The number of users has increased by almost 200%, compared to that of 2018. There are currently about 190 million accounts among service providers.

In the last two years, the total number of users that interact with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies worldwide has grown by 189%. The figure has already exceeded 101 million operators, according to an analysis that the Center for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge recently published.

The researchers note in the report entitled “3rd Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study” that cryptocurrency service providers have also increased their reach. They say that there might already be more than 191 million accounts open on various platforms such as exchanges, wallets, or P2P exchanges.

According to the study, there is a relation between this global growth and an increase in the number of accounts that users have created at service providers. They estimate that the accounts created have quadrupled in the last four years. The figure went from 45 million in 2016 to 139 million in 2018.

It is striking that the number of active users remains below the number of existing accounts. From the above, it is possible to infer that each user might have multiple accounts at different service providers.

Robert Wardrop, director of the Center for Alternative Finance, highlighted that the expansion began in 2018, months after Bitcoin had reached its highest all-time price in the market.

“The research results suggest that the industry has entered a growth stage, despite the notable headwinds that the crypto markets have encountered since 2018,” he explained.

Latin America, Bitcoin, and Its Adoption

Even though the study does not specify the number of users per region, it states that there are disparities between the different geographical areas. For example, Asia would have the highest percentage of high-growth companies, with 39% of those surveyed.

Latin America would have the smallest proportion, with only 13% of the companies. The size of its workforce or the profits that it has generated define a high-growth company.

The types of users that companies serve and their profitability are other business behaviors to highlight.

Differently from North American and European service providers, which have a mix of institutional and retail customers, the main trend in Latin America is to support retail customers. Besides, they also confirm that companies with a longer time in the Bitcoin ecosystem are more profitable.

More than 280 entities making life in the Bitcoin ecosystem, from almost 60 countries, participated in the research. The analysis focused on four segments (exchanges, payments, custody, and mining) and the researchers collected the data between March and May 2020.

Among the Latin American companies and associations that participated in the study, the most prominent are the following: NGO Bitcoin Argentina, Blockchain Spain and Alianza Blockchain Iberoamérica, Bitso, Asociación Bitcoin Chile, Koibanx, OrionX, Cryptopatagonia, Blockchain Mérida, ArgenBTC, Asociación FinTech Paraguay, Asociación FinTech Uruguay, FinTech Mexico, and Colombia FinTech.

This work by the University of Cambridge is the third version of the study that began in 2017. In April of that year, the researchers said that the estimated number of cryptocurrency users was almost 3 million people. They published the second version of the analysis the following year.

By Alexander Salazar

The Bitcoin price curve is close to the growth trend of the second halving. The Ecoinometrics model predicts a price of USD 20,000 by mid-October.

After the third Bitcoin halving last March 11^th, the evolution of Bitcoin’s price has remained very close to the trend that it had recorded after its second halving in July 2016. This suggests that the growth of this new bullish cycle could maintain similar proportions.

Last August’s Ecoinometrics bulletin shows a comparison between the current cycle in the price of Bitcoin and what happened in the two previous halvings, which seeks to find similarities with the past bullish periods. According to their calculations, Bitcoin could appreciate to USD 387,000 by May 2021, if it maintains a behavior similar to that of the past.

Ecoinometrics projects Bitcoin’s price by incorporating it into the growth bands after the previous halvings, rather than looking at a single timeline. It starts at the time that the third halving occurs and that same point becomes the origin of the curves of the two previous halvings.

In this way, the line that marks the evolution of the second halving remains the base curve. Concerning the price curve after the first halving, of stronger growth, it is the line that defines the upper limit of the band, in which the current price line should move.

There is also a line that marks the average of the price evolutions according to the trends of the first and second halvings. This average reaches USD 20,000 in the first days of October and ends the year with USD 41,000.

According to this hypothetical situation, the average price curve of Bitcoin would cross the USD 100,000 mark on April 18^th, 2021, and reach an all-time high of USD 387,000 on May 12^th of that same year. Bitcoin’s price, four and a half months after the third halving, looks closer to the curve of the second halving than to the upper limit that the curve of the first halving marked.

Concerning the dimensions of this growth, Ecoinometrics told skeptics that Bitcoin is competing with gold as hard money and store of value worldwide. In this sense, it should reach a market capitalization close to USD 9 trillion to compare with the precious metal. Currently, Bitcoin’s capitalization is more than USD 196 billion, so it still has a long way to go before reaching that level. Therefore, its price per unit would be around USD 400,000 if it did.

After the relationship between the bubbles that occurred after the first and second halvings, Bitcoin recorded similar patterns in its price cycles. After these, it recorded bullish trends, but they had two differences compared to the first and second halvings. While the bullish momentum following the first halving occurred shortly after this, the rise following the second halving took more than a year and a half to take place.

By Alexander Salazar

In an interview with Forbes magazine, VISA Global Vice President of Fintech Terry Angelos said that many cryptocurrency companies had shown “significant interest” in working with them.

Terry Angelos, a Senior VISA executive, though he did not mention any companies by name, made clear that most wanted to connect to the payment processor’s network, which has more than 60 million merchants in more than 200 countries, the largest of its kind in the world.

Having first dabbled in some proofs of concepts in 2015, the payment processor joined (and left) the Libra Association, invested in custody provider Anchorage and became a member of the Chamber this week, as DiarioBitcoin reported, Digital Commerce, a Blockchain advocacy group in the US.

The Coinbase exchange has been Visa’s most prominent crypto partner. After initially collaborating on a branded payment card, Coinbase became a primary member earlier this year, granting it the right to issue Visa cards to other crypto companies.

But Angelos revealed that Visa has already “incorporated” 25 other crypto companies that are “in various stages of development.” He added that some have gone through his fast-track program, an initiative that gives selected startups an edge through guidance and support, as well as giving them access to his payment network.

When asked if Coinbase would be the only crypto company to be a senior member of Visa, Angelos said: “We have a few that are potentially in the queue.”

VISA and Blockchain

Angelos and Cuy Sheffield, Head of crypto at Visa, participated in the interview with Forbes. Here are some of his answers concerning Blockchain technology.

Sheffield talks about his task as head of crypto: “My main role is to understand how our growing set of clients, that is, fintech companies that may be adding crypto business lines or companies that are crypto natively can take advantage of the existing Visa products”.

About digital currencies, Sheffield comments: “We have been advancing our work on digital currency, both on the product side and in the research, for the last two years. However, while the strategy has continued to evolve, we haven’t talked much about it. In this void, we have seen different narratives and speculations about our activities, so the post was primarily to articulate why Visa is investing and spending time on digital currencies. We also wanted to expose some of the principles that guide our strategy”.

Forbes asks you to be more specific about Blockchain, and Angelos responds: “One of Visa’s important developments in recent years was its evolution to become a ‘network of networks’. This means initiating and ending transactions over various networks, some of which are owned by us and some of which are not, such as SWIFT or local ACH networks. In that context, although we do not do this today, we would think of interoperating with a Blockchain network that we do not control as if it were not different from a third-party real-time payment platform”.

By Jenson Nuñez

The cryptocurrency money manager Panxora seeks to raise $50 million for a new hedge fund to buy digital tokens in association with the fast-growing decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

DeFi is an important of the blockchain environment that mainly consists of a set of automated trading platforms that has the purpose of putting aside banks and other firms. But it is a movement that is growing up, and rapidly, so the new fundraising effort is getting underway just as prices are collapsing for some of the leading DeFi projects, that includes Yearn. Finance and Aave.

DeFi projects are defined as protocols and mostly built atop the Ethereum blockchain, and is soaring in popularity this year. Its motor is the “yield farming” craze that encourages crypto traders to sock digital assets into the trading and lending systems to reach high-interest rates, token rewards, and faster gains. Dollar-linked tokens can be also called stable coins that can carry rates by year up to 20% through Yearn.

Big cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase urged to cash in on the trend, listing DeFi tokens, all of this with the mission to grow up the market volumes so they could suffer a migration to the platforms intended for decentralized trades.

But just in the past week, the trend suffered a reversion, with a declination of about $9.5 billion. Also, as prices crashed down for bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, and ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, DeFi-affiliated tokens crashed abruptly harder.

Aave, a decentralized lender, saw its tokens crash down by 12% during the seven days through Tuesday, according to Messari, a cryptocurrency data firm. OMG’s OMG tokens dove 54%, while Yearn. Finance’s YFI tokens are down 29%. It’s been “an absolute bloodbath,” Messari analysts wrote Tuesday in their daily newsletter. “DeFi’s casino summer could be coming to an end.” This means that DeFi systems are defined to grow on their terms, over long periods, many of the digital tokes are too new, so the difficulty to value using traditional financial analysis increases and reaches impossible levels.

The Cayman Islands is where Panxora’s new hedge fund is based and scheduled to start trading on Nov. 2^nd. Panxora’s new hedge fund will buy tokens listed on big centralized cryptocurrency exchanges instead those from the roster of decentralized, automated exchanges like assembled by DeFi developers. 

Smith, Former Metals-Pricing Analyst for for the Singaporean commodities-trading firm Trafigura, states that that is primarily because few if any decentralized exchanges are able to guarantee sufficiently the fulfillment of anti-money-laundering rules. Also, because a token listing from an exchange theoretically implies some level of vetting.  

Smith, Former Metals-Pricing Analyst for the Singaporean commodities-trading firm Trafigura, says that’s primarily because few if any decentralized exchanges show sufficient guarantee as well as compliance with anti-money-laundering rules, is mainly because a token listing from an exchange theoretically implies some level of vetting.  

By: Jenson Nuñez.

Stablecoin issuers will have to meet capital requirements and manage their liquidity. Cryptocurrency companies must have a physical headquarters in Europe to be able to work in the territory.

The adoption of the first regulatory framework for the legalization and supervision of the cryptocurrency and financial technologies (FinTech) market by the European Union (EU) is increasingly close to happening. In recent days, this organization published the details of the new “digital financial package” for member countries, paying special attention to those companies that issue stablecoins.

The document indicates that this new regulatory framework seeks to mitigate the potential risks that users of these technologies face and provide legal certainty to companies in the sector. Likewise, the bill seeks to adapt current financial regulations to facilitate digital innovation and reduce financial fragmentation.

Based on public consultations, the European Commission determined that companies in the sector will have to comply with a series of regulations to operate throughout the territory. The plan makes special mention of stablecoins, crypto assets pegged to fiat currencies like the US dollar and the euro.

The issuance of these “stable” cryptocurrencies is in the hands of companies, which manage the fiat money reserves that support said issuances. However, in recent years, these initiatives have caused concern in the financial world, since some people believe that, due to the lack of regulation, they could be issuing unsupported assets.

The European Commission says that those companies “will be subject to stricter capital, liquidity management and interoperability requirements” than those of other cryptocurrency firms. For this reason, they must report on their governance requirements, stabilization mechanisms, investment rules, and technical information, as well as comply with the laws to avoid conflicts of interest with their users.

License to Work with Cryptocurrencies in the European Union

Projects in the cryptocurrency sector, including exchanges, wallets, or stablecoins, must request an authorization to be able to provide services in the European Union. The bill indicates that these businesses will be in charge of safeguarding the assets of their customers, will allow claims from investors, and will commit to respecting the investor’s rights.

Regardless of the nation from the conglomerate where they have applied for the license, the companies that receive it will be able to provide their services in the 27 countries that comprise the European Union. According to local sources, this measure seeks to unify the European market, integrating all its financial services.

On the other hand, the ecosystem firms that offer their services in the territory must have physical offices in the European Union, even if they are digital businesses. Likewise, they must comply with regulations against piracy, money laundering, and insider trading. The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the regulators of each nation, such as the National Crime Agency (NCA) from the UK, will ensure compliance with these regulations.

According to Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission, the plan is already ready, but its implementation could take more than one year. “The legislative process will take at least one year, probably more, depending on the priority that both the Member States and the European Parliament give it,” he said. All governments of the European Union, as well as Parliament, must approve the bill.

Since 2016, authorities in the European Union have been trying to develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and the FinTech ecosystem. This is one of the organizations most open to the adoption of cryptocurrencies, which has even provided financial support for this type of project. The new laws for the cryptocurrency market will come alongside the development of a digital currency that the European Union has planned for around a year now.

By Alexander Salazar