Category: Crypto News

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Australia Crypto News Regulation

Australia Needs to Regulate its Crypto Market to Compete Globally, Says BTC Markets

Australian digital exchange BTC Markets has recently stated that the cryptocurrency market should be regulated in Australia, amid a surge in interest for currencies such as Bitcoin and other cryptos.

According to its CEO, Caroline Bowler, the crypto market in the country needs “regulatory oversight,” and a more clear infrastructure for crypto-companies.

Australia Needs to Keep Apace With Change

The Australian government has increased its focus on blockchain technology, following the calls from key players in the crypto industry for more government support on the matter.

As part of the Australian Blockchain Roadmap, the government allocated AU$6.9 million to conduct two blockchain pilot programs to demonstrate how to use this technology and expand business adoption.

While this comes in handy for leaders in the crypto-space, Bowler believes that the regulatory weather in Australia remains “unclear.” The fintech space is growing fast, and Australia needs to “keep apace of the change,” she added.

An “Outdated” Regulatory Environment

Bowler thinks that the regulatory infrastructure in Australia is “outdated” and only works for traditional markets. Accordingly, this closes the doors for prospective companies seeking to enter APAC countries.

A clearer regulatory environment could help Australia become a leader in financial technology and compete globally with countries like Singapore —which already made several advances with blockchain technology and regulating crypto-related activities. Besides, this could lay the groundwork for international projects coming into Australia.

“[…] I do think that regulatory clarity will help with other international projects/partners. We are looking forward to seeing what the Senate committee will be putting forward next month on this.”

Caroline Bowler [Twitter]

Not only crypto-exchanges are demanding a better environment and more support. Senator Andrew Bragg recently said the Australian Committee needs to consider the opportunities that digital assets and blockchain presents, which could also turn Australia into a leading country in finance and technology.

I fully expect the Committee to focus on removing more barriers to Australian growth as a technology and finance centre. […] This is a golden opportunity to bolster Australia’s economic growth, and I want to ensure we take full advantage.

Senator Andrew Bragg
Categories
Crypto Debit Cards Crypto News Ethereum Industries Stablecoins

Visa Allows USD Coin (USDC) Cryptocurrency to Settle Transactions

Visa announced on Monday that it now allows partners of its network to clear fiat transactions with the USDC stablecoin using the Ethereum blockchain.

Visa Using Ethereum Blockchain

Visa’s most recent move, will allow them to utilise the Ethereum blockchain, this removes the need to convert digital currency into traditional money in order for the transaction to be settled. Where this would traditionally be the case. For example, Crypto.com won’t have to go through conversions and can settle with Visa directly in USDC.

Visa said it has partnered with digital asset bank Anchorage, the first federally chartered digital asset bank, and completed the first transaction this month — with Crypto.com sending USDC to Visa’s Ethereum address at Anchorage. The (USDC) is a stablecoin cryptocurrency, and its value is directly linked to the U.S. dollar.

USDC Icon: Circle

Visa came to us in 2019 with an idea—make secure, efficient, and seamless settlement payments possible in digital currency by linking Visa’s treasury with Anchorage’s custody platform.

Diogo Mónica, co-founder and president of Anchorage

The credit card giant is already partnering with 35 digital currency platforms, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, BlockFi and Bitpanda, which collectively have more than 50 million active users.

We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we’re seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers.

Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa

“Crypto-native fintechs want partners who understand their business and the complexities of digital currency form factors,” said Visa chief product officer Jack Forestell. “The announcement today marks a major milestone in our ability to address the needs of fintechs managing their business in a stablecoin or cryptocurrency.”

The firm said it aims to make this system available to Fintech companies and neobanks dealing in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and USDC. After further testing and additional conversations with its clients, partners, and members of the regulatory community, Visa hopes to launch the USDC settlement capability for other partners as well “in the year ahead.”

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Blockchain Crypto News Institutions Travel

Blockchain-based COVID-19 Passports are Now Available in New York

The Excelsior Pass, a digital COVID-19 application, is now official in New York. It uses blockchain technology to protect and validate data from users, allowing them to travel, attend sports events, art performances, and more.

The pass is a voluntary application that uses IBM’s Digital Health platform. This app will help organisations to validate user’s health credentials by scanning the person to verify proof of vaccination or negative PCR test results.

The NY Governor Andrew Cuomo announced its launch on March 26, and the app is now officially available for Android and iOS.

Blockchain-based COVID-19 passports

Although the passport is voluntary and helps to verify health credential, it will not keep records of users data. All the information is stored on the blockchain, and only users can access their personal information.

“Secure technologies, like blockchain and encryption, are woven throughout Excelsior Pass to help protect the data, making it verifiable and trusted. No private health data is stored or tracked within the apps.”

Statement from the official announcement

The Excelsior Pass was first announced on March 4 as a pilot program that could help re-open travelling and commerce all over the United States. If the passport turns out successful, other countries considering issuing COVID-19 passports could follow suit by implementing Blockchain technology.

Excelsior Pass is another tool in our new toolbox to fight the virus while allowing more sectors of the economy to reopen safely and keeping personal information secure.”

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of NY
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Bitcoin Crypto News Institutions

Bitcoin to Hit $400K, Says Bloomberg Analyst

Bitcoin could become a global digital reserve asset, according to Mike McGlone, Senior Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.

McGlone recently shared on his Twitter account a graph of the Bitcoin annual average price and the bitcoin Liquid Index. As shown below, BTC could reach a potential price of over $400,000 by 2021, considering its price behaviour in the past.

Source: Bloomberg Intelligence.

The Maturation Leap for Bitcoin

McGlone considers Bitcoin’s current bull run a “maturation leap”, which could lead the cryptocurrency to become a risk-off global reserve asset, as more institutional investors are seeking BTC exposure through investment firms.

Well on its way to becoming a global digital reserve asset, a maturation leap in 2021 may be transitioning Bitcoin toward a risk-off asset, in our view.

Mike McGlone

This view is reinforced by a broader institutional interest and adoption. Investment firms, asset managers, and other financial institutions have filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a Bitcoin Exchanged-traded Fund.

An ETF Could Catapult Bitcoin

Analyst Lark Davis believes an ETF could give Bitcoin a boost the same way it did with the first gold ETF in 2003.

Since Bitcoin first appeared 13 years ago, its market cap went from zero to over $1 trillion. If a BTC ETF is approved, the crypto market could experience an even greater boost thanks to accredited investors and institutional capital could flock to the ETF.

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Binance Blockchain Crypto News EOS

EOS Loses Most Used Dapp to Binance Smart Chain (BSC)

EOS’s largest project, Effect Network, has disclosed plans to relocate its entire network to Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

Who is Effect Network?

Effect Network (EFX) a Dutch-based project, also known as Effect.ai, has recently rebranded with their move to BSC. They are well known for the use of decentralized technology to build a framework that allows “anyone to build products and services and for anyone to gain access to fair paying work from anywhere”, thereby directly connecting businesses and the workforce. The network currently boasts of a workforce of more than 10,000 members globally, from 97 different countries.

Effect Network is currently the most used decentralized application (dApp) on the EOS mainnet. The network boasts of completing more than 7 million paid tasks since its inception. Some of its use cases involve big organisations like The United Nations (UN), Akon and Linus Tech Tips.

Why the Move From EOS?

The major issue that stood out for Effect Network was a concern about the future and viability of the EOS blockchain. Effect Network cites “unfulfilled promises to address the many issues that plague the EOS mainnet”. Another reason to move on seems to be the recent decision of the founder and CTO of EOS parent company Block.one, Dan Larimer, to leave the project “to pursue new personal projects”.

Binance Smart Chain Getting Lots of Attention

The network has partnered with top industry players like Chiliz, Chainlink, Gravity Network, ANKR Network, etc. Most of the partners are moving to BSC due to its comparatively lower transaction fees.

Chris Dawe spoke highly of the move to BSC. He also added that the platform’s culture of hard work, dedication, and vision is exceptional.

Look at what the Binance organization has accomplished in only the last three years. It is a testament of dedication, hard work but above all its laser-focused vision. The amount of products and services our clients and workforce can tap into with the Binance ecosystem are amazing and will help accelerate the growth of the Effect Network like never before.

Chris Dawe, CEO of Effect Network

Chris Dawe also stated that Binance offers lots of support through Binance Labs and Binance_X initiatives.

Categories
Banking Crypto News Industries

METACO Partners With IBM to Expedite its Digital Asset Management Solution

Tech conglomerate IBM has partnered with METACO a digital asset security company in order to create enterprise-level digital asset custody solutions for banks and financial service firms.

According to a press release on Thursday, METACO will use IBM Cloud and IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services for its digital asset management system and cryptocurrency custody solutions. METACO can deliver its traditional finance clients benefits including increased security and scalability as they adopt hybrid cloud strategies.

METACO Platform

Firstly, transaction-centric banks want to offer crypto assets to their customers, and secondly, firms want to tokenize traditional assets, and plug them into the DeFi.

Paul Brody, blockchain lead at EY

Financial Services Need to Ensure The Safety of Their Customers

According to SEC regulation promulgated as part of the Dodd Frank Act, institutional investors that have customer assets worth more $150,000 are required to store the holdings with a “qualified custodian”, and organisations such as METACO are filling in the services to bridge regulatory gaps.

Our multi-custodian solution allows them – with a single integration into their basic infrastructure – to transparently manage and diversify risks between multiple custodians, all within a holistic risk management and control framework.

Seamus Donaghue, vice president of strategic alliances at Metaco

Highly regulated financial service firms and banks that want to take part in the digital asset ecosystem will need proper infrastructure and security to ensure the safety of their customers. Since banking is the biggest client industry sector at IBM it’s the natural infrastructure choice for most banks and large financials looking for a foothold in the growing digital asset space.

As companies such as METACO continue to help the world’s top banks and exchanges manage their digital assets, IBM’s confidential computing capabilities help its clients ensure their data and processes are managed securely, bringing trust into the ecosystem and providing privacy assurance.

Hillery Hunter, IBM fellow, vice president and the chief technology officer of IBM Cloud

METACO has been the chosen digital asset custody provider for various financial institutions in Switzerland and other European countries. Having provided their services to megabanks such as Standard Chartered, BBVA and the Swiss-based division of Russia’s GazpromBank.

Kingdom Trust, a Kentucky-based custodian, was the largest such service for cryptocurrencies until it was purchased by BitGo, a San Francisco-based startup. Goldman Sachs and Fidelity have also recently diversified into this branch by launching ETFs. As regulation around cryptos start to clear up major financial firms and banks are getting more involved in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Categories
Binance Crypto News

Binance Hires Former FATF Executives as Regulatory Advisors

Binance Hires Former FATF Executives as Regulatory Advisors

Binance, the largest digital currency exchange, has appointed two former Financial Action Task Force (FATF) officers as advisors, according to a blog post on Thursday.  

FATF is the global regulatory body for money laundering and terrorist financing. By hiring the regulators, the exchange is aiming at strengthening its regulatory and compliance strategies. Meanwhile, the development today comes a few days after FATF updated its regulatory guidance, calling for tighter KYC/AML measures for digital currencies and virtual asset service providers (VASPs)

McDonell, Nadeau Becomes Binance Regulatory Advisors

Binance appointed Rick McDonell, the former Executive Secretary at FAFT, and Josée Nadeau, the former Head of the Canadian delegation to the FATF. As advisors to Binance, the regulators will drive the organization in compliance with global regulations and law enforcement agencies, especially on areas that include anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). 

Having worked with international organizations, both Nadeau and McDonell bring extensive regulatory and compliance expertise and experience to the table. 

“Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are gaining widespread adoption, with even traditional banking organizations now offering crypto services. These new technologies will certainly change how people and organizations alike manage money. […] We are both delighted to be working with Binance, one of the leading organizations in this new industry.”

McDonell and Nadeau said in a joint statement.

Binance is Beefing up its Regulatory and Compliance Strategy

It’s now apparent that the cryptocurrency exchange is positioned to become a more compliant and regulatory-friendly company. Prior to Nadeau and McDonell’s appointment today, Binance recently on-boarded the former U.S. Senator for Montana and Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, as an advisor. Baucus will help to navigate the exchange in government relations and regulatory initiatives.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Institutions

US Procurement Agency is Planning a 6.79 Bitcoin Auction

US Procurement Agency is Planning Another 6.79 Bitcoin Auction

In the coming week, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) will auction about 6.79 Bitcoin, according to an update on Wednesday. The GSA is an agency providing centralized procurement for the US federal government. 

The announcement today comes one week after GSA auctioned the first-ever Bitcoin through its online clearinghouse service, GSA Auction. According to them, the first auction was more like a test run, yet it generated lots of excitement amongst crypto investors. 

“Our first steps wading into the cryptocurrency market quickly became one of our hottest auctions of 2021.”

The US government is getting acquainted with selling seized cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) announced the auctioning of 4,040.5 Bitcoin, which was worth about $37 million at the time. 

An auction worth USD $380k

During press time, Bitcoin was trading at USD $55,992 according to CoinMarketCap; hence, the 6.79 BTC to be auctioned are worth over US$380,000. The cryptocurrencies will be split into ten different lots and auctioned via the GSA Auction webpage. Bidding starts from March 29 till March 31, according to the report. 

This might possibly provide crypto investors with an opportunity to purchase Bitcoin at a price lower than its market value. The GSA didn’t mention how the government got those cryptocurrencies. However, the cryptocurrencies were likely confiscated from cyber-criminals, just like the ones sold by the Lithuanian government lately.

As Crypto News Australia reported in November, the Lithuanian government bagged more than AU$10 million by selling confiscated cryptocurrencies, which included Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Monero (XMR). These cryptos were reportedly seized by law enforcement agencies in February last year. 

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Airdrop Crypto News NEM

XYM Token Distributed Airdrop For XEM Holders Information

All XEM holders on 12/03/21 will be awarded an airdrop of XYM tokens at a ratio of 1-1. So if you held 1,000 XEM tokens on the specific date, you’ll receive 1,000 XYM.

In plain English, as a XEM holder, you are essentially getting the XYM tokens for free to promote the new Symbol project by NEM. You will then, at some point, be able to sell or trade them once market value has been established.

What is the XYM token?

The NEM (XEM) community has introduced a new project called Symbol (which uses a new token called XYM). The Symbol project is described as “the next-generation enterprise-grade blockchain solution from NEM, purpose-built to help businesses cut costs, reduce complexities, and streamline innovation. With major upgrades in flexibility, security, speed and ease of use, the Symbol platform is the best-in-class blockchain enterprise solution.”

NEM Tokens

What is an airdrop?

An airdrop is a distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin, usually for free, to numerous wallet addresses. Airdrops are primarily implemented as a way of gaining attention and new followers, resulting in a larger user-base and a wider disbursement of coins.

Wikapedia

How to get your XYM

The XYM token has been listed and distributed on major exchanges such as Binance. If you check your spot account balances it should appear in there if you were legible for the airdrop.

When you can sell or trade your XYM

Currently XYM has been distributed on Binance but is not available to trade or withdraw until 4th April 2021.

The XYM token is not currently listed on Swyftx.

The XYM token is listed and trading on KuCoin exchange.

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

TIME Magazine is Auctioning NFTs and Accepting Crypto For Subscriptions

TIME magazine has revealed that it is going to be joining the blockchain and crypto space by accepting crypto as payment for their digital subscriptions, as well as holding an NFT auction.

Three Time Magazine Covers to be Auctioned

TIME has designed its first-ever cover exclusively as an NFT, featuring the title “Is Fiat Dead?” It’s a reference to one of its most iconic cover designs from the April 8, 1966 “Is God Dead?” and April 3, 2017 “Is Truth Dead?” editions — and an acknowledgement of the rise of digital currency as an asset class.

Time on SuperRare

TIME’s red border is one of our or most iconic assets. We already have an existing business with the cover store in the analogue space. Moving into the NFT collectibles is a natural extension for us […]

Keith Grossman, TIME magazine President

Grossman also stated that it is their job to provide access to world-class content regardless of medium or payment type. One of their long term goals are to provide the media industry with a “turnkey enterprise solution” through crypto and NFT offerings, inspired by the work being done by The Washington Post with Zeus.

And so our goal is to get there first to get there fast. And then to be able to open it up to others.

Keith Grossman, TIME magazine President

TIME Accepting Crypto for Their Magazine Subscription

One of the other steps the magazine is taking, is by accepting crypto for their digital subscription. As yet it isn’t known which currencies they will be accepting, as soon as we find out we’ll update it here.

Time will be joining a growing list of major U.S. companies that are using/accepting cryptocurrencies including Tesla, Mastercard, Microsoft and many more.

TIME Magazine looking for a crypto savvy CFO

TIME is looking for a CFO, and one of the key job requirements? “Comfort with cryptocurrencies.” The Job listing just shows the magazine’s conviction to not be left behind the technological curve.