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Ketaki Dixit

Sygnum, the World’s First Digital Asset Bank, Lists XRP on its Platform

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Ripple and its native cryptocurrency XRP have had a rollercoaster ride over the past year with price falls and significant partnerships going hand in hand. This kind of sentiment shift has not stopped its supporters from throwing their full weight behind the cryptocurrency and its developments.

The XRP Army had another reason to rejoice recently when Sygnum Bank, the world’s first cryptocurrency bank, announced that XRP will be added to its fold this year. The bank will allow investors to jump into XRP via the e-banking portal of the organization.

On April 30, Sygnum revealed that the third-largest cryptocurrency on the planet will soon join the bank roster as demand for it grows on a daily basis. Users will have the option of depositing, exchanging and accessing bank credit services via XRP. All Sygnum customers will be able to possess XRP using mainstream fiat currencies like the US dollar, the Swiss franc, the Singapore dollar, or the Euro.

Mathias Imbach, the co-founder of Sygnum spoke highly about the latest listing and stated:

“We were impressed with Ripple’s excellent performance globally – they now have more than 300 financial institutions in their global payments network, RippleNet. The XRP-based solutions developed by the company resolve weak spots in the growing global remittance market of $ 700 billion. The low cost of transfers makes it an ideal tool to facilitate payments in emerging economies.”

Customers of the bank also have the option to send XRP to their Sygnum deposit accounts in a bid to increase their native cryptocurrency portfolio. Another key feature was the ability to obtain a Lombard loan against XRP as it would allow more flow of capital within the bank’s ecosystem. Sygnum chose the correct window to list XRP on its platform as more and more investors were ready to jump on board during the current bull run.

At press time, XRP’s value had shot up to $0.22 with a total market cap close to $10 billion. Ripple had earlier said that as the number of partnerships grows, so will the cryptocurrency‘s trading volume. The current 24-hour trading volume was $2.651 billion which came after significant hikes over the past week.

The Switzerland based bank reassured users that all of their funds are stored in separate, highly secure individual portfolios that will only be accessible by them. Another feature that the bank prided itself on was the ease of access by which users could deal with their assets. Sources close to the bank have said that regulated custody solution was developed by Swisscom with an architecture tailored for institutional-grade security.

 

Bitcoin, XRP, Litecoin See Greener Pastures on Labor Day as Investors Rejoice

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The cryptocurrency market has recently gone through a significant bull market, increasing the immediate support and resistance for most coins. Many believe that the main reason for the rise was Bitcoin’s impending halving, set to take place on May 4.

As we look at greener pastures, it is important to analyze the market trends of the top cryptocurrencies and see how they might react over the coming weekend. Bitcoin, XRP, and Litecoin were the three major cryptocurrencies still ticking in the bull zone with more gains expected to arrive soon.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s latest resurgence has been the talk of the cryptocurrency town after weeks of bearish drops. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has now set its sight on the $9000 mark after growing by double-digit numbers over the past week. At press time, Bitcoin was trading for $8896.4422 with a total market cap of $163293 billion. The 24-hour market volume had increased to a healthy $52.2 billion after capping near the $45 billion mark last month.

Bitcoin’s immediate resistance had increased to $8820 with the support holding strong at $4838. Several HODLers and analysts have claimed that the cryptocurrency would continue on its bullish path till the halving after which the value can diverge in two ways.

The first scenario would see the value shoot up significantly, even breaking the $10,000 mark within the first week of May. Analysis of the specific indicators showed that the capital into the market had increased significantly fr the first time since the middle of March.

Ripple

XRP’s performance over the past ten days has made many investors sit up and take notice of Ripple’s native cryptocurrency. During the time of writing, XRP’s value was $0.22 with a total market cap of $9.9 billion. The third-largest cryptocurrency in the market was still a long way away from overtaking Ethereum whose market cap was a whopping $23.8 billion. XRP’s 24-hour market volume had increased to $2.65 billion after a 2.7 percent hike over the past day.

Ripple’s cryptocurrency was still struggling to find a way back to its earlier peaks as the ‘XRP army’ placed their belief in the coin. Ripple has boosted XRP’s potential by claiming that it will be used in several of its technologies and partnership payment gateways. One of the recent positive takeaways has been the increase in XRP’s buying pressure. The last time that XRP’s buying pressure had crossed the overbought zone it was back in February.

Litecoin

Litecoin remained in the seventh position while at the same time maintaining a distance from its rival Binance Coin. The recent price hike lifted Litecoin’s price from below the $40 margin to trade for $48.43. LTC’s market cap clocked in at $3.13 billion and was quickly gaining ground on Bitcoin SV’s 3.91 billion. After a 10 percent increase over the previous week, LTC’s market volume had risen to $5.055 billion.

LTC’s capital gain had dipped since the price rise began as investors decided to wait it out for more developments. This was the reason why the Chaikin Money Flow indicator for LTC was one of the lowest among the top 10 cryptocurrencies. Although the money may not be coming into the market, people’s trust in LTC had definitely gone up as indicated by a flurry of buy-ins by fans and investors alike.

The aforementioned cryptocurrencies were few of the best performers during the previous week joined by decent performances by other tokens as well. Only time will now tell if the gains can be maintained and if the bull will remain with the cryptocurrency market for a prolonged period of time.

 

Latest Brave Research Shows EU Countries’ Actions Would Result in GDPR Failure

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The concept of online security and data protection has been a battle that has been going on since the dawn of the digital age. Examples such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal triggered a number of national governments and organizations to rally behind a single cause: protecting consumer data, no matter what.

After a lot of discussions and deliberations, the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] came to life in the European Union, a step to address the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. Two years since its inception, Brave has discovered that several European governments have not equipped their national authorities to enforce the much talked about GDPR. 

Brave’s analysis showed that the GDRP was in danger of failing due to the lack of focus on the implementation of the regulation across EU states. Very few tech investigators have been identified to be involved in the exploration of private sector GDPR issues. Analysts have claimed that the fall of the GDPR must be attributed to the EU governments and not to the data protection authorities.

Research showed that even when mistakes were spotted within the data protection system, DPA’s held back while punishing big technology firms. The main reason for this was that government entities cannot keep up with the financial burden that comes with fighting bigwigs such as Facebook and Amazon. Brave’s Dr. Johnny Ryna had said:

“Robust, adversarial enforcement is essential. GDPR enforcers must be able to properly investigate ‘big tech’, and act without fear of vexatious appeals. But the national governments of European countries have not given them the resources to do so. The European Commission must intervene.”

Brave claimed that out of the twenty-eight national GDPR enforcers in Europe, only five had more than ten technology specialists. This meant that very few regions actually had the capacity to go head-to-head with giant technology corporations. Almost half of EU’s GDPR enforcers have small budgets in the range of 5 million pounds, a measly amount compared to the war chests held by companies.

According to the data presented by Brave, the UK government’s privacy watchdog was the largest and the most expensive to run. With its research, Brave has called upon all national agencies within the GDPR to enforce strict privacy protocols. The Irish Data Protection Commission Commission reported that the number of companies it deals with has only gone up while the incoming budget decreased.

The Brave report suggested multiple solutions for countries in the EU to bolster their GDPR developments. One recommendation was to expand DPA technology specialists within the specified regions, a step to track all wrongdoings within the sphere. The next step was to fund DPA properly so that they could fight companies in courts if they flout “enforcement decisions”. Another suggestion was to develop a specialized EU unite to assist national DPAs with regards to technology investigations.

 

Avanti Bank and Trust CEO Claims the Dollar May Be Heading Towards a Fall Just Like the Pound

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Over the last few years, the world economy has gone through some tumultuous times when multiple countries have registered massive losses in their stocks. The United States and Europe were the focal points of the financial world since most market trends have originated from the aforementioned regions.

Although the US and countries in Europe were seen as stalwarts in space, a pattern has emerged where both the dollar and the pound have fallen below the expected standards. Caitlin Long, Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of Avanti, recently spoke about how the dollar’s dominance was waning much like that of the pound in the 20th century.

Analysts claimed that the dollar was seeing a dip because of a pattern of over-consumption. This was due primarily to expansion into other countries where the dollar was set as the standard for any trade or exchange. It has been the reason why countries need to be cautious about the fall of the dollar as it can also impact their native economies. Speaking on the prevalent issue, Caitlin Long was quick to point out that the US would soon pay reparations if corrections were not made quickly.

Long’s tweet on the dollar discussion read:

On Thursday, the dollar suffered a loss when the NSE fell by 3.88 percent. This was on the back of the US Federal Reserve’s decision to open the door to monetary easing, with a majority losing hope that the economy would recover anytime soon. The silver lining in the situation was that the positive COVID-19 drug tests boosted the hunger for riskier assets.

A cursory analysis of the economy has shown it may take several months before the US market recovers. As the Federal Reserve pumped more money into the market, the dollar was seen to be progressively weaker. Researchers added that the dollar/yen pair could drift lower soon, with the euro benefiting from the fall.

On Thursday, the dollar traded for 106.72 yen in Asia, while the currency was $1.2455 against the dollar. The US Federal Reserve was also in the news recently after a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. According to reports, the Fed has decided to keep interest rates close to zero while planning to expand the emergency program across the country. Economists predict that the second quarter of 2020 would be even worse as some countries plan to extend ongoing lockdowns.

Asian countries have maintained a steady pace in comparison to American markets. China has been one of the main leaders asserting its hold on the financial sphere as more and more developments continue to take place within the country. Several provinces in the Red Dragon have begun to ease the lockdown of their economy, and the Renminbi is expected to bounce soon.

 

New York Judge Allows the Blockchain Association to File Brief in Case Involving Kik and United States SEC

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Cryptocurrency organizations have always had a strenuous relationship with regulatory agencies because of the decisions made by the latter. The US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] remains one of the main governing bodies when it comes to crypto and was recently involved in a pushback with regards to Kik.

On 28 April, in spite of objections from the regulatory body, the New York District Court Judge allowed the Blockchain Association to file an amicus for the Kik-SEC case. The SEC had argued that the Blockchain Association had a vested interest in the matter and should not be allowed to participate in the decision-making process. 

The Kik-SEC case had come to such a head that it captured multiple news headlines in the cryptocurrency industry. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southeastern District of New York allowed the Blockchain Association to file an amicus so that there was no bias towards either party. The Blockchain Association has denied claims that its members have benefited financially from the case.

Blockchain Association Executive Director Kristin Smith said that the group was proud to execute the filing and would do whatever was necessary to resolve the situation. Members of the Organization also pointed out the hypocrisy in which the SEC considered the amicus to be a group counted as any other trade organization.Smith added that the SEC’s description of the brief was wrong and that the Association wholeheartedly supported the Judge’s decision. She continued:

“The Blockchain Association was proud to file its amicus brief in this matter, and we appreciate the opportunity to speak for the entire industry in supporting sensible regulation. The court system benefits from amicus briefs like ours that place the parties’ evidence and arguments in their broader context, a role played every day by associations, non-governmental organizations and advocacy groups in courts across America.”

At the moment, Kik is not a member of the Blockchain Association, but the relationship between the two dates back to 2019. The Association is currently managing the ‘Defend Crypto’ campaign launched by Kik in 2019, an initiative to raise funds for crypto organizations involved in SEC feuds. Kik contributed $5 million to the fund on their behalf, with another $2 million coming from external donors.

The SEC, at the other part, was against Kik because they believed that all Kin token sales were actually security transactions. Kik rebutted by claiming that all its sales were legitimate and that its public sale transactions were not securities in any form or structure. Since June last year, the legal battle between the two organizations has been going on with a final decision nowhere in sight.

Just recently, both Kik and the SEC filed oppositions to the other party’s motions for summary judgment. The two entities doubled down on their arguments and commented on the legitimacy of the information presented in the court of law. The SEC believed that the processes followed by Kin investors and an underlying common venture in the cryptocurrency industry was enough to swing the case towards their side.

 

 

 

Venezuela Increases Monthly Minimum Wage to $2 as Citizens Protest Failed Promise

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Countries in Latin America have taken to the cryptocurrency market due to the problems they face with their national currencies. Venezuela was a major example in this department, taking its citizens to crypto to avoid Bolivar’s crumbling.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently took to the public forum to inform that the government would be raising the minimum wage in the country by a 100 percent. While the figure looks good on paper, the ground reality was that the new wage will only amount to a measly $2. 

The incumbent government revealed its latest decision in line with the country’s tradition of raising wages before Labor Day on May 1. As per the latest overhaul, the daily wage earners will now earn a minimum of 400,000 bolivars from the earlier 250,000 bolivars. Comparing the hike to Venezuela’s official cryptocurrency, Petro, it was noticed that the figure would jump to 0.039 or 0.0003 BTC.

Venezuelans have been clamouring for an increase in the daily wage for a long time and the new change is not expected to do a lot for their morale. Analysts claimed that 0.0039 petros is only enough to buy one kilogram of meat, a far cry from obtaining other basic necessities. A litre of edible oil costs $1 while a kilogram of rice is priced the same. An on-ground report stated:

“To acquire the 27 basic products regulated by the government, a Venezuelan needs $ 32.65 or 5.58 million bolivars at the official exchange rate of April 25, 171,072 Bs./$. The amount is equivalent to 22 minimum wages, which since January is located at 250,000 bolivars, or 1.4 dollars at the BCV rate.”

The latest value may be confusing to a lot of people, because Petro, linked to daily wages, was not the same as Petro’s cryptocurrency. The second Petro acts just as a unit of account and has not inherent connection with the national cryptocurrency. This is why the monthly minimum wage was set at 40,000, which is roughly $2.

Nicholas Maduro’s government had initially promised that the daily wages would be hiked to 0.5 which was equivalent to almost $30. The premier had instructed his cabinet to carry forward the changes which came to nothing because of internal conflicts within his cabinet. Citizens came out in droves to protest the decision as it was a total u-turn from what was promised.

Reports stated that the promised raise would have been at least 10 times the new minimum wage, something that the struggling people of the country did not take lightly. The current predicament was another black mark for Petro as it only seemed to increase the people’s problems rather than alleviate it. The Center of Documentation and Analysis for Workers said that a family would need 77 times the current wage to sustain their needs.

Lendf.Me Lists Out Redistribution Plans for Hacked Funds Amounting to $25 Million

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Since its inception, the cryptocurrency industry had to deal with scams and fraudulent activities. Reports claimed that 2019 was a crucial year for these events as the industry witnessed a surge in the number of people using weak security gateways and ignorance.

Lendf. Me, the popular cryptocurrency lending platform was attacked on April 19, leading to more than $25 million in losses. Almost all of the stolen funds have recently been recovered with Chief Executive Officer [CEP] Mindao Yang thanking partners, investors, and law enforcement agencies for their efforts.

In a new release, Lendf.Me claimed that all hacked funds from the exchange were moved to a separate recovery account. The recovery account has an address of 0xc88fcc12f400A0a2cEbE87110dcDe0dAFD29F148 with a current balance of 512.62 ETH. The organization’s development team has been working on auditing asset data through internal data and third part cross-checking, important aspects of ensuring proper safeguards.

The officials close to the developments added that they were also planning to establish an asset distribution plan and corresponding risk management procedure. This will ensure that the accuracy and security of the distribution process are maintained. Lendf.Me is also working to finalize a post-asset-redistribution action proposal to put the qualms of people at rest. According to an official release from the company:

“The Lendf.Me smart contracts were compromised during the attack. As a result, we indefinitely paused the Lendf.Me contract and built a new Asset Recovery System to return the stolen assets to users. Following the return of the stolen funds, all assets have been stored in a cold wallet. The funds are secure, and we’re eager to return them.”

Since the hackers were only able to exchange a few of the stolen assets, Lendf.me has decided to rebalance a majority of the portfolio back to its last known state before the attack. Lendf.Me’s outstanding supply and borrow balance snapshot was taken on April 19 at a block height of 9,900,772. According to the organization, all the user’s supply and borrowing outstanding will be valued against the aforementioned snapshot.

Lendf.Me users who only supplied have the option to trigger the withdrawal process automatically from the platform’s workings. The current settlements will be conducted on a first come first serve basis because of the large influx of requests. Users who had borrowed from the platform will have to follow three steps to assess their asset recovery.

Once these users check their supply and borrow status, they will be required to repay the outstanding borrowed assets before retrieving collaterals. After the users pay back the full amount, all collaterals will be returned by Lendf.Me to the respective user accounts. Lendf.me claimed that they will be doing everything that they can to restore all functions back to normal as soon as possible.

During the initial hack, Lendf. Me was not the only company affected, as it was accompanied by UniSwap. The latter used both the Lendf.me protocol built on top of DeFi as well as the imBTC protocol. While Lendf lost $25 million in assets, Uniswap had to deal with losses of between $300,000 and $1.1 million.

Ripple Partner SBI and Japan’s SMFG to Team Up in a Bid to Cater to Millennials

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The Asian market has switched very quickly to the cryptocurrency industry, even exceeding the expectations set by the West. China and Japan have taken significant steps to boost their native fintech ecosystems.

The latest reports from Japan claimed that SBI Holdings, one of the country’s largest banking conglomerates, was getting ready to partner with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group [SMFG], the nation’s second-largest bank. The two entities will pool their resources to be the leading financial technology leader.

SBI’s push into the digital asset industry first came to light when it revealed its tie-up with Ripple based in San Francisco. The Ripple Partnership has elevated SBI’s status from being a national bank to a global baking network. SBI and SMFG stated that the new team would seek to create financial products and services that serve millennials much better than existing models.

SMFG is expected to acquire a significant stake in the SBI mobile brokerage unit called NeoModbile Securities. The 20% stake, worth billions of yen, would be the starting point for creating a new and improved banking ecosystem for the younger generation.

Aside from the acquisition, SMFG also plans to deposit a large chunk of capital into a 100 billion yen fund set up by SBI. Once the fund repository reaches an acceptable level, SBI will use the money to invest in blossoming fintech companies. The announcement even caught the eye of Nikkei Asian Review, that said in its latest publication:

“The two groups plan to offer a range of products, including mutual funds and insurance policies.SBI’s planned 100 billion yen investment fund that is to be set up with SMFG will focus on investments in companies that work with digital technology, including fintech, blockchain and 5G wireless networks. SMFG and SBI plan to accelerate their digital business strategies through collaborative efforts with investee companies.”

SMFG is not the first financial institution that SBI has partnered with, as it comes on the back of other tie-ups with lenders such as Shimane Bank, Fukushima Bank and Chikuho Bank. Japan’s focus on growing its native ecosystems was put on show with the partnership as the two companies pledged to support other regional banks and financial institutions.

Although Ripple was not mentioned during the partnership, it was easy to see how the news would be positive for the Brad Garlinghouse led organization. SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao is a member of the Ripple board of directors and is known to be a big supporter of its native cryptocurrency XRP as well. SBI’s foray into crypto was solidified last year when SBI Mining Chip, an SBI subsidiary started manufacturing cryptocurrency mining equipment for large scale use.

China’s Blockchain Services Network ‘ChinaChain’ Launches for the Public

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China’s dominance in cryptocurrency has been shown over the last few months as the country set out to create a completely new framework for decentralized applications and blockchain networks. The main focus of the country was to create its native blockchain network, which came to fruition last weekend.

On April 25, the country launched the Blockchain Services Network [BSN] for commercial purposes, both locally and globally. The blockchain network will be called ‘ChinaChain,’ a not so subtle way to indicate the presence of the country in the ecosystem.

The BSN will work as a cross-portal, cross-framework, cross-cloud global network primarily used to launch a myriad of blockchain applications. News about the BSN has been circulating for more than a year now, with rigorous testing having started 6 months ago.

The government revealed the complete system at a virtual press conference, taking precautions to avoid the spread of a highly contagious coronavirus. Official releases confirm that the launch and internal functioning of the BSN were all mandated by the authoritarian Chinese government.

Zhiguang Shan, Chairman of the BSN Development Association, claimed that the new system would act as a centerpiece for a variety of blockchain platforms. There are plans to integrate popular blockchain platforms like WeBank’s FISCO BCOS, Baidu’s Xuperchain, EOS, Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric. The technical paper of the BSN stated:

“The main goal of the BSN has always been to create a public infrastructure similar to that of the internet and to provide a one-stop-shop style blockchain-based service that integrates cloud resources, underlying frameworks, operating environments, key management, development SDK and gateway API. Just like building a simple website on the internet, developers can deploy and operate blockchain and distributed ledger applications conveniently and at an extremely low-cost.”

The BSN also aims to solve the problem of interoperability within a complex system, something that many other companies have tried to address in the past. This time around, many officials in the space were confident that the BSN would be able to handle the situations. One of the officials who were positive about the launch was Hoggang Chen, VP of PeerSafe, a blockchain startup based in Beijing. He claimed that the efforts of BSN would crack the interoperability code with plans to launch Peersafe products on the latest network.

Members of the BSN team stated that not all network protocols will be allowed in the latest blockchain framework. Zhiguan Shan said that foreign protocols such as HyperLedger will have to be tweaked in order to fit into the workings of the BSN. The BSN Network Operations Platform is currently managed by its founding members, including China UnionPay, Red Date Tech and China Mobile.

Small and medium-sized enterprises within the country are expected to benefit from the latest launch as it provides a faster and more interconnected trading ecosystem. BSN will host data from multiple cloud providers to ensure a free flow of information between all parties involved. A cursory analysis has shown that BSN is ready to host thousands of applications on its network, just like the Internet.

According to earlier releases, we know that the network is backed by large Chinese corporations and banks. Interconnectivity was the need for an hour with multiple nodes set to be placed outside the mainland of China. Seven location cities have been selected: Sydney, Paris, California, Singapore, Tokyo, San Paulo, California, and Johannesburg.

 

Ross Ulbricht Shares His View of Bitcoin’s Long-Term Outlook as The Halving Closes.

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Bitcoin’s price movement has always been a talking point in cryptocurrency space since its inception. Several analysts and researchers have explored the idea that the world’s largest cryptocurrency could be the trigger for a massive market overhaul.

Just recently, Ross Ulbricht, the infamous founder of the Silk Board trading platform, commented on Bitcoin’s future price shift and what it could mean for the market’s potential. His main point of discussion was the idea of BItcoin’s price peaking and falling over intermittent periods of time.

In his latest Medium post, Ulbricht said he wanted to help people navigate the volatile Bitcoin market while at the same time admitting that his words were not investment advice. He stated that his time in prison had given him a “detached long-term perspective” on the bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets in general. According to Ulbricht, speculative markets like Bitcoin were psychological traps.

Psychological traps worked by putting an idea in someone’s head, and then making them act on that impulse. For example, an investor who doesn’t know the nitti-gritties behind a bitcoin deal may be foolish to assume that buying bitcoin meant getting rich. The most recent release from the jailed founder of Silk Road said:

“The $20,000 peak was not that long ago. Do you remember what the consensus was like? Extreme optimism reigned. Six- or seven-figure prices were just over the horizon. Every alt-coin was the next big thing. Everything pointed to one conclusion: buy now! Anyone issuing warnings to get out were ignored, laughed off stage or buried with a thousand “good” reasons why prices could only go up.”

Ulbricht revealed that, despite the current price stagnation, he was still bullish in the long term. He believed that the next wave of bitcoin’s bullish rise would be greater than the earlier rises that BTC had crossed the $20,000 threshold. Ulbricht termed Bitcoin’s price as waves, with the first and second waves occurring in 2011 and 2012, respectively, when Bitcoin’s price rose significantly. If the third wave follows the same pattern as Wave II, the price of Bitcoin is expected to rise to $333 million.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin traded $7728 with a total market cap of $141 billion. The weekly 8 percent increase also raised the 24-hour market volume to $38.1 billion. This was a decent climb from last week’s hold when the price flitted in the $6800-$7100 range. Although the figures were not as positive as Ulbricht predicted, they were still a silver line between markets devastated by coronavirus spread.