Fintech

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Defends Decision to Exclude Crypto Players, Says the Order Is ‘in the Best Interests of Nigerians’

26/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has defended the apex bank’s decision to exclude cryptocurrency transactions from the banking ecosystem. In his testimony before the Nigerian Senate, Emefiele claimed that the February 5 directive is “in the best interests of Nigerians.”

Crypto Not Money

Immediately following the announcement of the CBN prohibition, Nigeria’s regulated financial institutions began to sever ties with crypto traders and exchanges. However, following an outcry over the move, some supportive members of the Nigerian Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions requested Emefiele to brief the legislative body on the rationale behind the CBN prohibition.

In justifying the move, the CBN governor told the Nigerian legislators that “cryptocurrency is not legitimate money” since it is not issued by any central bank. Using this argument, Emefiele then added:

Cryptocurrency has no place in our monetary system at this time and cryptocurrency transactions should not be carried out through the Nigerian banking system.

As expected, the CBN governor also used his appearance before the legislative body to regurgitate the usual claims against cryptocurrencies. Further, in his bid to bolster the case against cryptocurrencies, a report reveals that Emefiele went on to share “instances of investigated criminal activities that had been linked to cryptocurrencies.” However, the report does not provide details on some of the “investigated cases.”

No Contradictions Between CBN and the SEC

However, notwithstanding the CBN’s hardline stance on cryptocurrencies, Emefiele still claims that the central bank’s “actions were not in any way, shape or form inimical to the development of Fintech or a technology-driven payment system.” The CBN chief also reiterated that the central bank will do “all within its regulatory powers to educate Nigerians on emerging financial risks.”

Meanwhile, in remarks made during the same meeting, Lamido Yuguda, the Director-General of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied there had been policy contradictions between the two regulators. The report quotes Yuguda confirming that the SEC had “put on hold the admittance of all persons affected by CBN circular into its proposed regulatory incubatory framework.”

Do you agree with CBN’s claims that the exclusion of cryptocurrency transactions protects the banking ecosystem? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Paypal Launches Business Unit Dedicated To Cryptocurrency

06/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

Paypal is launching a new business unit dedicated to cryptocurrency services, the company chief executive officer Daniel Schulman announced this week.

In an earnings call on February 3, 2021, Schulman said the existing financial system is outdated and that his firm will be investing a lot of money into blockchain and digital currencies. Schulman explained:

We all know the current financial system is antiquated, and we can envision a future where transactions are completed in seconds, not days; a future where transactions should be less expensive to complete; and a future that enables all people to be part of the digital economy, not just the affluent. We are significantly investing in our new crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies business unit in order to help shape this more inclusive future.

The new crypto business unit is expected to launch later this quarter. The CEO also revealed that customers will be able to use crypto to pay for goods and services at Paypal’s 29 million merchants worldwide. This service is expected to be rolled out before the end of this quarter.

Schulman said “we hope to launch our first international market in the next several months” and is also expecting to integrate crypto with Venmo later this year. He also stated that “everyone who signed up for crypto is opening up their app two times as much as they previously did.”

Paypal announced in late October that its customers – running in excess of 300 million active users – will now be able to buy, hold and sell bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets using their Paypal accounts. The decision caused BTC prices to rise sharply at the time.

What do you think about Paypal’s new crypto business unit? Let us know in the comments section below.

Visa CEO Says Payments Giant Set to Introduce Cryptocurrency Trading on Its Network

31/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

Payments giant Visa Inc’s CEO Alfred Kelly has revealed his firm’s plans to enable cryptocurrencies trading on its network. Kelly, who is also chairman of the firm, explains that there is no reason not to add cryptos when these are increasingly becoming “a recognized means of exchange.”

Digital Gold Segment

In an earnings call with analysts, Kelly opines that due to Visa’s “global presence, its partnership approach as well as its trusted brand”, the fintech giant is “uniquely positioned to help make cryptocurrencies more safe.” The CEO adds that Visa also wants to make cryptos “more useful and applicable for payments.”

However, to achieve this, Kelly says his organization will divide the crypto market into two segments, namely cryptocurrencies and digital currencies. Describing the assets that will be included in the cryptocurrency segment, the CEO says these will be viewed “as digital gold.” According to Kelly, such currencies are “predominantly held as assets that are not used as a form of payment in a significant way at this point.” The Visa boss then discusses the firm’s plan for such currencies saying:

Our strategy here is to work with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials or to cash out onto a Visa credential to make a fiat purchase at any of the 70 million merchants where Visa’s accepted globally.

According to Kelly, this strategy will be similar to Visa’s approach to “connect closed-loop wallets such as Line Pay and Paytm.”

Digital Currency Segment

Concerning digital currencies that will feature in the second segment, the Visa CEO says these will be consist of “fiat-backed digital currencies including stablecoins and central bank digital currencies.” He adds that these emerging payments innovations can potentially be “used for global commerce much like any other fiat currency.”

Meanwhile, the Visa CEO reveals some of the 35 organizations that have already chosen to issue Visa cards. These include leading digital currency platforms and wallets providers like “crypto.com, Blockfi, Fold, and Bitpanda.” According to Kelly, these wallet relationships “represent the potential for more than 50 million Visa credentials.”

What do you think of Visa’s plan to introduce crypto trading on its platform? You can share views in the comments section below.

Anchorage Obtains Federal License to Operate as Crypto Bank From the OCC

15/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approval to crypto custodian Anchorage to launch the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the country.

In a statement on Jan. 13, 2021, the OCC said the company received the national trust banking charter, which allows it to create Anchorage Digital Bank, following a thorough review of its operations.

With the approval, Anchorage will now be expected to comply with the capital and liquidity requirements of the OCC and certain risk management procedures. The firm signed an agreement with the banking regulator to this effect.

“By bringing this applicant into the federal banking system, the bank and industry will benefit from the OCC’s extensive supervisory experience and expertise,” said the regulator, a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department.

“At the same time, the Anchorage approval demonstrates that the national bank charters were provided under the National Bank Act are broad and flexible enough to accommodate evolving approaches to financial services in the 21st century,” it added.

Founded in 2017 by Nathan McCauley and Diogo Mónica, Anchorage provides crypto custody and trading services to institutional investors. The firm reportedly manages around $100 billion in transactions per year.

Anchorage filed for a national banking charter last year, hoping, among other things, to make it easier for conventional banks to offer crypto services via what it calls sub-custody with the company.

In a blog post on Wednesday, McCauley and Mónica detailed:

Having a national bank charter places Anchorage Digital Bank firmly on the same regulatory footing as other national banks in the country. Since our founding, we’ve been credited numerous times with blurring the lines between crypto and traditional finance. Today, we’re happy to see those lines begin to be erased.

Anchorage becomes the first cryptocurrency entity to receive a federal charter. However, last year Kraken and Avanti were both licensed to operate as digital asset banks by Wyoming state. The state charter allows the duo to go national, but there are limits.

The Anchorage banking charter is being hailed as an important development in the growth of the crypto industry in the U.S. Under Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks, the OCC has shown some progress in building the nascent sector. Last year, the regulator allowed banks to use stablecoins and public blockchains for settlement. The OCC also gave the green light for U.S. banks to hold stablecoin reserves for issuers.

What do you think about Anchorage’s national banking charter? Let us know in the comments section below.

Microstrategy’s BTC Holdings More Than Double in Value to $2.4 Billion Four Months Later

03/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

The continuing bitcoin price rally has seen the value of Microstrategy’s total holdings of the digital asset go up by 100%. Specifically, the company has seen the value of its initial haul of 38,250 coins grow to over $1.3 billion from the $425 million spent.

Market Capitalization By Almost 200%

The growth in value of Microstrategy’s digital asset holdings comes on the back of another record-breaking start of the year for bitcoin. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at just above $34,000 with nearly 75% dominance of the crypto market.

Meanwhile, following the recent BTC performances, the value of this Nasdaq listed company’s stock has surged from just under $135 recorded on August 11 to $388.55 by close of trading on December 31. This has seen Microstrategy’s market capitalization rising from $1.3 billion to $3.6 billion, representing a growth of approximately 187% in less than 6 months.

Microstrategy initially bought 21,454 BTC on August 11 before adding another 16,796 on September 14 to complete this first round of buying. Since then, the listed firm subsequently increased its BTC holdings to 70,470 coins. At the time of writing, the listed company’s BTC holdings were valued at nearly $2.4 billion.

In December 2020, News.bitcoin.com reported that Microstrategy had used a total of $1.125 billion to buy the 70,470 coins meaning the firm’s digital asset holdings have now more than doubled in value.

BTC acquisition Bolsters Square Inc

Similarly, another Nasqad listed firm Square Inc, which announced its BTC acquisition in early October, has seen the value of its holdings more than triple in value. The firm used $50 million to acquire a total of 4,709 coins which are now valued at $160 million. Furthermore, the value of Square’s stock has gone up by 18.5% from its October 8 value of $183 to finish the year at $217.

Meanwhile, following Microstrategy and Square’s BTC acquisitions, many more public companies now hold bitcoin. For instance, according to the website that tracks companies that have publicly disclosed their BTC holdings, about 29 of such organisations now hold about 1,151,618 coins between them.

What are your views on Microstrategy’s BTC bet? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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