Analysis of What Has Been Happening with Bitcoin

Willmen Blanco
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Analysis of What Has Been Happening with Bitcoin

It is believed that a correction could come after Bitcoin’s fall below USD 7,000. According to David Puell, the bearish correction has been proportional to the rise from USD 3,000.

It was reported that Bitcoin’s price fell 10% on November 22nd, within 24 hours. Between November 21st and 22nd, the valuation of the main cryptocurrency in the market went from around USD 8,000 to less than USD 7,200. By November 25th, its value had already fallen to the level of USD 6,600, but it managed to recover between Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th to exceed USD 7,600, according to data from Messari.

The most recent fall could be due to the Chinese authorities’ announcements to intensify the controls toward cryptocurrencies, which could have impacted investors’ attitudes. However, cryptocurrency market analysts do not believe that it is the only reason.

David Puell, Head of research at Adaptive Fund, explained that the decline of the high of this year (around USD 14,000 per BTC) has been a correction proportional to the increase from USD 3,000, the level at which the price was in early 2019.

The Adaptive Fund analyst considered some factors that may have influenced the current downtrend. For example, “the pressure on-sale” of the PlusToken Ponzi scheme, discovered in China. It should be noted that addresses associated with the scam have been liquidating thousands of Bitcoin, in addition to funds in Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies.

Regarding what might have affected market behavior, positive news abounds in the ecosystem. However, it is said that, contrary to what might be assumed, what motivated such behavior was good news that did not necessarily refer to the price.

An example of that good news was the expected launch of Bitcoin futures in Bakkt. The initial activity of this derivative product was lower than expected, but the constant increase and the consecutive overcoming of its all-time trading highs have not boosted Bitcoin’s price.

Likewise, it is recognized that given the high trading volumes of the Chinese markets, any news that comes from that country can have an important influence on Bitcoin’s price.

Not all Bitcoin holders are patient to stand firm against a downtrend. Delving into the possibilities of abrupt movements in any direction, it has been said that any bad or good news can directly affect the price if people act accordingly.

Expectations in the Short Term

A correction is expected after the fall that brought Bitcoin’s price below USD 7,000. The negative news does not seem to have enough weight on the ecosystem to make the fall permanent. Rather, it is noted that many personalities have positive opinions about Bitcoin.

The emphasis is that this correction may be momentary since it does not imply a change in itself. The downward trend in Bitcoin’s price has continued since it approached USD 14,000.

Puell believes that a floor, at least locally, is about to be established. Despite this, this floor could still have “a lot of volatility,” according to the analyst.

He also assures that its long-term permanence will have to be confirmed by higher prices collated by market opinion, especially those of long and short positions of perpetual contracts in BitMEX and other derivative platforms.

By Willmen Blanco

Simon Malls Already Has BTC ATMs Thanks to Its Partnership with Bitstop

Willmen Blanco
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Simon Malls Already Has BTC ATMs Thanks to Its Partnership with Bitstop

It was reported that the Bitcoin ATM company Bitstop and the supermarket operator Simon Malls have partnered to expand the presence of this type of ATM. It was also said that since the association was made, five ATMs have been installed at Simon Malls locations in California, Florida, and Georgia.

Bitstop, Bitcoin (BTC) ATM company located in the city of Miami, the United States of America, announced the signing of its partnership with Simon Malls, which is the largest operator of shopping centers in the United States, to expand the presence of these ATMs.

The firm said on Thursday, November 26th, that Bitcoin ATMs have already been installed in at least five Simon Malls locations in the states of California, Florida, and Georgia. The company noted that Carlsbad Premium Outlets in Carlsbad, California; Miami International Mall, Sawgrass Mills and Las Avenidas in Miami, Florida; and Mall of Georgia in Buford, Georgia, already have Bitcoin ATMs.

In this regard, Andrew Barnard, co-founder and CEO of Bitstop, said that the electronic devices were installed before the start of the holiday season. The executive explained that with the strategic moment of this new installation of Bitcoin ATMs in the aforementioned Simon Mall locations, customers can buy Bitcoin conveniently as they make purchases for Black Friday and Christmas holidays.

The firm stated that it has a license, besides being regulated, so it plans to increase its ATM network by more than 500 locations by the end of 2020. Barnard said that this is another series of key locations after the recent installation of Bitstop Bitcoin ATMs at Miami International Airport last October. He expressed that they seek to ensure that their customers always have convenient access to their Bitcoin ATMs. He also indicated that there are now more than 130 convenient Bitstop Bitcoin ATMs throughout the country, whose number grows every month as it intends to expand its Bitstop network to include more than 500 locations by the end of the year.

Increase in Global Network of Bitcoin ATMs

As reported at the beginning of November, the number of existing and installed Bitcoin ATMs around the world has shown steady growth.

According to data from the CoinATMRadar portal, there are currently 6,004 devices installed on a global scale, of which about 65% are located within the United States.

It should be noted that by the end of November, 108 ATMs had been deployed and these data also show that the average daily number of devices installed is 11, which is the fastest pace reached this year.

However, the authorities do not trust these services completely. The Chief of Criminal Investigation of the United States Internal Revenue Service, John Fort, said that the regulator is investigating possible tax problems caused by Bitcoin ATMs and kiosks.

In addition to clear and possible tax problems, Fort said that the operators of encryption kiosks should be obliged to follow the same “Know your customer” (KYC) and “Anti-money laundering” (AML) rules, as do other companies related to digital assets.

By Willmen Blanco

South African Reserve Bank Will Reportedly Issue New Rules Regarding the Use of Crypto

Andres Chavez
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South African Reserve Bank Will Reportedly Issue New Rules Regarding the Use of Crypto

According to reports coming from South Africa, the country’s reserve bank is aiming to introduce a new set of rules regarding the use of cryptocurrencies. The intention is, per the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) deputy governor Kuben Naidoo, to successfully implement the regulations starting next year, in the first quarter.

The primary goal of the new regulations is to prevent them from being used for malicious purposes, such as currency controls evasion. The fact that the rules are set to be implemented next year will put an end to consultations that started back in 2014.

The information has not been confirmed by an official channel as of the moment of writing this article. But that has not stopped banks and other financial institutions from banning digital currency firms. For example, FNB decided to close every business banking account from firms that deal with crypto.

A “Prudent Course of Action”

“FNB considers this to be a prudent course of action following a comprehensive review of the potential risks currently associated with these entities, particularly given that appropriate regulatory frameworks are not yet in place,” the bank said in a statement.

AltCoinTrader, which happens to be one of the most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges in the African nation, did not hide its disappointment following FNB’s determination; it has been working alongside the financial institution for four years now.

“We are disappointed that a financial institution would succumb to international pressure like this, with banking services being denied to individuals and industry players around the globe,” were the words of AltCoinTrader chief executive Richard de Sousa said.

The South African Reserve Bank refers to currency control as a means to restrict the amount of local currency that is sent outside the nation. The country is known for the limitations of money that its citizens can transfer to other locations.

They can send up to R1 million without declaring it. If they apply through the South African Revenue Service, they can send a maximum of R10 million to other nations with foreign investment in mind.

The R11 million limit may be enough for most South Africans, but high-net-worth people looking to fend off the rand’s devaluation are going to have to get creative while looking for ways to send their assets across the border.

Crypto, the Easiest and Best Protection

The easiest way to achieve that is with cryptocurrencies, and the most popular as well. Most digital assets are of borderless nature. That is why this particular report has been so controversial in South Africa, especially in the crypto and blockchain communities. The Sarb’s intention to establish the new rules can greatly affect local investors.

SA Crypto, arguably the country’s most prominent blockchain community, issued a statement in which it prompted the Sarb to take a more progressive approach when dealing with digital assets. It stated that such a conservative stance could hinder innovation and scare off investors.

“The implications of the Sarb clamping down on cryptocurrency use for the purpose of stricter capital controls are far-reaching and alarming. With a market cap of $210 billion (R3.07 trillion) in the cryptocurrency market alone, the industry is driving significant economic growth in countries adopting such progressive regulation, due to the investment many blockchain and crypto-asset companies are attracting worldwide,” it said.

By Andres Chavez

Blockchain Development for Financing Mexican Farmers Receives USD 600,000 from the IDB

Willmen Blanco
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Blockchain Development for Financing Mexican Farmers Receives USD 600,000 from the IDB

The blockchain project is conducted in three communities in the Chiapas region, in southern Mexico. The financial inclusion of about 45,000 Mexican farmers is expected.

It was reported that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved, through its BID Lab innovation arm, the contribution of USD 600,000 for a blockchain technology project executed by FinTech EthicHub to facilitate financing to small Mexican farmers.

In order to boost the momentum of a technological platform managed by the aforementioned company, the multinational body consented to this financing to give financial resources to the unbanked farmers of that Latin American country.

It should be noted that the startup project is conducted in three communities in Chiapas, a region in the south of the country, where 77% of the rural population lives in poverty. Through this plan, which is based on the development of a blockchain platform, the IDB will give agile productive credits and, under conditions conforming to production cycles, at lower interest rates.

Purpose of the Project

It was said that the project with the blockchain foresees the financial inclusion of 45,000 small farmers of coffee, cocoa, and other crops to increase the productivity of their land and optimize the conditions of sale of their crops, as published in the official site of IDB Lab.

Until now, the communities of Chiapas receive their income based on agricultural, livestock and forestry production activities, but on a small scale and with high family involvement. However, IDB Lab notes that a large number of these small farmers have low productivity because they are not included in the banking financial system and because they do not have easy access to the markets of their products under favorable conditions, which makes it difficult for them to generate income, save and accumulate productive assets.

For this reason, the business model formulated by EthicHub plans to establish new mechanisms for direct marketing of products (contract farming) so that farmers can receive higher prices for their sale. The pilot plan is also expected to strengthen the digital identity of these producers with their credit history so that they can have easier access to the financial system.

IDB’s Opinion

The IDB, which invests a significant amount of resources for the development of Latin America and the Caribbean, has been optimistic about the application of blockchain technology to financing and land registries.

The international organization, together with the blockchain startup ChromaWay and the Bolivian IT services company Jalasoft, are also conducting other projects with blockchains only for land registries.

In that regard, the IDB hopes that ChromaWay’s sophisticated database can help ease the burden of efforts to restore property titles in Latin American countries, which can cost between USD 50 million and USD 100 million per project.

It should be noted that these projects normally involve the bank that collects the legal information of the farmers and the technical information to create an adequate registry of land ownership, in those cases where it had been sold informally.

By Willmen Blanco

For Compromising Respondents’ Privacy, Survey of Zcash Was Criticized by Users

Willmen Blanco
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For Compromising Respondents’ Privacy, Survey of Zcash Was Criticized by Users

The survey polls the opinion of ZEC holders about several proposals for improvement in the network. Some users complained about privacy risks, but the Zcash Foundation clarifies that it is not their initiative.

The Zcash Foundation surveyed to probe the community’s opinion on a group of proposals for project development, which was questioned for implying security and privacy risks to the participants. The information follows from the comments published by some users on the social network Twitter on Monday, November 25th.

The survey aims to collect the opinions of the interested parties of Zcash, a project focused on the privacy of transactions, on 13 proposals for active improvement that would involve financing from its development fund. The proposals have been submitted by members in the Zcash community collaboration forum, in an attempt to decentralize the development of the network, which has been concentrated in the Electric Coin Company (ECC) since its launch.

The procedure to participate in the survey is of the staking type, a model that grants the right to vote through a deposit in tokens, in this case ZEC, the native cryptocurrency of Zcash. Votes will be weighted according to the amount of ZEC sent to the established voting address. However, the process received criticism once organizers reported that participants should use traceable addresses (“transparent” or “t”) in the blockchain.

User Justin Ehrenhofer complained on Twitter that some members of the Zcash Foundation encouraged ZEC holders to place their funds in “transparent” addresses to vote on key issues such as block rewards. Ehrenhofer considers this a “privacy disaster” as they failed even to take additional measures to mitigate the risks.

Andrew Miller, a member of the Zcash Foundation, acknowledged that the ideal would for the survey to be secret, but the need to use “t” addresses would complicate the process. To reduce privacy risks, he recommended that participants use “t” addresses only during the voting process. Ehrenhofer responded through his Twitter account that this measure does not ensure the desired privacy.

Another user named Eran Tromer, also a member of the Zcash Foundation, expressed in the forum his concern about the voting methodology, since it involves sending coded preferences, which can lead to identifying the voters.

For its part, the Zcash Foundation clarified that the survey, weighted by stake (blocking of funds), is not an initiative of that entity but an unofficial survey. It also reported that it is not a formal part of the ZF community’s sentiments about the development proposal, which was opened on November 16th and will close on the 30th of the same month.

The official survey is conducted using a simple form published in the Zcash forum and the only requirement is to keep an account created before March 2019 in the forum. In the tweet thread it is clarified that the weighted survey initiative was driven by some Foundation members independently.

Ehrenhofer asked Zcash users to refrain from participating in the stake-weighted survey, since the Zcash Foundation said it will not use the vote at all. Besides, there are serious problems of privacy with the use of transparent addresses (even by passing it through armored addresses first).

The imminence of the end of the Founder’s Reward of the Zcash project in 2020 has brought a series of debates within the ecosystem since August 2019. It was reported that the community has been discussing whether funds should be distributed among miners or whether they should go to the development of the project. Additionally, in September the friction between the Zcash Foundation and the Electric Coin Company came to light, due to the management of the Zcash brand.

By Willmen Blanco

Blockchain Will Reduce Food Fraud to Save $31 Billion

Maria Rodríguez
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Blockchain Will Reduce Food Fraud to Save $31 Billion

Juniper’s research shows that substantial savings in food fraud can be achieved in 2021, while production costs can be reduced by 30%.

The food industry could save up to $31 billion in global fraud thanks to blockchain technology. The idea is to track food in its production process from farms to supermarkets or consumers. This is according to data from Juniper Research.

This food fraud that is registered in the industry relates to diluted of substituted food or ingredients. In this way, the person is consuming a product that is not like the package says.

The firm made public its study at the end of November. It revealed that blockchain in combination with the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and trackers will reduce retailer’s costs.

Another advantage is that blockchain will simplify regulatory compliance and also it will offer more efficient food recalls and will be a tool to avoid more fraud. The research is contained within the report called ‘Blockchain: Key Vertical Opportunities, Trends & Challenges 2019-2030’.

“Today, transparency and efficiency in the food supply chain are limited by opaque data, forcing each company to rely on intermediaries and paper-based records. Blockchain and Internet of Things provide an immutable, shared platform for all actors in the supply chain to track and trace assets; saving time, resources and reducing fraud”. That is only one part of the document related to the study.

Many Reasons

Although different companies are using blockchain to track food, many consumers of other products cannot know where their food comes from. Due to diseases and scandals with food production, many customers are interested in how the food they consume is produced.

An example of these scandals took place in 2013 when the food industry in Europe was horrified after finding horse meat in food products that did not list it as an ingredient.

The report of the UK-based company says blockchain’s immutable ledger, combined with the Internet of Things sensors and trackers, is something very important to create a more efficient food recall process.

According to Juniper analyst, Morgane Kimmich, extra virgin olive oil labeled as originating from Greece, when in fact it comes from somewhere else, is an example of common food fraud.

“Much of the interest in the technology comes from the fact that blockchain has the potential to give more control to all actors involved in the process, from farmers to retailers, by providing them with a transparent and immutable platform offering full visibility of the supply chain”, she explained.

Through the adoption in the supply chain, blockchain and IoT will generate $31 billion in food fraud savings around the world by 2024 so compliance costs will be reduced by 30 %.

Juniper Research considers that the Internet of Things and blockchain will add “significant value” to those involved in the supply chain such as framers, retailers, and consumers.

The particularity of blockchain to store information related to all the stages of a process production in an unalterable way is the reason why more and more companies are trusting in this type of technology.

The most-adopted blockchain tracking solution is IBM’s Food Trust, which is based on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain protocol. The platform went live in October 2018.

Nestlé and Carrefour recently announced they will use blockchain technology to track baby milk to provide customers with data on the origin of that product.

It would be possible thanks to a QR code that allows buyers to access all the information about the production. This will help them to be sure that the milk is not altered.

By María Rodríguez

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