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Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Korean Crypto Exchanges Consider Suing Government Over Banking Requirements


All cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea except the largest four may be unable to meet the bank account requirements needed to stay in business. A number of Korean crypto exchanges are considering suing the government and financial authorities, claiming that the country’s crypto law is unconstitutional.

  • A number of exchanges are currently considering filing a lawsuit against the government and the financial authorities alleging the country’s crypto law is unconstitutional, Business Korea reported Monday.
  • The revised Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information requires cryptocurrency exchanges to submit a document by Sept. 24 showing that they have a real-name account issued by a bank.
  • However, banks in South Korea are reluctant to provide a real-name service to cryptocurrency exchanges due to money-laundering concerns.
  • Several banks, including NH Bank and Shinhan Bank, are conducting risk assessments on the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit.
  • However, no banks are willing to work with smaller crypto exchanges. Therefore, a large number of exchanges are expected to be forced to shut down.
  • One exchange told the publication:

These days, banks are refusing to initiate their cryptocurrency exchange verification processes without clear reasons and most exchanges are failing to get a chance to prove themselves. The Financial Services Commission needs to step in right away.

What do you think about Korean exchanges suing the government over the bank account requirements? Let us know in the comments section below.


Indians Hold $40 Billion in Cryptocurrency, Report Suggests


Crypto investments in India have been gaining significant traction over the past year, blockchain data indicates. Despite the ambiguous regulatory situation in the country, more than 15 million Indians have bought or sold digital currencies.

Indian Crypto Investments Increase Amid Regulatory Uncertainty

A growing number of Indians have put money into cryptocurrencies in the past year, which saw major coins hitting all-time market highs. Investments in crypto assets have increased from around $200 million to almost $40 billion, Bloomberg reported, quoting blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis.

The massive growth has been registered despite an unclear future for decentralized digital money in the world’s second-most populous country. The spike in investment interest happens against the backdrop of a generally hostile, but also ambiguous, attitude of the Indian central bank towards crypto.

Over 15 million Indians have been buying and selling cryptos, the publication added, in disregard of a proposed ban on coin trading. Their number is approaching the 23 million crypto traders in the U.S. and far exceeds the U.K.’s 2.3 million active traders.

The remarkable increase in crypto investors is largely associated with Indians between 18 and 35-years-old, according to Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of crypto exchange Zebpay. Goenka, who has been representing the industry in regulation talks with the government, explained that young people find it far easier to invest in cryptocurrency than gold:

You go online, you can buy crypto, you don’t have to verify it, unlike gold.

Indians Find New Gold in Bitcoin

Historically, gold has been a very popular investment in India, where households own an estimated 25,000 tons of the precious metal. However, the latest data from the World Gold Council has indicated that adults under the age of 34 are less attracted to gold than older Indians.

A young entrepreneur who abandoned gold and turned to crypto has invested over 1 million Indian rupees (around $13,400) into bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and dogecoin (DOGE) since December. To acquire the coins, 32-year-old Richi Sood borrowed some of the money from her father.

Sood, who sold a portion of her cryptocurrency when BTC passed the $50,000 mark in February and then bought again when prices dropped, used the profits to fund the overseas expansion of her education startup, Study Mate India. She says crypto has higher short-term returns than gold, elaborating:

I’d rather put my money in crypto than gold. Crypto is more transparent than gold or property.

In the last 12 months alone, daily crypto trading values have shot up almost 900%, the report reveals. At the same time, India is yet to adopt comprehensive regulations for the expanding crypto space, and the lack of clarity has likely put off many potential investors and traders.

In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India issued a circular which banned financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses. However, in May this year, the RBI advised banks that the instruction was no longer valid, citing a year-old ruling from the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, several commercial banks have recently halted services to customers dealing in cryptocurrencies.

What do you think the future holds for cryptocurrencies in India? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below

Ark Invest Files for a Bitcoin ETF


Ark Invest, the investment company founded by Cathie Wood, filed for approval to offer a Bitcoin ETF yesterday. 21Shares, an investment firm with experience launching related products in Europe, will help Ark to launch the product. Ark Invest is the latest of several funds showing interest in launching a Bitcoin ETF this year.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Jumps on the Bitcoin ETF Bandwagon

Ark Invest, the famous asset management firm, filed for approval to launch a Bitcoin ETF yesterday. The firm, founded and managed by Cathie Wood, will partner with 21Shares, a firm with experience in this field. The proposed instrument will be called ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF. It will track the performance and price of Bitcoin providing exposure for regulated markets.

While the price of Bitcoin has stagnated over the last month, tech and crypto-oriented funds expect demand to pick up again. Cathie Wood is a big bitcoin proponent and much of Ark’s holdings are based in cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase and also in bitcoin itself.

Wood predicted the price of Bitcoin could reach $500,000 due to its inherent properties, while also stating this might take some time due to the emotional character of the market. In any case, she is very positive about bitcoin’s prospects for the future.

The Race Is On

Ark Invest is the latest of several companies that have filed proposals for a Bitcoin ETF just in the last year. Propelled and inspired to chase an ETF offering by the rise of the bull market were companies like Galaxy DigitalVanEckFidelitySkyBridge CapitalNYDIG, WisdomTree Investments, and BitWise. However, the SEC has not approved any of these proposals and some are already being delayed.

Gary Gensler, the new Chairman of the SEC, made clear that the cryptocurrency sector needed more regulation. About cryptocurrencies, he previously stated:

This is a quite volatile, one might say highly volatile, asset class, and the investing public would benefit from more investor protection on the crypto exchanges

In light of this, experts think the possibility of having a Bitcoin ETF this year is very low. All of the problems the SEC has called out on Bitcoin are still there. Price volatility and market manipulation claims are still present. But asset managers are still trying to grasp the opportunity to be the first to offer this kind of product in America. And now Ark Invest has joined the race.

What do you think of Ark Invest’s Bitcoin ETF filing? Tell us in the comments section below.

Deutsche Börse Group Acquires Major Stake in Swiss Firm Crypto Finance AG


On Tuesday, Deutsche Börse Group, marketplace manager for the trading of shares and other securities, explained the company has acquired a major stake in Crypto Finance AG. The move adds to Deutsche Börse’s extension into the cryptocurrency industry in order to provide custody solutions and a “direct entry point for investments.”

Deutsche Börse Group to Expand Further Into Digital Currency Ecosystem

Deutsche Börse Group’s latest announcement explains that the company wants to build a trusted and regulated cryptocurrency ecosystem in Europe. The financial institution that rakes in €2.936 billion ($3.5 billion) in revenue annually explained it has obtained a majority stake in Crypto Finance AG.

The Switzerland-based Crypto Finance AG is a digital currency-focused finance organization that offers the storage, investment, and trading of crypto assets to professional clients. As a member of Deutsche Börse Group, the company will scale while also assisting Deutsche Börse’s expansion into new financial territories.

In a press statement, Deutsche Börse explains that it plans to make Crypto Finance AG’s products and offerings more accessible. “The goal is to establish a neutral, transparent, and highly scalable digital asset ecosystem under European regulation,” the Frankfurt-based marketplace manager explained. “Digital assets will transform the financial industry,” Thomas Book, executive board member for trading and clearing at Deutsche Börse remarked.

Crypto Finance AG’s Services Complement Deutsche Börse’s Recent Offerings

The Deutsche Börse executive further added that Crypto Finance AG’s services and products complement the marketplace manager’s recent offerings. This includes 360X, a DLT-based platform for serial marketplace creation, and centrally-cleared crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs). Book said there’s been “increasing demand” for crypto products and trusted partners. The founder of Crypto Finance AG, Jan Brzezek, will remain the leader of the company and still retains “significant personal holdings.”

“Since the beginning, our goal was to bridge the old and new worlds,” Brzezek said in a statement. “This is why we are excited to team up with a neutral partner like Deutsche Börse, who brings trust, reputation, and expertise in traditional financial market infrastructure.” According to the announcement, the acquisition deal was a “moderate three-digit CHF million range” and other terms were not disclosed. Both parties are expected to settle the deal by Q4 2021 if they gather regulatory approval.

“Deutsche Börse will hold a two-thirds majority in the 2017 founded fintech that has received multiple awards,” Deutsche Börse concluded. “The remaining shares stay with existing investors, including CEO and founder Jan Brzezek, who will continue to lead and manage the business.”

What do you think about Deutsche Börse acquiring a majority stake in Crypto Finance AG? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitcoin.org Ordered to Take Down Bitcoin Whitepaper Because of 'Copyright Infringement'


A website that played an instrumental role in the launch of Bitcoin has been ordered to take down the whitepaper for the cryptocurrency.

 

Bitcoin.org was originally registered and owned by Satoshi Nakamoto and Martti Malmi, the project’s first two developers.

 

But Craig Wright, an Australian entrepreneur who claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, has been accusing the site of copyright infringement for hosting a copy of “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” that was available in the U.K.

 

Wright won the case in London’s High Court because “Cøbra” — the pseudonymous person who now owns Bitcoin.org — opted not to mount a defense to protect their anonymity.

 

As well as taking down the whitepaper, they have been told to pay $48,000 to cover Wright’s legal costs and display a notice concerning the judge’s order for six months.

 

Simon Cohen, a lawyer who was part of Wright’s legal team, said:

“Dr Wright does not wish to restrict access to his whitepaper. However, he does not agree that it should be used by supporters and developers of alternative assets, such as Bitcoin Core, to promote or otherwise misrepresent those assets as being Bitcoin given that they do not support or align with the vision for Bitcoin as he set out in his whitepaper.”

Cøbra Responds 

Unsurprisingly, Cøbra reacted furiously to the ruling on Twitter, writing:

“All your fiat-based assets are ultimately secured by the same legal system that today made it illegal for me to host the Bitcoin whitepaper because a notorious liar swore before a judge that he's Satoshi. A system where 'justice' depends on who's got the bigger wallet.”

They added: “I don't think you could get a better advertisement of *why* Bitcoin is necessary than what happened today.”

 

Cøbra also offered to make a Bitcoin payment to the address associated with Block 9 of Bitcoin’s blockchain, which was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

 

The crypto community is largely divided over Wright’s claims that he invented Bitcoin.

Craig Wright Wins Default Judgment Against Cobra — Bitcoin.org Forced to Remove White Paper


The self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin, Craig Wright, has won a default judgment in London’s High Court in his copyright infringement case against the pseudonymous operator of bitcoin.org. According to a report, the website and its owner Cobra must remove the Bitcoin white paper from the web portal and pay $48K in legal costs as well.

Self-Styled ‘Satoshi’ Wins Default Judgement Against Cobra and Bitcoin.org

Craig Wright is back in the headlines again as the self-styled Satoshi Nakamoto has won a default judgment in the U.K. against the pseudonymous Cobra. Bitcoin.com News reported on Wright’s action against bitcoin.org and Cobra at the end of January. Proceedings actually started, however, on February 24 via the Intellectual Property List of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales.

The court action caused a lot of controversy amongst bitcoiners because Wright still has yet to prove he invented Bitcoin to the greater crypto community. In fact, there is so much evidence contradicting Craig Wright’s story it’s been said he simply “thrives on attention.”

“He’s had four years to come forward with proof that he is Satoshi, and I, for one, am not satisfied,” blockchain and software developer Jameson Lopp said in 2019.

Following the initial filing of the copyright infringement case against bitcoin.org and the website’s operator Cobra, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) filed a civil lawsuit in the U.K. against Wright’s claims to the famous white paper.

“Today, COPA initiated a lawsuit asking the UK High Court to declare that Mr. Craig Wright does not have copyright ownership over the Bitcoin white paper,” the working group said at the time. After the COPA court filing, a representative of Craig Wright, chief scientist at Nchain wrote to Bitcoin.com News and said:

This is exactly what we have wanted to happen for some time and I am very pleased this body has agreed to stand up in court as I can now have my credentials judged legally.

On June 28 and also updated the following day, a blog post published by ontier.digital explains that Wright has won a default judgment in London’s High Court against Cobra. The High Court judge of the Chancery Division granted Wright’s request which includes:

  • “An injunction prohibiting the Defendant from infringing Dr Wright’s copyright in the United Kingdom whether by making the White Paper available for download from the bitcoin.org website or in any other way.”
  • “An order requiring the Defendant to publish a copy of the Court’s order on the bitcoin.org website for 6 months.”

The ontier.digital website announcement details that Cobra preferred to “maintain their anonymity.” On Twitter, bitcoin.org’s pseudonymous operator spoke about the ruling and said that it was the perfect example of why uncensorable and permissionless networks like Bitcoin are needed.

“All your fiat-based assets are ultimately secured by the same legal system that today made it illegal for me to host the Bitcoin white paper because a notorious liar swore before a judge that he’s Satoshi,” Cobra tweeted. “A system where ‘justice’ depends on who’s got the bigger wallet.” The anonymous bitcoiner added:

I don’t think you could get a better advertisement of *why* Bitcoin is necessary than what happened today. Rules enforced through cryptography are far more superior than rules based on whoever can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in court.

What do you think about Craig Wright winning a default judgment against Cobra and bitcoin.org? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Coinbase Approved to Enter German Cryptocurrency Market


Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has obtained approval from Germany’s financial regulator, Bafin, to provide cryptocurrency trading and custody services. Coinbase Germany will launch in the coming weeks.

  • Coinbase, a Nasdaq-listed company, announced Monday that it has secured a cryptocurrency license in Germany.
  • The company explained: “The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) has awarded Coinbase Germany GmbH a license for crypto custody and trading, under the new licensing regime introduced in January 2020.”
  • According to Coinbase, the Bafin licensing framework is the first of its kind in the European Union and Coinbase Germany is the first company to be awarded such a license.
  • The announcement adds:

Coinbase Germany will launch in the coming weeks to serve both new and existing German customers more effectively, including by localising our service and increasing our product offering.

  • In preparation for the launch, the company is ramping up its German customer support team.
  • Coinbase said that it had been working closely with Bafin for many months prior to obtaining the license.
  • Recently, Coinbase also obtained approval to operate in Japan from the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA).

What do you think about Coinbase getting a license to operate in Germany? Let us know in the comments section below.

Standard Chartered, Fidelity, TP ICAP to Launch Cryptocurrency Trading Platform


Fidelity, Standard Chartered Bank, and TP ICAP are collaborating to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform. It will feature a marketplace for spot crypto trading and provide “connectivity and post-trade infrastructure into a network of digital assets custodians.”

  • TP ICAP, a leading provider of market infrastructure, announced Tuesday that it is launching a cryptocurrency trading platform in collaboration with Fidelity Digital Assets, Zodia Custody, and Flow Traders.
  • The new platform is subject to registration with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
  • It “will feature a wholesale electronic marketplace for spot cryptoasset trading, including bitcoin and ethereum, as well as providing connectivity and post-trade infrastructure into a network of digital assets custodians,” the announcement details.
  • TP ICAP launched its digital asset business in 2019, enabling clients to trade crypto derivatives products.
  • Simon Forster, co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP, commented:

 Client demand to trade spot cryptoassets is significant and growing, with interest coming from our traditional customer base across the different asset classes we operate in.

  • Flow Traders, which has been providing liquidity to crypto markets since 2016, will be one of the initial liquidity providers on this new platform.
  • Zodia Custody is a digital asset custodian for institutional investors, established by Standard Chartered Bank to address the need for a digital asset custodian that truly understands custody.
  • The announcement notes:

The platform has already started to onboard clients and will launch to the market in the second half of the year.

What do you think about Standard Chartered Bank, Fidelity, and TP ICAP collaborating to launch a crypto trading platform? Let us know in the comments section below.

Crypto 'Undo Button' Creator Kirobo Gives You Control Over Your Money


Have you ever dreaded pressing ‘send’ on a crypto transaction, fearing you might have entered a wrong address by mistake? Kirobo is the innovative company that developed a solution for that, in the form of an ‘undo button’ that helps protect your funds. Learn how you can use the ‘undo button’ right now and never have to worry before making a crypto transfer ever again.

The Groundbreaking Crypto ‘Undo Button’

Kirobo, is a Tel Aviv-based blockchain technology firm with the goal of granting people the freedom to control their crypto. It develops secure and straightforward solutions that provide unprecedented levels of transaction security, making crypto management, custody, and trading a no-brainer.

The company is famous for its crypto transfer ‘undo button’ for bitcoin and ethereum transactions that was recently expanded for UNI, Chainlink, BNB, USDT, Sushi coin, as well as its native utility token KIRO. With its technology transfers can also be password protected to ensure only the intended recipient can get the crypto. Demonstrating the demand for such vital services, Kirobo has already processed more than $500 million in crypto transactions. The firm is also the recipient of two grants from the Israeli Innovation Authority — making it the only blockchain technology company to achieve that honor.

Watch the following video to see how easy it is to use the ‘undo button’ with MetaMask so you can protect your funds:

Further showcasing the pent-up demand for such services in the crypto community, users have flocked to KIRO Staking. By staking the token powering Kirobo’s services users can benefit from lower rates for themselves while helping the liquidity of the entire network. The coin has also about tripled its value over the past month alone.

In another major development for the token, KIRO was recently made available on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). It is available on the decentralized exchange PancakeSwap via ChainPort as a cross chain bridge between KIRO and WKIRO. This means that any token found on PancakeSwap can be swapped for KIRO. See here for detailed instructions.

Kirobo Continues to Innovate Following Strategic Investment

The company is also working on new state-of-the-art services, following a major recent capital injection. In May 2021 it was revealed that DigiMax Global Inc. (CSE:DIGI), a Canadian public company, made a strategic investment in Kirobo, geared towards expediting the release of crypto management, custody and trading products. The $5 million investment will help launch Kirobo’s DeFi security products that are designed to further improve the DeFi ecosystem.

Kirobo also recently added crypto pioneer Brock Pierce to its Advisory Board, where he will provide strategic guidance around the global launch of the company’s portfolio of products. Pierce is the Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of EOS, Blockchain Capital, Tether, and Mastercoin. In 2017, Pierce co-founded Block.one, which developed the EOS.IO software and sold over $4 billion USD in tokens in the EOS crowdsale.

Crypto 'Undo Button' Creator Kirobo Gives You Control Over Your Money
The Kirobo executive team meeting with crypto pioneer Scott Stornetta

“It’s important to highlight that the ‘Undo Button’ is only the first feature that Kirobo released and we’re aiming to release a few products as early as the beginning of July and throughout Q3,” explained CEO Asaf Naim. “These products are all unique and quite groundbreaking. Not more of the same. They’re also in-line with our stated goal of granting people the freedom to control their crypto – as simply and securely – as they do with their fiat, plus the obvious advantages of decentralization.”

To learn more about what Kirobo and its services can do to help you control your crypto check out the ‘Undo Button’ and the Staking features right now.


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Legendary Hip-Hop Artist Jay-Z Enters the NFT Sphere — Rapper Lauds Blockchain and Smart Contracts


Widely regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history, Shawn Carter, professionally known as Jay-Z, has been dipping his toes into the ocean of non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles recently. The American rapper has also partnered with Sotheby’s to auction an NFT called “Heir to the Throne.” Further, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z recently discussed adding NFT capabilities to the music streaming service Tidal.

Jay-Z Becomes a Cryptopunk

Jay-Z is a well-known hip-hop artist, songwriter, record executive, businessman, and media proprietor and the mogul is now getting into non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. Just recently, Jay-Z changed his Twitter profile picture to Cryptopunk #6095 which made people think the legendary rapper had purchased the unique Cryptopunk NFT. Market data shows the Cryptopunk #6095 was sold for 55 ether or $119K using today’s ETH exchange rates.

The Cryptopunk display on Twitter is not Jay-Z’s only foray into NFTs, as the musician is also partnering with Sotheby’s to sell an NFT based on his 25-year-old album “Reasonable Doubt.” Jay-Z commissioned the popular artist Derrick Adams to animate the NFT and the collectible is called “Heir to the Throne.” The Sotheby’s press release notes that the NFT collectible was inspired by Jay-Z and the digital artist’s “life in the urban streets.” The Jay-Z NFT auction hosted by Sotheby’s started on June 25 and ends on July 2.

Jay-Z also discussed NFTs and blockchain technology with Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey this week. Both Dorsey and Jay-Z have a significant stake in the music streaming service called Tidal and are considering applying blockchain tech to Tidal’s services. Jay-Z talked about a painting that was sold for a few grand and then resold later for $100K. “With these blockchains and these smart contracts,” Jay-Z stressed that the original artist’s family or the artist himself could have gotten a profit from re-sales because “it’s very transparent.”

Jack Dorsey agreed with Jay-Z’s assessment and talked about how bitcoin has changed the dynamic. “You look at Bitcoin and how it enables people anywhere in the world to contribute and to become artists themselves and also to receive tips or grants or donations without having to go through any third-parties, there’s a lot of power in that,” Dorsey remarked.

The Twitter CEO believes that the spirit of non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles is similar. “A lot of our focus going forward is to make sure that we’re just looking deeply at entirely new ways to give artists the right tools to help them and to build,” Dorsey added.

Jay-Z’s NFT exhibition premiered at Sotheby’s New York, but people can also view the artwork via the metaverse Decentraland. The hip-hop artist noted that a portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation. The Foundation is a charitable effort that helps people afford secondary schooling and gives money to low-income neighborhoods.

What do you think about rapper Jay-Z dipping his toes in the blockchain and NFT industry? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Nigerian Learning Institution Says It Now Accepts Crypto as Payment for School Fees


A learning institution in Nigeria’s Kano state, the New Oxford Science Academy, recently announced it will be accepting cryptocurrency as payment for school fees. According to the school’s proprietor, Sabi’u Musa Haruna, the institution arrived at this decision after consulting parents and guardians of the students.

Move Consistent With Global Trends

As reported by the Dailypost, the New Oxford Science Academy owner also justified the move saying this is in line with the changing global trends. Haruna said:

We have decided to accept cryptocurrency as school fees because the world today is tilting towards the system. We believe one-day digital money will gain more acceptance than paper money. The decision is aimed at easing the payment of school fees for the parents.

School Ignores CBN Warnings

By accepting cryptocurrencies, New Oxford Science Academy is ignoring the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other regulators’ repeated warnings against the use and acceptance of cryptocurrencies. In their warnings, Nigerian regulators — like many of their peers across the African continent — point to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. They also highlight the high number of scam operations that claim to be legitimate crypto investing platforms.

In addition to attacking cryptocurrencies’ volatile nature, the CBN leadership and its governor, Godwin Emefiele, have in the past implied that decentralized cryptos are helping to accelerate the naira’s plunge on the foreign currency black market. Therefore, to curb this growth and influence of cryptocurrencies on the country’s economy, Nigerian authorities directed financial institutions to stop offering their services to exchanges and individuals that are associated with cryptocurrencies.

However, it appears the CBN directive as well as the repeated warnings have not succeeded in persuading Nigerians to stay away from crypto. Instead, as data shows, Nigeria still remains one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in Africa. In addition, New Oxford Science Academy’s acceptance of cryptocurrency suggests interest in cryptocurrencies has not regressed.

What are your thoughts on the New Oxford Science Academy’s decision to accept cryptocurrencies? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

The Implications of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law: A Data Perspective by IntoTheBlock

This week, IntoTheBlock takes a look at what effect El Salvador's Bitcoin law has on the markets.


Every week, IntoTheBlock brings you on-chain analysis of top news stories in the crypto space. Leveraging blockchain’s public nature, IntoTheBlock’s machine learning algorithms extract key data that provide a deeper dive into the major developments in the industry. 


The Implications of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law

Following Bitcoin 2021 in Miami, crypto markets have had an eventful past few days, the most relevant of which was the announcement of El Salvador taking Bitcoin as legal tender. Announced Saturday at the end of the conference, the El Salvador congress moved quickly and approved the law by Wednesday. 


Prior to the approval, the news had barely any impact on Bitcoin’s price. In fact, Bitcoin crashed all the way to $31,000 on Tuesday — with Bloomberg pointing to a Bitcoin ransom recovered by the U.S. government as a potential culprit. 

bitcoinchart
As of June 10, 2021 via CoinMarketCap


Though it is still unclear the method the U.S. government used to recoup the Bitcoin paid in the ransom, they must have managed to access the hacker’s private keys, which spooked buying interest. More information on this is expected to arise in the following days to clarify the process and its potential implications on Bitcoin. 


Regardless, sentiment shifted quite quickly after El Salvador approved the Bitcoin Law, making them the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. 


Wondering what exactly it means to be considered “legal tender”? You are not alone. 


googletrends
As of June 10, 2021 via Google Trends


In short, Bitcoin being legal tender in El Salvador means that any business in the Central American nation has to accept it as a payment by law. In a Twitter spaces, El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele clarified that they would go through a transitional period and help merchants accept Bitcoin payments in areas with unstable internet or lack of electronic devices.


Moreover, president Bukele announced that their government would be developing a Bitcoin wallet along with the company Strike. However, he also clarified that Salvadorans will be free to use whichever wallet they prefer, embracing Bitcoin’s open approach. 


El Salvador’s development bank will also be setting up a trust fund that will buy people’s Bitcoin if they decide to sell it for dollars. This allows Salvadorans to be able to choose to opt out of Bitcoin’s volatility with their government taking the risk (and potential returns) of buying their Bitcoin. 


The approval of the Bitcoin Law has generated a domino effect amidst Latin American politicians. 


cryptoleaders


The recent enthusiasm in Bitcoin in Latin America has the potential to be a catalyst for future growth. While El Salvador is a small country, they are already seeing very high interest from crypto-related entrepreneurs looking to move there — with some exploring ideas as wild as mining Bitcoin with volcano-powered geothermal clean energy — likely to have an economic impact in the country. 


This attraction of capital and labor creates incentives for other countries to adopt Bitcoin and crypto broadly. In turn, this should increase activity on the Bitcoin blockchain and lightning network. This comes at a critical time as transaction activity has dropped steeply to levels not seen since 2018. 


transactionnumberes
As of June 10, 2021 via IntoTheBlock’s Bitcoin network indicators


Over the next 90 days, El Salvador will go through the transitory process implementing Bitcoin as legal tender. While it’s still unclear the degree of transaction activity in the country that will take place in Bitcoin, it is likely to expedite remittances which make up for over 20% of the economy.


A community known as “Bitcoin Beach” in El Zonte, El Salvador had already adopted Bitcoin as a medium of exchange and based on the Salvadoran’s president played a key role in showing the potential for Bitcoin in the country. Through this program they educated people on Bitcoin and facilitated the use of the lightning network


Overall, this education is likely to encourage greater adoption of Bitcoin as similar programs get implemented on a national level. Throughout the coming years (months?) it will be seen if more Latin American countries end up following suit and implementing their own Bitcoin laws. Ultimately this marks a milestone as countries open up to crypto and decentralized innovation. 

This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.



12 Crypto Firms That Are Hiring Right now — June 2021 Edition

CryptoJobsList gives a rundown of the newest jobs available for those in the crypto and blockchain space, right now.


Now is one of the best times for candidates to get into crypto, or to seek that dream move. The jobs market is in great health, with companies from across the blockchain sector seeking key talent in a range of roles. What though, if you live out of the way, far from the world’s major technology hubs? No problem. We have plenty of remote jobs in cryptocurrency too.


This is an absolutely bumper month for job listings and opportunities. Here we have collated some of the best and most interesting roles currently advertised on Crypto Jobs List.

Full Stack Engineer job at Project Ark (NFTs for Conservation) 


projectark

Project Ark is an up and coming, fast-growing NFT platform which supports important conservation efforts for the environment and wildlife. They are currently seeking a full stack engineer to join their growing team. The right person for the role will have a passion for sustainability — in line with the project’s mission — as well as relevant experience and a desire to build awesome tech products.


Project Ark is looking for someone with three years of front and back end web development for this job. This is a very meaty role which will involve building features end-to-end, as well as contributing ideas to products and features. The successful candidate will also be expected to take those ideas from the planning stage and build the full range of code to implement them. Lastly, this is a remote job, so no matter where you are in the world — this one could be a good fit.


Like the sound of Project Ark but don’t think this is the right job for you? The company is currently recruiting for two more roles which may suit you.


Other jobs at Project Ark:


Developer Evangelist at Zilliqa

zilliqa


Zilliqa Research is advertising for a key role that may offer candidates with experience in development something just a little bit different. The company is currently focused on building DeFi products, such as a Singapore dollar-backed stablecoin, a stablecoin coin system based on collateralized debt positions, a regulated securities exchange and a decentralized exchange for fungible tokens.


As for the role itself, Zilliqa is seeking what they call a "developer Eeangelist." This hybrid job requires someone who is part developer, part marketer, and someone who can grow Zilliqa’s developer communities. This job will therefore require someone with a very strong technical knowledge, as well as someone who can clearly communicate the benefits of Zilliqa and its smart contract programming language Scilla.


If you're interested in developer work and marketing crypto jobs, this varied job really has it all.


Marketing Director at Merlin Lab | Remote 

merlinlab

Merlin is another project building products in the DeFi sector, this time focusing on yield farming and auto compounding assets. Merlin takes care of gas costs, APY tracking, optimal yield strategies and security for its users with the goal of maximizing DeFi users' yield farming rewards at the lowest possible cost. Some of the assets Merlin enables its users to Earn include BTCB, ETH, BNB and MERL.


The company is seeking to add a marketing manager to the team in order to drive adoption in this competitive sector. This will require an experienced, passionate, data-centric marketer. The successful candidate will be expected to develop the company’s marketing communications strategy and lead a marketing team. As well as experience in marketing, a good knowledge of the finer points of DeFi will stand this candidate in good stead,


Other jobs at Merlin:


Senior DevOps Engineer at LinkPool | Remote

linkpool

LinkPool is the first third-party team creating products for the Chainlink network, driving forward its usability and creating new use cases. Founded in 2017, this well-established company is a truly global enterprise, with team members based around the world.


LinkPool is currently looking for a senior devops engineer. LinkPool says this role will offer the creative freedom to think of the best ways of how to do the task at hand while working in an agile environment. The role also demands managing cloud-based infrastructure (AWS, GCP) with IaC (Terraform) and container orchestration (Kubernetes).


For this position, LinkPool is seeking a candidate with at least four years experience in a similar role. This is one of the hot devops jobs in crypto right now, and would surely be an exciting challenge for the right person.

Front End Engineer at Multis | Paris 

multis


Multis has set out its stall to build the best crypto wallet for business with automated payments, an offramp to fiat and tracking wallet features. The Multis wallet and dashboard is designed to help with the financial administration tasks businesses need. The wallet is compatible with cryptocurrencies, euros and the dollar. 


The company is looking for a front end engineer to work closely with the CTO as well as the engineering, product and design teams, in order to create multiple prototypes for the Multis banking application. Multis is operating at the cutting edge of fintech, so this position could offer the right candidate the chance to build and create something truly transformative.


The candidate should have 3+ years of experience as frontend engineer with React, and will ideally also be familiar with ClojureScript and re-frame. Unlike the bulk of the roles we are discussing today, this one is a little more location-specific. Although the company does work remotely, the Multis team would prefer someone based in Europe for this particular position.


Product Marketing Lead (m/f/d) at Parity Technologies 

parity


Parity Technologies is building technologies which will support the Web 3.0. Based on Polkadot, some of the areas in which Parity Technologies has operated include on-chain governance protocol upgrades, proof-of-authority consensus, private Ethereum transactions, warp sync and pruning, Rust and Wasm in blockchain.


Parity Technologies is searching for a product marketing lead to market Substrate, Polkadot, Kusama and other tools in their development ecosystem to builders — a technical audience group. The role will also incorporate market research, marketing strategy, funnel design and analysis of key data and metrics.


This role will necessitate someone with significant marketing knowledge, and Parity Technologies are looking for someone with 8+ years of relevant experience in marketing and at least five in technology.


Other jobs at Parity Technologies:

Software Engineer at UMA | Remote

uma

UMA is designed to make building DeFi products easy, in an effort to make financial markets universally fair and accessible. Hence UMA, which stands for Universal Market Access. UMA enables DeFi developers to build synthetic assets with ease. 


The company is searching for a software engineer to work on their Ethereum-based web3 stack. The successful candidate will be implementing, testing and auditing client libraries that are used to interact with UMA smart contracts. They will also be required to write backend APIs and off-chain bots. This role will demand a candidate with at least 2+ years of experience in Engineering at a software or financial services technology organization.


The successful candidate will work remotely and with flexible hours. They will also be entitled to paid leave.


Other jobs at UMA:

Senior Blockchain Developer at DEXTF- Decentralized Traded Funds 

dextf

DEXTF enables the creation of hybrid structured tokens combining the features of multiple different DeFi projects including yields, derivatives, synthetics and options. The project enables anyone to mint, trade and provide liquidity for tokenized portfolios.


The team is looking for a Senior Blockchain Developer to design, develop, deploy, and maintain smart contracts on multiple blockchains, primarily on Ethereum. Another key component of the role will be designing second layer solutions which can connect multiple blockchains.


This highly technical role demands significant industry-specific knowledge. Specifically DEXTF are seeking a candidate with 3+ years of developing in solidity jobs and 5+ years of software engineering experience.


Infrastructure Lead at Eden Block | Remote

edenblock


Venture Capital firm Eden Block was founded in Tel Aviv three years ago, and has gone on to back founders from around the globe in sectors such as Web3, DeFi, privacy, custody and payments.


Eden Block currently has an opportunity for an infrastructure lead, running validators for DeFi and Web3 networks including Nym, Pocket, Vega, and many more of their portfolio. The suitable candidate will be capable of monitoring blockchain data to optimise infrastructure setups and will be able to communicate best practice to the Eden Block community.

Communications Manager at Coopérative Kleros | Paris - Remote 

cooperativekleros


Kleros is a decentralized court system for dispute resolution, and is one of the best established names in blockchain. Kleros sources the wisdom of the crowd, which creates an online court and arbitration services secured by cryptography and game theory..


Kleros is looking for a crypto comms guerilla, a social media specialist who shares their vision. The successful candidate will be a crypto native and DeFi connoisseur. The remuneration package also includes a significant portion of the project’s native PNK token. PNK also confers voting rights in the Kleros Cooperative. 

LACHAIN Core Developer at Latoken | Moscow, Remote 


latoken


LATOKEN is an established centralized cryptocurrency exchange which has launched over 160 IEOs. The company is now building LACHAIN, with the goal of automating capital markets. To make this a reality, the company is seeking a core developer. This is a high level role which requires serious technical knowledge and skills. It demands building a blockchain codebase with transaction processing, consensus algorithms, blockchain governance mechanisms, storage and a virtual machine.


This job also has an eye-popping remuneration package. As LATOKEN put it, "we overpay’" The candidate who lands the role will be offered an extremely lucrative stock option of between $200,000 to $300,000.


Other jobs at LATOKEN:


Chief Marketing Officer at Origin Games | US  

origingames


Origin Games operate in the highly exciting world of blockchain gaming. Their mission is to establish the next generation of games, pushing the sector forward with the aid of blockchain technology. The company has already launched its first game, “Cradles: Origin Of Species”. In this prehistoric world players can hunt dinosaurs and gain massive NFT rewards.


The company is looking for a Chief Marketing Officer to complete their team. This position requires a proactive Head of Marketing with 2+ years of experience. The successful candidate will manage a multi-channel marketing and community-building program that will accelerate the growth of its protocol and ecosystem.


Besides marketing experience, the right person for this position will also be knowledgeable in blockchain technology. As a mark of how seriously Origin Games are taking this particular role the company has earmarked this role a co-Founder opportunity.


This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.


Become a CoinMarketCap Hero

Join the CoinMarketCap Hero program and help us build the crypto community.


CoinMarketCap Heroes are a group of passionate volunteers who support our community. They are users who love crypto and are excited towards building decentralized communities.  CoinMarketCap Heroes primarily help the CoinMarketCap platform grow by answering user questions and addressing urgent issues.

At CoinMarketCap, we thrive to make the world’s most accurate price-tracking website for the rapidly growing cryptocurrency space. Which is why we need your heroic help, to help bridge the gap between our team and local communities around the world.

We invite you to join the “CoinMarketCap Hero Program,” a global initiative which will bring passionate crypto-minded individuals together in order to expand the cypher paradigm. Anyone who can speak English is eligible to join the Hero program. Being able to speak an additional language is a plus.

As a Hero, you’ll be able to meet the CoinMarketCap team, attend local meetups, gain access to exclusive online webinars and provide feedback for pre-launch products. Become the voice of the CoinMarketCap community!

CoinMarketCap Hero Application Form

If you are interested in becoming a CoinMarketCap Superhero, please fill in this short form — it will only take five minutes!



How to Use the CoinMarketCap Portfolio


The CoinMarketCap Portfolio lets you store all of the information about your crypto holdings in one place.

What Is the CMC Portfolio?

The CoinMarketCap portfolio is the one place to track all of your crypto holdings.

If you have some crypto investments, you probably bought them from a few sources: perhaps you bought BTC from Coinbase, bought BNB from Binance, and then maybe bought many other coins or tokens from different exchanges. 

It is always hard to keep track of all the coins or tokens you have when they are all over the place, or you just simply cannot remember how much you own and where you put them!

Losing control on your crypto investments could potentially lead to an unexpected loss or missing the best timing to sell your cryptocurrencies. Therefore, a good tool to help you tidy up this mess is very important. 

CoinMarketCap created the Portfolio tool that allows you to input your crypto investment records, similar to providing you a nice bookkeeping tool to keep all your investments in one place — but better, as we use only CMC data and methodology to help you analyze your investment value, profit and loss! 

Although we allow you to input all the transaction details on the portfolio feature, remember that we DO NOT collect any of your funds, so you are not transferring any money to CoinMarketCap. We are just keeping these records and doing analysis for you. Don’t worry, we won’t touch your funds at all!

How to Use the CMC Portfolio

Before using Portfolio on our site, as we need to know what data belongs to you, you’ll need to have a CMC account and log in. If you don’t yet have an account with us, simply go to the sign up page and follow the instructions to create a new account. If you already have a CMC account, please go to the login page and enter your email and password.

Once you’re logged in, find “Portfolio” on the navigation bar. You can start creating your portfolio by clicking “Create your Portfolio.”

cmcportfolio

From here, select one coin or token that you want to add to your portfolio first:

addtransaction


Steps for Creating a CMC Portfolio

Step One: Add a “buy” transaction or a “transfer in” transaction

There must be an input of funds when you started your investment. If you bought some crypto as the first step, enter a “buy” transaction from this modal. You can enter the quantity of coins you bought, price per coin when you bought it, date and time of purchasing, fee associated with the transaction and a note to this transaction. 

We auto-populate the price as of the timing you entered this modal, but you can still change the price accordingly. The ability to add notes could also be a very strong tool to use, as you can note down which exchange you purchased the crypto from, so in the future you want to sell you’d know where to go to!

You can also input a “transfer in” transaction from the “Transfer” tab, which indicates funds transferred in as gifts from your friend or family, salary from your boss or for any other reasons. Same here, enter the amount you received, and you can also change receiving time, fees, and any notes that would help you remember this transaction!


addtransaction2

Just a quick recap of what the three tabs mean:

  1. Buy: any transaction indicating you are buying a certain amount of assets. 
  2. Sell: any transaction indicating you are selling a certain amount of assets. 
  3. Transfer: transferring in some assets or transferring out your assets for some reasons. This action won’t involve any inception value that you need to input.

Step Two: Navigate to the main portfolio page

Now you have completed the first step of creating your own portfolio! You will be led to the Portfolio main page now. Let’s assume we added a buy-in of 0.01 BTC at the price of $51,000 and purchased on Feb. 17, 2021.

Here you can see:

  1. Your current balance, charts and summary:
currentbalance

The current balance is using your current asset holding amount X current price to calculate. It also shows you the 24h change and 24h change %. Along with the current balance, you can also view a line chart showing the balance value changes over time, and we provide a few timeframes that you could use. 

If you also want to check out the composition of your investments across different coins, check the “Pie Chart” tab on this summary section.

piechart

Let’s assume that I also bought 1 Ethereum at US$593 on Dec. 2, 2020. Now, my balance is composed of 23.22% of Bitcoin and 76.78% of Ethereum. These values also use the current price, so if the price of BTC goes higher, it might take a higher percentage too!

Hint! When you add any new transaction, or edit any existing transaction, both the line chart and pie chart will need some time to recalculate the historical balance for you. Please bear with us and give our system a little bit of time to work out the new result for you!

You can also check the summary stats of your investment from the “Statistics” tab. Here, we show you the total profit/loss of your crypto assets along with the P&L % (profit and loss percentage) from inception of your purchase. You can also find the best performer and the worst performer amongst your assets and see their individual P&L + P&L %.

Curious about what this icon is doing?


This is the privacy mode in which you can hide the most important values such as total balance or individual asset holdings. When you click again on the icon, it unlocks the privacy mode and shows you all the data available.

Your asset holding list:

On the right hand side of this page, you’ll find a list of all coins/ tokens that you’ve added in this portfolio with some data. 

yourportfolio

Here, you can see the current price of that asset, 24h price change %, your holding total current value in your currency and in the original currency, and the profit and loss of each asset with the P&L %. There are also some actions you can take. You can add new transactions from the “+” icon on the right, or click on the “...” to view transaction details or remove the whole asset from your portfolio.

actions

By clicking on the coin name, it would bring you to our coin detail page where you could take a good look at the coin details, or by clicking on the other data items also brings you to the transaction detail page.

Want to add a new asset or new transaction record? Simply click on the “+ Add Transaction” button and follow the same steps mentioned above!

addtransaction

Asset transaction details:

Clicking on the line of one asset, e.g. Ethereum in my case, will bring you to a page showing the transaction details. 

transactiondetails

Here, you’ll see the balance of Ethereum based on the current price, 24h % change and the total P&L on the left hand box, or you can see a list of transactions you’ve inputted for Ethereum. This page also allows you to edit transaction details, or remove any unwanted transactions. 

You can also use the privacy mode here by clicking on the eye icon!

Do you get our CoinMarketCap apps on your iOS phone or Android phone too? Good news for you! You can now view exactly the same data on both platforms when you sign in the same account! You can not only monitor and manage your investments from our webpage, you could also do the same from the mobile app! Data will be fully synced across the platform, so don’t worry that you’ll miss anything when you are on the go.

Portfolio vs Watchlist

You probably know that we not only provide our Portfolio feature, but also another feature called Watchlist. They sound similar, and you may wonder why we bothered to separate these two features. 

The concepts of Portfolio and Watchlist, from CoinMarketCap’s point of view, are totally different. Portfolio helps you to manage and monitor all your invested assets in one place, while Watchlist provides you somewhere to “bookmark” assets that caught your eye. 

You can “watch” as many assets as you want, but you might not actually purchase any of these assets. Watchlist gives you a good summary of lists of assets you can keep tracking, and you can even make your Watchlist public and share it with your friends. If you want to learn more about Watchlist, please click HERE!

Enjoy using our Portfolio and enjoy earning more profits on your crypto!

This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.