Category: Payments

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Bitcoin Crypto News Payments

Miami To Offer Residents A Bitcoin Yield On Their MiamiCoin

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who earlier this month announced he would be taking his salary in bitcoin, has continued his push to make the Floridan city one of the most crypto-friendly in the world. This week, he announced that eligible Miami residents would qualify for a bitcoin dividend in exchange for staking their MiamiCoin.

MiamiCoin – Reducing the Tax Burden

MiamiCoin is the city’s token that residents hold or trade. The underlying protocol generates revenue for the city when residents mine tokens. Those running the software receive 70 percent of the coins they mint and 30 percent is returned to the municipality in a city wallet.

This project has proved to be an economic windfall for Miami, generating over US$21 million since its launch in September. On an annualised basis, that equates to US$400 million in tax revenue, or approximately 20 percent of current annual tax receipts. Suarez has suggested that over the long run, this project could completely eliminate the need for taxes, describing the move as “revolutionary”.

I do see very quickly a world where the satoshi system is what is used to make payments … We need for people to understand that … yes, we want you to hold bitcoin but we also want to increase the utility of bitcoin.

Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor

From the outset, Mayor Suarez stated his intention to reduce the tax burden on Miami and thus far his bold experiment appears to be paying off.

Earning BTC on MiamiCoin

On November 11, Suarez announced that eligible residents would soon be able to generate a bitcoin yield from staking the city’s MiamiCoin. In order to qualify, residents would be required to acquire a wallet, register for the dividend and pass a straightforward verification process. Thereafter, the proceeds from staking their MiamiCoin would be paid, in bitcoin, into their registered wallet.

We’re going to be the first city in America to give a bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents.

Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor

One of the challenges Suarez noted was determining who would qualify for a wallet:

Is it going to be, for example, taxpayers? Is it going to be people that vote in the city? People that have a city address? That’s going to be a challenge.

Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor

Miami is making moves in the crypto space and Mayor Suarez is its chief conductor. While his bitcoin yield program still has a few outstanding issues to iron out, one thing that isn’t in doubt is Suarez’s commitment to attracting crypto capital and talent from around the country.

No doubt, other cities will be watching closely. If Miami’s move proves successful, don’t be surprised to see a bunch of cities follow suit.

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Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrency Law Payments

Could Zimbabwe be the Next Nation to Adopt Bitcoin as Legal Tender?

The government of the southern African republic of Zimbabwe is closely examining the possibility of adopting cryptocurrency and blockchain technology after an ICT Summit last weekend.

According to a local news outlet, the Computer Society of Zimbabwe (CSZ) held an information communication technologies (ICT)-centred summit in Victoria Falls. At the summit, Cabinet Brigadier General Charles Wekwete, permanent secretary and head of Zimbabwe’s e-government technology unit, revealed that talks with the private sector were under way to discuss the possibility of using bitcoin (BTC) as a legal payment method.

Wekwete stated that Zimbabwe is in the process of weighing its options of possibly adopting cryptocurrency as a legal payment service in the country, which has been plagued by a financial crisis for more than a decade.

Government has put in place mechanism(s) to try and gather views from various sectors of society in order to eventually formulate policies. There have been pronouncements by the Minister of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and it’s such a complex area. Sooner or later government will make statements, but we have not gotten there yet, [though] the consultative process is already under way.

Brigadier General Charles Wekwete, head of Zimbabwe’s e-government technology unit

Policy Creation of Utmost Importance

During the summit, CSZ members asked what the government was doing to adopt cryptocurrency in light of new global trends where transactions are done online, on the blockchain, with low fees. Now Wekwete has invited private sector players who have ideas on how best to facilitate the technology, and how it can be structured to make presentations to government for further consideration.

Wekwete also said that cryptocurrencies are something many governments around the world are still not very clear on. However, more countries are starting to take the idea seriously, with nearly half of Brazilians voting “yes” in a poll to make bitcoin legal tender.

With Zimbabwe possibly following in the footsteps of El Salvador, Wekwete stated: “Governments are still trying to understand and properly trying to create policies on how to deal with it. In our case, initially we were trying to understand the implication [of cryptocurrencies] because they are a fundamental departure from previously known financial instruments.”

It is only a matter of time before Zimbabwe allows its citizens to use bitcoin as legal tender and begins to publicly buy and hold the asset in reserve.

Zimbabwe Should Look to Local Solutions

The Zimbabwe Blockchain Technology Think Tank has published a comprehensive study about the adoption of crypto in the country, titled Towards Virtual Assets Regulation and Adoption of Blockchain Technologies in Zimbabwe’s Context. The initial research has been done to start testing out cryptos, but for something so transformative the government is still in its “consulting phase”.

Golix, Africa’s cryptocurrency exchange, could have proven a test case in the Zimbabwean context, but at that stage crypto was banned in the country, leaving the project high and dry.

Another instance was Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube stating that he had found a remittance solution in Dubai that could be used for Zimbabwe, while there is a local start-up called Uhuru that does exactly that. By empowering entrepreneurs in the country, the government can create a win-win scenario that can put Zimbabwe back on the economic rails.

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Bitcoin Cash Crypto News Payments

Bitcoin Cash Spikes Amid Fake Press Release Claiming Kroger Will Accept It

Kroger, an American retail company and the largest US supermarket by revenue, has debunked a press release from PR Newswire (PRN) that claimed it will start accepting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as payment this December. 

Shortly after the fraudulent press release was published, BCH saw a price boost of over 4.6 percent, taking the coin from US$602.63 at 11:30 UTC to US$630.70 in just 15 minutes. 

Kroger referred to the report as “fraudulent” and that it should be disregarded immediately. The release appeared on Kroger’s investor relations page, only later to be deleted, while simultaneously appearing on PRN – also deleted. PRN went on to say it was “urgently investigating the incident, including looking into any criminal activity associated with this matter”.

Unsurprisingly, BCH took a hit after Kroger debunked the report, even falling short of its previous price before the announcement to US$601.20. At the time of writing, BCH was trading at US$605.28.

Verify, Not Trust

This is analogous to a growing number of fake news reports in the crypto community. As Crypto News Australia reported in September, Litecoin surged amid a press release saying retail giant Walmart was partnering with the cryptocurrency to accept crypto payments.

Verifying the authenticity of news is important in order to make good decisions about your investments. If retail giants such as Walmart or Kroger started accepting crypto as payment, it’s highly unlikely they would begin with Bitcoin-forked currencies like BCH or BSV, or altcoins like Litecoin.

One recent example of practical cryptocurrency adoption is El Salvador, which recently used bitcoin profits to build 20 schools, besides funding numerous projects to help develop infrastructure in the country.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Payments

Miami’s Mayor Becomes First Politician to Take Entire Salary in Bitcoin

It started with a tweet by long-standing Bitcoin advocate and popular podcaster Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, of the “Pomp Podcast”. Pomp posed the question as to which US politician would rise to the occasion and accept their salary in bitcoin. Miami’s Bitcoin-friendly mayor, Francis Suarez, accepted the challenge and the rest is history.

The Year of Bitcoin Payments

As Bitcoin becomes increasingly mainstream, we are seeing more and more news of bitcoin being accepted as payment. Initially, we saw it with NFL players and football club sponsorships, but of late it has been extended to include any US employee who wishes to get paid in bitcoin.

And this hasn’t been limited to the US, as Aussie-based Living Room of Satoshi allows employees to automatically dollar-cost-average into bitcoin as they see fit.

Suarez Looks to Make Miami the Crypto Capital of the US

Mayor Suarez is quickly becoming one of the most popular politicians in the US, having just won re-election in a landslide victory in which he secured an astounding 79 percent of the vote.

In mid-October, Suarez said that paying Miami government employees in bitcoin was “a major priority” and further, he expressed a strong interest in putting bitcoin on Miami’s balance sheet. He said he also wanted to allow residents to pay their taxes in bitcoin.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, speaking at the Bitcoin 2021 Conference.
Source: Bitcoin Magazine

And then in September, Suarez launched MiamiCoin, a crypto project aimed at eliminating the need for residents to pay taxes by participating in the mining and staking of the coin.

Whatever your view on his politics, Suarez doesn’t appear to conform to the typical mould you’d expect from a politician – he makes promises and then acts on them with haste.

While New York has traditionally been the financial linchpin of the East Coast, there are growing signs that amid ongoing pandemic-related restrictions, high taxes, increased crime and bureaucratic red tape, more traditional finance and crypto businesses are relocating to Miami, a city perceived as being far friendlier to both businesses and residents alike. Mayor Suarez should take a good deal of credit for this trend.

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Australia Bitrefill Payments

Australians Can Live On Crypto Using Bitrefill’s AU Services

Australian crypto traders made A$10k in profit on average in the past 12 months, leaving some looking for ways to spend their crypto, especially with the tax man looming.

Living on Crypto Using Bitrefill

A new way to spend your crypto in Australia is via Bitrefill, which provides services to allow you to spend your crypto at popular outlets nationwide.

Bitrefill has seen tremendous growth in the Australian market over the last 12 months. From 2021 Q1 to Q3 we’ve seen Australia sales more than double. The product range also continues to grow with more and more gift cards being added every week.

Chris Pavlesic, Bitrefill Australian ambassador

Spending your crypto is simple with Bitrefill. Just buy a gift voucher with your crypto, which can be instantly redeemed online, or use the Bitrefill mobile app for payment on the go. Optionally, create a free Bitrefill account and get cashback rewards in Bitcoin satoshis when you purchase.

Buy your Food Using Crypto

Use your crypto to buy food from Coles as you do your weekly shopping, or order a takeaway from Uber Eats. View all food options.

Buy your Drink Using Crypto

Wash down your food with some Bitcoin-bought drinks. View all drink options.

Retail Shopping Using Crypto

Buy some new clothes using your crypto wallet. View all retail options.

Entertainment Using Crypto

Rent a movie, buy a computer game, go fishing or book an adventure with your crypto. View all entertainment options.

Travel Using Crypto

Pay for your Uber ride using Bitcoin, or book your next hotel or flight using your crypto wallet. View all travel options.

Recharge Your Phone Using Crypto

Purchase your next mobile phone recharge with your crypto wallet. View all phone options.

About Bitrefill

Bitrefill is a website where you can buy gift cards, vouchers and phone recharges in Australia and more than 170 countries worldwide. It offers services to help you live off your crypto by buying gift vouchers and redeeming them instantly using your mobile phone as payment.

Pros of Using Bitrefill:

  • Live on crypto – use your crypto to pay for goods and services through the Bitrefill gift cards without the need to withdraw funds from your bank account.
  • Instant buy – you can prepay your Bitrefill account, speeding up the check-out process if you’re out and about. It also supports the Bitcoin Lighting network to speed up your purchases.
  • High usage without an account – unverified accounts have high usage limits up to US$10,000 for most categories up to 100 purchases daily. If you want unlimited daily purchases, you’ll need to verify your account.
  • No expiration dates – the Bitrefill Balance Cards and Bitrefill Balances have no expiration dates.
  • Refill for other people – you can refill any account just by entering a phone number and sending the Bitcoin to an address.
  • 1% rebates on purchases – earn a minimum of 1% cashback in Bitcoin satoshis every time you use Bitrefill to purchase gift cards and mobile refills.

Cons of Using Bitrefill:

  • Unspent value – any value contained in a Bitrefill Balance Card or in a Bitrefill Balance will not in any case be paid out in cash. Like any other gift card, it waits to be spent. However, unlike most gift cards, it doesn’t expire.
  • Geographical limitations – most products sold are geographically limited to certain countries. In these cases, you won’t be able to purchase from a country that is not allowed by a product’s restrictions.

For more information, please read our Bitrefill review.

Or try it for yourself and create your free Bitrefill account.

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Crypto News Institutions Payments

Mastercard Inks Deal Enabling Consumers to ‘Buy, Sell and Hold Digital Assets’

Credit card giant Mastercard will allow its customers to integrate crypto solutions and services to their consumers in the US.

As first reported by CNBC, Mastercard announced a partnership with crypto firm Bakkt to enable its 1000+ banks and merchants in the US to buy, sell and hold digital assets through Bakkt’s crypto custody services.

This partnership will bring a myriad of crypto services to the Mastercard payment network, such as the ability to earn crypto rewards on crypto-enabled credit or debit cards, digital wallets with custody services, and loyalty programs where users can convert airline or hotel points to bitcoin.

We want to offer all of our partners the ability to more easily add crypto services to whatever it is they’re doing. Our partners, be they banks, fintechs or merchants, can offer their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency through an integration with the Bakkt platform.

Sherri Haymond, executive vice-president of digital partnerships, Mastercard

Mastercard has been partnering with industry leaders, including USDC issuer Circle, to bring the stablecoin to its crypto card offering.

A month ago, Crypto News Australia reported that Mastercard had acquired the blockchain forensic firm CipherTrace to provide security and technology services for its operations in the crypto industry.

Bakkt Shares Soar 270% on the News

Bakkt shares have soared over 270 percent following the announcement of its partnership with Mastercard. However, it’s worth noting that the crypto firm has teamed up with several other companies, including entering a partnership with Google to allow crypto payments for its Google Pay platform.

Shortly after the Mastercard announcement, Bakkt foreshadowed another partnership, this time with Fortune 500 company Fiserv, a multinational provider of payments and financial services.

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Banking CBDCs Crypto News Nigeria Payments

Nigeria Becomes First Leading African Economy to Launch a CBDC

The Nigerian government has finally released the eNaira, the African nation’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), joining the league of countries already pioneering the CBDC space, including China, Sweden, and the Bahamas.

Nigeria Mints $1.2 Million Worth of eNaira

The October 25 launch of the eNaira was officiated by President Muhammadu Buhari and, for the record, the Nigerian CBDC is the first to launch in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. About 33 local banking institutions, more than 120 merchants and 2,000 customers were already registered on the platform before launch. 

The first eNaira mint by the central bank was worth about 500 million Naira (over US$1.2 million), of which 200 million Naira (US$487,555) in eNaira has been distributed to the banks. The digital currency is designed to complement the existing national currency and payment systems and not replace them.

During the launch, the governor of the central bank, Godwin Emefiele, said the digital currency would drive a more cashless, inclusive, and digital economy: “The eNaira will make a very significant positive difference to Nigerians and Nigeria.”

Both the native eNaira speed wallet and eNaira merchant wallet applications are now available for download on Google Play Store.

Why Was the eNaira Launch Delayed?

As Crypto News Australia reported last month, the eNaira was initially scheduled to launch on October 1 to commemorate the country’s independence day. However, there were other key activities that led the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to postpone the launch indefinitely. 

At least one report claimed the central bank delayed the launch in order to stress-test and recalibrate the eNaira system to ensure its efficiency, security, and scalability.

Interest in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin has skyrocketed in Nigeria, either as an investment vehicle or a better means for cross-border payments, despite the central bank banning banks from serving local crypto exchanges and companies.

While the launch of the eNaira is a milestone for the country, it remains to be seen if Nigerians will confidently embrace it as much as they do bitcoin, given the CBDC is still within the government’s reach. 

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Banking CBDCs Crypto News Payments Worldwide

Study Postulates: Nearly 45% of Consumers Around the World Will Use Crypto for Payments by 2023

According to a report on worldwide payments by the Capgemini Research Institute, the global leader in independent analysis, the payment industry “faces intensifying, multi-dimensional disruption” with next-gen payment methods like cryptocurrency increasing to 45 percent usage within the next two years.

Capgemini surveyed customers and industry stakeholders to provide an overview of the current global payments landscape. The research team analysed statistics from the Bank of International Settlements, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other central banks.

The report details how payment networks aim to become faster and more cost-effective. Capgemini predicts nearly 45 percent of customers will use the cryptocurrency payment method within the next one to two years due to the growing need for cross-border payments in addition to concerns about high transaction fees.

Newfound Payment Technology Drives Regulators to Mitigate Risk

The study states that the outlook for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins is “hazy”, citing the mixed reactions to crypto assets by governments and regulators around the world.

According to the report, regulators are focused on Key Regulatory and Industry Initiatives (KRIIs), which recently have been centred on customer protection and risk mitigation for new payment methods. The nature of cryptocurrency means there are very low barriers to entry – anyone, knowledgeable or not, can use the technology, creating a potential financial risk to novices as well as exposure to illicit financial activity.

Capgemini reported that Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates see potential in the adoption and regulation of crypto assets and stablecoins. Meanwhile, the study also noted other countries such as China and Egypt have moved to ban crypto assets due to the rising risk of illicit transactions.

CBDCs as an Alternative to Private Cryptocurrencies

Central banks want to leverage blockchain technology such as smart contracts in order to better manage monetary policy functions like money supply, interest rates, and direct stimulus payments to individuals. Therefore CBDCs have become a trending topic for banks and regulators alike.

CBDCs aim to facilitate frictionless payments and create a gateway for the unbanked to join the digital economy as the payments landscape evolves. Considering the potential benefits of CBDCs, several central banks have started experimenting with the technology.

Currently, the main challenges for CBDCs are that the ecosystem requires collaboration with payment infrastructure companies and various other entities. With the current hype and speculation, it’s important that the necessary action is taken with regards to “implementation, migration, tax structures, settlement speed, governing regulation, integration of players, and checks and controls”.

If introduced, retail CBDCs should be developed and implemented through public/private sector collaboration from the start to ensure that deployment complements other payment methods and leverages payment service providers’ expertise, market knowledge, and customer relationships.

Etienne Goosse, director general, European Payments Council, Belgium

It may yet take years for the CBDC concept to transition to reality, according to the Capgemini study:

It’s too soon to count on nascent central bank digital currency (CBDC) as an alternative to unregulated cryptocurrencies or an additional pathway to financial inclusion.

Capgemini Research Institute

Crypto Credit Cards Spurring Adoption

Currently, major names including PayPal, Yum brands and Coca-Cola accept payments in crypto, but a major driving factor is crypto-linked cards “fuelled by global card player initiatives to create a fertile crypto-payment ecosystem”.

Cryptocurrency market volatility indicates a lack of maturity. Still, crypto-linked cards are taking the lead in the crypto-payments space.

Capgemini Research Institute
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Banking Blockchain Crypto News Payments Stablecoins Stellar

Payment Juggernaut Partners with Stellar and USDC for Blockchain-Based Payments

MoneyGram, one of the major global remittance services, has partnered with the Stellar Foundation (XLM) to provide a bridge between digital assets and local currencies for consumers, with United Texas Bank serving as the settlement bank between USDC issuer Circle and MoneyGram.

A Bridge From Traditional Finance to Digital Assets

On October 6, MoneyGram announced it would be using the Stellar blockchain to facilitate instant and cheap transactions. The bridge will allow “money transfers and enables near-instant settlement in USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar developed by Circle”.

The pilot project started in the fourth quarter of this year and will be rolled out slowly during early 2022. The blockchain-enabled bridge for USDC stablecoins and local currencies will connect MoneyGram’s 150 million or so consumers to the blockchain.

Denelle Dixon, CEO and executive director of the Stellar Development Foundation, stated that “we’re trying to go as big as we can”.

Working with MoneyGram allows end consumers to have on- and off-ramps everywhere that MoneyGram’s vast agent network supports it. So this is just transformational in terms of being able to exchange crypto for fiat and fiat for crypto,

Denelle Dixon, CEO and executive director, Stellar Development Foundation

This means that any digital wallet connected to the Stellar network can leverage any of MoneyGram’s 400,000 locations across the globe to send and receive remittances in various fiat currencies.

MoneyGram has joined Visa, which is also in the process of creating a blockchain-based bridge for international Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to increase the ease, cost and speed with which people can make payments.

Ripple’s Relationship with MoneyGram Winding Down

Ripple (XRP) has had a longstanding relationship with MoneyGram that started in 2019, but it has been winding down since the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against Ripple in December 2020, saying the firm had violated federal securities laws.

However, MoneyGram’s chairman and CEO Alex Holmes has stated that the partnership with Stellar is an entirely different animal from the relationship MoneyGram had with Ripple, which leveraged the crypto firm’s on-demand liquidity (ODL) to facilitate foreign exchange (FX) trading.

The relationship MoneyGram and Stellar have is based around the direct link between consumer payments. According to Holmes, the challenge is to create a foreign exchange market in a completely new and different environment.

United Texas Bank to Facilitate Crypto Settlements

Banks are quite skittish to start dealing with crypto due to the murky regulatory space in which the industry now finds itself. Holmes stated that “United Texas bank is an established bank here and very focused on the opportunities in the crypto space. Not every bank is willing to step into the crypto world, and I think it says a lot about how progressive that bank is trying to be.”

Unfortunately, a lot of regulation ends up being a look back. I think the blockchain and digital asset worlds [have] really accelerated, and now I see a lot of regulators looking to catch up.

Alex Holmes, chairman and CEO, MoneyGram
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Blockchain CBDCs Crypto News Payments Stablecoins Worldwide

Visa Aims to be the Bridge Connecting International CBDC Blockchains

Visa has unveiled a paper outlining the development of a protocol to make cross-border payments with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins from any blockchain connected to the network.

According to a post by the payment colossus, the company is in the midst of developing a protocol to send digital currencies between blockchains in order to operate as a “universal payment channel” (UPC). This dedicated payment channel will connect CBDC networks between countries, as well as linking CBDCs with private stablecoin networks.

The Visa research team originally began working on the UPC concept in 2018, developing an interoperability framework that would run independently of the underlying blockchain mechanisms.

Catherine Gu, global CBDC product lead at Visa, stated that the key problem it was looking to solve is that of interoperability, to “get different digital currencies, relying on different tech stacks and protocols, with different compliance standards and market requirements to ‘talk’ to each other in a wider network of value”.

VISA’s Universal Payment Channel (UPC).

This is a much longer-term future thinking concept around a way that Visa could potentially help become a bridge between one digital currency on one blockchain and another digital currency on another blockchain.

Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto

The Future of Blockchain is Interoperable

The paper developed by Visa’s R&D team posits the UPC as a hub interconnecting multiple blockchain networks and allowing for secure transfer of digital currencies. The point of the hub is to allow central banks, businesses and consumers to seamlessly exchange value, no matter the form factor of the currency. 

We believe that for CBDCs to be successful, they must have two essential ingredients: a great consumer experience and widespread merchant acceptance. It means the ability to make and receive payments, regardless of currency, channel, or form factor. That’s where Visa’s UPC concept comes in.

Catherine Gu, global CBDC product lead, Visa

Visa highlights the need for a UPC due to the large number of digital currencies and the necessity for a common network. The UPC’s specialised payment channels would be established off the blockchain and leverage smart contracts to communicate with the various blockchain networks. This is done to deliver high transaction throughput securely and reliably while improving overall speeds. 

Due to this gap, Visa has openly shared how the mechanics of the UPC will work, along with policy guidelines for central banks and regulators on the implication of this research.

In December 2020, Visa partnered with Circle to connect its merchants with Ethereum-based US Dollar Coins. Various other blockchain projects are also working to solve the interoperability issue.

Why CBDCs Need Cross-Chain Interoperability

Over the past two years many central banks around the world have been exploring CBDCs, a digital form of central bank money that can be used directly by consumers, merchants and financial institutions.

Imagine a world where everyone at the table is using a different type of money – some using a central bank digital currency (or CBDC) like Sweden’s eKrona, others preferring a private stablecoin like USDC […] now imagine all this happening in real-time, across multiple networks, and compatible with multiple digital wallets. 

VISA

In order to process a payment with various currencies, there needs to be a layer where all wallets and protocols can communicate with each other before processing the payment for the merchant. As part of developing the UPC concept, Visa has deployed its first-ever sample smart contract on Ethereum’s Ropsten testnet. The smart contract shows a payment channel that accepts both ether (ETH) and the USDC stablecoin.

What concerns many blockchain supporters is the idea of having a centralised node authorising transactions. However, the Visa paper states that “clients register with a UPC hub to route their transactions to other clients. Note that this routing requires zero trust to be placed on the UPC hub (the UPC hub does not need to be trusted like a central intermediary).”