Cuba set to recognize and regulate cryptocurrency

August 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

The country had to temporarily stop accepting cash bank deposits in United States dollars due to tighter restrictions set by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Cuban government is reportedly planning to recognize and regulate cryptocurrencies for payments.

According to Aljazeera, the Caribbean nation’s central bank will establish rules for mainstreaming cryptocurrency transactions. Cuban authorities are also expected to distribute relevant licenses to businesses based on the crypto-related services they provide.

Some sources claim that the move to allow cryptocurrency as a legal tender has been well received by Cuba’s tech-savvy population as the country had to temporarily stop accepting cash bank deposits in United States dollars, given tighter restrictions set by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Struggling economies, such as El Salvador, have also started mainstreaming Bitcoin (BTC) adoption. On Monday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced the construction of country-wide infrastructure to support the adoption of Bitcoin.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption policy can reduce overall remittance costs and potentially transform the remittance landscape across Central America, according to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).

Dante Mossi, executive president of CABEI, believes that El Salvador’s “out of this world experiment” could result in greater financial inclusion, and thus, it is in CABEI’s best interest to help El Salvador create a technical framework for Bitcoin adoption.

81% of finance execs say blockchain has gone mainstream: Survey

August 23, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

Despite the finance service industry being bullish on blockchain and crypto, respondents still outlined cybersecurity as the greatest hurdle to mainstream adoption.

Blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), has already gained mainstream popularity, according to global finance executives polled by Big Four auditing firm Deloitte.

According to Deloitte’s 2021 Global Blockchain Survey, 81% of the financial services industry (FSI) executives believe that blockchain technology is “broadly scalable” and has achieved mainstream adoption.

Released last Friday, the report queried 1,280 FSI professionals based in Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey covered general FSI cohort respondents who had “at least a general understanding” of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, as well as “FSI Pioneers,” or those respondents who have already deployed blockchain tools into their business or production.

Some 73% of survey respondents expressed concerns that their firm would lose an opportunity for competitive advantage if they do not adopt blockchain or digital assets. Among the FSI Pioneers subset, as many as 97% of respondents indicated that blockchain applications are crucial for their business to stay competitive.

Despite the survey pinpointing the FSI’s bullish stance on blockchain and digital assets, 71% of survey respondents indicated that cybersecurity is the greatest barrier to wider digital asset adoption. Among the FSI Pioneers, 73% of respondents specified regulatory barriers as the principal obstacle hindering crypto adoption. Among overall respondents, 65% described the existing legacy financial infrastructure as the greatest impediment to mainstream blockchain adoption.

“In the last year, we’ve seen a significant shift in how the global financial ecosystem is thinking about new business models fueled by digital assets, and how this is playing a meaningful role in financial infrastructure,” Deloitte Consulting principal Linda Pawczuk said. The survey showed that the foundation of banking has been “fundamentally outlived,” she added.

According to Deloitte’s last year’s Global Blockchain Survey, nearly 40% of respondents from major global technology companies had blockchain in production, with almost 90% believing that blockchain would become more important in the next three years.

Additional reporting by Samuel Haig.

Fidelity Investments Engages With Regulators to Bring Crypto Assets Mainstream

August 8, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Indian high court seeks ad disclaimers from crypto exchanges

July 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

India’s Delhi High Court is looking to put a clear voiceover and a disclaimer covering 80% of the screen on crypto ads on national TV.

Amid the ongoing regulatory uncertainty to cryptocurrencies in India, a high court in the country’s capital is taking action to regulate advertising by local crypto exchanges.

The Delhi High Court has issued notices to local authorities and crypto firms in an effort to enforce guidelines for crypto exchanges advertising on national television, the New Indian Express reported Wednesday.

The court is seeking responses from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, as well as major Indian crypto exchanges including CoinDCX and WasirX, and aims to discuss the issue in August.

According to the report, lawyers Ayush Shukla and Vikash Kumar have urged the court to ask the SEBI to issue ad guidelines requiring crypto audio-visual ads to include a disclaimer covering 80% of the screen, accompanied with a voiceover reading lasting at least five seconds.

The petitioners reportedly said that numerous crypto ads on national TV do not include a voiceover, while the disclaimer text is displayed briefly and in small letters, usually containing a line like “cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks.”

The court’s plea reportedly stated that crypto assets are inherently riskier than traditional equity investment products, mutual funds and other investment instruments, thus requiring more measures to ensure investor protection. “An ordinary retail investor who views the audio-visual advertisement on television and online websites like Youtube, may suffer immense losses as a result of thereof whilst on the other hand,” the court noted.

The news comes as India still struggles to come up with clear regulations for the crypto industry in the country as anonymous alleged government sources continue stoking fears of an upcoming crypto ban. Despite the ongoing regulatory uncertainty, India’s nationwide investments in crypto have reportedly surged 600% over the past year.

NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers to wear crypto logo for next five years

July 2, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

The Trail Blazers will reportedly feature the StormX logo on team jerseys for the next five years, beginning with the 2021-22 season.

The Portland Trail Blazers, an American professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), is moving into the cryptocurrency industry with a new partnership.

The NBA announced Thursday that the Trail Blazers has landed the league’s first jersey patch sponsorship program with StormX, a blockchain company allowing users to earn crypto rewards by completing micro-tasks or shopping at global partner stores online.

Fresh, groundbreaking, revolutionary.

We’re excited to announce we are joining forces with @stormxio, the first cryptocurrency jersey patch partner in the NBA! https://t.co/hAHDdMABDA pic.twitter.com/ZWpmp9k2wr
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 1, 2021

As part of the sponsorship deal, the Trail Blazers will reportedly feature the StormX logo on team jerseys for the next five years, beginning with the 2021-22 season. The parties did not disclose the size of the deal but said that they signed an “eight-figure contract” including in-arena branding. According to sponsorship experts, jersey patch deals average around $10 million per year.

In addition to the jersey patch, StormX and the Trail Blazers will also partner to launch their first nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the Gameday Poster Series, a series featuring unique designs from local artists for Trail Blazers’ team. Issued in the form of digital collectibles representing the team’s posters, the Trail Blazers’ NFTs will be rolled out later in July, according to the announcement.

Trail Blazers president and CEO Chris McGowan said that StormX will help “educate and motivate Rip City around cryptocurrency and earning crypto cashback.” StormX was founded in Seattle by Calvin Hsieh and Portland-grown Trail Blazers fan Simon Yu with a mission to boost financial independence. The firm’s platform allows earning crypto cashback from more than 800 stores across over 170 countries via an internet browser extension.

“We’re honored to be the first crypto company to form a jersey sponsorship with not only a team of such high caliber, but also with a league of the same stature,” Yu said.

The NBA has been expanding its move into the crypto and blockchain industry recently. In mid-June, NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers entered a marketing partnership with major blockchain fan token providers, Chiliz and Socios.

Crypto ownership has nothing to do with distrust in fiat: BIS study

July 2, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

Cryptocurrency owners are “generally more educated than the average,” according to a new study by the Bank for International Settlements.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a global financial institution owned by some of the world’s biggest central banks, is trying to dispel the theory that cryptocurrency ownership is linked to distrust in traditional finance.

On Thursday, the BIS published a paper on the socioeconomic drivers of cryptocurrency investments in the United States. Employing representative data from the U.S. Survey of Consumer Payment Choice, BIS argued distrust in fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar has nothing to do with investor motivation to hold cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), stating:

“Demand for cryptocurrencies is not driven by distrust in cash or the financial industry, given that there are no differences in the perceived security of cash and offline and online banking. We can thus preliminarily disprove the hypothesis that cryptocurrencies are sought as an alternative to fiat currencies or regulated finance.”

The authority stressed that cryptocurrencies are not sought as an alternative to fiat currencies or regulated finance but instead are a “niche digital speculation object.” BIS noted that from a policy perspective, the overall takeaway of the analysis is that investors' objectives are the “same as those for other asset classes, so should be the regulation.”

The BIS paper also outlines major correlations between crypto investment choices and the level of education and income, suggesting that cryptocurrency owners are “generally more educated than the average.” Ether (ETH) and XRP investors showed the highest education level in the BIS’ analysis, while those owning Litecoin (LTC) were the least educated, with Bitcoin owners ranking in the middle.

*Education average by crypto owner. Source: BIS*

The new report brings significant relevance that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin pose no threat to traditional finance tools as crypto demand is not driven by distrust in cash. A number of global authorities and institutions previously expressed concerns about Bitcoin’s ability to capitalize on global distrust in traditional finance.

In late December, Morgan Stanley Investment’s Ruchir Sharma argued that the U.S. dollar’s reign will likely end due to global distrust in traditional finance, while Bitcoin would capitalize on the lack of confidence.

‘Billion of users adopting Bitcoin? Maybe in ten years’, says Dan Held

June 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Polkadot ETP hits Swedish stock market

June 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

The mainstream market now has a new way of buying and selling the crypto asset Polkadot — via an exchange-traded product.

The mainstream financial world has taken notable strides to incorporate various crypto assets. A new exchange-traded product (ETP) for Polkadot (DOT) recently surfaced on a mainstream exchange in Sweden.

The Nordic Growth Market now hosts buying and selling for the DOT ETP, officially labeled as the “VALOUR POLKADOT (DOT) SEK,” according to a public statement provided to Cointelegraph. The ETP is a product of Valour, a company that produces digital asset-based ETPs. The product went live on the exchange on Monday. A company called DeFi Technologies is Valour’s parent company.

“This is a particularly exciting time for the Polkadot protocol with the upcoming launch of its parachain functionality, providing increased scalability and finalizing its core build,” Diana Biggs, Valour’s CEO, said, as quoted in the public statement. “Our launch of Valour DOT SEK is a direct response to increased demand from both retail and institutional investors for access to further innovative blockchain protocols via our ETPs.”

An equities market based in Sweden holding regulatory approval in the country, the Nordic Growth Market, also shortened to NGM, serves participants from multiple countries.

Over the years, mainstream entities have paved more traditional roadways for cryptocurrency exposure, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Bitcoin and Ethereum futures, Grayscale’s crypto-based products, and Canadian Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

Using traditional stock market measures, participants can buy and sell the DOT ETP, which is backed by the crypto asset DOT. “For each exchange traded product of Valour that is bought and sold on the stock exchange, Valour purchases or sells the equivalent amount of the underlying digital assets, meaning the products are fully backed at all times,” the statement said of Valour’s ETPs in general.

Has Wall Street taken over Bitcoin?

May 21, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Banks

Institutional adoption is threatening Bitcoin's revolutionary mission, says Ben Hunt, founder of Second Foundation Partners

Ben Hunt, founder of Second Foundation Partners and lead author at the Epsilon Theory blog is convinced institutional adoption poses an existential threat for Bitcoin's identity as an instrument of financial freedom.

As investment funds, banks and tech companies are getting involved in the space, Bitcoin's fundamental properties – permissionless access and censorship resistance – are becoming increasingly marginalized, Hunt told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview.

“What we are seeing is the Facebook-ization of Bitcoin. And it becomes absolutely controlled and in service to Wall Street and the government”, said Hunt.

According to Hunt, institutions have created “securitized”, “permissioned” versions of Bitcoin, allowing investors to get exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency without holding it directly.

In Hunt’s view, governments are encouraging Wall Street’s co-option of Bitcoin, as that will make the leading cryptocurrency easier to control: as Hunt points out, financial institutions in the US are required to disclose their customers’ identities and transaction information according to the Bank Secrecy Act.

“If you put money into a Bitcoin related private fund, there's no more revolution, there's no more resistance associated with that”, he said.

But is it really too late to preserve Bitcoin’s revolutionary identity?

To find out, watch the full interview on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe!

Investment app Betterment still not ready to offer crypto services, says CEO

May 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

After posting record-breaking growth in Q1 2021, digital wealth platform Betterment is still studying whether it needs to add crypto to its services.

Betterment, a major financial advisory company providing robo-advising and cash management services, has not yet decided whether it will introduce cryptocurrencies to its platform.

Betterment is still researching a potential expansion of its services to inclue digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), CEO Sarah Levy said.

“We’re believers that if we can provide the right kind of context and advice, that it’s OK to participate in some of these newer asset classes,” Levy said in a Tuesday interview at Bloomberg’s Wealth Summit. “I’d like us to find a way to responsibly offer crypto, but I can’t say that we’re there yet. I think we’re still in kind of a watch-and-learn mode,” she added.

Founded back in 2008, Betterment is a popular platform in the United States, helping clients to invest in a globally diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, allocated to an “appropriate level of risk” for a given timeline.

In April, the company announced record-breaking growth in the first quarter of 2021, adding $10 billion to its AUM and reporting a 116% increase in new clients year-over-year. Previously, Betterment acquired the U.S. book of rival Canadian robo-advisor WealthSimple, a company that launched Canada’s first regulated crypto exchange in September 2020.

While Betterment continues its research on a potential move into crypto, major Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have already taken steps to allow wealthy clients to invest in cryptocurrencies. Global payment giant PayPal said that the demand for its crypto services exceeded the company’s expectations after the firm launched its first crypto offerings in late 2020.

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