Iran considers Telegram’s Cryptocurrency as a “Threat”

Maria Rodríguez
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Iran considers Telegram’s Cryptocurrency as a “Threat”

The Government sees this cryptoactive as an “attack on national security” and it will be treated as an “interruption of the economy” in that country

From this December 31st, the Iranian government was openly against the development of Gram, the cryptocurrency that the messaging application Telegram expects to launch soon.

Javad Javidnia, Secretary of the Criminal Content Definition Team, suggested Iranian investors to get away from this cryptographic currency. He said any collaboration with it will be considered an attack on national security and “will be treated as an interruption of the national economy.”

In April 2018, Hassan Firouzabadi, Secretary of the High Council for Cyberspace in the Iranian Republic, mentioned the lack of regulation on cryptocurrency as one of the problems to allow Telegram to continue operating in that country.

The debate dates from the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, when government officials detected that, presumably, this application was being used by some groups of people to send anti-government messages, through their chats.

Before these alleged facts, the instant messaging platform created by Pavel Durov in 2013 had reached high popularity ratings in Iran, with some 45 million users.

However, Iranian officials claimed that Gram’s Initial Currency Offering (ICO) could “undermine Iran’s national currency”. In response, the Secretary of the Higher Council of Cyberspace, Hassan Firouzabadi, banned the use of this App in April 2018 and by December 2017 had temporarily banned the use of Telegram.

This prohibition had little impact because users learned to use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to avoid blocking. Since last April, Telegram refuses to share with the Government of that country and the Russian private messages of its users.

A Cryptocurrency for Iran

Although the Iranian government recognized cryptocurrency mining as an industry and allowed the import of mining equipment, it maintains its reservations regarding the use of decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. In spite of this, it plans to create its own centralized national digital currency, which simulates a bit the Venezuelan government’s attempts to create a cryptocurrency of its own called “Petro”.

Iran is not the only country to demonstrate against Gram. The Russian government also banned the use of the Telegram instant messaging App in its territory; in view of the possibility of falling into a “completely uncontrolled financial system”.

At the beginning of 2018, Telegram raised almost USD 1,700 million in two rounds of financing. Its ICO looked for investments to support the development of the messaging application and its own blockchain platform: Telegraph Open Network.

The company is currently developing its “Telegram open network” (TON) to provide its customers with wallets and, with this, a new digital payment system. Despite the refusal of Iran and Russia, Telegram’s developers rely on the success obtained in other countries and expect Gram to become the most adopted cryptocurrency in the world.

By María Rodríguez

Japanese Bank Will Introduce Stablecoin Linked to the Yen for March 2019

Maria Rodríguez
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Japanese Bank Will Introduce Stablecoin Linked to the Yen for March 2019

The second most important bank in Japan developed a stablecoin expected to go on sale this new year

Mizuho Bank will launch a cryptoactive linked to the Yen in March. It will have a livelihood in liquidity in the current Japanese currency: The Yen, and will be used as a direct, instant and very low-cost payment method.

According to a release, the cryptoactive will be available to bank customers at the end of this first quarter of the year and may be used by means of an App for smartphones, which will function as a digital wallet.

The user can make their financial transactions generating a simple QR code (with a ratio of 1: 1). Also, people can, among other things and for free, transfer the funds to another user and make online purchases on massive platforms such as the giant Chinese Alipay.

The name of this cryptoactive is still unknown, but according to some reports, the financial giant was immersed in the project since 2017, which its CEO team named J-Coin.

Mizuho Bank made financial alliances with 60 other banks to strengthen the fund for its development. This project will represent a direct competition to the credit card companies, since it would minimize the cost of commissions for the large retail market in Japan. This is one of its benefits.

Tatsufumi Sakai, Mizuho Financial Group’s president, commented this is the future of financial transactions, since it allows a high flow of financial movements at very low costs. “The business of financial agreements has become more important and is expected to continue growing. So, we have to take a serious approach”, he concluded.

“We will do business with other companies if we have the opportunity. Time and speed are very important. There is a limit to what we, as a financial institution, can develop through our conventional businesses. We are focusing on the new technology”, Sakai commented as a representative of the bank.

In Japan there are also other financial entities that are focused on the development of this new technology. It is the case of the UFJ Mitsubishi Financial Group, the fifth largest bank in the world, which recently projected its capitalization of the MUFG, a digital currency that it plans to implement by the middle of 2020.

Mizuho Financial Group is a public bank that currently generates 1.45 trillion yen in revenues (about 13,000 million dollars a year), making it one of the most important banks in Japan.

According to Japanese legislation, the FSA (Financial Services Agency) is in full discussion about the inclusion of cryptocurrencies in a legal category, in order to control and regulate the use of cryptoactives in that Asian country.

Mazuho banking institution plans to have this technology in operation across the country for the next Olympic Games, which will be held in Japan in 2020. For this reason, the Japanese Government has exonerated these financial institutions of some tax stamps, in order to encourage companies to invest in this new technology.

By María Rodríguez

Blockchain Will Become ‘Mainstream’ in 2019, According to MIT Technology Review

Andres Chavez
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Blockchain Will Become ‘Mainstream’ in 2019, According to MIT Technology Review

Speculation about the adoption of blockchain in a global scale has been taking headlines for months now. People wonder whether it will happen at all, but most pundits think that 2019 will be the year in which said technology will become a normal occurrence rather than a futuristic event.

That is precisely the opinion of MIT Technology Review, which is a magazine related to the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that has been around since 1899. On January 2nd, it revealed an article in which it explained that 2019 will be the year in which blockchain ventures will become mundane.

In the piece, readers can enjoy a concise, but powerful conclusion: although the blockchain technology disappointed in 2018 following a successful 2017, many “innovative-sounding projects are still alive and even close to bearing fruit.” That, coupled with various global enterprises’ intentions to launch major blockchain-based ventures, 2019 has all the ingredients to be “the year that blockchain technology finally becomes normal.”

A Roller Coaster

The MIT Technology Review identifies 2017 as the year in which the blockchain technology was “a revolution that was supposed to disrupt the global financial system,” but the valuations of most blockchain-based cryptocurrencies sharply declined in 2018.

The magazine states that several Wall Street actors, such as Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)’s New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Fidelity (a prominent investment firm) are going to enter the cryptocurrency industry, providing an indirect boost to blockchain-based affairs across the globe.

Some sectors may argue, with a strong point in their favor that, the hype surrounding blockchain is decreasing. However, there is still a critical point in its quest towards mainstream adoption: it provides a regulator-approved setting for crypto assets.

The Review shows another example of a crucial point in blockchain’s favor: it significantly improves the smart contract framework and technology that will be suitable for use in numerous legal scenarios.

The piece closes by saying that the fact that blockchain technology will become normal in 2019 will “reshape” the ideological framework that provided crypto assets their first ‘momentum.’ Whereas cryptocurrencies started off as anti-government assets, the situation is being reversed as some nations have already launched state-backed digital coins and other countries have similar plans.

A little bit more about the MIT and the Technology Review

The MIT, which stands for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of the most influential educational institutions of its kind. It is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Eastern part of the United States of America.

It was founded in 1861 in the middle of increased industrialization of the United States, adopting a European polytechnic university model. The MIT is widely recognized for its prowess in applied science and engineering, as well as for research in the physical sciences, biology, economics, linguistics, and management.

The MIT owns the MIT Technology Review, a magazine with a rich history that goes back to its foundation in the XIX century, most precisely in 1899. It ran through 1998 as “The Technology Review,” but it had its name changed to MIT Technology Review in that same year. Its total circulation surpasses 160,000 magazines.

By Andres Chavez

Services to Enhance the Purchase of Cryptoactives Will Be Available in 2019

Maria Rodríguez
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Services to Enhance the Purchase of Cryptoactives Will Be Available in 2019

Eyewallet’s users can save and avoid excessive expenses in commissions, making a single transaction to different wallets. The program will accept different cryptocurrencies

During the first months of 2019, the Eyewallet cryptocurrency portfolio, driven by the Eyeline Business and Dvelopment Group, will seek to facilitate the mass transfer of payments. This next year, it will incorporate a system for the sale per-to- per (P2P) within this application.

It will also have a new application-programming interface (API) that is simpler and easier to use, which will give its users the possibility of making massive payments to multiple addresses through a single operation. Up to a maximum of 2,500 wallets per transaction will be possible through this operation.

In this way, merchants can send and receive payments with cryptocurrencies from their electronic commerce. Wholesalers that have many customers can make their payments in a single operation and reduce commission expenses, paying only 0.4%.

Effective Solutions

EyeWallet will accept bitcoins (BTC), ether (ETH), Bitcoin cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). A closed-source portfolio has a cold storage vault. It will allow secure transactions through encrypted connections, where customers can generate returns by storing BTC and obtain a 17% annual profit.

The storage in this vault works through smart contracts related to other services in cryptocurrency exchange houses such as Bitfinex or Bitmex.

Eyewallet has achieved acceptance in The United States and Latin America, especially in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Chile. To promote the adoption of cryptocurrencies in more and more countries around the world, Eyeline Business and Development will implement its new service called EyePayCash, available to the public.

The objective of this product is to speed up the purchase process of cryptoactives, which is possible when the program starts issuing codes or pins to buy bitcoins (BTC) through gift cards.

In this way, the companies involved in the project will send these codes, so that people can acquire the bitcoins in exchange for a small fee. Forex will issue these cards in 2019, retail markets and the playground.

The users of this system will be able to withdraw money from ATMs without problems or additional costs, even without being clients of a certain bank, or using debit or credit cards, as well as allowing the sending of cash to any mobile phone, through text messages.

The tool will be available, this 2019, in the countries whose legislation allows it. Markets and other types of establishments will accept EyePayCash as a solution when cash is not available.

All the services mentioned above, and offered by Eyeline Business, seek to form an integrated, self-efficient and intelligent ecosystem, aimed at the cryptoactive market. Part of the ecosystem includes the development of financial software oriented to the cryptocurrency sector to expand offers and possibilities, to cover all the activities of the industry.

Ronald Rios, Eyeline Business’ Director of Development, informed that a prepaid card called Eyewallet Card would soon be available, which will refill with cryptoactives. It will be available in ATMs and shops globally. The expansion of the crypto world continues its path.

By María Rodríguez

Brazilian Supermarket Chain Will Accept Payments with Cryptocurrencies

Maria Rodríguez
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Brazilian Supermarket Chain Will Accept Payments with Cryptocurrencies

Local people and tourists can make their purchases with BTC, LTC and BCH. The process is similar to the one used by credit cards

In Rio de Janeiro city, located in Brazil, a small chain of supermarkets has announced that it will begin accepting payments in cryptocurrencies.

Oásis Supermercados has two physical stores in the city and more than 90 employees. Twenty (20) of them were trained to conduct transactions in cryptocurrencies.

In this way, a local person or a tourist can already make their purchases with any of the cryptocurrencies that accept the new payment system. Among them are the most popular such as: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Douglas Andrade, the company’s manager, says the news has become so viral that they have even suggested to accept other cryptocurrencies; such as NANO.

About the System

PayWISE is used in this process. It is a payment platform developed by the startup CoinWISE. Then, the platform receives the cryptocurrencies and converts them into Reales, (the official currency of the country). Andrade, who represents the company, commented: “It’s very easy, it’s like a credit card payment. The client says what cryptocurrency he wants to use to pay, the operator enters the real ones and the system converts them into cryptocurrencies. Then just scan the QR code and you’re done”.

Even this platform has a process of change similar to credit cards, as the company processes the payments in cryptocurrencies, converts them to Brazilian Real and, after three days, it processes the payment to the supermarket company.

Andrade mentioned that his brother Thiago had the idea of ​​accepting cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. Thiago is also administrator of the Oasis Supermarkets network. He came up with this method of payment after watching some videos on Internet related to how receive payments with cryptocurrencies in commercial establishments. This led him to investigate in cryptocurrency exchange houses how to adapt this to the supermarket chain.

The company Oásis Supermercados invoices around 25 million Reais a year, equivalent to 6.5 million dollars. And the locals are located in one of the most tourist cities in Latin America, (Rio de Janeiro) so they can offer thousands of tourists this easy way of payment in cryptoactive without problem.

Brazil has been one of the countries in Latin America that has accepted cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology in its economy. At the beginning of 2018, the GBS Group, a company dedicated to the mass transport of passengers, began to implement payment methods with cryptocurrencies to tickets purchased through the web. As the well-known fashion brand Calvin Klein announced that it would accept Bitcoin (BTC) as payment method in its stores in Sao Paulo.

A Brazilian media reported that since the system was implemented in Oásis’ stores, no purchase has been made through this payment method. However, this initiative marks a beginning for the diversification of the use of cryptocurrencies in Brazil and serves as a reference for the rest of Latin America.

By Maria Rodriguez.

Visa will Acquire Earthport, a Cross-Border Payments Platform Associated with Ripple

Andres Chavez
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Visa will Acquire Earthport, a Cross-Border Payments Platform Associated with Ripple

Visa is one of the most widely known financial companies in the world. It works specifically in the payments front, and it has achieved everything that such an enterprise may shoot for. However, the firm wants more, and is working to diversify its offerings catalog.

The Reuters news agency reported this week, precisely on Thursday, December 27th, that the American payment services company will acquire Earthport Plc, a network that specializes in the performance of cross-border payments. Earthport is a partner of the Ripple.

Earthport, an International Payments Provider

Earthport has its headquarters in London, England. It has been around since 1997 and it can be defined as a financial services company that provides the ability to make cross-border to all kinds of financial institutions, including banks. It is a partner of Ripple, the tech firm, and the nature of the pact is oriented to integrate the Ripple protocol into Earthport’s network with the intention of offering international payments.

The report states that the purchase of Earthport by Visa will be closed for a sum around $251 million (£198 million.) Back in 2016, Earthport developed an application programming interface that connected banks to the Ripple protocol at the time of processing international payments, which could help financial institutions cope with obstacles regarding budget, technology, and compliance.

Visa and the Benefits of Cryptography

Visa has been toying with the idea of developing and readying its Visa B2B Connect blockchain-powered digital ID system since October. The tool, which would enable cross-border payments, was intended to be made available in the first three months of 2019. The modus operandi is simple: the approach is about tokenizing critical business data to provide them with a unique cryptographic identifier to keep track and record each transaction performed within the platform. Among the data bits that can be considered “sensitive” are account numbers and banking details.

Visa has been looking for solutions to provide a faster, efficient, and more stable service for quite some time now. In June 2018, the company stated that card payments were enduring disruptions in some European countries, including the Great Britain. The Payment Systems Regulator stressed that the issue was seen only in Visa card transactions. Regarding the matter, the firm said via Twitter that they were “investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.”

A little bit about Visa

Having been founded in 1958, Visa has 60 years of experience in its field. It is an American multinational payment services company with headquarters in Foster City, California, the United States. It provides a platform for electronic funds transfers in all continents except for Antarctica.

The company does not directly offer its service to end customs: instead, it provides banks and financial institutions with debit, credit, prepaid, and cash-access programs that they, in turn, offer to their respective clients. The famous firm has over 15,000 employees around the world, and had revenue of $18.358 billion in 2017.

By Andres Chavez

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