Several technology companies, startups, and firms linked to blockchain and cryptocurrencies support global movements such as Black Lives Matter. The idea is to incorporate an increasing number of members of the black community into the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Citizens, companies, and personalities from around the world support movements such as Black Lives Matter and other projects. At the same time, blockchain companies and cryptocurrencies are actively involved in these movements.

In this way, the blockchain risk study Draper Goren Holm, which supports and develops tools such as the decentralized exchange plug-in for websites, has joined these movements in search of racial equity.

On the occasion of the celebration of the Juneteenth or Emancipation Day that is commemorated on June 19^th in the United States, several companies, institutions, platforms, websites, and their respective main actors held a virtual event that was “a greeting to the triumph of the Black America on slavery and a call to critical action.”

Racial Equity

This group aims to promote racial equity to achieve financial equality. In this way, they seek to eliminate the zero wealth gap and create financial equality of economic inclusion.

The blockchain risk study Draper Goren Holm is creating the “Blacks on the Blockchain” initiative with OHUB. To begin with, they are allocating USD 1 million worth Bitcoin for the members of the black community to acquire their first digital currency. The idea is that they also interact with the main leaders of this industry.

Those who support this racial equity project include Opportunity Hub, Living Cities, The Plug, Impact Network, and 28 opinion leaders such as co-founder of Teachstars Brad Fled.

New Actions for the Community

Brad Fled and Rodney Sampson, from Opportunity Hub, joined forces to create Equity.District. This initiative aims to create an ecosystem that bases on racial equity designed to foster diversity, equity, and sustained inclusion in all communities.

In the same way, ISA’s management platform, Leif, is joining forces with OHUB’s Future School to launch the first vehicle for financing the Income Sharing Agreement (“ISA”), which focuses on racial equity.

This group of investors reported that they had donated USD 50 million to initiate commitments to racial equity, skills, jobs, new businesses, and working capital.

Additionally, OHUB partnered with The Impact Network to repackage and syndicate its 7-year library of exclusive chats and large-scale events, as well as classes and seminars. To do this, they have leading experts in cutting-edge technology, skills of the future, entrepreneurship, investment, and creation of wealth.

This union has the objective of reaching more than 88 million homes in the black community. In this way, The Impact is planning to be the most innovative and inspiring network both locally and abroad.

In this way, various startups, technology companies, and those linked to blockchain and cryptocurrencies also support global movements such as Black Lives Matter.

Likewise, cryptocurrencies have also helped with other global problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic, being one of the ways to receive donations for different purposes.

By Alexander Salazar

A digital currency could allow citizens to have accounts at the central bank. A study by the Philadelphia FED contradicts the position of many central banks regarding CBDCs.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve recently released a report, warning that the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) would represent a fundamental change for the financial system. They also said that it would lead central banks to perform functions typical of commercial banking.

The study “Central Bank Digital Currency: Central Banks for everyone?”  notes that the Philadelphia FED recognizes cryptocurrencies based on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks as the starting point for emerging CBDC proposals. The document also mentions Facebook’s Libra project as another motivating factor for these initiatives.

Features of CBDCs

Among the features of CBDCs, the publication highlights that they can support more flexible payment systems, avoid the risks of money creation, facilitate competition, efficiency, and innovation in payments, as well as improve the availability and usability of the funds of the central bank.

These features would enable central banks with a greater capacity to compete with commercial banks, according to the report. A country’s central bank could become “a deposit monopolist, attracting deposits from the commercial banking sector.”

The authors of that report argue that central banks are not investment experts. However, they state that these institutions could rely on banks specialized in that field.

Definition of CBDC and Its Types

This study introduces a differentiation between CBDCs and synthetic CBDCs. On the one hand, there are “account-based CBDCs that can be implemented through accounts that customers can keep directly at the central bank.” On the other hand, the authors define synthetic CBDCs as “those provided to the public through special designated accounts, in supervised commercial banks.” They say that these institutions will retain the corresponding amount of funds in segregated reserve accounts at the central bank.

One of the main fears that savers have is that of bank runs. The authors state that central banks already have the role of preventing a bank run, through contracts with banks. They also make provisions to avoid the massive withdrawal of deposits from commercial banks in panic situations. According to the study, this allows concluding that a central bank is more stable than commercial banks.

The report concludes that the monopolization of public deposits by a central bank would be eliminating “the forces that lead the central bank to supply the right amount of transformation to maturity.” The term “transformation to maturity”, widely used in the study, is a parameter that marks the evolution of a bank in terms of its financial intermediation capacity.

This study contradicts the opinions of experts and central banks, who explore CBDC opportunities and blockchain-based systems to make the financial system and interbank operations more flexible. The Central Bank of France recently announced that it wants to experiment with the integration of digital currencies. It also requested to receive proposals for applications with this type of currencies.

By Willmen Blanco

A study considers that around 20% of the total bitcoins mined are lost. A total of 3.5 million BTC are used mainly for trading on exchanges.

After analyzing the current use of mined bitcoins, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis released a report, finding that people are using most of them as long-term investments.

According to the analysis, miners had extracted around 18.8 million BTC until the beginning of June. Around 60% of those cryptocoins are in the hands of people or companies that have never sold more than 25% of their bitcoins. The behavior of the users that belong to that 60% seems to indicate that they manage their bitcoins as a long-term investment.

The users that are part of that 60% seem to see Bitcoin as “digital gold”. However, the strength of such digital gold also relies on around 3.5 million BTC mined, reportedly used for speculative trading on exchanges.

This claim bases on the fact that the bitcoins used for trading are those that supply the market and give it liquidity. The bitcoins withdrawn from circulation to become long-term investments, together with those offered for speculation on the markets, determine the existing supply on exchanges and have a direct impact on the variations in the price of the cryptocurrency.

Importance of Commercial Investments with BTC

The report notes that, given that each halving makes Bitcoin scarcer, the long-term investment group could move to the trading group in the future if the demand for Bitcoin boosts the price. For that reason, they consider that the trading group will be a key element for Bitcoin in the future. However, they say that it could only happen if the price of the cryptocurrency increases enough for long-term investors to be willing to sell.

The report goes further and determines the approximate number of people that are trading with the 3.5 million BTC. They state that tens of millions of people own Bitcoin, but around 340,000 users are active Bitcoin traders every week. Besides, the data on the chain indicates that cryptocurrency exchanges have received more than 5 million visits per week so far in 2020.

Chainalysis says that it cannot identify all individual Bitcoin traders. However, they divided the total of transactions made to exchanges into retail and professional traders, distinguishing the former from the latter for trading less than USD 10,000 per week. In this sense, they explained the influence that professional traders have in the Bitcoin market.

Even though so-called professional traders make 4% of the weekly transfers in exchanges, they handle 85% of the volume sent to the exchange platforms in US dollars. This gives them a strong influence on the movements of the market and the ability to move it to their advantage.

The study also indicates that around 20% of the addresses that own Bitcoin have not moved their wallet address cryptocurrencies for over 5 years. Chainalysis considers that the owners of these cryptocoins had lost them, due to such a long period. Not having any type of access to the private keys of the wallet is enough for losing cryptocurrencies.

By Willmen Blanco

The service is available through the LibertyX application. Those who use the platform before July 31^st will only pay part of the fees.

US residents can buy Bitcoin with cash at the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores and CVS Pharmacy stores. The enabling of the service on June 22^nd was the result of an agreement that they signed with cryptocurrency ATM Company LibertyX.

More than 8,000 7-Eleven convenience stores and 9,000 CVS Pharmacy stores throughout the country now offer Bitcoin as a common product among their options.

To buy Bitcoin with cash, users need to install on their smartphones the LibertyX application available for iOS and Android. They also have to create a free account, enter their wallet address, and click on the “buy” option. The next step that users must follow is to select one of the 20,000 authorized establishments, for which a localizer allows them to choose the closest one. After selecting the store, they have to click on “add cash now” to obtain a bar code that the cashier of the store will scan.

After paying the required amount, they must click on “convert to Bitcoin”. The transaction will be complete in the next 10 minutes, according to the official statement. Users can buy between USD 20 and USD 500 worth of Bitcoin.

Those citizens who use the service before July 31^st will only pay part of the required fees. These include the fee of the establishment (USD 4.95) and that of the network, which varies according to each user’s selection.

On its website, the company notes that all of its customers must complete the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements. For this reason, it follows that they need to enter their name, address, date of birth, photo identification and user verification so that they can use the service

Near Their Homes

US citizens have already started using the service. Besides, a Reddit user posted his purchase receipt showing that he had paid USD 104.95 worth of Bitcoin at a 7-Eleven supermarket last June 22^nd. He had disbursed USD 100 for the satoshis (minimum unit of BTC) and USD 4.95 for the fee of the establishment.

Another user estimated the transaction costs, noting that he paid about USD 9,613.20 per BTC when he made his purchase. He compared that amount to the price published on Coinbase Pro at the time, which was between USD 9,551 and USD 9,570.

He considers that the difference is not so bad since he only paid 0.5% above the spot exchange price. In addition to the USD 5 flat-rate fee of the ATM, he said that he did not find it bad at all.

In Spain and Latin America, there are similar services, which are available for its inhabitants. Since April of last year, Spaniards can buy Bitcoin with cash in more than 100,000 establishments, through the Tikebit service.

In Argentina, the firm Athena enabled the home purchase and sale service of Bitcoin with pesos (ARS) in cash. Since last May 29^th, the company has been serving requests in the areas where there are most cases of COVID-19 infections.

By Alexander Salazar

Banks could be acting following the possible reform that would put more control over the use of cryptocurrencies in Spain.

Some banking institutions in Spain are closing client accounts that are making cryptocurrency purchase and sale transactions. One of the affected clients assures that the reason why the bank eliminated his account is that he was trading using digital assets. According to some reports, the banks that have been pointed out to cancel the accounts of these clients are Bankia, BBVA, and Pibank.

In this sense, through a press release that some local media published, up to 40 users have had these problems with the aforementioned banks. Until now, they only exclude the Spanish bank Caixabank from these actions.

In the aforementioned press report, one of those affected users explained that, in November 2019, she would have started to trade through Localbitcoin, using her fiat money account. The interviewee said she was very affected by the measure since she used the exchanges in the crypto market as a profit.

In another interview, another trader explained that all these people conducted the same type of operations on the exchange platform. Furthermore, the client said that Spain does not explicitly prohibit these actions and that the Central Bank monitors them. “We register all the operations in Spain since they are not external banks.”

To date, none of the aforementioned banks has issued a statement explaining the situation, or if they prohibit the use of cryptocurrencies through their platforms. However, the merchant said that, since there is a high volume of operations, the bank contacts the client and requests documents that explain the movements. When the user shows that the transactions are the result of trading with cryptocurrencies, the bank deletes his bank accounts without any notice, according to the affected user.

Those affected only received an email notifying them of the termination of their account with the institution. Besides, some users have tried to reset their accounts. However, they have had no results. “The banks ask for the support of all operations and when they see that we trade with cryptocurrencies, they block and do not release or send any kind of documentation.”

Users Must Resort to Third Party Accounts to Conduct their Operations

Banks do not provide clear answers to clients and, according to one of those affected users, the bank’s workers only argue that they act under the terms of the contract of the institution, even though no cancellation clause mentions digital assets or the use of accounts on exchange platforms.

For these reasons, the affected user mentions that to continue conducting this type of operation, he has had to resort to the accounts of members of his family and friends.

Although not in all cases clients mention to the bank that they conduct operations with cryptocurrencies, they do speculate that the agents of the institution investigate whether or not the operations belong to Localbitcoin. The affected person remembers that this exchange platform maintains a policy of Know Your Client (KYC) so the bank monitors the user’s data.

Despite this situation, Spain is working on a reform that would impose more controls on the use of cryptocurrencies. Until the moment, there are no indications to confirm that banks are acting like these users describe. These users hope to have more opportunities to trade with cryptocurrencies in the European country whilst they hope to receive explanations regarding the cancellation of their bank accounts.

By María Rodríguez

Funds for blockchain development are only enough to finance research until 2021.

The Fund for the Technological Development of Telecommunications in Brazil (FUNTELL) has decided to start with the initiative of adopting blockchain solutions through tools based on the Internet of Things (IoT). The entity gave this announcement through a publication by the Official Journal of the Union, a few days ago.

According to the announcement, FUNTELL made a significant investment to the Research and Development Center in Telecommunications (CPqD). Until now, the disbursement of the funds corresponds to 49.6 million Brazilian Reals, (approximately, about USD 9.27 million). The entity will use these funds for the development of IoT for communication purposes, as well as the implementation of blockchain solutions to improve processes.

Through resolution number 139, the fund’s management accepted the disbursement of resources to the CPqD. According to the plans that the Official Journal of the Union announced, the entity will divide the money between different projects that will focus on blockchain technology, 5G Solution, Integrated Circuits, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Medium-Term Development Plan

The CPqD will maintain a set time frame of only two years to develop and promote blockchain technology. This is what spokespersons of the center recently reported since these resources are planned to last until 2021.

Regarding the division of resources, FUNTELL informed that of the 49.6 million Reais allocated for the entire project, the blockchain development will only have BRL 2,773,000 available, which corresponds to about USD 518,000 for the first two years. Thus, the center will use BRL 1,500,000 (USD 280,000) during this year. For 2021, the entity will only have BRL 1,273,714 (USD 238,000, approximately).

However, the Official Journal of the Union clarified that the data on the allocation of these resources may be subject to change following the laws in force. “The release of the values ​​provided in this article is conditional on the approval of the laws of the annual budget of the corresponding years, including supplementary credits, as well as the availability and financial limits.”

Although the process needs the third approval of the FUNTELL administrative board for the advance of the development of the 5G network in Brazil, everything seems to indicate that the blockchain project does not need another approval. According to what some officials explain, everything is detailed under resolution number 139, that the Official Journal of the Union published.

Brazil has been one of the countries in Latin America that have shown more interest in the adoption of the crypto industry, both with the development of blockchain technology and the use of cryptocurrencies.

A clear example of government support for these technologies was evident a few weeks ago when local media reported that the Brazilian Ministry of Science offered help to implement blockchain webinars in other Brazilian government institutions. In this way, the country will continue adopting blockchain technology and accepting cryptocurrencies as a new form of payment in different companies and institutions.

By María Rodríguez