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  1. tumbling crypto coinsCoin Mixers have been drawing attention over the legitimacy of their service of obscuring the trail that leads back to the original source of a crypto transaction. Although their service aims to enhance transactional privacy by mixing coins originating from various cryptocurrency transactions. The crypto money involved potentially includes tainted coins or coins stolen by hackers.

Real-World Example of a Coin Mixer’s Involvement in a Criminal Activity

Only recently, personal wallets of Jeffrey Zirlin, co-founder of Sky Mavis, creator of the Axie Infinity game, were hacked by the notorious North Korea-based gang identified as the Lazarus Group. According to blockchain security company Peckshield, the hackers withdrew 3,248 Ether coins valued at $9.7 million from Zirlin’s digital wallets. The criminals subsequently transferred the hacked crypto monies to a crypto coin mixer known as Tornado Cash.

Comprehending How Coin Mixers Work?

A cryptocurrency coin mixer is also called a cryptocurrency tumbler, since the service it provides is to tumble the coins of customers into different digital wallets. Doing so obscures the trail that could lead back to the crypto coin’s original blockchain transaction.

Although the service aims to enhance the confidentiality feature of cryptocurrencies, the blockchain ledger is available and open to the public.

Since anyone can view and scrutinize every blockchain transaction including the addresses of the wallets used, the anonymity and privacy of the wallet owners is in a way slightly compromised.

The role of coin mixers or tumblers is to shield a blockchain user’s pseudonym and possibly the real identity of the person or entity behind those pseudonyms and their related digital currency transactions. However, there are blockchain analysis tools capable of linking and successfully tracing blockchain entries to the real-world identities of anonymous crypto wallet owners.

Users of coin mixer services move their crypto money using the service provider’s address. The latter will in turn use its address when tumbling and moving their customers’ coins to different wallets.

As can be expected, regulators frown upon this type of cryptocurrency service because they are also being used for money laundering activities.

blockhain hackersNow the thing that heightens concerns over coin mixing or tumbling activities is that many mixers have been charged for their involvement in the perpetuation of money laundering activities. Helix and Bitcoin Fog, have in fact, been charged for moving more than $600 million worth of Ethereum to criminals linked to illicit money laundering activities.

Several States Have Laws that Ban Coin Mixing Services

At present, there is no federal law prohibiting the operations of coin mixers. Yet several states have already banned the use of such services, which makes it necessary for coin exchange firms in those states to reject blockchain transactions initiated by coin mixers or tumblers.

Nasdaq, the online electronic exchange platform where securities are purchased and traded globally, has halted plans of offering digital asset custody as an investment service. According to CEO Adena Friedman, they have abandoned all plans of launching the service they previously planned to roll out by the 2nd quarter of 2023. The decision was in light of the shifts in regulatory concerns surrounding digital assets.

Ms. Friedman made the announcement in a recent earnings call, stating that because of the uncertainties of the business, they have arrived at a decision to halt all plans of engaging in rendering digital assets custodianship services.

Uncertainties, Results of Intense Crackdowns on Non-Compliant Digital Asset Companies

The uncertainty of the regulatory environment is apparently a result of the increasing regulatory pressure being imposed by US financial authorities, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Incumbent SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler has been intent in going after Binance, Coinbase and other similar digital assets companies. Chairman Gensler said
he is committed to weeding them out because in all of his four decades of acting as a regulator, he has never seen so many cases of non-compliance and of masquerading as a real firm.

Nevertheless, sources at Nasdaq say that even if the digital custody plans have been shelved, Nasdaq will continue to support the exchange partnership formed with Coinbase and Blackrock. The pledge pertains to the partnership’s application to establish the first digital asset market place for Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). This is a different story altogether since ETFs refer to trading of funds derived from exchanges, but can also be impacted by the SEC’s ongoing crackdowns.

Crypto scammers are taking advantage of the anxious state of crypto asset owners who are experiencing uncertainties amidst the volatile crypto conditions. Some fraudsters are hijacking Twitter accounts to use while posing as journalists who recommend alternative cryptocurrency platforms for buying digital coins and NFTs in Twitter

Once these Internet scammers are able to convince a crypto asset owner to use their platform in selling their digital assets via the hijacked Twitter account. The fake journalists succeed not only in getting hold of the digital assets unlawfully, but also enabling scammers to gain access to personal and other sensitive data, including those linked to family members.

What Scammers are Doing to Illegally Access Crypto Assets

Most of the targeted victims of the impersonators are verified account holders, and at the same time, owners of cryptomonies and a variety of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). According to a staff research engineer at Tenable Inc cybersecurity firm, the scammers introduce themselves as verified members of popular NFT collectors organizations like Azuki, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Okay Bears and MoonBirds. All of which have 150,000 plus followers at Twitter.

The scammers share photos of NFTs allegedly taken by impersonated journalists and from there, convince digital money owners to invest their cryptomoney in NFTs as a more stable form of digital asset. As the exchange takes place, the NFTs turn out to be bogus as the journalists who shared the pictures are mere impersonators.

Cryptocurrency firm BlockFi reported last Monday that they will be paying $100 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to 32 states. The settlement is related to Blockfi’s offer of crypto lending product called BlockFi Interest Accounts but without registering the retail crypto lending product with the SEC and in the 32 states. On top of the SEC violation, the Blockfi breached the registration provisions of the 1940 Investment Company Act.

About Blockfi’s Cryptocurrency Deposit-Lending Program

While the crypto firm agreed to pay SEC $50 million, while the other $50 million will be paid for similar charges in 32 states.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler mentioned how this was the first case regarding crypto lending platforms After the settlement, customers that are based in the U.S Blockfi will not be able to add interest to crypto accounts with BlockFi. Instead, existing clients can redeem interest in their existing real money holdings accounts but cannot deposit more in said assets.

The cryptocurrency firm announced how they are currently applying with SEC to offer a new crypto savings product named BlockFi Yield. They are planning to move their U.S clients to the new service unless they prefer not to. According to the company, their move gave the industry some clarity regarding regulations.

BlockFi presents itself as a bank-like platform for crypto users and is supported by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel. The product they offer allows their customers to earn interest on their digital currency holdings, which in turn will be used for lending.

They are promoting on their website how the yearly percentage reaches 9.25% which is higher compared to average savings rate offered by other financial institutions. According to BlockFi, they can offer as loans to large institutional investors who are inclined to pay higher interest rates just to acquire the crypto deposits

Cryptocurrency exchange firm Binance recently announced that there would be changes in their offers to their South African customers after being warned by FSCA. The changes include that they will be ending offers of options, margin, futures, and leveraged tokens products to their users in South Africa.

https://youtu.be/0jJ2Ie22uA4

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority is Africa’s financial regulator and has warned the public that the company isn’t authorized to render intermediary services or provide financial advice. This is in terms of South Africa’s FAIS Act or the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002. After receiving the notice, the cryptocurrency exchange company made it clear in a statement that they do not render any intermediary service nor provide any financial advice.

Even regulators from different countries including Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy, Canada, Thailand, Lithuania, U.K., and Malaysia are extensively inspecting Binance for possible insider trading and possible market manipulation.

Restriction of their South African users from creating new accounts will be effective immediately and that they have  90 days in which to close their account; or to lessen their position in the financial products. Binance added that they will no longer be allowed to open or expand new positions, but will be allowed to top-up margin balances in order to stop liquidations and margin calls from occurring.

It was also announced that by the end of January 6, 2022 at exactly 11:59 PM (UTC), users will be deprived of the ability to close or reduce their positions, once all remaining open positions are closed.

As response to Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s warning on the freely traded cryptocurrencies, Treas. Sec. Yellen met with the country’s top regulators today. According to the Treasury Department’s announcement, the discussions will focus particularly on stablecoins, since the Federal Reserve Chairman had said that

”We are seeing cryptocurrencies having something like bank deposits, money market funds or for that matter a narrow bank, all rapidly growing without appropriate regulations.”

 

https://youtu.be/Ic-snDxIDIk

The focus on stablecoin is of particular interest since they are freely transferrable like cash, but have been trading in the cryptocurrencies market as well.

The Treasury Department statement said that the working group set to convene today (Monday) will delve into the regulation of stablecoins to foster its growth and innovations in order to significantly alter the rapid growth of highly volatile cryptocurrencies.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen remarked in the statement that their aim in bringing together the top regulators is to assess the potential benefits of stablecoins and to analyze their risks, as well as formulate regulations to mitigate the risks posed to stablecoin users, the trading markets and the financial systems.

The new Treasury Secretary emphasized the importance of collaboration between regulatory agencies in developing regulatory policies that can impact the rapid growth of digital assets. The discussion will also include recommendations for the development of new oversight authorities. Treasury Secretary Yellen expects to receive written recommendations in the coming months.

What are Stablecoins?

 

While stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that uses the blockchain technology, they deviate from other digital money because their price value is linked to the value of another asset class like gold or of a specific fiat currency. The purpose of which is to somehow stabilize the price value of each type of stablecoin.

Stablecoins are popular with cryptocurrency investors because the stable nature of their value has made them useful even when trading outside of the volatile cryptocurrencies world. However, they also pose significant risks as some dollar-pegged stablecoins have been found as not actually backed by US dollars, but by combinations of equally volatile assets.

In February of this year, the use of Tether and its associated crypto exchange Bitfinex in New York was banned by NY State Atty. General Letitia James. Mainly because false statements have been made with regard to tether’s currency backing.

Yet stablecoins like other cryptocurrencies open the world to everyone because it dispenses with the need to pass through traditional intermediary institutions like banks, when used for sending payments.

Yet unlike other cryptocurrency of which price values have a tendency to fluctuate wildly in ways that make their values unpredictable, stablecoins enable owners to determine how much their digital asset is worth. This makes stablecoin more practical to use for everyday transactions even outside of the cryptocurrency world.

Coinbase has joined the Nasdaq market, which has been drawing much interest, but Coindesk clarifies that the move is not via Initial Public Offering (IPO). CoinDesk’s Managing Director of Research, Noelle Acheson, said Coinbase went public via direct listing, which is a new option available to companies looking to get listed in the stock trading market.

According to Ms. Acheson the clarification is important as the movement to go public “could shape the narrative of the digital asset industry in the future.” However, news media has been misbranding Coinbase’s action as IPO rather than direct listing, which could affect the cryptocurrency company’s equity strategy.

Direct Listing and Its Distinction from IPO

As the Managing Director of Research for Coindesk, Ms. Acheson pointed out that the differences between IPO and direct listing are material, and the misbranding is already causing confusion in the trading market. According to her, direct listing is a new approach to going public which quite interestingly, is suited to a crypto company.

Unlike the shares of an IPO that are distributed at a pre-established price; direct listing shares do not have a pre-established share price.

The pre-established price of an IPO is set by investment bankers based on their estimation on how high the market will bear a price. Investment bankers usually receive a percentage of the total amount raised by an IPO; usually by as much as 7%. They base their estimation on preliminary expressions of interest coming from institutional investors.

In a direct listing, the market’s reaction on the initial day of trading day influences the starting price. Direct listed shares are put on display for a 10-minute period on the first day of trading, to which interested buyers enter their bids, while sellers (the existing shareholders of the company) enter their offers. After which, Nasdaq uses both information in calculating the “current reference price.”

In the case of Coinbase, Goldman Sachs as the company’s financial consultant decides with the concurrence of Coinbase, whether trading for the listing will go ahead with the current reference price. If it’s a go, applicable orders will be entered and executed at the said price once trading commences.

There is no doubt that fintechs in Australia have now established solid reputations for providing consumers, hassle-free and easy to access financing products. When compared to traditional lenders, there are stark differences between the two, particularly in conducting and carrying out key lending processes and activities.

First off, traditional lenders like banks, make the onboarding process tedious and time-consuming, while the opposite is true with fintechs. Primarily because fintechs leverage advanced technologies, including the use of online and mobile platforms.

 

Examples of Key Differences between Traditional and Fintech Lenders

Below are two examples of how such differences have given fintech lenders an edge over traditional lender:

Document/Data Collection and Loan Documentation

Applying for a loan or financing facility with traditional lenders entail visits to the brick-and-mortar office of a lending company — to manually fill up a loan application and to submit as well as sign the required documents. After which, traditional lenders will assign their in-house credit investigator to background check and verify the validity of information contained in the documents submitted by the loan applicant.

The entire process is not only time consuming, but also creates additional costs that loan applicants have to pay for as processing fees. At which point, the loan applicant will have shelled out a substantial amount of money just to have his or her application processed. Processing fees are paid even if there is still uncertainty if the traditional lender will approve or disapprove the loan application,

This is one aspect that fintech lenders have disrupted in traditional lending methods. Through the use of technological innovations, fintech lenders have enabled loan applicants to apply and submit documents at any given time and from any location by simply scanning and sending the scanned copies as attachment to emails. Validation of the information contained therein are carried out digitally and swiftly, to which the processing fees collected are minimal.

Moreover, fintech lending technologies allow approved borrowers to affix digital signatures on loan contracts and other related documents.

Credit Analysis and Underwriting

Traditional lenders are highly dependent on the analytical skills, capability and efficiency of Credit Analysts in determining the potential success of loans. Since the process of analyzing is done manually, it usually takes a credit analyst about 4 to 6 weeks to complete an analysis, before the Credit Manager can perform the underwriting process. This denotes an additional period before a loan applicant receives notice of approval or disapproval.

In contrast, lending companies that harness state of the art technologies use underwriting algorithms in analyzing the digitally collected information of loan applicants. The artificial intelligence (AI) of their analytics engine is self-learning, as it develops certain rules for discerning data available in government records, tax returns, credit history, location of applicant’s residence, number of household members and such other information used for generating a score that a Credit Manager uses as basis for decision making.

Awesome even, is that such processes can be completed in a matter of 24 hours at the most. That being the case, consumers and retailers do not lose time waiting for a fintech’s decision to approve or disapprove a financed purchase transaction.

Just some words of caution though, as the success of fintechs in Australia has also spawned the emergence of unscrupulous individuals who present themselves as tech-savvy lenders. Moreover, do not be too eager to close Australian car loans with car dealerships that are quick to close financing deals — especially if they are not holders of Australian Credit Licenses.

Be in the know that some unlicensed dealerships maintain sales-driven collaborations with traditional lenders. As such a financing transaction is actually between the traditional lender and the consumer, which gives the former the right to repossess the vehicle in the event the consumer fails to make a specific number of monthly payments.

Many in the cryptocurrency industry believe that if not for the creative minds of computer engineers, growth in crypto mining would not have been attained. Originally, bitcoins could be mined using personal computers and laptops. Today, the most efficient bitcoin mining hardware that has stood the test of time is the ASIC bitcoin mining machine.

As the number of bitcoin users grew so did the difficulty of mining for bitcoin as a viable means of acquiring the asset. Yet observers in cryptomining like Associate Professor Rakesh Kumar of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of University of Illinois, had previously remarked that the rising dollar value of bitcoin was the strong motivating factor behind the evolution of mining hardware over the past years.

According to a recent CNBC news article, a $100 bitcoin investment purchased and held since 2009 are now assets worth several millions. Last Thursday, BTC hit another record-breaking price of $48,000, which means a 2009 $100 worth of BTC is now roughly worth $4,800,000. As the turns of events have it, bitcoin has become mainstream in the commodity trading business due to the widespread and substantial participation of traditional Wall Street investors.

Stages of Innovations in the Development of Bitcoin Mining Machines

Several years ago, innovators discovered that the specialized electronic circuit graphics processing unit (GPU) originally designed for gaming applications, demonstrated that when reprogrammed, can perform a range of computational tasks for bitcoin mining purposes.

Although the use of GPU increased efficiency sixfold, compared to using ordinary computers, hardware engineers still looked for solutions to improve cost-effectiveness in bitcoin mining.

In 2011, an integrated circuit called a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) became the next best solution to achieve higher hash rates at low cost. Still, FPGA has to be configured by a computer hardware designer, before it can transform a computer into a highly efficient mining machine; at twice the ability of the highest grade GPU to perform mathematical calculations.

However, configurations must be made on both software and hardware level, which made building a mining machine quite labor-intensive before it can run the code better and more efficiently than a GPU.

In 2013, Chinese company known as Canaan Creative came out with a pre-designed application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which quickly overshadowed the cost efficiency gains of the GPUs and FPGA-built machines. It became the much awaited turning point in the history of bitcoin mining as the innovation led to the production of ASIC computer hardware specifically dedicated and optimized to perform calculations.

Other manufacturers like MicroBT and Bitmain later developed improved versions of ASIC chips combined with highly advanced hardware that can cost-effectively calculate a 100-billion times faster than the average CPU used back in 2009.

There is an increasing number of wealthy people specifically coming the High Net Worth (HNW) sector who’ve been showing greater interest in cryptocurrency. This came as a revelation of the study conducted by the deVere Group, an independent financial advisory organization who conducted a similar survey last year.

What is noteworthy is that this year’s deVere survey shows that about 73% of their respondents expressed interest in buying their own digital assets before reaching 2022; indicating a huge increase when compared to last year’s findings of only 68% who showed inclinations toward investing in cryptocurrencies.

According to the study, it is apparent that many now perceive the potential of digital currencies as the likely money of the future,. Not a few professied interests simply because they do not want to stay behind in the past.

About the deVere Group’s Cryptocurrency Survey

The deVere Group made a timely release of its latest study, as the report came out on the same day when Bitcoin’s total market cap recorded a peak of $336 billion, while bitcoin price rallied to reach over $18,000, almost duplicating the $19,763 record-high milestone achieved in December 2017.

This year’s study involved a survey of more than 700 High Net Worth individuals or HNWs coming from various regions such as Asia, Africa, UK, US, Latin America, Australia, and the Middle East. While the term Net Worth in accounting denotes the value of assets after all liabilities and capitalization have been deducted from assets, the term High Net Worth individuals in the financial markets, refer to those whose uncommitted assets amount to at least US$5 million.

The deVere Group found that almost 75% of the millionaires who responded to their survey are either owners of crypto assets or are of the mindset to invest in cryptocurrencies before the year 2022.is over.

The Increasing Interest in Crypto Assets Among High Net Worth People of Wall Street

The CEO of the deVere Group, Nigel Green remarked that it does not come as a surprise that crypto assets, particularly bitcoin, is attracting numerous rich investors; showing interests on how digital currencies work. After all, Bitcoin is constantly performing well with its year-to-date showing of 125% growth.

Among the rich HNW investors who participated in the survey, not o few are connected with the largest Wall Street Banks,. Several of whom are now trying the cryptocurrency services being offered by PayPal, which mainly offers buying, selling and holding of digital currencies and not as a form of online payment. .

Unlike before when those in Wall Street were at first skeptical of Bitcoin, many are now beginning to accept the concept of digital currencies. Even Jamie Dimon,, the CEO and Chairman of JPMorgan Chase who once said Bitcoin is some sort of a fraud is giving a different opinion. In a latest New York Times interview, Mr. Dimon proclaimed that he is now open to the concept of crypto assets but believes the blockchain technologies supporting cryptocurrencies should be properly backed and regulated.

HNW billionaire Ray Dalio, who is a hedge fund manager still expressed reservations toward cryptocurrencies specifically for Bitcoin. Nonetheless, Mr. Dalio has now expressed willingness to learn about cryptocurrencies and be corrected in his views about Bitcoin. In his tweets, he also mentioned that he still cannot envision big institutional investors, central banks, and multinational companies using digital currencies.

The use of cryptocurrencies is now supported in many countries that even online casinos are accepting bitcoins as deposit, and in funding customer payouts. While the main advantage of using bitcoins for online gambling activities is keeping one’s anonymity intact, there are also potential drawbacks.

After all, the value of cryptocurrencies tend to fluctuate, because their values depend on the supply and demand attributable to a digital currency.

Bitcoin casinos accepting the digital coins as deposit will only assign a specific amount of casino credit for a player to use. Presumably, the value of the credit is based on the current US$ exchange value of the cryptocurrency at the time of the deposit.

The question that one would ask, is at what US$ value will an online casino convert a customer’s amassed winnings in his account? The likely answer to that is by the same U.S. dollar value that was used in determining the equivalent credit that a player received when he made the deposit.

While there is a possibility that there will be a difference between the USD value of bitcoin at the time of deposit and time of payout, bitcoins as far as online casino transactions are concerned, will have the same effect as having bought and sold bitcoins at the same rate on different dates. That way, an online casino player will refrain from hoarding his winnings and wait until the bitcoin price value goes up.

In the same way, when a payout is requested, a bitcoin casino is obliged to pay a customer at the agreed bitcoin exchange rate, regardless of any increase or decrease in the price of bitcoins at the time of the payout request.

However, it would be wise for a player to carefully review the terms and conditions of the bitcoin casino before deciding to become a member.

Are there Online Bitcoin Casinos Operating in Asian Countries?

If there is any region where the use of bitcoins for gambling is practical, it would be in Southeast Asia. While trusted online gambling operators in countries like Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand use Virtual Private Network (VPN) in order to keep gambling transactions private and undetected, some are also accepting bitcoins as additional protective shield. One Asia facing bitcoin gambling site that we know of is 918kiss Bitcoin Casino.

https://youtu.be/yZGPF07RByA

Even in Asian countries, a traditional online casino deposit and payment system still transacts either by way of bank accounts or e-wallets. The drawback however is that in the event that an online casino customer hits a huge jackpot, the bank involved in the payout will have to report the transaction, in compliance with the international Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

As opposed to the use of bitcoins as a medium for deposit and payouts, blockchain transactions remain confidential and anonymous. Banks and other payment processors on the other hand, are required to report details of large financial transactions to the proper government authorities; including the name of the account holder and the nature of the financial transaction.

The latest about Facebook’s cryptocurrency project known as Libra, is Calibra’s shift in the development of a conventional payment processing system.

The partnership with the non-profit Libra Association is no longer focused on developing blockchain technology to support FB’s Libra token. It can be recalled that the plan encountered serious opposition from legislators and regulators. During last year’s Congressional hearings, FB officials who were grilled by House Representatives failed to provide credible defense of its ability to protect potential consumers, who will consider using the Libra cryptocurrency.

Can FB’s Calibra Offer the Same Financial Services of WeChat Pay?

The opposition to Facebook’s cryptocurrency project is mostly due to the social media site’s involvement in several scandals affecting the security and privacy of user information. Nonetheless, the FB subsidiary still plans to launch a payment processing system called Facebook Pay.

In doing so, FB will be able to offer FB users the same e-wallet services that leading mobile social-app WeChat provides to its millions of app users. Although it is not yet clear if Calibra will have the same features as WeChat Pay and its QR Code payment protocols.

The Calibra platform’s digital payment system will accept government-backed currencies like the U.S. dollar, U.K pounds, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars and the likes. Eventually, Calibra’s payment systems will include Libra tokens as part of the currency options available to FB users

FB’s payment processing subsidiary is set to launch its platform in October, after Trump’s ban on the China-developed mobile messaging and social app WeChat, takes effect on September 20, 2020.

However, it is still not clear whether U.S. lawmakers and regulators will allow Facebook to operate its Calibra subsidiary as a financial services provider, Zuckerberg’s plans to capture former WeChat app users via a Calibra app, can still face regulatory pressures.

The government of Singapore has taken a step forward in recognizing cryptocurrencies as legal tender through the Payment Services Act (PSA).

The Act, which passed parliamentary legislation last January 2020 includes cryptocurrency as among the specific payment services allowed as part of the country’s payment systems; officially categorizing digital coin payments under “digital payment token services.”

https://youtu.be/upYDtsH0JxA

The PSA sets the regulatory guidelines that the Monetary Authority of Singapore will follow in overseeing not only cryptocurrency operations but all other payment services currently being utilized in the country’s payment system.

The list of specified payment services mentioned in the new legislation includes: payment accounts creation, local money transfers, foreign or cross-border money transfers, merchant-purchases payment services, e-money issuances, digital or cryptocurrency payment services and money-changing activities.

MAS Allows 7 Cryptocurrency Firms to Operate Pending License Approval

As a demonstration of the government’s willingness to promote new and innovative payment methods, the Monetary Authority of Singapore gave 7 cryptocurrency operators temporary authority to operate.

https://youtu.be/O0kXPYe1lGw

Within a period of 6 months, Coinbase, Binance, Bitstamp, Luno, Gemini, Wirex and Upbit can offer cryptocurrencies as modes of payment, while pending the MAS’ decisions on whether to approve or reject their respective license application.

Their immediate acceptance as part of Singapore’s payment system was in line with their early compliance in notifying MAS about their cryptocurrency operations in Singapore

While the U.S. SEC sees the rise in cryptocurrency a good sign, the FBI sees the increase as a sign of more cryptocurrency frauds taking place.

Only recently, Ms. Hester Peirce, the current commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was pleased to note that many investors are carrying out investment strategies by diversifying portfolios; including investing in cryptocurrency markets.

The SEC Commissioner, who has oft been described as crypto-friendly, said the COVID-19 crisis, albeit disrupting all industries, has underscored the significance of conducting work and business using virtual spaces. That being the case, many have also shown interest in diversifying their investment portfolio by way of the crypto space.

However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeing a different side when it comes to increased cryptocurrency demand. The FBI is wary that with the increase in demand for cryptocurrency, there will be a corollary increase in cryptocurrency scams and fraud schemes.

New Modi Operandi Employed by Crypto Scammers

The FBI gives advice about new cryptocurrency fraud schemes by providing details on how scammers and fraudsters carry out their crypto-malfeasances.

One of the most common is by sending out emails containing threats of blackmails. The modus operandi is to demand crypto payment in exchange for a piece of information that could embarrass you, your family or your business. Currently during the COVID-19 health crisis, blackmails come with threats of infecting you and everyone close to you, with COVID-19, regardless of whether the blackmail threat is founded on truth or conjectures. :

Some work-from-home (WFH) employees have been duped into believing that a caller is his or her employer, who is making a request to deposit crypto funds to a nonprofit organization as donation. The request is made on the pretext that the employer does not have cryptocurrency but would like to make a donation to an organization that is accepting only crypto money. The WFH employee will be given assurance that the employer will reimburse him or her as soon as the crypto donation has been confirmed.

Luring customers to buy non-existent treatments or or a piece of equipment that comes with guarantee to protect buyers from coronavirus infection. However, the seller accepts only cryptocurrency payments being a more secure form payment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These are only some examples of cryptocurrency frauds that have surfaced ever since countries have put citizens under national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Great Britain’s Brexit, or withdrawal from the European Union, became official last January 31, 2020, the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) came out with a formal announcement of its sole authority to monitor and regulate cryptocurrency-related activities.

According to the FCA announcement published last January 10, 2020, the focus of supervision will be the UK-registered businesses engaged in cryptocurrency operations and their compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) regulations and requirements.

Even prior to Brexit, the FCA had issued a warning in July 2019 to UK-based cryptocurrency firms. As a regulatory body, it deems cryptocurrencies as “ill-suited” to offer as investment products to small investors. The FCA believes that cryptocurrencies offered as exchange-traded notes and derivatives, pose a great risk to consumers due to the widespread misinformation about them as a financial product.

The Financial Conduct Authority is the regulator for all financial services companies and financial markets in Great Britain. On the other hand, banks, credit unions, insurers, major investment firms and building societies, are under the regulatory supervision of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), to which the primary goal of regulations is to promote the safety and soundness of those types of firms.

FCA’s List of Requirements for Cryptocurrency Businesses Based in the UK

Along with the announcement of its authority to regulate UK firms engaged in cryptocurrency operations, the FCA also provided a list of requirements with which such businesse must comply.

1. Conduct risk identification and assessment pertaining to AML and CFT

2. Development of policies and controls aimed at eliminating identified risks related to AML and CFT.

3. Apply customer due diligence by identifying and verifying customers by obtaining customer name and photograph based on an official document confirming a person’s identity, date of birth and residential address.

The FCA also stated

“We intend to proactively supervise compliance with the new regulations, and will take quick action when and where firms fall short of desired standards in ways that cause risks to the integrity of the UK market”

China’s Cryptography Law, which the National People’s Congress legislated and passed sometime in October 2019, took effect last January 01, 2020. The law intends to regulate cryptocurrency encryptions as a way of strengthening the safeguards against the threats posed by cryptocurrency operations to China’s national security.

In fact instead of combatting the blockchain technology system supporting cryptocurrency operations, the China’s State Cryptography Administration (SCA) of the Chinese Communist Party, developed the guidelines on how cryptography should be used by both the private and public sector.

According to reports, it took the SCA five (5) years to develop the initial draft that details the guidelines promulgated as Cryptography Law. Although viewed as a way of fostering the cryptocurrency business in China, it is largely perceived as a precursor to future laws that will govern the use, operation and application of China’s own Central-Bank backed cryptocurrency.

Currently called as the Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC, its introduction will make China the first country to introduce a national cryptocurrency unit.

Overview of What China’s Cryptography Law Includes

The primary purpose of China’s Cryptography Law is to regulate encryption in its use for cryptocurrency operations that fall in line with the blockchain technology. The Cryptography legislation enumerates and describes three different types of encryption : Core, Common and Commercial encryptions.

Core and Common encryptions pertain to codes used in safeguarding all state secrets, which are further sub-categorized as “Secret,” “Highly Secret” and “Top Secret”. The Cryptography Law requires all agencies of the public sector to use core and common encryption in storing and transmitting state secrets contextual to China’s national security.

Private sector firms on the other hand have to use Commercial codes to protect their proprietary trade secrets.

In imposing the Cryptography Law, the main guiding principle is the protection of China’s national security. Therefore the new law sets forth guidelines on how cryptography should be used to help safeguard national security against cyber security threats on a nationwide scale.

Threats include encryption efforts deemed as causing harm to the Chinese Communist Party and any application that undermines public interest and the country’s national security.
That being stated, China’s Cryptography Law also gives details about punishment on anyone found using codes that threaten the state and its citizens.

Moreover, the law specifically states that companies in the business of providing cryptographic systems to consumers must first undergo examination and and authentication performed by the Chinese state.

China’s Cryptography Law Does not Bar Foreign Participation in China’s Cryptocurrency Industry

Enactment of the Cryptograph Law does not bar foreign users and providers of foreign encryption systems to participate in the country’s cryptocurrency industry.

However, international legal experts are wary of the conditions under which foreigh digital currency will work. The Cryptography Law allows a foreign cryptocurrency entity’s participation provided it merits the approval and certification of the state; albeit without any clear descriptions on how this condition can be met.

The condition also denotes that the Chinese government has the right to examine the underlying source code of any new digital currency technology, as a means of ensuring the protection of national security. It worries lawyers that in vetting a cryptocurrency company toward the issuance of a certification, the Chinese government will have backdoor access to the private and/or foreign entity’s cryptocurrency system.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally came out with an official decision to dismiss proposals for creating a Bitcoin ETF market. The rejection though does not come as a surprise to Bitcoin ETF proponents, given the complexity of how cryptocurrency exchanges work via the blockchain technology.

According to legal experts, the SEC’s main worries include the bitcoin market’s high level of potential for fraud and manipulation; whilst regarded by U.S. regulators as an investment tool that is yet too small and still immature to support.

Although Bitwise officials contended in its proposal that the need for a Bitcoin ETF arises from their research findings that 95% of crypto currency tradings are not legitimate, this reasoning did not work to support its case.

What Makes a Bitcoin ETF Different from Bitcoin?

Bitcoin may be the largest digital currency in the crypto money market but is still unregulated, despite its popularity as a digital asset that can be exchanged and traded for profit.

If recognized by the SEC as legitimately traded investment tool, the price of Bitcoin ETF will be monitored and tracked. That way, interested bitcoin investors need only to determine the current price and market performance of bitcoins, without having to own and trade bitcoins just to do so.

An SEC approved Bitcoin ETF eliminates the need to be invested in bitcoin, which comes with worries on how to best deal with the complexities of its storage and security features. Bitcoin digital money is unlike the more common types of ETFs, such as shares of stocks and/or commodities bonds, which simply have investors looking closely at a related price when venturing into buying or selling an ETF commodity as an investment asset.

In becoming a Bitcoin ETF, the cryptocurrency becomes a type of marketable security that investors can buy and trade based on current index price and performance. As such, bitcoin companies will be under SEC’s system of surveillance-sharing agreement, to which they will allow tracking and close monitoring of how the bitcoin digital money is moving in terms of buying and selling activities.

The bitcoin though flows in a largely unregulated environment; making the SEC hesitant to allow a Bitcoin ETF participating as a type of publicly traded investment tool.

Many of the UK’s elderly population are looking for ways to beef up their retirement fund while still able. The most common financial tool they have resorted to is the equity release mortgage. It is a type of loan available to older adults who are at least 55 years old or older, which allows them to take out a loan using their real property as collateral.

Overview of an Equity Release Mortgage

A loan under an equity release arrangement offers older adults the chance to borrow money that does not have to be paid off periodically and immediately. Settlement of the debt will take place at a future time; either when the senior borrower passes away or has reached a point of needing long term care in a nursing home.

The equity release scheme operates on the principle that real property appreciates in value. Therefore, the proceeds of a future sale based on the appreciated value, will more than cover the total amount due on the outstanding loan including all interests compounded through the years. The only drawback is that the lump sum payment will greatly reduce the potential value of the senior borrower’s legacy for his or her heirs.

Nonetheless, equity release mortgages in the UK are backed with a No-Negative Equity Guarantee. This feature ensures that in case the total debt exceeds the proceeds from the sale of the property, the agreement does not include a transfer of debt to the borrower’s heirs. Once the property has been sold to satisfy the borrower’s equity mortgage debt, the loan will be deemed as fully paid.

Still, to avoid equity release deals that impose unreasonable demands and conditions, it would be best for seniors to enter into this kind of agreement with the help of a professional financial adviser. The first step to take when considering to borrow money under this scheme, is to determine how much can be availed — by using an equity release calculator uk lenders use in calculating how much they can offer.

Is it Wise for Seniors to Invest in Cryptocurrency?

Often times, scrupulous individuals consider senior citizens as easy pray for their scams or illegal activities. Knowing that most retirees have some money stashed away for their golden years, scammers or swindlers often target easy-to-convince seniors.

Although cryptocurrency is receiving much attention as a lucrative form of investment, this is one type of money-making tool that retirees should not at all consider. First and foremost is the fact that the UK government is not supportive of the blockchain technology. The lack of regulatory oversight, makes the platform highly susceptible to manipulations, cyber attacks, and illegal operations.

Last year, major banks in the UK have been weeding out deposit accounts that seemingly engage in cryptocurrency trading. Banks are wary that the frequency and the amounts involved in the exchange could be indicative of money laundering activities. As a result, the crackdown on bank deposits used by cryptocurrency dealers and miners for their exchanges, involved freezing of the accounts. This was regardless of the depositors’ clean and long-standing records with the bank, and their reputation as law abiding UK subjects.

That being the case, it would be best for senior citizens not to be entangled in such transactions, lest they find their retirement money frozen for an indefinite period of time.

During the later part of June, 2019, complaints from Plus Token e-wallet users in China, South Korea and Japan about their inability to withdraw from their account, had prompted Chinese law enforcement authorities to act swiftly. Their initial investigations led to the arrest of six (6) Chinese nationals working as core team of the Plus Token mobile wallet operation.

Dovey Wan Blows the Whistle on Plus Token’s Ponzi-Like Scheme to Alert the Cryptocurrency Community

News of the arrest did not receive wide coverage, which apparently was still under investigations. However, in early July, Dovey Wan, co-founder of cryptocurrency company Primitive Ventures noticed that the Plus Token site was moving out digital money in small amounts.

The movements made use of e-wallets not registered with the company when traded with crypto exchangers Bittrex, Binance and Huobi.

Although Ms. Wan tweeted about a possible Ponzi Scheme happening at the Plus Token site, cryptocurrency exchangers were unable to identify which e-wallet to block, since there were no digital currency transactions directly related to Plus Token.

Apparently, the Plus Token scammers have taken advantage of the sophisticated blockchain system of recording transactions. In using encryptions containing public and private key codes instead of real information about traders, the blockchain system makes it difficult to immediately trace and establish the identity of persons involved in cryptocurrency transactions.

As Dovey Wan had found out and later tweeted, unidentified Plus Token operators still at large were able to transfer around 70K Bitcoin(BTC) and 800K Ethereum (ETH) early in July. Ms. Wan summed up the entire amount that Plus Token had stolen from its investors, and arrived at an overwhelming estimate of about $3.2 billion-worth of cryptocurrency. .

The major players behind the Plus Token Ponzi-scheme still has control over the stolen cryptocurrency. Since July, they have have been transferring the digital money into different crypto wallets from which they can withdraw and convert the cryptocurrency into real money.

Crypto-Analyst Firm Reports that Plus Token Scammers Used Online Mixing Services to Pre-Launder the Stolen Cryptocurrencies

A related report coming from Token Analyst, a London-based crypto-analytic firm, said that the Plus Token scammers have been using online mixing services as a means of masking the origins of their fraudulent blockchain transactions even before the scam was discovered. Doing so enabled the fraudsters to trade the stolen digital currency at legitimate exchangers since the cryptocurrency online mixers were able to mix the money in different e-wallet accounts owned by Plus Token.

That being the case, the stolen money have been laundered and made to look like legitimate funds used for conventional transactions via the blockchain platform.

Cryptocurrencies as medium of payments, investments or borrowings can only transpire by way of blockchain technology. It is important therefore to have a thorough understanding how one becomes a cryptocurrency owner in order to take part in transactions using digital currency as medium.

First off, bitcoin is only one of numerous cryptocurrencies used to transact business outside of the conventional financial institutions. Digital currencies other than bitcoin are collectively called altcoins, which is short for alternative coins. Some examples of popular altcoins are Litecoins, Ethereum, Ripple, ZCash, and Cardano; there are several more available as an alternative to bitcoin.

Secondly, cryptocurrency transactions require the use of a blockchain platform or application in order to connect to other cryptocurrency users, to third party digital currency brokers, to traders or digital currency-wallet providers.

Thirdly, there are two ways by which an individual can acquire a particular cryptocurrency. One is by buying a preferred type of digital money from a broker or from an e-wallet provider using actual cash. The other method is by earning a unit of cryptocurrency for solving every set of related cryptocurrency transactions recorded in a blockchain open ledger. Solving and linking encryptions used in the blockchain ledger is a method of confirming the validity of a transaction that made use of bitcoin or a type of altcoin as payment or exchange mode.

How Does the Blockchain Technology Record and Validate Bitcoin Transactions?

The reason why this cryptocurrency technology is called a block chain is because several digital currency transactions occurring via a blockchain platform will be linked. The purpose of which is to tell a story of how one bitcoin or altcoin user came to own his or her cryptocurrency, and of how he made use of that particular virtual money.

A block refers to the time-stamped cryptogram code used in recording each related transaction in the blockchain ledger. Every block contains the cryptogram code containing the public key generated by the blockchain platform and the private key supplied by the cryptocurrency sender or payer.

Difference Between a Blockchain Public Key and Private Key

A public key is an encryption that identifies the kind of transaction that the blockchain will record. Let us say BitUser A buys $50 worth of bitcoin from BitTrader B. The public key generated by the blockchain platform will refer to this transaction. In order to complete a block, BitTrader B as sender must provide the private key to validate his authorization for issuing the bitcoin.

A private key therefore validates a cryptocurrency user’s ownership of the digital money being transferred to another. An owner receives a private key every time he receives digital currency as part of a chain of transactions. If the private key is invalid or missing, the transaction will not go through since it remains unconfirmed or unvalidated.

In our example, bitcoin recipient BitUser A received a private key, which serves as his authority to use or transfer the digital money to another recipient. In the same way, the new recipient will also receive a private key that will allow him to transact his own virtual currency deal. Miners will then solve and link all blocks of cryptogram codes connected to the bitcoin purchased by BitUser A. Doing so provides full authentication that all virtual currency used in the series of transactions came from legitimate owners.

Develop an understanding of the importance of a financial strategy when venturing into a business. Bear in mind that going into business is not just about making profit from an innovative product or idea.

Making profit is merely the goal, while the money infused as capital to build the business is the foundation. Money is invested to acquire assets to use in selling an innovation whether as a product or as a form of service. It is therefore pertinent to have a financial strategy on how to make vested money and profit yields work toward building a sound financial condition for the business.

It is not wise to let a business run without having any business financial plan integrated as part of management processes. Simply going where the business flow takes you is a flimsy business finance strategy. Mainly because this is a hit-and-miss stance which could find your business drifting while waiting for a lucky break, or eventually veer away from what you originally perceived as your business mission.

Example of a Business Finance Strategy

We have established beforehand that the main goal of operating a business and of investing seed money into a business is to generate profit. If you are a startup venturer, it is best to keep your profit making goals in proportion to your seed capital. Avoid aiming for big profits by entering into get-rich-quick methods or by way of unfair trading practices. Such methods may work at first, but will eventually backfire on you.

A business finance strategy is incorporated as part of a business plan. In a detailed manner, the strategy specifies how cash that is available on hand will be allocated and used in running the business.

Establishment of a Working Capital Fund

An example of a business finance strategy is one that establishes a Working Capital fund. The fund must be placed in a deposit account in order to segregate money purely for operational purposes. Other liquid capital funds must be allotted for investing on a major additional asset, or for the settlement of current liabilities or long term-obligation in a planned manner.

The next strategy is to implement a system of projecting cash flows for each month, as a way of earmarking Working Capital funds. That way money collected from business operations, flowing in as additional working capital fund will only represent increments. At the end of a cash flow period, any amount exceeding the original balance of the Working Capital Fund will immediately identify the operating period as a growth month.

On the other hand, if at the end of the period the Working Capital Fund is less than the original balance, then a deficit occurred. This denotes that business operations for the month did not bring in enough cash to cover the expenditures for the period, let alone generate potential increments to the capital funds.

In such cases the Working Capital fund requires replenishment, but a review of the cash receipts, expenses and other disbursements must be performed to ensure propriety and validity of transactions that resulted to a deficit.

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