cryptocurrencies

cryptocurrency general

More and more countries (EU included) seek to mitigate risk of dollar dependency

Morgan Stanley | Crypto analyst Sheena Shah reviews the digital currency initiatives that central banks (CBDCs) are starting to put forward as an alternative to the use of cryptos. The use of cryptocurrencies for everyday payments is complex and expensive for the consumer and the ecosystem has not developed, except for in Switzerland. Companies such as Adyen have no plans to incorporate crypto payments into their offerings Their conclusions are…


The Bank of Spain

Crypto-Assets: A Financial Authority’s View

Pablo Hernández de Cos (Bank of Spain’s Governor) | “With over 16,000 existing tokens, around ten new crypto-assets are estimated to be launched every day on average” “For the time being, however, our ability to take effective action is fairly limited as we have neither the tools nor sufficient legal powers to be able to protect crypto-asset users in the same  way  as  we  protect  bank  customers… In  any  case, …


cajero bitcoin detail

Spain Is The Fifth Country In The World In Cryptocurrency ATMs

On 7 September, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, which means that companies and businesses in the country are obliged to accept it as a form of payment in day-to-day transactions. However, in this country there are only four Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency ATMs (machines where users can buy or sell cryptocurrencies). The US is the country with the most cryptocurrency…


Germany bitcoin

German Institutional Investment Funds Will Be Able To Invest Up To 20% In Cryptoassets From July 1

Fernando Alberca | Germany has just passed legislation allowing institutional investment fund managers, known as Spezialfonds, to allocate 20% of their funds to cryptoassets. This law will come into force on 1 July this year. It was passed by Germany’s federal parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday 22 April, and the German Federal Council must ratify it in the coming days for it to become effective.


bitcoin bullish

Is Bitcoin The New Coal?

Energy-intensive crypto mining is no different than coal or oil a century ago. According to Cambridge University analysis, Bitcoin uses around 120 TWh of energy per year, on par with countries like Norway and Argentina, and is estimated to reach as much at 184 TWh, nearly the same consumption as that of London. That comes out to more than 90 million metric annual tons of CO2. Should progressives be thinking twice about greenhouse gas emissions from Bitcoin?


bitcoin bullish

Bitcoin: Why The price Has Exploded – And Where It Goes From Here

Andrew Urquhart via The Conversation | Bitcoin achieved a remarkable rise in 2020 in spite of many things that would normally make investors wary. From a year-low on the daily charts of US$4,748 (£3,490) in the middle of March as pandemic fears took hold, bitcoin rose to just below US$30,000 by the end of the year. There are plenty of very bullish forecasts for the bitcoin price in 2021. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of leading crypto exchange Gemini, believe bitcoin will eventually hit US$500,000 per coin, while a Citigroup analyst suggests a price of US$318,000 by December 2021. 


Alberto Toribio, ambassador of Crypto Plaza

“Highly Volatile Assets, Such As Crypto-Currencies, Are Necessary In Many Investment Strategies”

María Fernanda Martínez Sierra | “Investment portfolios usually contain positions of different risks, and today covering that part of high risk assets not correlated with the rest is a problem. That is why many investors access this market… many savers only contract bank deposits, because of their low risk, and then buy lottery. The strategies in investment portfolios are not so far removed from that analogy,” says Alberto Toribio’s, whose company was the first Spanish to be set up with crypto-currencies.



Bitcoin record mark

Crypto Corner: Bitcoin Extends Losses

Adam Vettese (eToro) | Bitcoin has extended its losses this morning, with the cryptoasset losing another 0.5% to add to yesterday’s 4.5% fall. The key resistance level of $10,000 is proving to be a difficult hurdle to overcome, with several failed attempts this month. It is now back trading close to the $9,000 mark. Bears could see this as a sign the momentum may be shifting following the two month price rally.


Cryptocurrencies turn ten years; 2019 could be the year of tokenization

Bitcoin Halving: It’s Finally Here¡

Simon Peters (eToro) | This week, the Bitcoin block reward halving will happen, possibly as early as today. We don’t know the exact date and time as it happens automatically after 210,000 blocks are mined rather than a defined date and time, but if you want a New Year’s Eve style countdown, check out Bitcoinblockhalf.com I’ve covered the technical details of halving in previous newsletters, so I won’t go over them again. The important thing to note is that the block reward to miners will halve from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC, hence the name of the event.