For ICOs, fall 2018 begins with a cloudy September: the bad ‘weather’ which started at the beginning of the summer endures, but there are stable trends as for the localization and industry distribution.
from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2yjMQ9a September ICO Market Overview: Trends, Capitalization, Localization
The next six months will see a Bitcoin investment push after a delay, says Mike Novogratz
from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2EnGVFt Mike Novogratz: Institutions Will Get Into Bitcoin in Q1-Q2 2019 Bringing ‘New Highs’
On Oct. 15, Binance announced the launch of its fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchange in Uganda. The world’s biggest digital currency exchange said users in the East African country are now able to complete full account verification starting immediately. Deposits and withdrawals of the local fiat currency, the Ugandan shilling, start on Wednesday.
Also read: Bitcoin After Death: The Perils of Sharing One’s Fortune
“We are extremely proud to officially launch our first fiat-crypto exchange in Uganda,” said Wei Zhou, chief financial officer at Binance, in a press statement. “We have been diligently preparing for this exchange with our local partners since our team first visited Uganda in April 2018.”
Get ready! We are excited to announce the launch of #Binance Uganda! Full sign-ups are now live at https://t.co/hzLBj9Dcrw, deposits and trading coming soon.https://t.co/kpqSVKulox pic.twitter.com/0jdE4cVspI
— BinanceUG (@BinanceUG) October 15, 2018
Zhou also stated that: “This is only the first step in our efforts to use blockchain technology to support sustainable economic development in Africa, and we look forward to bringing more innovations to the region.”
The exchange will initially support trading of the local shilling unit with bitcoin core (BTC) and ethereum (ETH), Binance said. More trading pairs are to be added in the coming months, it detailed, adding that “users are exempt from trading fees during the first month.” The Ugandan subsidiary is capable of processing 1.4 million transactions per second, with 24-hour client support.
Binance is the world’s biggest digital currency exchange, with 24-hour volume of about $1.97 billion worth of BTC alone, according to data from Coinmarketcap. The company has revealed plans to open fiat-capable exchanges in Liechtenstein, Malta and Singapore. Until now, the exchange had been optimized for crypto-to-crypto trades only.
In Uganda, cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption and development continue to see growth. That’s despite warnings by the Bank of Uganda against the use of unregulated currencies in the form of bitcoin and other digital coins. The country of 44 million people is home to various blockchain conferences, associations and communities, with support at Cabinet level.
Investors in Africa have cheered Binance’s move into Uganda. “This is great news!” Michael Kimani, a leading Kenyan crypto proponent, tweeted.
“(It) will spark a race across African countries on setting up [a] favorable environment for cryptocurrency trading against African currencies. Muhimu (vital) for cross border trade, intra-African trade, online payments, remittances, trading, investing…” he wrote.
Binance’s presence in the East African nation is expected to boost financial inclusion in a country where only 33 percent of citizens use registered financial accounts. But this is a place where bitcoin looks likely to flourish unhindered. Some shops and restaurants in Kampala – Uganda’s capital – now accepts bitcoin as a means of payment.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has spoken positively about blockchain technology – but not cryptocurrencies. He told the Africa Blockchain conference organised by the Blockchain Association of Uganda in Kampala in May of the need “to look for a new technology of enabling things to move faster and new systems that go with it.”
His central bank governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile had apparently spoken to the contrary in an earlier address to the same conference. Mutebile accused blockchain technology of lacking the necessary support to sustain a currency. But Ugandans, mostly professionals, have taken a particular liking to virtual money, bitcoin especially.
What do you think about Binance’s move into Uganda? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/2Cj01tC Binance Opens Fiat-To-Crypto Exchange in Uganda
Nineteen firms have been granted provisional licenses to operate crypto exchanges by the Philippine government-owned Cagayan Economic Zone Authority. In addition, eight firms have paid the application fees and are being reviewed. A list of all 27 companies has been published.
Also read: 160 Crypto Exchanges Seek to Enter Japanese Market, Regulator Reveals
The Philippine government-owned Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) on Friday published a list of all companies that have been issued Financial Technology Solutions and Offshore Virtual Currency (Ftsovc) and Offshore Virtual Currency (Ovc) licenses as well as those that have paid the application fees and are being reviewed.
As of Oct. 12, a total of 19 companies have received provisional licenses — 17 were issued provisional principal licenses while two were issued provisional regular licenses. Ceza detailed:
Provisional principal licenses [allow licensees] to conduct offshore financial technology solutions business activities and offshore virtual currency exchange activities … Provisional regular licenses [allow them] to conduct offshore virtual currency exchange activities.
The Philippine News Agency previously noted that “A principal license for Ftsovc operation under Ceza is priced [at] USD360,000, while a regular license is at USD85,000.”
Ceza Corporate Board Secretary Catherine Joy Alameda explained in July that provisional licenses are valid for six months. A company “will be able to acquire its permanent license when it is able to fully comply with the requirements of Ceza,” she described.
Licensees must have authorized capital stock of $500,000 with paid-in capital of $200,000. Furthermore, Ceza “requires each cryptocurrency exchange to invest at least USD1 million in a period of two years and must put up a back office in the Philippines,” the news agency wrote.
The 17 companies that have been granted Ftsovc provisional principal licenses are Golden Millennial Quickpay, Ultra Precise Investment, Liannet Technology, Rare Earth Asia Technologies Corp., Formosa Financial Holdings, Tanzer Holdings, Asia Premiere International, Orient Express Global, White Ranch Limited, Dragon Empire Developments, Galaxy Plus Developments, Tiger Wheel, Ipe Global, Cr8tiv Solutions Management, Sino-phil Economic Zone Agency Development and Management Corp., Digifin Technologies, and Hong Kong Yuen Shing Hong.
The two recipients of Ovc provisional regular licenses are Cezex Trading Pte. Ltd. and Unicorn Venture Investment Ltd.
Ceza is also currently reviewing eight companies that have already paid the application fees for the two types of licenses.
Six companies being reviewed for provisional principal licenses are Bitventures Inc., Mbex Inc., Idragon Science Development Corp., Seryna Coin Metrics Inc., Lideres Inc., and Cx Tech Pte. Ltd.
Two companies, Csm Corp. and Birdmouse Co. Ltd., are being reviewed for provisional regular licenses.
In July, Ceza announced that “about 20,000 jobs in financial technology (fintech) will open up as soon as it awards the initial 25 principal licenses to be made available to qualified fintech companies,” the Philippine News Agency wrote, elaborating:
Ceza expects to earn PHP3.6 billion [$66.6 million] from the initial 25 Ftsovc licenses that it will issue, on top of the 0.1 percent share per transaction value generated from the operation of the fintech firms.
In August, Ceza partnered with Northern Star Gaming and Resorts Inc. to develop a crypto and fintech hub called Crypto Valley of Asia.
What do you think of Ceza licensing all these companies to operate crypto exchanges? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Ceza.
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from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/2AckrmT 19 Companies Licensed to Operate Crypto Exchanges in Philippine Economic Zone
Coinbase has opened a new office in tech-friendly Dublin, which will serve as a “plan B” for when the U.K. leaves the European Union
from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2PxOtqh Coinbase Opens Office in Ireland as Part of Brexit Contingency Plan
Canaan Creative, the world’s second largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining hardware, has announced a new mining rig, the Avalonminer A911, alongside plans to develop a mining heater and portable miner. The company has also purportedly expressed its intention of developing a 5nm mining chip.
Also Read: Research: 1 of 5 New Hedge Funds in 2018 Is a Crypto Fund
Hangzhou-based Canaan Creative recently announced a new range of planned products at a mining summit in Chengdu, including a new flagship mining rig, the Avalonminer A911.
Canaan’s Avalonminer sales director, Chen Feng, stated that the company’s latest miner will provide a maximum hash rate of 18 tera-hashes per second (TH/s), have a power consumption of 1440w, and perform at 80 Watts per THS of power usage. The A911 will be also be powered by Canaan’s recently unveiled 7nm mining chip.
Just two months after showcasing its new 7nm mining chip, Canaan Creative has supposedly announced that it will seek to develop a 5nm mining chip.
The announcement comes after the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, announced in June that it plans to launch trial production of its “5nm Fin Field-Effect Transistor process technology” during the second half of 2019, with a goal of mass producing the nodes during 2020. At the time, Reuters reported that the company expects to invest $25 billion into developing the technology.
In contrast to TSMC’s 7nm chip, the company’s planned 5nm chip will adopt extreme ultraviolet lithography “for more critical layers to reduce multi-pattern process complexity while achieving aggressive die area scaling.”
Feng also announced Canaan’s intention to launch several new products seeking to further extend its integration of advanced computing technology into household appliances, including a cloud-computing heater and a mobile mining farm dubbed the ‘Avalon Box’. Canaan will also seek to develop an artificial intelligence chip called ‘Kendryte’.
The announcements follow Canaan’s unveiling of the world’s first bitcoin mining television set, the Avalonminer Inside, which was first showcased alongside the company’s 7nm mining chip at a press conference in Hangzhou on the 8th of August.
What is your opinion on the increasing integration of mining technology into household appliances? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock
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from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/2CKwuKx Canaan Creative Announces New Avalonminer A911 Mining Rig
Former CFTC chairman Gary Gensler stated that coins sold in ICOs should be considered securities
from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2RS6yRw Former CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler: ICOs Should be Considered Securities
Former ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver talks about becoming a Bitcoin Cash believer, the future of cryptocurrencies and why the U.S. is the worst place for doing business in crypto
from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2yFwHtU Roger Ver: ‘Undercover US Government Agents Go on LocalBitcoins and Arrest People’
On Monday the cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay announced the company is now supporting settlement options using two stablecoins — the Gemini dollar and the Circle Centre coin. Not only can Bitpay merchants settle in BCH, BTC, and local fiat currencies, but they can also utilize a US dollar-equivalent digital currency.
Also read: BCH Devcon Streamlines Bitcoin Innovation in San Francisco
Stablecoins have been a hot topic recently as a slew of new assets has joined the crypto-economy’s ranks. On Oct. 15 the Atlanta-based firm Bitpay announced the company will now support stablecoins for merchant settlement options. This means Bitpay merchants can choose to accept the Gemini dollar (GUSD) or Circle’s Centre coin (USDC) for settlement instead of settling in BCH, BTC, or local currencies.
“Bitpay was founded to make payments faster, more secure, and less expensive using Bitcoin for organizations around the world,” explained Stephen Pair, co-founder and CEO of Bitpay during the announcement.
Pair also adds that stablecoins give merchants more options and a new alternative to settling in BTC and BCH. The Bitpay founder also details that stablecoins give individuals and organizations the ability to transact more fluidly with a “non-volatile settlement solution that does not rely on traditional bank wires.”
“Customers can skip costly, complicated cross-border wire transfers and receive or send international payments with Bitpay with accuracy, reduced fraud risk and quick bank settlement,” the payment processing firm emphasized.
The company also believes that global areas such as South America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region would benefit significantly from the use of stablecoins. Using Bitpay’s services, traditional fiat bank settlement is initiated the next business day and it can then entail another 24 hours until the final settlement. Stablecoins, BCH, and BTC settle in a much quicker fashion and US dollar-equivalent digital currency prices tend to be far less volatile than regular decentralized assets.
What do you think about Bitpay supporting GUSD and USDC for merchant settlement? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below.
Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Bitpay
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from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/2IXZNtp Bitpay Announces Stablecoin Support for Merchant Settlement
Kenya’s government will use blockchain technology in its new housing program to ensure that units go to the rightful recipients
from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2IZlx83 Kenyan Gov’t to Use Blockchain in New Affordable Housing Project