Bitcointe

Are you looking for a platform with advanced crypto trading capabilities, top-notch security and high liquidity? WhiteBIT exchange offers a margin trading terminal, smart staking and many other features and advantages. As part of its user-centric approach, WhiteBIT also supports withdrawing up to 2 bitcoin per day without KYC.

Leverage Your Crypto on the WhiteBIT Exchange

WhiteBIT is an Estonian-registered virtual currency exchange which was launched back in 2018. While the platform mainly focuses on European and CIS countries, it has a global user base of more than 300,000 traders in over 190 countries around the world. Enabling the company to support this large user base and develop new innovative tools, the WhiteBIT team has over 100 employees including about 65 experienced blockchain developers.

One of the most impressive innovative tools developed by the WhiteBIT team is the exchange’s margin trading terminal. Very popular for years among currency and stock traders, margin trading empowers traders to potentially earn much more than they can by just buying an asset that rises in value. In the crypto exchange market, however, few platforms can offer users the ability to leverage their assets with margin trading and just a handful of exchanges can actually offer an advanced margin terminal like WhiteBIT.

The WhiteBIT margin terminal was launched with 5X leverage, meaning traders can earn up to five times more what they can with the same investment on a non margin trading platform, and it will enable up to 25X leverage. It supports advanced order types such as limit order, stop limit, stop market, and conditional orders.

Smart Staking, Referrals and Other Advantages

WhiteBIT offers a variety of other advantages to users beyond its advanced trading capabilities. One of the most powerful features of the platform is smart staking, which allows you to earn interest on the assets you hold in exchange to providing the liquidity needed for margin trading. For example, with a WhiteBIT 360-day SMART Staking plan for USDT you can make a whopping 30% APR (annual percentage rate). This is an amazing offer of 30% yearly interest rate on tether, but the platform offers many more plans for other time scales, starting at just 10 days, and other assets such as BTC and DASH.

For users looking for additional ways to earn crypto beyond trading, WhiteBIT also offers a referral program that allows you to receive 40% of the trading fees paid by the people you have referred to the exchange. Other advantages of the platform include very low fees, instant withdrawals, 24/7 customer support, an API for programmers and a variety of fiat gateways such as Advcash, Perfect Money, Qiwi, Yandex, Visa & Mastercard.

Another notable advantage of WhiteBIT is that it offers users access to the crypto market without KYC – you can trade, make limitless deposits, and withdraw up to 2 bitcoin a day without the need to submit any personal documents and wait for approval as you would on other platforms. At the same time the exchange puts a focus on developing top-notch security capabilities, such as safeguarding the majority of funds in cold storage, using anti-phishing software and enabling two-factor authentication for all users.

To learn more about all of the advantages of trading with WhiteBIT go to the exchange’s website and sign up right now.

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New CoinDesk 20 Assets, Q4 2020, Quarterly Volume Change

Kyber 2020 Quarterly Volume by Trusted Exchange

Former CoinDesk 20 Assets, Volume Change, 2020 Q3 Over Q2

• Lebanon announces its plans to go crypto next year in a report that was sent out today.
• The country is joining crypto forces because it wants to boost confidence in its banking system and restore trust.
• The country has been exploring going crypto since 2019.

Lebanon announces plans to go crypto

Lebanon announces its plans to go crypto next year in a report that was sent out today. The country is joining crypto forces because it wants to boost confidence in its banking system and restore trust.

The country has been exploring going crypto since 2019. Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh said that the country had contemplated a cashless transaction system but had to resolve the problems faced with money laundering and security at the time.

Once Lebanon has joined the crypto sphere, it can enter many countries on their way to becoming crypto. The Block’s report suggests that many torn countries have welcomed crypto because they have had no choice.

The emerging digital market has revealed the limitations some countries face when it comes to their banking systems. Crypto assets like Bitcoin and private stablecoins such as Libra had ignited discussions on what should be expected from a banking system.

The Blocks report highlights how countries believe there has been a change in the banking system’s perception due to cryptocurrencies becoming more widely used.

What the document also showcases is that Central Bank Digital Currency is growing around the world. Blockset and KPMG commissioned the white paper with the help of HashKey Capital.

The report was a necessary examination of the extensive history of how countries have pondered and strategized going digital throughout time.

At AdEx Network, we’re committed to building the future of advertising: over the last couple of years, we’ve gone to market with the first ad network where payments are decentralized, running on Ethereum payment channels.

Today, we’ve reached a new milestone in our development — officially unveiling our decentralized governance system, which enables our community and ADX token holders to participate in important decisions for our future.

It’s based on Snapshot, a novel off-chain gasless governance portal, and it’s using our new governance token, ADX-LOYALTY, which is minted by participating in the loyalty pool.

The first proposal is about the ADX incentives for the Tom pool — and more specifically the amount of ADX to be distributed to stakers during 2021.

Back in August, we announced new ADX incentives for the Tom pool; these have massively improved ADX tokenomics. To date, nearly 4 million ADX rewards have been distributed and close to 29 million ADX have been staked, resulting in around 25 million ADX being removed from the market.

We’ve also been able to sustain a ~50% APY despite the end of the farming craze.

Given the success of these incentives, it’s only logical to continue in 2021. We’ve created a proposal to determine the exact amount, given the tradeoffs.

The proposal can be found here: 🗳 Tom pool: what should the ADX incentive be in 2021.

Our governance mechanism can be used for various things. For example, to change the staking pool parameters, such as loyalty pool price-issuance steps, Validator-Tom pool staking incentives, publisher and advertiser incentives, etc.. Another example is changing protocol parameters: minimum validator fees, maximum earners from a payment channel (campaign), and so on.

Furthermore, proposals may be submitted for development grants or other ecosystem grants — keep in mind, anyone can submit a proposal, so feel free to do so for any significant improvement suggestion you may have!

As we mentioned, you can only vote if you hold ADX-LOYALTY tokens. The loyalty pool is limited to 25 million ADX staked and works on a first-come, first-served basis. Currently, over 16 million tokens are already staked in that pool already.

You get ADX-LOYALTY by staking ADX in the loyalty pool on our portal. To obtain ADX, you can use multiple exchanges such as Binance, Upbit, Uniswap, Balancer and others.

To verify if you have ADX-LOYALTY, go to Etherscan and check your address, it should show under your token balances. You can also make it show in Metamask by using “Add custom token”. The token contract address is 0xd9A4cB9dc9296e111c66dFACAb8Be034EE2E1c2C.

After you’re done, you can simply go to snapshot.page and vote on any of the proposals or submit your own.

Yes! Just by holding ADX-LOYALTY, you incur an interest in ADX based on the current price, as specified by a Chainlink oracle — a concept we’ve dubbed “elastic issuance” — you can read more about it in the original announcement.

Keep in mind that for your vote to count, you have to keep your ADX-LOYALTY in your wallet until the snapshot block of the given proposal.

At this stage, proposals are not binding unless specified otherwise, but we intend to stick by the outcomes of the proposals submitted by us unless there are unforeseen reasons not do so.

In the future, we’ll transition towards binding proposals, using Aragon’s optimistic DAOs that will work seamlessly with Snapshot.

Developers of the Sharktron Defi have exit scammed with reports suggesting that TRX tokens worth up to $10 million are missing. The Tron Foundation has confirmed the theft but is quick to inform Sharktron token holders that a portion of the missing funds has been frozen. The exit scam comes a few weeks after the Sharktron devs issued a press release inviting investors to buy the token.

Binance Freezes Part of Stolen Funds

However, Justin Sun’s Tron Foundation, seemingly too eager to get past this event, has issued a response on Twitter. The statement, which does not state the value of funds stolen, says:

Regarding the shark incident, we have contacted Binance and worked together on chasing down the funds and people behind this. A portion of the funds has been frozen on Binance. If you were a victim in this case, please file a police report and work with law enforcement to seek recovery. We will be also working with all exchanges to track the rest of the funds and protect the interest of the Tron communities.

Sharktron, which issued a press release about the Defi project in October, claims the project’s “main task is to create a complete platform autonomy with a gradual transition to self-management by community members.”

However, shortly after the press statement, users on Twitter began querying the Defi project’s claims of high returns in a very short space of time. Some began making the scam allegations after token holders reported problems accessing the Sharktron website.

Red Flags Ignored

According to one report, Twitter users repeatedly warned Sun about the fraudulent nature of the Sharktron project. However, the report says Sun “ignored the red flags.” The Sharktron protocol is listed on another Sun creation, the Justswap decentralized exchange (DEXs).

In addition, the report states that despite the mounting concerns and complaints, the Justswap platform still gave its seal of approval to the Sharktron project by whitelisting it.

Meanwhile, some Twitter users reacted to the Tron Foundation’s tweet by asking for a fair reimbursement process. A Twitter user named Brindan SC writes:

I lose 357500 TRX …Please allocate frozen funds to all investors as a percentage of their investment..

In October, the Tron Foundation announced it will be reimbursing TRX holders that cannot access their tokens on the Okex crypto exchange. It remains to be seen if the foundation is going to repeat the same compensation plan following the Sharktron exit scam.

In the meantime, other Twitter users believe that Sun and his Tron Foundation may be complicit in this scam just as he has been with other scams.

What should be the formula when reimbursing recovered stolen funds? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

1. Increased institutional participation

2. Supply crunch

3. Technical breakout

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Blockchain struck society like a lightning storm on the plains. Fast and sudden. Over 10 years ago, a whitepaper was produced unveiling the technology and within seven years, families were discussing the topic over dinner, state legislators were passing bills, and CEOs were being asked for a “blockchain plan” by their Board. Some industries moved quickly to apply the capability, realize benefits, and progress networks from concept to production. Others continue to weigh the pros of transparency, digital contracts, and near real-time processing against the shift of working more closely with the value chain, applying new technology, and the integration with existing systems and data.

Fortunately, the toy industry has the opportunity to define how the collaboration, trust, and validation principles of blockchain will be applied at the asset, information and financial levels. The work done in other industries makes the path to benefits easier and offers lessons learned in building and presents the chance to leverage existing networks.

“Blockchain presents a unique framework to bring together suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, transporters, retailers and customers to deliver authentic products in a more efficient manner. The real question is will we see a full industry effort, or will we see smaller groups get together and collaborate?” – Paul Vitale, The Toy Association, Inc

Learn how industries are revolutionizing business with IBM Blockchain

Playing well together with blockchain

To illustrate some of the most likely industry applications of blockchain in the toy industry, let’s look through the lens of a fictitious toy manufacturer, ToyTime. ToyTime operates three divisions: child development, collectibles in The Artisan’s Line by ToyTime, and characters for electronic games. Distribution is primarily in the United States with international sourcing for raw materials. They distribute to national and local retailers, sell directly through a growing ecommerce channel, and contract with several independent distributors. End consumers and distributors praise ToyTime for their great customer service, especially the way they personally handle ordering and delivery challenges.

While ecommerce and retail sales have exceeded plan and ToyTime continues to invest in the channels, many opportunities to improve the entire business remain. Specific needs include:

• Improving settlement time, effort and amount
• Meeting the desire of their consumers to know a product is authentic and made in a socially responsible manner
• Providing more visibility into the availability of a product

While further understanding needs and determining the best approach, ToyTime has uncovered other companies that have been addressing similar situations and already started looking at how blockchain can be a catalyst for change. Let’s explore a few scenarios and identify what is being done in similar industries using blockchain.

Faster and more accurate settlement

Settlement for ToyTime officially begins upon receipt from a supplier and upon receipt by a customer. However, settlement starts much sooner than when it is time to send or receive funds. Most of the incoming and fulfilment orders are governed by a contract. Each contract can be unique and as a result, many people are involved in disputes on over/short/damaged/time delayed orders. Sometimes the disputes remain open for months which can leave a large amount of accounts open requiring a significant amount of time by the finance department to determine the correct amount due.

Blockchain moment #1: Can ToyTime encode the terms of the contract into a digital smart contract and based upon receipt and tolerance of over/short/damaged, pay and be paid at the agreed time and amount while providing the facts of the product movement onto a shared ledger for faster resolution?

Parallel situation: Today, major appliance providers have been working with a notable national chain order-to-cash process to drive down the number of disputes, resolution time, and dollars in question. Separately, ToyTime, like other major companies, could expedite their supplier onboarding process, lower their cost to maintain supplier information, and reduce supplier data errors with the use of the Trust Your Supplier solution. In fact, some companies are moving every one of their suppliers into a blockchain solution with support from SAP Ariba.

Spotlight fraud, recall with confidence

ToyTime’s customers and consumers want to know the authenticity of the product. ToyTime wants to protect their intellectual property and take swift irrefutable action against illegal reproductions. Also, should a situation arise where they must do a recall due to a faulty part, raw material, packaging, or any other reason, ToyTime and the ecosystem want to move quickly and efficiently to minimize any risk of harm.

Blockchain moment #2: Can ToyTime digitize and share the journey from raw material to customer’s hands and, when necessary, provide a rapid way to determine where products are located for recall?

Parallel situations: The mining industry has been working on conflict mineral blockchain efforts for a couple years. The ability now exists to track resources through the supply chain capturing each event and the critical data to validate and verify authenticity. The items not identified in the network are then known as not authentic allowing downstream buyers to make informed decisions. The emergence of digital twins and QR code use have helped to tell a product’s story, authenticity, and journey to the consumer. For recalls, Walmart’s blockchain learnings can be shared across industries. When conducting a trace on leafy green vegetables, identification of the product’s origin dropped from nearly seven days down to 2.2 seconds with blockchain. This allows for faster recall execution and consumer notification in the event of a foodborne illness threat.

Improve inventory levels

In recent corporate earnings reports, the word conservative has been used to describe inventory levels. What is conservative in a period where supply chains have been greatly disrupted due to demand swings? ToyTime has had difficulty ensuring supply and therefore is pushing out delivery dates and reallocating product using their best analytics tools with the data they have in-house.

Blockchain moment #3: How can ToyTime understand material and finished goods inventories up and downstream while also seeing sales information to best match demand and supply?

Parallel situations: Today large consumer products companies are tracking the ocean journey of their materials and finished goods using blockchain. A large distributor has also used blockchain and sensors in moving inventory downstream and adjusting transportation and ordering levels based on up to the minute inventory levels. Over time, the analytics on blockchain data unveiled an opportunity to reduce one shipment per week while maintaining stock levels.

Sharing your toys

Companies like ToyTime see the value that blockchain can play as they look for next generation’s solutions. Getting started involves making sure the return on investment is clear for all participants, the identification of the critical data can be shared, and a methodology can be followed to bring the formation and expansion of the network.

As the toy industry looks ahead, how will large and small retailers, suppliers, regulatory agencies, associations, testing agencies, financial institutions come together to improve customer experience, lower costs and risks? Toy industry leaders working together can unlock the benefits of blockchain for the entire industry.

How to get started with IBM Blockchain now

The game-changing Ethereum 2.0 release is finally around the corner, and we at Stkr continue to make sure that our users are fully prepared for ETH staking!

Today, we have released the website of our decentralized protocol and platform, and the very first version of the mainnet deposit contract.

Cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay, which claims to have a user base of over 3 million users in India, is now exploring broader crypto market opportunities, such as digital collectibles.

With its launch of a new marketplace called Dazzle, Zebpay has chosen to expand into the non-fungible token space. NFTs are unique but tradeable blockchain assets, which can be used to represent all manner of virtual and real-world goods.

NFTs are unlike cryptocurrencies in that they can carry unique metadata and vary in their degree of rarity. They are increasingly becoming popular for tokenizing markets as diverse as video game items, digital art and fantasy sports.

A Zebpay representative told Cointelegraph that the exchange is seeking to promote blockchain engagement beyond cryptocurrencies among India’s 5 million active crypto investors. In areas such as the digital art market, the exchange believes NFTs could offer Indian artists new opportunities to protect their digital copyrights and monetize their work. The representative further noted that the NFT global market has now hit $100 million in total value, and growing, making it a promising sector.  

For now, the marketplace is launching with Zebpay’s native NFT, called Dazzle. Zebpay’s representative said that the exchange plans to distribute tokens to members through various programs:

“We’ll start with reward tokens offering zero membership or trading fees: some to our most loyal and active members, some as random airdrops, and some through fun contests. We probably will never sell them. We want to seed the ecosystem and let our members grow it organically. If they want to trade their NFTs, they can.” 

As reported, a wide range of franchises — from top soccer clubs to Formula 1 — are increasingly recognizing branded digital collectibles, NFT auctions, and other blockchain-based ecosystems as efficient means to monetize fan engagement and construct markets for online viral phenomena and trends.

Blockchain developers such as Vitalik Buterin have long identified these diverse applications as a potential route for the technology to gain traction among more varied markets, beyond retail and professional digital asset trading.

PRESS RELEASE. Cloudbet, the pioneering crypto casino and sportsbook, has officially launched an Argentina-focused service in response to the country’s surging interest in bitcoin and crypto gaming.

The platform has unveiled a country-specific site and blog to help Argentinians learn more about the benefits of betting with cryptocurrency, as well as the features that make Cloudbet a trusted leader in the world of crypto gaming: the best sports odds, the highest betting limits, a state-of-the-art bitcoin casino and a welcome bonus worth up to 5 BTC. Adding to that are Cloudbet’s world-class 24/7 live chat customer support services – in Spanish – to better manage Argentine players’ inquiries.

The operator chose Argentina as the first South American locale in which to launch a local language service based on its analysis of search interest in crypto gaming and bitcoin purchases in five countries on the continent. Curiosity in crypto gaming has increased along with surging cryptocurrency ownership, as Argentinians seek a hedge against the devaluation of the peso amid stringent government capital controls.

“Given the intense interest, we think that now is the perfect time to dedicate more resources to help Argentinians realise the benefits of betting with crypto,” a Cloudbet spokesperson said. “We intend to give Argentinian players more support and more bonuses to utilise on upcoming events within our casino. Crypto enables us to offer features that traditional operators can’t.”

Founded in 2013, Cloudbet is one of the world’s longest established bitcoin betting operators, with a trusted legacy in safely storing player deposits and processing withdrawals seamlessly on an intuitive user interface. The site also accepts ethereum, bitcoin cash, and added three stable coins – USD Tether, USD Coin and Pax Gold – in recent months.

“We’ve noted that stablecoins are increasingly relevant in Argentina, where individuals are looking to protect the value of their assets from the peso’s devaluation,” Cloudbet’s spokesperson said. “We intend to add more coins that are specifically appropriate for this market.”

The operator relaunched its site in April to attract a more diverse audience and has introduced a swathe of bold new features including esports, politics betting, virtual sports and easy credit-card coin purchases.

Cloudbet grabbed the attention of industry observers in June with an ambitious English Premier League campaign, under which its sportsbook charged no margin on pre-match bets for all games left in the season. That allowed customers to access the fairest prices — and therefore the highest returns — in the market.

The “zero margin” campaign was an extension of Cloudbet’s long-standing “best odds” campaigns on sports including soccer, basketball and tennis.

“Argentine sports fans can be assured that best prices will be offered on the competitions that they care about,” the spokesperson said. “We’re talking about the best odds on match-ups in the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores, and in next year’s Copa America.”

The Cloudbet Story

Cloudbet is a proud pioneer of crypto betting. Born in 2013 with a trailblazing spirit, Cloudbet embraced blockchain technology to give players privacy and financial freedom like never before. Since then, we have taken over 10 million bets, earning a reputation as the most trusted and secure name in the crypto-gaming space.

We wrote our own rules and audaciously created an industry we are highly respected in. But that’s just the beginning. As always, it’s what comes next that really excites us. We keep innovating, delivering world firsts time and time again.

Opportunities are boundless, and with the same passion and ambition that has taken us to the top, Cloudbet will keep enhancing the entertainment experience for players around the world.

We’re here to raise the game.

Press Contact Email Address
media@cloudbet.com

Supporting Link
https://www.cloudbet.com

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Dear Ambrosus community,

Here’s what the technical team has been working on in the past week. Starting today, after the release of this post, the Ambrosus Explorer will be updated to have the following features included. With this, information should be a little clearer, and we believe it is simpler than before. Find out what was added in the little summary below and don’t hesitate to let us know what you think.

Explorer 4.0.15

In our previous update the technical team implemented new features including transaction filtering, and the display of total bundles on the Atlas node page. Today, 4.0.15 will include a bundle list per Atlas masternode API on the backend, while on the frontend a bundle list per Atlas masternode page will be included. This feature provides Atlas masternode operators with more elaborate masternode details.

Find Ambrosus on:

Twitter | Telegram | GitHub

Hathor Labs is pleased to announce that our team has grown and we are adding Guto Martino as our Marketing Manager.

As we get ready for 2021 with some big plans on our pipeline, Hathor believes that this is the right time to bring someone to guide our communication and our marketing strategy.

Guto will be responsible for leading the Hathor team on marketing decisions but also to deep dive into our communication strategy, marketing efforts, participations on AMAs and interviews.

Some of his duties as our Marketing Manager:

• Setting a “Tone of Voice” and a strategic pathway for the Hathor team to develop a consistent communication plan.
• Ensuring that our brand shines in and out of the blockchain/crypto space following our identity guidelines.
• Managing our communications channels, such as our institutional mailing list and social media channels.
• Running promotions and campaigns to help with brand awareness.
• Conduct internal and external research to understand how the Hathor team and our community could engage with other projects in the blockchain space.
• Working side by side with BlockUnify on a Community Strategy to combine our marketing and communications goals.
• Setting up a content creation team for Hathor and helping to establish our Community Rewards Program.
• Taking care of events be conducted by Hathor, such as conferences, monthly calls, hackathons and much more.
• Bringing potential partners to build and develop together on Hathor Network.
• Ensuring our company vision is aligned with our stakeholders, investors, advisors and especially with our community.

Having a linear relationship with our community is a primary goal for Hathor since the beginning, and Guto is here to ensure that we are bringing awareness to our milestones.

Hathor definitely had an exciting year in 2020. Our Mainnet went live in January together with fully-developed mobile and desktop wallets. At the same time, our community has grown more than 1000%, and we experienced a substantial hashrate increase on our blockchain.

For 2021, we intend to expand our team and to showcase what is being built using Hathor Network.

Some of our central focuses for next year are:

• Release of Nano Contracts tools,
• Interoperability by Side-DAGs,
• Large increase in the number of use cases and projects built on top of our network.

We believe that a strategic communication framework is essential to showcase to larger audiences what is happening on our network.

Guto is a Marketing Strategist and Creative Project Manager born in Brazil and since 2013 based in Berlin.

Since mid-2016 he has worked as a freelance Marketing Strategist for several companies, projects and organizations in the blockchain space, but also with startups and tech companies such as Soundcloud, betahaus and many others in the Berlin ecosystem.

Previously, his primary focus was on events and conferences as Dezentral (1Kx) and Data Natives and as a member of Berlin Blockchain Week communication team. He was also part of the Department of Decentralization (formerly known as ETHBerlin), where he took part in the production of the GörliCon and EthBerlinZwei.

Guto is also part of the NEAR Protocol Marketing Guild and is an active member of KarmaDAO. He is a longtime enthusiast of DAOs, decentralization, NFTs and, more than anything, crypto adoption.

Twitter — https://twitter.com/gutomartino
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/gutomartino/

4 min read 

This year the US presidential election was fraught with a lot of anxiety and it is clearly reflected on the market. A raging pandemic caused a massive increase in mail voting numbers and for many Americans the election day came much earlier. Early voting was available weeks before the election day, depending on the state. The counting of all ballots held the election results unknown for several days after the official voting day, November 3, up until last weekend. 

The outcome

According to the US election rules, the candidate has to receive 270 votes to win the election. As a preliminary result of the election race, Joe Biden won with a result of 290 votes. However, the final results will be announced on December 14, once the presidential electors of the Electoral College will turn in their votes. Moreover, Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, has not agreed with the election results and filed legal challenges disputing the election results and calling for votes recount. 

The market

Though the final decision has not been settled yet, the markets have already reacted to Biden’s preliminary victory. The US dollar sharply decreased in price, while global stocks hit new highs on expectations for the US foreign policy reset: the trade policy under the new administration is expected to be less confrontational as Joe Biden seems to wish to repair ties with Europe and China. European stocks remain mostly on the rise also due to the news about the efficiency of the coronavirus vaccine that the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer released on Monday. 

Crude Oil also seems to be climbing higher and the market volatility may continue since the election results are not finalized yet.

How to trade?

Times of uncertainty bring higher volatility to the markets and it creates more opportunity for traders, which both short-term and long-term traders may benefit from. However, it also increases the risks associated with trading, as the markets become more unpredictable. Stock and Forex traders may keep an eye on the market news in order to quickly adapt their strategy if the asset shows unfavorable performance. Traders may also utilize technical indicators to evaluate the asset performance. 

The most important thing to remember is to utilize risk management strategies at all times. Setting investment limits and keeping a tight stop loss may help traders manage their capital and minimize risks. 

Trade now

NOTE: This article is not an investment advice. Any references to historical price movements or levels is informational and based on external analysis and we do not warranty that any such movements or levels are likely to reoccur in the future.
In accordance with European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) requirements, binary and digital options trading is only available to clients categorized as professional clients.

GENERAL RISK WARNING

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.
85% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

According to a new report, the depreciation of some currencies against the U.S. dollar is contributing to the declining international remittances. After touching an all-time high of $548 billion in 2019, the World Bank report now projects remittances to drop 7.2% in 2020 to $508 billion and a further decline of 7.5% to $470 billion in 2021.

Volatile Currencies

In its Migration and Development Brief 33, the World Bank details how the Covid-19 induced currency depreciation has affected the flow of global remittances. In the brief, the authors point to the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the source currencies for remittances. Detailing how this has affected the flow of remittances from Russia, the report says:

The weakening of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, by over 26% since the beginning of 2020, has reduced remittances from Russia in U.S. dollar terms. Remittances to Central Asia have therefore declined significantly.

The World Bank data indeed projects that remittances sent from Europe and Central Asia will register the sharpest decline (globally) of 16% in 2020. On the other hand, remittance flows to Latin America, and the Caribbean are expected to decline by just 0.2% in 2020.

Still, the report identifies the other “foremost factors” driving this decline as the “weak economic growth and uncertainties around jobs” particularly in the case of the United States and European countries. For oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia however, it is the weak prices for the commodity that are driving down the flow of remittances.

Impact of Digital Remittances

Meanwhile, after detailing the impact of Covid-19 and the associated mobility restrictions, the World Bank report goes on to assert that formal recognition of “digital remittances” will help to keep funds flowing even in tough times. The report continues:

“Governments must support remittance infrastructure, including by recognizing remittance services as essential, reducing the burden of remittance fees on migrants, incentivizing digital money transfers, and mitigating factors that prevent customers or service providers of digital remittances from accessing banking services.”

Although the World Bank report fails to specifically identify cryptocurrencies as one of the digital remittances it is touting, studies and reports already show the increasing use of crypto assets when remitting by some migrant groups.

For instance, a news.Bitcoin.com report suggests that there is a growing use of cryptocurrencies as rails for remitting funds across borders. A different report also shows a marked growth in peer-to-peer trade volumes after countries imposed lockdown restrictions.

Covid-19 restrictions may have inadvertently increased the appeal of cryptocurrencies. The second wave of growing infections and the resultant restrictions will only reinforce their place in this new normal. As the World Bank has advised, countries can reduce the impact of such restrictions by embracing digital remittances.

Do you agree that digital remittances can halt the declining flow of funds? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

German soccer club FC Bayern Munich, which plays in the country’s Bundesliga, is entering the world of blockchain-based fantasy soccer.

The Ethereum blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare, which Bayern joined this week, already counts over 100 participant clubs, including high-profile names such as Paris Saint-German, Juventus, PSG, and Atletico Madrid.

FC Bayern Munich is itself no stranger to collaborations with blockchain projects, having partnered last fall with Stryking Entertainment to produce digital collectibles of its players. These cards are both collectible and playable as part of a fantasy-league style challenge. 

In announcing its Sorare deal to fans, FC Bayern Munich noted that the top 20 leagues in the world are now available on the gaming platform, which has become truly global. 

Sorare works as a five-a-side soccer game. New players pick an initial squad of 10 blockchain-based player cards from which they create their tournament team. 

As reported, Sorare also offers players the chance to buy and trade limited edition cards, whose higher score and value is determined by players’ real-life performance in soccer league tables and their rarity as digital collectibles.

According to Nonfungible, a ranking site for blockchain games and issuers of collectible, non-fungible tokens, Sorare is inching up the league tables and has been gaining popularity with the global gaming community. 

As of press time, the platform is ranked third, with a weekly trading volume of roughly $243,000. However, in terms of all-time-sales, Sorare significantly trails behind Axie Infinity, which reports roughly triple the sales of the fantasy soccer market.

Sorare has recently launched in the United States, where the platform hopes to attract some of the 60 million American fantasy sports players.