Polkadot’s parachain smart contract platform with Ethereum compatibility, Moonbeam, has recently completed its pre-launch process and is now live on the Polkadot network.
Moonbeam Launches on Polkadot
Announcing the launch on Tuesday, the project’s team noted that Moonbeam is the first fully operational parachain on the Polkadot blockchain. With the release, the protocol will pave the way for over 80 projects in its ecosystem to be deployed.
Earlier in October, Moonbeam won the second Polkadot Parachain Auction after seeing over 35 million DOT worth more than $1.4 billion contributed by its supporters from across the globe.
With Moonbeam now live on Polkadot, it intends to bring several new integrations, activities, and users to boost the Polkadot ecosystem and contribute to the growth of the network.
Per the announcement, Moonbeam removed the superuser key, Sudo, during its last launch phase. As a result, the control of the network will now be transferred to the token holders.
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Balance Transfers
Additionally, Moonbeam has also enabled balance transfers and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on its platform. The balance transfer will allow users to stake and start claiming rewards from the crowd loan.
After this development, the chain will be overseen by the token holders using Moonbeam’s governance system. The active set of collectors has also been increased to 48.
Following the launch, GLMR token holders can stake with collectors, claim crowdloan rewards, and serve as active network members by participating in the on-chain governance system.
About 30% of the crowd loan rewards, which amounted to about 45 million GLMR, were distributed immediately after the full launch of the project on Polkadot based on the percentage of their contribution, according to the announcement.
The remaining 70% of the rewards, about 105 million GLMR, will be linearly vested over the 96-week parachain lease period that started on Dec. 17, 2021.
Currently, there are about three weeks of vested rewards that contributors can claim.
Moonbeam noted that it intends to deploy several infrastructure projects in the weeks following the launch, including bridges, multisignature support, The Graph, Chainlink oracles, and more.
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Visa and ConsenSys, a blockchain software startup, are working to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program to explore retail applications such as cards and wallets.
Both firms will first meet with an estimated 30 central banks to discuss the goals that governments hope to achieve with government-backed digital currency. The pilot program is scheduled to begin in the spring of this year.
Visa To Pilot CBDC In Select Countries
Visa (V) announced on Thursday that it will take its crypto services to the next level by teaming with blockchain software company Consensys to create a central bank digital currency onramp (CBDC).
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The payments giant plans to launch a “CBDC sandbox” in the spring, where central banks can try out the technology after minting it on Consensys’ Quorum network.
Visa Trades At $214. Source: TradingView
Customers will be able to use their CBDC-linked Visa card or digital wallet anyplace Visa is accepted globally, according to Catherine Gu, Visa’s head of CBDC, who spoke with ConsenSys in a blog post Q&A.
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Gu Said:
“If successful, CBDC could expand access to financial services and make government disbursements more efficient, targeted and secure – that’s an attractive proposition for policy makers.”
A CBDC is a type of central bank obligation that is issued in digital form and can be used by the general public, comparable to the US dollar.
Related article | Visa Survey Shows Crypto Payments Could Boom In 2022
Countries Are Launching CBDCs
The decision comes as regulators around the world struggle to figure out how to treat CBDCs in a changing financial landscape dominated by cryptocurrencies. The notion that crypto and digital money will upend financial markets or replace fiat currency is a major issue.
Mastercard also announced the launch of a CBDC test platform in 2020, which allowed banks to simulate the issuance, distribution, and exchange of CBDCs amongst banks, financial service providers, and consumers.
“Central banks are moving from research to actually wanting to have a tangible product they can experiment with,” Chuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto.
If Visa is successful, it might help bridge the gap between central banks and financial institutions. Visa is accepted by over 80 million merchant locations worldwide.
In the last year and a half, the number of countries investigating CBDCs has more than doubled. According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, at least 87 different countries — accounting for 90% of global GDP — are considering financial technology in some way.
China has already started a number of digital yuan pilot initiatives and plans to accept the currency for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Nigeria and the Bahamas have their own CBDCs in circulation.
In early December, Visa announced the formation of a worldwide crypto advisory practice to assist financial institutions in developing their cryptocurrency operations as demand for crypto goods grows.
Related article | Visa Is Building A Payment Channel Network On Ethereum
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView.com
2021 was a breakout year for the cryptocurrency sector and this year is expected to see an extension of the “mass adoption” trend.
Public awareness of blockchain technology is on the rise and a new cohort of projects designed to fill more niche roles in society are likely to emerge in the coming months.
Three sectors that have the potential to see significant growth in 2022 are human resources (HR), employee payment solutions and platforms that serve the gig economy by offering corporate blockchain solutions.
HR might pivot toward blockchain
Human resource management is ripe for blockchain integration due to the security and data storage solutions offered. Blockchain would allow each employee to have a unique address where all pertinent information could be cryptographically stored.
HR also deals with the recruiting and hiring of new employees, an increasingly difficult task in today’s world where the labor force participation rate stands at 61.9%, its lowest level since 1976.
For blockchain-related jobs, the task becomes even more challenging due to the limited number of people with the knowledge and capabilities to work in the nascent sector.
Keep3rV1 is one protocol that focuses on connecting employers with workers, and the decentralized job board is specifically designed to connect blockchain projects with external developers that provide specialized services.
KP3R/USDT. 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
While Keep3rV1 focuses specifically on blockchain developer jobs, if the model proves to be a success, the concept could easily be expanded to serve a wider audience of job seekers and employers.
Payroll also falls under the HR category and projects like Request (REQ) support a decentralized payments system where anyone can request a payment and receive money through secure means.
This is an ideal setup for freelancers. Experimental platforms like Sablier Finance also offer workers the option to be paid for their labor in real-time rather than wait for the end of a payroll period to receive their paycheck in a lump sum.
The gig economy
Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft and creator/freelance marketplaces like Fiverr were the bedrock of the gig economy. 2021 estimates show that 36% of the United States workforce participated in the gig economy either as their primary or secondary source of income. Data also shows that 55% of gig workers were also working a separate primary job.
Current projections indicate that by 2023, up to 52% of the U.S. workforce will be actively working in the gig economy or will have done so at some point in their career, so it’s a growing field that could benefit from the integration of blockchain technology.
One project that has already established its own freelancer job board is Chronos.tech (TIME), a blockchain-based recruitment, HR and payment processing protocol whose LaborX platform is similar to websites like Fiverr but conducts all transactions utilizing blockchain technology and smart contracts.
TIME/USD 1-day chart. Source: CoinGecko
In addition to the Chronos.tech, LaborX and PaymentX protocols, the ecosystem has also recently added decentralized finance (DeFi) functionality by allowing TIME holders to stake their tokens on the protocol to earn a yield.
Freelancers can stake TIME on the network to receive bonuses for completed tasks while customers can stake to earn special rebates as a reward for holding the token.
Related:Volcanos, Bitcoin and remittances: A Tongan lord plans for financial security
Corporations embrace blockchain solutions
Enterprise-level blockchain-based solutions are also expected to thrive in 2022.
Many of the top contenders that offer enterprise solutions are layer-one blockchain protocols like Ethereum and its Hyperledger framework or Bitcoin’s layer-two lightning network scaling solution that was recently integrated with the Cash App.
Other strong contenders in the field of enterprise solutions include Fantom and the Polygon network because they have lower transaction fees and faster processing capabilities.
FTM/USDT vs. MATIC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
A final protocol that specifically focuses on creating an enterprise-grade public network that allows individuals and businesses to create decentralized applications (DApps) is Hedera (HBAR).
According to Hedera’s website, the project is owned and governed by some of the world’s leading organizations including IBM, Boeing, Google, LG and Standard Bank.
The high throughput nature of Hedera’s hashgraph architecture makes it ideal for large businesses that would require a significant amount of transactions to serve their global client base.
These use cases include payment processing, fraud mitigation, the ability to tokenize assets, verifying identity, the secure storage and transfer of data and the ability to create a private, permissioned blockchain for in-house use.
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The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
MicroStrategy has been topping its bitcoin holdings in the last year and is now the public company with the largest bitcoin holdings in the world. Presently, the firm holds over 124K BTC on its balance sheet, worth over $5 billion, remaining in profit despite the recent downtrend. However, with such a large holding, one tends to wonder what the company plans to do with the digital asset in the future.
Bitcoin Is Unstoppable
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor was on CNBC to talk about the future of the firm which had made a name for itself due to its various bitcoin buys. Saylor who is a big proponent of the digital asset and a BTC maximalist talked about what the firm had planned for the future, as well as what it planned to do with its bitcoin holdings going forward.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Is Massively Overvalued, Billionaire ’Bond King’ Jeff Gundlach
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The CEO starts out by explaining that he remains a strong supporter of bitcoin, which he refers to as “compelling and unstoppable.” This has previously been highlighted at various times by Saylor with his public support for the digital asset. At every possible moment, the CEO has said that bitcoin is the answer to major problems like inflation and is the leading digital property.
On the topic of regulation, Saylor explains that he believes that regulation would, in the end, be beneficial for the digital asset. “The regulatory clarity is going to accelerate institutional adoption of bitcoin and you’re going to see large flows of capital enter the asset class as this continues,” the CEO said.
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BTC trending at $43K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
What MicroStrategy Has Planned For The Future
As for MicroStrategy’s plan for the future, the CEO explained that the company will continue to operate as it always has. The company which sells enterprise software has been very profitable so far. With its bitcoin plan, it has seen an uptick in profitability and its stock is up by a factor of four, according to Saylor.
Related Reading | Why Sovereign Nation States May Begin Acquiring Bitcoin In 2022
“Look, our long term strategy is kind of like Harvard University. We’re running a university but we have an endowment. MicroStrategy is selling enterprise software. We generate $100 million in cash flow a year – in a good year – and we are reinvesting that cash in our endowment. Our endowment is 100% bitcoin.”
Saylor adds that MicroStrategy plans to acquire and hold bitcoin as a balance sheet. As for the operations, the company will continue to sell its enterprise software everywhere in the world.
Featured image from CoinDesk, chart from TradingView.com
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has announced the imminent suspension of its services to customers in Ontario.
The exchange instructed its Ontario-based customers to withdraw their funds by March 1.
While it is unclear why Bitfinex made these moves, it could be due to compliance concerns, as it has faced issues on that front before.
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Bitfinex has announced the suspension of services to its customers in Ontario. Moreover, the exchange has instructed its Ontario customers to withdraw their funds by March 1.
Suspension of Services
Bitfinex announced today that it would be suspending all of its services in Ontario, effective March 1. Customers will have until that date to exit their positions and withdraw funds from the exchange.
Other policy changes are effective immediately. First, unfunded Ontario-based accounts are to be closed immediately. Secondly, Ontario customers with no current open positions in Bitfinex’s peer-to-peer financing markets will lose access to those markets, effective immediately. Finally, margin positions will immediately be unavailable to those Ontario customers who do not already have open margin positions.
The “Important Notice” does not provide a reason for the sudden changes and suspensions in services.
The banning of services to Ontario residents by Bitfinex could be related to regulatory pressure, to which Bitfinex is no stranger. As far back as 2018, New York’s attorney general Letitia Jamesbrought a caseagainst Tether and its parent company iFinex (also the parent company of Bitfinex), alleging Tether gave a $750 million loan to Bitfinex to help the exchange cover its losses. In February last year, Bitfinex paid back that loan in full. However, in October 2021, Bitfinexwas ordered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to pay $1.5 million in fines for engaging in illegal transactions and failing to register properly as a Futures Commission Merchant, among other wrongdoings.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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In a Friday announcement, Bitfinex said it would be immediately closing the accounts for Ontario-based customers who have no balances on the platform. In addition, it planned to restrict access to those who do not have open positions in the exchange’s peer-to-peer financing market or open margin positions.
Users who have balances or open positions on Bitfinex and are one of the roughly 15 million residents of Ontario — which includes Toronto and the nation’s capital city of Ottawa — “will no longer have access to any services” starting on March 1. The exchange advised customers to withdraw funds before the effective date.
Though Bitfinex did not mention the Ontario Securities Commission, or OSC, the region’s financial watchdog has been responsible for cracking down on crypto exchanges operating in the area, including OKEx, Bybit, KuCoin and Polo Digital Assets. In December, the OSC issued a notice that Binance was not authorized “to offer trading in derivatives or securities to persons or companies located in the province” after the crypto exchange reportedly told its users it would be able to continue offering services in the region. Binance reportedly said there was a miscommunication on the issue.
Bitfinex has also been the target of U.S. regulators. In October, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined the crypto exchange and its sister company Tether $42.5 million, with Bitfinex allegedly facilitating “illegal, off-exchange retail commodity transactions in digital assets with U.S persons.” The Office of the New York Attorney General previously ordered the two firms to pay $18.5 million in damages and submit to periodically reporting on their reserves.
Crypto exchange Bitfinex has announced users based in the Canadian province of Ontario will no longer have access to many of its services starting on March 1.
IOTA was selected as one of the projects that will take part in the European Union Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement. The platform will be competing with four projects in a second round for this EU program for a chance at improving the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).
Related Reading | IOTA Smart Contracts Enter Beta Phase To Circumvent Network Flaws
Announced by the IOTA Foundation (IF), the network has reached stage two out of three after it was selected from around 35 applicants. This second phase will last around six months, per the announcement, and will have a special focus on research, development, and lab testing.
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The IOTA Foundation will receive support from the European Commission in order to investigate and develop “blockchain innovations in the context of testing how future evolutions of EBSI could evolve towards a more scalable, energy-efficient, secure and interoperable architecture”.
In that sense, the IOTA Foundation revealed that it will partner with Software AG to implement the developed solution. After, the EU Commission will launch an evaluation phase to test the results of its program’s second phase and the progress each participant has accomplished. The IF added the following:
(…) based on this evaluation, a minimum of three projects will be selected to move on to Phase 2B, final solutions development and field testing, which is expected to last another year.
Therefore, the non-profit organization will start testing blockchain solutions based on IOTA, specifically they will test a use case for digital product passports for digital waste recycling and a cross-border management of IP rights, the announcement said. Besides Software AG, the IF will rely on other partners and will attempt to growth its partner network.
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In the past, the organization has worked with major companies from around the world to help them develop multiple use cases. This includes software giant IBM, Dell Technologies, Jaguar Land Rover, and others.
IOTA To Power EU Supported Blockchain Solutions?
In its final stage, the EU program will require projects to field test the capabilities of their proposals. The IF claimed to be “excited” about its role on this European driven initiative and added:
We very much support the strategic focus placed by the European Commission on blockchain and distributed ledger technology as a driver for innovation and growth. We are privileged to be part of this pre-commercial procurement procedure to develop a Europe-wide infrastructure based on blockchain and DLT for use in public services (…).
IOTA will dedicate resources to develop solutions and use cases on Scalability, and the implementation of sharding on the EBSI infrastructure. The objective is to improve the protocol’s scale capabilities to onboard and support the users that will leverage the EBSI network.
The IF will attempt to develop its sharding solution with a “root network” approach. In other words, a main network will be connected to a series of leaf or branch smaller networks. In addition, the organization will work on its consensus and governance mechanism, its interoperability, and potential to implement identity solutions.
Related Reading | IOTA to Release Smart Contract Network ‘Assembly’ And Distribute ASMB Token
At the time of writing, IOTA trades at $1,11 with a 1.9% loss in 24 hours.
MIOTA with small gains on the 4-hour chart. Source: MIOTAUSDT Tradingview
