in the UK that happened this week. Now any company that offers services with crypto assets must show registration and its proper approval. This advice intends to create a preventive behavior that can help in the fight against money laundering. “Those unregistered companies or those who do not register will receive a criminal treat”, the FCA reported in the statement.

The Decline in the Prices of Bitcoin and the Risks attached to this event

After the recent decline and sudden drop in bitcoin prices, the risks the investors run when they turn their eyes to crypto-assets or in some financial tool linked to it can be a major worry, or can also be a highlight.

“As with all high-risk speculative investments, consumers should ensure they understand what they are investing in, the risks associated with the investment, and the regulatory protections that are in place,” the statement said. They point out that those who invest in this kind of product should be aware of the fact that they can lose the entire investment. FCA also indicates to consumers that it is “unlikely” that they will receive some kind of help from the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Plan in case the investors face problems with their investments in crypto assets. The main recommendation is to keep checking the official Crypto Assets Guides.

What are the FCA Concerns?

There are several concerns regarding investments in crypto assets that the FCA is worrying about. One is related to some investments that are promising “high returns” with a base on cryptocurrencies that are not tied to regulations that could go far beyond the anti-money laundering requirements.

Another factor that raises concerns among the regulator is by fart the “complexity” of some products and services that are too close to crypto actives, mainly because this relationship between those product/services and crypto-actives may create difficulties for consumers to be aware of all the risks of investment.

Similarly, for the FCA, fees happen to be higher than even the same investment products under regulation. They believe that companies that share involvement with cryptocurrencies have more probabilities of exaggerating profits thanks to a set of marketing campaigns. According to a regulation that took place in 2020, derivatives sales as options, futures, and listed notes “that refer to transferable crypto assets that are not under regulation by companies with active operation in or from the United Kingdom” is forbidden.

By: Jenson Nuñez

China´s Digital Yuan Tests its First ATMs

Jenson Nunez
-
0
China´s Digital Yuan Tests its First ATMs

The ATMs are located in the city of Shenzhen, the “Silicon Valley” of China. The authorities would be carrying out the second part of the tests to the digital yuan.

China’s digital yuan keeps stepping high; now, Chinese citizens will be able to exchange cash for digital yuan (or vice versa) at ATMs. This report appeared in various national sources after one of the most relevant Chinese state banks acquired these machines in its branch offices.

The Agricultural Bank of China begins this New Year with the installment of a group of ATMs for the digital yuan. Its offices are located in Shenzhen, a city that the Chinese community refers to as the “Silicon Valley” of China. This name derives from being one of the titanic and important financial centers in the country.

As described by the Sznews newspaper, the ATMs will show compatibility with smartphones, this compatibility allows users to gain instant and easier access to the wallet where the user’s digital yuan settles. The machine possesses the technology to instantly permit an allowance of both accesses to new yuan in digital format, as well as exchange such currency for cash. In that manner, the authorities can start the second part of a set of testings for the new payment system of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), which implement is under construction since October 2020.

The implementation was successful. The digital yuan impacted positively the domestic market

The PBoC is well- known for issuing a total sum of $ 3 million in digital yuan to the citizens of Shenzhen, the money’s distribution came to be effective among a total of 100,000 residents.

Furthermore, a report says that the entity led the implementation of the payment system in a Shanghai hospital, with a list of positive results thanks to the incorporation of a debit card into the by incorporating debit cards into the internal market of the country.

The process of adopting the digital yuan was not an easy cake, it needs some complements to make the currency more solid as financial support, the Chinese government decided to inaugurate the “Digital Yuan Innovation Laboratory”. This laboratory will be an entity that takes direct responsibility for the support of the development of applications that validate the use of the new Chinese currency.

What do People Think about the Implementation of Digital Yuan?

Chinese authorities created a solid net of promotion to explain the use of this payment method and its impact on cash. Despite the government’s expectations, there are some individuals, among the population showing rejection and even resistance to use this new currency.

Citizens are talking about the possibility that comes from the fact that the digital yuan would affect financial privacy, an argument that also worries human rights defenders and regulators from other places around the globe. Those thoughts that run in common among the population appear to be some of the most relevant challenges that the People’s Bank of China will undoubtedly face when carrying out its adoption plan.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Mercado Libre CEO Thinks that Bitcoin is better than Gold Itself as a Reserve of Value

Alexander Salazar
-
0
Mercado Libre CEO Thinks that Bitcoin is better than Gold Itself as a Reserve of Value

The also founder of Mercado Libre only values Bitcoin as a form of saving. He believes that the energy consumption of mining is excessive, but some research studies refute this fact.

Marcos Galperin, Founder and CEO of Mercado Libre, thinks that “Bitcoin is better than gold itself as a store of value.” Through Twitter, the businessman said that the pioneering cryptocurrency “will not replace legal tender fiat currencies.” He believes that processing its transfers requires high energy consumption but that “quantum computing could change that.” However, recalling what recently happened at the US Capitol, he raised his doubts.

That was the response that the richest man in Argentina gave to a user who asked him about the future of cryptocurrencies. On previous occasions, the 49-year-old businessman has already given his opinion on the creation of Satoshi Nakamoto. In October 2020, he had spoken similarly in a dialogue with PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. “Cryptocurrencies are an excellent substitute for gold,” Galperin said at the time.

What the CEO of Mercado Libre Thinks of Bitcoin

The Argentine executive told Schulman that the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining makes it difficult to obtain state financing. He said that “we are in a world with global warming and many energy problems.” To this, he added that it is necessary to “invest in clean and renewable energy.” For that reason, he does not believe that “governments want to spend a lot of resources on mining a digital currency.”

Despite what Galperin argued, Cambridge University researchers refuted his arguments in a study that they published in September. There they indicated that 76% of Bitcoin miners use renewable sources as part of their energy mix.

Galperin also criticized the speed at which Bitcoin and the ecosystem around it develop. On September 27th, a Twitter user told him that it is “an emerging technology.” Also, he explained to him that it is in its early days, just like when the Internet emerged. On that occasion, the Argentine businessman replied that Bitcoin was already “five years old.” Furthermore, he commented that the pioneering cryptocurrency “has an endless childhood.”

Expressing his disagreement, Spanish economist José Antonio Bravo explained that “the Internet was born in 1969 but there was no architecture available to the public until 1995.” Furthermore, comparing the creation of the WWW (World Wide Web) with the infancy of Bitcoin, he said that the main cryptocurrency “is quite advanced.”

To this, the same Twitter user adds that few people realize the possibilities of Bitcoin. He believes that the best opportunities are in that gap between the present and the future. He also thinks that it is relevant to provide extreme security and reliability, rather than do things quickly, to serve all humanity. Galperin is aware of what is happening in the money digitization and payment platform industry. His company Mercado Libre, which operates in several Latin American countries, is responsible for the MercadoPago service, a virtual wallet. He was also one of the founders of Libra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency, but abandoned this development.

By Alexander Salazar

Members of the Executive Committee of the Pan American Sports Organization Are Elected through a Blockchain Network

Willmen Blanco
-
0
Members of the Executive Committee of the Pan American Sports Organization Are Elected through a Blockchain Network

Through the app, the agency seeks to obtain security in terms of authentication, authorization, and cryptography. To avoid the risk of contagion with COVID-19, they held the elections virtually.

In recent days, the Pan American Sports Organization (Panam Sports) held the first elections through a blockchain network. This agency is in charge of bringing together the National Olympic Committees of America. Seeking to provide the voting results with greater security, they used the platform of French technology company Atos.

The company explained that its platform works through a smartphone app and an online website. Through the voting app, 41 National Olympic Committees of the Americas elected the president of Panam Sports. This tool also allowed them to elect the new members of the executive committee.

“The app is protected by design and provides security in online voting through three key elements,” said the technology company. They say that they allowed them to ensure security in these elections through the so-called blockchain technology.

Ensuring a Single Voting Process by a Single user.

The first of these elements is authentication since they used a “two-factor system together with the user’s biometrics”. The second is the use of an authorization mechanism through a blockchain wallet. With this, they seek to “ensure a single voting process by a single user.” Finally, they incorporated cryptography, which “would allow decrypting the content only using a private key stored on the smartphone.”

According to Patrick Adiba, Executive Vice President of Olympic Games for Atos, the intention of using the app was to “have secure election”. They take advantage of the use of blockchain technology to “forge new digital paths in today’s times.” Another reason why the Pan American Sports Organization chose via remote voting was to protect the delegates from across the continent. They did not want to expose them to COVID-19, which has already caused too many deaths worldwide.

Ivar Sisniega, Secretary-General of the Pan American Sports Organization, said that it is the first time that they use this type of platform. This allowed them to hold an online election, in which many of the countries of the continent participated.

France-based technology company Atos receives annual revenues of around EUR 12 billion. They have been business partners of the Pan American Sports Organization since 1999. That year, the sports agency held the Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

The case of this company again shows the relevant role that blockchain plays in various business activities. Everyone knows that Satoshi Nakamoto originally developed this technology as a support for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. However, its use currently includes elections, food chains, and even educational activities and sporting events. It is not the first time that an organization has used blockchain technology to hold elections. The port authorities of the city of Barcelona, in Spain, recently held union elections through a blockchain app. Similarly, there will be elections for governor in Mexico, in which they will have a registration log based on blockchain.

By Willmen Blanco

BitMex is about to Pay $ 44 million in a Legal Settlement with Former Founders

Jenson Nunez
-
0
BitMex is about to Pay $ 44 million in a Legal Settlement with Former Founders

The founders chose to withdraw a lawsuit; this leads the case to a settlement out of court. Initially, both investors asked for at least 500 million dollars from BitMex.

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMex receives a spare from another lawsuit in court, thanks to an agreement of a monetary settlement with two of its former founders. Frank Amato and Guido Capone, two of BitMex’s early investors, will receive the sum of $ 44 million as part of the deal.

The founders started a set of legal proceedings against the exchange; these proceedings have as a goal the recovering of the capital they invested five years ago. At that time, Arthur Hayes – former CEO of BitMex – was looking to capture Frank Amato’s investment, sources close to the case say. Later, this former investor allied himself with Elfio Guido Capone; both accused the BitMex management of giving them misleading and deceiving information and of blocking any allowance for them to generate profits with the capital they previously invested.

Two Investors and a Huge Lawsuit

The two investors filed a lawsuit against BitMex for the value of 540 million dollars late in the year. The lawsuit is to get about 90 million belonging to the investment and recover at least 450 million in compensation for damages.

Even though the total sum they were seeking to obtain with this petition exceeded 500 million dollars, both Amato and Guido decided to solve the whole case for a sum that surpasses the figure of 40 million dollars. The lawsuit comes from the California Superior Court, and according to attorney Pavel Podogin, the investors are pointing to resolve the entire case out of court.

A Spiral of Harmful Effects Is Damaging the Exchange’s Popularity

In recent months BitMex encountered several lawsuit processes that have even caused a harmful spiral of effects on the popularity of the exchange.

For October, the firm suddenly made a registration of a withdrawal of more than 40,000 BTC in less than 24 hours, after BitMex was accused by the CFCT (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) of violating the current anti-money laundering regulations.

Samuel Reed is one of the co-founders of BitMex. He was arrested for violating these regulations as well as for making offerings of illegal trading services. Likewise, reports by platforms such as Chainalysis from transactions to BitMex began to represent a huge risk.

 This legal conflict led Arthur Hayes to make a choice, and resign as CEO of the company; a new management train came to light and implemented a new KYC (know-your-customer) plan, a plan that still does not please the user community and crypto-environment well enough.

All this drama still has many layers, a user of the platform also started a lawsuit against the firm in November last year, the user accuses the platform of manipulating the market. These events are turning grey the entire legal spectre of BitMex, an exchange that keeps in active operations even after all these unfortunate events on its back.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Bitcoin Price Falls $ 9,000 and does an Incredible Bounce to Price Near the $ 35,000

Jenson Nunez
-
0
Bitcoin Price Falls $ 9,000 and does an Incredible Bounce to Price Near the $ 35,000

Profit-taking might be pushing the price of bitcoin down. Total market capitalization fell to less than $ 1 trillion.

The bitcoin market (BTC) suffered volatility during the early hours of Monday by having the first significant loss of $ 9,000. The behavior is shaping up to be one of the biggest corrections after hitting a historical price of $ 41,940 on Friday.

The price of BTC was $ 34,732 per unit; however, the price of the cryptocurrency reached a bottom pointing at $ 32,850, according to CoinGecko records. In a comparison of such a figure with the unpublished price of last week, the correction approached 22%.

The stumble knocked the total market capitalization to a figure below a trillion dollars. On Saturday, this was USD 1.1 trillion and then suffered a decay today January 11th to USD 914 billion. This event represents an exit of 216 billion dollars from the market.

The capitalization returned to 952,000 billion dollars. This is an indicator that shows that the capitalization of bitcoin alone can reach $ 647 billion now, but it came to $ 600 billion.

The fall of bitcoin led the rest of the cryptocurrencies to a very negative moment. Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, was trading at $ 1,118, down 14% for the past 24 hours. Litecoin was trading at around $ 144 with a 16% retracement, XRP (-11%) also shown similar behavior, Bitcoin Cash (-10%) and Stellar (-13%).

The Market and the Profit with Bitcoin

The operators would have considered that a BTC above $ 40,000 was the perfect chance to sell. Quoted by CNBC, Simons Chen, Babel Finance’s executive director of investment and trade, commented that a decline is always what the market expects to happen in cases like this.

Simons Chen, CEO of Babel Finance adds: “The correction we saw was expected as we believe that the rise in the price of bitcoin, recently from less than $ 20,000 to $ 40,000 in the last four weeks, will cause a selling pressure. The $ 40,000 mark could have unleashed a potential profit-taking trigger. ‘

Jehan Chu, the founder of the venture capital and trading company Kenetic Capital, predicted that the price of the cryptocurrency is probably doubling its mass by the end of the year.

he said that This short-term correction is natural and needed and is a perfect entry point for long-term investors as they will quickly hit $ 50,000 this quarter and $ 100,000 by the end of the year. ‘

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency settlements are reflected by the bybt.com service. This website shows that in the last 24 hours, a sum of $ 2.7 billion has been liquidated in both long and short positions. Only in bitcoin would have settled 1,600 million or about 47,300 BTC. The market decline came to happen after former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya made a prediction. Chamath said that the price of the first cryptocurrency could potentially reach $ 200,000 per unit.

By: Jenson Nuñez

1...1,1961,1971,198...1,654Page 1,197 of 1,654