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Ripple Purchased $46 Million Worth Of XRP In Q3 2020 To Support Newly Launched Line Of Credit

By
Adam Barry
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0

Although Bitcoin correlates with other cryptocurrencies, that correlation has not been helpful to XRP, whose demand has not been convincing. In a bid to boost demand for XRP, Ripple purchased XRPs worth $46 million in Q3 2020 as it seeks to support healthy markets.

Ripple purchases XRP to create demand around XRP and boost the price

This is the first time Ripple is purchasing a sizeable amount of XRP despite currently owning over 50% of the virtual asset’s supply. Ripple indicated that the move seeks to support markets, which implies creating demand around XRP and increase its price. Despite increasing volatility in the cryptocurrency market, XRP has been moving in a narrow range and so far has managed a return of 22.23% year to date, leaving investors worried when the price would take off.

In its Q3 2020 filings, the company indicated that it made On-Demand Liquidity sales of $81  million compared to Q2 2020 when ODL sales were $33 million. Also, an increase in Average Daily Volume saw an increase of 106% in the quarter to $404 million resulting in the total XRP volume of $37 billion in the quarter.

XRP purchase supporting “Line of Credit” product

In the previous quarter, the company launched a new service called “Line of Credit,” which allows ODL customers to purchase XRP on credit from Ripple. The rationale behind the “Line of Credit” is expanding the use of XRP to enhance cross border payments. A Ripple spokesperson indicated that the purchase of XRP during the quarter meant to support the “Line of Credit” product. The spokesperson said that in the long-term, the firm is targeting the creation of new ODL capabilities to enable sourcing of XRP liquidity from the open market.

The ODL payment service uses XRP in connecting two fiat currencies. The service is beneficial compared to legacy payments because ODL user can hold their funds in the preferred currency. This makes transfers easier because it doesn’t need fully-funded accounts in all involved currencies.

French Aerospace Company, Thales Integrates Blockchain Tech In Its management System For Parts Traceability

By
Adam Barry
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0

Blockchain tech has continued to show its application in various fields and now French aerospace giant, Thales is integrating Big Data and Blockchain tech for its digital transformation. The aerospace and defence products and services provider is using blockchain tech at its production hub in Spain for a new management system to comply with NATO standards.

Thales using blockchain in a new management system

According to a November 5, 2020 announcement, the company is planning to deploy blockchain tech to facilitate the transformation of the defence and aeronautics management system at the Production and maintenance centre. Thales’ inner body will be a platform of interconnected applications on the network, which will create connectivity to workbenches and test means of extracting information. The tech will be important in the traceability of products and parts going through the network in compliance with NATO requirements and different Ministries of Defense. Products created at the hub include naval aeronautics and radio communication equipment.

In the announcement, the company said that blockchain would be part of the new management system which will connect all applications on its network. This new platform will connect all processes, enhance customer communication and maintenance operations.

Use of blockchain tech in parts traceability growing

The Paris-based company first announced the blockchain solution almost two years ago when it launched a traceability demo with Accenture at Farnborough Air Show. The unveiled prototype includes cryptoseals from Chronicled and IoT to ensure Near Field Communication chip integrated with a tamperproof distinctive part identity. Although the announcement didn’t mention blockchain technologies to use the company documentation of essential storage hardware supports Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.

Since the launch of the Thales’s prototype in 20218, there have been several other traceability solutions unveiled by other players in the defence and aerospace industry. For instance, the US Air Force and the US Navy have been working with SIMBA Chain for traceability of aircraft parts. Also, SITA launched the MRO Blockchain Alliance nine months ago for maintenance, repair and overhaul. Equally Honeywell Aerospace unveiled its parts traceability two years ago. 

The Netherlands Central Bank Becomes Registers BLOX Crypto Exchange As the First Consumer-Facing Platform

By
Adam Barry
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0

BLOX cryptocurrency exchange has received approval to operate in the Netherlands. The exchange becomes the first consumer-facing platform to receive approval since the implementation of the EU 5th Anti Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5).

BLOX the first approved consumer-facing crypto exchange in the Netherlands

The company announced in a blog post that BLOX would be the first crypto company to enter the Dutch Central Bank’s registry. BLOX indicated that the registration is mandatory in the Netherlands for all firms that offer services for buying, selling and holding digital currencies. The exchange allows its users to make low costs crypto investment, and according to the blog post, users can invest in digital currencies as low as €1. The exchange will now be available to the general public across the nation according to the Dutch Central Bank.

In October Netherlands-based cryptocurrency services provider AMDAX BV captured headlines as the inaugural firm of its kind in the regulated area. However, AMDAX markets to large investors. As a statement from AMDAX indicated that the platform supports private businesses and private investors with a portfolio beginning with investments of 2.5 Bitcoins.

Cryptocurrencies seeing widespread adoption in the Netherlands

Being among the approved crypto firms in the country was not enough for BLOX, which was also registered by De Nederlandsche bank NC, the Central Bank of the nation. The Central bank also registered another crypto exchange called Anycoin Direct. The registration of the exchange by the Central Bank is a sign that cryptos will continue to be widely accessible to users across the country.

Various exchanges are warming up to the opportunity in the Netherlands, but some are avoiding the region. At the beginning of this year, digital assets derivatives platform Deribit left the country to avoid new regulations witnessed across the EU. Deribit moved out of the Netherlands for the Netherlands because of the adoption of AMLD5 and changed in Know Your Customer requirements. . Interestingly with more crypto exchanges moving to the Netherlands, it seems the country is opening up for widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Chinese Company UnionPay and South Korea’s Danal To Launch Cryptocurrency Credit Card

By
Adam Barry
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0

Chinese financial services provider UnionPay which is an analog to card providers Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE:MA) is partnering with South Korea’s Danal to introduce a crypto-supporting digital card. The digital card will support cryptocurrency payments through Paycoin at the more than 30 million UnionPay merchants in 179 countries.

UnionPay-Danal Card to be available by end year

UnionPay said that the new card would be available to users by the end of this year. The Danal crypto wallet, PayCoin will be the interface through which users can access the prepaid mobile card. Even though Paycoin is a crypto token, this collaboration will not involve the use of cryptocurrency. Cardholders will top the virtual card through KRW and payments will be in local currency. However, the clearing between UnionPay and Danal will be in USD.

PayCoin is a crypto-based token that has been around since 2019 with around 760,000 registered users. The asset is listed by some popular exchanges such as Huobi Korea, Upbit, Gdac, Coinone and Liquid. Currently, the largest PayCoin user base is in South Korea, but the company has plans of expanding globally.

PayCoin prepaid card to help sort issues of overseas travel spending

Although PayCoin is at nascent stages, the platform has helped in lessening digital transactions wait times, and it also offers users with low fees. In a recent interview Danal CEO, Park Sang Man said that the prepaid mobile card would enhance convenience, especially when users travel overseas. He added that the card would alleviate issues of credit card theft, and Danal is planning to make the service available globally. Sang said that the UnionPay-Danal card will also be available to users in mainland China and will support both cryptocurrency and fiat currency top-ups and payments.

The idea of having cryptocurrency debit and credit cards is increasingly g=becoming popular across the globe. Recently Coinbase stated that it would issue a bitcoin debit card which can allow transferring of cryptocurrency for attached accounts into US dollars to permit payment at millions of participating merchants.

Ethereum Transaction Fees Decline In October As The DeFi Bubble Subsides But BTC Fees Are High

By
Adam Barry
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0

It seems like the DeFi bubble is slowing in the last months of 2020 with confirmation times and fees dropping to less challenging levels. For instance, Ethereum (ETH) fees are down, which is an indication that the DeFi bubble has abated.

Ethereum transactions fees dropped 65% in October

According to Galssnode, in October Ethereum users paid around $57.49 million in transaction fees, which is a 65% drop from the record tally of $166.39 million in September. Trading volume on decentralized exchanges dropped by 25% in October to 19.4 billion, which is the first monthly drop since April. The drop is attributed to the fact that most decentralized exchanges are based on Ethereum. Equilibrium &EOSDT stablecoin founder Alex Melikhov said that there was a drop in decentralized exchange volumes as transaction costs declined, thus reducing the network’s bandwidth demand.

Josh Olszewicz popularly known as CaperNoctom on Twitter, said that the DeFi bubble had cooled offer and BTC hash rate is way down. He said in reference to the current situation on the Bitcoin network. However, the BTC network action is unrelated to the drop in ETH transaction fees based on Josh’s opinion as this happens to correlate.

BTC network experiencing congestion but fees high

Recently BTC hash rate suffered a decline which signalled a decrease in mining power for the BTC network. In recent weeks the BTC network has witnessed high congestion levels resulting in longer confirmation times with most transaction still unconfirmed. On November the network finalized a difficult adjustment, but the declining BTC hash rate before the adjustment was the catalyst behind the clogged network and high fees.

Josh said that he is not sure why BTC fees are still high because they should have “burned off” due to the high congestion. Therefore it is still unclear why the total fees per day keep rising in BTC, but Olszewicz says it could be a result of lagging effect. BTC is taking the spotlight as it tests a convincing break past the 2019 highs with a discussion about mainstream adoption growing.

Crypto Lending Platform Celsius Showing Massive Growth As It Doubles Cryptocurrency Holdings To Over $2.2 Billion

By
Adam Barry
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0

The centralized cryptocurrency borrowing platform, Celsius, has announced that it has almost doubled its cryptocurrency holdings in the past six months. The platform currently boasts around $2.2 billion in digital assets under its management. At the beginning of this year, the lending platform became the first to surpass the $1 billion mark in total assets under management.

Celsius doubles net digital assets under management

According to a November 9 report, the platform more than doubled its net digital assets holding in the past six months. Currently, Celsius has over 215,000 total users globally. Minus its AUM, the platform’s balance sheet, which includes native CEL tokens and cash, is worthy over $680 million. Although 2020 has been one of the challenging years, the company has witnessed considerable growth, and it is among the fast-growing firms in the sector.

The company offers centralized finance (CeFI) alternative to decentralized finance (DeFI), and in the past year, its CEL token has grown 4,529%. Users deposit crypto assets to the platform, which are then lent to crypto exchanges and market makers. The company distributes 80% of the interest generated to depositors. Since its launch in 2018, the lending platform has distributed around $80 million to depositors.

Celsius growing exponentially since 2018

Alex Mashinsky, the CEO of the company, said that the incredible growth the platform is witnessing is not just for the past year but since the launch of Celsius over two years. This shows that interest income is the latest killer app for cryptocurrency. Mashinsky said that they created the reward-earning concept on digital assets with a native token or in-kind, which unveiled the DeFi revolution. As a result, since then, Celsius has created income for depositors than anyone in CeFi or Defi.

The company attributes the massive growth to the community-centric approach of acting in the best interest of depositors by offering 80% of profits to customers. Customers can earn rewards on cryptocurrency rates of around 15% APY on more than 40 digital currencies paid out weekly.

Terra Virtua Secures $2.5 Million Funding From Top Finds To Create Nonfungible collectibles For ComiCon Crowd

By
Adam Barry
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0

Digital collectibles platform Terra Virtua has announced the closing of a $2.5 million funding from leading funds such as AU21 Capital, Woodstock, and NGC ventures. Terra Virtua will use the funds to advance what the company calls the first nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem.

Nonfungible tokens promising to revolutionize art

Nonfungible tokens are crypto tokens popularly used in the art, collectibles, and gaming industry. They are different from fungible tokens such as Bitcoin because they are not mutually interchangeable since each token represents a unique value. In recent times there has been a surge in interest in NFTs. As a result, they have been heralded as the new renaissance for art. The NFT market represents where one can buy or sell games, collectibles, and art. Terra Virtual CEO Gary Bracey indicated that this market is snowballing, and the company is taking a cautious approach to the surging interest.

Besides being a marketplace for digital collectibles, the Terra Virtua platform significantly focuses on the fandom scene’s social aspect. Interestingly it offers several customizable virtual spaces where one can showcase their virtual NFT collections such as movies, music, in-game rewards, sports memorabilia, and artwork. The ecosystem sports partners such as Legendary Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, and Unreal Engine. It has also signed intellectual property deals such as Lost in Space, the Godfather, and Top Gun.

Consumers adopting virtual ownership of items

Although NFTs have been causing an explosion in crypto and blockchain gaming circles, they have not created a massive splash in mainstream markets. The good news is that consumers are increasingly becoming comfortable with virtual item ownership. This is primarily due to the revolution of mp3 in the music industries followed by the iTunes age.

Because of this development, Terra Virtua founder Jawad Ashraf believes that the virtual collectibles ecosystem will disrupt the $62 billion merchandise and Fandom market. As a result, this will attract the ComiCon crowd into the blockchain party. Already the Terra Virtua marketplace, Terrdome, and 3D FanCave are live, and a 3D art gallery will launch soon.

Bitfury Partners With LIAN Group To Upgrade Mining Infrastructure In Norway

By
Adam Barry
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0

Cryptocurrency mining company Bitfury has established mining as a service partnership with Luxembourg-based LIAN Group to upgrade its $35 million blockchain infrastructure in Norway.

LIAN Group to upgrade blockchain infrastructure

Bitfury 42-megawatt data center near Mo i Rana currently is powered by 100% renewable energy. As part of the partnership, private equity firm LIAN Group will offer a full upgrade of the existing blockchain infrastructure of Bitfury, which comprises the large data center in Norway. Bitfury opened cryptocurrency mining operations near Mo i Rana back in 2018.

LIAN Group is expected to fully install the air-cooled BlockBoxes, which is the crypto mining hardware, in the next few months. The air-cooled BlockBoxes integrated with ultramodern chips are powered onsite with low-cost energy. This mining hardware is important in offering the computational capacity to crypto units, and once installed, they will offer optimal exposure to the BTC market. Currently, Norway has some of the most cost-efficient low electricity and energy prices globally.  

Fiorenzo Manganiello, the co-founder of LIAN Group, said this will be among the most efficient asset in the market. This is because the mining operation depends on fixed and low monthly expenses, thanks to Norway’s low energy prices.

Bitfury has a $35 million blockchain project in Norway

In March 2018, Bitfury announced that it received government approval to establish the $35 million blockchain infrastructure project. At the beginning of this year, the crypto mining firm said that it will open up the company for institutional investment by letting other funds and family offices invest in BTC mining. 

Besides Norway, Bitfury also has similar data centers for mining BTC in Iceland, Canada, and central Asia. All have access to power prices of around $0.03 per kWh or lower. LIAN Group indicated that they will potentially scale the same operations in Canada as from 2021.

Manganiello said that their approach is to find and embrace tech that can solve global problems as a company. Therefore this implies that the company is constantly enhancing its ways of operations by partnering with various players.

The US DOJ Helps Brazilian Authorities To Seize $24 Million Connected To “Operation Egypto” Scam

By
Adam Barry
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0

The US Department of Justice has helped Brazilian authorities to nab $24 million in crypto-related to an online scam that allegedly scammed thousands of investors. The DoJ said that it received a request from the Brazilian government in relation to a crypto fraud scam labeled “Operation Egypto.”

Seized $24 million part of a probe into a $200 million scam

The $24 million seizure is part of an ongoing probe into a crypto scam that defrauded several Brazilian investors. According to authorities, the scammers had duped investors by promising them exorbitant returns and falsifying where they invested the funds. Brazilian authorities say that over 10,000 investors were scammed in the scheme where over $200 million was lost.

A statement from the DOJ indicated that the US acceded to the south American Nation’s request as per the cooperation treaty signed between the nations with respect to “Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.” The seized crypto is connected to Marcos Antonio Fagundes, a Brazilian national among the scam perpetrators.

DOJ seizes accounts of Marcos Fagundes

Fagundes is sought for operating a financial institution without approval, misappropriation of funds, fraudulent management of a financial institution, securities law violation, and money laundering.  He and his conspirators are accused of operating an unregistered financial institution holding crypto assets obtained from individuals that he falsely made promises regarding the investment of the funds and returns. The DOJ statement indicated that Fagundes solicited money from investors deceiving them to give money to corporations to invest on their behalf. Only a small amount of the funds were invested in crypto with very little returns to investors.

The $24 million was reportedly held in a US-based exchange, and the DOJ said that the crypto company holding the accounts cooperated. This implies that it was a company within its jurisdiction that was involved. The DOJ has the authority to seize crypto in connection with legal cases in the US and can auction off the funds. In February, the DOJ announced the sale of 4,040 BTC.

Bitcoin Price Surges After Square Reports That 80% Of Its Cash App Revenue Was From Bitcoin

By
Adam Barry
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0

Bitcoin is surging after Square’s mobile payment app, Cash App, reported that nearly 80% of its revenue in Q3 came from Bitcoin. Users bought the app to increase BTC revenue by 1,100% after almost $1.6 billion Bitcoin.

Cash App generated $17 million BTC profit

Cash App generated a gross profit of $32 million in Q3 2020, 11X and 15x QoQ and YoY. In the second quarter, the publicly traded payments firm sold around $875 million via Cash App and realized a $17 million profit. In the entire 2019, Square only sold $516 million in BTC. Bitcoin revenue was the largest Cash App revenue component in Q3, with overall revenue being $2 billion.

Square’s Cash App accts as a broker for BTC purchases, and it buys BTC on behalf of the user and adds a small fee. The firm reported that some of the increased BTC sales were a result of the recently launched Auto-Incest tool. The tool allows users to make recurring purchases of bitcoin or stock.

In the quarter, Square’s revenue was over $3 billion, which is a 140% YoY increase with BTC comprising over 50%. In 2019 total BTC revenue was $338 million, and gross profit was $5 million. The company added BTC to its balance sheet, joining others like PayPal and Microstrategy.

Square makes investments in BTC

Also, the company acknowledged the October purchase of $50 million BTC as a treasury asset. The purchase was based on the belief that digital tokens are vital in economic empowerment, and this aligns with Square’s purpose. Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Square, said that they made two strategic investments in digital currencies because they believe BTC will be a native currency of the internet.

Bitcoin jumped 6% following the report from Square to hit a two year high of $15,880. The surge was helped by big corporations that have to include the token in their balance sheets and as a Joe Biden presidency looms. A Biden win will be advantageous for BTC because that will drive the dollar lower.

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