Blockchain.com Launches Crypto Visa Card With 1% Cashback Crypto Rewards

October 27, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Remittances drive ‘uneven, but swift’ crypto adoption in Latin America

October 21, 2022 Coin Telegraph

2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report

The Latin American region now makes up for a 9.1% share of the global crypto value received in 2022 with remittances and high inflation the highest drivers of adoption.

Remittance payments, fiat fears, and profit-chasing have been the three most significant drivers of crypto adoption in Latin America, according to a new report.

The seventh-largest crypto market in the world saw the value of cryptocurrencies received by individuals rocket 40% between July 2021 to June 2022, reaching $562 billion, according to an Oct. 20 report from Chainalysis.

Part of the surge was attributed to remittances, with the region's overall remittance market estimated to have reached $150 billion in 2022. Chainalysis noted that crypto-based service adoption was “uneven, but swift.”

The firm pointed to one Mexican exchange operating in the “world’s largest crypto remittance corridor” which processed over $1 billion in remittances between Mexico and the United States in the year to June 2022 alone.

It marked an increase of 400% year-on-year and accounted for 4% of the country’s remittance market.

However, the region’s soaring inflation rates have also played a huge part in crypto adoption, according to the analytics firm, particularly in the adoption of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins.

“Stablecoins – cryptocurrencies that are designed to stay pegged to the price of fiat currencies like USD – are a favorite in the most inflation-ravaged countries in the region,” explained the firm.

The region has been battling with staggeringly high inflation rates, with an estimate from the International Monetary Fund revealing that inflation across the largest five Latin American countries reached a 25-year high in August to 12.1%.

This has led to regular consumers, attempting to protect themselves from their plummeting national currencies, to take and hold stablecoins in order to make their everyday purchases.

The report cited a June Mastercard survey that found over a third of consumers already use stablecoins to make everyday purchases, while Chainalysis noted that citizens from Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil were most likely to use stablecoins for small retail transactions (under $1,000).

Venezuela in particular has seen its national fiat currency the bolívar depreciate by over 100,000% since December 2014, the firm added.

*Argentina and Brazil also saw significant shares of stablecoins used for sub $1,000 transactions. Source:* *Chainalysis*

Interestingly, the report found that citizens in the larger and more developed Latin American economies were also likely to adopt cryptocurrencies as a means of profit.

Chileans were the most involved in DeFi, with over 45% of all crypto transaction volume taking place on DeFi platforms followed by Brazil at just over 30%, Brazil was the number one country in the region for crypto value received closing in on $150 billion.

“Latin America’s more DeFi-centric crypto markets are not unlike Western Europe’s or North America’s, where market participants are embracing cutting edge, returns-focused crypto platforms moreso than savings-centric centralized services,” Chainalysis explained.

Coinbase gains in-principle approval for Singapore crypto license

October 11, 2022 Coin Telegraph

approval

The country is a key institutional market for the exchange according to the CEO of Coinbase Singapore, who explained it's also working with local industry groups to improve regulations.

The Singapore-based arm of the United States cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has received “in-principle approval” to provide crypto services in Singapore from its central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Hassan Ahmed, CEO of Coinbase Singapore and the exchanges’ regional director for Southeast Asia, said Singapore is a key institutional market for the exchange in Asia due to businesses there continuing to show interest in and gain exposure to crypto.

The city-state also serves as Coinbase’s Asia-Pacific tech hub, with an on-the-ground team of engineers responsible for its international expansion efforts and platform localization, said Ahmed.

Coinbase was already providing services including its institutional platform under an exemption granted by MAS, but Ahmed said it would look to partner with local platforms and expand its fiat capabilities with its new approval to provide Digital Payment Token services.

The exchange says it’s undertaking ongoing work with local Web3 community groups such as the Association of Crypto Currency Enterprises and Start-ups Singapore (ACCESS) and the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA).

Ahmed says it's working with the local industry in Singapore to ensure fair laws from regulators and provide information to a youth focused non-profit, Advisory.sg.

“We collaborate with industry associations to promote dialogue with policymakers, and ensure balanced regulations, and a pragmatic approach to regulatory framework for digital assets,” said Ahmed, adding:

“On the employment side, crypto as an industry is exciting but often confusing, so we are working with career exploration non-profits like advisory.sg to provide guidance to their members.”

Coinbase has seen an interest in expanding through the Asia-Pacific region, with a local entity in Japan since August 2021 and an Oct. 5 expansion of its retail focused services in Australia.

Ahmed said of Coinbase’s plans to offer services throughout Southeast Asia:

“We see Southeast Asia as a crypto-forward region with a lot of demand for holding and using crypto in markets such as the Philippines and Indonesia, as well as a hotbed of innovation for trends like Web3 gaming such as Vietnam.”

Coinbase’s vice president of international and business development Nana Murugesan previously said to Cointelegraph the exchange would focus “more towards markets that have [regulatory] clarity” when planning to expand further into Asia.

Over 12,000 Brazil companies declare crypto holdings in record high

October 10, 2022 Coin Telegraph

august

August figures released by Brazil's tax authority revealed over 12,000 companies have cryptocurrency holdings, the largest amount ever recorded.

The number of companies holding cryptocurrency in Brazil has reached new record highs as of August, amid an increased trust in cryptocurrencies and high inflation rates.

According to local media reports, the country’s taxation authority, Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB), also known as the Federal Revenue of Brazil, recorded 12,053 unique organizations declaring crypto on their balance sheets in August 2022.

The number is a 6.1% increase from the 11,360 companies in July and is the month with the highest recorded number of companies with crypto holdings to date.

The RFB noted that Bitcoin (BTC) is the most popular cryptocurrency held by institutions, followed by stablecoin Tether (USDT).

However, the number of individual Brazilian investors holding crypto fell from the prior month, down to 1.3 million in August.

The value of the total declarations also experienced a slight decline, likely due to the condition of the crypto markets, with August seeing a total of $2.1 billion (11 billion Brazilian Reais), down from $3.4 billion in July.

The U.S. dollar pegged stablecoin USDT had the most value transacted, with over $1.42 billion moved across nearly 80,000 transactions in August, averaging roughly $17,500 per transaction.

BTC was second with almost $270 million transacted, but took first place for number of transactions, clocking in over 2.1 million in the same month at a much lower average transaction amount of $130.

It was noted the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) dropped from third to fifth place from July to August in regard to value transacted, losing out to Ether (ETH) and Brazilian Digital Token (BRZ), a Brazilian Real pegged ERC-20 token.

Brazilians trust in cryptocurrency remains high according to a September Bitstamp “Crypto Pulse” report, with 77% stating they trusted digital assets.

Multiple financial companies in the country have started offering cryptocurrency services, such as brokerage giant XP Inc and payment application PicPay both integrating crypto exchange services in August. Crypto exchange Binance has also increased its efforts in the country, doubling its team since March and opening two new offices on Oct. 4.

Brazil’s inflation rate hit a 26-year high of 12.1% in April, but has since cooled slightly to 8.7% in the latest August figures as per data from the country’s statistics agency.

Taliban had a ‘massive chilling effect’ on Afghan crypto market: Report

October 6, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Afghan

Crypto value received in Afghanistan surged in the wake of the Taliban seizing power in August 2021, but crypto markets have flat lined under the regime.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has had a “massive chilling effect” on the local cryptocurrency market, bringing it to an effective “standstill,” according to a recent report.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis in an Oct. 5 report stated the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw the largest crypto market growth in 2022 but noted that Afghani crypto dealers had three options: “flee the country, cease operations, or risk arrest.”

The report states after the Taliban seized power in August 2021, crypto value received in August and September that year spiked to a peak of over $150 million, then fell sharply the following month.

Before the takeover, Afghani citizens would on average receive $68 million per month in crypto value mainly used for remittances. That figure has now dropped to less than $80,000 post takeover.

*Graph from Chainalysis 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report. Source:* *Chainalysis*

Afghanistan was 20th place in Chainalysis’ 2021 crypto adoption index released in October 2021, but now is at the bottom of the list following the Taliban takeover.

The reinstated Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in charge of implementing Islamic law in the country is the reason for the change. Chainalysis explains the agency equated cryptocurrency to gambling declaring it haram — forbidden under Islamic law.

A large portion of the activity still undertaken in the country comes from money laundering from illicit sources such as bribes or drugs, an anonymous source cited to Chainalysis.

The individual added only a “small portion” is “young people who have a few hundred bucks” to day-trade digital assets.

SWIFT partners with Chainlink for cross-chain crypto transfer project

September 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

blockchain adoption

The project will connect SWIFT's network to nearly every blockchain to allow traditional finance players access to digital and traditional assets on the one network.

Interbank messaging system SWIFT has partnered with price oracle provider Chainlink (LINK) to work on a proof-of-concept (POC) project which would allow traditional finance firms the ability to transact across blockchain networks.

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov announced the project at its SmartCon 2022 Conference in New York on Sept. 28 alongside SWIFT strategy director Jonathan Ehrenfeld Solé.

SWIFT is using the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) in an initial proof of concept.

CCIP will enable SWIFT messages to instruct on-chain token transfers, helping the SWIFT network become interoperable across all blockchain environments.https://t.co/8GOBNhzwCk pic.twitter.com/Pvm0Cex45e
— Chainlink (@chainlink) September 28, 2022

At the conference, Solé said there is “undeniable interest from institutional investors into digital assets” adding these traditional finance players want access to digital and traditional assets on one platform.

The POC utilizes Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) allowing SWIFT messages to instruct token transfers across nearly every blockchain network which, according to Nazarov, will accelerate adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) blockchains across capital markets and traditional finance.

The SWIFT interbank messaging system is the most widely used platform for traditional cross-border fiat transactions, connecting over 11,000 banks around the world. In August the system recorded an average of 44.8 million messages per day.

However, transactions on SWIFT's network can take several days to complete and the company has also been exploring blockchain and DLT technology and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to facilitate faster payments.

Chainlink added this collaboration with SWIFT allows financial institutions to gain blockchain capability without replacing, developing, and integrating new connectivity into legacy systems, something it said would require substantial modifications with an “exceptionally high” cost.

Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said at a panel session in May on CBDCs that he doesn’t expect SWIFT to exist in five years, likely due to the rising competition from CBDCs for cross-border payments and settlements.

Mastercard later clawed back the statement, noting that Miebach simply meant that SWIFT's operations will continue to evolve from its current form.

Pantera CEO Dan Morehead Details ‘Biggest Existential Risk’ to Crypto Industry

September 28, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Sports sponsorship is helping legitimize crypto in Australia — Coinjar exec

September 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

AFL

Luke Ryan of CoinJar says sporting partnerships “helps shift the image of crypto away from the idea that it’s only there as speculative mania.”

The sponsorship of high-profile sports and teams may be key to legitimizing the crypto industry to the general masses, according to Luke Ryan, Head of Content at Australian crypto exchange CoinJar.

In May 2021, the exchange became the first crypto company in Australia to sponsor an Australian Football League (AFL) club by partnering with the Melbourne Demons.

Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Australian Crypto Convention on Sept. 18, Ryan remarked the AFL partnership changed the discussion around cryptocurrency in the country and that “it gives cryptocurrency a bigger sense of permanence.”

“Perhaps prior to this real punch into the sporting mainstream it was very easy for a lot of people to think ‘oh, this cryptocurrency thing, it's going to fade away, or it has already faded away,’” he said.

“There's a real declaration of intent by the industry, not necessarily about ‘we sponsor this team, and then we got X number of new users’, it's more about we sponsor this team because we want to show the world we’re companies with consequences, with plans and long term visions, and a way of showing that is to align ourselves with a really established presence.”

Ryan believes sports partnerships also give the opportunity for crypto companies to break new ground in terms of their user base and adoption.

He noted that part of what drew CoinJar to partner with an AFL team was the idea of promoting crypto and the exchange “outside of the established true believers who already have their favored platforms.”

“At a certain point, you're all just hacking into the same market,” he added.

“It's a real ongoing question for cryptocurrency as a whole, how do we move out from this 5 to 10% that we now talk to, to the 20 to 50%, and we've started to think a bit more about what it might look like to start getting more actively involved in sponsorship.”

The partnership between CoinJar and the Melbourne Demons has also meant other teams and the AFL itself have learned more about crypto, which Ryan supposes has made the asset more normalized to the organization.

“It’s meant they’ve had the space to ask questions and look into it a bit more and be like ‘ah, that’s quite interesting, we could really use that to better create a relationship with the fans.’”

“I think it's leading to a much more open attitude towards things like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and how they can be harnessed, it's all still primordial in the AFL sphere, but I certainly know there are very active discussions the AFL has got going.”

Ryan says the speculative nature of crypto is “undeniably what has gotten a lot of people into it” but isn’t what will make for a sustainable future entity. He added that “at some point, there has to be this transition towards actual products that people want to use.”

The AFL first 3,800 strong NFT collection in August sold out in under 12 hours raising an estimated $130,000 or more USD Coin (USDC). The AFL has already stated plans to expand its crypto offering to game day events, tickets and the chance to meet players in the Metaverse.

Vietnam, Philippines, India, China Among Top Countries for Crypto Adoption, Chainalysis Global Index Shows

September 16, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Emerging markets lead global adoption index: Chainalysis report

September 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Lower-middle income countries hold a majority of the positions in the top 20 countries in terms of crypto adoption.

While global adoption slowed down because of the chilling winds brought about by the crypto winter, emerging markets seem to be on fire in terms of crypto adoption as they surpass higher-income countries in an index that measures adoption.

In a report titled The 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, blockchain data platform Chainalysis analyzed the millions of crypto transactions worldwide, web traffic and other on-chain metrics to determine which countries are on top in terms of cryptocurrency adoption.

The results show that in terms of crypto adoption, emerging markets are at the forefront. According to the data, lower-middle-income countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Nepal, Kenya and Indonesia hold positions in the top 20 countries in terms of overall index score, with Vietnam holding the number one spot.

Upper-middle-income countries like Brazil, Thailand, Russia, China, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador have also made it into the list while the United States and the United Kingdom are the only representatives of high-income countries within the index.

Apart from the adoption rankings, the report also showed that even though adoption became slower amid the bear market, adoption levels are still higher than what the industry witnessed before the bull run of 2020.

On Sept. 9, two Bitcoiners went on a mission to get merchants within the U.K. to adopt Bitcoin (BTC). British BTC advocates James Dewar and MSW went to a town in England to speak to restaurants and cafés in an attempt to convince them to accept Bitcoin. Out of 63 shops, 3 were persuaded and accepted BTC on the spot.

In an interview in August, Coinfirm executive Durgham Mushtaha told Cointelegraph that Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures will drive more mainstream crypto adoption. According to the executive, the next bull run will be driven by an improved crypto image where fears dissipate.

Crypto Adoption

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