There is a high possibility that companies like PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa face the risk of more stringent regulations since they have been supporting the new digital currency of Facebook, called Libra.

James Faucette, an analyst from Morgan Stanley, has stated that all these three businesses might face a “heavy burden” with the increasing regulatory scrutiny in the crypto field.

According to Faucette, Visa and Mastercard might have to face greater political as well as regulatory risk as compared to technology-related risks. With the plunge in transaction cost, it will not be an easy task to disturb their positions as industry leaders. However, regulatory or political opposition can dislodge their jobs according to Faucette.

What the Senate and the House decide on the new digital coin venture of Facebook is definitely important for the social media giant. The hearings for Facebook as well as its backers like Stripe, PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa are supposed to take place in mid-July this year. Cowen’s Jaret Seiberg mentioned that these hearings are highly crucial for Facebook.

Seiberg also feels that it will not be an easy task as the hearings may not be done amicably with a majority of lawmakers skeptical of this move. Also, any lawmakers who usually support digital currencies can hesitate in backing the entry of Facebook in the crypto space.

Facebook gets support for its crypto initiatives

The social media giant has received support from over more than 12 organizations, including prominent players like Paypal, Mastercard, Uber Technologies, and Visa, that have backed its new digital currency. The Wall Street Journal shared the news in June this year.

All these businesses will invest about 10 million USD in a consortium, which will govern this digital currency. The aim is to fund the formation of the new digital coin, the same report mentioned.

Franck Muller, the Swiss luxury watch maker has begun to sell Bitcoin watches. The Encrypto Watch comes with its very own public address that is etched on the dial and a sealed USB contains the private key. Owners of this watch will be able to add BTC to their wallet and keep a watch over their balance through this dial.

Muller partnered with crypto investment company, Regal Assets to come up with this unique watch. The watch’s cold storage wallet depends on offline-generated non-deterministic True Random Numbers Generated or TRNGs to ward off hackers.

Every model of the watch contains a dial which has a QR code of Satoshi’s Genesis Block address and a custom-designed “B” inside the emblem of the circuitry.

The watches are available for both men and women and are priced between $10,780 to $55,880.

 

Democrat President Hopeful Welcomes Crypto Donations

Eric Salwell, the presidential candidate for Elections 2020 from the Democratic Party has declared that he will be happy to accept cryptocurrency donations in support of his campaign.

Blockchain firm – White Company will help the Bay Area congressman facilitate the donations and align them with Federal Election Commission regulations.

A Stellar-based stablecoin is being used by the crypto payment platform so that every individual donation can be verified separately. Salwell can gain instant access to the funds gathered in his favor as the transaction fees are literally less than a penny and the funds settle in a matter of three seconds.

Salwell is appreciative of the technology and believes that US regulatory policy too needs to be inviting of such new technology innovations. He says that since most of our world today exists online, there is no reason our economics shouldn’t transfer online too.

 

Price momentum, market sentiment, and continued advancement of the exchange sector are analysed to determine the monthly value of the crypto index. These qualifiable indicators are the market factors that determine the crypto market. A proprietary formula based on quantified data on blockchain transactions, search traffic, and moving averages is used to calculate the market index which ranges from highly bearish to highly bullish.

 

Bitcoin and Ethereum take the lead in the Crypto market

The bears hit the brake pedal moments before the market closed and the bull swept across the crypto market. Bitcoin Core touched a new high going up by around 5%. This is its highest price for Bitcoin before the big fall in November 2018.

The world’s biggest digital coin recovered and moved with a strong bullish trend. Bitcoin SV remained relatively flat and it seems to have found a bottom.

Ethereum pushed over the declining trendline that developed in April. The second largest cryptocurrency by market capital was the real riser of the pack. It was up by 11% with turnover rising considerably. Though it pulled back slightly, Ethereum was the best performing cryptocurrencies out of the top-20 pack. Traders are suggested to consider short-term positions in the market using strict risk management rules, as the long-term setups in the segment remain negative.

Tezos and Maker demonstrated strong positive momentum and gained over 7%. The 10th digital asset Cardano did well with 5% of gains. Some currencies were slower to rise thought the increase was across the board. The third largest coin, Ripple, exhibited about only 2.5% increase.

 

What caused the bullish wave?

Price momentum, infrastructure development, and institutional interest, the three fundamentals that drive the bullish signals were present for several months. Despite the instability at the beginning of April crypto rally, the market was primarily driven by one large buy order rather than fundamentals.

Crypto is continuing on a positive trajectory, self-determining its stand in the market that is seeing more of temporary surges. Data interpreters believe that there is no need to worry over market sentiments such as FOMO crushing crypto in the event of an abrupt and unexpected rally.

 

1. Christopher Giancarlo, chair of CFTC testified before the US House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. He said that the clearinghouses under the regulation of his agency are a critical singular point of risks is the global financial picture and they continue to grow and develop as per complexity. The US CFTC is optimistic that it will witness more companies choosing to become federally-okayed clearinghouses due to the thriving interest in cryptocurrencies.

What exactly are these clearinghouses?

Financial institutions that facilitate financial transactions between two parties are referred to as clearinghouses. Their job is to act as intermediaries and oversee the workings of these entities and assess any issues that may interfere with their ability to regulate their own risks. Giancarlo reaffirmed the importance of these assessments in his speech. He stated that these tests are a good measure of overall financial stability.

Some notable clearinghouses

LedgerX, the crypto derivative provider already doubles up as a clearinghouse. Other platforms like Bakkt and ErisX have been waiting patiently to hear back from the CFTC regarding their applications. The applications were filed to become derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs), which is a necessary designation required before you can function as a clearinghouse.

More from Giancarlo’s speech

Giancarlo also appealed to CFTC’s Fintech research hand – LabCFTC – to keep up with technological advancements.

The chairman underlined that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are both rapidly growing sectors. It was thanks to the LabCFTC that the regulator could prepare for some of the ongoing development and intimate them as to how to proceed best given the circumstances.

The CFTC has been successful in independently analyzing market data without resorting to the help of any market intermediaries and self-regulatory organizations.

It has also been able to predict the importance of technological innovations, putting forward the example of crypto-asset-based futures products.

What next?

LedgerX, ErisX, Seed CX and Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt have all decided to provide physically-settled bitcoin futures and so on, right from when they achieve all requisite regulatory approvals. CME and Cboe had both made announcements of their plans to launch cash-settled futures products towards the end of 2017.

The only thing to do now is to wait and see what becomes of these plans. One thing is for sure – cryptocurrency is not slowing down its pace of growth anytime soon. Companies have found a way to capitalize on this for their own profits and why shouldn’t they?

Bidding is underway to buy the Nexon (NXC) business empire. Two consortiums have emerged as frontrunners – one led by game developer Netmarble and another, by South Korean internet giant Kakao Group. Cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp and Korbit find pride of place in NXC’s holdings. Bitstamp is Europe’s oldest platform and Korbit is one among the country’s big four exchanges.

Chinese giant Tencent continues to be interested in acquiring the empire too. It consists of babycare and gaming brands. As for NXC’s asking price, it remains in the 8.8 billion USD range. Despite this, the Netmarble and Kakao led consortiums are expected to be in the leading.

When the initial details of the sale had emerged back in January, reports had informed that Kakao, Tencent and Tencent might infact be potential buyers.

If Kakao is successful in its endeavor, it will head a vast crypto-and-blockchain business network. It has made significant investments into Dunamu prior to this. Dunamu operates the Upbit exchange i.e. another big four trading platform. Kakao also operates Ground X, its very own blockchain subsidiary that has developed the Klaytn platform. If rumors are to be believed, the company plans to introduce its own token someday that it will integrate with the Kakao Pay e-pay platform as well as its online banking services.

Netmarble is no less keen on blockchain and cryptocurrency. Infact, media reports believe that it may launch a Netmarble Coin sometime in the future.

In other news –

Korbit has shut its American business arm down. It had planned to carve its own space in the North American crypto-sphere through Korbit USA but the long bear market and shrinking market has forced it to cancel any such plans. Korbit USA was launched soon after NXC had completed its Korbit takeover in 2017.

A spokesperson speaking on behalf of NXC to the media said that although they’ve shut down Korbit USA, they have no plans of selling the main exchange platform.

Bitstamp’s American subsidiary has been winning on the other hand, with a newly acquired BitLicense i.e. trading permit from New York state’s financial regulator – the Department of Financial Services.

The DFS has declared that Bitstamp USA is permitted to buy and sell Bitcoins and Altcoins, transfer funds onto the Ripple network, issue Ripple Balances in USD, other cryptocurrencies as well as other foreign currencies such as yen, euros, Swiss francs and so on.

 

Crypto Mining Firm’s IPO Application on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) Lapses

Bitmain, the cryptocurrency mining equipment maker’s application for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has officially expired which means no such transactions are going through any time soon.

An update on the HKEX’s website mentioned that Bitmain’s case has been transferred to a group of “inactive” applications as is currently labeled as lapsed. The update comes six months after the company filed the prospectus back on September 26.

If Bitmain intends to pursue a listing, it can re-file the application with updated financial records beyond the documents presented during the initial filing.

A listing rule from HKEX states that the last financial period reported on by the reporting accountants for a new applicant can’t have ended before six months from when the documents are listed. Bitmain’s last public filing extends till June 30, 2018.

The company’s application had drawn widespread attention last fall as it revealed figures corresponding to its surprising profit growth over the past couple years. Here’s an example to illustrate the picture better – The mining giant made a net profit of $1 billion in 2017, and it had made almost the same amount in profit by the first half of 2018.

Yes, there was rapid growth experienced in the bottom line, only testifying to the surge in the cryptocurrency market from 2017 – still HKEX wasn’t entirely convinced. It remained reluctant to approve applications from Bitmain, Eband, and Canaan Creative because it felt threatened by the industry’s volatility.

One couldn’t say these fears were unfounded as there was a market slump in 2018 and Bitmain went onto lose $500 million in the third quarter of 2018.

It is yet to be seen whether Bitmain is attempting again to go public anytime soon. The company came out with a statement on Tuesday, confirming the expiration of its listing application with HKex in September 2018 and promised to restart the listing application work at a more convenient time in the future.

Management Shake-up

The same announcement also stated that company CEOs Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan have resigned as co-CEOs. They will be succeeded by Hiachao Wang, who had been working as director of product engineering thus far.

Bitmain would do good to try going public again as it would otherwise have to shell out upwards of $700 million to its venture capital investors.

 

 

Bitcoin Moghul Changpeng Zhao Defies Reputation and Gets Involved in Twitter Brawl

Chanpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance used to enjoy the reputation of being friendly and easygoing along with the skyrocketing success of his cryptocurrency exchange. However, this persona may just be a sham. At least, onlookers to the Twitter exchanges Zhao had with reporters over the last weekend would testify so.

Bitwise Reports Majority of Spot Bitcoin Trading Value to be Fake

All of this noise started with Zhao rushing to defend accusations put forward by Bitwise reporters that 95% of all spot bitcoin trading volume is fake. In reply to Bitwise’s tweet, Zhao wrote ironically that most investors won’t have the patience to go over the detailed report shared.

Analyst Urges Zhao to Encourage Clean Industry Practices

Around the same time, the CEO to the crypto exchange was hauled up for not using his influence in the crypto space to call out on industry websites who seem to be promoting fake trading volume data by Larry Cernak – an analyst with TheBlock, a crypto news website.

In his defense, Zhao said that was not part of his job. However, he went on to accuse TheBlock of attacking him and his company.

Additionally, he managed to include the idea that since he had granted TheBlock several interviews in the past, he expected more positive coverage from them. It is true, TheBlock has, on several occasions, waxed eloquent about Zhao’s achievements. This doesn’t warrant the hyper-defensive behavior Zhao exhibited on the slightest note of criticism coming his way.

Cernak’s Colleague Steps In

Cernak’s colleague at TheBlock, Frank Chaparro, decided to step in at this point and pointed out Zhao’s responses as being a little too sensitive to received feedback. In the process, he also made a dig at the industry players, saying that they were, perhaps, too touchy about any negative criticism coming their way.

Not the First Media Outlet to Have Faced Zhao’s Wrath

Changpeng Zhao had made similar allegations against the crypto news website CCN.

Neither the Only Overly Sensitive Bitcoin Bull

Zhao has company in this space. Tom Lee, Fundstrat’s bitcoin cheerleader, is much the same when it comes to handling the scrutiny. Lee blocked the CCN reporter who scripted a story on Lee’s ongoing off-the-mark bitcoin price predictions. Now, if that isn’t touchy what is? As adults, we are supposed to be able to handle a certain amount of criticism and learn from it. The Bitcoin industry doesn’t seem to quite have adulted in those terms yet.

 

Coinfield To Expand Its Crypto Exchange Services In 2019

2018 was not a good year for cryptocurrency traders. Despite the downturn that was majorly a result of the Bitcoin crash, experts are still optimistic and predict that the markets would fare better in 2019. Buoyed by the increasing public interest in cryptocurrencies, CoinField, a Canada-based cryptocurrency platform has announced its plans to expand its presence this year.

With a presence in over 100 countries, CoinField is one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency platforms. CoinField claims its latest move will make cryptocurrency trading easier and cheaper for investors. A global presence would help investors avoid delays in taking buying and selling decisions. The move is expected to bring CoinField one step closer to its aim of becoming one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms.

CoinField is backed by Central Crypto Exchange Corp. The Canadian company launched the platform in April 2018. CoinField has two types of dashboards; one for beginners and the other one for pro traders. The dashboards have been customized according to the purpose they are intended to serve, which helps speed-up transactions.

CoinField claims its platforms have a number of charting tools and a user-friendly order process that ensures beginners don’t encounter any problems when performing transactions.

The trading platform claims its servers can conduct up to 75,000 transactions per second. CoinField says it uses the latest technology to ensure the safety of digital assets. According to the management, the platform uses a unique secret vault that is specially designed to store classified info. CoinField also claims that it uses isolated servers and has implemented three wallet technologies for enhanced safety.

As of now, CoinField allows traders to deal in six flat currencies including the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, the British pound sterling, the UAE dirham, Canadian dollar, and euro. Traders can use from a different deposit and withdrawal options such as PayPal Express and credit cards to convert these currencies into cryptocurrencies. The platform has recently added four digital assets.

CoinField claims to have a superior fraud detecting mechanism that is designed to detect any fraudulent activities in traders’ accounts, which helps in ensuring the safety of digital assets.

The platform claims to charge a lower fee as compared to several other competitors. Traders can expect to pay a Maker fee in the range of 0.05 percent-0.15 percent. There are no wire transfer fees for euro and U.S. dollar. However, traders have to wait for 24-48 hours before the transaction reflects in their account.

Denmark’s Tax Agency Authorized To Collect Data Regarding Cryptocurrency Transactions

Denmark’s Trade Council has authorized Danish tax authorities to investigate cryptocurrency related transactions. Officials can now collect info related to cryptocurrency transactions from crypto exchanges. The objective of the move is to track cryptocurrency transactions and make sure that traders trading in them pay the right taxes.

In an official statement, Skattestyrelsen, Denmark’s tax collection agency said that it now has the authority to collect data related to transactions conducted between Jan 1, 2016, and Dec 31, 2018, from three Danish exchanges.

The three exchanges are now required by the law to share info about all cryptocurrency related purchases and sales made by traders during the specified period. The exchanges will have to provide detailed customer info such as their addresses, names, and CPR numbers, the ID numbers issued by the country’s Civil Registration System.

Authorities at Skattestyrelsen say that they will use the info to ensure tax compliance. Karin Bergen, the tax authority’s director, says that the ruling will open new opportunities for the body to regulate the cryptocurrency exchange market.

The decision to empower Skattestyrelsen was taken after a board meeting of the Tax Council in last December. The decision came on the heels of Finnish tax authorities sharing info with their Danish counterparts regarding Danish traders who were trading cryptocurrencies on a Finnish exchange.

According to some reports, last year Finnish authorities had tipped off their Danish counterparts that around 2,700 Danish nationals were trading on a Finnish cryptocurrency exchange. The total trade volume was estimated to be close to $15 million.

In addition to ensuring tax compliance, Danish authorities plan to share info related to cryptocurrency transactions conducted by foreign nationals on Danish exchanges with tax bodies in the respective countries.

Currently, Skattestyrelsen is holding talks with crypto exchanges to design a framework for sharing info in a timely fashion. Once, they collect data, authorities intend to make sure every citizen dealing in cryptocurrency had paid the right taxes.

It is expected that Skattestyrelsen will adjust the tax base for traders before summer. Authorities plan to investigate every case to determine whether the income gained from a particular cryptocurrency transaction is taxable.

To increase awareness, Danish tax authorities launched a campaign last month. The focus of this campaign was to inform taxpayers about their obligations and the deductions.

This is not the first of its kind attempt by a tax-body to detect tax evasions related to cryptocurrency transactions. In 2017, the IRS too had come up with a similar move, demanding that Coinbase share info related to its 500,000 users.