Cryptocurrency has been in the limelight in the last few months. We saw corporate giants like Square, Robinhood, and Paypal embrace the digital currency. Besides, we saw Singapore’s DBS bank jump into the cryptocurrency market. A few days ago, the value of the cryptocurrency has left gold and silver behind. It has now become the most popular investment avenue in the world. Bitcoin has also crossed the $14,000 (a 33 month high) mark on October, 31. Interestingly, it’s the same day on which Satoshi Nakamoto released its whitepaper way back in 2008.

It is noteworthy that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had banned cryptocurrency in 2018. This was due to some incidents related to financial fraud. Latter the crypto-enthusiasts had taken the matter to the Hon. Supreme Court of India. In March 2020, the apex court, through a ruling has allowed the digital currency

The Tie-up

The crypto-centric Cashaa and The United Multistate Credit Co. Operative Society tie-up has sent a positive vibe among the crypto community. Their joint venture is UNICAS. UNI from the Credit Cooperative Society and CAS from Cashaa. UNICAS is planning for the first crypto-friendly financial institution of the world. It will have physical branches for handling operations. Thus it will be the first financial group that would operate both online and offline. It is a very unique step taken by the team to deal with the virtual currency.

Cashaa is a reputed UK-based banking platform that deals with cryptocurrency. Besides, Cashaa is the trading name of Cashaa Technologies Limited. It is a UK registered company. It was among the top 50 emerging FinTech companies in the world. In recent months, Cashaa has become the world’s first global crypto-friendly banking system. After the UK, Europe, and the USA, it is now eyeing the Indian market.

The United Multistate Credit Co. Operative Society is a financial business having a good presence in Rajasthan, Delhi, and Gujarat. It is a Multistate Credit Cooperative Society. Before entering into the crypto world, the Cooperative Society had been offering different financial services. This include the likes of Mahila Shakti Bond, Kishan Bond, Pension Plan, and Education Bond. The cooperative society has a very good presence in Rajasthan, Delhi, and Gujarat. The society has 16 branches spread across these states. The total number of customers of the society is 56,000.

The Highlights of UNICAS

• Customers will become interested in their crypto deposits (in the same cryptocurrency as the deposit)
• Provision of loans against cryptocurrency
• Customers can open crypto savings accounts
• Customers can move and store cryptocurrencies directly into their accounts.
• Payments are also made possible through cryptocurrencies.
• The account holders can transact cryptocurrency. They can do it online or at physical branches.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cryptocurrency is marching ahead irrespective of economic crisis and COVID 19 situation. Gradually, it is being accepted by many top-rated global brands and several financial institutions. Awareness about the advantages of cryptocurrency among commoners has been increasing. Considering the potential of such a big market in India, this tie-up i.e. UNICAS will reign the crypto market and redefine it in days to come.

Toyota Systems, the IT wing of Toyota Motor Corporation, is tying-up with DeCurret. It is a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange to develop a branded Toyota digital currency. On Oct. 26, Toyota Systems made an official announcement to enter into the crypto market. The Toyota- DeCurret team is planning to develop a branded Toyota digital currency.  The wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation is planning to develop and test a digital currency. This is part of a new pilot project with DeCurret.

Sources said this virtual currency piloting is starting a half-year-long company token experiment. They will begin with all staff members of Toyota Systems. Now the newly teamed up duo would initiate their journey. They would experiment with the utilization of blockchain technology and digital currencies. This will be a well-contemplated piloting initiative.

Toyota’s experiment with Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

As per DeCurrent, the pilot would be an extensive experiment involving 2,500  Toyota Systems workforce. The employees will be involved in making blockchain-based payment transactions for welfare benefits. They will also record, and manage collected data and shall focus on automation. The employees have the choice to swap these payments in digital currency for welfare points or gifts. Till now the digital currency cannot be exchanged for Yen. Toyota Systems has planned to branch out the use cases. This will be for virtual currency business dealings and supply chain management.

Supply chains are now being linked with blockchain technology across various industries.

This is not the first time Toyota Motors has made an experiment with blockchain technology. Since, May 2020, the Toyota research institute collaborated with the MIT Media Lab. They have been exploring blockchain technology to transform the mobility ecosystem.

The entry of Big Names continues…

The crypto coin and blockchain have been winning big corporate names in the last few months. PayPal has recently entered the crypto market with its high volume account holder base. Before that, we have seen the embracing of crypto by Square and MicroStrategy.

Toyota is also not the first car maker to explore blockchain and crypto. In October 2020, BMW Korea announced to run a blockchain-based token trial. It will be the first branch in the BMW Group to do so. The full launch is expected to be done by the end of 2020. In early last month, another motor company Groupe Renault started piloting its blockchain project. This was to assist compliance certification of vehicle parts. In September 2020, the US Air Force is planning to buy crypto-linked data from Chainalysis.

Big names like Microsoft, AT&T, Boatsters Black, Overstock, and Takeaway.com are already accepting cryptocurrency payments.

Conclusion

Gradually, Blockchain technology and Cryptocurrency are gaining more acceptance. This is because of their various useful features. The features that attract crypto enthusiasts are easy accessibility, user autonomy, user autonomy, and discretion. The low transaction fees for international payments, mobile payments, and flexibility are other factors. In recent months, we have witnessed the entry of big companies into the crypto market. It is expected that more names like Toyota would gradually enter into the crypto market and use blockchain to their best advantage.

The value of the cryptocurrency has left gold and silver behind it. Bitcoin‘s price (BTC) has crossed the $13,000 mark on 24th October 2020. There was an 8 percent single-day rise which is the 20^th highest single-day rise since October 21, 2019. It is the highest value Bitcoin has seen since July 2019. Although surpassing $13,000 would be taken as a new milestone among crypto enthusiasts, it’s not fairly the largest rally in the past year. On Jan. 15, 2019, bitcoin was closed above $13,000. Crypto enthusiasts might be remembering that after 6 weeks after that day bitcoin reached an all-time high of $19,892.

The rally comes only after few hours of PayPal’s announcement of its entry into the cryptocurrency market. Recently, PayPal has revealed its plan of facilitating to buy, sell, and hold bitcoins, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin BTC Cash.

Why Cryptocurrency is flying?

PayPal’s entry into the crypto market has provided a boost to the acceptance of digital currencies. Recently, Square and MicroStrategy have bitcoin investments. All this good news has resulted in this upsurge in bitcoin price.

This high rise of Bitcoin price implies that the world’s widely accepted cryptocurrency has now surpassed gold and silver to be the best “commodity” among the three. In the last week, the bitcoin price was up by 55% since October 21, 2019. Contrarily the price of silver and gold over the same period has increased by 40% and 27% respectively.

There are still people having skeptic views on cryptocurrencies. Recently Mike Novogratz, the former Goldman Sachs partner, and hedge fund manager has opined that Bitcoin is packed with values similar to “digital gold,” and will not likely be used as transactional currency for the next 5 years.

Positive impact on BTC share values

Blockchain stocks are keeping on rising as Bitcoin carry on mounting. Bitcoin-U.S. dollar prices reached a 16-month high in early U.S. trading this week. Bitcoin (BTC-USD, +4.5%) reached a new high, by breaching the $13.6K mark on 27th October 2020.

Bulls are in strong technical control as prices are in and keep on mounting on the daily chart. Indications are there, it may keep on rising in the coming weeks.

The bright future for BTC

BTC is going to be the digital currency of the future generation! Now the volume of the cryptocurrency market has reached around $397.9 billion. The figure was around $195 billion at the start of the year. To date, bitcoin has been the biggest digital coin with a market cap of $244 billion. Bitcoin has captured around 61% of the total market. Trends show that the worth of BTC is going to increase in the future.

Conclusion

Cryptocurrency has become the most valuable commodity while gold and silver are satisfied with the next two positions. The recent upsurge in the value of the digital currency is believed to be the entry of a few big names like PayPal, Square, and MicroStrategy, etc into the cryptocurrency market. The market analyses anticipate that the Bitcoin price is going to rise in the time to come.

PayPal has put its steps in the cryptocurrency market recently. The money online platform has announced that PayPal account holders now would be able to buy and sell Bitcoin and many other virtual currencies. PayPal Holdings, Inc. is a US-based company operating a global online payment system. It offers financial services like online money transfers, digital payment service, P2P payments, and debit card accounts. It has established itself as an electronic alternative to traditional money transactions.

PayPal has secured the first provisional cryptocurrency license from the New York State Department of Financial Services. To offer this service PayPal has partnered with Paxos Trust Company. It is predicted that by the end of 2021, the retail payments done with Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum by PayPal users could seemingly double and attain USD 50 billion marks. According to CEO Dan Schulman, the expectation for this development is to help nurture the global acceptance of virtual coins and to get ready for the firm for the upcoming digital currencies.

A Boost to Cryptocurrency

Industry experts believe that the entry of PayPal in the cryptocurrency market would boost it. PayPal’s entry implies that the 26 million PayPal account holders can now make cryptocurrency buying using the PayPal platform. After this announcement by Paypal, the market leaped by almost 15% in the BTC price. In addition to that, the other cryptocurrencies supported by PayPal also experienced an average weekly return of 10%-15%.

For the US market, PayPal is scheduling to bringing up buying options for the investors over the next few weeks, and within early 2021 it has a plan to fully rollout. PayPal has is planning to add a bunch of cryptocurrencies to its portfolio. The digital currencies that are waiting in rows are Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash. The company confirms customers can now store all these digital currencies “directly within the PayPal digital wallet”.

PayPal is also aiming to amplify customer awareness around cryptocurrency. They believe this exercise would promote the adoption of crypto among users: They are planning to supply educational content regarding the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Downsides of this PayPal Crypto association

However, it is revealed that PayPal wouldn’t allow its account holders to transfer their cryptocurrency into or out of PayPal. Secondly, they would not have any control of the private keys, a long string of numbers and letters that allow holders to move their digital assets. PayPal plays a kind of dictatorship on what users can do or not do with their cryptocurrencies.

PayPal Competitors

Considering ample opportunities and possibilities that cryptocurrency offer more numbers of big players are gradually embracing digital coins. Before the entry of Paypal, the Robinhood trading app has allowed crypto since 2018. Similarly, Square users have been trading in crypto for quite some time. After the announcement of PayPal’s entry companies like Visa and Ternio has also announced to team up to help crypto companies.

Bottom-line

Cryptocurrency, although consider as the “future currency” of the world, there are many who are still skeptical about virtual currency. But gradually crypto is getting more acceptance from big horses of the financial world. By the entry of PayPal in the fray, cryptocurrency is undoubtedly going to gain a lot in times to come.

The prediction

In a few years, the bitcoin price could breach the $1 million from the current figure of approximately $11,000mark. Amid mounting concern among the investors over “central bank and government stimulus measures”, this is good news. Raoul Pal, a former Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund chief, has recently had this startling prediction. He believes that bitcoin will surge to $1 million in the next five years. Pal told this to Stansberry Research in a recent interview.

Since January, the price of bitcoin has gone up to $11,400 per bitcoin. This is a 50% change since January 2020. According to Statista, a full-service market research firm and the world’s number one business data platform Bitcoin is the biggest digital currency. By market capitalization, it is at about $200 billion.

More revelation

Raoul Pal has invested more than 50% of his capital in bitcoin. He believes that the adoption of the digital currency by institutional funds is happening in a bigger way. It is because institutions realize that, due to the COVID-19 situation, it may take a very long time for the economy to return to normalcy. Every stakeholder is eyeing at it. There is no shortage of smart people who are working on it.

Pal said again, his trading positions are comparatively small. This is because he doesn’t foresee as much opportunity there, as in bitcoin. According to him, in reality, he possesses primarily, a small amount of cash, some gold, and bitcoin. He further reiterated that he is now thinking of selling his gold to buy more bitcoin.

As per Nigel Green, the chief executive of independent financial advisory deVere Group – Investor activity is increasing significantly. A range of on-chain metrics and high-level global political, economic, and social disturbances is signifying that there will be a price surge in the price of bitcoin before the year ends. According to Tyler Winklevoss, the quantitative- easing program is going to boost up bitcoin.

Bitcoin marching ahead

It is noteworthy, both bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiasts were enthralled last month. This was when a major Tesla investor predicted a $1 trillion market cap.

Pal said he got to know that there is an enormous wall of money coming into this. He realized this when he interacted with institutions and people who matters. According to him the upcoming developments in “the pipes” would encourage investors to buy bitcoin.

In recent weeks, several high profile companies have invested heftily in the cryptocurrency. Jack Dorsey, a blunt advocate of bitcoin and payments company Square has bought $50 million worth of bitcoin.

When other assets fall, just like gold, bitcoin has the potentiality to hold on to its value or even grow up in value. This enables investors to trim down their chances of loss. Investors will be more and more interested in secure digital currencies. This includes bitcoin which is highly decentralized and non-sovereign. These advantages would protect them from the potential issues and concerns generally experienced in traditional markets.

Yes, DataIntelo has predicted a glorious, glowing, and glittering future for the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market. DataIntelo, a top-rated market research firm has come up with a report. It talks about the past and future of the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market. The report, using hard statistics has analyzed different facets of the market before getting startling results. The results would help the crypto-maniacs to gauge the possible future trends. This, in turn, would contribute to their business decisions making process. The full title of the report is “Global Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market Report, History and Forecast 2019-2026, Breakdown Data by Manufacturers, Key Regions, Types and Application”.

It is expected that the findings of the report would help all stakeholders. This would be primarily related to cryptocurrency, especially the enthusiasts of the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market. It would help them to understand the requirements of the market, size of the market, and competition.

The report includes data concerning the supply and demand condition, market prospect, and the competitive scenario. It also elaborates on the hurdles for market growth, and the risks encountered by major players throughout the forecast period, i.e. 2020-2027.

Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market in COVID-19 era – Impact and Implications

The global pandemic COVID-19 has impacted various sectors of economics across most of the nations in the world. The report has aptly discussed how it has impacted the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market. It has also reflected on the implication of COVID-19 impact and how would be the future of the market. It is got to know that the CORONA situation has affected the demand and supply chain and imbalanced it. The report furthermore deals with the financial effect on financial markets, and firms.

DataIntelo has gathered insights from several delegates of the industry and got involved in primary and secondary research. This is to provide the clients with data and strategies to combat the market challenges during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major  Features and Take Away from the report:

1. DataIntelo, recognized for its data precision and market reports, has used a meticulous research methodology for the study.
2. A report depicts a holistic and realistic reflection of the competitive scenario concerning the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market.
3. One can get a lot of information on the latest product and technological developments happening in the market.
4. Since 2015 DataIntelo is keeping a track of the market and has consolidated the required empirical data. It has also done a beautiful analysis of data to learn from the past and plan for the future Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market.

Bottom-line

The report is prepared by dovetailing the efforts of the industry specialists and research analysts. The report is very useful to cryptocurrency enthusiasts. This is by providing extra mileage in the market with cut-throat competition. Interestingly, the report can be tailored as per your requirements covering your preferences and available region wise. Undoubtedly, the report will be beneficial to crypto fans in taking important business decisions.

Cryptocurrency reserves in top exchanges are going down. The reserves of this virtual currency are reportedly sinking to a new depth. This could be due to the considerable bitcoin reserve balance drop in some of the top exchanges. The trading platforms had much more bitcoin reserves holding a few months back. Onchain data reveals that a few exchanges have witnessed strange behavior from customers. They have regularly drained away bitcoins from exchange-owned cold wallets that amounts to as much as 187,000 bitcoins ($2.1B).

Performance of Coinbase & Huobi

Coinbase which had 1 million bitcoin under management in the last February is lowered by more than 9% due to a hefty amount of 92,000 bitcoin ($1B) that has left it in these months. The San Francisco trading platform has 908,560 BTC under its management as per the Bituniverse’s online exchange balance rank tracker findings.

News.Bitcoin.com’s reserves report was published at the end of June 2020. Since then Coinbase has loosed 3,000 BTC ($408M). In the last 3 months many high-rated exchanges, who ranks below Coinbase have also witnessed “tearing away” of their cold wallets.

Huobi is the second-largest trading platform as per the total bitcoin reserves it is holding. Since June 2020, the reserve saw a downfall as 53,000 BTC ($601M) has left it. Interestingly, Binance’s holding has not been affected so much. In these three months, its reserve has slid a little bit from 269,000 BTC to 266,000 BTC. Likewise, there is not much change in the reserve holding of Bitfinex. It is to be noted here that Bitfinex is the fourth largest BTC holder in the world.

Data shows that in the last 3 months, the top five crypto trading platforms have seen more than 187,000 BTC ($2.1B) cumulatively has moved away from their reserves.

Bitmex vs. U.S. governement

A few months back the crypto world saw the legal battle between the U.S. government and crypto platform Bitmex. Because of that, a large number of bitcoins have left the exchange. In the last three months, Bitmex’s bitcoin reserve is downed by a massive 49.55% in BTC reserves i.e. from 224,000 BTC to 113,0  00 BTC.

According to Glassnode’s “Exchange Balance vs. Bitcoin” report, the trading platforms are holding 2.7 million BTC today. The study shows that out of the 21 million BTC cap, the trading platforms hold 12.85% of all that will exist, and 14.59% of the 18.5 million BTC that is in circulation.

Top five cryptocurrency exchanges

The top five platforms in terms of BTC reserves are Coinbase, Huobi, Binance, Bitfinex, and Okex. These crypto trading giants hold as much as 1.8 million BTC out of a total of 2.7 million BTC.

In the last fifteen months, exchange balances have been nose-diving uninterruptedly. This type of lowly situation had happened in May 2019.

Change in holding by traders

According to several crypto experts and traders, this low balances phenomena on trading platforms is implying that instead of leaving funds with a third party; more traders are now storing assets in an un-protective way. The coming months are crucial to deciding upon the future growth of BTC.

Yes, “Blockchain can add $1.76 trillion to global GDP by 2030: PwC”. It’s not a speculation or a mere prediction but a revelation from a recently done study by PwC (Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand).

According to the study blockchain technology through its extensive array of use cases will prospectively contribute $1.76 trillion to the global GDP (gross domestic product) in the coming ten years. The study also proclaims that, by 2030, blockchain alone would account for 1.4% of the global GDP.

The growing importance of Blockchain

Blockchain has been one of those few topics that have attracted our attention and warranted our action during the last fifteen years. Considering its far-reaching advantages and usability there is no surprise in this astounding popularity of blockchain. The actual acceptance of this innovative technology has become visible in several sectors that include finance, banking, insurance, law enforcement, real estate, energy, supply chain management, and virtually most of the business sector.

The PwC report

The PwC report reveals that the escalating attention on blockchain technology is mainly owing to the requirement for a better and efficient system that can incorporate confidence in practices that rely on mediators. In a different survey, PwC also got to know that 50% or more of the CEOs thought the hesitant confidence in the business practices was upsetting their organization.

Blockchain is going to help organizations in multiple ways. According to PwC, blockchain will be beneficial to organizations invalidating contracts, certificates, identity documentation, agreements, and other records.

The economists at PwC have weighed up the prospect of blockchain across a variety of industries such as government and public services, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, retail, logistics, etc. PwC anticipates that, by 2025. most of the businesses operating in these industries will utilize blockchain technology in various ways.

The team from PwC has discovered that in the coming ten years blockchain will have five major uses. These uses are namely identity, attribution, disbursement and financial instruments, disputes resolution and contracts, and customer commitment.

It is forecasted that the use of Blockchain’s for attribution is going to add $962 billion to the global GDP. Through payments and financial instruments, it is expected that $433 billion will o be added. In the next ten years, the other three are expected to contribute $224 billion, $73 billion, and $54 billion, correspondingly.

The report further endorsed that blockchain will contribute $66 billion to the global economy by 2021 end. The report assessed that blockchain’s role will amplify 6.5 times by the year 2025 with a net contribution (from blockchain) of $422 billion.

The popularity, usability, and acceptance of blockchain would be different from nation to nation. China and the United States are believed to contribute $440 billion and $407 billion to their GDP through maximizing the use of blockchain by 2030. The other top hubs of blockchain innovation will be India, Germany, UK, and Japan.

The bottom line

So, undoubtedly, blockchain is awaiting its golden future when we would witness blockchain being used in an array of industries across the globe. Considering the edge that could be gained from blockchain, many developed nations including the G20 nations have dedicated resources to blockchain solutions. Blockchain is going to be a panacea for a variety of problems. The future of blockchain is going to be bright and brilliant!!!

Finally, the much looked-for “CoinGecko Q3 2020 Quarterly Cryptocurrency Report” is out. The report portrays the state of the matter related to cryptocurrency with a thorough analysis backed by data. CoinGecko is known as one of the biggest and oldest crypto data aggregators. The company is in operation since 2014. At present, it tracks almost 5909 tokens from over 403 cryptocurrency exchanges.

Q3 2020 Quarterly Cryptocurrency Report

The Q3 2020 report reflects upon the important, illuminating, and, illustrious time that was for the growth of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Q3 2020 was very fertile for the cryptocurrency as the total crypto market cap continuously uptrend these days except a minor dip in the mid-September. The period defines the course of growth in this financial segment.

It was the period when you witnessed an array of new decentralized exchanges becoming popular. Credit goes to Compound that initiated the yield farming trend way back in June. Decentralized exchanges keep on to on the rise at a very rapid rate than its counterpart, centralized exchanges.

Crypto is marching ahead

The crypto world is transcending with an unbelievable speed, and Yield Farming is one of the catalysts for this development.  Yield farming is the process of placing your assets to act across a range of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols. The ultimate aim here is to get the best possible returns out of this financial arrangement. By using diversified strategies of different risk levels, it is possible to fetch a very high return of 1,000% Annual Percentage Yield (APY). This is the prime reason why Yield farming is gaining such astonishing importance.

At the end of Q3, capital inflow decelerated a little bit due to the lesser return from yield farming. Still, it is likely to maintain its growth trend so long as returns do better than the traditional markets.

The Q3 2020 Quarterly Cryptocurrency Report has brought insightful facts and figures on cryptocurrency and related operations. The key highlights of the report are described below.

Key highlights:

1. Q3 saw Market Capitalization growing at nonstop speed (by 31% or +$75b). This has happened, irrespective of the September debacle due to COVID-19 and the upcoming U.S. elections. These two factors reinstalled panic into the markets that resulted in ‘sacrificing’ of some of the achievable gains.
2. A marginal growth of (+8%) in the price of Bitcoin was reported in this quarter. On August 18th, the price of Bitcoin reached a new height of $12,272.
3. Q3 2020 witnessed capital inflow to the volume of over $9 billion. This was possible by getting thrust from the yield farming movement opportunities that get you lucrative returns. The quarter saw capital inflow to the Ethereum blockchain at its biggest ever amount since its beginning.
4. As DeFi grows in importance, Uniswap becomes stronger and shown its supremacy in the DEX market from 47% to 63%. During this period, Uniswap along with Curve stayed on as the leading trading opportunity with 80% of the DEX market share.