Image Of The Day, 22 Of August: Business Insider, South China Morning Post, Quartz and Others
We're presenting «image of the day». Bitnewstoday.com has chosen only the freshest and most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important of today's stories in most indicative quotes are below!
1. STRANGE WAYS OF CRYPTO (Business insider)
A cryptocurrency is making huge inroads in Venezuela as inflation runs wild
Venezuela is forecasted to see inflation of as much as 1,000,000% this year, with locals needing stacks and stacks of cash just to buy food. Last weekend Socialist President Nicolás Maduro announced a series of measures aimed at stabilizing the economy, including devaluing the bolívar by 95% and pegging it to the state-backed cryptocurrency, the petro.
However, the cryptocurrency called the dash, not the El Petro is seeing a rise. There has been a surge in new merchant sign-ups and wallet downloads in Venezuela as hyperinflation in the country is running wild.
2. LOSING HIS EDGE (South China morning post)
Beijing-based Bitmain rival cryptocurrency mining equipment companies catch up
Bitmain Technologies, the designer of chips used in cryptocurrency mining that is planning a landmark initial public offering (IPO), may be losing its technological edge, according to analysts at Sanford C Bernstein & Co.
“The competitiveness of Bitmain’s chips is in question,” the analysts wrote.
While Bernstein called Bitmain’s performance a “wild success” last year and noted that it controlled an estimated 85 percent of the market for cryptocurrency mining chips, the company is facing growing competition from players including Canaan and Ebang International Holdings, which are also pursuing IPOs in Hong Kong.
3. BUSTED! (Quartz)
China is now policing cryptocurrency by targeting WeChat accounts
Last night (Aug. 21), WeChat, Tencent’s messaging app with a billion users, permanently closed a number of public accounts that provided news and updates on the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. At least nine accounts were taken down, according to financial-news outlet Caixin (paywall, link in Chinese), including crypto-focused media outlets Coindaily, Huobi Zixun, Shenlian, and Caijing—considered some of the most influential news accounts (link in Chinese) on WeChat.
WeChat said that (link in Chinese) some accounts had violated China’s regulations for instant-messaging services (link in Chinese), though it didn’t specify, which rules. It later told reporters the accounts were suspected to be issuing initial coin offerings (ICO) and spreading rumors on cryptocurrency trading.
4. NO BITCOIN FOR YOU (The Next Web)
No, you can’t actually make bail payments in cryptocurrency
Earlier this month Serbian cyber criminal, Martin Marisch, received an order to make his bail payment in “Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.” However, in the recent turn of events, the courts have had to backpedal, and have denied Marisch the opportunity to front his bail in cryptocurrency.
However, as the court tried to process the payment, they began to hit a number of hurdles and decided to call it quits on trying to accept cryptocurrency as a payment for bail
5. AND WE ARE OFFLINE (Business Insider)
Bitcoin just spiked by $300 in one minute when a big trading platform went offline
Bitcoin's value surged Tuesday evening Eastern Time, rocketing from around $6,450 to almost $6,900 almost instantly. Prices peaked at $6,899 before easing back slightly
The Twitter account for BitMEX stated multiple times that customers were having troubles logging in once maintenance was complete.
6. THE MOST EXQUISITE YET (Forbes)
Crypto-junkies and digital nomads rejoice, Europe’s billion-dollar fintech unicorn Revolut has just launched its most exclusive card yet. Revolut Metal offers cash back in the cryptocurrency on card purchases, a personal concierge, travel insurance and a higher £600 ($771.3) limit on free global ATM withdrawals per month, along with all of Revolut’s existing Premium features.
But “Metal” which of course includes an exclusive metal bank card, comes at a cost—£12.99 ($16.69) per month or £120 ($154.2) for the year.
7. IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL (Asia Times)
Scientist claims that the issue of blockchain power wastage is overrated
Any researcher who studies a clean energy technology, specifically the transition toward decarbonized energy systems. I think that the conversation around Bitcoin and energy has been oversimplified.
New technologies – such as data centers, computers and before them trains, planes, and automobiles – are often energy-intensive. Over time, all of these have become more efficient, a natural progression of any technology: Saving energy equates to saving costs.
8. LOLLI LAUNCH (Techcrunch)
Lolli launches to give you free Bitcoin while you shop
After reconnecting and exploring, Adelman and Senter realized that scaling consumer demand for Bitcoin was the critical challenge for a widespread adoption of the technology and that retail rewards and loyalty could represent a port of entry for consumers new to cryptocurrencies.
Out of that thinking, Lolli was born. Lolli is a rewards platform that offers users BTC when they shop at participating online retailers. Consumers install a browser extension or start from Lolli’s website to discover retailers offering crypto rewards (smartphone and tablet apps are “coming soon”). Each retailer sets his own “cashback” (cryptoback?) rate, and that BTC reward is then moved into a Lolli wallet.
9. WAITING FOR A SIGN (Bloomberg)
Kenyan Banks Seek Regulatory Approval to Use Blockchain Tech
Kenyan banks are seeking regulatory approval to use distributed-ledger technology, also known as blockchain, to distribute payments and create credit-scoring models to rate potential borrowers.
While there may be benefits in using blockchain-based technology, there was a great risk should it fail or be misused by unscrupulous individuals, the central bank said in a report. “There is thus the need to ensure that robust controls are in place to ensure that the risks and opportunities associated with emerging technologies are balanced.”
10. NOT TO THE MOON (FORBES)
Bitcoin Looks Unlikely To Cross $10,000 Again This Year
July was a solid month for cryptocurrencies overall, with the price of Bitcoin reversing the steady declines seen over the previous two months to hover around $8,200 at the end of the month. This marked a strong recovery from the low of $5,755 seen in late June but was still well below the all-time high of almost $20,000 last December.
Notably, there was a recovery in the level of activity on the Bitcoin network over the month of July, with the average number of unique addresses and the average transaction volume per unique user improving from the lows seen in June. However, with both of these key metrics sliding lower over the first two weeks of August, the price of Bitcoin has slumped to below $6,500.