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Shopify Inks Deal with Strike, Enabling Bitcoin Lightning Payments

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

Merchants on Shopify, a global e-commerce giant, will have the option of receiving Bitcoin (BTC) off-chain payments through the Bitcoin Lightning Network after sealing a deal with Strike.

As a leading digital payments platform built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Strike will enable Shopify merchants to receive off-chain transactions, which are readily confirmed, faster, and cheaper than those processed on-chain or Bitcoin mainnet.

Jack Mallers, the founder and CEO of Strike, noted that the strategic partnership would easily enable Shopify merchants to accept Bitcoin payments as dollars.

He added:

“The Lightning Network is a global payments network that lowers costs, enhances speed, drives innovation, improves financial inclusion, and brings the power of choice to consumers and merchants.”

Through Strike’s integration, Shopify merchants will be able to expand their existing payment options. As a result, they will utilise the potential purchasing power among global markets.

Per the announcement:

“Strike’s integration also allows Shopify merchants to generate savings through low-cost payment processing.”

The partnership is also seen as a stepping stone towards reducing various complexities merchants face when holding BTC, given that their Bitcoin payments will be instantly converted to dollars.

With the Lightning Network (LN) being a layer two scaling solution on the BTC network, micropayment channels are used to enhance the blockchain’s capacity to undertake transactions more efficiently.

A previous study by Arcane Research noted that the Lightning Network could radically change the business model of content providers in gaming, video, audio, and many more categories by providing a structure where continuous micropayments are made.

Therefore, Arcane Research foresaw a situation where the Lightning Network would transit from online services to everyday use.

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Three Ex-Citi Executives Launch Crypto Investment Firm

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

Three former Citi executives have started a new crypto investment firm named Motus Capital.

Alex Kriete, Greg Girasole and Frank Cavallo started the company after leaving Citi a few months ago following a long stint at the multinational investment bank. The Block reported that Kriete and Girasole worked as co-heads of the Citi Global Wealth digital assets group.

Although details are yet to be revealed, Kriete said in a LinkedIn post that it would aim to bring the trio’s “decades of combined experience advising and managing clients’ wealth” to the crypto sector.

Kriete told The Block before unveiling Motus Capital that “financial institutions have a hard time keeping pace in this market,” adding that “We’re excited to build something that caters to these people.”

Kriete and Girasole had become in-house experts at Citi in 2017 after starting an internal, crypto-focused newsletter.

According to The Block, their departures in April are just the latest example of talent flowing from Citi out into the wider crypto sector.

According to a recent report by Blockchain.News, Citi expects the metaverse to be worth between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030.

The report added that despite the metaverse concept being around for a few decades, interest in the virtual world gained steam at the end of 2021 based on the exponential growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In accordance with a report dubbed “Metaverse and Money, Decrypting the Future,” Citi believes that metaverse users will have grown to 5 billion by 2030.

As per the study: “users should increasingly be able to access a host of use cases, including commerce, art, media, advertising, healthcare, and social collaboration. A device-agnostic metaverse would be accessible via personal computers, game consoles, and smartphones, resulting in a large ecosystem.”

While in November last year, Citi had begun hiring 100 employees as part of a renewed strategy to expand the business of its digital assets.

The digital assets team will offer expertise and outline important strategies on how Citi’s Institutional Client Group (ICG) should pursue digital asset opportunities, including new investments, new products and new clients, Emily Turner, the ICG’s head of business development

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Tagged : Blockchain / Citi / Crypto / Enterprise / MOTUSCAPITAL

Terra Expands Stablecoin Reserve by Purchasing $100m worth of Avalanche Tokens

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

The Luna Foundation Guard (“LFG”), primarily focused on the Terra blockchain, expands its TerraUSD (“UST”) stablecoin reserve by purchasing $100 million worth of Avalanche tokens.

The native token of the Avalanche blockchain becomes the second-largest asset in the UST reserve after the Bitcoin token.

Terra is a blockchain protocol that uses fiat-pegged stablecoins to power price-stable global payments systems, which includes TerraUSD (“UST”) – the flagship stablecoin of the Terra network and the leading decentralized stablecoin in DeFi by market cap

Terra’s UST stablecoin, backed by bitcoin tokens, could eventually reach $10 billion, the company said. To strengthen the ability of Terra’s UST stablecoin to be pegged to U.S. dollar fiat, the company added $230 million in bitcoin on Wednesday, following an injection of more than $1 billion in bitcoin in January.

Emin Gün Sirer, CEO of The Ava Labs said that:

“Terra’s ability to scale their stablecoins is one of the reasons that drew Avalanche to its platform.”

Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, the blockchain startup in charge of the Terra blockchain and LUNA coin, said Bitcoin will remain the “primary backer” for the UST stablecoin, but the deal with Avalanche “buys Avalanche’s UST and Terra a lot of user familiarity.”

As reported by blockchain.News on December 9, 2021, one of Asia’s biggest Venture Capital firms, Chiron Partners, has launched a $50 million ecosystem fund christened the Chiron Terra Fund I (CTI), aimed at supporting innovative projects that are emerging from the Terra blockchain ecosystem.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Enterprise / LFG / Terra / Terrausd

HBAR Foundation Launches $250m Metaverse Fund

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

The HBAR Foundation, under the Hedera Network, a distributed ledger platform, launched a $250 million Metaverse Fund, which aims to integrate Hedera Hashgraph’s Web3 metaverse world for consumer brands.

Funding from the $250 million Metaverse Fund will be used in four areas: gaming, sports, fashion, and entertainment, the foundation said. This is the largest fund launch to date, following a $155 million DeFi fund launch in late March.

The HBAR Foundation is an independent non-profit organization of distributed ledger company Hedera Hashgraph and acts as an integrated force multiplier to help builders and creators overcome the challenges of bringing their ideas to market. The HBAR Foundation is accelerating the Hedera ecosystem.

HBAR, which is responsible for developing the Hedera network, said the Metaverse Fund targets both B2C and B2B2C applications and wants to integrate users into Web3 development “at scale.”

Through the fund, the foundation is focused on building an advanced digital world and advancing the ecosystem by supporting and complementing projects, according to the statement. To support game developers within the ecosystem and incorporate NFTs into their projects.

According to Alex Russman, Vice President of the HBAR Foundation, “they see the potential of Web3, so are integrating (non-fungible tokens) NFTs and tokens into that offering, being that hand-hold service that allows a large enterprise to understand how tokens relate and fit into their business.”

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Finance / Hbar / HEDERA NETWORK / Metaverse / NFT

Ethereum Scarcity Increases as Net Daily Issuance Hits a 2-Month Low

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

The daily net issuance in the Ethereum (ETH) network continues to drop, signifying a supply deficit.

Data analytic firm IntoTheBlock explained:

“ETH net daily issuance is dropping. after reaching a top on March 12 of 3.48%, the 7-day average net issuance has been around 2.21%. ETH has not had a negative net issuance day since January 10, but it reached a 2-month low on Tuesday of 0.87%.”

Source: IntoTheBlock

Ethereum issuance entails the available Ether on the network, given that it’s the difference between mined Ether and the one burned after being used in transactions. The burnt Ether mechanism was introduced after the London Hard Fork or EIP 1559 upgrade went live in August 2021.

Therefore, a slip in Ethereum’s net daily issuance is bullish because it illustrates scarcity in the network, and depending on the demand available price is expected to increase.

The second-largest cryptocurrency was up by 1.5% in the last 24 hours to hit $3,263 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.

The merge is expected to be a game-changer

The much-anticipated merge slated for Q2 of 2022 will serve as the biggest software upgrade in the Ethereum ecosystem. It will prompt a transition from the current proof of work (PoW) to a proof of stake (PoS) framework, deemed more environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

Market analyst Lark Davis expects the merge to prompt a supply growth rate of -2.8% in the ETH network. He explained:

“At -2.8% supply growth a year post Merge, Ethereum will see about 3.3 million ETH a year burned. By the end of the decade total ETH supply will drop under 100 million. Or put another way, we will burn the equivalent of ALL ETH currently sitting on exchanges.”

Source: Glassnode

A previous study by LuckyHash noted that the merge would trigger a 1% annual deflation rate.

Therefore, the merge is viewed as a game-changer that will boost Ethereum as a deflationary asset, given that the London Hardfork or EIP 1559 upgrade already set the ball rolling.

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Tagged : #ETH / BURNT / Ethereum / Merge / NET ISSUANCE / Scarcity

Coinbase Finally Sets Up Crypto Trading Services in India

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., announced on Thursday that its trading services are now available to users in India. The publicly listed firm said that it is working to widen its product offerings in the country.

Coinbase announced the move at a crypto community event in Bangalore and disclosed that it has added support for the popular UPI payment instrument in India. The exchange said that Indian users can now trade as many as 157 cryptocurrencies and buy crypto assets in Indian currency.

The popular exchange now allows Indian users to buy crypto coins using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a payments infrastructure developed by a coalition of retail banks. The UPI has become the most popular way Indians do online transactions.

The development has made the crypto exchange functional in the world’s second-largest internet market for the first time. Coinbase users in India can add money to and withdraw from their accounts by using the UPI network, the exchange stated.

Coinbase mentioned it is giving $2.65 to everyone who signs up as part of efforts to encourage customers to try the app.

Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, who was present at the event, said that the exchange is making “a long-term investment” in India. The executive stated that the company has already invested $150 million in Indian startups and intends to more than triple its staff in the country to 1,000 this year.

However, hours after Coinbase unveiled its trading service in India with UPI support, The National Payments Corporation of India, the governing body that oversees UPI in the country, made a different statement. The regulator said that it is not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI payments instruments in the country. The payments body disclosed that other cryptocurrency exchanges in India have had trouble with supporting UPI on their platforms because cryptocurrency is not legal in the South Asian market. The NPCI’s statement suggests that UPI is still a no-go zone for crypto in India.

Enabling Global Financial Inclusion

In April last year, Coinbase announced that it was preparing to set up back-end operations in India. As a result, the US-based exchange hired Pankaj Gupta, Google Pay’s former engineering lead in India and the Asia Pacific, to do the job. The exchange also hired several employers to occupy information technology services, customer support, and software development roles.

Last November, Coinbase acquired Indian-based artificial intelligence (AI)-powered support platform Agara to automate and enhance its customer experience (CX) tools in the country.

In February this year, the firm announced plans to “double down on regional investments in the country. Coinbase is already an investor in two of the country’s largest local cryptocurrency exchanges (CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX).

Coinbase is also planning to quadruple its headcounts in India by the end of 2022, to add 1,000 to the existing staff strength of 300 at its Indian tech hub, which began last year.

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Tagged : Coinbase / Crypto / Enterprise / India / Trading

UNBLOK Provides Incentive-Based App Blockchain Solutions

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

UNBLOK LLC provides consumers with a revolutionary solution through blockchain technology, allowing users to use the application on their mobile phones without the need to conduct traditional application market research and get rewards.

UNBLOK LLC is transforming the incentive-based applied market research business by focusing on payments via blockchain and cryptocurrencies, generating usage data, and providing a win-win situation of picture for businesses and customers.

Different from traditional incentives for users to get rewards by scanning receipts, watching advertisements, completing surveys, etc., unblock uses blockchain technology to collect non-identifiable analysis data in the background. Users only need to use the unblock application on their mobile phones and provide enterprises with Data to earn crypto tokens.

Jorge Checo, the founder of UNBLOK, LLC, said:

“Now people can earn crypto for using the apps they use everyday. It doesn’t matter where they live. It is for everyone.”

“It allows users to spend more time doing what they enjoy on their phones, instead of trying to earn rewards points and miles and getting stressed out about cashing them in before they expire. UNBLOK is a total game-changer for users and businesses.” Jorge Checo added.

Users can exchange corresponding cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies or NFTs and other commodities at the same time.

In addition to providing users with their latest crypto token totals in real-time, the company says the app allows users to see how many crypto tokens are being generated by specific mobile apps, allowing them to make strategic adjustments.

The company said it is currently actively developing a search engine for information users can create on Android and iOS mobile apps.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Enterprise / Technology / UNBLOK

UNBLOK Provides Incentive-Based App Market Research Blockchain Solutions

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

Jorge Checo, the founder of UNBLOK, LLC, said:

“Now people can earn crypto for using the apps they use everyday. It doesn’t matter where they live. It is for everyone.”

Users can exchange corresponding cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies or NFTs and other commodities at the same time.

The company said it is currently actively developing a search engine for information users can create on Android and iOS mobile apps.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Enterprise / Technology / UNBLOK

Social Trading Company eToro Establishes $20m NFT fund

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

Cryptocurrency trading platform eToro has established a $20 million Non-fungible token (NFT) fund to buy NFTs and support creators and brands in the industry, according to CNBC.

The launch of fund is part of eToro art’s plans and implies that eToro will create more services for investors and take a big step toward the NFT market.

NFT is a special type of encrypted token that represents unique collectables. An NFT is used in specific applications that require unique digital items, such as encrypted art, digital collectables, and online games.

Guy Hirsch, U.S. managing director of eToro, said that before NFTs, only big traditional financial tycoons such as Goldman Sachs could step into the cryptocurrency space; however, “NFTs are essentially making any and every potential brand a participant in this market.”

Founded in 2007, eToro has been a leader in the global Fintech revolution, empowering people to invest by giving them access to international markets. From cryptos to stocks and commodities, eToro has made trading easy and social, creating a solid community of over 12 million traders worldwide.

In the past few months alone, well-known brands in various industries, including Starbucks, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nike, etc., have joined the NFT track,

Hirsch added that：

“Any brand can hone in on this and create some sort of an NFT that represents an ownership stake in part of the brand,”

As part of the eToro.art program, the trading platform showcases renowned digital art collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and World of Women.

eToro said it would also commit $10 million to support emerging creators and brands, bringing their new NFT projects to market.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Enterprise / Etoro / Fund / NFT

Nium Pairs with Bitpay to Launch API-based Solution, Enhancing Crypto Payments for Business

by Blockchain NewsApril 8, 2022

Payments platform Nium has launched an API-based solution called “Crypto Accept”, which aims to provide crypto payments to businesses worldwide.

The company said that Crypto Accept currently supports (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrencies for payment and will launch more cryptocurrencies in 2023.

Nium is a fintech company that develops a global platform for business payment needs. It is also a payments platform redefining the way consumers and businesses of spending and receives funds across borders. Its goal is to make the movement of money seamless by being a universal plug for financial services.

Joaquin Ayuso de Paul, Senior Vice President and Head of Nium Crypto, said that:

“Consumers hold more than $3 trillion in cryptocurrency and are looking for more places to spend this money online, Crypto Accept allows merchants to quickly and securely enhance their digital commerce experiences to serve consumers demanding more payment options.”

Merchants or businesses can make crypto payments through Crypto Accept with zero price volatility or risk. And settle into the business’s bank account the next business day in US dollars or other major fiat currencies.

Nium said the partnership with BitPay will provide thousands of merchants with a fast, secure and straightforward way to embed crypto payments into their online businesses.

Consumers can use a crypto wallet and scan a quick response (QR) code to complete the transaction.

BitPay, a US-based bitcoin payment service provider, allows buyers to make purchases using cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Ether, and Bitcoin Cash and dollar-pegged stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC).

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Bitpay / Blockchain / CRYPTO ACCEPT / Industry / Nium