Bitcoin was created as a currency, not digital gold
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that bitcoin cannot be "digital gold", as it was originally intended for making P2P payments.
This discussion is driven by the fact that P2P money and digital gold are significantly different from each other. First of all, gold reserves are limited, the "heavy weight" of gold does not allow it to be quickly moved and divided into parts, and the metal is practically useless for micropayments unless transactions are controlled by a centralized network of banks. In this scenario, high transaction fees cannot be avoided. On the other hand, P2P money allows you to make payments between two parties without the involvement of intermediaries.
Fintech company Revolut will provide its clients with access to cryptocurrencies
British fintech company Revolut, with a user base of over 10 million, will provide its clients with access to cryptocurrencies and gold.
Clients of the company received an e-mail, stating that many leading countries in the coming crisis are beginning to practice quantitative easing, which leads to currency devaluation. In this regard, Revolut recommends taking a closer look at alternative financial instruments - cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin is a great tool for preserving the purchasing power of money because it will never be undermined by additional emissions. In addition, central banks cannot influence cryptocurrencies, as they do with fiat currencies.
In addition, by the end of this month, Revolut will offer its users access to gold, allowing the company's clients to diversify their portfolios.
A couple of weeks ago, Revolut also launched an app for kids to help them understand how money is managed.
Research: 97% of traditional trading companies are ready to enter the cryptocurrency market
According to analyst firm Acuiti, many traditional asset companies will enter the cryptocurrency market over the next two years, driving the development of digital currencies.
The study, which was conducted in collaboration with Bitstamp and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), involved firms that trade both traditional financial assets and cryptocurrencies. Today, the level of adoption of cryptocurrencies is quite low - only one in five traditional firms is engaged in trading bitcoin, ether or other altcoins.
However, there is a growing interest among such organizations in the cryptocurrency market, as they are considering becoming a member or expanding their presence in it in order to “cover” even more assets. 97% of traditional companies trading traditional assets are ready to enter the cryptocurrency market within two years, and 45% will consider this opportunity in the next six months.
“The current cryptocurrency market is divided into traditional firms that were limited to trading Bitcoin derivatives in traditional markets like CME, and cryptocurrency firms that trade in different markets,” said Will Mitting, managing director of Acuiti.
He noted that this creates a mismatch between the demand of such traditional firms to expand their presence in the cryptocurrency market and the desire of service providers to provide them with this opportunity. In addition, Acuiti concluded that firms that trade on different cryptocurrency exchanges make more profit than those who trade on only one or two sites.
Therefore, to enable large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies, clearing firms and other service providers need to present their offerings in a variety of markets. However, most service providers have been found to be reluctant to provide them with market access that is not controlled by local regulators.
Acuiti cited the example of the Bitstamp exchange, which received a license to provide payment services in the EU and a BitLicense, which allows you to provide services to residents of New York. The researchers believe that such licenses, along with initiatives by the US, UK and EU to create a clear regulatory framework for regulating cryptocurrency activities, will contribute to the development of digital assets and their legal implementation.
Mitting stressed that digital asset trading will be fragmented as it depends on market structure. CMEs and traditional financial derivatives markets will operate in parallel with regulated cryptocurrency digital asset exchanges, thereby creating a dynamic market for trading.
American miner Digital Farms stopped work due to the collapse of the price of bitcoin
Digital Farms, a California-based company, has suspended operations amid falling bitcoin prices, CoinDesk writes.
On March 18, her parent firm DPW Holdings provided an update to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. Among other measures, she decided to close her mining division.
“Digital Farms' Bitcoin mining activities have been suspended indefinitely, primarily due to the sharp decline in the Bitcoin market,” she writes.
In May 2019, Digital Farms acquired 617,000 square feet of land to set up a US mining facility with "direct access to 28 megawatts of electricity and infrastructure capable of supporting up to 300 megawatts."
The company was previously called Super Crypto Mining and was acquired by DPW in January 2018. To launch a new business, she borrowed $ 5 million from two institutional investors and acquired a thousand Antminer S9 miners. For the first year, DPW's mining revenue amounted to $ 1.67 million. The company intended to mine the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by capitalization and offer cloud mining services.
The decline in global financial markets forced DWP, like many other companies, to re-prioritize, and the collapse of the Bitcoin price made the decision clear enough.
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