Bank of Singapore, a private banking arm of OCBC Bank, has said cryptocurrencies have the potential to partially replace gold as a store of value.

- Before that can happen, though, cryptocurrencies must overcome hurdles including high volatility, regulatory acceptance and reputational risks, according to a research note from the bank reported by The National News on Sunday.

- “First, investors need trustworthy institutions to be able to hold digital currencies securely. Second, liquidity needs to improve significantly to reduce volatility to manageable levels,” wrote Mansoor Mohi-uddin, chief economist at Bank of Singapore.

-If the issues can be addressed, bitcoin (BTC, +5.04%) could have a place in investors' portfolios as a potential safe-haven asset and means to diversify assets, he said.

-Cryptocurrencies offer the benefit that they are easy to move and store when compared with precious metals, though they are also prone to theft via hacking, per the note.

-Mohi-uddin doesn't see cryptos replacing fiat currencies, however, as he considers them an inefficient unit of exchange.

-“Governments are very wary of any technology that could potentially displace national currencies. This would reduce the ability of policymakers to print money during economic crises,” he added.

https://www.coindesk.com/bank-of-singapore-says-crypto-could-replace-gold-as-store-of-value

I entered into blockchain for the disruptive and innovative technology. Watching it grow over the year has been a blast for me as well as other supporters, I'm sure.

But what I learned over the years that very good chunk of people have no clue about Bitcoin and the blockchain technology behind it. They are here because of the profits and money grab. You cannot really call them supporters or adopters because at the first sign of profit trouble, they are out. IF they can't make any money, it's bye-bye for them.

I've talked to a lot of people, some really interested in the tech and some not at all and this is what makes me sad every time I think about it.

People don't understand the technology, they don't want to understand it and they don't care about it, only thing they care about is money. They heard it's good money to be made there.
When you listen to them talk, you instantly realize that they have no idea what they are talking about, nothing makes sense and they are just trying to sell you something they themselves don't understand. When you challenge them on the subject they avoid it with more nonsense or try to intimidate you by raising their voice.

There are of course people who deeply understand the technology and are very involved, which is a breath of fresh air, but every so often you stumble upon the other kind.

I can understand people looking to make a quick buck and then getting hooked up, but to never trying to understand the technology or even care about it seem like a bad news for blockchain/crypto

Just look at some scam coins like OneCoin and Bitconnect. They grabbed their money, and now they are gone, dropped from the face of the earth.
Ian Balina, withdrew his BTC in 2018 and you don't hear from him ever.
John Mcafee, where is he now? He shilled crypto so hard few years ago and now you don't hear about him.
and many many more.....

One time I got connected with a person who was a friend of a friend, interested in doing business together, rich and influential but had no knowledge of blockchain. The first thing he asked me was "is this a scam or a pyramid scheme?"... even before I could say anything.
That was his perception of Bitcoin, blockchain and crypto.

These types of people make the industry and technology look bad altogether.
However, bad marketing is marketing also. At least people hear about Bitcoin and blockchain.

But...

Is this how adoption takes place? Bunch of people who are in it for the money and scram at the first sign of trouble?

The stage is set for ether to pump. Why doesn't it pump? BTC had rallies, altcoins had little rallies, but ETH — it is just traveling in a channel between $1100 and $1250.

We have news of exchanges running low on ether, more traders wanting it, the Ethereum foundation teasing a deflationary system for it, and predictions from every shill about ETH going to $50,000 in the next 2 seconds. So why doesn't ETH moon even when everything else does?

Well, the fact is that trends are just that — trends. They lead to certain outcomes, but they do not create those outcomes until those outcomes are created. Make sense?

In order for ETH to moon, the order books have to thin out and people have to stop selling to an extent that buyers find a shortage. That hasn't happened yet. There is a trend towards it, but it hasn't happened.

The reason you see instant moons in alts right after a shill or some news is that the order books are so thin compared to ETH. The new volume overwhelms the flow that is already there and shifts it dramatically. You're talking a few million maybe as opposed to ETH, which does billions in exchanges every 24 hours.

The bottom line is that ETH can absorb much more news than altcoins or even BTC at this point. Institutions are pouring into BTC, so its order books respond more quickly to news than ether, which is only now at the very opening stages of institutional buying. If you want to know how much a bit of news will move a price point, take a look at the asset's ability to absorb news without affecting the order book. You will have a much better idea of whether that asset will pump or dump or not.

Japanese financial services group SBI Holdings (SBIHD) has formed separate partnerships with the Swiss stock exchange and Sygnum bank. Both projects marry Swiss and Asian expertise in emerging financial technologies, such as blockchain-inspired crypto assets.

SBI Digital Asset, a subsidiary of SBIHD, recently announced a joint venture with the Swiss Digital Exchange (SDX) to create a digital assets trading platform in Singapore (https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-digital-stock-exchange-branches-out-into-singapore/46210156). The Japanese group is also setting up an investment fund with Swiss digital assets bank Sygnum. The fund hopes to raise of up to $75 million (CHF67 million) and will focus on distributed ledger technology (DLT) infrastructure, decentralised finance and regtech in Europe and Asia.

SBIDH president Yoshitaka Kitao speaks to SWI swissinfo.ch about how Switzerland is a fertile breeding ground for disruptive financial innovation.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/building-a-digital-assets-corridor-between-switzerland--japan-and-singapore/46283590

It is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries.[8] Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services.[17] Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.[18]

Bitcoin has been criticized for its use in illegal transactions, the large amount of electricity used by miners, price volatility, and thefts from exchanges. Some economists, including several Nobel laureates, have characterized it as a speculative bubble at various times. Bitcoin has also been used as an investment, although several regulatory agencies have issued investor alerts about bitcoin.[19][20]

This time, big names such as billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones and insurance giant MassMutual have invested heavily, while even former naysayers like JP Morgan now say that bitcoin could have a bright future. This all helps to increase trust in the cryptocurrency and indicates that it is becoming more mainstream.

Bitcoin has also been backed by a few large consumer-facing payment names. PayPal now allows customers to buy, hold and sell bitcoin directly from their PayPal accounts. Rival digital payment firm Square reported in November that more of its Cash App users are buying the digital currency, and buying more on average than before. The number of vendors accepting bitcoin as a form of payment is growing rapidly

new stayle

This is big!!!

https://mobile.twitter.com/jerallaire/status/1346233132396257282

Christmass scores a new ATH for this year, let's see what the year's ending have about 5 days left

Like seriously, what dip? It was a small correction, if even that, from $24k to $21,8

https://cointelegraph.com/news/microstrategy-buys-the-dip-now-has-more-btc-than-us-govt

Nothing new here.

https://cryptoslate.com/report-indicates-banks-launder-more-money-than-bitcoin-and-other-cryptos/

I can hack anything
https://www.globalcryptopress.com/2020/07/leaked-fbi-docs-show-just-how-easily.html

"...I now believe this is a possibility not because the value of bitcoin will go up, though I believe it will, but because the value of money is about to fall heavily and quite possibly into the depths of monetary hell...."

What are your thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2020/06/16/bitcoin-to-1000000-might-sound-crazy-but-is-it/#622082db1c59

June 3, 2020, Vaduz, Lichtenstein and Singapore — We’re pleased to announce that Bittrex Global is partnering with crypto prediction social marketplace HedgeTrade to make it easier to share crypto market forecasts and successfully trade, regardless of experience. HedgeTrade users can stake HEDG tokens to create trading predictions based on Bittrex Global order books and earn for successful predictions. Those trading predictions can also be leveraged by others to inform new trades on Bittrex Global.

As a celebration of this partnership, HedgeTrade is giving away up to $5,000 worth of HEDG tokens to any Bittrex Global user (up to $5 million USD total) who completes the following:

Signs up on HedgeTrade using the following link: https://app.hedgetrade.com/login/affiliate/Ym56rK

Purchases HEDG tokens on Bittrex Global

Deposits HEDG to HedgeTrade directly from your Bittrex Global account within 7 days

Giveaway: Within 14 days HedgeTrade will deposit a 20% bonus of HEDG tokens into your account ($5,000 USD equivalent in HEDG tokens max per user)

...

https://medium.com/bittrexglobal/bittrex-global-partners-with-hedgetrade-for-a-5-million-usd-giveaway-54a11a2999e6

The Director of the Bank of Russia’s legal department has admitted that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies cannot realistically ever be banned in the country.

Although cryptocurrencies are not exactly legal in Russia, it seems like they won’t ever be banned, either. That’s the latest news from the Russian government. Although Russia has a love hate relationship with crypto and bitcoin, what do you think about this admission? I think personally no bank can control it, but they don't admit it.

full article below:
https://beincrypto.com/russian-central-bank-admits-it-cant-ban-bitcoin/