Sign Up with Lendo – when you have loan collateral,
we don’t ask what you want to do with it!
Open your FREE account at http://lendo.sg

The upcoming, annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos has put two sessions about cryptocurrencies on the agenda, a sign of its growing importance, Cointelegraph suggests.

The sessions, titled Resetting Digital Currencies, are going to be held on the Monday and Thursday, if you want to follow it, and will feature speakers Andrew Bailey, Bank of England Governor and Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union.

At the Thursday session, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a senior minister for the government of Singapore, and Zhu Min, chairman of the Beijing-based National Institute of Financial Research will be amongst the speakers.

The prospectus for these sessions points out that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the move away from cash in the long term, and that the emergence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are potentially transforming how people use money worldwide.
It also asks: “What policies, practices and partnerships are needed to leverage the opportunities posed by the rise of digital currencies?”

Davos is a meeting of the world’s leading figures in government and finance, and the talks are split by theme, with cryptocurrencies coming under ‘Fairer Economies’. Other themes are “Tech for Good,” “How to Save the Planet” and “Healthy Futures.”

The WEF, based in Geneva, is providing more resources to a working group so that blockchain technology can be better researched and understood, The group is also looking into blockchain as a key driver of sustainable digital finance, and unlocking the hidden values of smart contracts. It is also looking at CBDCs and has developed a framework to “evaluate, design and potentially deploy CBDC,” a project it worked on in conjunction with over 40 central banks and other financial institutions.

...

https://lendoplatformltd.medium.com/cryptocurrency-is-on-the-davos-agenda-e594300ea1b6

A Happy New Year to all of you, and let’s hope it is a better year than 2020, which took us all by surprise with the coronavirus.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have had an excellent start as the value of Bitcoin, and the leading altcoins, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) have been surging in value over the Christmas period. It has kept many of us glued to the price on an hourly basis. There were definitely days of waking up and nervously opening whichever device you prefer and checking the numbers, often to find that Bitcoin had achieved yet another All Time High while we slept.

Now that Bitcoin has breached the $30,000 barrier, and even almost touched $35,000 at one point, the predictions for an even higher climb are coming in, as might be expected. We’ve seen a small correction this morning, but the USA-based Binance CEO Catherine Coley is suggesting BTC could reach $100,000 by 2022. Only another year to HODL your crypto then! Coley said, “Where maybe we thought maybe $50,000 made sense, this number is definitely going to be a little bit higher than that in my opinion,” said Coley. “I think we’re going towards $75,000 to $100,000 for Bitcoin by the end of 2021.”

Dan Held, crypto exchange Kraken’s growth lead says Bitcoin could be entering a “supercycle” in 2021 eventually driving the price to $1,000,000. That’s mind-boggling.
Ethereum has also seen a massive surge and is now over the $1,000 mark after a few weeks of apparently hovering around $700. Cointelegraph points out that ETH has “broken a critical price point against Bitcoin, signalling that altcoins may be about to see huge gains.” Michael van der Poppe, a market analyst at Cointelegraph said, “I do believe that we’re seeing money shift from BTC towards altcoins and that Ether has bottomed out on the BTC pair,” explained Van de Poppe. “So probably continuation of altseason in this quarter with the topping out of Bitcoin dominance.”

So, buckle up folks, it’s going to be an interesting year in cryptocurrency, even if other things in the world are less inspiring.

https://lendoplatformltd.medium.com/happy-new-year-cryptocurrency-269b49ddba72

This could be a momentous week of change and chaos for the United States as the election polls close on 3rd November. What might happen to Bitcoin? It has started this week at $13,500: will it hold its strong position, or will we see some volatility?
Cointelegraph has identified five things that might influence the crypto markets, including the latest lock-downs in Europe.

Presidential elections are the kind of event that has a huge impact on all markets. The market makers will be considering what the new president’s policies will be at a time of global instability due to the pandemic. It is believed that whatever the result, there will be a rush towards safe haven assets, such as gold and Bitcoin.

In Europe, the outlook for the markets is bleak due to the various lock-downs. Cointelegraph says, “Amid fresh warnings of contractions in economic activity due to the measures, markets began shrugging off even bullish signs in favor of reducing potential election fallout.”
Furthermore, the European Central Bank (ECB) is printing more money. One trader called MMCrypto, told people on Twitter to reduce their investment in fiat currencies: “The crazy news is that the businesses which have to close will get up to 75% of their revenue in freshly printed money.”

Other things to keep an eye on include “yet another so-called “gap” to open up in futures markets.” Zack Voell said, “CME Bitcoin futures opening with a gap up for the fourth consecutive week. That’s pretty bullish.”

Also, analysts remain bullish over Bitcoin’s monthly close, with institutions seeing the monthly close figure as an essential tool for reinforcing bullish sentiment. Let’s not forget that Bitcoin began October trading at around $10,750.

Lastly, there is a shake up happening in mining. Cointelegraph says, “Difficulty, a measure of the competition and economic health of miners and an essential part of Bitcoin’s self-maintaining ecosystem, is set to drop by the most since March on Tuesday.”

...

https://lendoplatformltd.medium.com/watching-bitcoin-in-the-week-of-the-us-elections-cc1559a96e41

According to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin (BTC) volatility is at a 16-month low. The BTC options aggregate has increased to $2 billion, which is 13% below it’s all-time high, plus the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has also reached $300 million.

These option derivatives contracts offer buyers protection from both the upside and downside, and the fact that liquid options currently exist in the market is a positive trend.

They allow miners to stabilize their income, while market-makers are able to use them to hedge their trades. In short, “deeply liquid markets attract larger participants and increase their efficiency.” An implied volatility can be useful. When traders believe there is a larger risk of volatility in the price, this indicator shifts to a higher position, but the opposite happens when there is an expectation of less dramatic price movement.

For Bitcoin owners, a lower perceived volatility is good news, as it is often a signal of a significant price movement, and that market makers are willing to sell protection on lower premiums. Investors then need to shift their focus to futures markets and analyse whether or not there may be a dramatic price shift. It often leads to more investors joining the market, or that existing ones increase their positions.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/is-a-dramatic-bitcoin-price-change-coming-fadf802d8bc9

On 2nd October, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it is seriously considering the idea of a digital Euro and that its study of the idea should start by mid-2021.

The ECB report looks at how that might affect payments to retailers now and in the future, as well as look at the ways in which virtual currencies would fit into the whole Euro system. However, the report does not suggest what digital currency model the ECB might use.

The report also suggests that the ECB may start a virtual currency programme in the middle of 2021 “to ensure meaningful answers are obtained to the open questions raised.” It is likely to begin with an investigative phase where numerous experiments are conducted, and there will also need to be a stage in which the ECB consults with all the stakeholders in the Eurozone.

The ECB report also pointed to the idea that digital currencies promote better financial inclusivity, stating: “The possible advantages of a digital euro and the rapid changes in the retail payment landscape imply that the Eurosystem needs to be equipped to issue it in the future. A digital euro could support the Eurosystem’s objectives by providing citizens with access to a safe form of money in the fast-changing digital world. This would support Europe’s drive towards continued innovation. It would also contribute to its strategic autonomy by providing an alternative to foreign payment providers for fast and efficient payments in Europe and beyond.”

There will be several hurdles to jump before a digital euro is created. It must “keep pace with technology” and be available “through standard interoperable front-end solutions throughout the entire euro area and be interoperable with private payment solutions.” It must also match the features of cash in that it must be “easy for everyone to use, be free of charge, and protect privacy.”

The ECB said the digital euro must also be available outside the Eurozone, save costs and be environmentally friendly, signaling that it should be based on technology that minimizes ecological footprints.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/prepare-for-a-digital-euro-aa2e3b4e26f6

Ripple (XRP) is the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency by market size, and it is showing some advantages over the crypto leader Bitcoin (BTC).

According to one crypto analyst going by the name Crypto Whale, there are four clear advantages:

XRP is x1000 faster than $BTC (3–4 seconds)
XRP is x1000 cheaper than $BTC (more than $0.01)
XRP is better for the environment (no mining)
XRP is more scalable.

At the time this report was written, XRP traded at $0.249510 with a daily trading volume of $1,859,495,081. Furthermore, the XRP price has gone up 2.4% in the last 24 hours.

Of course XRP is a curious thing: it has dual roles as a payment platform and a currency, plus it is an open-source platform that was created to allow quick and cheap transactions.

Banks using XRP

It has certainly gained some traction with banks. In 2018, Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, with assets of more than USD 2.8 trillion, announced that, in cooperation with Ripple, it would provide an international money transfer service on the payment corridor from Japan to Brazil. In Europe, HSBC Holdings Plc, with assets of about $2.5 trillion, disclosed in 2019 that it would use the XRP payment solution. Others having a relationship with Ripple include Banco Santander, Barclays PLC, Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto-Dominion Bank.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/why-xrp-may-be-a-better-buy-than-bitcoin-ba2b59aa3e0e

According to new research from OKEx Insights and Catallact, when the Covid-19 pandemic started, retail and institutional investors adopted very different BTC buying strategies.

The study looked at on-chain BTC transaction data from January to the beginning of August 2020 and found that retail investors decided to hang back and take a ‘wait and see’ approach. By contrast, the larger investors, who are largely institutional, started accumulating BTC.

The report noted that retail transactions, which are mostly for less than one-tenth of a Bitcoin, made up the majority of transactions, and that these buyers track the price fluctuations closely. However, as the report says, “these investors tend to be more easily “‘shaken out’ of the market in times of high volatility and dramatic price declines.”
Cointelegraph says, “Based on the data, retail transactions “decreased and deviated away from the price’s trend — suggesting that retail investors took a wait-and-see approach as BTC a season-long, post-crash accumulation period” around May. “

Interestingly, medium-sized transactions, usually attributed to miners and larger retail investors were cautious at the beginning of the pandemic, but this behavior ended in June, and they started buying more aggressively again.

The big transactions of over 1,000 BTC tell an even more interesting story: “As BTC approach $10,000, the number of transactions between 1,000 and 5,000 BTC continued to go up since the end of June even as the price began to consolidate. “

The report commented on this saying: “This upward trend suggests the possibility that institutions and/or large players got busy accumulating BTC as economic stimulus measures from central banks spurred on the purchase of hard assets. However, because we cannot cleanly differentiate what actual activity took place from the number of transactions alone, this only remains a speculative possibility.”

Basically, the report shows that the first few months of the pandemic impacted how people moved within the market, particularly as retail investors pulled back to await prices going back to normal again. Large investors, on the other hand, “bought the dip” and began accumulating BTC.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/bitcoin-buying-strategies-during-covid-19-e2cc013e508e

After careful consideration, and a wish to protect all ELT owners, Lendo has decided to migrate its online platform from lendo.io to lendo.sg.

Singapore, as you may know, is one of the world’s safest financial centers thanks to its strict financial regulatory rules. The graphics below, published in the Financial Occultist in August 2020, show that Singapore stands out as a financial safe haven, and this is just one of the things that influenced the Lendo team’s decision.

Singapore: the best country for crypto

Furthermore, while Singapore is also recognised as the world’s “smartest city” and the city with “best investment potential,” it is also the third biggest market in the world for ICO issuance, behind the United States and Switzerland.

Singapore’s appeal is a combination of its crypto-friendliness and its overall economic environment. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) does not fully regulate cryptocurrencies, but they have issued guidance on ICO-related activities since mid-2017. This is meant to protect investors against specific risks (for example, MAS imposes Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules for intermediaries that are offering crypto services). In other words, MAS is taking up the role of a guardian, allowing ICOs to be launched but also intervening if the activity of a certain ICO seems suspicious.

Increased protection for Lendo members

By moving to lendo.sg, Lendo members now have an increased level of security and protection. If you are an ELT owner, there is no action you need to take,
and you will be able to sign into the new domain using your existing username and password.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/lendo-moves-to-singapore-safe-haven-8c040ba5951b

Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has placed ads across London’s bus stops featuring Bitcoin. According to a tweet by Binance UK it has placed the ads at 17 spots around the capital’s bus routes. The ads show images of older generations of coins in use, as well as the current British £2 coin, alongside Bitcoin, which is visualised as the biggest coin of them all.

The adverts say, “Money is evolving. It’s time to adapt.” This poster campaign comes ahead of Binance launching in the UK. It announced its expansion into the British market back in June with a proposed launch this autumn. The exchange will reportedly be registered by the country’s Financial Conduct Authority and offer up to 65 digital assets for trading.
In addition to advertising, it has also announced that Binance UK would be joining the self-regulating industry association, CryptoUK, as an executive member.

London is a crypto hotspot, and the city has become a hub for crypto firms looking for new investors. Others have also been using bus advertising, including the controversial HEX token ads. For example, “Ads boasting that the price of the controversial HEX token has risen 11,500% in four months appeared at English Premier League soccer games.” Richard Heart’s Hex token launched an advertising blitz in the U.K., plastering ads on London public transport and in newspapers, as well as at football matches. The ads stated that Hex was a “high interest blockchain time deposit.”

However, many in the crypto community are scathing about the Hex token, comparing the proffered high rates of return to Ponzi schemes and investment scams.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/binance-sends-crypto-message-across-london-48509558f329

According to Coinbase, Apple just doesn’t like the crypto exchange, with Coinbase warning its users that it might have to remove its app from the Apple store.

On 22nd August, Brian Armstrong, the Coinbase CEO, tweeted that Apple has continued to block “some functionalities” for cryptocurrencies, He wrote: “Apple has been very restrictive and hostile to cryptocurrency over the years. They’re still blocking some functionality right now, including the ability to earn money with cryptocurrency by completing tasks, and unrestricted dapp browsers.”

Back in December 2019, Coinbase noted that after “Google removed Ethereum-based decentralized application (DApp) browser MetaMask from its Android application store, Apple may now force Coinbase to remove the DApp browser feature from its crypto wallet application.” At the time Armstrong tweeted: “Coinbase CEO here. This is really unfortunate to see. Apple seems to be eliminating usage of Dapps from the App Store. […] Presumably this would extend to other wallets as well (Trust, Argent, Metamask) it’s beyond Coinbase and IMO a very big threat to the ecosystem.”

Armstrong also said that users interested in using DApps on Apple’s mobile devices might need to ask Apple to allow such applications, tweeting: “This is an important area of innovation in finance, and many developers and early adopters of this technology have millions of dollars worth of crypto tied up in these financial applications, which they will no longer be able to use on Apple mobile devices if this app store policy continues.”

Cryptocurrency Influencer Omar Bham suggested that the moves are supposed to protect the firms’ businesses against potential decentralized competitors, tweeting, “Web3 is in direct competition with Google & Apple. We should expect continued censorship on MetaMask, Coinbase, & other dapp browsers.”

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/apple-and-google-battle-with-dapps-6babe8d31b43

As Cointelegraph reports, on 29th July, in a letter to investors, Dan Morehead, the CEO of Pantera capital, stated that the USA has printed “a shocking amount of money” sine the start of the pandemic crisis.

He wrote, “The United States printed more money in June than in the first two centuries after its founding. Last month the U.S. budget deficit — $864 billion — was larger than the total debt incurred from 1776 through the end of 1979.”

Morehead sees Bitcoin as the solution to the current financial crisis and he compared and contrasted the effects of money printing in recent months, to how the equivalent amount of currency had performed across centuries: “With that first trillion [USD printed] we defeated British imperialists, bought Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase, defeated fascism, ended the Great Depression, built the Interstate Highway System, and went to the Moon.”

He went on to say that the inflation that followed as the main reason to “get out of paper money and into Bitcoin.” According to the CEO, “there is no need for inflation-adjusted numbers [with Bitcoin] because there is no inflation/hyper-inflation.”

Morehead is not the only one concerned by the excessive printing of money. Peter Schiff noted comments by the Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, who said this week that the Fed was using its “full range of tools” to respond to the pandemic: printing money, keeping interest rates close to zero, and making asset purchases steady at $120 billion per month.

Schiff tweeted “The U.S. is about to experience one of the greatest inflationary periods in world history.” He then added, “Any credibility the Fed has left will be lost. Federal Reserve Notes soon won’t be worth a Continental.” (Continental paper money in the U.S. was at one time exchanged for treasury bonds at 1% of its face value.)

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/america-prints-more-dollars-9e3bbd107b4a

Over the last few days, Bitcoin (BTC) has rallied and breached the $10,000 point. But the issue of most interest, especially to anyone holding BTC, is that the on-chain data shows traders are not feeling pressured to sell, meaning the price could surge even higher.

Cointelegraph says, “Bitcoin may have only held $10,000 for a matter of hours, but according to Glassnode, an on-chain monitoring resource, this moon is not like others in 2020.”
On 26th July, Glassnode uploaded its surprising data about BTC reaching $10,000 again, but suggested that in this year, Bitcoin’s journey above this price point will be considerably different than in previous years.

“Bitcoin has passed $10,000 several times in 2020, but Glassnode’s analysis suggests that this time differs from the rest because of the Bitcoin days destroyed indicator,” Cointelegraph reports.

What are Bitcoin days?

It is a measure the value of each BTC transaction, taking into account how long it has been since the coins involved last moved. In the past, when BTC has risen above $10,000, there has been an increase in the Bitcoin days destroyed metric, “suggesting that long-term holders were using the opportunity to trade or sell.” So, far this has not been repeated in July. “In contrast to the last two times $BTC hit $10,000 USD, we haven’t seen an increase in #Bitcoin Days Destroyed today,” Glassnode said.

PayPal contributes to crypto gains

Rumours circulating in June that PayPal was going to accept crypto prompted the idea that BTC would not only reach $10,000, it might lead to it reaching $12,000 in the short term.
The altcoin sector has also received a boost with Ethereum breaking firm resistance at $280 in a move which surprised everyone even more than the Bitcoin gains, and at the time of writing on 27th July, it stood at $326.

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/traders-hodl-bitcoin-5954d6b3542f

A recent article by a Cointelegraph Markets contributor proclaimed, “Bitcoin is the ‘new’ Apple.” In it, Marcel Pechman explained how Bitcoin’s price could reach $60,000 by 2023. He wrote, “Bitcoin hangs near the chasm of the adoption curve, and its price looks similar to Apple’s stock in 2008 before it broke out with a 520% rally.”

Pechman based his analysis on Everett Rogers’ book of 1962, Diffusion of Innovations, in which he classified consumers in the following five groups: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards. It is a system that has become widely used across many industries.

He looks at where Apple was positioned in 2008, when Apple’s United States smartphone penetration was stalled at about 11% and still waiting to cross the “chasm,” the gap between the “early adopter” stage and the “early majority” stages in the Rogers lexicon. To be considered a technical, Apple needed to cross this threshold. We know Apple achieved this as iPhone sales surged, “and Apple’s share price soared into the ionosphere.” Pechman believes Bitcoin could be in the same position today.

However, as Cointelegraph points out, can we even talk about Bitcoin and the iPhone in the same way: “Is BTC even a technology — like radios, PCs, and smartphones — or is it something different: unique, sui generis — i.e., in a class by itself?”

Arvind Singhal, a professor of communication at the University of Texas at El Paso told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin did indeed seem singular: “It has tremendous barriers to adoption for most individuals and operates in a space of multiple familiar currencies — and that peculiarity would greatly influence its adoption.”


More: https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/is-bitcoin-the-new-apple-230cf0fca133

Andreas Antonopoulos, a highly respected digital assets educator has identified a new way for those who are HODLing their BTC to make a passive income, Cointelegraph reports.

His solution lies in the use of decentralised finance (DeFi). “In a livestream Q&A on Antonopoulos’ YouTube channel on June 27, he said decentralized finance (DeFi) contracts were one way for Bitcoin (BTC) owners to generate passive income without relinquishing custody of their coins.”

In the video, Antonopoulos said that anyone holding BTC could convert them into ETH or a stablecoin, then lend those tokens to a platform where they can earn interest. However, he did add that there are some risks. He said: “Ethereum may have problems. It may have bugs. The consensus algorithm may have failures. You may have increases in the gas price, which leads to other cascade problems. And all of those things can cause you to lose some or all of your invested capital.”

He did mention other ways of making crypto holdings work for owners, but almost every method does involve relying on a custodial exchange, and these do carry the risk of theft or mismanagement.
However, HODLers do not earn dividends or interest on their investments until they finally decide to cash out, as he pointed out, and while BTC owners are always hoping the price will go up, it can also go down. Antonopoulos said the same was true for crypto day traders: “You can pull your Bitcoin out and convert it, buy 1,000 altcoins, and then watch them crash by 98%.”

Antonopoulos is not the only person in the crypto space to advocate the use of DeFi for a passive income. Cointelegraph reported in March that OKEx Director of Financial Markets Lennix Lai said: “The combination of cryptocurrency and DeFi creates an alternative way for users to earn passive interest that was not possible before.”

...

https://medium.com/@lendoplatformltd/how-to-make-a-passive-income-from-your-bitcoin-3cde30b6f027