Cryptocurrency – Page 2

5 June, 2020

Cryptocurrency For Stablecoins

by Alphonse Durepos

in Cryptocurrency

Although there are several reliable and trusted money lender Singapore, picking the right one that would suit your needs could be a tedious and frustrating process since there are numerous aspects that you need think through, including:

Licenses and Accreditation: Of course, it is crucial that the money lender Singapore has the necessary license from the government showing that they are operating legally and have met all the imposed standards and requirements. It has to be accredited by professional bodies as well to show it is a reliable, trusted and professional moneylender.
Reputation: Reputation is weight aspect to consider. Nowadays, people rely on reviews from previous clients to see how well they interact with people and provide their service. Money lenders with excellent reviews have excellent reputation.
Fees: All certified moneylenders will charge a certain fee when you get a loan and for the services they provide. Hence, look into these fees and compare them with other money lenders. Also ensure they are reasonable and affordable.

Crypto-backed Loans

Usually, moneylenders require some type of collateral for a loan to be approved. While borrowers provide collateral like their home, their car or other assets and property they have, others make use of cryptocurrency to back their loans.

As many are already aware, borrowers are able to make use of their cryptocurrency assets to serve as collateral when loaning fiat currency or stablecoins from lenders who accepts cryptocurrency as a collateral. This could actually work the other way around as well wherein borrowers make us of fiat currency or stablecoins as the collateral to borrow cryptocurrency assets.

What are Stablecoins?

Stablecoins provide a lot of benefits that other cryptos don’t offer. Although they are similar to cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are more stable, as its name implies.

In a market wherein the value of the assets that one holds violently fluctuates, the choice to ‘store’ the value of funds in a manner that it eliminates volatility is rather crucial. Such option isn’t only for crypto traders, but also to retailers accepting cryptocurrencies without having to worry about the values fluctuating.

In most circumstances, most of the stablecoins are pegged or attached to broadly utilized fiat currencies, whereas some are pegged on commodities like as Gold.

What Are They Used For?

For numerous crypto traders, stablecoins serve as a fallback or an alternative when they would like to hedge their crypto without having to cash out to fiat currency. This is quite effective particularly when markets are bear or if the intend to keep revenue in fiat. The currency of the world, after all, is still fiat not cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Stablecoins are expected to develop into a significant element in decentralized finance, popularly known as DeFi. DeFi offers an alternative to the present financial systems and structures with one that is designed and created on public blockchains.

As mentioned, stablecoins are also use for peer to peer loans. If DeFi is to progress and expand, stablecoins will surely play a significant role since people will be needing a way of transacting with one another without the volatility, and without wasting or losing advantages of cryptocurrencies.

11 May, 2020

Transition To A Cashless Economy, Cryptocurrencies

by Iveta Pařízková

in Cryptocurrency

The transition to a cashless economy is accelerating in several countries including Canada. To replace cash payments including personal loans online, blockchain technology could give a serious boost.

Cryptocurrencies, however, raise concerns, particularly with regard to the security of transactions, as reported in a recent article by Cointelegraph, a digital media specializing in crypto assets.

It is predicted that by 2030, only 10% of the money spent in Canada will be spent on cash.

What Does A Cashless Future Mean?

Even if thinking about cryptocurrencies has started, Canadian authorities are in no rush to move from cash to digital. In October 2018, a study by the Bank of Canada described a number of issues related to the elimination of cash, including the reluctance of seniors to turn to electronic payments.

Maintaining operational reliability also raises fears and measures will have to be envisaged to remedy this, including that of issuing a digital currency but not a cryptocurrency. It’ would be a digital variation of the Canadian dollar which is going to contend with private payment systems.

Impact on consumption

Another Bank of Canada study found that a cryptocurrency could potentially benefit the country’s economic well-being. It “could lead to a 0.64% increase in consumption for Canada compared to economies where payments are made only in cash,” reports the Cointelegraph.

To deepen its understanding of new financial technologies, the Bank of Canada is conducting, in collaboration with TMX Group and Payments Canada, the Jasper research project, the flagship ledger technology experiment launched in 2017. They would constitute an effective solution to automate real-time securities settlement.

For its part, since 2017, Royal Bank has been testing blockchain technology to facilitate the transfer of payments between its establishments located in the United States and Canada. In particular, it has deployed software developed by Hyperledger which enables it to monitor transactions in real-time between the two countries.

What is done elsewhere

Other countries are preparing the transition to digital payments. In Australia, there has been the introduction of a bill clarifying that purchases of over 10,000 Australian dollars (about 6,750 dollars) in cash would not be legal. According to the government, this measure will deter tax evasion and encourage the transition to a cashless society.

For its part, Germany is a bit apart in the European Union while the country does not impose any restrictions on the use of cash payments. A plan to limit cash transactions to 5,000 euros (about C $ 7,300) – both domestically and throughout the eurozone – has sparked a negative reaction in German society. The fact remains that the country is in the process of revising its position in this area.

Since last year, it legally identifies bitcoin being a currency and has removed value-added tax whenever paying for services and goods with the use of cryptocurrencies.

Swedes ahead

Sweden is said to be one of the most advanced countries towards a cashless economy. The percentage of money used in this country has decreased considerably (representing only 2% of transactions) and less than 20% of stores accept cash.

This was made possible thanks to the efforts of the authorities, the unprecedented public confidence in banking structures, and the promotion of the Swedish national mobile payment system, used by more than half of the population. Small Swedish businesses have also moved to cashless payments.

In addition, the central bank of Sweden, the Riksbank, has been testing since November 2018 the first Swedish cryptocurrency called e-krona. Its chief economist, Gabriel Söderberg, believes that blockchain technology is very promising and that there will be different forms of applications in society.

If it is certain that liquidity will become digital in the more or less long term, like others he wonders about the role that blockchain technology will play in this shift.

“Right now, many of us are studying how blockchain could help future payments. I am fully open to the possibility that this could potentially be incorporated into certain forms in future payment systems, but we do not yet know to what extent, ”he summarizes.

23 March, 2020

Canada Is Taking The Next Big Step In Crypto Nation Race

by Iveta Pařízková

in Cryptocurrency

First Bitcoin mutual fund in CanadaFirst Block Capital Inc., a Canadian investment company which is also active in the crypto market, stated that its own Bitcoin funds are now officially recognized as investment funds in Canada. Not only is this a big step for cryptocurrency investors, it’s also another big step for Canada in the Crypto Nation race – and could open more doors for global Bitcoin trading.

Check out also, The Best Canadian Dividend Stocks For 2020 here.

Canada’s Crypto Regulations

More market presence at better conditions

The “FBC Bitcoin Trust” has been the flagship of First Block Capital Inc. for years. The fund was officially registered as an investment fund in Canada and enables investors to save fund shares in self-managed accounts such as registered pension plans or tax-free savings accounts. In this way, investors can easily get into Bitcoin trading and benefit from it without having to worry about buying and managing the cryptocurrency themselves.

The mutual fund is currently only accessible to accredited investors via NEO Connect, a platform for fund sales, under the acronym FBCBT. Trading the Bitcoin fund should be as easy and quick as with regular funds. The 30-day redemption clause has also been deleted for the fund.

If the test phase is successful, the funds from Bitcoin and Co. could soon spread to other countries and be open to all investors, which would make buying cryptocurrencies a great success.

A big step for investing cryptocurrencies

Due to the simplicity and elimination of the “middleman”, the investment funds are a qualified investment within the meaning of the tax law. The FBC Bitcoin Trust is also the first product of its kind in Canada to be approved by both the Ontario Securities Commission and the British Columbia Securities Commission, and has given investors the opportunity to use Bitcoin as a mutual fund in savings deposit and retirement savings accounts.

Sean Clark, managing director and founder of First Block, said at the time of the announcement in a statement that he “wants to increase Bitcoin’s investment risk by removing complicated hurdles for direct cryptocurrency investments.” The company is pleased to announce that its fund is now more accessible to investors and has found a suitable partner for this project in NEO Connect. Since its introduction about a year ago, the Bitcoin fund has already won over 150 shareholders.

28 December, 2019

Investors Are In Debt For Bitcoins

by Iveta Pařízková

in Cryptocurrency

Investors are now even taking out loans to buy bitcoins, the first and well-known cryptocurrency running in the market. This becomes a problem due to the crash. Governments now want to intervene.

18% of Investors Buy Bitcoin on Credit

Given these price fluctuations, it is correspondingly worrying that investors are increasingly in debt for the purchase of cryptocurrencies. It is more alarming that many people in bad debt jump into the wagon borrowing more money from agencies. Because like the Brockhoffs, 18 percent of Bitcoin buyers are already taking out a loan. This is shown by a survey of 3000 investors in the USA and Europe, which the Coindesk website has just published.

Wolf Brandes from the Hessen Consumer Advice Center considers this to be a critical development: “An investment in bitcoins is highly risky, in the worst case there is a risk of a total loss.” Anyone who has taken out a loan quickly remains on debt. Brandes already feels reminded of the Neuer Markt. Back then, investors also dreamed of big profits, bought stocks at the pump – and ended up losing a lot of money. Felix Hufeld, head of financial supervision Bafin, also fears that the Bitcoin boom will result in “excesses that produce bitter losers”.

Banks Restrict Transactions

This is why some banks intervene. JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America and Lloyds have recently stopped allowing their customers to buy bitcoins with their credit cards. By doing so, they want to protect consumers – but also themselves. The fear of banks that they will remain on debt is obviously too great if the prices for cryptocurrencies fall. Especially since credit cards in the United States and Great Britain work a little differently than in Germany: If the open amount is automatically debited from the current account every month in this country, customers in Anglo-Saxon countries can flexibly decide when and how much to repay. Unlike in Germany, in the USA and Great Britain, you can get real credit via the card and the banks have no interest in customers using it to gamble. And buying bitcoins is a gamble, as central bankers like Mario Draghi see it. Digital currencies should be classified as “very risky investments,” he said this week.

Especially since no one knows what will happen to the cryptocurrency. The few forecasts that are available differ widely. While the Danish Saxo Bank sees Bitcoin’s price rise to $ 100,000 this year, Goldman Sachs warns that some cryptocurrencies could fall to zero. Oliver Flaskämper, who has been dealing with bitcoins for years and operates Germany’s only marketplace for cryptocurrencies Bitcoin.de, therefore does not even venture a forecast. “I could also predict the lottery numbers there,” he says.

The power consumption for the production of bitcoins is high

It will also depend on politics on how Bitcoin and Co. develop. Governments and regulators worldwide are currently dealing with the question of how to control cryptocurrencies. Agustin Carstens, Director General of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), believes this is imperative. By the latter, he means the enormous energy that has to be spent to create bitcoins on high-performance computers. The electricity consumption for the production of the cryptocurrencies already corresponds to the consumption of the state of Singapore, Carstens calculates.

In Germany, the Bitcoin regulation even appears in the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD: One wants to work for an “appropriate legal framework for trading cryptocurrencies and tokens at European and international level,” it says. At the request of Germany and France, a set of rules for cryptocurrencies could even become an issue at the meeting of the G20 finance ministers in March. The two countries propose to commission international expert bodies such as the FSB, which is responsible for financial stability issues, with a report. In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must be considered. But that also shows: What regulation of cryptocurrencies should look like is still open. Especially since this runs counter to the ideas of their inventors who want free currencies,

South Korea and China have banned bitcoin trading

China and South Korea, which completely ban bitcoin trading, are already going particularly far. Exchanges on which Bitcoin and Co. are traded must close. China has also banned the creation of new bitcoins. Digital currencies are generated on high-performance computers – this is not possible without access to the power grid, which China is now refusing.

Worldwide, however, a complete ban on cryptocurrencies is hardly enforceable, according to exchange operator Flaskämper. He compares this to gold: in history, too, people have always wanted to ban precious metals. But you couldn’t keep it up. In his view, a ban would not mean the end of cryptocurrencies – trading with them would only migrate to the so-called darknet. Governments could have no interest in that either.