BitGo has announced it will be providing cryptocurrency custody services to Indian exchange CoinDCX. 

The agreement will see US-based BitGo provide secure storage and partial insurance for the digital assets traded on India-based CoinDX. The exchange is thought to have already begun transferring its assets to BitGo’s omnibus and segregated hot and cold wallets. 

According to BitGo, the company now processes more than 20% of all Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Through a syndicate of insurers in the Lloyd’s of London and European Marketplace, the company also provides insurance policies worth up to $100m. 

Some of CoinDCX’s funds, including user assets held on its lending service, DCXLend, and cold assets and funds, will be protected by BitGo’s insurance. 

India’s crypto industry bounces back after months of paralysis

CoinDCX’s chief revenue officer, Pete Njarian, explained the company had enlisted BitGo’s services due to the “recent uptick in trading volumes on Indian exchanges” driving a need for “professionalisation in the form of fund security in the crypto market.”

Since India’s Supreme Court overturned the Bank of India’s controversial crypto services ban earlier this year, Indian exchanges have seen trading rocket, with CoinDCX reporting trading volumes up 47% in the first quarter, along with a 10x growth in new signups and 150% increase in daily active users. 

Foreign crypto firms, including South Korea’s Bithumb, have also been lining up to invest in the potentially huge market, with CoinDCX itself attracting investments from Bain Capital Ventures, HDR Global Trading (operator of BitMEX), and Polychain Capital. 

Obviously sensing the tide was about to turn, just prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Malta-based crypto giant Binance acquired Indian exchange WazirX. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s great to see the Indian crypto scene is getting back into the stride of things after all the drama with the crypto services ban, though there are apparently still some issues, with a number of  banks still refusing to provide services to businesses in the crypto sector. 

Despite the ongoing problems, with the world entering an unprecedented economic downturn due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, crypto businesses around the world are seeing an uptick in trade as investors look to protect their wealth –  and the Indian market is potentially HUGE, so it’s easy to see the appeal. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Bitwala has launched a Bitcoin Interest Account product offering users interest rates of up to 4.3%.

The German neobank, which says it has around 80,000 users, has partnered with cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network to offer the new product. Funds held in Bitwala’s Bitcoin Interest Accounts are lent out to ‘trusted partners’ on the network.

By holding Bitcoin (BTC) in their accounts users will be able to earn interest that is significantly higher than that offered by most traditional fiat savings accounts. Though several DeFi Apps also offer similar products with higher interest rates (up to 8.6%), Bitwala is notable in that it is a fully regulated European bank that also offers fiat services in 32 countries. 

The new product is also very accessible, with a minimum of just €30 worth of BTC needed to be held in the free Bitcoin Interest Account in order to receive weekly interest. Users can convert funds back to Euros at any time. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Though it hasn’t been easy for the new breed of crypto-friendly banks to pass all the regulatory hurdles and get a foothold in the mainstream financial world, Bitwala is clearly leading the pack. And, with traditional banks offering almost nothing in terms of interest to savers, we expect products like this will prove very popular, and be a significant driver of crypto adoption.

Staying with Celsius Network, earlier this month we reported the platform announced it had seen over 50,000 BTC deposited since launching in August 2018. 

Want to find out more about Bitwala and the team behind it? Check out our exclusive chat with Ben Jones, CTO and Co-founder of Bitwala. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Ernst & Young (EY) says it has received almost 17,000 proofs of claim from creditors looking to recover assets lost to defunct crypto exchange QuadrigaCX. 

Almost 17K claims in multiple currencies and cryptos

Appointed as trustee for QuadrigaCX’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, in an interim status report published on 12 May, EY said it had now received 16,959 proofs of claim, denominated in various fiat and cryptocurrencies. 

Things have been complicated by the fact that many involve multiple currency components, spanning US dollars, Canadian dollars, Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Litecoin (LTC), and Ether (ETH). EY says it expects all claims to be converted to Canadian dollars, though the conversion rates have not been finalised yet. 

EY is still in the process of assessing claims, and said that a number are deficient in various ways, ranging from being unsigned to differing from the numbers stated in QuadrigaCX’s own records. 

It was also noted that the crypto exchange had failed to file tax returns prior to the start of bankruptcy proceedings, so its outstanding corporate tax liabilities are currently unknown. 

‘Fake death’ and complicated trail

In a recent survey conducted by Consensus: Distributed, the majority of of crypto users said they think QuadrigaCX CEO, Gerald Cotton, faked his own death. 

According to the poll, 60% think Cotton is still alive, while a massive 90% believe his body should be exhumed and subject to autopsy. Indeed, in December 2019 lawyers for users affected by QuadrigaCX’s bankruptcy petitioned the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to do just that. 

As we reported in February 2019, roughly CA $190 million worth of cryptocurrency belonging to investors became trapped in cyberspace after Cotton “died while he was opening an orphanage in India,” taking the keys to QuadrigaCX’s crypto assets with him. 

Subsequently, crypto research and consulting firm Zero nOncense said it thought there was a real possibility of retrieving at least some of the lost funds. The company had obtained information suggesting up to 650,000 ETH belonging to QuadrigaCX may have been stored with Kraken, Bitfinex, and Poloniex. 

Later in the year Jennifer Robertson, widow of Cotton, announced she was handing over $9 million in assets to users who were affected by the exchange’s collapse. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The fact that, at an exchange as large and established as QuadrigaCX, only one man had access to the keys to all of its assets, demonstrates both staggering incompetency on the part of the company, and the scary vulnerability of crypto infrastructure of the time. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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US-based crypto mining firm Riot Blockchain has seen revenue grow in the first quarter, but is still relying on debt to fund its operations.

Despite the relief brought about by the termination of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation, the firm has been relying on equity and debt to fund its cryptocurrency mining operations. 

However, although profitability remained elusive and its accumulated deficit exceeded $221 million, the company did see revenue jump 68% year-on-year, from USD $1.4 million to $2.4 million. 

In late 2019 Riot also invested in 4,000 Bitmain S17 Pro Antminers, which it says were fully deployed by 31 March 2020. Another 2,049 next generation Bitmain S19 Antminers were purchased in April 2020, with delivery and deployment expected in Q3 2020.

The investment in new hardware, which the company says will allow it to double its operational hash rate, should help get the business back on track. 

In April the company also entered into a co-location mining agreement with Coinmint, which is expected to improve operational efficiency. 

AYO.NEWS says:

These are extremely uncertain times for crypto mining companies, which have been through a rough time over the past year. But, with the COVID-19 crisis triggering what many predict to be the biggest economic catastrophe of modern times, and Bitcoin’s third halving having just taken place, many are now predicting a sustained surge in BTC prices. 

If that does happen, then those mining firms investing heavily in new, ultra-efficient mining machines may well be in for a boom.  

Staying with Bitcoin mining, in April London-listed Argo Blockchain revealed it had seen a record start to 2020. Argo is also investing in upgrading its hardware, having recently purchased 1,000 Bitmain Antminer S17+ rigs. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Bitcoin (BTC) rewards company Lolli has secured $3M in an oversubscribed seed-II funding round led by Pathfinder, and including Ashton Kutcher’s VC firm, Sound Ventures. 

Other investors in the round included beauty entrepreneur Michelle Phan, Craft Ventures, Company Ventures, Adam Leber, Abe Burns, Chapter One Ventures, FJ Labs, Version One, Bain Capital Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Pir Granoff, and Brian Sugar. 

The company says it intends to use the new capital to help launch its mobile application and expand internationally. Lolli expects to launch its full mobile app sometime in Summer 2020. 

Commenting on the round Lolli CEO, Alex Adelman, said:

“We’re excited to continue accelerating the mission of Lolli, making bitcoin more accessible to all. The team and I are creating the easiest way for people to earn and own bitcoin. We have an incredible syndicate of strategic investors that will help drive the adoption of Lolli and bitcoin forward.” 

Founded in 2018, US-based Lolli lets users earn Bitcoin (BTC) rewards for online purchases from more than 750 participating merchants including Expedia, Hotels.com, Groupon, priceline, hotwire, Everland, Bonobos, Safeway Casper, Harry’s GAP, Bloomingdales, Sephora, Best Buy, and Sephora. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Lolli is doing a fair bit to drive mainstream Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, and with its interesting and relevant take on consumer reward schemes, and with many predicting Bitcoin to boom as the COVID-19 economic crisis hits, the company could be set for very big things! In November last year, we reported Lolli had partnered with the world’s largest retailer, Alibaba. 

Staying with Ashton Kutcher’s investments, earlier today we released an exclusive interview with Rahul Sood, founder and CEO of esports betting operator Unikrn – another one of Kutcher’s investments. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Bitcoin’s much anticipated third halving has happened and focused the world’s attention once more on the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies. 

Despite the YouTube thought police pulling Cointelegraph’s BTC Halving livestream after six hours and 42 minutes, for being “harmful content,” and a bit of turbulence in terms of price that saw BTC swing from 5-7% in each direction over a few hours, things have gone pretty much as to be expected so far. 

An ominous message

Eagle-eyed observers did, however, note that as the 629,000 block was mined, a message was inserted by f2pool, reading:

“NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Fed’s Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue.” 

This echoes a note left in the Genesis block in 2009, by the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin (BTC) Satoshi Nakamoto. That note read:

“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” 

Nakamoto was referencing the then unprecedented rescue package aimed at staving off global economic collapse following the 2008 Financial Crisis. F2pool’s message is referencing the now planned rescue package to try to stave off economic collapse due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis. 

Many have noted that Bitcoin was itself born out of the ashes of the Financial Crisis, and that it looks like it may well ‘come of age’ in the now unfolding catastrophe – which many expect to be far worse than any previous crisis in modern history. 

Indeed, as we speculated a few weeks ago, with the world on the brink of economic collapse, Bitcoin’s ‘moment of truth’ could well be approaching. 

Bitcoin price to rocket in post-halving world rocked by economic chaos?

Of course, some have gone further, with gun toting libertarian, tax fugitive, presidential candidate and outspoken crypto advocate John McAfee warning the “world is collapsing”, fiat currencies will implode within months, and imploring people to “buy peanut butter.” 

However, McAfee isn’t the only one expecting chaos in the traditional economy to power Bitcoin to record levels. Last week former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager, and current Global Macro Investor CEO, Raoul Pal, said the likelihood of $1M BTC was higher than ever. 

Just days previously, Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, also weighed in with a prediction that there was more than a 50/50 chance of Bitcoin hitting $500K by August 2021. While crypto analyst PlanB also used a modified Stock-to-Flow model to predict prices reaching $288K by the end of 2020. 

And, lets not forget, now incarcerated Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s recent prediction of $333 million BTC within a few years!  

The halving – a ‘non-event’, or is that missing the real point?

Of course, there are plenty of professional crypto analysts and casual observers who consider the latest halving will turn out to be a non-event. And, they could very well be right, in a certain way. 

For, though the basic fundamentals seem to dictate that if you halve the supply of something, or make it twice as expensive to mine, scarcity should result in the price rising, anyone who’s been exposed to the world of Bitcoin (BTC) for some time will know that things don’t always follow logic. 

However, we can’t help but feel that most of those focusing on arguing how the halving itself is a non-event, are still talking from a pre-COVID-19 crisis point-of-view.

One of the most interesting things about the current COVID-19 crisis is that it is unfolding something like a train crash in super-slow motion. For generations raised on 90-minute Hollywood blockbusters, the apocalypse is expected to be quick and dramatic, meaning the COVID-19 induced economic collapse is still hazy, if not invisible, to most. 

With hundreds of millions of workers in developed countries still on subsidised furloughs, and millions of others still employed by companies trying desperately to hang on to staff, plus all activity slowed to a crawl by lockdowns, the true scale of the economic catastrophe approaching has not dawned on the majority of people. 

Judging by the scale of the rescue packages being prepared, and the gargantuan economic forces that have already been unleashed and are hurtling down the track towards the unsuspecting train passengers, this crisis could well tip the traditional financial, economic and societal systems into an unrecoverable “death spiral.”

Given its timing, there is simply no way that this halving can be looked at in isolation. It is inextricably linked to the wider global picture. Because, after all is said and done, our civilization is underpinned by confidence and faith in the systems we rely on. If they collapse, then Bitcoin (BTC) could well find itself perfectly placed to become a much-needed rock of stability, then all bets are off, and Ulbricht’s prediction doesn’t seem so far-fetched. 

Its physics. 

This information does not constitute investment advice and features the opinion of the author only. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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