Author: Staff

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Business

BoundlessPay digital banking platform receives funding from Adaverse

Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator in Africa backed by EMURGO Africa, has announced an investment in BoundlessPay, a digital banking platform that makes international transactions for Africans simpler.

According to the announcement on Emurgo’s site, Adaverse, and EMURGO Africa join other strategic investors in an ongoing pre-seed fundraising initiative to launch BoundlessPay into its next phase of development in 2023.

Shogo Ishida, co-CEO at EMURGO Middle East & Africa commented, ”BoundlessPay is doing something unique and different with what many have tried and failed. We are excited to be a part of this growth process. It takes a determined heart to build a sustainable Web3 platform that projects into the future development of Africa, which is why Cardano’s proven blockchain platform is ideal for this structural growth and offers flexibility and sustainability.”

Vincent Li, founding partner at Adaverse also stated, “We are equally excited about BoundlessPay’s capabilities, especially their talented team. We believe that they have what it takes to sustain this momentum by providing a sustainable socially-impactful platform with a drive for excellence. As such, BoundlessPay will benefit greatly from the Adaverse 3-month accelerator program and be able to connect to the global resources within the Cardano community.’’ 

Commenting on the new partnership, Franklin Peters, CEO of BoundlessPay said, “It’s a win-win relationship between Cardano and BoundlessPay. Building on the environmentally-friendly Cardano blockchain allows for low transaction fees and the platform is sustainable, secure, interoperable, decentralized, and backed by a team of researchers who are dedicated to constantly improving the system using peer-reviewed methods. 

“BoundlessPay will utilize and fully support the Cardano blockchain in its scaling. This means that Cardano native tokens can be listed on BoundlessPay, especially Cardano stablecoins. BoundlessPay intends to intensify marketing efforts in Africa to drive the adoption of Cardano-based tokens among retail investors, traders, and developers. In addition, BoundlessPay will partner with dApps in the Cardano ecosystem to ensure interoperability and growth of the ecosystem,” he added.

According to Peters, building on Web3 tools enables BoundlessPay to eliminate cross-border barriers, allowing anyone, anywhere, to access a trusted multi-currency wallet, with value-added services like utility bill payments and currency swaps. 

He noted, “Having experienced disappointment with similar Web2 cross-border platforms stunted by unfavorable government regulations, BoundlessPay has set out to offer a Web3 platform that is free of hassles and highly secure. By fostering strategic partnerships with global organizations, BoundlessPay gives users better international money transfers and instant settlement options.”

BoundlessPay is a global digital banking app for cross-border collections, payments, and settlements that utilizes blockchain to solve remittance and payment problems.

The digital platform operates on USD-pegged stablecoins like USDT and Cardano USDA as an alternative way to store and spend money locally and globally and users can access virtual USD cards and virtual fiat accounts, and easily on-ramp and off-ramp within seconds. 

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Business

Binance and Mastercard partner to launch crypto card in Brazil

Through its numerous advances and initiatives, the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has paved the way for cryptocurrency acceptance. One such initiative is the launch of the Binance card, which allows users to spend cryptocurrencies for various purchases.

Brazil recently approved a law that acknowledged cryptocurrencies as payment methods in the country. To ease the cryptocurrency game for its citizens, Binance and Mastercard have jointly launched a prepaid cryptocurrency card in Brazil.

The card is currently in beta and will be accessible to the wider public in the next few weeks.

The card, which is issued by Dock, enables existing and new exchange customers to utilize bitcoins to pay bills and make purchases at more than 90 million Mastercard outlets worldwide.

Users of the exchange will also be able to convert cryptocurrency to fiat currency in real time during the purchase process. Users will also be able to earn 8% cash back in cryptocurrencies. Binance Card now supports payments in over 15 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, BNB, BUSD, SHIB, MATIC, LINK, ADA, and others.

According to Binance’s announcement, there are plans to increase the number of cryptocurrencies supported by the card and to make it available in additional international locations.

Guilherme Nazar, general manager at Binance for Brazil commented on this saying, “Brazil is an extremely relevant market for Binance and we will continue to invest in new services for local users, as well as contributing to the development of the blockchain and crypto ecosystem in the country.”

It should be noted that last year, Brazil’s congress passed a bill that gives cryptocurrency payments legal status in the country though without making the crypto assets legal tender.

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Business

Ghanaian central bank opens respective regulatory sandbox application process

The Ghanaian central bank has invited registered and unlicensed financial institutions and startups to apply for entry into its regulatory sandbox. The bank announced in a press release on January 26 that the application procedure to enroll the initial cohort of participants will start on February 13 and end on March 14.

The sandbox would foster innovations that include “new digital business models not currently covered explicitly or implicitly under any rule,” according to the Bank of Ghana (BOG). The sandbox will also support innovations that attempt to solve the financial exclusion challenge as well as a new and immature digital financial service technology.

Ghana’s central bank launched the sandbox, which was developed in collaboration with Emetech Solutions Inc, last year in August. The central bank described the opening of the sandbox as evidence of its dedication to creating an environment that encourages innovation in order to advance financial inclusion and support Ghana’s digitalization and cash-lite agenda at the time.

According to the press release, interested parties must submit a fully completed form, which is accessible via a link. Prospective participants will be informed of the results of their individual applications within twenty-one (21) working days after the close of the application window on March 14, 2023.

Meanwhile, also the Central Bank of Nigeria, recently announced that its own regulatory sandbox is now live. The bank said interested innovators can now submit expressions of interest to participate in the regulatory sandbox to explore novel applications of technology and innovation on behalf of our customers and stakeholders.

The Nigerian central bank stated via Twitter that all organizations with innovative financial solutions can apply online.

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Business

South Korea to deploy cryptocurrency tracking system this year

The Ministry of Justice in South Korea has recently announced plans to introduce a crypto-tracking system to counter money laundering initiatives and recover funds linked to criminal activities.

According to a local media outlet, khgames, the “Virtual Currency Tracking System” will be used to keep track of transaction history, extract data about transactions, and verify the source of cash both before and after the remittance.

While the system is slated to be deployed in the first half of 2023, the South Korean ministry shared plans to develop an independent tracking and analysis system in the second half of the year. 

A rough translation of the ministry’s statement reads:

“In response to the sophistication of crime, we will improve the forensic infrastructure (infrastructure). We will build a criminal justice system that meets international standards (global standards).”

The South Korean police previously established an agreement with five local crypto exchanges to cooperate in criminal investigations and ultimately create a safe trading environment for crypto investors.

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Business

Biden administration to establish cryptocurrency legal framework in the coming months

The Biden Administration released an extensive statement announcing their intention to establish a cryptocurrency legal framework in the coming months. The article, which the White House released, addressed the risks associated with the administration’s creation of the first-ever framework for developing digital assets.

The statement states briefly; “While congressional action in these areas would be welcome, Congress could also make our jobs harder and worsen risks to investors and to the financial system. Legislation should not greenlight mainstream institutions, like pension funds, to dive headlong into cryptocurrency markets. In the past year, traditional financial institutions’ limited exposure to cryptocurrencies has prevented turmoil in cryptocurrencies from infecting the broader financial system. It would be a grave mistake to enact legislation that reverses course and deepens the ties between cryptocurrencies and the broader financial system.” 

The Administration fully endorses responsible technological advancements that reduce cost, increase speed, increase safety, and increase the accessibility of financial services. But in order to enjoy these advantages, new technologies require equivalent security measures. Protections will guarantee that new technologies are safe and beneficial to everyone, ensuring that the new digital economy benefits everyone, not just a select few.

The administration stated, “We will continue to advance the digital assets framework we have created and collaborate with Congress to accomplish these objectives in order to put the proper safeguards in place.”

According to the statement, the administration spent the past year identifying the risks of cryptocurrencies and acting to mitigate them using the authorities that the Executive Branch has.

The year 2022 was challenging for the market for digital assets. Numerous investors faced disaster as a result of falling prices and the exposure of bad actors. Regulating bodies and governmental entities have since focused on the industry and the best way to handle the complex issue of regulation.

The White House has now announced that it will deal with the same problem. The Biden Administration said in a statement that they will set up the cryptocurrency legal framework in the upcoming months. Moreover, they claimed that their actions were the result of a year of work.

The statement notes that the aforementioned framework, “identifies clear risks.” Addressing unnamed crypto companies that, “ignore applicable financial regulations and basic risk controls,” according to the White House. Furthermore, the framework will address cybersecurity questions, as well as cryptocurrency platforms that “mislead consumers, have conflicts of interest, fail to make adequate disclosures, or commit outright fraud.”

Conversely, the administration makes clear the desire for Congressional collaboration to maintain separation between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial systems. Stating, “It would be a grave mistake to enact legislation that reverses course and deepens the ties between cryptocurrencies and the broader financial system.”

Moreover, the statement acknowledges some agencies that “ramp up enforcement where appropriate, and issue new guidance where needed.” Yet, maintains that “the events of the past year underscore that more is needed.”Conclusively, the administration notes its intention to “keep driving forward the digital-assets framework we’ve developed,” alongside Congress.

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Business

South African Dispute Resolution Office Considers Crypto-Related Complaints

According to the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, the South African government agency in charge of looking into and resolving complaints has recently announced that it is now able to “investigate complaints against existing registered financial service providers who offer advice on cryptocurrency.” According to the agency, which is known as the Office of the FAIS Ombud, the recent designation of crypto assets as financial products has made this possible.

The dispute resolution body stated in a news article posted on its website that complaints regarding cryptocurrencies can only be made against registered financial service providers (FSPs), who are required to abide by the nation’s General Code of Conduct for Authorized FSPs. This code requires “material disclosures, conducting a needs analysis, and recommending a product that is appropriate to one’s needs and circumstances.”

However, all complaints submitted to the Office of the FAIS Ombud prior to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s designation of crypto assets will not be considered, according to Thuso Ngwagwe of the agency, whose comments were reported by Moneyweb. Ngwagwe reaffirmed the agency’s claim that it lacks jurisdiction in the report.

“All complaints received prior to 19 October 2022 in respect of investments made into cryptocurrency were dismissed by this Office as we did not have jurisdiction to entertain these matters,” Ngwagwe reportedly said.

Ngwagwe claims that during the 2022–2023 fiscal year, the Office of the FAIS Ombud received eight complaints about cryptocurrencies.  However, only “three occurred after 19 October 2022 and will [therefore] be considered.” The rest of the complaints will not be considered and cannot be resubmitted, Ngwagwe added.

The Office of the FAIS Ombudsman advised people with complaints that fall under its purview to go to its portal and file a formal complaint.

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Business

Coinbase fined $3.6M in the Netherlands

The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has fined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, 3.3 million euros ($3.6 million) for failing to follow local rules for financial service providers.

The exchange reportedly failed to obtain the necessary registration to offer services in the Netherlands prior to beginning operations in the country. The DNB said it took into consideration the size of Coinbase as a company and the fact that it has a significant number of customers in the Netherlands.

The authorities claimed Coinbase was non-compliant during the time period between November 2020 and August 2022.

A Coinbase spokesperson commented on this saying that the company disagreed with the DNB’s fine, saying it was based on the time it took for Coinbase to obtain its registration in the Netherlands and includes no criticism of our actual services. 

The spokesperson also added that Coinbase should not be penalized for playing by the rules and engaging in this process.

According to decrypt, the penalty was increased from a base amount of $2.18 million. The fine was also increased due to Coinbase’s size as one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, as well as the number of customers it serves in the Netherlands. However, the total amount was then reduced by 5% in recognition that the company had always intended to complete registration.

The crypto exchange now has until March 2 to object to the fine.

“While we respect DNB’s authority to enforce its regulations, we are carefully considering the objections and appeals process,” the spokesperson said.

In December 2022, the DNB targeted the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin saying that it too was operating without a license and therefore offering services illegally. 

In 2021, it also targeted Binance Holdings Limited with similar allegations, for which the exchange paid more than 3 million euros in fines due to the violations.

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Business

Arizona senator introduces a bill to make bitcoin legal tender in the state

State Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced a set of bills to make bitcoin legal tender in Arizona and allow state agencies to accept bitcoin.

The proposed legislation aims to recognize bitcoin as a legal form of currency in Arizona, allowing it to be used to pay for debts, taxes, and other financial obligations. This would mean that all transactions that are currently done in U.S. dollars could potentially be done with bitcoin, and individuals and businesses would have the option to use bitcoin as they see fit.

The Republican senator has also introduced a bill that would amend the current list of acceptable legal tender in the state, and add prominent crypto to the list.

The bill is titled SB 1235 and is seeking to enact a Chapter 9 amendment on the list of legal tender the state accepts. The legislation also lists off what qualifies as legal tender within the state, and it adds Bitcoin to that list.

Specifically mentioning bitcoin alone, the legal tender bill defines bitcoin as, “the decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained on the Bitcoin blockchain and new units of currency are generated by the computational solution of mathematical problems and that operates independently of a central bank.”

Additionally, Senator Rogers has introduced a bill titled SB 1239, which would allow the payment of various civil duties to be paid in crypto. The bill specifically allows state agencies the chance to enter into agreements with cryptocurrency issuers. Thus, developing a pathway for crypto to become an acceptable method of payment. Specifically, listing Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin cash as acceptable cryptocurrency issuers.

This development follows a similar action taken by Rogers a year ago. Then, the Republican senator enacted a similar amendment, SB 1341, to fulfill the same purpose. Conversely, the United States Constitution Article 1, Section 10, prohibits the creation or issuance of legal tender on the state level. Thus, it is not likely for Rogers’ bill to pass through the Arizona State senate and house.

Although it may appear there are slim chances of the bill passing this time, recent actions in states like Texas, New Hampshire, Missouri, and Mississippi all indicate increasing U.S. state interest in bitcoin and its benefits.

Categories
Blockchain

Web3 explained

Web3  is a term you may have heard thrown around a lot lately. It has become a catch-all term for the vision of a new, better internet.

According to Wikipedia, Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. Some technologists and journalists have contrasted it with Web 2.0, wherein they say data and content are centralized in a small group of companies. 

Some tech experts describe Web3 as the next iteration of the internet that promotes decentralized protocols and aims to reduce dependency on large tech companies like Youtube, Netflix, and Amazon, and at its core, it uses blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs to give power back to the users in the form of ownership.

Web3 is an advancement of  Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Web 1.0 is the first iteration of the World Wide Web that refers roughly to the period from 1991 to 2004, where most sites consisted of static pages, and the vast majority of users were consumers, not producers of content while Web 2.0 is based around the idea of the web as a platform and centers on user-created content uploaded to forums, social media, and networking services, blogs, among other services. Web 2.0 is generally considered to have begun around 2004 and continues to the current day.

The term “Web3” was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capital firms.

Unlike other iterations of the web, Web3 comes with the advantage of ownership of digital assets such as games, NFTs, platforms also known as Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), and cryptocurrencies among others.

Criticisms

  • Accessibility

Important Web3 features, like Sign-in with Ethereum, are already available for anyone to use at zero cost. But, the relative cost of transactions is still prohibitive to many. Web3 is less likely to be utilized in less-wealthy, developing nations due to high transaction fees. On Ethereum, these challenges are being solved through network upgrades and layer 2 scaling solutions. The technology is ready, but we need higher levels of adoption on layer 2 to make Web3 accessible to everyone.

  • User experience

The technical barrier to entry to using Web3 is currently too high. Users must comprehend security concerns, understand complex technical documentation, and navigate unintuitive user interfaces. Wallet providers, in particular, are working to solve this, but more progress is needed before Web3 gets adopted in mass.

Conclusively, we are only at the beginning of creating a better Web with Web3. However, despite its problems, Web3 has a lot of potential. 

Categories
Network

What are Bitcoin nodes?

Without Bitcoin nodes, Bitcoin as we know it would only be a concept known by a few computer scientists.

Below, we explore what Bitcoin nodes are, as well as the different types of Bitcoin nodes and their role in the Bitcoin network.

In the Bitcoin blockchain, traditional third-party payment systems are replaced by a distributed network of node operators and miners who validate transactions without censorship or permission.  Bitcoin nodes are the underlying infrastructure of the Bitcoin network, securing and maintaining it. They validate, broadcast, process, and store BTC transactions.

It is difficult to assess the exact number of active Bitcoin nodes, as users can choose to connect privately in order not to reveal or count them. There are very contradicting figures between one source and another. Some sources only calculate that there are just over 13,000 Bitcoin nodes. On the other hand, popular Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dash Jr estimated about 83,000 Bitcoin Core nodes were active in Jan. 2021 while recording a steep decline in 2022 to roughly 50,000. It should be noted that the more active and connected nodes to the Bitcoin network, the more robust and decentralized it becomes.

Types of Bitcoin nodes

Full nodes

When a transaction occurs, a full node picks it up. Full nodes store the entire blockchain and can fully verify all rules of the Bitcoin network using the Bitcoin software. A full node checks the transaction’s validity against the blockchain history and the set of rules encoded in the Bitcoin software.

If the transaction is valid, the full node broadcasts it to other nodes it’s connected to. These nodes go through the same verification process. Once a sufficient number of full nodes agree the transaction is valid, it’s added to a pool of other valid transactions.

Miners

Mining nodes, or miners, pick up transactions from this pool and package them into blocks. Miners run a version of the Bitcoin software that contains special rules for creating and proposing blocks to the Bitcoin network. This includes things like how big a block can be, how to format transactions, and how to sign a block.

Miners compete against one another in a race to create the next block. Once a miner thinks it has created a valid block, it broadcasts the proposed block to other nodes on the Bitcoin network.

Full nodes and miner nodes are the most essential components of the Bitcoin network though they perform different functions. While a miner will run a node necessarily, a full node runner won’t necessarily be a miner. The average Bitcoin node’s task is to validate transactions and blocks, whereas the miner node will provide the specialized mining hardware necessary to resolve complex mathematical problems to create a new block and upload new transactions into it.

Against popular opinion, miners actually have limited power. They could potentially reorganize the blockchain and add or remove transactions, but they would need to spend an extraordinary amount of computing power, making it not worth it. A powerful miner could attack Bitcoin, but miners could not completely change or destroy Bitcoin because full nodes rely on miners only for the few functions highlighted previously.

Light nodes

Light or lightweight nodes will only download the essential data from processed transactions, are used as wallets, and connect to full nodes. They only download the block header, which is the summary of a block containing a hash reference to the previous block, the mining time, and the nonce (unique identifying number) of previous transactions. 

Light nodes only process little portions of the blockchain instead of the whole dataset, as in full nodes. They are ideal for nodes that don’t have a lot of storage or processing capacity and are more cost-efficient to own than full nodes. 

A light node is tasked to verify whether transactions were included in a block through Simplified Payment Verification (SPV). It helps keep the blockchain network decentralized but does not validate all its transactions and doesn’t store a copy of the entire blockchain.

There are other types of bitcoin nodes including archival full nodes, pruned full nodes, master nodes, and lightning nodes.

Although running a Bitcoin node doesn’t offer any monetary incentive, it still provides several advantages such as;

  • Running a full node offers more privacy and anonymity than relying on third-party servers to process your transactions. Intermediary services can expose your wallet address and compromise your privacy.
  • Full control over your Bitcoin holdings.
  • Contribution to the network security and integrity, ensuring that all the Bitcoin protocol’s rules are strictly applied.
  • Bitcoin nodes also help keep the double-spending at bay, preventing users from attempting to spend the same cryptocurrency twice.