Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Facebook's scheme to create its own money in the form of the libra digital coin has set off a globalrace to beat the social media colossus at its own game, and Canada maybe an importantplayer.

Since the initialmild reaction from U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell the day after thelibraproject was announcedin June, the world's governments and central banks have realized what somesuggested at the time, that with its global reach and technological savvy, Facebook was blazing a path to dominate money.

Canada has been one of theleaders in researching how to create and managea digital coin backed by a national central bank. But the arrival of thelibra idea, with its persuasive scheme to launch what was essentially a credible new global currency, kicked off a flurry of fresh activity that could transform the way we think of money.

Not only are the world's governments gathering at bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, theBank for International Settlements and the G7 group of large industrial economies toworkon the idea, but there are signs that individual governments, notably China, are racing to be the first to create a functional, tradable government-backed digital coin.

And while the final results are difficult to predict, it is not clear that ordinary citizens, who have grown used to money in its current form,will be happy with the outcome.

"It's interesting how exciting these developments can be," enthused Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins at last week's monetary policy news conference.

Introduced by her boss, bank governor Stephen Poloz, as "one of the world's foremost experts" on the subject,Wilkins has attended global conferences, armed with several years of groundbreaking Canadian research.

As Wilkins explained, what central banks hope to create is not a digital coin like bitcoin and its many imitators. With thatcurrency rising and falling as inexperienced investors triedto make a killing, critics, including me, pointed out years ago that the volatility of such cryptocurrenciesmade pricing goods in bitcoin impractical.

Far more interesting and functional, according to people like Wilkins, is a kind of digital money called a "stablecoin," which is how the libra is conceived. Rather than shooting up in value and plunging like bitcoins, a stablecoin is managed to maintain a relatively constant value.

"There's a whole class of crypto assets called stablecoins," said Wilkins last week. "What's exciting about it is the fact that these kinds of innovations can address what I think are important issues in global payment systems, particularly the cost of cross-border payments."

Wilkins suggested a stablecoin could be used, for example, for people from the Philippines trying to send money home from elsewhere in the world. And in developing countrieswithout a stable banking system it mightbe used domestically as a reliable unit of exchange.

That innovation is exactly what the libraproject has proposed, offering a service to millions of the world's "unbanked" so that they too can buy and sell and save up the value of their labour in a place they know won't be wiped out by inflation or governmentmismanagement.

But the more the world's central banks and the governments they represent thoughtabout the libra, theless they liked it.

To oversimplify, the two main objections to having a private company with such monetary clout were the wrenchingof monetary power out of the hands of central banksand the worry that eventually, without the backstop of a government, a private sector currency would collapse, creating global chaos.

"We know that innovations never come without risk," said Wilkins.

There are benefits to such a stablecoin system, but there are dangers: "The costs that we all know that are related to money laundering and terrorist financing, but also, with respect to safeguarding the value of that stablecoin properly, as well as potentially getting in the way of monetary sovereignty of different countries," she said.

By current thinking, that sovereignty is important. With people using something like libra, the currencies ofsmaller countries such as those in the Caribbean, or notoriously unstable currencies such as those of Rwanda or Argentina would be completely upstaged, aspeople use libra as a better alternative.

"I think Facebook hadn't thought through carefully how important control of currencies is for governments and central banks," said longtime U.S. central banker Simon Potterin an online video interviewby the Financial Times.

Globally, digitization of nationalcurrencies is already underway. Sweden is well on the road to phasing out conventional cash. Canadians have been world leaders in paying with alternatives like chip cards.China, with its powerful centrally controlled state, is ideally placed to push through a digital stablecoin that will also help it keep track of themoney flows of everyone who uses it.

Watch the International Institute of Finance discuss the future of money:

As reported by CBC Radio's The Current, access to information requests by the tech news site The Logicshow that the Bank of Canada has looked into the possibility of following Sweden and gradually eliminating those polymer bills, but such a plan would require a decision of the federal government to proceed.

Unlike China, a Canadian government might be unwilling to take such a radical step when such obvious moves asreplacing low-denomination bills by coins and eliminating the penny attracted such popular wrath.

But the difficulty for governments is that commercial stablecoins such as libra arenot the only competition. If one country creates a functioning state-backed digital stablecoin, it may be difficult to stop thecitizens of other countriesfrom using it.

For Wilkins, no doubt, working out a solution is part of what makes it all so exciting.

But whatever the final outcome, it does seem that our concept of money is changing. Just last month, Bank of Canada deputy governor Timothy Lane participated in a discussion at the International Institute of Finance titledThe Future of Money. The fact is, as cash disappears, digital stablecoins may become an essential alternative for certain purposes.

Lane pointed out that as merchants, banks andconsumers increasingly stop using bank notes for transactions, we may reach a tipping pointwhere those notes effectivelydisappear from circulation so that even people who want to use bills don't have the option.

"In the immortal words of Joni Mitchell," quipped Lane, "'You don't know what you've got till it's gone.'"

Follow Don on Twitter @don_pittis

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Governments race to beat Facebook's cryptocurrency, libra, at its own game: Don Pittis - CBC.ca

Pop singer and record producer Akon seems to be dead serious about his cryptocurrency plans.TheSenegalese-American singer recently made an appearance on CNN where he revealed that the launch of the so-called "AKoin," which was first announced back in June, is slated for the beginning of 2020.

A multitude of celebrities has stepped up to launch their own cryptocurrencies. For Akon, however, this is not just another gimmick.

In an interview, he claims that AKoin is meant to empower Africa, the continent that has a large unbanked population.

"The platform is built to be a worldwide platform, but I'm talking to Africa specifically 'cause that's where the need is necessary the most," Akon told CNN.

That being said, Acon's new project will face some tough competition. Libra, which is also expected to be rolled out in early 2020, explicitly stated that it would be focused on the long-term success in African markets.

One might wonder why Akon doesn't want to start with small steps such as bringing electricity to African people (more than 100 mln Africans don't have access to power suppliers). In lieu of focusing on such mundane things, he pitches a cryptocurrency.

However, the pop star is certain that the coin will help to root out the core of Africa's woes -- corruption, and that's where blockchain comes to the rescue.

"If you follow the money, you will always follow the truth."

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Cryptocurrency for Africa: Akon Reveals When He's Going to Launch His Own Coin - U.Today

Ripples annual Swell conference has failed to induce positive price action for associated token XRP, data following the event shows. Price data from Coin360 covering XRP/USD showed selling pressure take over on Nov. 7, as the two-day conference continues.

Having reached local highs above $0.30 on Monday, the pair began expanding as Swell began but subsequently saw a rejection at just above $0.31.

At press time, XRP was back below the $0.30 mark, trailing at $0.28 on major exchanges, its lowest price since the beginning of the month.

XRP 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The disappointing performance contrasted with attendees positivity and did not go unnoticed among cryptocurrency traders on social media.

Swell traditionally sees Ripple executives deliver future plans for the payment network, but has increasingly metamorphosed into a phenomenon of its own. The company is known for its controversial army of social media advocates, who wasted no time in advertising the event to bolster the reputation of both Ripple and XRP.

Incredible opening. The energy here is beyond anything I can explain. You can feel the excitement all around you, one attendee, Twitter user Lifes Tough Media, summarized.

XRP has suffered a similar fate to the majority of altcoin tokens since the cryptocurrency bear market of 2018. XRP/USD is down over 90% against its all-time highs above $3.20.

In a mainstream media interview this week, CEO Brad Garlinghouse nonetheless predicted a mass extinction event across crypto markets, with only 1% of current coins surviving.

I dont think about the price of XRP in the short term, he claimed.

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Swell the News? XRP Drops 5% as Ripples Flagship Event Kicks Off - Cointelegraph

The year 2017 marked the cryptocurrency revolution, with the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed to around $20,000 towards the end of the year. Of course, later on, the prices moderated, and as far as the current scenario is concerned, the prices have been leveled off. Despite this, the interest in digital coins and blockchain technology is continuous on the rise.

The increase in the cryptocurrency adoption among all walks of life is very apparent today, more so in the business domain. More and more businesses, ranging from small revenue to large turnover, are coming on board the digital train. Even many countries have realized the importance of digital coins and now altering their regulatory and statutory policies to embrace the ongoing digital revolution. It is not very hard to see why most of the businesses are aligning themselves with the digital revolution. We highlight some of the key points that explain the growing proximity of business towards digital coins and how the crypto revolution is transforming businesses across the globe.

1) Reduction in Transaction Charges: Unlike the other transaction mediums, you need not pay any direct processing fee when you deal with digital coins. It considers as a considerable saving in the cost, especially for large organizations that undertake millions of transactions every day.

Take, for instance, the payment through the credit card wherein a bank acts as an intermediary. The bank will process any payment made through the credit card, and accordingly, the bank will charge a certain amount of processing fee for carrying out the transaction. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are decentralized, which essentially means there is no involvement of third parties in the process (unlike the bank in case of a credit card), thereby reducing the processing fee components involved in conventional transactions. The only expense you have to incur that you are an online merchant is for having a wallet account (Coinpayments or BitPay). These accounts will allow you to accept the payment in terms of various cryptocurrencies and charge a fixed amount for the facility.

2) Faster Transactions: One of the primary merits of dealing with digital coins rather than the conventional fiat currency is the faster transaction speeds that one can achieve with the digital coins. With cryptocurrency being a payment method, transactions happen on a real-time basis. Payment will be credited to the beneficiary account within a matter of seconds or minutes. It is in stark contrast with credit card payments or bank deposits, which takes several days or even weeks to clear.

3) Enhanced Customer Base: With the online taking the lead over the physical stores, the internet is going to be instrumental in spreading the businesses across the segments. The use of cryptocurrency will be able to provide you wider access to the customers. The audience-base you can cater to with the help of digital coins is far greater than the physical reach constrained by the physical boundaries and territorial concerns.

Higher business prospects will ultimately translate into better margins and turnover growth for the company. Even in the B2B segment, we are finding more and more organizations opening up to the idea of cryptocurrency, which helps them to grow their business across nations.

4) Fewer Regulations: Thanks to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, they are not governed by governments or central banks. Digital coins work based on blockchain, which is nothing but a distributed ledger technology aiming to distribute the information democratically among all the participant nodes. While dealing with cryptocurrencies, you need not worry about regulatory changes or government coming up with some new regulation now and then. Less number of regulations also mean there is less hindrance to the business, which in turn translates into more stability and higher business prospects.

5) Adoption of Stablecoin: One of the key impediments in cryptocurrency adoption is the high volatility in the value of the digital coins. It is indeed a very genuine concern, and to overcome it, the field of cryptocurrency is now witnessing the phenomenon of stablecoin. The value of the stablecoin is pegged to some fiat currency, which means the value of the cryptocurrency will not change even in case of the high turbulence in the market. The concept is primarily invented to address the challenge of volatility, and stablecoin has indeed reined in the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrencies.

Another method that has allayed the volatility concerns is to have a merchant wallet account that converts the cryptocurrency into fiat currency immediately. It means if a customer has paid you in cryptocurrency, then your wallet with immediately transfer the digital coin into fiat money. Because of this convenience, most of the merchant accounts have the automatic cryptocurrency to fiat conversion feature, which minimizes the risk of volatility and loss in value for the businesses.

Despite some inherent challenges, the march of cryptocurrency to become a future mainstay transaction medium is heading in the right direction. With more and more countries now opening up to the idea of digital coins, the contentious issues of opaque policies and non-standardized policy frameworks are also expected to get some clarity soon. Once that happens, the adoption of cryptocurrency is sure to gather the momentum further.

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Why Are Cryptocurrencies Becoming a Mainstay of International Business Platforms? - CryptoNewsZ

Will cryptocurrencies ever be considered mainstream? Millions of people around the world are invested in Bitcoin and its rivals, of course, but from the point of view of governments, regulators and financial institutions, virtual coins and tokens are still viewed with a considerable degree of suspicion.

Witness the stormy weather that is currently being encountered by Facebook as it presses ahead with plans for its Libra project. Earlier this month, Visa, Mastercard and eBay announced their intention to walk away from the association of companies and institutions that originally agreed to develop and support the new virtual currency. A few days later, ING chief executive, Ralph Hamers told the Financial Times that an ongoing commitment to Libra might prompt banks to cut ties with the social media giant unless it addressed the money laundering concerns expressed by regulators.

And as Dr. Tom Robinson sees it, financial institutions remain extremely wary of exposing themselves - and by extension their clients - to the risks they perceive in the cryptocurrency market. Indeed, hes witnessed that wariness at first hand. Having read about Bitcoin in 2012, he and university friends, Dr. James Smith and Dr. Adam Joyce quit their jobs to set up a company - Elliptic - providing cryptocurrency security solutions. We tried to get institutions interested, he recalls. But they were very concerned about the associations between virtual currency and criminal activity.

Creating A Safe Space

But the worries expressed by financial institutions also pointed to an entrepreneurial opportunity. Banks and fund managers were seeing the emergence of a new investment class that promised rich rewards for those with strong nerves. To be more precise, they were seeing their clients buying into Bitcoin and other currencies. Having initially started out by providing secure custody services for investors, Elliptic developed a solution that would enable institutions to provide cryptocurrency-related services to their customers while steering clear of any association with trading activities that might tarnish their reputations or see them falling foul of regulators and law enforcement.

The demand use case for cryptocurrencies is speculation," explains Dr. Robinson. Thats especially true after the 2017 Bitcoin bubble - even taxi drivers were talking about that. Banks wanted to give their clients access to crypto-assets.

Against that backdrop, Elliptics team developed a system to analyze blockchain trades and identify non-legitimate trading.

Essentially, Elliptics technology tracks the activity on the blockchain and - to put it simply - strips away the anonymity that has been a traditional feature of virtual currency transactions. We link transactions to known entities, says Dr. Robinson. And once these entities are visible, it is possible to assess the risk of a transaction being linked to, say, money laundering, illegal arms trading or the payment of ransomware.

Bypassing Banks

This, in turn, opens the way for financial institutions to engage more confidently with virtual currencies, says Dr. Robinson. And enhanced security, he argues, will be a key factor in opening up a new era of financial services provisions. For the first time, we have an open financial system, he says. Nowadays, you dont have to go to a bank to carry out a transaction. And if you want, you can create your own bank.

But as the high-profile withdrawals from Facebooks Libra project demonstrate, there is still a long way to go before everyone is convinced that the virtual currency marketplace is a safe environment for institutions.

To date, the company has assessed risk on around $1 trillion of transactions. However, it has had more success in providing its security solutions to organizations within the blockchain sector than to mainstream institutions. We have more than 100 customers now, says Dr. Robinson. Most are exchanges and wallet providers but we are also seeing banks, hedge funds and asset managers coming on board. The financial institutions represent a minority, but it is a growing minority.In addition the company has worked with U.S. law enforcement agencies. To

And Dr. Robinson believes more widespread uptake of virtual currencies is on the way. Even if Libra doesnt succeed, I think something similar will emerge. There is real scope to provide services around international remittances and e-commerce. And blockchain analysis will become standard.

Potentially good news for Elliptic, which just raised $23 million in Series B funding to finance its expansion into Asia and the US. The longer-term question revolves around who will dominate the blockchain security market. Entrepreneurial companies such as Elliptic or the bigger players in the digital security space.

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Startup Targets Cryptocurrency Crime - But Will The Big Banks Come On Board? - Forbes

Bitcoin mining machines operate at a mining facility by Bitmain Technologies Ltd. in Ordos, Inner ... [+] Mongolia, China, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2017. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

The CEO of one of the top three Bitcoin mining pools recently stated that Bitcoin needs better privacy in order to avoid a potential regulatory clampdown. The comments were made by Poolin CEO Kevin Pan in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine.

While Poolin is barely a year old, it already accounts for a significant portion of the total Bitcoin network hashrate. The mining pool was created by Pan, COO Fa Zhu, and CTO Tianzhao Li, all of whom were previously at the Bitcoin mining giant Bitmains subsidiary BTC.com.

Bitcoins Need for Better Privacy

Although those who havent researched Bitcoin deeply often think it is some sort of anonymous online currency, the reality is Bitcoins privacy features are quite poor. Over the years, this lack of privacy has been pointed out as a serious issue in terms of the cryptocurrencys fungibility, which is a key property of money.

Developers have proposed a wide variety of Bitcoin privacy improvements over the years, but many of these proposals come with trade-offs in the areas of scalability, security, and other important areas. For example, the introduction of Confidential Transactions, which masks the amounts involved in Bitcoin transactions, at the base protocol level could weaken the guarantees associated with the public verifiability of Bitcoins current supply.

While scaling is often brought up as the most pressing issue facing Bitcoin today (just look at the block size wars from previous years), Pan views privacy as the most important area of development for the crypto asset.

The real problem with Bitcoin may be privacy, Pan told Bitcoin Magazine. There is no other big question if the privacy issue is solved.

Pan went on to describe the normal issues surrounding fungibility that are often discussed in Bitcoin circles, but then the Poolin CEO brought up another problem that is often overlooked by those who promote Bitcoins usefulness for censorship-resistant transactions.

What is more troublesome now is if government or law enforcement departments begin to create a blacklist of transaction addresses, it will make certain transactions unable to be packaged, said Pan. In fact, these can be done. But if there is privacy, you can't know who the address belongs to, and you can't determine how much the amount is, and there is no way to control the currency system. So for me, Bitcoin is basically no problem if the issue of privacy can be solved.

The problem Pan brought up here has to do with government entities potentially telling Bitcoin miners to block transactions coming from or going to specific addresses. A Bitcoin users money could be effectively frozen if 51% of miners decide not to process transactions originating from that users known Bitcoin addresses. With less than 51% support from miners, these transactions would simply be slowed down rather than completely blocked.

This issue raised by Pan is closely related to the issue of Bitcoin mining centralization, as this sort of censorship attack is only possible if government officials are able to identify and coerce 51% of the network hashrate. Progress is also being made on this greater issue of mining centralization. New mining protocols can further decentralize the transaction selection process, and more mining centers, such as the ones recently revealed by Bitcoin technology startup Blockstream, are popping up in jurisdictions other than China.

Transaction censorship is also easy to enforce via centralized services built on top of the Bitcoin network, such as exchanges, where the vast majority of Bitcoin activity takes place.

Taproot, which is an in-development improvement for Bitcoin, is expected to enable vast improvements to the current level of privacy offered to the cryptocurrencys users. For now, there are wallets like Wasabi Wallet and Samourai Wallet available for those who desire a higher degree of privacy.

Pan also mentioned that the privacy issue he brought up does not exist for some experimental altcoins, specifically Monero and Grin. Its possible that some of the features associated with these privacy-conscious altcoins will eventually find their way into Bitcoin.

In terms of other potential issues facing Bitcoin, two of the developers behind key Bitcoin software recently shared two of the biggest threats that face the digital currency.

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Major Bitcoin Miner Warns The Cryptocurrency Needs Better Privacy - Forbes

For most of its short life Bitcoin has been a plaything for computer geeks and largely ignored by banks and governments. That all changed in late 2017 when an epic rally sent prices soaring to new peaks. Since then central banks have been paying closer attention to cryptocurrency, especially in recent months as Facebook threatens to usurp their dominance.

The benefits of a digital currency are clear, faster and more efficient payments are good news for all. Banks already make huge profits moving peoples money around for them and digital cash will aid them even further.

Facebook has rattled the regulatory cages of the world and given bankers a wake-up call. If they cannot improve their archaic and costly transfer mechanisms, which are mostly based on SWIFT, better alternatives will emerge.

There is a definite demand for a Libra like cryptocurrency but Facebook is clearly not suitable to be in charge of it. Bitcoin does exactly what is required but is price volatility is still preventing everyday use and is off-putting for most.

Central banks in China, Sweden, the Bahamas and Thailand are experimenting with their own cryptocurrencies and many will be launching soon. The FED is still waiting on the sidelines according to Bloomberg and is likely to be left behind by rafts of innovation hampering regulations.

The threat to national sovereignty by the social media giant was large enough to bring down an avalanche of criticism for its Libra project. There was also the threat that central banks would not be able to effectively manage monetary policy (print more money) if an alternative global currency existed.

Central banks are looking into wholesale solutions which would limit access to any stablecoin to the banks and financial institutions. They would be used internally to make payment flows within the existing financial system faster and cheaper.

A retail solution would be to allow account holders to use the digital currency under tight control. The central bank would manage the ledger and have full control over the supply and flow of any stablecoin it develops.

China is likely to be the first major nation to roll out its own central banks cryptocurrency as Asia forges ahead with innovative research and development. However there has been no time frame for launch as yet. A recruitment notice by the PBoC, shows that it wants to hire six more tech experts with expertise in cryptography, econometrics, and micro-electronics to join the development for the banks new cryptocurrency.

Chinas stance on decentralized crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum has not changed. It still will not allow people to buy crypto with fiat. Central banks are unlikely to ever see public cryptocurrencies in a good light simply because they are beyond state control and have no such transaction limits.

Whether Libra goes ahead or not is now looking dubious but Facebook has accelerated the research process for the banks of the world and a slew of new centralized stablecoins are likely to be launched in the coming years.

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Why Cryptocurrency is in The Spotlight For More Central Banks - newsBTC

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The global cryptocurrency mining hardware market is poised to grow by USD 2.7 billion during 2019-2023, progressing at a CAGR of over 10% during the forecast period.

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The market is driven by the rising popularity of mining pools. In addition, the use of smartphones and applications to mine cryptocurrency is anticipated to further boost the growth of the cryptocurrency mining hardware market.

The rising popularity of mining pools will be one of the major drivers in the global cryptocurrency mining hardware market. Mining pools are groups of miners who work together by combining their computational resources and sharing hashing power to reduce the effects of volatility and obtain better outputs. The chances of achieving success decrease when miner prefer their own cryptocurrency mining hardware. This increases the popularity of mining pools as miners can combine their cryptocurrency mining hardware to enhance the success rate. Moreover, in mining pools, miners cannot steal the rewards of other miners. As the rising demand of mining pools will encourage new miners to join, the use of cryptocurrency mining hardware will increase which will boost the market growth

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Major Five Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market Companies:

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc owns and operates businesses under various segments such as computing and graphics and enterprise, embedded, and semi-custom. The company offers a wide range of cryptocurrency mining hardware. Some of the products offered by the company are Radeon RX Vega Series, Radeon RX 500 Series, and Radeon RX 400 Series.

Baikal Miner

Baikal Miners key cryptocurrency mining hardware products include BK-G28, BK-N70, BK-B, BK-D, and BK-X.

Bitfury Group Limited

Bitfury Group Limited has business operations under various segments, namely software and hardware. The product offered by the company is Bitfury Tardis.

BitMain Technologies Holding Company

BitMain Technologies Holding Company operates business under four segments, which include antminer, antpool, BTC.com, and artificial intelligence. The companys key offerings include Antminer S17, Antminer S11, Antminer T15, Antminer DR5, and Antminer Z11.

Canaan Creative CO., LTD

Canaan Creative CO., LTDs key product offerings in the cryptocurrency mining hardware include AvalonMiner 10, AvalonMiner 851, and AvalonMiner 911.

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Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market 2019-2023 | Evolving Opportunities with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc and Baikal Miner | Technavio - Business Wire

Leaks within the Bank of Canada show officials are considering the development of a national cryptocurrency. As such, with interest in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on the rise, could it threaten bitcoin?

Mike Eppel, Senior Business Editor at 680 News, has revealed that Canadas central bank is considering the development of a national cryptocurrency.

During his interview, Eppel drew attention to concerns surrounding cryptocurrencies, such as inadequate regulatory frameworks, as well as volatility. But all the same, he posed the question, is this the next phase in how we transact?

And that question is something Bank of Canada officials are in the process of considering. He said:

The Bank of Canada wants to get ahead of the curve. They have this internal memo saying, yeah, eventually, theyre likely going to launch some sort of crypto.

Having said that, as the conversation continued, it became apparent that the underlying reasons for this come down to centralization. Eppel continued:

Because its about regulation. All these new cryptocurrencies are not overseen by any type of government regulator and they would like to have a little bit more saythe flip side of course is, they can use this to track our spending.

Nonetheless, motivations aside, its apparent that central banks around the world are making moves in this space. While individual countries, on the whole, have kept tight-lipped, those in the know believe CBDCs are just a matter of time. For example, Philadelphia Federal Reserve bank president Patrick Harker claims that a US CBDC is inevitable.

If so, could a coordinated rise in CBDCs spell the end for private cryptocurrencies?

According to Economist, Nouriel Roubini, who once called Bitcoin the mother of all scams, the answer is a resounding yes.

In an article released late last year, Roubini proposes that central banks worldwide should issue their own digital currencies in order to shut cryptocurrencies out. He said:

If a CBDC were to be issued, it would immediately displace cryptocurrencies, which are not scalable, cheap, secure, or actually decentralised.

Moreover, in such a scenario, he rubbished the idea of a niche market, through privacy, by saying:

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are not actually anonymous, given that individuals and organisations using crypto-wallets still leave a digital footprint. And authorities that legitimately want to track criminals and terrorists will soon crack down on attempts to create cryptocurrencies with complete privacy.

And almost a year on, Roubinis predictions have come to pass with unnerving accuracy, as evidenced by the recent crackdown on illegal porn, as well as the delisting of privacy coins.

Moreover, theres no denying that Bitcoin is the underdog here. And central banks will not give up their monopoly control easily, or without a fight.

Yes, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have made a significant splash during their short time. But the reality is adoption rates are tiny, and the market cap is minuscule when compared to legacy markets.

That being so, arguments on Bitcoin being decentralized and borderless wont stick. Not unless the bankers want it to stick. And that is what were up against.

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Bank of Canada Warms To National Cryptocurrency, Will it Compete Against Bitcoin? - newsBTC

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Facebook's Cryptocurrency Libra Could Threaten Alipay and WeChat Pay, Tencent Says

facebook-s-cryptocurrency-libra-could-threaten-alipay-and-wechat-pay-tencent-says

Chinese internet giant Tencent, the parent company of the WeChat messaging app, has said Facebooks cryptocurrency Libra could pose a threat to existing payment systems like Alipay and WeChat Pay.

In a blockchain whitepaper the company published in Chinese, first seen by CoinDesk, Tencent noted Facebooks cryptocurrency initiative was bold and radical, but added its also prudent and rational.

Tencent argues Libra could gain market share in countries that dont have a credible fiat currency of their own, and in areas where access to basic financial infrastructure is poor. It could also threaten competitors like Chinese digital payments firms, as they couldnt replicate the system.

Any internet company that has a relatively mature digital payment system, such as WeChat Pay and Alipay, would be threatened by the stablecoin if it is ever launched.

The Libra cryptocurrency may be being created through an initiative led by Facebook, but its governed by the Libra Association, a group of various firms thatll help managed the network. Its set to be backed by a basket of fiat currency and short-term U.S. Treasury bonds.

In its whitepaper Tencent added that the Libra could affect the course of global expansion for digital payment companies, especially for those who are not in the Libra consortium. Tencent itself has notably been staying away from cryptocurrencies in general, although Chinas central bank has been working on one for the last few years.

Tencents social media app WeChat is reported to have over 1 billion daily active users, and its digital payments feature WeChat Pay is one of the biggest firms in the industry. Alongside it is Alipay, a mobile payments affiliate of the Alibaba Group.

Both firms have made it clear they arent supporting cryptocurrencies or their use through their applications, like because of the Chinese governments ban on fiat-to-crypto trading. In a post on Weibo Tencent noted crypto trading isnt supported via WeChat Pay, while Alipay made it clear in a reply to Binance that it doesnt want its users to buy crypto through it.

Tencent has, however, been exploring blockchain technology by building a suite of blockchain services. The company has also warned of crypto vulnerabilities in the past.

Featured image via Unsplash.

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Facebook's Cryptocurrency Libra Could Threaten Alipay and WeChat Pay, Tencent Says - CryptoGlobe