Schlagwort: crypto business

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Iran and Russia are working on gold-backed stablecoin: report

  • Iran and Russia are reportedly eyeing a new stablecoin for cross-border trade, including in the Astrakhan special economic zone.
  • The stablecoin will be backed by gold, according to local Russian media outlet Vedomosti.
  • Both Iran and Russia are under tough international sanctions.

Iran and Russia are looking to launch a new stablecoin in the market, Russian news agency Vedomosti has reported.

According to the news outlet, there’s cooperation between the Central Bank of Iran and its Russian counterpart on a project that will see the two countries issue a new gold-backed cryptocurrency.

The stablecoin, targeted for the Persian Gulf region, will be used for cross-border transactions in the place of the US dollar, the Iranian rial and the Russian ruble. The digital asset is also specifically intended as a payment method in the Astrakhan area – an economic zone whose design helped Russia begin to receive cargo shipments from Iran.

The report quotes Alexander Brazhnikov, the Executive Director of the Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain as stating that the project is indeed in the works. 

Crypto in foreign trade transactions

The gold-backed stablecoin is indeed being worked on by the two nations even as they continue to face strict sanctions from the United States as well as other Western countries.

But notably, both Iran and Russia have allowed the use of crypto in foreign trade, with the Iranian government taking the step in August last year. As earlier covered by CoinJournal, Russia also considered cryptocurrency as a “safe alternative” for cross-border payments in August.

In December 2022, the Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina noted that the country was ready to allow cryptocurrency use for foreign trade only — the central bank was looking at this on an experimental basis.

Commenting on the latest report, Russian lawmaker Anton Tkachev said the reported joint stablecoin will proceed once Russia is able to fully regulate the digital assets market.  The country, which has toyed with crypto regulation bills for much of 2022, looks to get one over the line in 2023 following multiple delays.

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Binance rolls out off-exchange settlement solution for institutions

  • Binance’s off-exchange settlement solution Binance Mirror to benefit institutional investors.
  • The solution is offered via Binance Custody, a regulated institutional digital assets platform.
  • Binance Mirror currently accounts for more than 60% of assets on Binance Custody.

Binance is looking to grow confidence among institutional investors through a brand new service dubbed Binance Mirror.

In an announcement published on Monday, the global crypto exchange giant said the service will be accessible via Binance Custody, the exchange’s regulated institutional crypto custody solution.

Binance Mirror, according to the press release, is an off-exchange settlement solution designed to help institutions to trade and invest in products across the Binance ecosystem through cold custody.

Security key for investors

The crypto space remains much within the chaos that followed the collapse of FTX, with centralised exchanges including Binance seeing a significant slash of customer deposits as uncertainty mounted. Amid this has been the push for self-custody, which has been fueled by the fears around more CEXs folding.

But Binance says its new product protects institutional investors.

Instead of posting collateral directly onto the Binance exchange, institutions will leverage Binance Mirror to lock specified asset balances in the cold storage solution, with these mirrored on their exchange accounts at a 1:1 balance.

On the security of these assets, the Binance team wrote:

“Their assets remain secure in their segregated cold wallet for as long as their Mirror position remains open on the Binance Exchange, which can be settled at any time.”

Binance Custody launched in December 2021, a custodian platform separate from the Binance exchange – it has a segregated cold wallet system. The unveiling of Binance Mirror is already seeing adoption of the custodial platform reach new levels. As noted in today’s announcement, the new product currently accounts for over 60% of the total assets on Binance Custody.

Athena Yu, the VP of Binance Custody, emphasised on the issue of security for investors.

“Security is a top priority for institutions, who also desire the deep liquidity that the Binance Exchange offers. Binance Mirror brings the best of both worlds,” Yu said in a statement.

According to the exec, Binance spent most of 2022 refining its operations as it looked to enable clients to tap into benefits of unlocked liquidity. Mirror’s launch therefore offers the crypto company an opportunity to introduce new features aimed at taking the cold custody functionality to the next level.

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Bitcoin price: Analyst says BTC could hit $25K by March

  • Bitcoin price broke above $21,440 on major cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time since the FTX implosion.
  • Much of the buying pressure was retail driven as crypto mirrored stock markets’ Friday surge.
  • Veteran trader and markets analyst Peter Brandt has shared his prediction for Bitcoin price in 2023.

Cryptocurrencies roared into the weekend as Bitcoin price spiked to highs above $21,000 for the first time since FTX’s debacle began to unfold in November.

Data from CoinGecko shows that the benchmark crypto hit prices near $21,450 on major crypto exchanges on Sunday, with major altcoins tracking the leading digital asset. Ethereum broke above $1,500, Solana jumped to trade at highs of $24 and Dogecoin rose as high as $0.088. 

It’s notable that the rise in crypto prices followed a tick up for growth stocks and risk assets as the US inflation slowed further in December to suggest a potential pivot from the Federal Reserve.

Bitcoin price rally- analyst points to $25K by March

Bitcoin is up more than 22% in the past seven days, with BTC currently showing resilience above the $20,000 support level.

While on-chain data indicates the weekend buying pressure wasn’t so much as institutional investor-driven, the potential for bitcoin going higher remains if prices consolidate above the psychological level.

According to veteran trader and markets analyst Peter Brandt, BTC’s bullish trend will benefit from a weekly close above $20,800. He shared the prediction in a tweet.

The seasoned trader predicts a run to major resistance at $25,000 by March, with rejection seeing BTC retest the $18,000 level. If bulls hold this level, the analyst forecasts another sharp rally that could end up with Bitcoin price testing resistance levels around the $35,000 mark by July 2023.

Although he warns that no one can predict the markets with certainty, his long term outlook for Bitcoin has the cryptocurrency’s price above $100,000 by 2025.

The post Bitcoin price: Analyst says BTC could hit $25K by March appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Frontier in-browser wallet supporting Aptos goes live

  • DeFi protocol Frontier Wallet brings in-browser wallet support for Sui, Aptos, and 33 other cryptocurrencies.
  • Besides transactions, users will also be able to stake and transfer tokens between networks.
  • The wallet basically offers a one-stop platform for users to interact with dApps.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Frontier has officially launched the Frontier in-browser wallet extension.

The wallet extension brings in-browser wallet support for 35 cryptocurrencies including Sui and Aptos. Users will be able to stake tokens, transact using the allowed cryptocurrencies as well as store and transfer NFTs.

In a nutshell, the wallet will give users the privilege of interacting with any decentralized application (dApp) without needing to switch between different applications, which can be quite tedious for DeFi users. Additionally, the wallet supports some of the newer blockchains like Aptos and Sui which have become so popular in the recent past.

Transferring tokens between networks

In addition to the features mentioned above, the in-browser wallet will also allow users to transfer tokens between different blockchain networks, a process commonly referred to as bridging within the crypto space.

The Frontier team has built APIs for networks like  Near, Solana, Cosmos, and others. Users can use these APIs to get their balances and transactional history.

The wallet is a game changer since a majority of other popular crypto wallets including Zerion and MetaMask do not offer similar features to their in-browser wallet users.

Frontier also claims that its wallet has a security feature that detects phishing attacks and fraud to help keep users safe.

The wallet currently has over one million users worldwide and the new feature is expected to drive that number even higher.

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Bithumb ordered to pay customers for service outage

  • Bithumb had a one and half hour outage that caused customers to lose funds.
  • South Korean Supreme Court has ordered the exchange to pay the customers for the damages.
  • Initially, a district court had ruled in favour of the exchange but the ruling was later overturned.

The local courts in South Korea have ordered that Bithumb is supposed to pay just about $200,000 for damages to 132 customers affected by a service outage on January 12, 2023.

On January 13, The South Korean Supreme Court ruled that Bithumb exchange should pay damages caused to customers after the 1.5-hour service outage. According to the Supreme Court, the exchange was to pay damages equivalent to $202,400 (251.4 million won). Customers are supposed to be paid as little as $6 to as much as $6,400.

According to the final ruling by the Supreme Court:

“The burden or the cost of technological failures should be shouldered by the service operator, not [the] service users who pay commission for the service.”

Initially, a district court had ruled against the customers before the matter was moved to the Supreme Court which overturned the earlier ruling and issued a final ruling on the matter.

Bithumb in South Korea

Bithumb is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in operation in South Korea and the service outage was caused by a sudden surge in the average amount of orders per hour coupled with bottle-necked transaction flows.

Bithumb has also been under investigation for the sudden death of one of the largest shareholders following embezzlement claims. There is also a special tax investigation on the exchange after authorities suspected the exchange of possible tax evasion.

Bithumb headquarters were actually raided by the National Tax Service (NTS) on January 10.

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