Author: José Oramas

José is a journalist and translator with a keen interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

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Crypto News DeFi NFTs

Decentralised Music? NFTs Could Cut Out Major Record Labels

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) are providing artists and musicians independency by selling their tokenized artworks or albums in DeFi marketplaces, instead of relying on major record labels.

According to Business Insider, more artists are joining the NFT movement by selling their tokenized work for large sums. A new wave of artists is now considering directly offering their music in the form of tokenized products sold on DeFi marketplaces, rather than having it handled by traditional third parties.

Crypto Art Changing the Music Industry

The implications of this new approach appear to be quite significant, for example from a royalties perspective. Many musicians have complained how the current revenue from streaming platforms like Spotify tends to be quite small after the cut taken by labels and distributors. Experts in the music industry have stated that crypto art could indeed shift the power structure of many companies. Researcher Cherie Hu said that NFTs can potentially change the scenario for record labels and their relationship with musicians.

They could provide more incentive for labels to better serve artists. Artists will likely be asking themselves ‘Is my label doing the best job at maximizing the value of my relationship with fans? Do they deserve a cut of these NFTs?’

Cherie Hu [Business Insider]

Millions of Dollars in NFTs

Some of the first and most popular NFT sales were Kings of Leon and 3LAU. Both artists sold their NFT albums for millions of dollars.

Now it seems that artists can connect directly to fans through NFTs by offering special items, maybe even reserved to NFT holders.

NFTs are built on decentralization, connecting fans directly with creators. The current systems in place are opaque and antiquated. NFTs cut out the middleman.

Matt Colon, Steve Aoki’s manager [Business Insider]

NFTs are currently the hottest trend in the fintech space. From books to a single tweet can be auctioned. Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet, which is also the first tweet ever on the social network. Justin Sun, CEO of Tron, offered two million dollars for it.

Auctioning of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet

Users from Reddit are discussing the NFT craze with DeFi, arguing that record labels will have to adapt to new emerging technologies to stay in business.

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Crypto News Institutions

Morgan Stanley Rumoured To Buy Korean Exchange Bithumb For $2 Billion

According to a report, Morgan Stanley is currently negotiating with South Korean top crypto-exchange, Bithumb, by investing approximately $254 million to $441 million to acquire 10% of shares.

Asiae, local Korean media, published an article about the negotiation between both giants, which appeared on Naver, a local search engine.

The Bank Could Acquire Bithumb for $2B

According to an anonymous source familiar with the matter, the bank approached Bident, the largest shareholder of Bithumb Korea. The firm holds 10.6% of Bithumb Holdings. Hence, to sell or transfer shares, Bident’s consent is required.

The reason Morgan Stanley used Bident is because it understood that Bident has the right to negotiate a preferred sale to acquire Bithumb Holdings

Bident, a KOSDAQ firm, soared in valuation after the announcement. Shares surged 16% in just a few hours. Moreover, according to analyst Joseph Young, Morgan Stanley may bid $2 billion to acquire Bithumb.

Institutions Entering the Crypto Market

Morgan Stanley is the latest American private bank to enter the crypto market. The giant now offers three Bitcoin Funds to wealthy investors, and the minimum investment is $5 million. Only wealthy and accredited investors with high-risk tolerance are eligible.

The institutional interest in digital assets is increasing every day. Goldman Sachs, another investment bank, recently saw heavy demand from investors seeking exposure to Bitcoin and other crypto-assets just days after re-opening its crypto-trading desk.

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Australia Bitcoin

Crypto.com Expands MCO Cards in Australia By Announcing Global Alliance with Visa

Chinese exchange Crypto.com has announced a global partnership with Visa, to accelerate the global adoption of cryptocurrencies and crypto-payment methods using the MCO crypto card.

With a principal membership, Crypto.com can now issue directly bitcoin credit cards and ship them all over Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. The alliance will also include the principal membership in Visa’s network in Australia.

In December, Crypto.com received an Australian Financial Service License (ASFL), as required by all blockchain-based companies. With this licence, the exchange was finally allowed to issue crypto-debit cards all around the country.

Now the exchange plans to expand the reach of crypto-debit cards all over Australia, and in several APAC (Asia-Pacific) countries.

Crypto as Collateral

The exchange will introduce “Spending Power” a new product for cardholders allowing them to check in on the current price of their funds in their crypto-wallets, and to lend fiat using crypto as collateral.

As per the blog post, Kris Marszalek stated that both companies seek to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies worldwide:

Digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places—and we’re eager to work with companies bringing this vision to life. Through our partnership with Crypto.com, one of the largest Visa card programs connected to a crypto exchange available today, we are making it quicker and easier for people to spend digital currency worldwide.”

With the crypto market reaching over 1.80T in market cap, Visa stated their intentions to work with crypto exchanges to trade Bitcoin for fiat currencies, thus making crypto-payments acceptable in any place that accepts visa —which would be 70 million places globally.

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Australia Binance Crypto News

Binance AUS and Travala Discuss the Crypto Landscape in Australia

In a recent video interview, the CEO of Binance Australia, Jeff Yew, discussed the impact of cryptocurrencies in Australia and the travel industry, together with Juan Otero, CEO of Travala.

In an AMA session (ask me anything), both Jeff and Juan discussed the impact of cryptocurrencies in Australia. Jeff expects to push forward his educational plans for the country, as well as bringing more support of AUD payments for new potential tokens, like Travala’s AVA.

Why Aussies are Using SMSF to buy Bitcoin

Jeff stated that the outstanding growth in corporate accounts, including SMFS, is followed by the growth of the crypto market and the loss of purchasing power through the years with fiat money.

“Your money is being devalued much more quickly than what your parents experienced. With the expansion of fiat money through the years, you’re looking at losing half of your purchasing value in 5 years. In the U.S. monetary expansion is not stopping, similar thing in Australia as well.

So your halfway point of your asset losing 50% of its purchasing went from 30 years to 5 years. If you have one hundred million in the treasury, you’re going to lose ten million each year. We’re looking at a much more shorter timeframe

On the other hand, Otero stated that is only a matter of time until crypto payments are accepted globally, adding that the travel industry could benefit greatly from the integration of blockchain technology.

There is an increase in interest and adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. My vision is that travelling will be decentralised and community-governed, and we’re giving developers the tools to build their travel platforms, so there will be a travel supply, and they can greatly benefit from that.

The Effects of the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted the travel industry in Australia. Borders remain closed, biosecurity measures and restrictions are said to be lifted in June this year, but it’s not guaranteed.

But as cryptocurrencies started surging in 2020, Travala avoided the negative effects of the pandemic thanks to its support for crypto-payments. Hence, becoming a leader in the travel industry thanks to its blockchain-based infrastructure, attracting crypto-enthusiast.

A Demand Tsunami

Both Jeff and Juan are seeing large inflows of users on their companies, and a greater demand for their products. Binance Australia hit trading volume records, and Travala managed to grow its community thanks to its blockchain-based infrastructure, avoiding certain perks of the pandemic.

Categories
Crypto Exchange Crypto News

BitMEX Founder Arrested in New York, Pays $26M in Bail

The U.S. Border patrol has arrested BitMEX’s co-founder, Ben Delo, in a surrender agreement negotiated with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), according to Bloomberg.

A $26M Bail Bond

Delo flew from the United Kingdom to New York, as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors. At the arraignment hearing held today by judge Sarah L. Cave, Delo pleaded “not guilty”.

The co-founder is accused of money-laundering charges, between them, an apparent conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act, a U.S. law that requires all financial institutions to report to governmental agencies to detect money laundering schemes.

The prosecutors released him thanks to a bail bond of $26 million. The terms of his bond allow him to go back to the U.K., where he will wait for his trial.

BitMEX as a “Vehicle for Money Laundering”

The main executives of BitMEX: Ben Delo, Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed, and Greg Dwyer (head of business development), are under investigation for allowing money-laundering activities with the exchange.

BitMEX is a popular derivative and crypto exchange. The platform doesn’t ask its users to lend credentials. Thus, prosecutors are charging the founders with violating the U.S. Anti-money Laundering act of 2020, as well as operating an unregistered trading platform.

As stated, the founders failed to implement security and identification programs such as KYC (Know Your Customer).

The Second BitMEX Founder Arrested

Delo is not the first founder to be arrested. U.S. authorities charged the three founders in October. According to Bloomberg, federal prosecutors arrested Samuel Reed (CTO) that month, and also released him with a bail bond.

Likewise, the US authorities are negotiating with Arthur Hayes an agreed surrender. Hayes is currently in Singapore, the country where he has resided since October last year.

Moreover, the head of business, Greg Dwyer, is apparently in the Bermudas but is not currently discussing an agreement with Authorities.

Categories
Bitcoin Blockchain Crypto News

Bitcoin Still Only Does 5 Transactions Per Second vs VISA’s 3,900 Per Second

While Bitcoin remains the leading crypto in the market by adoption, some issues remain with it’s scalability and use as a medium of exchange. With the question being asked, is it just a store of value?

If it is to ever be used for payments globally it will have to solve this issue. Otherwise it could just be a store of value and other cryptocurrencies with much lower fees such as Litecoin may take over the payments sector.

On a typical day, on average Bitcoin only does 4-5 TPS vs VISA’s 3,900 TPS which is a considerable difference. The fee structure is different with VISA charging a percentage of the transaction amount and BTC having a fixed rate for any amount. This may make BTC cheaper for large transactions but way more expensive for small transactions.

Average TransactionsVISABitcoin (BTC)EtherLitecoin
Avg Transactions per second3,9004-51556
Avg Total Transactions per day84 Million350,0001.3 Million110,000
Avg Price per Transaction0.5-2%US $20US $20$0.036
Daily Transaction Volume$31 Billion$12 Billion$7 Billion$1.5 Billion
Bitcoin vs VISA transactions data as at 17 March 2021

VISA TPS data is calculated from Q4 2020 data (3 months) showing 30,676 Million VISA (and related VISA) network transactions. VISA Daily Volume is calculated by 11.6 Trillion per year recorded in 2019 Annual report.

Useful data links:

Bitcoin’s Long Road for Mainstream Integration

Data shows that companies globally have spent $2B to research and integrate blockchain technology, being Bitcoin’s network the most popular option for businesses.

This year, Bitcoin’s network shows between 2-6 TPS (Transactions Per Second)

TPS from January to March, 2021. Source: Blockchain.com
TPS since 2013

The problem is Bitcoin has a limited rate for transaction processes. The network can only handle block sizes of 1-4 MB. At a maximum, that would still only be 5-7 TPS.

Number of transactions per month. Source: Wikipedia

Developers need to address scalability issues even before traditional institutions in the industry start implementing blockchain technology.

Ethereum 2.0 Blockchain Technology

Since blockchain technology emerged, the scalability issue has been a long discussion. Developers are currently exploring new ways to improve the overall ecosystem for blockchains.

Moreover, developers from other protocols, like Ethereum, are taking important steps to improve blockchain technology. Such as implementing new consensus protocols to enhance issues like scalability, speed, and interoperability.

For instance, ETH 2.0 seeks at least 100,000 TPS, compared to the 30 TPS of Ethereum.

Is Bitcoin Just a Store of Value?

Despite acting poorly as a medium of exchange, Bitcoin is considered as one of the greatest stores of values against declining fiat. According to Bloomberg, investors are replacing gold with Bitcoin as a better store of value.

Naturally, investors will always seek to add new products to their portfolios. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for an alternative hedge against declining fiat, and a bearish stock market heavily affected by the virus.

Likewise, since the pandemic started, the numbers of Aussies using SMSF to invest in crypto increased. As Bitcoin started its institutional-driven bull run, many investors and traders flock to popular exchanges, like Binance Australia or CoinSpot.

Aussie investors are even choosing crypto over gold. At least 12% of investors are adding Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple’s XRP to their portfolio instead of gold.

As reported, 45% of citizens are investing in crypto for the increase in price, and at least 12% considering digital assets as a better store of value.

Bitcoin (and cryptocurrencies in general) have the potential to reshape the financial aspects of the world. While its crypto-technology brings several advantages, it still has a long road to becoming a part of businesses globally.

Categories
Cardano Coinbase Crypto News

ADA Surges 18% in Price as Coinbase Pro Allows ADA Trading

Today, Coinbase announced support for Cardano’s ADA in Coinbase Pro. Trading will start this Thursday, at 9:00 PM pacific time. Users can compare ADA’s price in four currencies:

  • ADA-USD
  • ADA-BTC
  • ADA-EUR
  • ADA-GBP

According to the blog post, Coinbase will support Shelley addresses, one of Cardano’s wallets with the prefix “addr1”. The platform is planning to provide full support for the Byron wallet, also called “Legacy”.

Coinbase Users Demanding ADA

Cardano is rising fast in the crypto-community since the protocol implemented the Mary Fork in its ecosystem, turning it into a multi-asset network.

Likewise, the support for ADA came shortly after the platform registered heavy demand from users, as Cardano becomes an attractive asset for crypto-traders and investors.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Charles Hoskinson gave stated that about 100 DeFi protocols will ditch Ethereum and switch to Cardano’s protocol. Accordingly, Cardano is ready to provide several benefits for DeFi than its competitors with its new multi-asset system.

The ADA token surged over 477% since January this year, calling the attention of several investors in the crypto market.

More Australians Buying ADA

Likewise, more Australians are considering adding ADA to their portfolio as price increases. Moreover, the token appeared in 9 News Australia, in a section called “The New Bitcoin”, stating that more investors are exploring Cardano as an alternative for BTC.

ADA is up 18% following the announcement, trading at $1,21, according to Coinmarketcap. 24-hour trading volumes have reached levels over $7,500,000,000, a 70.00% increase.

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Crypto News Institutions Ripple

Ripple Battles Against the SEC Over Access to Executive’s Financial History

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now trying to access the personal financial data of Ripple’s main executives: Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen.

The SEC wants access to eight years of the executives’ financial data. This information is somehow related to the revenues of Ripple, according to the SEC. But both Larsen and Garlinghouse have stated that this data is irrelevant to the case.

Ripple Ask the Court to Block Access to the SEC

Ripple’s defence lawyers have submitted a letter to a federal judge, requesting to block access to the financial history of the executives. According to the letter, the institution has sent subpoenas (a formal written order) to six banks:

  • Silicon Valley Bank
  • Federal Reserve Bank of New York
  • Silvergate Bank
  • Citibank
  • Silver Lake Bank

Both executives have already produced the financial records relevant to the revenue streams that the SEC has requested.

As stated by the lawyers, the case is about the sale of unregistered securities over the years. But the SEC would be implementing a fraud case with no allegations and coherent motives whatsoever:

The SEC has nonetheless asserted that the Individual Defendants’ personal financial information is relevant to their “motive” to engage in the challenged conduct.

The SEC has not offered and cannot provide a coherent explanation for why it is entitled to this information.

Over the last few days, Ripple has faced several challenges since the case started. Likewise, the company also terminated its partnership with MoneyGram, a cross-border company that used Ripple’s ODL service for two years.

Ripple decided to call off its partnership soon after MoneyGram got sued by Rosen Law Firm. The lawyers submitted a case action on behalf of several investors over “misleading” statements regarding the use of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Institutions

MicroStrategy Buys 262 Bitcoins at Nearly $58,000

Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy has bought some additional 262 Bitcoins (AU$ 19,300,000) for $57k. The crypto community was surprised the company bought at such a high price, but many believe this is only the start of a greater bull run for BTC.

How did the Community React?

Some argue that MicroStrategy bought a level considered dangerous due to heavy resistance with a double top pattern. But others think of it as a move against the potential inflation that the U.S. Dollar could face anytime soon.

The U.S. Senate has passed a COVID-19 relief bill, providing stimulus checks of $1,400 for its citizens. Naturally, this means the Federal Reserve will print 1.9 trillion in the upcoming days.

Many in the crypto community have their eyes on a $100k price for Bitcoin. Even private banks like JP Morgan predicted higher prices for BTC. The chart below shows a double top pattern, but the sentiment remains bullish.

BTC/USD Chart

As MicroStrategy invest $15 million at a level of $57,000, this could be the beginning of a new All-Time high, probably reaching levels over $60k in the upcoming months.

How Much Would you Have if you Invested in Crypto Back Then?

Investing in Bitcoin with $1,000 back in 2020 would result in profits of $9,000 – $10,000, considering BTC was priced at barely $7,000 back then. Likewise, traders who bought ADA last year at levels below .50 cents would be sitting on profits of $42,000 right now.

It’s worth noting that the sentiment in Australia for Bitcoin has been bullish since January. Around 70% of Aussie traders believe BTC will reach over US$ 90k by the end of 2021.

Categories
Bitcoin Institutions

Goldman Sachs Under Pressure to Meet Investor’s Demand for BTC

It has been just four days since Goldman Sachs re-opened its crypto trading desk for its clients. Now the famous American investment bank is under heavy pressure from investors, who are now more keen than ever to invest in Bitcoin.

According to John Waldron, Chief Operating Officer, the bank is trying to please client’s rising demand for BTC while also keeping up with regulations from institutions (like the Securities and Exchange Commission).

Client demand is rising. We are regulated on what we can do. We continue to evaluate it and engage in it.

Stated Waldron for Reuters

The large inflow of clients is followed by the recent price increase of Bitcoin, reaching a new All-time of $57,000, flirting with trading levels up to $58,700. The bullish sentiment remains strong despite the abrupt and fast-paced price increase.

BTC/USD Chart

Demand for a Bitcoin ETF

Currently, the bank seeks to open a Bitcoin Exchanged-traded Fund, but they are not the only institution looking for it. The NYDIG (New York Digital Investment Group) filed weeks ago to the SEC to open a Bitcoin ETF together with Morgan Stanley.

Waldron believes that digital commerce would likely hit a milestone in 2021. Cryptocurrencies could take a greater role in the digital economy now that these institutions are trying to pave the way for broader adoption.

There is no question in our mind there will be more digital commerce and the use of digital money. The pandemic has been a significant accelerant.