Crypto Lending Platform Cred Joins Visa's Fintech Fast Track Program

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 9/9/2020 11:04 AM ET

Crypto lending and borrowing platform Cred has joined the Visa's Fintech Fast Track Program to enable it to easily leverage the reach, capabilities, and security offered by Visa.

By joining the program, Cred will also be able to expand its reach to facilitate lending and borrowing of digital assets around the world wherever Visa has its operating network, thus enabling its global expansion in the most efficient way possible.

This includes sending interest payments directly to customer bank accounts through Visa's network, issuing Crypto Line of Credit (C-LOC) cards that allow customers to access a credit line without liquidating their crypto assets, and an easy way to acquire digital assets using Visa payment products.

"Cred has always served as a bridge between traditional banking and blockchain based financial services and having a direct relationship with Visa will enable the company to scale much more rapidly to support the significant growth occurring with digital asset lending," said Dan Schatt, CEO and Co-Founder of Cred.

The fintech fast-track program provides a new commercial framework to support fintech and startup companies that includes access to Visa's payment capabilities, reduced fees and streamlined processes.

The program provides turnkey access to Visa's ecosystem partners, online licensing, APIs, as well as extensive go-to-market toolkits, online education and expert advice to help Fintechs scale their business.

Cred is already serving customers in more than 190 countries. It allows its customers to earn a yield or interest of up to 10 percent on more than 30 crypto and fiat currencies through its partner network. It also provides loans with cryptos as collateral.

Cred is a licensed lender headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, supporting crypto exchanges, wallets, foundations and financial applications with its industry-leading crypto-backed lending and borrowing platform. It harnesses the power of blockchain to allow everyone to benefit from low-cost credit products.

Cred is a founder of the Universal Protocol Alliance (the UP Alliance), a coalition of the world's leading blockchain companies solving some of crypto's hardest challenges. The Alliance is working to create the future generation financial infrastructure needed to support the next 100 million users of crypto.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Morgan Stanley exec says this demographic prefers Bitcoin over gold

"Millennials are buying more of the Bitcoins and the cryptocurrencies," says Ruchir Sharma.

Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            SEPT 08, 2020

According to a Morgan Stanley executive, the young and adventurous usually go for crypto, while older investors stick to more traditional assets.

In a Sept. 8 interview with CNN anchor Julia Chatterley, Morgan Stanley’s head of emerging markets and chief global strategist Ruchir Sharma stated that the generational divide when it comes to investments has many millennials choosing Bitcoin (BTC) over gold.

“I think some of the older [investors] are still buying gold, and millennials are buying more of the Bitcoins and the cryptocurrencies,” said Sharma.

Part of the younger generation’s drive to look towards crypto may be related to Sharma’s prediction that inflation could come as early as 2021 in the United States. He cited a number of monetary and fiscal measures officials have taken to deal with the economic fallout of the pandemic.

“There is this lingering feeling out there that given what central banks are doing in terms of printing so much money, there is a search for alternative assets.”

“To have about 5% or so of your portfolio in gold is not a bad idea,” said the Morgan Stanley exec. “If you're a bit more adventurous — and I guess it’s more to do with demographics — then obviously search for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies."

Crypto Twitter saw this example played out in real time yesterday as famous gold bug Peter Schiff put it to the internet to decide who was more trustworthy when it came to financial advice: a 57-year-old goldbug with 30 years’ experience as an investment professional or an 18-year-old unemployed college freshman who favored Bitcoin. Of the 82,906 people surveyed, 81.3% chose “the kid.”

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Turner Wright.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Gold Pundit Peter Schiff Admits He Was Wrong On Bitcoin. Here’s Why

By Brenda Ngari – September 7, 2020

Stockbroker and gold bug Peter Schiff’s animosity against bitcoin is well known. However, Schiff has basically admitted that the king of cryptocurrencies recently defied his bearish portents. Given bitcoin has obliterated gold’s year-to-date returns, such a conclusion should be obvious.

‘I Was Wrong On Bitcoin’

The Twitter debate between bitcoin hater Peter Schiff and Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss on Sunday (September 6) was quite interesting. The two were talking about bitcoin’s rally to $12,000 and the subsequent drop below $10k. According to Tyler, $10K is now the new baseline because bitcoin did not spend too much time below that level. He also observed that the benchmark crypto is now consolidating before the next huge move.

For Schiff, however, bitcoin is consolidating before the next meltdown. “Consolidations after sharp moves typically continue the move that proceeds them. The more the 10K support level is tested the weaker it gets. Markets rarely give investors that many chances to buy the bottom,” he explained.

A Twitter user going by the online alias sharkybit chimed in on the conversation, attaching a screenshot from July 5 where Schiff had predicted that bitcoin would collapse while gold rallied.

After being called out for his failed bitcoin prognostication, the gold proponent conceded that he was wrong on bitcoin. He further posited that bitcoin’s surge to $12K was boosted by the extensive TV advertisements conducted by investment firm Grayscale and gold’s bull rally.

However, Schiff is not completely budging on his bitcoin-bearish stance. He went on to say that bitcoin’s recent drop to $10K means the bear market has returned.

Schiff’s Logic Is Flawed

As aforementioned, bitcoin’s gains this year outpace those registered by gold. Bitcoin is currently hovering at $10,193.86. It has rallied 41.65 percent since the beginning of the year, according to data provided by blockchain analytics firm Skew. By comparison, the precious metal is up approximately 27.22 percent in the same timeframe.

Although bitcoin has dropped over 20% from the early August $12.5K high, its status as a potential substitute to gold is solidifying. Besides performing better than gold on a year-over-year basis, pundits have poignantly pointed out that the flagship cryptocurrency is becoming a better store of value than gold.

Where To Now?

While Schiff theorizes that bitcoin tapping the $10K level implies that it is due for a deeper retracement, other crypto experts are noting that the asset’s resilience is an indication that an exponential rally could be on the horizon.

The CEO of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, Su Zhu, was actually surprised by bitcoin’s ability to hold above $10,000. Zhu suggested that this simply means the top crypto is more likely to head higher than plummet.

“$eth 320 as a bottom made sense and played out; $btc I am actually flabbergasted by the strength shown at 10k and prob means 100k is more likely than 5k at this stage.”

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin (BTC) is Still Up 14% in Q3 2020

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   September 4, 2020

Quick take:

• Despite a rough few days, Bitcoin is still in profits for Q3 2020
• July 1st found Bitcoin trading at roughly $9,100
• BTC is currently trading above the $10,300 support level

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has gone below the $10,000 psychological price on two occasions. The first time was before yesterday’s daily close when BTC briefly traded at $9,950 – Binance rate. The second time was today around 10:50 am NYC time when Bitcoin fell to as low as $9,890. This means that Bitcoin has partially filled the CME gap created in July that went as low as $9,700. What remains to be seen, is whether there will be a third attempt, in the near future, to fill it completely.

Bitcoin (BTC) is Still Up 14% in Q3 2020

Setting aside Bitcoin’s crash from $12k to $9,900 levels that happened this week, and looking at BTC’s performance in Q3, it can be observed that the King of Crypto is still up 14.725% for the quarter.

On July 1st, Bitcoin’s average price was $9,100. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $10,440. This means that anyone who bought Bitcoin in early July is still a happy investor.

Bitcoin’s profitability in the third quarter of 2020 was also captured by the team at Unfolded via the following tweet.

$10,218 is Bitcoin’s Lowest Value Forward

Also worth mentioning is that in an August 30th tweet, the team at Cane Island Alternative Investors estimated that $10,200 was Bitcoin’s lowest price forward.

This value of $10,200 was attained by using Metcalfe’s law on the Bitcoin network. The process of calculating this value is summarized in the abstract section (below) of a paper written by Timothy Peterson that is available online.

Bitcoin is modeled as a token digital currency, a medium of exchange with no intrinsic value that is transacted within a defined electronic network. Per Metcalfe’s law, the value of a network is a function of the number of pairs transactions possible, and is proportional to n-squared.

A Gompertz curve is used to model the inflationary effects associated with the creation of new bitcoin. The result is a parsimonious model of supply (number of bitcoins) and demand (number of bitcoin wallets), with the conclusion bitcoin’s price fits Metcalfe’s law exceptionally well. Metcalfe’s law is used to investigate Gandal’s et.al. [2018] assertion of price manipulation in the Bitcoin ecosystem during 2013-2014.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

IRS Says Cryptos Earned From Microtasking Jobs Taxable

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/31/2020 10:33 AM ET

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) clarified that cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin earned from microtasks conducted on crowdsourcing platforms is considered taxable income, according to an IRS memo of late June published on August 28.

This was in reply to a query from the IRS's Small Business/Self Employed division seeking advice "regarding the tax consequences for an individual who receives convertible virtual currency for performing microtasks through a crowdsourcing or similar platform."

According to the memo, the specific issue quoted was "Is convertible virtual currency received by an individual for performing a microtask through a crowdsourcing or similar platform taxable income?"

The IRS replies as "Yes" saying that the "received consideration in exchange for performing a service, and the convertible virtual currency received is taxable as ordinary income."

The IRS clarifies that "a variety of digital platforms now enable individuals or entities to "crowdsource" jobs by using the Internet to outsource assignments to an undefined and often large group of other individuals or entities."

According to the IRS, virtual currency that has an equivalent value in real currency, or acts as a substitute for real currency, such as Bitcoin, is referred to as "convertible" virtual currency and is considered a commodity or property for federal income tax purposes.

Accordingly, general tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions involving convertible virtual currency, which are also subject to capital gains laws.

The IRS continues to warn taxpayers, who do not properly report virtual currency transactions, that they will be liable for tax, penalties and interest and in some cases they could be subject to criminal prosecution.

The current guidance for taxpayers is to file each and every transaction executed using a cryptocurrency. The IRS has also increased enforcement activities against taxpayers who "misreport" their cryptocurrency transactions.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

26-Year-Old AlphaBay Darknet Moderator Who Received Payment In Bitcoin Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison

By Bernice Nyambura – September 2, 2020

26-year-old Bryan Connor Herrell from Colorado, the former moderator of the AlphaBay darknet market place has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

According to a Tuesday announcement by the US Department of Justice, Connor Herrell pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to AlphaBay. AlphaBay was an illegal website that facilitated illicit transactions like guns, drugs, stolen identity information, credit card numbers, and other illegal items, for thousands of vendors and purchasers.

Bryan Connor facilitated the illegal exchange between buyers and sellers and received payment in Bitcoin (BTC) to settle disputes. He also monitored potential scammers to prevent Alphabay users from getting defrauded.

“As a moderator on AlphaBay, Herrell settled disputes between vendors and purchasers and settled over 20,000 disputes. He is also accused of serving as a scam watcher- providing a service dedicated to monitoring attempts to defraud AlphaBay users.”

Herrell’s Sentence to serve as a Warning to Darknet Criminals Using Cryptocurrencies

Herrell pleaded guilty to the charges in January and was scheduled to be sentenced on May 18. At the time, the US Justice Department stated that Herrell was facing a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison.

The sentencing, according to a statement by Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan, indicates Law enforcement’s commitment to eliminate the false sense of security that criminals have in darknet marketplaces.

“This sentence serves as further proof that criminals cannot hide behind technology to break the law. Operating behind the veil of the darknet may seem to offer shelter from criminal investigations, but people should think twice before ordering or selling drugs online-you will be caught.”

Regan further stated that Herrell’s case will serve as an example to other participants in illegal markets who are purchasing or selling illegal items.

“Herrell’s sentence sends a clear message to criminals that the darknet is no safe haven for illegal transactions.”

The US Department of Justice shut down AlphaBay, which was ten times the size of Silk Road, in July 2017, after its two years of operation, which left a lot of damage in its wake.

As the largest online source of Fentanyl and heroin, AlphaBay was linked to overdose deaths as well as an increased number of people acquiring illegal goods and services anonymously online.

The founder of AlphaBay, Alexandre Cazes was also arrested in 2017 in Thailand through collaboration between the Thai Police, the DEA, and the FBI. His indictment was, however, dismissed following his death shortly thereafter.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Bernice Nyambura and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe