Cryptocurrencies: Prices Drop after Registering the Maximums of 2019

Willmen Blanco
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Cryptocurrencies: Prices Drop after Registering the Maximums of 2019

The fall in the price of cryptocurrencies has led to the creation of an alternative digital currency aimed at helping users better understand this technology and its risks, as well as to issue a Visa credit card that allows converting cryptocurrencies into fiduciary currencies

The prices of cryptocurrencies fell slightly after having registered the maximums of 2019 on Wednesday last week, after it was disclosed that Visa (NYSE:V) is going to launch a card to operate with cryptocurrencies through the Coinbase stock exchange, according to investing.com.

The market is said to remain static whilst investors wait to verify if digital currencies will be able to keep their impulse.

Last Wednesday, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies registered historical maximums at US $186,000 million, according to Coin MarketCap, before reversing its course.

Bullish and Bearish Movements

The bullish tendency started in April, after the prices of Bitcoin soared without any apparent reason, and virtual currencies seem to cling to those gains.

Bitcoin has decreased a 1.2% to US $5,144.10 in the last seven days, after registering the maximums of 2019 at US $5,372, according to Wednesday’s investing.com index on Wednesday.

The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies in general increased to US $176,000 million by the moment of writing these lines.

In the last seven days, Ethereum has plummeted a 6.8% to US $166.67 and XRP an 8% to US $0.32581, while Litecoin has dropped a 7.5% to US $82.54.

The bearish movement occurred after it was informed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) had launched a digital currency to study the way that alternative currencies worked and that Visa had associated with Coinbase to offer a credit card to the users in the United Kingdom.

Visa Credit Card

The credit card issued by Visa is said to allow Coinbase users to change their balance into Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. The card works by converting the cryptocurrency into fiduciary currency at the moment of using it, so the trader receives the payment in the local currency.

“This is the first credit card that is linked directly with one of the biggest cryptocurrency stock exchanges, allowing people to spend their capital in digital currency directly from their Coinbase account,” said Coinbase in a communication. “Previously, the available cryptocurrency cards require users to load a specified quantity of cryptocurrencies onto their cards, which adds a point of friction to the process.”

LearningCoin

Meanwhile, the IMF and the World Bank have launched the currency LearningCoin, which the Bank will use to understand the technology that underlies behind these digital assets. The currency does not have any monetary value and only the IMF and the World Bank will have access to it, according to what the Financial Times has informed.

All the same, the news has been received very willingly by cryptocurrency enthusiasts, as it could help regulators and financial control bodies, respectively, to understand the risks associated with Bitcoin and other assets and to contribute to a more coherent regulation.

This trial currency would also result in smart contracts and it could help the bank to combat money laundering.

By Willmen Blanco

Civic Establishes Partnerships with 12 Automated Retail Companies to Use Blockchain ID in Vending Machines

Andres Chavez
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Civic Establishes Partnerships with 12 Automated Retail Companies to Use Blockchain ID in Vending Machines

By taking advantage of blockchain technology, companies and institutions can improve the way they perform ID verification processes (which is crucial in some fields) in several industries and applications.

The Civic company recently signed a deal to bring blockchain ID to approximately one thousand (1,000) vending machines, according to reports. The firm made the announcement of a partnership with 12 widely known automated retail businesses to bring age verification technology to a broader market.

The 12 Companies that Will Work with Civic

The companies that will work together with Civic are AAEON, AR Systems, Fastcorp Vending, Global Vending Group, greenbox Robotics, Invenda, IVM, IVS, Retail Automated Concepts, SandenVendo, The-Venders, and Wemp.

Civic is well known for the development of an anonymous age verifying beer vending machine, together with Anheuser-Busch InBev. A person scans the Civic QR code on the machine, which requests only the information needed for it to dispense a beer. The machine is then informed only whether the user is over 21. If this is affirmative, it will dispense a beer.

Now, thanks to the announced alliance, the company will work to take the technology usage to another level. “Vending machines represent an introduction to the mass market, where people can see how digital identity functions in the real world, as well as opening up an entirely new market for automated retail,” Civic’s CEO Vinny Lingham said in a statement.

A Global Network

Between Civic’s 12 new associates, they administrate over one million internet-connected vending machines all over the world. Civic states that the expected date in which the technology will be used in 1,000 machines is near the end of the year.

People will only have to perform a document scan to complete the verification process in most cases. The requested document is mostly the person driver’s license. Civic has used “knowledge-based authentication” in past demos, which involve questions that only one person can answer.

Civic also announced that it will soon release the Civic Pay App as the mean to integrate automated retail solutions and vending machines. Right now, there are more than three million connected vending machines at a global scale. The number is expected to grow to 5.4 million within the next three years.

Allegedly, the company is expecting to use Gemini’s GUSD in the Civic Pay app, with the possibility of adding more tokens at a later date.

AAEON’s Impressions

Paul Yang, which is currently the General Manager at AAEON, observed that “speaking with Civic, we immediately recognized the vision and how identity verification could help AAEON embark on an entirely new market of vending opportunities. The combination of identity and payment enables a frictionless user experience that allows for a new subset of product offerings.”

Civic, which is a personal identity verification protocol that takes the best of distributed ledger technology to improve digital identities management, is also said to be experimenting with tobacco, alcohol, and hemp-related products.

By Andres Chavez

Binance and other Exchanges remove Bitcoin SV (BSV) from their Lists after Craig Wright’s Scandal

Willmen Blanco
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Binance and other Exchanges remove Bitcoin SV (BSV) from their Lists after Craig Wright’s Scandal

Changpeng Zhao (also known as “CZ”), CEO of the main cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is said to have proceeded with the threat against the scientific chief of nChain and main defender of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, Craig S. Wright.

During recent days, it has been reported that Wright has been involved in a scandal for having threatened legally the members of the cryptocurrency community that do not accept his assertions that he is the individual behind the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, the author of Bitcoin’s white paper.

Until now, two persons have confirmed receiving legal advisories in which they are asked to retract their public statements against Wright’s affirmations and they admit that Wright is the creator of Bitcoin. One of them is #Hodlonaut the creator of the #LNTrustChain experiment of Bitcoin Lightning Torch and the other is the host of the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast, Peter McCormack, who has already proceeded to reply to Craig.

Since then, the community has supported these individuals among others to fight against Wright. One of these persons was Zhao, who, at the moment of expressing his frustration about the incident, wrote on Twitter last week, “Craig Wright is not Satoshi… If he keeps talking nonsense of that sort, we will take him out of our list!” Zhao was referring to Bitcoin SV (BSV). Apparently, the threat did not keep Wright from seeking justice against his defamers and non-believers.

After that threat by Zhao, Binance announced on Monday April 15th that he would retreat Bitcoin SV from his list of admitted cryptocurrencies within a week on Aril 22nd at 10 a.m. (UTC).

“On the base of our most recent revisions, we have decided to stop quoting and stop quoting for all pairs of transactions with the currency BCHS,” said the announcement.

However, it was predicted that withdrawals will be supported until July 22nd. Binance did not mention explicitly the reason for the exclusion of the currency from the list, highlighting their criteria for the exclusion from the list among those who affirm that “The contribution [or the lack of it] to a healthy and sustainable crypto ecosystem” is a consideration for the inclusion or elimination of currency from the list.

Another outstanding figure like Charles Hoskinson, the creator of Cardano and CEO of IOHK, has also expressed his support for Zhao decision, saying what follows:

“I am really proud of Zhao and Binance. They defended all the community against intimidation and fraud. I hope that more exchanges follow and we can end this dark chapter in the crypto history.”

This is something that did not need to be awaited, since Shapeshift.io and Blockchain.com have also decided to end their relationship with BDV definitely. It seems that this last game of taking revenge against the community has not given Wright the result that he had been expecting.

After this announcement by Binance, BSV has experienced a drastic fall in the price of Coinmarketcap, losing about 14%, definitely a day that Craig will hardly forget for the rest of his life.

By Willmen Blanco

PayPal Invests in Blockchain: Identity Ownership

Willmen Blanco
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PayPal Invests in Blockchain: Identity Ownership

The reasons why PayPal decided to invest in Blockchain and the incidence of this technology on identity services are explained in this report.

The international payment-service firm, PayPal revealed its intentions for the Blockchain technology space, after they found in a SEC file that a millionaire amount had been invested in the startup Cambridge Blockchain, a Blockchain technology company.

The CEO of Cambridge Blockchain, Matthew Commons, an entrepreneur with a passion for applying advanced technologies to new fields, said about the development:

 “Our service helps in accelerating the compliance with digital identity at the same time as it provides customers with control over their identity information. We feel honored with PayPal’s vote of confidence and we hope to count on their support and guidance.”

CoinDesk informs that neither PayPal nor Cambridge Blockchain has disclosed the investment amount, which was offered during an extension of an A-Series financing round. The total capital raised for almost one year seems to be about US $10.5 million, which includes funds from investors like HCM Capital and Digital Currency Group.

On the one hand, HCM Capital is a venture capital specializing in growth capital investments that seeks to invest in the field of blockchain, digital banking, and artificial intelligence, among others. On the other hand, Digital Currency Group began investing in bitcoin companies in 2013 and provided funding for many of the earliest companies including Coinbase, BitPay, and Ripple.

A PayPal spokesperson said:

“We made an investment in Cambridge Blockchain because they are applying Blockchain for digital identity in a way that, we think, could benefit financial service companies like PayPal. Our investment will allow us to explore possible cooperation to take advantage of Blockchain technology.”

According to the report, Cambridge Blockchain and PayPal have been working very closely to each other since last year. First, the former was one of the newest companies selected in an accelerating program, Fintech Europe 2018, which was sponsored by PayPal, and late in 2018 it started working directly with PayPal’s corporate team in San José, California.

Cambridge Blockchain, a member of the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), is building an identity service based on Blockchain that complies with the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundry (AML) regulations to help customers open accounts with financial institutions.

The startup uses Blockchain to store and share information and PayPal may be seeking this service to be more efficient.

As this is PayPal’s first investment in a Blockchain company, it is a very important step that is in accordance with the emerging motif of major established entities that consider adopting Blockchain technology, like The New York Times and their rival payment service, VISA.

Facebook and Microsoft expressed that they are seriously considering the use of Blockchain to manage their identity systems. These organizations are constantly seeking more efficient solutions that guarantee their users’ security, and this technology seems to be an excellent option.

Definitely, development within Blockchain technology has gone beyond cryptocurrency to become an essential part of financial services, as well as social media, which operate on the Web.

By Willmen Blanco

Celsius Network Adds Dash to its Group of Admitted Digital Assets

Willmen Blanco
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0
Celsius Network Adds Dash to its Group of Admitted Digital Assets

Celsius Network recently adopted Dash for the advantages in liquidity, security, delivery and growth to investors with respect to other renowned currencies. Celsius also explained the benefits that they obtain from using BitGo’s custody services regarding the protection of customers’ funds and the loan of funds.

Celsius Network, a digital currency loan platform with more than 50 million dollars in assets under administration (AUA), has added the cryptocurrency Dash to its group of admitted digital assets. When they announced the development this week, Celsius could not help showing their enthusiasm to associate with a vibrant and active community like Dash’s.

The association, which Celsius revealed on Thursday April 11th, will allow Dash holders to use their currencies in the platform and earn interests on an amount corresponding to the moment when their currencies were invested. Among the currencies admitted by the platform, the rates of Dash will be the highest, with a 7.5%, ahead of Bitcoin (5.1%), Litecoin (3.75%), XRP (3.25) and Ethereum (3.15%), among a few other currencies with lower rates.

BitGo

Celsius said that they hired the services of the BitGo platform to guarantee their customers’ cryptocurrency security, as well as to provide them with compliance and custodial solutions. In order to gain mainstream adoption, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies need the trust and investment of financial institutions.

Therefore, Celsius uses BitGo’s custody services as the wallets belong to BitGo. There are a couple of advantages for this association, the first of which is the insurance against any losses caused by attacks to Celsius customers’ funds.

BitGo keeps insurance funds of up to $100 million. In the second place, BitGo can lend the funds in the wallets as coverture funds, exchanges or institutional traders in change of interests (which is part of the amount that a depositor earns when he or she bets his or funds on the platform). The other part is that individual customers can borrow funds from Celsius in the form of loans without fines for anticipated payment and rates that start with 4.95% TAE.

Reasons for Admitting Dash

According to the announcement on Thursday, Dash entered a list after an exhaustive revision process and complied with all of Celsius’ considerations to be included. The most important is the factor of liquidity and the team’s support.

“DASH was included on the list after evaluating our rigorous framework that prioritizes the currencies with high liquidity, team’s professionalism, excellent delivery and, which is more important, a great community that coincides with Celsius’ growing community,” can be read in the notification.

After this addition, Celsius now admits nine digital assets, as well as five stable currencies, including real USDC (TUSDC) and the currency USD (USDC), but it particularly excludes the popular and leading option of Tether (USDT).

The same as Celsius did, investors must consider the fundamental aspects that a cryptocurrency should have before they adopt it definitely. The possibility that Dash generates higher interest rates than Bitcoin is a sensible reason for crypto users to buy this crypto asset.

By Willmen Blanco

Peru Uses Blockchain to “Tokenize” Governmental Processes and Fight against Corruption

Maria Rodríguez
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Peru Uses Blockchain to “Tokenize” Governmental Processes and Fight against Corruption

The state agency will operate the registries through the LAC-Chain network, an initiative directed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The objective is to avoid corruption

The government procurement agency Peru Compras (Peru Purchases), published a statement on its website, www.perucompras.gob, reporting that it will use the blockchain technology to guarantee the transparency of the expenses it executes and also validate the contracts the State effects.

The intention is to preserve the authenticity of the certificates and securely store all the information of the parties involved in the process to guarantee the immutability of the information contemplated in the records.

In this way, the agency of the South American country will implement the “tokenization” of purchase orders within its registration system, in order to make a much more transparent management of those orders that will be processed through the platform; a database distributed in a network of computer servers.

Using blockchain technology will allow this agency to apply measures in the field of public procurement, which will follow local laws to fight against corruption.

The operations will be conducted through the LAC-Chain blockchain network, a decentralized project promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The idea is to promote the use of the blockchain technology among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

How Will the Process Be?

According to the article published by the government agency, Peru Compras will register digital purchase orders in a network of servers that will operate as nodes, which will be assigned to a QR code (rapid response code), in order to identify and access, from any smart phone, to the records stored in the blockchain platform. Each QR code will be associated with a PDF file.

When reading those codes, the original file will be displayed in PDF to verify the authenticity of the document in a secure manner, reducing any possibility of adulteration and allowing the parties involved to verify the accuracy of the document by comparing both copies.

About this initiative, Fernando Masumura, Head of Peru Purchases, explained: “If a supplier must deliver a good in a warehouse, he must carry with him the purchase order which has the details of the goods he should deliver. In this case, you can use a smartphone to verify the authenticity of the document through the QR code, which will take the original document and it will check if the items are correct. If there is any type of adulteration, it will be identified immediately”.

To make this possible, each purchase order registered in the blockchain platform will become a non-fungible digital asset, which will contain a URL of the document in PDF format, a HASH under the SHA256 standard (a “hashlink” that immunizes the saved offers in the database of Peru Purchases), information about the buyer, the number of the purchase order, information about the contracting entity, a summary of the agreement (items, quantity, term and place of delivery), and the corresponding registry in the network.

Public entities from different countries such as Pakistan, Canada, the United States, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina are increasingly interested in using the underlying technology of digital currencies to optimize their processes.

Beyond the rise of cryptocurrencies in Peru, adopting blockchain technology makes it possible to explore the benefits it offers and find solutions for other fields of daily life, in an orderly, verifiable way, and avoiding information theft or cases of corruption in the management of public funds.                           

By María Victoria Rodríguez

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