Mastercard, one of the world’s top global payment system providers, has onboarded several cryptocurrency and blockchain small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to expand its fintech accelerator programme, it announced on Thursday.
Mastercard’s Start Path programme onboarded seven additional fintech startups in a bid to train, deploy, and grow crypto and blockchain-based companies using its payments system platform.
The latest cohort consists of the following companies:
- Loot Bolt, a US company building communities with Web3-based social payment systems.
- Quadrata, who uses privacy-focused, Sybil-resistant solutions to enhance compliance public blockchains and reduce reputational risk
- Stable, a Colombian company providing peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and global remittances using stablecoin and related technologies.
- Digital Treasures Center (DTC), a Singapore-based company providing transactional technologies via card, crypto, and cash, using its DTC Pay platform
- Fasset, an Abu Dhabi digital asset exchange for emerging markets building Web3 use cases for customers to buy, sell, and own digital assets.
- Take Back the Mic (TBTM) has developed a world-first blockchain media fintech company to reward creatives and fans with monetised content platform.
- Uptop, a US-based company with a place for brands to build customer relationships and provide shoppers with bespoke rewards
In its statement, Mastercard explained that fintech firms played a “major role in digital transformation” with new ideas, customisation, and more choice for enterprises and consumers.
It continued: “We believe collaboration across the crypto ecosystem is essential to delivering the right solutions at the right time. From our experience innovating payments and building a global network, we believe it’s more likely that we’ll see a hybrid economy that combines the benefits of Web3 technology with existing financial infrastructure.”
Start Path Background
Mastercard launched its accelerator programme in 2014 as a six-month course designed to expand and commercialise startup solutions. Over 350 firms have joined the initiative, with startups such as Thought Machine and Zeta and Razorpay reaching unicorn status.
Start Path’s latest cryptocurrency-focused division, Start Path Crypto, opened in 2021 with a three-month programme to back crypto companies receiving seed, Series A, and Series B funding.
The news follows developments in mid-October after Mastercard unveiled its Crypto SourceTM programme, which builds crypto solutions and services for financial institutions.
The fintech giant offered a full suite of services for buying, selling, and holding crypto assets along with security and advisory services, building security and compliance capabilities for the global ecosystem.
The Bitcoin Yardstick, a metric coined by Charles Edwards, chief executive of asset management at Capriole, has hit near record lows following the 2017 bull market run.
He said in a recent tweet that the Bitcoin Yardstick was “a very simple, rule-of-thumb Bitcoin valuation tool”, but was “not investment advice.”
Edwards, whose measurement calculates the ratio of Bitcoin market capitalisation to hash rate, believes that Bitcoin is oversold more than most coins, indicating how cheap buyers can purchase BTC.
Introducing: The Bitcoin Yardstick
— Charles Edwards (@caprioleio) November 2, 2022
Today we are seeing valuations unheard of since Bitcoin was $4K.
A very simple, rule-of-thumb Bitcoin valuation tool.
Bitcoin Yardstick = market-cap / hash-rate, normalized over 2 years of data.
As always: not investment advice.
A short🧵 pic.twitter.com/bsFk0hh9ra
Current figures show that Bitcoin’s hash rate has hit record highs, with prices falling 75 percent since its last price spike in November last year.
Speaking further in his Twitter thread, he said the Yardstick method takes the “ratio of energy work done to secure the Bitcoin network in relation to price.”
He added: “Lower readings = cheaper Bitcoin = better value.”
Concluding, he stated: “This means that on a relative basis, Bitcoin is extraordinarily cheap given the amount of energy being used on what is the most powerful computer network in the world.”
Here’s an application of the Bitcoin Yardstick which identifies when Bitcoin is:
— Charles Edwards (@caprioleio) November 2, 2022
– Cheap: Yardstick > 1 deviation under the mean
– Risky: Yardstick > 2 deviations above the mean
– Expensive: Yardstick > 3 deviations above the mean
3/6 pic.twitter.com/ZVabEBQD3x
Investors interested in following his Bitcoin Yardstick equation can visit Glassnode Studio for updates.
The Bitcoin Yardstick cits the proof-of-work (PoW) concept based on the mining algorithm for the cryptocurrency network’s storage and growth value over time, as evidenced by the Bitcoin Standard authored by Saifedean Ammous.
Sources also indicate the power required for the Bitcoin network is much less than the value of traded cryptocurrencies, with crypto miners and firms alleging of unfair valuation rates.
Huobi, a Chinese crypto trading platform, announced plans on Tuesday it would relocate to the Caribbean in a surprise move, the Financial Times reported.
The firm stated in its report it may potentially choose the Dominican Republic, Panama, or the Bahamas for their “super-friendly” positions on cryptocurrencies and English language use, the Financial Times reported, Justin Sun, Huobi board member, said at the time.
He said: “These days, one of the biggest targets we have here is to go all in the Caribbean.”
The company is currently headquartered in Seychelles and has offices in South Korea, Hong Kong, the US, and Japan. The company could move roughly 200 workers to the new location, FT wrote.
The news comes after Huobi officials visited Roosevelt Skerrit, the country’s Prime Minister, to build Domenica’s cryptocurrency networks, technologies, and infrastructure.
Other companies registered in the Caribbean include FTX, C-Trade, Binance, and PrimeBit.
Layoff Rumours
The news comes amid rumours the company would launch a wave of layoffs amid the ongoing cryptocurrency bear market.
Chinese cryptocurrency blogger Colin Wu said in recent reports Huobi planned to shed some of its staff after Capital Management (HK) Co Ltd bought out the firm, becoming its controlling shareholder.
About Capital CEO Ted Chen and H.E. Justin Sun share their vision for Huobi Global after acquisition.@justinsuntron said: “Our key focus will be on supporting the Huobi Token (HT) .”https://t.co/fvfJEYAzZ6
— Huobi (@HuobiGlobal) October 10, 2022
In October, About Capital Management (HK) Co. Ltd, a Hong Kong based-asset management firm, became Huobi Global’s controlling shareholder following a successful buyout deal.
In an official statement, Ted Chen, chief executive of About Capital Management and Sun issued a joint statement refuting claims of the layoffs, adding it had a “healthy cash flow.”
Concluding, Sun said: “Having completed its exit from the mainland China market, Huobi Global will be embarking on a series of branding activities and business developments after the acquisition. Instead of releasing new tokens, our key focus will be on supporting the Huobi Token (HT) to strengthen its place in the virtual assets industry.”
Bitcoin (BTC) may be entering the end of its bear market cycle, predictions from analytics firm Glassnode have noted this week.
Data from the firm has hinted that the market may have reached its macro price bottom due to ongoing seller behaviours.
The analysis from the website’s Seller Exhaustion Constant also revealed that the BTC network was weathering its “perfect storm” of high on-chain losses.
In the latest hint that Bitcoin’s latest bear market is nearing its end, Glassnode has revealed that the network is currently weathering a “perfect storm” of low volatility and high on-chain losses.
Twitter posts indicated that the rarity of the market bottom would result in upside volatility, ending the bear market.
The #Bitcoin seller exhaustion constant has recorded the lowest value since November 2018.
— glassnode (@glassnode) November 3, 2022
This metric reaches such levels when volatility is low, but losses realized on-chain are high.
6-of-7 similar levels in the past preceded volatility to the upsidehttps://t.co/RZf0bn2UQB pic.twitter.com/YFta3DTrkV
According to the Thursday tweet, the Bitcoin seller exhaustion constant had “recorded the lowest value since November 2018.”
Such metrics took place with low volatility, but “losses realized on-chain are high.”
The tweet concluded that “6-of-7 similar levels in the past preceded volatility to the upside.”
1/ Bitcoin’s short-term holder cost basis has crossed below its long-term holder cost basis for only the 4th time ever.
— Yassine Elmandjra (@yassineARK) October 4, 2022
This cross historically marks a cyclical bottom.
New edition of The Bitcoin Monthly is officially out, feat guest author @WClementeIIIhttps://t.co/qiQWSZ9yJr pic.twitter.com/O6EQLxbnlq
ARK Invest and David Puell, who created the Puell Multiple indicated, created the Seller Exhaustion Constant.
According to Yassine Elmandjra, it is calculated by “the percentage of bitcoin total circulating supply in profit multiplied by its volatility over the last 30 days.”
He said in a Friday tweet that Bitcoin’s short-term holder cost basis had “crossed below its long-term holder cost basis for only the [fourth] time ever.”
He concluded: “This cross historically marks a cyclical bottom.”
El Salvador president Nayib Bukele has posted on Twitter several BTC buyouts after the country positioned Bitcoin as a mainstream legal tender.
Despite this, national state development bank BANDESAL blocked anti-corruption watchdog ALAC El Salvador from receiving key information about its activities in Bitcoin transactions.
The news comes after BANDESAL launched a $150 million trust fund to facilitate liquidity of the coin for those using it for individual and business use.
#BITCOIN | En septiembre, @BANDESAL, encargado del Fideicomiso Bitcoin, denegó entregar información por segunda vez sobre la compra y venta de #Bitcoin por parte del gobierno de @nayibbukele, alegando reserva. Informó @ALAC_SV. pic.twitter.com/KE6EiqqBAT
— FOCOS (@focostv) October 31, 2022
The development bank blocked ALAC El Salvador from receiving the data, citing confidentiality. The latter later hit back, stating the bank purchased BTC with public money.
The organisation said in a statement: “The confidentiality limits the possibility for citizens to access and receive information on the operations carried out with public funds by BANDESAL.”
BANDESAL responded, stating it could not share information on its Bitcoin Trust (FIDEBITCOIN) due to national interests. According to public data, El Salvador bought up 2,301 BTC to date, which plummeted from $103.9 million to $45 million over the last year.
The news comes after Spain beat El Salvador as the world’s top spot for crypto after the United States and Canada at 34,345 and 2,653, respectively, data from CoinATMRadar revealed.
Congress Backs Crypto
The news comes after Bukele adopted cryptocurrencies as a national tender for the country following a successful 62-22 vote in favour of the measure in June last year.
Approval of the digital currency would allow citizens abroad to remit money back to their families as the country does not have a sovereign coin, instead relying on the US Dollar.
Bukele said in a statement at the time the move would “bring financial inclusion, investment, tourism, innovation and economic development for our country.”
The Monetary Exchange of Singapore (MAS) has issued a stern warning to cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the nation to comply with ongoing Russian sanctions.
According to reports, Singapore’s central bank stated it would take action after alleged research found pro-Russian groups had received millions in crypto donations amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Numerous Russian entities, including individuals, institutions, and companies, have faced US and European Union (EU) sanctions over the last few months since the onset of the conflict in February.
The news comes after the EU slapped its eighth sanctions package on Moscow, which bans all cryptocurrency exchanges from operating in Russia.
Previous sanctions regimes limited Russian-EU crypto transactions to payments of $10,000 or less.
The news comes just months after Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister and minister in charge of MAS, responded to Parliamentary questions that his institution required all financial entities to comply with measures regardless of whether they were decentralised or traditional channels, reports show.
Crypto Pushback Against Blanket Ban
The news comes months after Coinbase and Binance, the world’s top two crypto exchanges, rejected a blanket ban across Russian platform users amid the ongoing conflict.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted in early March: “We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise.”
8/ Some ordinary Russians are using crypto as a lifeline now that their currency has collapsed. Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would hurt them, too. That said, if the US government decides to impose a ban, we will of course follow those laws.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 4, 2022
He continued in his thread, stating: “Some ordinary Russians are using crypto as a lifeline now that their currency has collapsed. Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would hurt them too. That said, if the US government decides to impose a ban, we will of course follow those laws.”
At the time, Binance also said it would not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts.”
According to Reuters, Bitcoin prices spike after the conflict, namely after users moved their money and assets in anonymised crypto wallets. It is believed users took such measures to avoid frozen assets after sanctions hit Russian banks.
In a recent speech, United Nations (UN) Countering Financing of Terrorism Coordinator said in a speech that terrorist organisations were increasingly turning to emerging technologies to finance operations.
She warned at her speech in New Delhi that increasing use of such decentralised and emerging tools could trigger the expansion of terrorist financing networks and operations.
Terrorist organisations blocked from the “formal financial system” are circumventing restrictions with cryptocurrencies, Svetlana Martynova, United Nations (UN) Countering Financing of Terrorism Coordinator said in a speech at a recent event.
At the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee’s Special Meeting from 28 to 29 October, the official discussed measures to tackle terrorist financing from “new and emerging technologies.”
She mentioned that using cash were “predominant methods” to finance terrorist activities, adding: “We know terrorists adapt to the evolution of conditions around them and as technologies evolve they adapt as well.” Hawala is a system for transferring money in Arab and South Asian nations.
#UNCTCEmergingTech pic.twitter.com/mGzrn2xufB
— United Nations CTED (@UN_CTED) October 29, 2022
She continued, stating: “If they’re excluded from the formal financial system and they want to purchase or invest in something with anonymity, and they’re advanced for that, they’re likely to abuse cryptocurrencies.”
The UN aimed to tackle the issue internationally by persuading nations to adopt resolutions from the bloc’s regulatory body, the UN Security Council, along with measures from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) she said, adding it was the main challenge.
She criticised some nations for failing to start working on and enforcing regulations for such threats.
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, echoed Martynova’s comments, explaining that emerging technologies improved the human condition but also had the potential to harm via terrorism financing.
He said: “Terrorists and others posing hateful ideologies are abusing new and emerging technologies to spread disinformation, foment discord, recruit and radicalize, mobilize resources and execute attacks.”
RAND Corporation and Crypto Terrorism
According to the RAND Corporation, several factors increased the likelihood of terrorist funding via cryptocurrencies, the organisation noted in a 2019 report.
It found that growth in the cryptocurrency market would “require increase reliability and more-widespread usage, leading to greater adoption of crypto financial systems, also in terrorist locations.
It also stated that second-generation cryptocurrencies with “advanced privacy features” could facilitate “more illicit use of these systems.”
Several superpowers such as the United States, China, and the European Union (EU) block bitcoin anonymity on exchanges, but decentralised platforms and countries with fewer or no regulations could create difficulties in tracing transactions.
Concluding, it added increased cryptocurrency use in “complementary and adjacent markets” could reveal growing use for terrorist organisations, including darknet and “illicit drugs and stolen identities” markets.
Argo Blockchain, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, issued a warning on Monday it may close its business due to a lack of funds.
The company mines cryptocurrencies, but has failed to receive substantial capital from investors, leaving it with a major shortage of funds to continue operations, it announced at the time.
New RNS today contains updates on the strategic actions disclosed on 10/7.
— Argo (@ArgoBlockchain) October 31, 2022
We no longer expect to close the equity subscription on the terms disclosed and we’re exploring other financing options.
We also sold 3,843 S19J Pro machines for $5.6m.
Full RNS: https://t.co/KthypzXCAT
In its tweet, the company said it had sold 3,843 S19J Pro coin mining machines for $5.6 million.
Despite seeking fresh financing, there was “no assurance” it would sign any definitive agreements or consummate transactions, it said in its notice.
Explaining further, the company said: “Should Argo be unsuccessful in completing any further financing, Argo would become cash flow negative in the near term and would need to curtail or cease operations.”
Additionally, it stated it aimed to complete financing transactions to earn enough “working capital sufficient for its present requirements” up to 12 months from the announcement, it explained.
It added it hoped to raise roughly £24 million using a subscription service for ordinary shares. Concluding, it explained: “Should Argo be unsuccessful in completing any further financing, Argo would become cash flow negative in the near term and would need to curtail or cease operations.”
Crypto Crash and Freeway Diversion
The news comes amid a major Bitcoin crash triggered in June, which saw the leading coin plummet to around $17,000 amid a volatile bear market. Following the incident, Argo sold 637 BTC and 887 BTC in June and July, respectively. It became a major seller of self-mined Bitcoins along with several other firms.
The news comes just a day after cryptocurrency platform Freeway halted several of its services amid rising instability in the current crypto market, forcing it to diversify assets to tackle the ongoing fluctuations.
Freeway later suspended its Supercharger simulation purchases amid its restructurings due to the “unprecedented volatility.”
Binance has remained open to unsanctioned Russian nationals following sweeping sanctions from the European Union (EU), a key executive told Cointelegraph on Friday.
Chagri Poyraz, Binance’s recently-appointed global head of sanctions, stated it had blocked several territories involved in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war such as Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia is one of Binance’s top ten markets, it noted in 2019.
In his interview, he noted there was “still an active war going on in the region” and that his company would continue to monitor developments with its massive workforce of compliance executives.
Roughly half of its 500 executives work with sanctions control mechanisms such as anti-money laundering and name screening, the report noted. He added Binance had “zero tolerance” for blocked accounts due to targeted sanctions directed at specific people or entities.
What are the Latest Sanctions?
He stated that EU sanctions were the “hardest part” and lacked clarity, namely after the bloc launched its eighth sanctions package. The firm claims it reached “no particular dialogue” with EU regulators.
Speaking further, he said: “We do obviously follow all the EU sanctions, but there is room for improvement when it comes to clarity. […] We are trying to follow sanctions as they are. The challenge is not overdoing, doing what you’ve been told. The regulation has to be clear.”
He added the lack of clarity over EU sanctions on Russia was an “industry problem” rather than solely with Binance. The EU’s sweeping restrictions in October ban “all crypto-asset wallet, account, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet.”
The news comes after platforms like Crypto.com, Blockchain.com, and LocalBitcoins informed users in October they would halt services across Russia after the EU imposed the sanctions.
The EU recently capped Russian crypto investments at 10,000 Euros, but the new regulations now ban “IT consultancy, legal advisory, architecture and engineering services.” Such measures aim to hit Russia’s dependence on importing foreign services amid the ongoing conflict, an EU spokesperson wrote.
Ethereum (ETH) has hit new liquidation highs, revealing the bearish nature of the ongoing cryptocurrency crisis, figures from CryptoQuant revealed this week.
The on-chain analytics platform found that short liquidations in USD had reached $500 million in just two days, shattering the market and leading to significant losses for traders.
Despite this, ETH/USAD climbed from $1,337 to $1,593 on Bitstamp, data from TradingView showed from 25-26 October. Markets were hit with both BTC and ETH shorts, triggering macro lows across platforms.
1) Total Liquidations
— BlackSwan DAO (@DAOblackswan) October 26, 2022
The number of liquidations of Short and long BTC positions jumped to 550M dollars in the last 24 hours.
If we add other coins to Bitcoin, then in total over 1.1 billion positions were liquidated in 24 hours! 🔥#Bitcoin #volatility #Liquidation #crypto pic.twitter.com/T0uc3jFxvw
Figures show that liquidations erased $275 million and $250 million USD on the 25 and 26, respectively, wiping out over half a billion in positions by the week’s end.
CryptoQuant Chief Executive Ki Young Ju said in a statement: “$ETH short squeezes for the last two consecutive days. Daily short liquidations across all exchanges reached an all-time high.”
The news comes after exchange platform FTX noted the event was the single largest liquidation in its history. Binance followed shortly after with $57.58 million and OKX reported a $46.72 million change.