Cryptocurrency News Now!: The NYSE of crypto

Sunday, September 9, 2018

The NYSE of crypto

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them."

- Seth Godin

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MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H

BTC	$6,421.754329	-1.16%

ETH	$205.485156	-6.31%

XRP	$0.28795	-2.14%

BCH	$491.815277	-2.29%

EOS	$5.10379	-0.25%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST

EXCHANGE

The NYSE of crypto

Coinbase Doubled its Staff in 2018 and Wants to be the NYSE of Crypto

STAFF DOUBLING

Even though the current crypto market trend has brought a slower customer growth rate, Coinbase is expanding its staff faster than ever
According to Business Insider, Coinbase has doubled its staff to from 250 people to over 500 people in 2018 so far
Though it is unknown what positions Coinbase was seeking to expand, it is known that the Coinbase customer service was under heavy fire due to lack of personnel earlier in 2018

NYSE OF CRYPTO

On Friday, CEO Brian Armstrong took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt and explained that he visions Coinbase behaving like the NYSE, but for cryptocurrencies
Through this vision, Armstrong hopes to see companies listing their stock as tokens on the Coinbase platform
Also in that interview, Armstrong commented that he "would love to run a public company" and is even considering going public on the blockchain, but so far no concrete plans have been made

EXCHANGE

Binance is Targeting Africa for Future Expansion

BRINGING CRYPTO EVERYWHERE

Binance has been insanely profitable over the past year and will benefit from the growth and adoption of crypto in the future
For this reason, Binance has always made investments to expand the reach and accessibility of crypto
Binance Labs Director Benjamin Rameau recently shared that the company's next target for expansion is the continent of Africa, which has been majorly under-served by the crypto industry

NEED FOR STABILITY

Africa is a perfect target for cryptocurrencies
For one, the continent hosts a young population and rapidly growing economies
Also, the continent is rife with corruption and lack of government order, cryptocurrencies will give power to the people with a trustless method for value exchange
Cryptocurrencies may even be more stable than some of the government issued fiat currencies of the region

Rameua describes how crypto can change the future outlook of the continent:

“Access to financial services for saving, borrowing and protection will provide the capital to fund entrepreneurs, provide a safety net for retirement planning and provide disaster relief. Renewed optimism about the future will arise when people are given the freedom to take on risk. Households will have fewer children and invest more per child on education when parents can pre-finance their retirements. This will form the backbone to the modernization of African economies.”

REGULATION

Congressional Hearing Concludes Crypto is Not Useful for Terrorism

NOT THREATENING

In a surprising turn compared to popular congressional opinions, the U.S. Congress Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance concluded that crypto is not the threat it is made out to be
Yaya Fanusie, a director of analysis for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) explained that most terrorists don't live in environments where crypto is operable
Because of this, most cryptocurrency funding campaigns by terrorists groups are not very successful
To further his point, he explained to Congress that "cold hard cash is still king" since it is the most anonymous form of funding

GEARING UP

Though crypto funding is not useful for terrorists now, it could be in the future if cryptocurrencies become widely adopted
Because of this, Fanusie suggests that Congress begins studying cryptocurrency transactions and privacy coins in depth so it can fight the cause
Fanusie also explained that Congress should focus on minor crypto exchanges rather than the large ones that have already implemented strong anti-money laundering and know-your-customer policies

To conclude, Fanusie pushed for Congress to start preparing now to limit future issues:

"By preparing now for terrorists’ increasing usage of cryptocurrencies, the U.S. can limit the ability to turn digital currency markets into a sanctuary for illicit finance."

Q&A

Q&A with BlockFi CEO Zac Prince

How was the idea for BlockFi born?

I’d been investing in crypto for a couple of years and working in fintech lending for a while. When going through the process to purchase an investment property, I listed Bitcoin on my personal financial statement that I submitted to the bank - and they freaked out. That was the lightbulb moment. The idea has expanded since then and I believe that we will be able to leverage the power of Bitcoin and other cryptoassets to offer low cost consumer credit around the globe.

Why should individuals and corporations trust you with their Bitcoin or Ether?

BlockFi is the only lender in the crypto world that is backed by institutional investors. We also have protections in place, including a relationship with a third party servicer and trust company, to ensure that funds are safe. To top that off, we have more state lending licenses that any other lender in the U.S. Our team is made of an incredible group of individuals with experience across fintech and banking. We know how the lending world works and we’re bringing that into the crypto ecosystem.

What separates you from competitors and is there room for everyone in the lending space?

First and most importantly from a potential borrowers’ perspective - we are the most affordable and trustworthy option on the market. Not having a token built in to our model means we can focus on delivering a great user experience without subject-to-change offers or confusing token incentives - all of which have worked poorly to date. Yes, there is room for multiple lenders in the market, and we expect to see multiple players build large businesses in this area, but we think it is unlikely that the future of cryptoasset lending has a focus on a utility token.

Would you say the convenience of lending platforms make them dangerous or efficient?

Efficient. We need to put crypto on par with other, more established asset classes like stocks. The benefit of having a functioning debt market far outweighs the cost of any increased risk to individuals or the system. Additionally, we are actually a very conservative form of lending compared to other options in the market. Leverage is already available in the ecosystem and we aren’t the best option if that’s what you’re looking for. BitMEX, for example, enables 100 to 1 leverage for BTC and 50 to 1 leverage for ETH. That’s a high-risk, high-reward activity.

What long-term impact do you envision BlockFi making to the crypto space?

We envision ourselves as becoming a leading provider of debt and credit in the spot market. This will take different forms over time and a loan is just step one. Ultimately, our success will result in large amounts of institutional capital flowing in to the sector and for cryptoassets to be viewed as one of the best retail assets in the world - because they are so easily financeable.

To read the full interview and learn more about the BlockFi platform, visit here.

BITS

An official from South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has proposed greater international cooperation between regulators for crypto and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) regulation.
The European Union won't rush to regulate cryptocurrencies any time soon.
A majority of accredited and retail investors plan to increase their crypto asset holdings over the next 12 months.

TODAY IN CRYPTO

Bancor (BNT)

Unblock Community

Founders of the biggest blockchain communities will gather in Hong Kong to attend Unblock Community Conference from Sep 9-10.

PROOF | SOURCE

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LEARN THE LINGO

Public Key

noun

A public key is a cryptographic code that allows a user to receive cryptocurrencies into his or her account.

COIN OF THE DAY

Airbloc (ABL)
AIRBLOC is a decentralized personal data protocol where individuals would be able to monetize their data, and advertisers would be able to buy these data to conduct targeted marketing campaigns for higher ROIs.
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