Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, has reiterated intentions for launching an Australian national digital currency.
It’s no longer surprising that many central banks around the world are increasingly exploring and studying the possibility of launching a national digital currency (known as a “CBDC”). In fact, the Bank of International Settlement confirmed in a survey that about 80 percent of central banks planned for a CBDC.
Banks can use digital currencies for settlements
While speaking with the Melbourne Business Analytics Conference on Monday, the governor mentioned that the Australian central bank “is conducting research on the technologies and policy implications of a potential wholesale central bank digital currency.”
The world is gradually transitioning to digital alternatives for payment, especially since the cash bans of outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lowe said technology (blockchain) and data are unlocking this new possibility through digital currencies. Through distributed ledger technology, many big banking institutions could use digital currencies in the future to support the settlement of transactions in the inter-bank payment system, instead of transacting in “regular” Australian dollars.
RBA is still working on a Wholesale CBDC
The RBA governor also stated that the central bank is still working on the concept for a wholesale CBDC via its in-house Innovative Labs.
As of February 20, Crypto News Australia reported that the central bank was being sceptical about a retail CBDC. The Payments System Board of the central bank noted that they don’t see any strong case to launch a retail-focused CBDC. Instead, the bank was researching the feasibility and implications of launching a wholesale CBDC.
Wholesale CBDCs are more beneficial to financial institutions for payment and settlements than retail CBDCs, which are designed for general public use.
Local building company, Broadwater Builds, is the first in the the state to accept digital currencies as a form of payment. Clients can pay using Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance and Ripple, with other options to be added.
Director Louis Gonzalez holds a strong belief that cryptocurrencies will revolutionise the world of finance in the future. He says,
We see bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as being here to stay. by providing the ability for people to use cryptocurrency as a form of payment, it shows we are prepared for the future and at the forefront of technology change.
How Does It Work?
There’s no doubt that there’s a high level of volatility when it comes to cryptocurrency, making it hard to predict how much it will be from one moment to the next. Louis Gonzalez shares,
For client interested in using cryptocurrency for transactions, we will need to agree upon an exchange rate at the time of transaction.
Owners and directors Louis and Nathan have more than 22 years’ industry experience in the residential and construction industry. Broadwater Builds offers new homes, renovation and extensions, kitchens, bathrooms, demolish and builds, developments, unfinished homes and more.
Broadwater Builds – Nathan Dreibergs and Louis Gonzalez
Cryptocurrency is growing in popularity, and we are starting to see many online shops – including giants Tesla and Apple – support them as a payment method.
This highlights the potentials of cryptocurrency becoming a legitimate form of value transfer.
Get Involved
If you’re looking to accept cryptocurrencies for your business we have a guide to help you set that up. And if you’re a customer in Perth looking to build a house, get a renovation or new kitchen/bathroom then get in touch with Broadwater Builds on 08 6468 6384.
Internet administration user interface. 3D rendering Shallow DOF
A number of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) projects, including Cream Finance and PancakeSwap, have been hit with DNS attacks, following several notices shared on Twitter on Monday. Having confirmed the attack, the teams behind the affected projects warned that the websites are currently unsafe for the users to visit until stated otherwise.
Attackers requests for users seed phrase
The decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, Cream Finance, is probably the first DeFi project to report the incident. In a tweet, they explained that the DNS or Domain Name System was compromised by a third-party, and that the users on the website are being asked to enter their seed phrase.
Our DNS has been compromised by a third party; some users are seeing requests for seed phrase on https://t.co/Hr6S4Fqodo. DO NOT enter your seed phrase.
We will never ask you to submit any private key or seed phrases.
A few hours later, PancakeSwap, the largest automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized exchange on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), reported a similar story.
PancakeSwap warned users to avoid the website “until we confirm it is all clear.” Users’ funds on the DeFi projects are safe, as the attackers cannot transfer any fund without their seed phrase.
This is now confirmed.
DO NOT go to the Pancakeswap site until we confirm it is all clear.
NEVER EVER input your seed phrase or private keys on a website.
The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, took to Twitter to also warn against using these platforms, until they are confirmed safe to use.
“A number of DeFi projects are under DNS hijack attack. Pancake, Cream, etc. Please be VERY VERY careful and not use them until they recover the situation. Please also help spread the awareness,” he wrote.
Cream Finance and PancakeSwap token update
There isn’t any serious decline in the price of the projects’ tokens CREAM and CAKE, regardless of the incident. During press time, the PancakeSwap token was trading at US$9.90 percent, representing a 9.27 percent decrease in the 24-hour count, according to Coinmarketcap. Also, the Cream Finance token was trading at US$103.71, which accounts for about a 7.37 percent decrease over the last 24 hours.
Chiliz’s native token CHZ saw over 7,000 percent increase over the past 3 months, going from just US $0.012 to $0.87 between 13th December to 13th March 2021. It’s currently sitting at around $0.66.
The Chiliz token exchange platform powers the Sports Fan Tokens, which are digital assets that allow users to participate and vote in club polls, as well as provide access to VIP rewards, exclusive club and sponsor promotions.
This new sports token ecosystem could be a win-win for fans and clubs alike. With fans disconnected physically from their fandom, and this helps bridge that gap and engage more with their favourite sports. And for the clubs it’s essentially a new revenue stream.
Chiliz Token Exchange
Some facts:
Chiliz runs its own exchange. You can see the live token transactions on its blockchain explorer.
The Chiliz token ($CHZ) is both an ERC-20 utility token on the Ethereum blockchain and a BEP-2 token on Binance Chain.
There are 8,888,888,888 $CHZ (8.8 Billion) tokens in total supply, with 5.5 Billion in circulation.
Binance has invested directly into the Chiliz project. This might explain why the sports club tokens such as PSG/BAR got listed on Binance so quickly.
The Chiliz blockchain relies on a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) side chain consensus mechanism for security (as opposed to PoW or PoS).
Socios App
Promoted as “the worlds first fan influence platform”, the Socios App is where you can buy the Official tokens of sports clubs that have partnered with them.
Socios Soccer Partnerships
The Socios app has some big names as Partners including the following Football (Soccer) teams.
It looks like a pretty amazing advertising opportunity for them, leveraging their brand, banners and TV coverage at sports events to promote their token.
Formula 1 – no official announcements yet, but they have started to pre-sell tokens via Locker Rooms. motorsport.com interview
Fan Token Offering Pre-Sale Partner Tokens via “Locker Rooms”
You can pre-buy your fan tokens through the Fan Token Offerings, although the term “locker rooms” might be a bit misleading to fans thinking they are actually getting to be in the locker room of their favourite sports people. That’s not the case. Instead, it’s basically a token pre-sale, opened before they have even sealed the deal with the sports clubs.
How the pre-sale works:
You buy the CHZ token and they lock it up for 120 days (giving you a 10% yield).
Should the potential partner club decide to launch on Socios.com, Locker One Tokens are transformed into official Fan Tokens at a 1:1 ratio.
Should the potential partner decide against launching a Fan Token, users who have purchased Locker One Tokens will receive a full refund of the $CHZ pledged to their Socios.com account once the 120 day window has elapsed or the Locker closes.
This provides the platform an indication of the demand for a sport/club while reserving the CHZ token (which in turn helps price support levels). It might also incentivise the company getting the deal over the line if they can demonstrate enough demand on the pre-sale of the potential Partner token.
$50 Million Investment to Expand Into the USA
“We head to the U.S. with a proven track record in generating millions of dollars of revenue for some of Europe’s biggest sporting organisations. In 2020, we shared more than $30 million with our partners, but this year we’re targeting a minimum of $60 million,” said Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus to Reuters.
There are rumours that the purpose of this investment is to venture into USA to form a partnership with the NFL. But that is yet to be seen.
Socios VISA Card
There are plans for Socios to launch a VISA card. You can apply for the waiting list. Perks include cashback in CHZ token and extra rewards when shopping at various sport shops.
Conclusions
The CHZ token has seen incredible gains over the past few months, but buying when FOMO peaks and price is at an all-time high usually doesn’t look like the best idea.
Personally, I think the token economy is coming, and this is just the start of it. At this pace, it seems pretty much everything will be tokenised soon.
As part of Australia’s Blockchain Roadmap they have allocated AU$6.9 million over the next two years to support industry-led pilots to demonstrate the application of blockchain technology and reduce regulatory compliance costs to encourage broader take-up of blockchain by Australian businesses.
The investment was handed to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to explore the feasibility of blockchain, specifically in the area of regulation. They’ll create two pilot projects with the purpose of demonstrating to the industry how blockchain can reduce the cost of regulatory compliance.
Canberra Digital Business Plan
This investment is part of the Canberra Digital Business Plan which stated:
The aim is to implement blockchain technology where there are issues of security, provenance, traceability, and verification. Most of these issues are prominent in the financial sector.
Tim Bradley, General Manager of Emerging Technologies and Adoption
Bradley also pointed out that they aim to follow the Australia Blockchain Roadmap which was made available in February 2020. This 52-page document outlines how to progress to a blockchain-empowered future, and focuses on key areas: Regulation and standards; skills, capability, and innovation; international investment and collaboration; and sectoral opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Australian Public Sector (APS) Blockchain network has been established, and is open to any APS staff be they federal, state, or local that are interested in contributing to the Australian blockchain industry.
There are about 70 representatives from across the blockchain industry who are very actively engaged in looking for further opportunities for where the technology can be deployed, both in government and elsewhere.
Tim Bradley, General Manager of Emerging Technologies and Adoption
Growing Support For Blockchain in Australia
It seems there are increasing prospects for the use of blockchain by the Australian government after Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas called for more support from government and regulators in order for Australia to become a front-runner and not be “underdeveloped” in this regard.
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.
A DeFi trader has lost a fortune for mistakenly sending his 1000 SUSHI coins to the wrong address. This incident reminds us that the crypto space is dangerous for the newbie, with new participants in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space don’t understand how applications work and mistakes can be easily made, which result in financial lost, that cannot be recovered.
9,999.988 SUSHI Gone Forever
A transaction was spotted on Friday, which involved about 9,999.988 SUSHI transferred from FTX exchange to SUSHI token smart contract.
Someone just lost $188,800 (~105.70 ETH)! 9,999.988 SUSHI lost forever, transferred to contract itself https://t.co/M5mJEtZDlr
The supposed DeFi trader most probably sent these cryptocurrencies to the contract address by mistake. It’s a costly mistake, as these cryptocurrencies are sometimes impossible to recover.
SUSHI refers to the native digital currency of SushiSwap (not the popular Japanese food). It’s a decentralized exchange, which forked from Uniswap. Tokens sent to SUSHI smart contract are supposedly gone (forever), except the protocol developers intercedes with a function to recover it.
Looking at the transaction details on Etherscan, the amount of SUSHI lost or transferred to the contract address was worth US$188,899 during the time of the transaction.
Another Trader Loses $10,000 Worth of DAI
A similar case today involved DAI, the decentralized US dollar-backed stablecoin developed by MakerDAO. A trader also mistakenly sent 10,083.935 DAI to the protocol’s smart contract address, losing about US$10,000.
Someone just lost $10,084 (~5.75 ETH)! 10,083.935 DAI lost forever, transferred to contract itself https://t.co/TL6r7KUdLw
As per DeFi Pulse, the total value of digital currencies locked in decentralized finance protocols are currently worth over US$42 billion. The increasing reports of losses simply indicate that the industry is still in its nascent stage, and some traders lack a clear understanding of the DeFi applications. Hence, there is more room for the industry to grow further as the new participants get acquainted with the protocols.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, is allegedly under investigation by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to a Friday report by Bloomberg, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The Binance Coin (BNB) has been struck by news, as it’s down by 12 percent, with a market price around US$269, during press time.
However, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has shrugged off the news as FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt).
CFTC probes Binance over trading activities
As Bloomberg reported, the US regulator is investigating Binance to know whether the exchange allowed residents from the country to trade derivative products on its platform. Note-worthily, the cryptocurrency exchange isn’t registered with the US authorities, and so, it’s not permitted for US investors and traders to buy and sell derivative products related to digital currencies.
The CFTC, in particular, considers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as a commodity. Hence, exchanges offering related products to US residents must face strict regulations to ensure customer protection and oversight demands. Binance had stated that it doesn’t comment on its communications with regulators. However, it’s unarguable that the exchange has severally warned and blocked US residents from using its main website.
“We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators around the world, and we take our compliance obligations very seriously” Binance noted in a statement.
CZ says it’s all FUD
The CEO of the largest exchange seems unbothered by the circulating rumor. In fact, he dismissed the news as being FUD on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the development today is coming just a day after the exchange appointed a former US senator, Max Baucus, as an advisor to assist them in meeting regulatory requirements with the United States authorities.
Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy has bought some additional 262 Bitcoins (AU$ 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.
MicroStrategy has purchased an additional ~262 bitcoins for ~$15.0 million in cash at an average price of ~$57,146 per #bitcoin. As of 3/12/2021, we #hodl ~91,326 bitcoins acquired for ~$2.211 billion at an average price of ~$24,214 per bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/QIQP30rv2q
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.
Haha more like right at the time the US government is about to print 1,900,000,000,0000 dollars.
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.
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.
With the current bull-run in the crypto market there has been a large increase in crypto mining activities. And as it stands AMD wants to get into the crypto mining market with a GPU specifically made for mining Ethereum.
AMD’s old, new GPU
The AMD Navi 10 & 12, originally only made for Apple Macbook Pro could become the company’s first mining-specific GPU. The card has no video outputs and doesn’t support VCN (Video Core Next) which is needed for gaming. AMD also plans to introduce new architecture and repurpose these cards to combat Nvidia’s similar market offering in an attempt to gain a share of the crypto mining market.
Recently Nvidia announced that they will be adding limiters to their gaming specific GPUs like the RTX 3060 and new RTX 3080Ti. These irremovable limiters activate when specific parts of the Ethereum mining algorithm are detected, then reduces the hash rate by 50%, making it wildly inefficient to mine with them. This move is mainly aimed at Ethereum miners, which means miners could still use them for other coins without worrying about the limiters.
Last week we announced a new line of NVIDIA CMPs or cryptomining processors. Shipments will start in March.
Nvidia on PC Gamer
Due to the demand for graphics cards globally (not just for mining) there is a shortage in supply, which in turn is pushing up prices. This is one of the reasons Nvidia and AMD have decided to sell dedicated mining GPUs.
Since the pandemic began there has been a surge of people playing games, with hours played on Steam increasing by 50%, this means there are a few new gamers out there who needed GPUs.
Bitcoin mining rig manufacturers have seen a massive surge in demand since the price of the leading crypto asset skyrocketed. Companies such as Canaan Creative have placed significantly sized mining rig orders while other companies like Bitmain are completely sold out.
An important thing to remember is that with the coming Ethereum hard fork the network is beginning its migration over to PoS, and should be completed by 2022. This means that miners will need to move to Bitcoin or any other PoW powered coin in order to mine for profits.
A person would be very foolish to invest in a high-end, power consuming GPU for crypto mining today.
