South Korea Could Accept Digital Yuan when the Pandemic Ends

Maria Rodríguez
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South Korea Could Accept Digital Yuan when the Pandemic Ends

A study also notes that accepting the Digital Yuan as payment can be something risky.

Merchants in South Korea are receptive to accepting the Digital Yuan as a payment method when the pandemic ends and tourists from China enter the country. Different local media gave this information when conducting some surveys.

According to Yonhap, the local news agency, some merchants are considering to take into account the use of the digital currency that they have developed in China. In their opinion, the reception of Chinese tourists would be important when the pandemic ends. Therefore, it would be of great advantage if the country accepts all kinds of payments.

Although only a few tourist agencies and few merchants participated in the opinions on the use of this digital currency, merchants, in general, could be evaluating the adoption of the Chinese digital currency since it could considerably increase the flow of Chinese tourists, once the pandemic ends.

Chinese Tourism Is the Most Important for South Korea

Besides, the press report detailed that most stores in the Myeongdong district of Seoul already accept payments on digital assets through the Alipay platform. This can be an important advance for the general recognition of the Digital Yuan.

According to a report on tourism in South Korea, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused losses that could reach the sum of 2 billion dollars. This large impact on tourism may be one of the main reasons for merchants to be more receptive to other payment methods such as digital currencies.

Although accepting the Digital Yuan as payment could help increase revenues for the tourism sector, the report also warns that digital currencies can bring several drawbacks.

The most important inconvenience could be that the supervision and use of the Digital Yuan would be under the control of the Chinese government since it is a currency issued by the People’s Bank of China. This aspect could represent violations of the privacy of merchants, among other issues.

In this way, the article indicates that, by making use of this digital currency, all actions conducted would be under the control of the foreign government. “If people in other countries make widespread use of the Digital Yuan, administered centrally by the People’s Bank of China, the use is likely to be exposed to the Chinese authorities.”

The author of the press report recalled that the Digital Yuan is very different from Bitcoin (BTC). The Chinese currency is loaded under a different system than BTC and has a sense of being completely contrary to conventional cryptocurrencies.

China has not officially launched the digital currency. However, its implementation is getting closer. On April 15th, local media reported that some social networks had exposed screenshots of an alleged pilot plan on a digital wallet that would operate with this new currency. The test was being implemented in four cities in China and its results were promising.

Although there are few official pronouncements on this matter, Li Lihui, Former President of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), mentioned during an interview published last May 6th, that among the plans of the institution is, mainly, the objective of replacing physical money for this digital currency.

In this way, the adoption of digital currencies continues whilst more countries want to avoid physical contact to prevent the Covid-19 outbreak.

By María Rodríguez

Coca Cola Machines in New Zealand and Australia Will Accept Bitcoin

Maria Rodríguez
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Coca Cola Machines in New Zealand and Australia Will Accept Bitcoin

To buy Coca Cola using bitcoins, customers must scan a QR code through the Sylo Smart Wallet.

A total of 2,000 Coca Cola vending machines accept bitcoin as a payment method in Australia and New Zealand, after an alliance between the subsidiary of the beverage company and a startup company.

According to the information related to the initiative, the subsidiary company of the beverage company in Asia and the Pacific, Coca Cola Amatil, established an alliance with Centrapay, the renowned startup company that performs payment processing in cryptocurrencies. The companies hope that this new inclusion will allow customers of the brand to have greater purchase options, as well as provide greater security when receiving the product for the established price and avoid failures in the traditional payment system with physical money.

Instructions to purchase with Bitcoin accompanied the announcement of this new payment method. Centrapay explained that users must have the Sylo Smart Wallet app installed on their smartphone. This application is a digital wallet that scans a QR code that the vending machine issues. The code identifies the product that the user expects to purchase and processes the instant payment. Until now, Centrapay allows the payment of these products in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.

Regarding marketing activity, Centrapay commented that this type of initiative helps companies to be closer to customers, opening a range of options that facilitate the purchase of their products. Additionally, increasing payment options would help increase revenue, according to what the startup detailed. Currently, Centrapay not only manages the crypto payments activity to Coca Cola, but also manages a portfolio of clients ranging from Jack Daniel’s, KFC, and Adidas.

On the adoption of this technology in the purchase of products, Jerome Faury, CEO of Centrapay said that, after many efforts, the company solved two of the most common problems in digital asset payment systems: the user experience and the integration of technology into the economic structure.

Similarly, the executive mentioned that the development of this technology would not only boost the businesses of the companies affiliated with the platform but would also help small partners and retailers of these companies.

“We are working to create a future in which people control their data and digital identity. Brands can connect directly and ethically with people, empowering them to make the right purchasing decision, while supporting their retail partners and other distribution partners,” he commented.

In another sense, Faury referred to the future of the payment platform and commented that he hopes to expand this business worldwide. “We have established a presence in North America and will target the US market soon with some first-class innovations,” he said.

Centrapay’s platform can include a wide range of options for commercial payments. Its ecosystem enables reliable digital asset transactions and supports rewards services in digital currencies and crypto-wallets. The inclusion of digital assets in product payment services drives adoption in the use of cryptocurrencies and other digital operations.

By María Rodríguez

Construction Company in Japan Will Use Blockchain ​​For Rental Contracts

Maria Rodríguez
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Construction Company in Japan Will Use Blockchain ​​For Rental Contracts

The blockchain-based contracting system could be ready in mid-2021. Other companies around the world are studying to use blockchain technology.

One of the major construction companies in Japan is planning to use a blockchain system that will allow simplifying leases in the future. According to an announcement that the Sekisui House company published on its website, the new blockchain-based contract system will include full coverage of the rental of the property, as well as the payment of services such as electricity, domestic gas, and water.

According to the announcement published on June 8th, the company expects to introduce this new contracting method by mid-2021. Likewise, Sekisui House is studying the possibility of expanding the range of contract benefits.

The information regarding the project that Sekisui House hopes to implement, details that people who want to acquire a rental contract for any of the “Shamaison” properties will have to indicate their telephone numbers and the address of the property they want to acquire.

In this way, the client will be able to enter the house without needing a real estate agent of the company. Sekisui House has implemented this technology in the properties that it supplies.

The Future of Intelligent Leases

Sekisui House is not the only company hoping to use the benefits of blockchain technology to improve property contracting methods. In other countries, some companies also plan to introduce the technology to register rental contracts in a blockchain network that ensures the protection of private customer data. The system will only share the information with the company and the user.

Malta is one of the countries that seek to use blockchain technology in rental contracts. According to local media, regulatory bodies requested that lease contracts be registered on a blockchain network to keep certain private data safe, prevent tampering, and adjust access permissions to the property.

Another company would be in plans to introduce blockchain technology to the real estate sector. This is Sumitomo Corporation achieved an alliance with the Japanese blockchain technology company BitFlyer in July 2019. At that time, it would have announced a project that would allow the introduction of an internal and private blockchain system to boost the real estate sector through smart contracts.

In the particular case of Sekisui House, the smart initiative emerged in mid-2017 when the company began to develop a blockchain system that would serve to manage real estate information.

To make real this development, Sekisui House requested the collaboration of companies such as Hitachi and KDDI to conduct the project. Currently, the company is part of a major consortium that is responsible for sharing information of all kinds to promote the development of companies in Japan. Blockchain technology is part of the topics and data shared.

Technology is part of the life of Japanese citizens, as well as innovation in administration and management methods. This is one of the main premises that the real estate company hopes to fulfill in the future, thanks to new technologies like blockchain.

By María Rodríguez

Development of Privacy in Bitcoin Will Receive funding from the Human Rights Foundation

Alexander Salazar
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Development of Privacy in Bitcoin Will Receive funding from the Human Rights Foundation

Chris Belcher received a grant of USD 50,000 for the CoinSwap protocol. The HRF will finance projects that work on the development of privacy in Bitcoin.

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a New York-based non-profit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally. It has recently launched a fund to support Bitcoin developers that make the Bitcoin network more private, decentralized, and resilient. London-based Bitcoin developer Chris Belcher received the first grant, worth close to USD 50,000; therefore, that he would implement its CoinSwap protocol.

Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at HRF, said that the Bitcoin network is improving. However, he noted that it is still far from being as usable and private as it needs to be, especially with authoritarianism and state oversight on the rise in many countries. He stated that, with increased support, developers like Chris can help activists to receive donations and continue to do their important work under increasing pressure.

A Grant to Make Bitcoin More Private

The Venezuelan film producer and human rights defender Thor Halvorssen Mendoza founded The Human Rights Foundation in 2005. Its current chairperson, Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, has been a great pioneer in Bitcoin and its privacy features for a long time.

A private individual, who decided not to reveal his identity, recently contacted the Human Rights Foundation to donate USD 100,000 to the Bitcoin development that the Human Rights Foundation and Gladstein are conducting. The aforementioned donor gave the money away with no strings attached, trusting that the foundation would find a good use for it.

In turn, the Human Rights Foundation wanted to reward two Bitcoin projects in line with the organization’s objectives. To choose the recipients, the Human Rights Foundation conducted an informal vote among Bitcoin privacy experts to find two projects that promote Bitcoin’s privacy, decentralization, and resilience.

Reasons to Choose CoinSwap

Gladstein said that the experts unanimously proposed that Belcher receive the grant for his recent CoinSwap protocol. This is a privacy technique initially proposed in 2013 by former Bitcoin Core developer and Blockstream co-founder Gregory Maxwell.

Belcher, one of the most prominent experts on Bitcoin privacy, recently posted a detailed outline of the correct use of the CoinSwap technique. The developer, who was the author of an extensive Bitcoin privacy guide and led the development of JoinMarket and the Electrum Personal Server, addressed a range of potential privacy leaks and conceived of a JoinMarket-like liquidity market that mixes currencies.

Functional implementation of CoinSwap would mean another great step forward in Bitcoin’s privacy. There are already tools like CoinJoin, which offer privacy, but they often reveal that they were used. On the other hand, CoinSwap transactions could be done, indistinguishable from regular transactions.

This is something that benefits not only CoinSwap users but also everyone else. Blockchain analysts will not be able to safely assume that regular transactions are actual regular transactions since these could also have been CoinSwap transactions.

The Human Rights Foundation will continue to raise support for ongoing Bitcoin developments through crowdfounding campaigns. They will use any donation to projects that help improve the Bitcoin network. The fund will aim to continuously support projects that are worth it.

By Alexander Salazar

Several Countries Use Bitcoin to Fight Inflation and Devaluation

Alexander Salazar
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Several Countries Use Bitcoin to Fight Inflation and Devaluation

The use of Bitcoin is growing as a tool to fight the typical inflation of fiat money.

Everyone has witnessed Bitcoin’s price struggle since the beginning of the year. It dropped from USD 9,000 to USD 4,000 when the World’s Health Organization decreed the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. A few days later, the price of the main cryptocurrency began its rebound to settle in the fight to reach USD 10,000.

All this is well known, given that it appears in many news headlines in the world. However, there is little information about the use of Bitcoin as a tool to fight the typical inflation caused by fiat money and the different regulations that prevent the vast majority of the world’s population from becoming part of the international financial system.

Many people in different countries in economic difficulties around the world, such as Venezuela, Turkey, Iran, Hong Kong, and Argentina, among others, use Bitcoin.

Inflation and Devaluation vs. Bitcoin

Argentine inflation continues its upward trend, and it is already estimated that it will close at 40% annually in 2020, according to figures from the Central Bank itself. This means that, by the end of the year, each Argentine Peso in citizens’ pockets or their bank accounts will be worth almost half its current value. In other words, all Argentines will be 40% poorer.

To make things even worse, the regulations of the current government have made the US dollar a scarce good in Argentina for all people who seek to safeguard the value of their work and their savings. People can only have access to USD 200 per month.

This has led the black market, better known as the “blue dollar”, to emerge again. This market is already close to 125 pesos per US dollar and is increasing faster than those affected by the coronavirus in the country.

These two great enemies, common regarding fiat money due to their centralized nature, and the uncontrolled issuance of fiat money, are currently undermining the economic freedom of Argentines.

This is precisely where Bitcoin comes into play since Argentines are increasingly turning towards the world of cryptocurrencies.

Reasons to Choose Bitcoin

Among all cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has been the favorite of the inhabitants of Patagonia. The reason for this is that it allows them to take refuge from the negative impacts of inflation, the exchange rate, and regulations on access to foreign currencies and the international market.

Bitcoin is scarce and has a limited supply of only 21 million BTC, with an inflation of only 2% per year, which decreases over time. The rate at which the world’s first cryptocurrency is created is reduced by half (halving) every 4 years. In contrast, the Argentine peso (ARS) has an inflation rate of 40%, which is increasing.

On the other hand, BTC is completely decentralized and can therefore not be censored. This is why it is one of the best ways for Argentines to escape the ever-increasing regulations and censorship by the governments in power.

As time passes, conditions deteriorate in Argentina. Bitcoin becomes the light at the end of the tunnel for all those who enjoy the freedom that cryptocurrencies can provide.

By Alexander Salazar

Largest Issuance of Money in 30 Years Raises Alert in Argentina

Alexander Salazar
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Largest Issuance of Money in 30 Years Raises Alert in Argentina

One out of every two pesos spent by the Argentine Government comes from the newly created money supply. Experts warn of a 51% increase in inflation for the next 12 months.

The unprecedented health and economic crisis, created by the COVID-19 pandemic, has forced the Argentine government to resort to the most important issuance of money in the last 30 years. The measure adds weight to discussions on how far fiscal resources can be stretched, without deepening the inflationary crisis that the country has been facing for years.

Since the beginning of the year, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) has issued more than 1 trillion pesos (ARS) to finance the public sector. This represents an all-time nominal record, according to an Infobae publication. The figure may not mean much to a country used to breaking nominal records, considering that Argentina has undergone annual inflation of more than 50 percentage points (p.p.) for over 10 years.

However, the monetary expansion is fueling the debate on its effects on the economy, especially when experts believe that the trend will continue. Besides, the government will continue to relax control over its portfolio, creating more debt and a greater inflationary crisis in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic announced by the World Health Organization last March had an impact on public finances, creating the need to increase social spending and health spending to sustain a large portion of the population with no income of their own, according to a report by the Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (IARAF).

The same report adds that the BCRA distributed a total of ARS 740,000 million as profits and a total of ARS 312,000 million as transitory advances. These two components constitute direct assistance from the Central Bank to the Treasury and represent an unbacked issuance of money. The ARS 1,052,000 million of direct assistance from the BCRA implies an issuance of 3.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) estimated for 2020, thus becoming the highest figure in the last 3 decades.

Issuance to Support Public Accounts

A report by the Argentine Institute for Social Development (IDESA) notes that one out of every two pesos spent by the Argentine Government comes from the newly created money supply. Besides, it observes that, in the first quarter of 2020, 74% of the financing came from taxes, while 26% was generated by the issuance of money that the BCRA sends to the Treasury. It adds that last April, 51% came from taxes and 53% from the issuance of money, proving that the latter became the main support of the nation’s public accounts.

The report adds that the uncontrolled issuance of money generates the false feeling that isolation does not demand sacrifices. Meanwhile, in the private sector, there are business closings, wage cuts, and job losses. In the public sector, inertia and the lack of vocation to introduce structural reforms prevail. This will make it difficult to get out of confinement, to such an extent that the post-pandemic world may become worse than the pandemic itself.

The BCRA published another Market Expectations Survey (MER) report of results, based on the analysis by economists and respondents to warn of impending 51% inflation for the next 12 months. The analysts predict that the level of inflation for the next 12 months will be 51.0% (+2.0 p.p. compared to last month).

The REM analysts also forecast a sharp contraction of the real GDP for 2020 by 9.5% (a drop by 2.5 p.p. compared to the previous month). The top-10 of the best predictors of economic growth suggests that the reduction in GDP in 2020 would be 9.4% on average (-2.3 p.p. compared to the previous survey), as the document adds.

Economist Javier Milei has also alerted to Argentina’s excessive issuance of money in recent months. The expert expresses concern about the consequences that people will suffer, which may fall prey to inflation, as occurs in Venezuela.

The economist explains that cryptocurrencies are increasingly visible to Argentines. Last May, the trading volume of Bitcoin (BTC) on LocalBitcoins increased sharply in the country. The figure of USD 571,942, recorded in the week from May 4th to 10th, represents the all-time high for the trading volume on the P2P exchange platform.

By Alexander Salazar

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