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Bitstamp announces US expansion after 570% increase in customers

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One of the oldest exchanges in the crypto space recently announced that it would be ramping up efforts to reach more users in the United States.

In an announcement from Bitstamp today, the crypto exchange said it would be launching a marketing campaign in the U.S. aimed at educating retail investors about crypto following significant growth in the first quarter of 2021. As part of these efforts, Bitstamp said it planned to triple the number of people in its U.S. team and grow its customer support team by 50% in 2021.

Bitstamp CEO Julian Sawyer told Cointelegraph said the firm began to see increased levels of interest from retail investors and U.S. financial institutions in 2020 while claiming other crypto exchanges were “struggling with uptime and customer support.” He said that the firm’s security, transparent fees, and infrastructure would give the exchange an edge against any local competition.

“Crypto is the fastest growing segment of financial services and we intend to be a leader in the most competitive financial market in the world: the U.S,” said Sawyer. “The potential upside for new retail and institutional investors in the U.S. is astronomical.”

Sawyer cited the significant growth the exchange had experienced during the pandemic as an indication Americans may want greater access to digital assets. Bitstamp reported that the assets under management for U.S. users had risen by 281% in Q1 2021, while the number of customers had surged by 570% in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2020. In addition, activity for trades and deposits showed a 348% increase monthly in 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020.

The announcement follows Bitstamp changing key positions in its leadership over the last year. A former Gemini executive, Sawyer joined the firm as CEO in October. Most recently, Amazon veteran and former Barclays finance director Stephen Bearpark came on board as Bitstamp’s chief financial officer while Sameer Dubey joined as its chief operating officer.

Bitstamp announces US expansion after 570% increase in customers

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Former Chainalysis brass is now FinCEN’s acting director

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The current acting director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, will bid farewell to the governing body in April. His replacement: Michael Mosier, Chainalysis’ former chief technical counsel. 

“Director Kenneth A. Blanco today announced several leadership changes impacting the bureau,” said a public statement from FinCEN on Friday, adding:

“Director Blanco announced he will depart FinCEN on April 9, after serving as the organization’s director since December 2017. Michael Mosier, former FinCEN Deputy Director and current Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, will return to FinCEN as Acting Director.”

Blanco was the government agency’s eighth director. AnnaLou Tirol, FinCEN’s deputy director, worked as the agency’s associate director of its Strategic Operations Division in the past, the statement said. Mosier takes his post as acting director on April 11.

This is not the first crypto-experienced hire by a government agency. President Biden chose Gary Gensler as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Gensler is well-educated on the crypto industry as he taught an in-depth course on the subject at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, in 2018.

After Mosier’s work for Chainalysis, he spent time working for FinCEN in other capacities, as well as for the U.S. Department of Justice and multiple other U.S. government positions.

“I am proud to have led an incredible organization with an important national security mission that has a profound effect on the lives of so many people, especially the most vulnerable in our society,” Blanco said in the statement upon his exit. “I have every confidence in Mr. Mosier and Ms. Tirol’s ability to lead the bureau forward and continue the progress of ensuring our national security and protecting people from harm.”

U.S. government agencies have become increasingly involved in the crypto industry over time.

Former Chainalysis brass is now FinCEN’s acting director

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Andreessen Horowitz leads $23M round for NFT marketplace OpenSea

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OpenSea, one of the largest digital collectible marketplaces, has secured backing from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and others in a new funding round.

According to Andreessen Horowitz, the firm is leading a $23 million Series A round for OpenSea alongside a16z’s Cultural Leadership Fund, as well as angel investors Ron Conway, Mark Cuban, Tim Ferriss, Belinda Johnson, Naval Ravikant, Ben Silberman, and others.

“OpenSea makes NFTs searchable, usable, and organized,” said a16z general partner Katie Haun. “But it goes further and provides a marketplace that brings all platforms together and eases transactions among all parties, the way eBay and Amazon do.”

The venture capital firm cited OpenSea’s growth in its decision to back the non-fungible token, or NFT, marketplace, saying it had been “off the charts” in the last six months, with transaction volume having grown 100-fold. In addition, a16z praised the marketplace’s leadership, including CEO Devin Finzer and CTO Alex Atallah.

As one of the first venture capital firms to enter the space, Andreessen Horowitz has invested in a variety of crypto projects so far, including Libra, Maker DAO, and Coinbase. Last month the firm backed Optimism’s L2 scaling solution.

This story is developing and will be updated.

Andreessen Horowitz leads $23M round for NFT marketplace OpenSea

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Free TON to merge with Dune Network in decentralized M&A deal

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Free TON, a community-driven blockchain promoting decentralized self-governance and freedom of speech, has acquired Dune Network through a community merger mechanism that was recently approved by both camps.

An amended Dune community partnership proposal filed in January was approved on Tuesday, bringing the Free TON merger one step closer to fruition. Dune Network, which is a decentralized platform for distributed applications, said the merger will strengthen both communities and support the global adoption of decentralized governance.

Ben Sunderland, Dune Network’s community manager, said:

“Our vision is to create the blockchain ecosystem’s first true decentralised Merger and Acquisition. With our shared values, we feel a merge of the Dune Network community into the Free TON community will yield significant benefits for both parties, and the wider blockchain industry.”

According to Sunderland, the merger provides Free TON with several benefits, including an experienced community, a transfer of all social media to Free TON accounts, roughly 30,000 accounts and smart contracts, and access to Origin Labs, a new research arm that can contribute to Free TON’s development.

Fabrice Le Fessant, president of Dune Network and CEO of Origin Labs, told Cointelegraph:

“The merge between Dune and Free TON is a wonderful event for both our communities. I already see many of our members exchanging, and I am looking forward to more, as both techs are very complementary. With this merge, we’re all together contributing to the acceleration of the Free TON technical leadership in the market.”

Under the proposal, Free TON will allocate an agreed-upon amount of TON Crystal — the native asset of the Free TON blockchain — to Dune Network. Dune Network community members will decide whether they want to swap their tokens for the TON Crystal.

The merging process — which consists of proposal validation, the development of swapping infrastructure and the actual swapping period — is expected to last roughly six months and cost 9 million TON Crystal, which is equivalent to Dune Network’s market capitalization. The merger will be funded through contests on the Free TON network, according to Sunderland.

One TON Crystal is currently valued at around $0.40, according to CoinMarketCap, while Dune Network’s native DUN token trades at less than $0.02. Both cryptocurrencies rose sharply on Tuesday, possibly in conjunction with the merger developments.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, Free TON launched in May 2020, building on Telegram’s codebase. The project launched its mainnet in December 2020 after achieving “sufficient decentralization.”

Free TON to merge with Dune Network in decentralized M&A deal

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Blockchain: A Disruptive Technology for Federal Agencies

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Blockchain-A-Disruptive-Technology-for-Federal-Agencies

Wondering why several federal agencies are turning to Blockchain Technology? You have landed at the right place. This article explains why federal agencies are adopting Blockchain and what crucial role it plays worldwide. 

Table of Contents 

  • Blockchain Basics 
  • Potential Benefits of Blockchain for Government Institutions
  • Federal Agencies Leveraging Blockchain 
  • Conclusion: Is Blockchain and Federal Agencies a Good Fit? 

Blockchain Basics 

Blockchain is a peer-to-peer, decentralized, distributed ledger technology that uses encryption and hashing techniques to guarantee the truthfulness of the information being transferred. This new-age technology maintains complete immutability, which ensures that hackers are unable to manipulate any information, without somehow verifying an entire history of transactions in real-time against a distributed ledger system. 

Today Blockchain has its footprints in almost all sectors. Realizing the cross-cutting applicability of Blockchain, multiple federal agencies have started implementing Blockchain-based solutions for efficient business operations. 

Want to gain an in-depth understanding of Blockchain technology? Sign up with the Blockchain Council now!

Potential Benefits of Blockchain for Government Institutions

The excitement around this technology is building gradually. Private firms and even FDA (Food and Drug Administration) are testing Blockchain for various applications such as cross-border instant payments, secured data sharing and management, supply chain, identity management, etc.  The organizations worldwide are adopting Blockchain technology in the hope of benefiting from secure and transparent distributed ledger technology. Here is how Blockchain helps:

Reduces the Potential for Distrust

With its decentralized nature, Blockchain brings transparency and allows all participating parties to verify data. As Blockchain continues to push mass adoption, BeefChain, a first Blockchain-based company to receive USDA certification, is leveraging Blockchain that offers traceability solutions to the farmers in order to eradicate food security concerns.

In July 2020, it was announced that Cardano technology collaborated with Beefchain to resolve the existing issues like intermediaries, frauds, and other regulatory problems. 

Also, for establishing long-lasting trust with citizens, federal agencies are integrating Blockchain technologies with business processes. This is because when citizens and governments share access to records, the potential for distrust decreases.

Improves Efficiency and Ensures Quality  

Today, even in countries with the most robust regulatory oversight, it is impossible to identify medicines’ origin. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is identifying ways how information gaps that exist across the supply chain can be eradicated with Blockchain. 

A diversified and transparent supply chain in the pharmaceutical domain offers potential benefits to patients around the world in terms of access, reduced costs, and most importantly, quality medicines.

Protects Crucial Data and Streamline the Entire Process 

Federal agencies are looking forward to distributed ledger technologies, like blockchain with an aim to reduce redundancy, streamline processes, decrease audit burden, increase security, and data integrity. Government agencies, for example, the Department of Homeland Security, are considering adopting blockchain in the cybersecurity domain for protecting crucial data.  

Federal Agencies Leveraging Blockchain 

After the 2009 H1N1 epidemic, the staff at FDA recognized the need for adopting Blockchain. To track data on the H1N1 swine flu virus that began to spread again in 2017, officials in the FDA needed an effective system to support real-time communication and collaboration between federal and non-federal stakeholders. This was when the role of Blockchain came into play. 

Talking about federal agencies, a team under the leadership of Dr. Henry Francis, associate director for data mining and informatics evaluation and research at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, designed a Blockchain-based application that enables them to obtain encrypted data in real-time, from many sources to track data dealing with the outbreak. 

In 2017, Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) tested its first application by leveraging Blockchain technology to manage and track physical assets like mobile phones followed by the second application that was for software licenses management. 

Craig Fischer, the FIT project director, noted that although the government wants to pursue more use cases across several federal departments and agencies to use Blockchain, the FIT still needed to learn more about the technology.

The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) also utilizes a Blockchain-based tool, HHS Accelerator, to speed up the procurement process and bulk purchasing power while reducing its costs. It aims to improve record-keeping for vendor transactions.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is using Ethereum Blockchain explorer to explore the use of public Blockchains in the transparent administration of government grants and contributions. 

Conclusion: Is Blockchain and Federal Agencies a Good Fit? 

As the Blockchain ecosystem is quickly evolving to collaborate and test its potential across various domains, it is no more a new technology. For federal agencies and private firms to keep adopting Blockchain, it has to deal with talent scarcity that Blockchain is dealing with at present. This technology definitely has the potential to provide improved access to information among departments along with transparency, efficiency, security and flexibility, and improved coordination between agencies.

To get instant updates about Blockchain certifications and become a Blockchain expert, check out Blockchain Council.

Blockchain: A Disruptive Technology for Federal Agencies

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Crypto and blockchain: What the Brazilian market can expect for 2021

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2020 will be remembered as one of the most difficult years for contemporary societies: Countries and entire populations have faced lockdowns and economic crises, financial markets still suffer from the severe impacts of the economic recession, and more than 2 million lives have been taken by COVID-19.

Despite this, other sectors have been impacted in other ways during the severe global health crisis — which still seems far from over, even though vaccines are beginning to be distributed in wealthy countries. Economies have radically digitalized, hedge assets have attracted mistrust, and the crypto market has had one of its most important years since 2009, the year of Bitcoin’s (BTC) launch.

In fact, the crypto and blockchain markets have stood out in the face of a crisis that has spared almost no sector. Cryptocurrency funds are among the most profitable of the year, Bitcoin and the biggest altcoins reach new historic highs, large institutions and investors in the financial markets have allocated investments in Bitcoin, and blockchain technology has broken down barriers in the financial sector and in the production chains of the most varied of sectors.

Faced with a year of profound changes, what is to be expected for the future? Cointelegraph Brasil invited some of the country’s top crypto and blockchain experts to chart the next steps for the market.

Institutional investment

Institutional investment was highlighted in 2020, finally reaching the cryptosphere, and it promises another year of growth in 2021.

According to Rodrigo Borges, founding member of the Oxford Blockchain Foundation, large Bitcoin contributions by institutional investors — which have even bought more BTC than the production capacity of miners — will intensify in 2021: “Regarding Bitcoin, I imagine that there will be an increase in demand for institutional investors, enabling the emergence of new products with exposure to Bitcoin,” analyzed Borges. He also sees “2021 as a year of consolidation and strong development in the sector.”

As for Tatiana Revoredo, MIT blockchain expert and Cointelegraph Brasil columnist, the custody of cryptocurrencies by traditional financial institutions and the adoption of stablecoins will be key in the new year:

“In the financial sector, we will see applications for custody of crypto assets being launched in Brazil, with the possible participation of the traditional market. And if the regulatory authorities allow it, stablecoins will have an expressive role in the Brazilian market, with the turnover being able to quadruple in size.”

Crypto markets

Crypto markets experienced a year of extreme optimism — or greed, as demonstrated by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Bitcoin reached a dramatic bottom close at $3,800 in March, and it beat its 2017 historic high of $20,000 on Dec. 16. In Brazil, the currency set a new historical record in November when it reached $106,000 Brazillian reals.

Cointelegraph Markets reporter Marcel Pechman highlighted the behavior of the market despite the setbacks suffered during the year. He recalled: “The Bitcoin and Ethereum markets developed in 2020 as never before imagined, both in terms of trading volume, price and the contribution of renowned investors like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller.”

Pechman said that despite the crypto market suffering some setbacks, the impact of those setbacks on market performance was not so significant: “We had, for example, the US Department of Justice suing BitMEX — at the time, the largest derivatives exchange — and KuCoin’s $280 million hack, and none of those affected the market.”

Pechman also recalled that the 2020 DeFi race led to expensive transaction costs on the Ethereum network but did not impact market sentiment.

OriginalMy CEO Edilson Osório agreed with the promising future of the DeFi sector, but he cautioned against fraud:

“This is an experimental and very promising market, but it must be given extra attention because of malicious groups applying scams and fraud in general. As it is a very new market, platforms may have problems with hacks, and due to the great centralization that exists (even with many platforms presenting themselves as decentralized), there is still a risk of exit scams.”

About 2020’s innovations, and the digitalization imposed by the COVID-19 crisis, Pechman also said that it will go even deeper in 2021:

“Successive innovations, which include Taproot, Schnorr and Lightning Network in Bitcoin, in addition to the launch of Ethereum 2.0 phase 0, pave the way for the next wave, with increasingly larger, scalable applications, and interconnected with traditional finance. The final proof? Fidelity offers loans covered in cryptocurrencies.”

On the domestic markets, Osório is betting on the tokenization market in Brazil, which is already used by the country’s largest crypto exchange, Mercado Bitcoin. According to him, 2021 will be a year for “maturing the security tokens market.”

“Existing protocols are beginning to be well regarded by regulators, since most of them provide for greater participation and visibility on the part of the regulator itself and allow the mitigation of various risks inherent in this market. In this race, there is a great chance that Brazil will gain prominence because the local regulator has established a regulatory sandbox and the first projects are already beginning to mobilize to have their applications running in a more legally secure environment,” – noted Osório.

Another player at the Brazilian crypto markets, João Paulo Mayall — head of operations at QR Asset Management — is also optimistic about the tokenization market in 2021. He highlighted the role of regulators in the sector’s expansion in the South American country: “I believe that the future is the tokenization of assets, debentures, court bonds, government debts. Brazil is very advanced in its banking system and we will have many surprises in this sector, so I am very optimistic. Tokenization is a billion-dollar market, but it lacks the infrastructure. Innovation came in front of the regulators, but I think they are open to listening and working on it. I think [the regulation] will happen next year, even before March 2021.”

Finally, blockchain expert Tatiana Revoredo argued that crypto adoption in Brazil, which saw its currency melt in 2020, will intensify, with Bitcoin once again asserting itself as an economic-protection asset. She believes that the crypto markets will see “an increase in the interest of Brazilians, with consequent increase in the Brazilian market, with a prominent role for Bitcoin being adopted as a protective asset.”

CBDCs and national governments

The digitization of economies has placed the discussion of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, at the center of debates by financial authorities around the world. One of the countries that has definitely entered this race is China, which is already conducting real tests of the digital yuan in the country. Its main geopolitical rival, the U.S., announced that for the time being, it does not intend to digitize the dollar, but it is already seeing internal pressure from not following the Chinese leadership in the sector.

The Central Bank of Brazil has also commented on the transformation of the Brazillian real into a digital currency a few times, although there are no concrete plans for that in the short term.

Osório believes the European Union will join the hype soon, further accelerating the global race for CBDCs: “Although China appears to be leading the CBDC race, other countries are also beginning to move in this direction. Among them, Estonia, which recently started an internal consultation for the launch of its currency in the digital version. In particular, I believe that in Europe a more comprehensive and organized movement should take place in this sense, given the incentives promoted by the European Union.”

Many experts try to predict the impacts of CBDCs on economies — one of the main concerns of economic regulators. Governments, which largely study the adoption of blockchain in their public processes, should also enter the debate on privacy and the digitization of money.

According to Tatiana Revoredo, “in the government sector, the forecast is for the growth of [blockchain] applications in document registration and health applications, as well as a greater concern, by the citizens, regarding the relationship between privacy and CBDC.” She also claims that payments processors should closely monitor this innovation:

“Those who should be more attentive to these movements are the means of payment, such as PayPal and their peers. They will have to look deeply into their business models as soon as governments start issuing their currencies digitally. ”

Blockchain adoption

Governments have also viewed blockchain technology through a positive lens. In Brazil and Latin America, several state entities already use the technology to certify documents, including customs and notary offices. Big companies are also adopting blockchain to certify production, with use cases that are only expected to grow going forward.

Borges said that the acceleration of blockchain adoption by large companies and governments can positively impact crypto assets:

“Within the scope of blockchain technology, I see the development of interesting solutions, with the increasing involvement of traditional players, especially in the financial and agribusiness sectors, which may result in increased liquidity for certain assets.”

Revoredo agreed and highlighted the advancement of technology in the agricultural sector: “There has been a significant advance in agribusiness, with use in the identification of devices (drones, for example), integration with IoT and artificial intelligence to provide greater reliability and certify quality of agricultural production.”

Osório defended the growth of the blockchain market in 2020 and its prospects for the near future: “When we look at advances in blockchain with applications beyond digital currency, we see a growing market in the area of ​​decentralized digital identity, including with the approach of governments. We have seen movements in governments in the US and Japan, interested in modernizing their digital governance models. And the pandemic has certainly helped to accelerate and advance discussions on the issue around the world, as it understands that the digitization of analog and traditional services is a necessity.”

The end of 2020 was a milestone that closed out one of the most dramatic years in the history of contemporary societies, but it also revealed ways to combat global economic and health crises.

Blockchain technology has helped societies fight corruption, adopt more transparent processes and even contributed to the certification of medicines and vaccines during the most serious health crisis of the last 100 years, in addition to helping companies to improve procedures, products and services.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has strengthened as an economic protection and investment product, has attracted institutional investment giants, and — together with other crypto technologies — has even laid the foundation for central banks around the world to start implementing their own digital currencies.

We still do not know the depth of the revolution we are experiencing with the digitalization of societies and the weakening of national currencies around the world, but by the end of 2021, we will certainly know many of the answers to the questions that still plague us at the beginning of this new year.

Crypto and blockchain: What the Brazilian market can expect for 2021

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