Once again Anthony Pompliano has raised controversy on Twitter. He claims that Wall Street hates Bitcoin.

Since the creation of Bitcoin, there has always been controversy over it. Even when its popularity has increased, the debate has grown between those who advocate this cryptocurrency and those who consider it a fraud.

According to Anthony Pompliano, co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital and advocate for the implementation of Bitcoin, there is a hate relationship between Wall Street and the cryptocurrency. Pompliano recently wrote on his Twitter that “Wall Street hates Bitcoin because they love the Federal Reserve”.

Besides, he argued that the reason for this is that on Wall Street “they cannot believe that an algorithm can conduct better monetary policy than a group of old white guys in suits and ties.”

There was a wave of funny responses by those of those people who only paid attention to the “old white guys” part. For instance, a user named @ Ouija1000 criticized Pompliano’s emphasis on the fact that they are white men.

This is understandable, considering the marked situation of tension that the USA has been experiencing since the murder of George Floyd, and the subsequent wave of racially motivated protests in the country.

What Led to this Hate towards BTC

Everyone knows that the main problem for Wall Street traders regarding Bitcoin is its volatility. Many people believe that it has more to do with an issue of avoiding the challenge to the status quo that is beneficial to them. However, that would mean getting into a fairly lengthy debate.

Of course, this does not mean that Bitcoin is not gaining recognition within the financial and institutional world. For instance, the introduction of derivatives has allowed many institutions to become involved with BTC in a way or another.

In the case of derivative products for other asset classes, these allow Bitcoin holders to set their prices. With this, these investors would be transferring the risk of market fluctuation to other parties.

Conclusion

What Pompliano said in his Twitter account is not entirely false, since a majority on Wall Street considers Bitcoin to be detestable. Warren Buffett has expressed this same opinion on previous occasions.

However, Bitcoin has come a long way to become increasingly recognized by different institutional actors.

It is important to pay attention to the opinions of the more traditional and conservative investors or institutions. After all, being open to different perspectives is critical to building the right cryptocurrency industry that allows for its large-scale implementation.

The truth is that Bitcoin came to challenge paradigms, which not everyone likes. Furthermore, analysts have described this cryptocurrency as being a volatile asset. For this reason, it will naturally not be suitable for those who have a short investment horizon and are extremely risk averse.

Therefore, it should not be surprising that traditional asset institutions have yet to adopt the use of Bitcoin massively. However, the latent challenge for the cryptocurrency community is to create, convince with facts, and make the impossible possible.

By Alexander Salazar

The clinic estimates that the use of the blockchain platform would reduce billing time by 90% and errors in purchase orders for medical supplies by 60%.

Las Américas Aúna Clinic, located in the city of Medellín, in Colombia, recently reported the start of the project that seeks to implement blockchain technology to improve traceability in medical supplies.

According to the announcement, the clinic will install a version of the blockchain network supported by Hyperledger Fabric, which will help provide traceability support on surgical supplies for key sectors in the clinic.

Citizens recognize this clinic for being an oncology specialty center. Now, this clinic will use blockchain technology, mainly, for the management and control of supplies for the emergency room. Representatives of the clinic also hope to apply the tool for monitoring clinical devices and medical machinery.

A consortium of Peruvian companies specialized in the health sector acquired the clinic since 2018. The current administration is looking for new tools that help facilitate processes. The introduction of IBM’s private blockchain network could better activate the input supply chain.

According to estimates from the clinic’s administrative board, the blockchain system could reduce billing time by 90%, and would eliminate almost 60% of errors, which are commonly made when making a purchase order.

Gabriel Cendales, Manager of the clinic, commented that by installing the blockchain system, the data will have greater visibility among the registries; thus, helping to avoid errors in the different stages of the supply chain.

The installation of a blockchain network in the health sector could bring many benefits for hospital administration and management. This is what the IBM website points out, which deals with issues related to its blockchain platform.

Among the most notable features of the website is that the use of the network can reduce costs in sales processes. Besides, it can maintain a medical record electronically, stored for much longer than in the traditional way.

Also, this clinic can establish a joint and network with other medical institutions to exchange records, and even establish sanitary measures supported by standards that the parties involved agree.

Challenges in the Blockchain Network for Supply Chains

Currently, many traditional companies have made an important turn towards the use of innovative technologies such as blockchain to improve communication, and management and administration processes. This action has led to significant benefits.

Some of those benefits are cost reduction, efficiency in registration, or process times that require authorization. Besides, blockchain technology improves security and risk reduction in counterfeits, and even in the improvement of each stage that corresponds to the supply chain.

Although the use of the network can suppose a set of solutions, it is also feasible that it could represent a significant risk if the company did not use it properly. As happens in traditional systems, the blockchain system can be vulnerable to mismanagement and use misapplied controls for the type of business the company tries to implement.

It is for this reason that, to apply this system in any industry, it must have the proper assistance and guidance. Because of this, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in the United States of America, published a document a few years ago, detailing the characteristics of blockchain technology, as well as a guide to apply this technology in different companies.

By María Rodríguez

The new PayID system is open source and is now available to everyone. PayID allows users to receive payments from cryptocurrency wallets, banks, and other platforms.

Ripple announced the launch of the new PayID system, which allows users to receive payments from different platforms using domain names in the style of e-mails.

This new system is already available and it is open source, so any person or company can adapt and build on it. Ripple is already integrating PayID to its RippleNet service to increase the interoperability of international transactions.

The Open Payments Coalition, which has more than 40 global partners, including companies and non-profit organizations, launched the system. Payment processor Bitpay, Mexican exchange Bitso, and wallet providers Bitgo and Blockchain.com are among the members that made the initiative possible.

Regarding the details of the system, the official blog of Ripple explains that the intention of launching PayID was to provide users with the equivalent of payments for an e-mail address. The idea behind this initiative was that the user would have a distinctive identification that could work for any payment service provider.

In this sense, Ethen Beard, Ripple executive, explained that PayID has a design similar to the Internet’s domain name system (DNS). He also said that common sense points to being in favor of a universal payment identification system. He added that the technology of e-mails and text messages (SMS) does not restrict the user to a single company, so payments should not be different.

According to Beard, PayID allows organic growth where no company can control or establish the terms to join. This solution is people-based, which replaces complex account numbers with simple names that are easy to understand, remember, and even write. PayID works on any payment network or currency, be it fiat or digital.

Domain Names rather than Wallet Addresses

Ripple is offering a new system that bears similarity to others driven in the cryptocurrency community and might be a solution to the stated complexity of these means of payment. J.P. Thieriot, Uphold CEO, considers that the space of federated names that PayID is creating is potentially a huge step forward for the future of payments.

Cryptocurrency domain services allow users to put a public name on a wallet address. In this way, when a user wishes to receive a certain cryptocurrency, he must only give the registered name instead of one of the commonly used alphanumeric addresses. This simplifies the process, making it more comfortable and faster.

Among the first to offer a service to register domain names for wallet addresses was Namecoin. Its service allows naming .bit addresses, such as “name.bit”. Ethereum Name Service (ENS) permanently offers .eth domains, while RSK Labs allows the registration of .rsk domains on a Bitcoin sidechain through the so-called RSK Name Service (RNS).

The new PayID service that Ripple powers could go where the previous ones have not gone. This would drive the adoption of payments with cryptocurrencies.

By Alexander Salazar

The course is aimed at people with no prior knowledge of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

A few days ago, the well-known Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, which is based in Colombia, reported a new online course that will cover topics on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The course will be free and available on June 18^th. It will last approximately 5 weeks; a total of 40 academic hours.

As the university indicated in a statement, the academic preparation will serve to delve into current technological issues that revolve around the crypto industry, such as blockchain and Bitcoin. This project serves as a guide for incoming students on the basic foundations and operation of technology.

According to the course description, its name will be “Fundamentals of Blockchain Technology”, and will seek to introduce the students to the origin of Bitcoin, as well as its support in block technology. Besides, the course will feature important analyzes of the importance of this technology to traditional financial fundamentals and their evolution, business opportunities, and their impact on other industries globally.

It is not the first time that the university has invested efforts in developing free courses on new technologies. Currently, the university seeks to provide high-quality educational strategies to contribute to the development of Colombia.

Regarding the demand for these courses, the Director of Continuing Education of the University, César Tulio Ossa, highlighted that, according to the data of the institution, that the demand has increased by up to 35% during the beginning of the quarantine that the Covid – 19 generated. In response to this, the offer has grown to the same level. “So it is happening, people are looking for the virtual topic and that encourages us to continue the offer of courses, both virtual and online,” Ossa said.

According to the university, the course on crypto technologies stands out among the educational offerings that are available for free on the web. Therefore, they hope to be able to actively contribute to high-level studies regardless of the modality.

Besides, the university representative explained that the course is free to participate, but if a student wants to have access to a certification validated by the institution, he/she can choose to pay the sum of USD 49. In this way, the student can obtain a degree that would certify his/her participation in the course. All the process is possible thanks to a blockchain platform.

The Use of Blockchain Technology in Colombian Universities

Currently, up to 10 universities in Colombia use blockchain technology to issue degrees and completion certificates. The graduate can share this digital diploma through email or on social networks to opt for employment opportunities on sites dedicated to this matter, such as Linkedln.

Besides, to provide this advantage to the student, the project would also serve for the university to have better control of its graduates, as well as to have a characteristic digital seal that provides security and ease for the administrative management of the house of studies.

By María Rodríguez

Scams appeal to basic human desires and needs. Scam victims often show a lack of emotional control.

The subject of scams usually leads to analyze the victim/victimizer binary and to always focus reflections and judgments on the latter actor. The literature describes in detail the perpetrators, their psychological profiles, and the origin of their behavior.

However, all relational models – including abusive ones – are systems that require certain behaviors or ways of responding to be active to function. In this sense, studies are still indebted to the analysis of why someone becomes a victim, even in contexts where danger signs flashing everywhere.

Given that the cryptocurrency ecosystem is naturally attractive for the proliferation of tokenized Bernies Madoff, it is particularly interesting to review the study that the now-defunct Office of Fair Trading (OFT) commissioned the School of Psychology of the University of Exeter, in 2009. The Study consisted of conducting in-depth interviews with scam victims and close people who closely experienced the process since they were relatives or friends of the scammers’ victims.

In this study, they not only indicate the scam strategies used but also how these connect with certain personality traits or emotional states that many of the victims of scams tend to share. In this sense, they are usually very far from the stereotype of an illiterate, ignorant, or poor person.

Hunting Strategies and Falling into the Trap

All scams are based on so-called “visceral triggers” since they appeal to basic human desires and needs, greed and fear are the most relevant. Once the scammers make the connection by promising enormous benefits, the victims usually disconnect from their rational cognitive processes temporarily.

On the other hand, among the most prominent strategies is that of creating the feeling of scarcity, that is, of convincing the victims that the offer is an “exclusive” one, an initiative for a few people. Since it is also a select group, they must act quickly if they do not want to lose the opportunity, given the large number of people waiting to be chosen.

The criminals also induce a behavioral commitment, asking the victims to fulfill small tasks or stages, associated with the delivery of small sums of money or the recruitment of new victims. This also relates to the fact that the prize payment at the end of the process is such (becoming a millionaire in the short term and without additional efforts) that all these tasks and payments seem only a minor energy expenditure.

Another very interesting behavior – which can constitute an alert – is that the victims of scams usually do not talk about the big business that they are about to close, either with friends or with relatives. Somehow, they know that they are acting unwisely, fearing that another person that they consider rational will confirm that intuition.

According to one of the conclusions, scam victims usually do not make an effort to investigate the content of the offer. Some of them study the offer, but the size of the prize is the most relevant factor. However, many of them said that they perceived that something was wrong about the whole thing. At this point, they decide to try it anyway, proving once again that emotional responses rule over rational responses.

By Willmen Blanco

Binance criticized the Bitcoin SV (BSV) project a year ago. They now comprise most of that network’s hash rate.

A few weeks after the launch of the Binance Pool, they are already the largest mining group working on the Bitcoin SV (BSV) network. This is striking as they had been among the main critics of this BTC fork until very recently.

Bitcoin Association President’s Comments on BSV

Jimmy Nguyen, President of the entity behind Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, stated that this situation was “a little too ironic”. Binance is now the largest validator on the BSV network, after having excluded it from the list of the exchange.

The data speak for themselves, and Nguyen considers that actions are stronger than words.

In April 2019, Binance removed Bitcoin SV from the list of cryptocurrencies available for trading within the exchange. They explained that it did not meet certain standards.

For the president of the Bitcoin Association, the project meets the standards, when Binance chooses it to be so.

The data showing that Binance Pool comprises the bulk of BSV’s network computational power emerged a few days ago.

The 7-day moving average still indicates that this mining group represents less than 20% of the total hash rate.

Reason behind Bitcoin SV’s Exclusion

Just over a year ago, Binance excluded Bitcoin SV from its listing, simultaneously with Kraken and ShapeShift. They did it in protest against the behavior of Craig Wright, one of the main proponents of the cryptocurrency.

On repeated occasions, this character has been the cause of great controversy in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. He proclaims himself to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but with no strong evidence, which some members of the community have refuted.

Wright recently threatened to sue those people who called him a fraud. Despite this, it seems that they did not take it very seriously once again.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, was one of the first to write on Twitter, which Craig did not like. He said:

“Anyone who supports BSV, from a technological perspective, should be attacking the fraudulent Craig Wright, who is poisoning your community.”

Debate between Both Sides

CoinGeek creator Calvin Ayre, a billionaire sponsor of Bitcoin SV, noted that Binance’s move to become the fork’s biggest miner is an attempt to put pressure on the price, and even protect the Binance Coin token.

The points of view confront each other, with quite distant extremes. However, no one wants to be a mediator, since they do not have much in common, except for the defense of a currency with good technological developments.

Despite the bad news around Bitcoin’s second-largest fork, it has earned its place in the top 10 and continues to defend it after nearly a year and a half of life. Its long-term future is unclear, but it still has room to move forward.

Anything can happen in the world of cryptocurrencies. The fact that Binance is now supporting Bitcoin SV, after having criticized it, can only mean that this crypto asset has great potential for investors.

By Alexander Salazar