Fluyez Will Stop Using the Term “Crypto Bank” after not Having Authorization from the SBS

Audy Castañeda
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Fluyez Will Stop Using the Term “Crypto Bank” after not Having Authorization from the SBS

The company acknowledged that it does not have any license from the SBS linked to the commercialization of crypto assets.

Fluyez Digital Investments S.A.C. reported this Wednesday that it will stop advertising itself as a “crypto bank” and that it will also stop using said term in its next communications, after the Superintendence of Banking, Insurance and AFP (SBS) claimed that the company does not have authorization to operate as a bank.

“We are making it clear that we do not have any license or authorization from the SBS linked to the commercialization of crypto assets, as it is an unregulated activity and outside the scope of the SBS,” said Fluyez.

“Although we have qualified ourselves as a ‘crypto bank’ – adopting a commercial term commonly used in this industry, we have never intended to offer exclusive products or services of companies in the financial system. Without prejudice to this, from now on we will avoid any reference to the term ‘bank’ in our communications and networks,” the company added.

Statement from the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance, and AFPs (SBS) in Lima, Perú

The SBS rules that Fluyez, an exchange house, promotes itself as a bank without authorization. In this regard, he makes several remarks, summarized below.

SBS detailed that Fluyez Digital Investments SAC has registered in the Registry of Companies and Persons that carry out Financial or Currency Exchange Operations of the SBS, as an exchange house, according to SBS Resolution No. 02568- 2021, issued on September 2, 2021.

SBS explains that an exchange house is a company whose aim is to purchase and sell foreign currency, an activity that does not include the commercialization of cryptocurrencies. Therefore, although Fluyez has in fact such registration does not imply that the SBS has granted an “authorization” or “license”, they cannot use such terms in their advertising.

The statement notes that, “Fluyez Digital Investments SAC does NOT have an authorization from the SBS to operate as a bank. Therefore, by using the denomination ‘bank’ or similar, this company is violating article 11, paragraph 4, of the General Law of the Financial System and the Insurance System and Organic Law of the Superintendence of Banking and Insurance (Law No. 26702).”

The implications are clear. By not having authorization to operate as a bank, Fluyez cannot promote the collection of savings from the public. Nor can they use SBS logo or name to promote their activities, since these constitute the intellectual property of the supervisor and regulator of the financial system.

Fluyez Replies

The firm indicated that it will be able to “avoid any misunderstanding” after the pronouncement of both the SBS and some organizations related to the financial system.

“A few months ago, Fluyez joined the Spanish exchange Bit2me on its arrival in Latin America. The Bank of Spain, for instance, authorized Bit2me as ‘virtual currency service providers’. The alliance leverages the services of both companies and is a sign of trust and solidity towards us, a fintech that seeks to provide quality services to the entire region. With this union, the implementation of an even safer and more robust ecosystem is guaranteed,” Fluyez explained.

Fluyez, which is part of the Fintech Association of Peru, indicated that it has the support of various national and international investment funds. In that sense, they will soon issue a statement to “promote an in-depth debate on the emerging Blockchain technology and the use case of crypto assets”

“The vision of Fluyez is to become the bridge of trust between the crypto economy of the future and the current financial ecosystem at a national and Latin American level […] Our inspiration comes from the traditional banking system, which helped generations of Peruvians to motorize their economies. We have the desire to develop the crypto universe, but always within the framework of national regulations and the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing”, the company pointed out.

By Audy Castaneda

Coinbase explained how dangerous the current centralization of Ethereum 2.0 would be

Jenson Nunez
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Coinbase explained how dangerous the current centralization of Ethereum 2.0 would be

The exchange highlights that a quarter of the validators in its staking pool do not implement Prysm. The existence of many independent validators could minimize the risks of centralization.

With the transition to Ethereum 2.0 right in the front, more validators are now depositing ether, which is the cryptocurrency of this network, to be a backup by confirming blocks in what they call the possible future merger.

However, recent news highlighted a centralization generating a state of emergency. The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange has discussed how this centralization would work in various scenarios.

According to data coming from pools in. is. Cloud, Coinbase is the Ethereum 2.0 staking pool with the most extensive number of validators. The current amount of validators already surpasses 48,000, of which 92% apply Prysm as a client.

However, the exchange version revealed via Twitter shows slight differences with such figures; at least 24% of validators do not implement Prysm; this action makes Coinbase perhaps the most diversified staking pool out there. That percentage of validators absorbing other clients is growing steadily fast.

Coinbase also explained that the company’s intention to receive Prysm was because Prysm is the only active client that granted backup to remote signers. Among other benefits, this feature allows validators to house their keys in hermetic environments instead of doing it in the validator itself, skyrocketing its security to another level.

Regarding other clients, Coinbase said that it would soon include a backup service ideal for remote signers with Lighthouse, thus making the adoption of that client in its pool at scale easier. 

The other major staking pools such as Kraken, Lido, or Binance have not opened up about this subject. Neither Prysmatic Labs, the developer of Prysm, has revealed any official statements about this situation.

The Centralization of Ethereum 2.0: Subject of a Complete Analysis

 Various media outlets reported the high centralization in the new version of Ethereum. The big deal is that most exchange staking pools, some of them counting on more than 40,000 validators, are using the same client, Prysm, to execute the Ethereum 2.0 protocol.

Prysm’s supremacy among validator pools relies on at least 67%, or two-thirds of the total percentage, making this situation a severe issue, mainly of an emergency nature. This situation brings more vulnerability for users if the client fails; the network itself could have to face many struggles, and experts say that erroneous information could appear written in the blockchain, leading to an imminent fork.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Price of Bitcoin Could “Go Down” due to the Fall in Volumes and the Macroeconomic Issues that Lie Ahead

Audy Castañeda
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Price of Bitcoin Could “Go Down” due to the Fall in Volumes and the Macroeconomic Issues that Lie Ahead

Bitcoin selling appears to be taking a pause despite the United States launching new sanctions against Russia on February 22.

The price of BTC remains slightly below $38,000, but analysts warn that growing macroeconomic problems and a lack of buyers could lead the price to fall further.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) is still hovering slightly below $38,000, which some analysts have identified as a major support and resistance zone.

Twenty-five percent of Entities in Losses

Glassnode published a chart analyzing the percentage of entities in profit, and the experts concluded that, “the proportion of on-chain entities in profit ranges from 65.78% to 76.7% of the network.”

According to Glassnode, “If the market fails to establish a sustainable uptrend, these users are statistically the most likely to become another source of selling pressure, especially if the price trades below their cost basis.”

Price Could Continue to “Probe Lower”

Delphi Digital, a cryptocurrency research firm, provided more information on the headwinds facing BTC, which previously noted that Bitcoin was “moving into an area of ​​daily, weekly and monthly resistance.”

This confluence of resistance led Delphi Digital to suggest that “the $45,000 level was a logical place to expect some profit-taking/risk-reduction activity due to the confluence of resistance zones and the speed and magnitude of the move from the lows.” recent lows”, which indeed turned out to be the case, as the price crashed shortly after reaching that level.

According to Delphi Digital, the Bitcoin price “has been stagnant for the past two weeks” and has yet to “regain any weekly support structure or the midpoint of the yearly range.”

The research firm added that, “If the $40,000 level doesn’t hold, the next level of the market structure is in the $38,500 zone. If we lose this level, expect previous lows to be revisited, with a decent chance that the price will try to go lower.”

Whales Seek to Accumulate Below USD 38,000

The on-chain analytics firm Whalemap provided one last piece of data on the movement of the Bitcoin whales, which published a chart that highlights the areas where BTC wallets saw big inflows over the last four months.

Whalemap noted that, “the whales’ areas of interest are very well defined now. Below $36,000-37,000, $34,000 is expected. Macro trend reversal above $48,500.” Possible resistance areas identified from the data provided by the firm include $40,000, $43,500, $46,500, and a major resistance level at $48,500.

Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone offered one last shred of hope when posting a tweet suggesting that Bitcoin is currently for trading relative to “its yearly average since 2020 and 2018 lows.”  He further added that, “About 20% below its 50-week maximum, Bitcoin is approaching too-cold levels that have often resulted in good price support. On Feb. 22, the DowJones was close to parity.”

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization now stands at $1.708 trillion and the dominance rate of Bitcoin is 42.1%.

By Audy Castaneda

Bancolombia Begins Testing Its Crypto Operations

Audy Castañeda
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Bancolombia Begins Testing Its Crypto Operations

Bancolombia approaches the world of cryptocurrencies: with what is it experimenting?

The classic institutions in the world of finance continue to experiment with cryptocurrency technology in search of new value propositions. Grayscale Investments’ latest report, “Reimagining the Future of Finance,” describes the digital economy as “the intersection of technology and finance that is increasingly defined by digital spaces, experiences, and transactions.” It is in this framework that players in the economy such as banks are beginning to interact with emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies.

One of them is Bancolombia, the traditional Colombian bank, which through different alliances is testing possible use cases with cryptocurrencies. Along with other entities, fintechs, and exchange platforms, the bank participates in a sandbox (a safe space for testing) regulated for experimentation, with the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

What Bancolombia Aims At

Cipriano López, Bancolombia’s vice president of innovation, believes that “cryptocurrencies as a means of payment -and even as legal tender- will be increasingly common in our region.” This workspace, according to the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, “generates a joint learning space between the digital ecosystem and the national government that contributes to deepening knowledge about crypto assets, the technologies used in the pilot tests, and the application of regulations in an environment of financial innovation”.

The bank is working on this implementation together with Gemini, the exchange created by the Winklevoss brothers, and today they have just over 600 clients. The service in question allows these users to buy cryptocurrencies directly from the Gemini exchange using the bank’s instruments (for example, savings banks or current accounts) and the process takes place through Bancolombia’s digital channels. “This pilot seeks to help understand the behavior of people who invest in this type of asset, as well as how to operate correctly between banks and exchanges,” said the institution’s executive. Bancolombia, however, is not the only one: Banco de Bogotá and the fintech Movii also participate in the experiment.

Results until now

The financial results so far show more than 1,600 million Colombian pesos (just over USD 400,000) in approximately 6 months of operations. In this sense, the Colombian crypto pilot also set itself the goal of measuring the effectiveness of digital identity verification and money traceability. In fact, the National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN) has already confirmed that it will control the operations associated with cryptocurrencies in Colombia, which could imply that exchange users declare these movements.

Beyond Colombia: LATAM

This initiative is part of the general process of different banks approaching the crypto world. Central banks in Peru, Chile, the Caribbean, and Mexico are getting closer to effectively implementing central bank digital currencies, better known as CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currency). This type of project aims not only to facilitate international transfers but also to attack financial segments such as loans. According to CoinGecko, this market has a global value of more than USD 2,000 million.

The potential use cases consist of international payments and transfers, as well as credits.

Financial institutions in LATAM, which operate under regulation, are looking for ways to participate in this market, globally valued by CoinGecko at more than US$2 billion, beyond investments in volatile currencies such as Bitcoin.

According to Cynthia Del Pozo, director of strategy and corporate development at Gemini, “programs such as the one that the Superintendence has established in Colombia are an important step for the evolution of the crypto ecosystem in Latin America.”

By Audy Castaneda

“Bitcoin is an unwitting participant in Russia-Ukraine volatility” Fate, the 30,000?

Audy Castañeda
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“Bitcoin is an unwitting participant in Russia-Ukraine volatility” Fate, the 30,000?

“Peacekeeping” mission prompted economic sanctions, while the experts bet on a lateral market with a bearish bias.

The cryptoactive market is holding positions this Wednesday after the recent losses, accompanying the rest of the global markets that seem to be taking a breather after a Tuesday of high stock market tension. The movement of Russian troops into the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, in what the Kremlin called a “peacekeeping” mission, has prompted a response from the US and Europe in the form of economic sanctions, while the US president Joe Biden has called the Kremlin’s military action an “invasion” of Ukraine.

Bitcoin managed to cling to $38,000 on Tuesday, a price that is also around this Wednesday, surpassing it and falling below this barrier constantly. However, the previous day left lows for the second consecutive day below the support that most analysts place at 36,500, with 37,000 as a more psychological than technical control zone. The price action invites pessimism as the digital currency has suffered sharp declines after unsuccessfully facing resistance at $45,000 and not a few believe that $30,000 is back in play.

However, “on the support side, we have the most important of all of them at the lows of January at 32,855 dollars,” warns José María Rodríguez, an analyst at Bolsamanía. “32,500 looks more like the ‘point of no return,’” agrees John Kicklighter, chief strategist at DailyFX.

The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict and its Effects

“The crisis between Russia and Ukraine is affecting all risk markets right now, not just Bitcoin,” comments Nicholas Cawley, strategist at DailyFX. “The constant oscillations of good and bad news make it difficult to value and trade the market at the current time,” says the expert, who believes that, until this condition changes, “it is difficult to see any reason to operate with Bitcoin from the long side or the short”.

The expert believes that from a technical perspective, the break below the support at $39,600 has left Bitcoin vulnerable to further losses. This negative outlook has overshadowed the recent good news in the market, “whose fundamentals are improving day by day,” according to Naeem Aslam, an analyst at AvaTrade. Ukraine has legalized Bitcoin, while Russia is undergoing the same process for investments in digital currencies. In addition, there have been reports of Fidelity launching a Bitcoin ETF in Europe and news that BlackRock, the $10 trillion asset manager, is preparing to offer cryptocurrency support for its clients. These reports “normally would give the crypto space a boost to the upside, but this has not been the case,” Cawley says.

Cawley sees the Bitcoin as moving sideways with a marginal downward bias “until the conflict in Eastern Europe is resolved.”

Furthermore, Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda, explains that, “Bitcoin is an unwitting participant in the volatility that It is affecting all risk assets due to the tensions between Russia and Ukraine.” From his perspective, this happens because investors start to expect a protracted military conflict.

The queen of cryptocurrencies could fall victim to a scramble for cash, Moya said, “but once the wave of panic selling passes, long-term bets would quickly return. Moya adds that, “holders could be put to the test shortly,” using the term to refer to crypto investors who hold their positions regardless of price.

According to Emanuele Giusto Kantfish, author of the book ‘Crypto Jungle. Low Cost Comes to Finance’, Ukraine is positioned as one of the countries in which the adoption of crypto assets is growing faster, along with the United States, India, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Argentina. The measure “allows citizens to protect their personal finances, allows investors to have an alternative, given the country’s critical situation and, on the other hand, creates the foundations for it to position itself on the world map as an attractive destination for investors from cryptocurrencies from all over the world.”

Altcoins Cut Sharp Downs

The behavior of the ‘altcoins’ in the rest of the market emulates Bitcoin, with most of them partially recovering from Tuesday’s bleeding, since sales were primed in tokens such as Cardano, Solana, XRP or terra . Most maintain notable losses in the last seven days, despite turning green in the last 24 hours. Additionally, the total market capitalization has risen to 1.73 billion dollars.

Ethereum withstood bear pressure above the $2,500 support and moves above $2,600, but experts believe it remains exposed to further declines before it stabilizes as it has accumulated 15% losses over the last seven days. Ether, the unit of the Ethereum network, has multiple strong support levels at $2,200 and $1,850, and technical analysts do not believe it will break below $1,800 any time soon. In general, they indicate that any drop below these levels is a buying opportunity.

By Audy Castaneda

The NFT World Likely to Face Massive Crashes, as Experienced by ICOs

Audy Castañeda
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The NFT World Likely to Face Massive Crashes, as Experienced by ICOs

Ryan Carson, COO of PROOF Collective, has warned that booming tokens may crash this year.

The world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has become a multi-billion dollar industry in recent months, thanks to the adherence of artists and celebrities and play-to-earn games. However, one crypto specialist believes that the market could crash and drive NFTs into a massive crash, just as it did with initial cryptocurrency offerings (ICOs) in 2019.

On February 22, the expert asserted on Twitter that, “We’re going to see a massive NFT crash like the 2019 ICO crash. I predict it’ll happen 6 months after @Coinbase_NFT launches.”

Platforms such as OpenSea, LooksRare, Axie Infinity, and others, have reached multi-billion dollar trading milestones. In any case, for Ryan Carson, director of operations at PROOF Collective -a podcast specializing in NFT-, that would not prevent an abrupt drop in their economies from occurring in the next six months.

“Fast-turn 10k PFPs, derivatives, and WolfGame copies will go dark because all Coinbase credit card buyers will lose 100% of their ETH,” Carson wrote when opening a thread on his Twitter account.

Carson’s Predictions

According to Carson, the growth of the NFT world will lead to leverage in the sector, but the most sophisticated investors will inject capital only in the best projects. That will lead to “NFT fractionation” and ultimately the best and most expensive will survive.

The specialist also remarked that private institutions and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), especially those with reserves of more than 100 million dollars, would not do so badly, but would instead double their income. He also noted that “high-profile players” would strengthen their commitment to metaverse projects like The Sandbox and Decentraland, which already have significant reputations.

SAND price is currently testing some crucial phases or support levels where a bounce to higher levels is the need of the hour. However, after struggling for some time, the bears, who can drag the price to the lower support near $1.5, are the ones dominating the asset. Therefore, instead of quickly bouncing, the price may consolidate along support levels to gain some strength.

Decentraland price, in contrast, has been in a strong downtrend since mid-February 2022. In addition, the very recent attempt to change the downtrend has been in vain, as the price negated the uptrend, clipped, and revisited lower support. Currently, MANA price has attempted a notable turnaround from the lower support at $2.4 and is heading towards one of the important resistances at $2.8, which may offer interim relief from the downtrend.

Carson ended by sending an encouraging message to the crypto community. According to the expert, the NFT world will be able to grow only if the players do not go around chasing “quick-flip get-rich schemes.”

Unsustainable P2E Economies

Play-to-win NFT games have become all the rage. However, nothing lasts forever, and the bear market reveals all the shortcomings and viability of a project that does not necessarily have real-world demand.

The 2020-2021 bull market has in fact increased the demand for NFTs and tokens in the game. This paved the way for lucrative opportunities for gamers and spawned an entirely new economy – from just a passive hobby to a multibillion-dollar industry.

However, Jason Choi, general partner at Spartan Capital, believes P2E games will become less profitable than they are today in the absence of a bull market. He added that, “If the financial proposition of P2E games starts to wane, it should make up for that by having fun parity with popular Web 2 games, especially if they are to command unicorn ratings.”

Praising Axie Infinity’s strategy for gameplay first and economy second, Choi added that the current model for guild-run scholarships, fervor for DAO tools, marginally enhanced versions of DeFi holders, and tier 1 no treasury massive may not last.

By Audy Castaneda

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