BlockFi Goes To Launch Visa Credit Card With Bitcoin Cashback In Early 2021
Payment system Visa has partnered with crypto startup BlockFi to launch a credit card with a cashback in bitcoin, Bloomberg writes.
Users of the "Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card" product will receive a refund of 1.5% of the amount spent in Bitcoin and $ 250 in cryptocurrency at a time if they spend more than $ 3,000 in the first three months. The annual service for the card is $ 200. Its issuer is Evolve Bank & Trust.
Rewards earned will be automatically transferred to the client's BlockFi account, where they will be available for various transactions, including lending, trading, collateral or withdrawal to a third-party wallet.
“We are delighted to add credit cards to our product line and expand the availability of Bitcoin to a wider range of consumers,” said BlockFi CEO Zach Prince.
The company expects to provide US customers with access to the new card in early 2021. Its development has been going on for at least one year. Support for additional cryptocurrencies may be added in the future.
Next year, the Coinbase exchange also expects to launch a similar card with a bitcoin cashback in the Visa system, but in its case the card will be a debit card.
BTC Markets Exchange Leaks Client Data
Australian cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has leaked the data of all of its clients, including their first / last names and email addresses, Cointelegraph reports. The leak occurred during a marketing email. The emails were sent in groups of 1,000, that is, each customer received data from 999 other customers.
BTC Markets is currently preparing a report for the Information Commissioner's Office and will continue to rely on the guidance provided by it.
BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler made a "sincere apology" for the incident, stressing that the exchange's management is working to limit the consequences of the incident and is introducing additional security measures.
Bowler recommended that customers make sure they have two-factor authentication on their accounts and change their email passwords. Leaked information can be used to carry out hacking attempts or organize phishing attacks, she explained. According to her, the security of the exchange itself was not affected as a result. No other data was made publicly available either, Bowler said.
BTCMarkets is ranked 59th on the CoinGecko platform with a daily trading volume of $ 16.5 million.
Blockchain startup Dusk Network becomes a shareholder in the Netherlands stock exchange
The Dusk Network security token platform has acquired about 10% of the shares of the Nederlandsche Participatie Exchange (NPEX), which is focused on small and medium-sized businesses.
The deal was preceded by cooperation on the development of pilot projects for the implementation of innovations in financial products.
“Dusk Network and NPEX see opportunities to improve the issuance and trading of securities. Security tokens created using tokenization can be sold and traded in small quantities. The costly processes of organizing shareholder meetings and paying dividends lend themselves to automation. This will reduce the cost of raising finance and make it more affordable for a larger number of companies, ”the press release said.
For Dusk Network, participation in the new round of NPEX funding represents a "strategic step".
“Our experience of cooperation will allow us to add value to the platform in the EU, using our technology and the Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) exchange license in accordance with the European MiFID II directive. In addition to implementing the roadmap, we are looking at other opportunities to expand the ecosystem and grow our user base, ”said Jell Paul, Managing Director of Dusk Network.
In a comment to CoinDesk, a spokesperson for the startup said that as part of the deal, Dusk Network acquired about 10% of NPEX shares.
Kraken VIP clients share their expectations for the crypto market in 2021
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken conducted a survey of over 350 VIP clients to find out their expectations from the market. This is the second such report for the current year, the first was published in February. The responses for the second report were collected in October.
It turned out that since the first survey, respondents have noticeably lost their bullish mood, so the further behavior of Bitcoin could surprise them. In the first half of the year, the average target for bitcoin for 2020 was $ 22,866, and in the second survey it dropped to $ 14,886. For Ethereum, the values were $ 810 and $ 549, respectively. In 2021, Kraken customers see Bitcoin and Ethereum at $ 36,602 and $ 1,451, respectively. Thus, in their opinion, the potential for ether growth is higher.
At the same time, 66% said that the market remains bullish, 26% - bearish, 9% were undecided. In the first half of the year, 44% of respondents considered the market to be bullish, and 24% considered it to be bearish.
The favorite altcoins of Kraken VIP clients are Ethereum (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), Chainlink (LINK), Monero (XMR) and XRP. In the decentralized finance (DeFi) segment, they highlighted Uniswap (UNI), yearn finance (YFI), Kavaio (KAVA) and Kyber Network (KNC).
Visa card and bitcoin, great! I hope that this will happen in Europe as well! The only thing that scares me is that the state does not take a large percentage in bitcoin transactions.