Stablecoins

Deutsche Bank Envisions Post Covid-19 Economy Accelerating Digital Payments

09/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Since the covid-19 outbreak wreaked havoc across the world’s economies, the global multinational investment bank Deutsche Bank has been encouraging the use of digital currencies. The firm’s Twitter account and macro strategist Marion Laboure have been tweeting regularly about how coronavirus infection risks could “accelerate digital payment systems across the world.”

Also read: 5% Over Spot: Gold-Backed Tokens Tether Gold and Digix Sell for Higher Premiums

Deutsche Bank’s Macro Strategist Envisions a Digital Payment Transformation Post Covid-19

The coronavirus is surely changing the way we look at things and how we operate in our everyday lives. For years now, society has been aware that physical currencies can be dirty and the covid-19 outbreak has exemplified this fact. Researchers have reported that paper currency can carry a higher number of microorganisms than your toilet. It has been said that the seasonal flu virus can survive on a banknote for roughly 17 days. These statistics have caused governments across the world to store notes in separate locations and even scrub them. Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve was storing repatriated USD from Asia in a different location. The month prior, when covid-19 was ravaging China, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) explained that repatriated yuan notes were being disinfected.

The recognition of the infection risk will likely accelerate the push towards digital payment systems across the world. #Cash #DigitalTransformation https://t.co/fGcJUbSYrR

— Marion Laboure (@MarionLaboure) March 21, 2020

Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG and the financial institution’s macro strategist Marion Laboure think trends like these will bring about a number of digital currency concepts. On April 3, the bank’s official Twitter account stated:

The covid-19 pandemic is accelerating the rise of central bank digital currencies as many governments see the handling of cash as a potential risk factor. This will likely add to calls to move towards digital cash according to our Deutsche Bank research colleague Marion Laboure.

The bank’s macro strategist Marion Laboure has been tweeting about the coronavirus accelerating the use of digital currencies and causing a “transformation.” “The recognition of the infection risk will likely accelerate the push towards digital payment systems across the world,” Laboure said. In a recent report called “The Covid-19 Cash Out,” authors Juergen Braunstein, Marion Laboure, and Sachin Silva wrote about a possible transformation.

“Because the hand-to-hand exchange of physical currency could transmit the coronavirus, countries around the world are being forced to reconsider the use of cash,” the researchers detailed. The report highlights that the authors can’t predict what will happen in a post covid-19 economy, but they can envision a new type of payment structure. “Digital versions of cash currency, such as Sweden’s recently announced e-krona, are promising examples of what could be in store,” the report concludes.

‘Digital Payments Could Rebalance Global Economic Power,’ Says Deutsche Bank Researchers

Various other tweets and reports by Laboure and the official Deutsche Bank Twitter account mention central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The financial institution’s reports also talk about digital assets that exist today like bitcoin, e-wallets, stablecoins, the possibility of a digital yuan, and balancing the monetary system. Various quotes from the bank’s researchers stress things like “By 2025, e-wallets are expected to be the second-most preferred method of payment after cards – and the first among millennials” and how the “transition to digital payments could potentially rebalance global economic power.”

Of course, the bank is shilling CBDCs and stablecoin concepts that represent digital fiat reserves. These new digital systems would be no different than the digits citizens use today, except it would use a blockchain. It’s not very likely a CBDC will rebalance any power because it’s centralized. Society has already seen what modern central banks worldwide will do to the citizenry’s money over time. With cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, on the other hand, Satoshi created a financial system that is not controlled by a single entity, corporation, government, or central bank.

It might be small right now, but this is why the crypto economy is worth close to a quarter of a trillion U.S. dollars. People find value in cryptocurrencies that can give people financial privacy, censorship resistance, and allow them to transact in a peer-to-peer fashion. Deutsche Bank is right that physical banknotes are dirty but the financial incumbent’s digital transformation ideas are questionable, to say the least. Ever since the modern central bank was born and the many that followed after, the monetary system has been plagued with busts and booms.

What do you think about Deutsche Bank shilling digital currencies because of covid-19? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Deutsche Bank Envisions Post Covid-19 Economy Accelerating Digital Payments appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Stablecoin Market Caps Swell Over $7 Billion – Volumes Surpass Most Trading Pairs

31/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

While most digital assets have been suffering, stablecoins have been surging since the market downturn in mid-March and tether (USDT) is capturing more than 70% of BTC trades today. Besides tether, a wide range of other dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies have also benefited this month, as the market valuation of eight different stablecoins combined is well over $7 billion.

Also read: Bitcoin Mining Roundup: BTC Regains 100 Exahash, Miners Close Shop, Pre-Halving Shake-Up

Considerable Demand for Stablecoins Pushes ‘Dollarized-Token’ Market Caps Northbound

Crypto assets have seen better days as far as market values are concerned and on March 30 the valuation of all 5,000+ digital currencies is around $182 billion. Today, more than $7 billion from that number represents eight stablecoins including USDT, USDC, PAX, TUSD, DAI, GUSD, BUSD, and HUSD. Most of that $7 billion derives from USDT’s market cap, as the firm Tether has reported it now has more than $6 billion in liabilities. Data shows that the total assets under the company’s control equal: $6,141,809,416. Moreover, there’s a slew of stablecoins with much smaller market caps, but still have seen greater demand since the start of the mid-March market rout.

Stablecoin Market Caps Swell Over $7 Billion - Volumes Surpass Most Trading Pairs — Source: Research report written by Hasu and Coin Metrics data.

On Monday, USDT is commanding more than 70% of trades, which is a lot but not very unusual these days either. As news.Bitcoin.com noted in our recent report about the influx of stablecoin demand, USDC and PAX have continued to remain in the top five BTC pairs globally. Both coins are gathering more than 5% of BTC’s global trades each and both of them combined have seen more trade volume than the U.S. dollar.

Over the past month, fiat-collateralized stablecoins built on Ethereum have seen substantial inflows.

30 day change in supply:
• $USDT: +51.5%
• $USDC: +55.4%
• $PAX: +26.5%
• $BUSD: +186.0%
• $HUSD: +74.7%

Ethereum’s stablecoin economy is growing at a staggering rate. pic.twitter.com/Mp5Yl2k2hE

— Cole Kennelly ⬙ 🦄 (@ColeGotTweets) March 29, 2020

According to sites like coinmarketcap.com, there’s an alleged $118 billion in global crypto trades on March 30. BTC captures $36 billion of those trades and tether (USDT) commands $44 billion. However, stats from messari.io indicate BTC is leading in “real volume” with $1.4 billion in worldwide trades and USDT capturing $1.1 billion. Messari’s data also shows USDT’s reported market cap is larger than XRPs now.

Stablecoin Transfers Touch All-Time Highs, Tron to Launch a ‘DAI-like’ Dollar-Coin

It’s uncertain whether tether is actually doing 22% more volume than BTC, but lots of USDT stats indicate the volume is at least on par with BTC trade volumes regularly. In addition to Pax and USDC, the stablecoins HUSD and BUSD have seen increased demand as well.

Competition has increased a great deal among all the stablecoins and Justin Sun revealed Tron is launching a ‘DAI-like’ stablecoin called “USDJ.” The coin will allegedly be pegged to the USD rate by using collateralized digital assets.

The recent stablecoin demand was noticed by the entire crypto community and Coin Metrics discussed the situation in the firm’s latest report. “Stablecoin transfer value hit an all-time high amidst the market turmoil,” Coin Metrics wrote. The researchers added:

The dual impact of Bitcoin’s USD value halving and massive issuance of stablecoins led to stablecoins’ market cap as a percentage of Bitcoin’s doubling in a matter of days.

What do you think about the demand for stablecoins? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Stablecoin Market Caps Swell Over $7 Billion – Volumes Surpass Most Trading Pairs appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Market Update: Uncertainty Remains Thick as Bears Claw Bitcoin Price Below $6K

30/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

Bitcoin’s price has been dragging downward and on March 29, BTC’s fiat value slipped beneath the $6K zone. Most of the top ten cryptocurrencies are down between 5-8% in the last 24 hours. As the global economy falters and the halving approaches, people are uncertain about the future price of bitcoin as “safe-haven” theories have been steadily vanishing.

Also read: In-Between Bitcoin Halvings: Analyst Proves Bitcoin’s Price Not Bound to 4-Year Cycles

Top Ten Cryptos See Some Percentage Losses During Sunday’s Trading Sessions

The price of bitcoin affects the entire cryptoconomy most of the time and on Sunday, March 29, the story is no different. BTC has slipped beneath the psychological $6K mark after hovering around $6,450 for a while and then $6,200 during the last day and a half. At the time of publication, BTC is swapping for $5,904 per coin and has a market capitalization of roughly $108 billion.

As usual, tether (USDT) is the top pair with BTC on Sunday capturing more than 67% of the day’s trades. This is followed by pairs like USD (8.6%), JPY (6.2%), PAX (5.69%), USDC (5.4%) and EUR (2.18%). The two stablecoins PAX and USDC have been commanding a lot of BTC trade volume since the initial market carnage that started on March 12. At $5,904 per coin, BTC has lost 5.15% during the course of Sunday’s trading sessions.

The second-largest blockchain by market capitalization, ethereum (ETH), is down 3.6% today and trading for $125 per coin. ETH has a market cap hovering around $13.8 billion and about a billion in reported trade volume on Sunday. Ethereum prices are down 18% during the last 30 days, 4.3% for the last 90, and negative 12% for the last 12-months against the U.S. dollar.

The fifth-largest blockchain by market cap, bitcoin cash (BCH) is down 3% today and is swapping for $208 a coin. BCH has around $330 million in global trade volume and the coin’s market valuation is $3.8 billion today. Just like BTC, the top trading pair with bitcoin cash is tether (USDT) capturing 59% of the day’s swaps. BTC is below tether followed by USD (14.5%), ETH (1.5%), KRW (1.4%), and EUR (0.55%). Bitcoin cash is down 3% for the last 30 days, the coin is up 0.27% for the last 90, and BCH is also still up 24% for the last 12-months against the U.S. dollar.

Uncertainty Remains Thick Among Crypto Traders

Right now many traders on forums, Youtube, social media and other avenues are uncertain about the future of BTC’s price and the rest of the crypto market. The popular analyst Peter Brandt noted on March 27 that for BTC, “This is the perfect storm.” However, Brandt added: “If Bitcoin cannot rally on this, then crypto is in BIG trouble.”

“I do not personally think BTC even has that much time to declare itself true or false,” Brandt tweeted the day prior.

Digital asset trader Crypto Michaël tweeted to his 50,000 followers that he thinks “every cycle takes longer than the previous one.” The trader’s opinion was similar to our recent report on Benjamin Cowen’s video about debunking four-year cycle periods.

“What if that also means that we’re going to find support at the 300-Week MA?” Crypto Michaël asked. “100-Week MA was supported in 2012, 200-Week in 2014-2017. 300-Week MA accumulation before the peak to 2025-2026 with BTC at $150,000?” the trader added.

“So you’re saying BTC will be in the range between 3k and 6k over the next 2+ years? I don’t think that BTC holders will be happy with that,” one person replied. “You are right. But I think there will be a new Bitcoin hodler emerging if the price will be $3K,” another crypto proponent added.

The Twitter account The Crypto Fam told his 20,000 followers that he thinks $6K as a long term price is good. “But it’s possible that all markets make another big leg down, even gold, in which case BTC would go with it. Gotta have some cash to buy new lows,” he tweeted.

“In the last 24 hours, I’ve watched BTC climb in the short-term while XRP remains stable in bitcoin price countless times in which it somehow did not affect the USD price of XRP in the meantime. Mathematically, it just doesn’t compute,” the trader Tommy Tourettes said. Presently, a number of traders and analysts have a range of different theories about where crypto prices will lead, but these days most of them are uncertain of what lies ahead.

Where do you see the cryptocurrency markets heading from here? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Market Update: Uncertainty Remains Thick as Bears Claw Bitcoin Price Below $6K appeared first on Bitcoin News.

$2 Trillion for Surveillance Capitalism – US Government Promises $1,200 to Every American

25/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

On Wednesday, U.S. Congressional leaders had seemingly come up with a stimulus deal at around 1 a.m. EST. The package will cost upwards of $2 trillion and politicians are promising direct payments of $1,200 per American if they make $75,000 or less. The dollar injection will be the largest financial measure ever enacted by Congress in an effort to boost the faltering U.S. economy during one of its most challenging periods in history.

Also read: US Real Estate in Jeopardy – Analysts Predict Housing Market Crash to 29-Year Lows

US Lawmakers Promise $1,200 Payments to Citizens

During the last week, the U.S. has been dealing with the coronavirus outbreak and the effects on the American economy. Since the virus touched American soil, politicians have been enacting executive orders like closing borders, shutting down major U.S. industries, and ordering regular citizens to stay at home. The bureaucracy’s measures have stunted the American economy and sent shockwaves through the stock market, the real estate industry, and pushed unemployment levels through the roof. Meanwhile, for a few days now, Republicans and Democrats have hashed out a stimulus plan to help businesses and citizens deal with the financial hardships they have been facing. During the early morning hours of March 25, White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland told the media “We have a deal.”

At 1 a.m. EST members of Congress supposedly penned a stimulus package that will cost around $2 trillion USD. U.S. politicians have promised American citizens a cut of that money and Wall Street will get some funds as well. Small- and medium-sized American businesses can expect their stimulus in the form of Federal loans of around $300 billion.

One part of the stimulus plan includes sending money to individuals and families with an adjusted gross income of $75K or less. People within this income bracket are being promised $1,200 checks based on their 2018 income tax filings. People with children will be eligible for $500 per child and singles without children who make $99K will be ineligible. Couples without children who have an adjusted gross income of $198,000 or more will also be removed from the stimulus plan.

On Tuesday, March 24, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 6.46% or 1,201.54, to 19,793 and the S&P 500 Index was up 5.77%, or 129.10, to 2,366.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 5.38%, or 368.91, to 7,229.58 on Tuesday as well. On Wednesday, futures and the opening bell numbers indicate today’s gains are flat and the Nasdaq Composite Index is down at press time.

Meanwhile, a large sum of the cash injections will be sent to bolster the airline industry and Wall Street in order to get corporations on their feet again. Financial incumbents will get “unlimited bond-buying” and three separate credit facilities from the Fed. The Fed has already been pumping trillions into the hands of private banks but the stimulus package for small- and medium-sized American businesses will come in the form of loans. The 2020 package ostensibly will create a new “main street lending program” that will offer $300 billion in financing for smaller companies in need.

$4 trillion more to go. https://t.co/ZDIOlMz4zm

— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) March 25, 2020

‘Digital Dollars’ and ‘Surveillance Capitalism’

No one truly knows how all of this money will be dispersed especially when it comes to American citizens. Wall Street, U.S. hedge funds, and financiers have already had access to trillions during the last two weeks. Speculators believe the cash handout will cause major disruption in the U.S. by inciting class warfare and even more liquidity issues. Moreover, politicians are talking about introducing a “digital dollar” and privacy advocates are afraid the U.S. bureaucracy will kill physical cash in the near future. There is speculation about a Fed-based CBDC (central bank digital currency) or a stablecoin token similar to tether (USDT).

During the last few two decades, the concept of “surveillance capitalism” has increased a great deal according to Shoshana Zuboff’s latest novel. Free services and cash injections from governments are responsible for the creation of surveillance capitalism and many believe the covid-19 crisis is the perfect catalyst to push the idea to new levels.

Cryptocurrency advocates are not impressed by such talk as most of them understand these digital currency concepts will be nothing like the network Satoshi Nakamoto created. If a “digital dollar” is headed to a theater near you, it’s guaranteed to be privacy-invasive, crammed with KYC/AML protocols, and extremely centralized. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is the very opposite of the concepts being pushed by politicians and central bank governors. Nakamoto created a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that is permissionless by nature and was fundamentally designed to invoke economic freedom. The modern U.S. monetary system is fundamentally designed to stunt growth, pillage people’s wallets with hidden inflation, and track everyone’s financial transactions.

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The possibility of the U.S. government changing the monetary game for parasitic ends is quite probable, especially in times of crisis. For instance, Shoshana Zuboff’s latest novel “Surveillance Capitalism” describes how free services and cash injections are the perfect onramps to monitor people’s behaviors and financial transactions without consent.

“Surveillance capitalism,” she writes, “unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data. Although some of these data are applied to service improvement, the rest are declared as a proprietary behavioral surplus, fed into advanced manufacturing processes.” Zuboff’s book further notes:

Surveillance capitalists have grown immensely wealthy from these trading operations, for many companies are willing to lay bets on our future behavior.

The $2 trillion 2020 stimulus package is still not set in stone as far as official approval is concerned. It very well could be stopped by certain leaders and nobody knows how Congress plans to execute the delivery of these funds, as settlement is still up in the air.

What do you think about the $2 trillion stimulus plan agreed upon by certain U.S. lawmakers today? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post $2 Trillion for Surveillance Capitalism – US Government Promises $1,200 to Every American appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Traders Flock to Tether, USDC, PAX – Stablecoins See Great Demand After Crypto Market Havoc

16/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

Traders Flock to Tether, USDC, PAX - Stablecoins See Great Demand After Market Havoc

Stablecoins have seen massive volume and growth this month especially after the market carnage on March 12. Per usual, tether has been the king of stablecoins following the market downturn, but the 4.6 billion USDT wasn’t enough for all the liquidity needed to shield the storm. Other tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar like USDC, TUSD, and PAX have reaped the benefits as well and a few of them have joined the top trading pairs with BTC.

Also Read: Bitcoin Cash IFP Debate: ABC Kicks Off Fundraiser, 3 Mining Pools Signal BCHN Support

Stablecoins See Increased Demand and Growth After Crypto Market Wrath

It’s a well known fact that lots of traders like stablecoins and they become useful hedges for people when crypto market prices suddenly dive. Despite a number of people not liking them and the controversies surrounding stablecoins, they have continued to grow very popular during the last few years. Tether (USDT) is the most used stablecoin and the token’s market capitalization is the largest to-date. In fact, USDT is usually the top trading pair with BTC and during the last week, the token captured between 60-75% of BTC trades.

At the time of writing, USDT has a market valuation of around $4.63 billion. Coinmarketcap.com (CMC) data shows reported traded volume for tether is $40.6 billion but messari.io’s “real volume” statistics claim its only $1 billion. Either way, statistical aggregation sites like CMC, markets.Bitcoin.com (6.4B), and messari.io both show that USDT has the most trade volume on March 15 out of 5,000+ coins.

Even though tethers have and still are capturing 60-75% of BTC trades during the last few days, other stablecoins have seen growth from the crypto price downturn as well. Cryptocompare.com stats show that stablecoins like USDC and PAX have been top five trading pairs with BTC. USDC is capturing 4.1% of BTC trades and PAX has around 3% according to cryptocompare.com data.

Usually, these stablecoins are not even close to making it into the top pair trading positions with BTC. On March 14, Circle cofounder Jeremy Allaire explained how USDC saw growth over the last couple of days. “USDC surging in market demand over the past days, reaching new ATH at $568M in circulation,” Allaire tweeted. “Fascinating to see ‘flight to safety’ within the crypto macro market, but also demand for high-quality USD liquidity for markets.” Allaire continued:

While not as exciting to see markets so crushed, it’s still rewarding to see that this entirely new, entirely digital, blockchain-based monetary infrastructure is working.

Stablecoin Arbitrage and Liquidity

While Allaire discussed the situation after the wrath on March 12, Paxos Global’s official Twitter account also tweeted about the various stablecoins they offer custody for and noted that the combined projects had a market capitalization of “more than $395 million as of March 12, 2020.” The stablecoin TUSD has also seen an uptick in volume and the approximate total value of TUSD’s market cap at press time is $132 million.

Paxos is a Trust company, meaning we are a qualified custodian for USD-backed #stablecoins. We power $PAX @PaxosStandard, $HUSD @Stablecoin_HUSD and $BUSD @binance Dollar, with a total market cap of more than $395 million as of March 12, 2020. https://t.co/ZWpJ2LUNkw

— Paxos (@PaxosGlobal) March 12, 2020

News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the incident that took place with the Makerdao defi project after ETH prices dropped more than 40% on Thursday. At that time $4-4.5 million worth of Makerdao’s stablecoin DAI were undercollateralized. However, since then single collateral DAI tokens have been doing much better and on March 15 they are priced at $1.06 per token.

Even though most of the stablecoins are supposed to remain valued at one U.S. dollar after March 12, liquidity demand made prices fluctuate for all of the stablecoins in existence. At times prices have been a touch higher and sometimes stablecoin prices have been a hair lower than the USD peg. Crypto traders have found ways to leverage the current stablecoin arbitrage, which allows them to sell the tokens for higher profits using different markets. Traders have been using stablecoins for arbitrage for years and there are various blog posts and guides on the subject.

It’s likely that traders will continue to use stablecoins and ‘tether off’ in order to hedge the current storm. On Sunday, March 15, cryptocurrency markets have been lackluster and there haven’t been any huge moves. If coins like BCH, ETH, BTC, and many others see improved prices and gains soon then it’s likely traders will gradually exit their stablecoin hedge. However, if markets fall lower in the near future the ‘flight to safety’ within the cryptoconomy might be put to the test with significant stress. If crypto prices drop further liquidity issues could make dollarized tokens worth a lot more than the 5-10 cents higher we’re seeing today.

What do you think about the current market demand for stablecoins? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is 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 this article. Price articles and market updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Cryptocurrency prices referenced in this article were recorded on Sunday, March 15, 2020.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Markets.Bitcoin.com, Twitter, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, and Pixabay.

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