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Unslashed Finance raises $2M for crypto insurance platform

March 4, 2021 by Blockchain Consultants

Unslashed Finance, a decentralized insurance protocol built on Ethereum, has raised $2 million to fund its tokenized insurance product, highlighting another positive use case for blockchain technology. 

The funding round, which was led by Lemniscap, P2P Capital and other investors, will aid Unslashed Finance in expanding its decentralized insurance protocol for crypto assets. The protocol works by connecting people willing to buy insurance for their assets and investors seeking to earn an uncorrelated yield.

Unslashed claims that its protocol enables “almost instant liquidity to insurance buyers and risk underwriters,” as well as constant collateralization. By tokenizing coverage, the platform allows the insured to pay as they go or simply offload the coverage if they no longer need it.

The insurance covers exchange and smart contract hacks, validator slashing, stablecoin pegs, oracle failures and other types of risks that traditional firms do not insure.

Since its initial private launch in February, Unslashed Finance has sold $400 million in insurance coverage and collected $90 million in capital deposits. Its clients include ParaSwap, Ethereum Lido Finance, Enzyme, Techemy Capital and others

“The growth was purely organic,” Marouane Hajji, founder and CEO of Unslashed, tells Cointelegraph. He explained that roughly one-third of the covered buyers are protocols protecting themselves, 20% are crypto hedge funds and the remaining are DeFi power users.

Regarding the future of blockchain insurance products, Hajji says the banking and insurance industries “tend to be slow movers with regards to new technology.”

He continues:

“Although some insurance companies were experimenting with public and private blockchains pretty early on (2015/2016), and McKinsey published a report back then explaining how blockchain could have several use cases in the insurance industry, real-life applications on public blockchains are not the focus of traditional industry players.”

The blockchain-based insurance industry appears to be growing in light of the DeFi boom, as more users seek out coverage against centralized exchange hacks. Presently, the coverage is quite expensive, although this could change as the market continues to mature.

Credit card issuer American Express has even commented positively on the cryptocurrency insurance market but noted that major issuers are taking a very cautious approach. The concern stems from the fact that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) are effectively a bearer asset like cash, which entitles the possessor to the underlying value of the asset.

“Consequently, when someone’s bitcoins are stolen, it’s difficult to establish rightful ownership without actual possession of that bitcoin,” Justin Grensing of American Express said.

Unslashed Finance raises $2M for crypto insurance platform

Source

Filed Under: blockchain technology Tagged With: Adoption, Banking, Bitcoin, bitcoins, blockchain, blockchains, Cash, ceo, Companies, crypto, Cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency, decentralized, DeFi, ethereum, exchange, finance, founder, funding, Go, hacks, Hedge Funds, insurance, Insurance Industry, Market, oracle, other, p2p, stablecoin, Technology

Enterprise meets DeFi: Organizations work toward adopting blockchain tech

March 2, 2021 by Blockchain Consultants

Decentralized finance is quickly maturing. While the total value locked in DeFi is over $45 billion, financial institutions and large corporations are starting to implement DeFi concepts to automate business processes. This is known as “enterprise DeFi.”

For instance, invoices and other financial products can be tokenized to ensure that transactions are valid and should be processed for payment across multiple parties. Coke One North America is one of the first large corporations to demonstrate this.

CONA is leveraging the Baseline Protocol — a project that coordinates confidential workflows between enterprises using messaging, zero-knowledge cryptography and blockchain — to tokenize invoices. CONA aims to “baseline” its entire supply chain by giving internal bottlers and external suppliers access to a private, distributed integration network.

Through use cases like CONA, such solutions are quickly gaining traction. There are also a number of vendors entering this infrastructure market including Provide, an enterprise middleware provider, and Big Four firm Ernst & Young. Most recently, ConsenSys — one of the leading blockchain software companies — announced plans to use Baseline Protocol as a solution for its enterprise clients, further demonstrating the importance of enterprise DeFi adoption.

How ConsenSys plans to drive enterprise DeFi

Specifically, ConsenSys Codefi — ConsenSys’ fintech suite that connects financial use cases to blockchain counterparts — will soon offer a baseline-compliant solution for its enterprise clients.

Didier Le Floch, institutional products and engineering lead at ConsenSys Codefi, told Cointelegraph that while the Baseline Protocol was developed by EY, ConsenSys and Microsoft, Codefi has been taking steps to ensure that its products will eventually be fully compatible with it:

“We want to enable the use of digital assets and the financing of those assets for payment use cases. These use cases will generate maximum business value, combining automation of business processes and payments using things like stablecoins, for example.”

In order to achieve this, Floch explained that the Codefi tech stack will be combined with the Baseline Protocol to deliver an effortless user experience for cases such as financing supply chains. Floch remarked that this is a first step in the right direction, as Codefi strongly believes that the enterprise sector will soon converge with the DeFi market: “There will be ebbs and flows, and it will be a journey with various steps, but we’ve already seen the promise of this convergence in the DeFi market.”

To his point, MakerDAO — the protocol behind the stablecoin Dai — announced support in June 2020 to use non-crypto-native assets, such as invoices and music streaming royalties, as collateral for its Dai stablecoin. Maker also voted to support a protocol from blockchain startup Centrifuge to bring real-world assets on its platform. Known as “Centrifuge Chain,” this is built on Parity’s blockchain development framework, Substrate.

Asset originators can use the Centrifuge Chain to mint nonfungible tokens of real-world assets, converting them to ERC-721 tokens. These assets can then be added to Tinlake, which is Centrifuge’s Ethereum-based DeFi protocol for decentralized asset financing.

A Centrifuge spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company is currently working with MakerDAO to bring New Silver, an online real-estate lender, on to the Maker platform as an asset originator. As such, NewSilver would be the first asset originator using Tinlake to get to the MakerDAO executive vote, ultimately allowing asset originators to generate Dai as a credit facility.

DeFi protocol Aave also introduced a diversified money market to support real-world assets back in October 2020. According to the Aave blog post, this money market would make it easy for the Aave community to onboard real-world assets into the protocol, allowing investors to lend against assets, such as invoices, real estate and inventory finance. “Right now, it’s at a small scale, but there are DeFi lending protocols already taking steps to incorporate real-world assets into their protocols,” said Floch.

Breaking down barriers hampering adoption

Many enterprise DeFi concepts are still in early development, as a number of barriers exist. For instance, there are concerns regarding publicly available sources to determine the price of collateralized assets. Furthermore, many DeFi protocols venturing into the enterprise space only allow solutions for borrowing in crypto, which may be unappealing to mainstream organizations. Moreover, paying transaction fees in cryptocurrency may also be problematic for enterprises that typically deal in fiat payments.

Floch explained that Codefi’s use of Baseline Protocol is intended to address these concerns. For example, he noted that there will be an “Infura ITX” integration that will enable corporations to pay gas fees in dollars rather than Ether (ETH) when using the Baseline Protocol. Since the platform leverages the Ethereum network as its mainnet of choice, or as a common frame of reference for complex workflows, this integration will ensure a better user experience overall.

In addition, Floch mentioned that ConsenSys’ open-source zero-knowledge proof library, known as “gnark,” will be leveraged to ensure enterprise data remains private, yet verifiable.

While notable, Codefi’s implementation of the Baseline Protocol isn’t the only solution intended to solve the challenges related to enterprise DeFi adoption.

For example, EY has been heavily involved in the blockchain space, specifically in terms of enterprise DeFi development. Paul Brody, global blockchain lead at EY, told Cointelegraph that the firm has been working on DeFi enabling solutions since 2016, with the goal of making the inputs and outputs of enterprise business processes tokenized and then transactable:

“This means purchase orders, invoices, receivables, inventory — everything in traditional business-to-business processes should be ready to integrate into a DeFi ecosystem.”

Of course, Brody is aware of the challenges regarding this vision, noting that the first element to be tackled is achieving an acceptable level of privacy for enterprise users. Once this is accomplished, Brody explained that necessary standards need to be established where bodies, such as the Enterprise Ethereum Association, can be key partners in the pursuit of these goals.

Brody further mentioned that as an industry auditor, EY will not be offering financial services involving DeFi. Rather, the firm is devoted to ensuring that enterprise clients will be able to plug their business operations into existing DeFi solutions. For example, Brody explained that EY’s Network Procurement solution is designed to manage purchase orders and fulfillment, which would allow enterprises to exchange tokens for purchase orders, contracts, invoices and inventory transfers. “As soon as we see standards we can leverage, we hope that our enterprise users will be able to take advantage of these markets,” said Brody.

Institutions show interest in DeFi?

In addition to a growing number of enterprise DeFi solutions in development, there is now interest in DeFi from large organizations and financial institutions. This was recently demonstrated by the leading digital currency asset manager, Grayscale. On Feb. 26, 2021, the firm announced consideration to offer investors access to DeFi assets, including Aave, Compound’s COMP, MakerDAO’s MKR, Reserve Rights (RSR), SushiSwap’s SUSHI, Synthetix Network Token (SNX), Uniswap’s UNI and Yearn.finance’s YFI.

Although this is separate from enterprises using DeFi protocols to find real-world assets, Floch noted that this demonstrates more institutional players are ready to invest in prominent DeFi protocols:

“For institutional customers of Grayscale to start investing in those tokens is definitely a sign that they’re getting more comfortable with Defi, while understanding the value of those protocols (asset management, collateralized lending and trading automated in smart contracts).”

Enterprise meets DeFi: Organizations work toward adopting blockchain tech

Source

Filed Under: blockchain technology Tagged With: Adoption, america, Better, blockchain, Business, Companies, crypto, cryptocurrency, cryptography, Currency, data, decentralized, DeFi, Digital, digital currency, Enterprise, ether, ethereum, Ethereum network, exchange, executive, fiat, finance, financial services, fintech, grayscale, Infrastructure, Investing, Mainstream, maker, Market, Markets, microsoft, MINT, money, music, music streaming, other, payments, post, Privacy, real-estate, smart contracts, Software, Space, stablecoin, Stablecoins, supply chain, tech, Tokens, Trading, transaction fees

Transparent stablecoins? Conclusion of Tether vs. NYAG raises new questions

February 28, 2021 by Blockchain Consultants

A long-standing legal drama finally found resolution on Feb. 23, with the New York Attorney General’s office announcing that it had come to a settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex after a 22-month inquiry into whether the company had been trying to cover up its losses — touted to be worth $850 million — by misrepresenting the degree to which its Tether (USDT) reserves were backed by fiat collateral.

According to the terms of the announced settlement, which now marks an end to the inquiry that was initiated by the NYAG back in Q1 2019, Bitfinex and Tether will pay the government body a fixed sum of $18.5 million but will not be required to admit to any wrongdoing. That being said, the settlement clearly states that henceforth, Bitfinex and Tether can no longer service customers in the state of New York.

Furthermore, over the course of the next 24 months, Bitfinex and Tether will be required to provide the NYAG with quarterly reports of their current reserve status and duly account for any transactions taking place between the two companies. Not only that, but the firms will also be required to provide public reports for the specific composition of their cash and non-cash reserves.

On the subject, NY Attorney General Letitia James said that both Bitfinex and Tether had covered up their losses and deceived their customers by overstating their reserves. When asked about this most recent development, Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at Tether, replied to Cointelegraph with a non-committal answer, stating:

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of legal proceedings with the New York Attorney General’s Office and to have put this matter behind us. We look forward to continuing to lead our industry and serve our customers.”

Does a New York exclusive ban even make sense?

To gain a better legal perspective of the situation, Cointelegraph spoke with Josh Lawler, partner at Zuber Lawler — a law firm with expertise in crypto and blockchain technology. In his view, the lawsuit, and particularly the nature of the settlement in which Tether and Bitfinex agreed to cease actions, underscore the confusion inherent in the regulation of digital assets in the United States.

Additionally, the agreement by Bitfinex and Tether to prohibit the use of its products and services by New York persons and entities seems on paper to be nearly impossible to accomplish, with Lawler opining:

“Are they saying that no one with a New York nexus can own or trade Tether? Tether is traded on virtually every cryptocurrency exchange in existence. Even if Tether could restrict the use of Tether tokens by New Yorkers, is that really a good idea? Do we now have a world in which every state can pick off particular distributed ledger projects from functioning within their jurisdiction?”

Lastly, even though the deal between Bitfinex/Tether and the NYAG has come in the form of a settlement — i.e., it is not subject to an appeal or federal scrutiny under the commerce clause — state-centric bans may further add to the existing regulatory uncertainty.

Added transparency is always a good thing

With regulators now asking Tether and Bitfinex to be more forthcoming about their monetary dealings and issuing an arguably small fine on them, it seems as though an increasing number of firms dealing with USDT will now have to pull up their socks and get their account books in order. Joel Edgerton, chief operating officer for cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer USA, told Cointelegraph:

“The key point in this settlement is not the elimination of the lawsuit, but the increased commitment to transparency. The risk from USDT still exists, but increased transparency should cement its lead in transaction volumes.”

In a somewhat similar vein, Tim Byun, global government relations officer at OK Group — the parent company behind cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin — believes that the settlement can be looked at as a win-win scenario not only for NY OAG and Tether/Bitfinex but also for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, alluding to the fact that that the 17-page settlement revealed no mention of Bitcoin (BTC) being manipulated via the use of USDT.

Lastly, Sam Bankman-Fried, chief executive officer for cryptocurrency exchange FTX, also believes that the settlement, by and large, has been a good development for the industry, especially from a transparency perspective, adding:

“Like many settlements, this one had a messy outcome, but the high-level takeaway here is that they found no evidence to support the heaviest accusations against Tether — no evidence of market manipulation or unbounded unbacked printing.”

Will scrutiny of stablecoins increase?

Even though stablecoins have been under the regulatory scanner for some time now — since they claimed to be pegged to various fiat assets in a 1-1 ratio — it stands to reason that added pressure from government agencies may be present when it comes to the transparency side of things from here on out.

Another line of thinking may be that governments all over the world will now look to curtail the use of stablecoins, such as USDT, especially as a number of central banks are coming around to the idea of creating their very own fiat-backed digital currencies. As a result, governments may want to push their citizens to use their centralized offerings instead of stablecoins.

Related: Many pieces of the Diem puzzle still missing as launch gets delayed

On the subject, Byun noted: “Stablecoin is just one type of cryptocurrency or ‘convertible virtual currency,’ and therefore, stablecoins and the stablecoin market will continue to attract scrutiny and mandated examinations from regulators.” That said, Byun believes that whether it’s Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) or Tether, crypto investors generally understand that investing in crypto remains a high-risk activity and that they “must practice caveat emptor” at all times.

Does Tether impact institutional adoption?

Another pertinent question worth exploring is whether or not the settlement may have an adverse impact on the institutional investment currently coming into this space. In Lawler’s opinion, the decision is not going to slow down adoption even in the slightest. “Institutions are not principally focused on Tether. There are other stable coins, and Bitfinex is all but irrelevant to them,” he added.

Similarly, it could even happen that the ongoing reporting requirements set by the NYAG for Bitfinex and Tether may end up bolstering institutional confidence in Tether — a sentiment that some of Tether’s most vocal and consistent critics also seem to agree with.

That being said, a lot of speculation around Tether’s fiat reserves continues to linger on; for example, Tether Ltd.’s finances are handled by Bahamas-based Deltec bank. In this regard, one anonymous report claimed that “from January 2020 to September 2020, the amount of all foreign currencies held by all domestic banks in the Bahamas increased by only $600 million,” up to $5.3 billion. Meanwhile, the total volume of issued USDT soared by a whopping $5.4 billion, up to around $10 billion.

As Tether states on its website USDT is covered by fiat and other assets, so such investigations cannot be conclusive. However, what both NYAG and the anonymous authors of the report agree upon is that Tether needs to be more forthcoming about its financial status. With that in mind, Tether’s commitment toward transparency and revealing its reserves to a regulator seems like a step in the right direction.

Transparent stablecoins? Conclusion of Tether vs. NYAG raises new questions

Source

Filed Under: blockchain technology Tagged With: Adoption, Bank, Banks, Better, Bitcoin, Bitfinex, blockchain, Books, Cash, chief, chief executive officer, Companies, crypto, cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency exchange, Currencies, Currency, Digital, ether, exchange, executive, fiat, government, Investing, investment, Law, lawsuit, Ledger, LINE, Market, New York, opinion, other, partner, printing, Regulation, Space, stablecoin, Stablecoins, Technology, Tether, Tokens, United States, us, USA, USDT, view, world

BNB price surges as Binance Smart Chain grows in popularity with DeFi

February 20, 2021 by Blockchain Consultants

Binance Coin (BNB) has been on an absolute tear in the month of February. It traded at $48.93 on Feb. 1 and grew to trade at $304 at the time of publication, amounting to a 521% month-to-date gain and 707% year-to-date gain.

This price rally has led BNB to become the third-largest cryptocurrency, with a $46.5 billion market capitalization. BNB achieved its all-time high of $342.88 on Feb. 19. This price rally and leap in market capitalization could be attributed to Binance Smart Chain gaining popularity within decentralized finance markets and other macroeconomic factors driving the growth of flagship assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to new all-time highs this week.

While Ether price was rallying to it’s all time highs on Feb. 19, Binance announced on Twitter that they have “ temporarily suspended” withdrawals of Ether and all Ethereum based tokens due to a “congestion issue.” This led to the users not able to trade these tokens for around an hour and left the community speculating what actually happened. This pause led BNB to rise by another $60 in that time while Ether staggered around the same range.

Binance Smart Chain is the main driver?

Apart from macroeconomic factors such as the price of BTC and ETH reaching all-time highs this week, spilling over to drive up the price of BNB, Binance Smart Chain also has been gaining significant traction among the crypto community. BSC was launched in September 2020 and acts as a parallel blockchain to Binance Chain while enabling smart contract functionality and the staking mechanism of BNB, which powers Binance Chain as its native token.

Cointelegraph discussed this further with a spokesperson from Binance, who elaborated on the unique benefits that BSC offers users, saying:

“BSC offers a high-performance and low-fee blockchain network that’s compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Developers can worry less about transaction fees and focus more on innovating, while using all of the existing developer tooling they are familiar with in the Ethereum ecosystem.”

The entire Binance ecosystem is powered by BSC. Being a global cryptocurrency exchange with extremely high user traffic, it’s highly essential for scalability and low transaction fees to go hand in hand with the BSC ecosystem. BSC is now being used extensively by various DeFi protocols, with the latest to leave Ethereum for the blockchain being multiservice platform Value DeFi and yield aggregator Harvest Finance, which cited cross-chain yield farming as the prime reason for the shift.

The influence of BSC has extended to various DeFi protocols. Venus, an algorithmic money market and synthetic stablecoin protocol designed specifically for BSC, saw the price of its Venus Token (XVS) surge over 750% after it was launched on Binance Smart Chain, from a low of $10.04 on Feb. 2 to an all-time high of $95.90 on Feb. 20. 

Another prominent DeFi protocol on BSC is PancakeSwap, which went on to become the first billion-dollar project on the blockchain. It quickly doubled that to pass $2 billion in market capitalization, owing to the growth of its food-themed token, CAKE. Data from Cointelegraph Markets indicates that the price of the CAKE has surged 973% from a low of $1.89 on Feb. 3 to its all-time high of $20.33 on Feb. 19.

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Ilia Maksimenka, CEO of PlasmaPay — a DeFi investment platform — indicated that PancakeSwap could be one of the main reasons for BNB’s price rally:

“PancakeSwap traded over $400 million in daily volume and briefly became the world’s second-largest DEX. Its [BSC’s] unique propositions of a lottery service and a non-fungible token art platform have furthered PancakeSwap’s use cases.”

BSC gaining amid high Ethereum fees

Another reason for the popularity of BSC is the lower transaction fees when compared with Ethereum, which in its state of high demand sidelines retail investors in the DeFi markets, tailoring it more for whales. While Eth2 proposes to sort the transaction fees issue through its scalability solutions, currently there is a lot of congestion on the network due to the increasing popularity of DeFi protocols, leading to high gas fees for all transactions on the Ethereum network.

William Quigley, cryptocurrency fund manager at Magnetic Capital — a crypto-focused investment firm — told Cointelegraph that BNB’s rise comes down to the congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, adding: “Ethereum has an Uber-like surge pricing mechanism. When demand on the chain is high, the price to quickly process a transaction goes up.”

On Feb. 18, BSC recorded 2.5 million transactions on its network, compared with 1.3 million transactions on Ethereum. The Binance spokesperson explained to Cointelegraph why this might be the case:

“BSC daily transaction volume is up by 300% from YTD and bolsters an ecosystem of 100+ DeFi projects. Furthermore, the platform has succeeded in maintaining GAS costs as low as $0.04. Compared to Ethereum’s $5.53, BSC is 135 times less expensive!”

While Eth2’s phased launch promises speed in its proposed roadmap, history suggests that these launches often miss the deadline, with no clarity of when the actual updates will be done. Since Ethereum will take time to implement its scaling solutions, which should eventually reduce the gas fees on the network, until that point, blockchains like BSC stand to benefit the most from its delays.

The network speed of Ethereum compared with BSC could also be one of the reasons that DeFi protocols are migrating to BSC, as it is comparatively faster. BSC allows 300 transactions per second, while Ethereum, despite its higher transaction fees, can only process 15 transactions per second.

Blockchain disruption

Lower transaction fees and network speed might not be the only reasons that some DeFi protocols are migrating to BSC. The fact that BSC is 100% compatible with DeFi’s flagship blockchain, Ethereum — which allows protocols to deploy their application on top of BSC with no additional changes — is a design victory for Binance. The Binance spokesperson further spoke on some of the other reasons:

“Feedback we have heard is the DeFi protocols are increasingly chain agnostic. The rapid growth of BSC shows the users prefer lower transaction fees. BSC also provides a variety of assets, many of which are not available on DeFi protocols on Ethereum.”

Although various other blockchains like Cardano and Polkadot are trying to break Ethereum’s hegemony in the DeFi and NFT markets, none have quite achieved success at the rapid rate Binance Smart Chain is now witnessing. Disruptive blockchain innovation is bound to push the industry forward by challenging the status quo and pushing blockchain developers to focus on building universal, well-connected blockchains.

Related: DEXs becoming unusable? How to navigate record gas fees ahead of Eth2

Billy Adams, head of ecosystem development at XinFin — an open-source hybrid blockchain platform — told Cointelegraph that he believes blockchains like BSC are beneficial for the entire ecosystem:

“The market is demonstrating an appetite for emerging DeFi solutions, which can provide investor protection, sufficient liquidity for MSMEs and support interoperability between both other blockchains and legacy systems.”

BNB price surges as Binance Smart Chain grows in popularity with DeFi

Source

Filed Under: blockchain technology Tagged With: art, Binance, Bitcoin, blockchain, blockchains, btc, cardano, ceo, crypto, cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency exchange, data, decentralized, Decentralized Finance, DeFi, design, developers, DEX, driver, ETH, ether, Ether Price, ethereum, Ethereum Blockchain, Ethereum network, exchange, finance, Fund Manager, Go, head, investment, Market, market capitalization, Markets, money, other, Polkadot, smart contract, stablecoin, Tether, Tokens, transaction fees, twitter

Bitfinex Finally Completes Loan Repayment To Sister Firm Tether

February 6, 2021 by Blockchain Consultants

Crypto exchange Bitfinex said it has finally repaid the $550 million loan to Tether, the issuer of the Tether (USDT) stablecoin.

In 2018, Tether lent the exchange over $600 million, both of which have the same ownership and executives. However, the transaction wasn’t made public until a year later after the report by New York Attorney General’s Office (NYAG). The report alleged that Bitfinex is secretly using Tether’s reserve to cover the $850 million loss suffered from a deal with Crypto Capital Corp.

But Bitfinex came out to clear the air and stated an initial payment has already been made to clear the loan.

According to Bitfinex’s website, the line of credit opened by Tether has been canceled after Bitfinex met the remaining loan payment requirement. The final repayment was made last month, according to the official statement.

Repayment has added more weight to Tether

According to Stuart Hoegner, Tether’s general counsel, Tether’s USDT’s stablecoin was 74% backed by fiat currencies as of April 2019.  He said this was due to the loan given to Bitfinex to cover lost funds. However, Deltec, Tether’s Bahamas-based bank, stated that the Tether (USDT) stablecoin is fully supported by reserve, which is what is in circulation.

Coinbase Looking To Land Killing Blow on Tether USDT
Source: Coin Review

Presently, Tether’s market capitalization is about $28.31 billion. But five months ago, the market cap was less than half the present value. As of the time of writing, Deltec has not responded to emails sent for more information regarding the loan repayment.

Bitfinex said the previous payment made to Tether was made in entirely fiat currency, which has added more backing to USDT tokens. “Bitfinex made this payment in fiat currency wired to Tether’s bank account,” the official statement from Bitfinex reads.

Bitfinex still facing legal issues

While the loan repayment is a good thing for Bitfinex, the crypto exchange is still the target of several lawsuits. The accusation by NYAG is still standing, although Bitfinex has defended itself on several occasions.

According to the crypto exchange, the said fund was deposited to Crypto Capital, a Panamanian-Company. However, it was not the fault of the exchange that it was seized and safeguarded in several jurisdictions in UK, Portugal, the US, and Poland.

Bitfinex has also questioned the accusations meted against it by NYAG, stating that the presentation against the exchange is misleading. The legal battle is still ongoing and Bitfinex would hope to gain more grounds in the lawsuit following the loan repayment.

Bitfinex Finally Completes Loan Repayment To Sister Firm Tether

Source

Filed Under: blockchain, cryptocurrency Tagged With: Bank, Bitfinex, coinbase, crypto, crypto exchange, cryptocurrency, Currencies, Currency, data, exchange, fiat, information, lawsuit, LINE, Market, New York, poland, stablecoin, Tether, Trading, uk, us, USDT

Stellar Blockchain Announced an Anticipated Integration with USD Coin

February 3, 2021 by Blockchain Consultants

Stellar Blockchain Announced an Anticipated Integration with USD Coin

According to the latest announcement, Stellar Blockchain, an open-source, decentralized protocol for digital currency, has anticipated integration with USD Coin (USDC), which means users can transact with the second-largest stablecoin USDC on the Stellar Blockchain.

Initially, an announcement was made by the Centre consortium in the month of October 2020 declaring that USDC will soon be possible on Stellar in Q1 2021.

As the integration with USD Coin is live now, the Stellar Development Foundation assumes that USDC will power a surge of adoption of cross-border payments for the Blockchain.

According to the reports, USDC stablecoin has doubled its total supply to $6 billion, up from $2.7 billion in October 2020.

Stellar is an open-source network utilized to store and transfer money, making it possible to send and trade all forms of digital money.

USDC Integration to Facilitate New Services 

As integration goes live, USDC integration comes with support from Circle’s APIs, allowing enterprises to allow payments and execute additional financial operations. The circle is the organization behind the second most famous stablecoin USD Coin.

By obtaining a Circle Account, companies are able to exchange the stablecoin between different blockchains without any additional costs. 

Denelle Dixon, the CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, believes that the integration of USDC to Stellar Blockchain will allow his team to expand their global reach and bring new avenues for growth and innovation for the developers and enterprises who are developing on the network.

Apart from all this, Stellar can offer an alternative solution for all those who want to transact in USDC. Moreover, last week it was announced that the circle has been placing USDC as a completely regulated digital dollar, with an aim to replace some fiat financial rails in the US.

In the past, Stellar Blockchain has suffered support from important stablecoin providers. This lack of support has made Stellar tougher to fulfill its goal to become a cross-border value settlement layer. With Steller’s continuous efforts, Stellar ecosystem companies are now implementing USDC in their products, and it is now available on Stellar’s decentralized exchange. However, it is not clear whether other exchanges will support this new asset or not.  

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

Stellar Blockchain Announced an Anticipated Integration with USD Coin

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Filed Under: blockchain, blockchain technology Tagged With: Adoption, APIs, blockchain, blockchain info, blockchain news, blockchain-technology, blockchains, ceo, Circle, Companies, Currency, decentralized, developers, Digital, digital currency, exchange, Exchanges, fiat, money, other, payments, stablecoin, Stellar, us

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