NearPay announces the launch of its virtual crypto cards and wallet apps

NearPay has launched its virtual cryptocurrency cards and its wallet apps available for both iOS and Android devices.

NearPay, a crypto finance protocol, announced on Friday, August 26th, that it has officially launched virtual crypto cards and its Wallet for iOS and Android to bring the modern digital banking experience to the world of crypto. 

According to the team, the NearPay Wallet is now available on all platforms, including Web, iOS and Android. NearPay allows users to purchase cryptocurrencies using their credit card or bank transfer. 

The app also allows users to send, receive and exchange cryptocurrencies or make withdrawals directly to bank accounts. Furthermore, users can instantly receive a Visa debit card, which allows them to spend cryptocurrencies for online purchases with automatic conversion to fiat. 

However, the NearPay team explained that the service is currently available to residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK. 

The team added that the NearPay Wallet already supports 38 cryptocurrencies, including NEAR, BTC, ETH, and USDT. 

While commenting on this latest development, Ivan Ilin, COO at NearPay said;

“At NearPay, we have taken the best features of modern digital banking and brought them to the world of crypto to create a simple interface that makes managing all your finances, both fiat and crypto, easier than ever. With our newly launched iOS and Android apps our customers can access NearPay Wallet on the go and instantly get virtual crypto cards to spend their assets without converting them in advance“.

NearPay is a cryptocurrency finance protocol that provides the easiest way to exchange, manage, and spend crypto. 

The NearPay Wallet provides a modern digital banking experience for both crypto and fiat assets.

According to Insider Intelligence, payments made using cryptocurrencies are expected to surpass $10 billion in total transaction value globally for the first time in 2022. The report added that 60% of crypto owners are interested in using crypto as a payment method to make online purchases more private or secure.

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ADA is up by 3% today as the Cardano community prepares for the Vasil upgrade

The cryptocurrency market could end the week in a bearish tone but ADA is outperforming the other major coins.

ADA, the native token of the Cardano blockchain, is the best performer amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. ADA has added more than 3% to its value, outperforming the broader market in the process.

The cryptocurrency market could end the week in a bearish fashion, with the market losing nearly 2% of its value in the last 24 hours. This has resulted in the total market cap dropping close to the $1 trillion mark.

Bitcoin has maintained its position above the $21k level but continues to struggle to move past the $22k resistance point in recent days. Ether, on the other hand, has dropped below $1,700 after losing more than 2% of its value in the last 24 hours.

ADA’s ongoing positive performance comes as the Cardano development team provided an update on its Vasil upgrade. 

According to Input Output, the development team behind the Cardano blockchain, they continue to work towards bringing the Vasil upgrade to mainnet. The team provided updates on bug issues and other miannet node status. 

Key levels to watch

The ADA/USD 4-hour chart is turning bullish as Cardano has been performing well over the last few hours. The technical indicators show that ADA is outperforming the broader crypto market.

The MACD line is close to entering the positive region, indicating bullish momentum for ADA. the 14-day RSI of 59 shows that ADA could enter the overbought zone if the positive momentum can be maintained.

At press time, ADA is trading at $0.4812 per coin. If the positive rally continues, ADA could surge past the $0.535 resistance level before the end of the day. However, ADA could find it hard to surpass the second major resistance level at $0.577 over the next few hours. 

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Cowen expands digital assets team with key crypto-native hires

  • Cowen has hired former Blockchain.com Head of Institutional Development Jackie Rose and ex-Coinbase VP of Digital Asset Sales Chase Campbell.
  • The two join the investment bank’s digital assets unit Cowen Digital LLC.
  • Rose and Campbell are expected to spearhead Cowen Digital’s institutional growth.

Cowen Inc., a US-based multinational investment bank, has expanded its crypto asset arm Cowen Digital LLC via new crypto-native hires, according to details shared in a news release Thursday.

The two appointments involve former executives at crypto exchanges Coinbase and Blockchain.com, the company said, noting that they will be joining Cowen Digital LLC’s institutional sales team.

Cowen Digital eyes new growth areas

Among the executives joining the team is Director of Institutional Sales, Jackie Rose, the former Head of Institutional Business Development at Blockchain.com joins as the Director of Institutional Sales. 

She also has experience from her previous roles at Park Square Capital, The Carlyle Group, and JP Morgan.

Chase Campbell is the new Vice President of Digital Asset Sales at Cowen Digital, joining from Coinbase where he was the Institutional Sales Associate. Campbell was key to Coinbase’s DeFi, NFTs and crypto mining services as well as across traditional finance, including hedge funds, venture capital firms, asset managers, and endowments.

According to Cowen Digital, Rose and Campbell will be critical to the company’s growth initiatives, especially as it looks to expand across new areas within the ecosystem.  

Cowen launched its digital assets arm in March and eyes further expansion over the next five years amid increased interconnectedness between traditional and decentralised finance.

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Thailand’s SCBX scraps $500 million acquisition of Bitkub

  • SCBX announced its acquisition of Bitkub in November last year.
  • The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission raised issues over Bitkub’s listing of a token last month.

SCBX Pcl, the oldest commercial lender in Thailand, has pulled out of a deal that would have seen the financial behemoth acquire cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub.

The lender announced that it had scrapped the $500 million acquisition plan on Thursday, reportedly over regulatory related hurdles.

SCBX planned a 51% takeover of Bitkub

A report by Reuters noted that the firm, whose parent organisation is the SCB Group, had taken the step to allow the crypto startup time to sort out all the issues around regulatory compliance.

According to SCBX, Bitkub had not resolved “various issues” relating to the recommendations and orders previously given by the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank said in a statement it was uncertain when or how long it would take the crypto platform to satisfactorily handle the said concerns.

SCBX announced plans to acquire Bitkub in November 2021, putting forth a deal that would give it a 51% stake in the firm. The firm’s subsidiary, SBCS, would have tapped into the deal to expand the lender’s crypto-related business. 

However, the completion of the deal would be subject to regulatory approvals from the SEC and Bank of Thailand, among other agencies. 

Last month, the Thai securities watchdog raised concerns over Bitkub’s listing of the native KUB token, ordering the exchange to review the process.

Bitkub and SCBX have agreed to the termination of the deal, with the exchange noting it would look to address any unresolved issues.

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Bitgert Price Has Recovered But Beware of a Bearish Pattern

Bitgert price has crawled back in the past few days as investors cheer its ecosystem growth. BRISE, its native token, rose to a high of $0.0000092, which was the highest level since August 7. It has surged by over 162% from the lowest level this year.

Bitgert TVL soaring

Bitgert is a relatively small but fast-growing blockchain project that seeks to become a leading player in the industry. It is an Ethereum-killer that is substantially faster and cheaper to operate. According to its developers, it is able to handle thousands of transactions per second (tps). 

Bitgert is also significantly cheap to operate since it can handle millions of transactions for pennies. Some of the top applications created in Bitgert are Knit Finance, Midas NFT Marketplace, Briseswap, and Icecream Swap among others. $BRISE is the native token for Bitgert’s ecosystem.

Bitgert price has risen in the past few days as investors cheer the sudden growth of its ecosystem. According to DeFi Llama, Bitget has seen its total value locked (TVL) soar from almost zero to over $9 million. 

This growth has been mostly because of Spynx, which has a TVL of over $6 million. IcecreamSwap has a TVL of over $2.1 million. Therefore, analysts believe that the TVL will continue growing in the coming months.

The next key catalyst for the Bitget price will be the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium event in the United States. In it, Jerome Powell, the Fed Chair, will have an opportunity to talk about interest rates now that inflation has started falling.

Bitgert price prediction

The four-hour chart shows that the BRISE price has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few weeks. As a result, the coin has become one of the best performing in the market. It has rallied above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages. 

Notably, this rally happened after the coin dropped to a low of $0.00000055, which was the lowest point on August 19. At the same time, it seems like it is forming a double-top pattern, which is usually a bearish sign.

Therefore, while the Bitgert price has some upside, there is a likelihood that it will soon pull back because of the double-top pattern. If this happens, the next key support to watch will be at $0.00000078.

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