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Abu Dhabi-based Matrix Goes Live With More ADGM Approved Virtual Assets

Matrix, a global multilateral virtual asset trading platform, lists two new assets: XRP and XLM. The listings are part of Matrix’s attempt to bring a broader range of options to traders and investors around the world. Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the leading global jurisdiction for virtual assets, has approved these assets for listing on the regulated Matrix platform.

ADGM is an award-winning financial center and an International Financial Free Zone. With the Government of the Registration Authority (RA), the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and the ADGM Courts, ADGM upholds a fair and transparent trading ecosystem. ADGM’s thorough regulatory practices ensure that all approved assets are consistent with its internationally recognized standards.

Matrix expands its list of supported virtual assets to include:

XRP, the native currency of RippleNet, a blockchain-based payment network,

Lumen (XLM), native currency of Stellar, a decentralized protocol for exchanging cryptocurrencies for fiat.

“Our goal at Matrix has always been to offer retail and corporate investors a single platform with the security of regulatory oversight,” says Vasja Zupan, President of Matrix. “We are excited to expand our range of tokens and stablecoins as the first Multilateral Trading Center in ADGM to expand our virtual asset offering, with even more additions in the works. We pride ourselves on providing peace of mind to investors through safe and expanding regulated trading options for our community.”

About the matrix

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Matrix is ​​a globally operated and regulated multilateral trading engine and custodian dedicated to providing a compliant, secure and fast virtual asset trading experience. Matrix obtained its license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in relation to Virtual Assets. Matrix provides AML/KYC compliance, regulatory monitoring, and offline storage to protect the platform and users, as well as multi-node disaster tolerance, remote disaster recovery, and multi-server failover to ensure business system stability and reliability. Leveraging its high-performance core matching engine, Matrix is ​​able to fulfill large volumes of trade orders. Matrix is ​​one of the few global trading platforms that supports global fiat deposits, allowing for faster trading. For more information visit https://www.matrix.co/

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More than 100,000 Cubans turn to cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions

Strict US sanctions restricting Cuba’s ability to conduct international trade have led more than 100,000 Cubans to turn to cryptocurrencies as an alternative path to financial freedom.

Companies chose cryptocurrency

US sanctions imposed on the communist country of Cuba prevent the use of internationally accepted credit and debit cards. Online payment channels like Paypal, Revolut and Zelle are also banned in the country. Therefore, a significant part of the population, feeling the restrictions imposed by sanctions, chose cryptocurrency as an alternative means of transaction. These Cubans, who include many small business owners, have benefited from the advent of mobile Internet that arrived in the country just three years ago. The spread of smartphones and mobile internet in this island nation was quite expansive as it opened other payment channels and financial freedom to a largely unbanked population. Local entrepreneurs believe that thanks to digital currencies, their operations are no longer dependent on payment service providers, which ends up rendering all bans inconsequential.

Dr. Emily Morris, an economist at University College London, believes that the fact that Cuban citizens are turning to cryptocurrencies is not surprising. she said,

“If you can transact directly between two parties that don’t have to go through a bank, that would be interesting.”

Cryptographic Regulations in Cuba

The previous lack of regulation in the country has resulted in an increase in cryptocurrency activity, especially during the initial months of the pandemic. Local cryptocurrency exchanges have seen an influx of customers, nearly doubling on a monthly basis. In 2021 there was talk of the Cuban government investing in cryptocurrencies. Shortly after, it was announced that the central bank of Cuba would fulfill the mission of exploring the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The bank would also establish an action plan to register and license crypto service providers in the country. It was also revealed that cryptocurrency payment authorizations would only be granted in matters of “socio-economic interest” in order to monitor all cryptocurrency operations and prevent illegal and fraudulent activities.

Earlier this month, the Cuban central bank announced its intentions to implement a regulatory framework for digital assets, starting with a compulsory license for virtual asset service providers. The country’s central bank has already issued a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has also expressed his favorable views on the sector and is reportedly studying the legalization of cryptocurrency payments. This has led to speculation that Cuba could be following in the footsteps of El Salvador, the Latin American country that adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.

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Tron DAO Reserve buys $38 million of TRX to protect USDD stablecoin

On May 5, Tron’s USDD algorithmic stablecoin was launched, and so far, the fiat token has been listed on various decentralized finance (defi) protocols. Two days later, Tron DAO Reserve announced that it has purchased 504.6 million tron ​​(TRX) to support the algorithmic stablecoin as the project aims to leverage a decentralized currency reserve similar to Earth’s UST reserves.

Tron DAO Reserve and Justin Sun reveal $38 million TRX purchase

Terra’s UST reserve system is becoming a popular scheme, and Tron’s USDD stablecoin project is following suit. Bitcoin.com News reported on the algorithmic stablecoin project Tron on April 21, and the fiat crypto asset has been officially launched since then. The project has several partners now and USDD is listed on Pancakeswap, Kyberswap, Sunswap, Sun.io, Curve Finance, Uniswap and Ellipsis.

According to tronscan.org, there is approximately $211,245,005.49 at the time of writing. Statistics show that as of Saturday, May 7, 2022, Uniswap version three (v3) is the most active exchange for buying and selling USDD. While the $211 million market cap is a small thing for Earth’s UST ($18.7 billion), it has only been around for two days. While terrausd (UST) recorded US$990.3 million in 24-hour transactions, USDD recorded US$2.31 million in the last day. The USDD market valuation is higher than Gemini’s (GUSD) market capitalization of $199.5 million.

On Saturday, Tron DAO and Tron founder Justin Sun announced that the team had purchased 504,600,250 TRX at an average price of 0.07727 per unit. The purchase will be used as a reserve asset to “safeguard the blockchain industry and cryptocurrency market,” reserve account Tron DAO said Saturday afternoon.

“[Tron DAO Reserve] has done its job,” tweeted Tron founder Justin Sun this weekend.

Decentralized, Algorithmic and Centralized: The Quest to Perfect Stablecoin Continues

While decentralized and algorithmic stablecoins sound good in theory, there are concerns and doubts about whether or not they can maintain a stable peg as long as they exist. Of course, some centralized stablecoin projects in the past have failed, and Makerdao’s decentralized stablecoin DAI was tested during the ‘Black Thursday’ event on March 12, 2020. Prior to the March 12 event, Bennett Tomlin’s blog post predicted the Ethereum (ETH) price stress that could affect the DAI USD parity.

In November 2020, the issuer of stablecoin OUSD, Origin Protocol, suffered an instant lending attack and the coin temporarily lost its peg. During the first week of April, the Waves-based neutrino stablecoin usd (USDN) temporarily dropped from the dollar. A year ago in April, the fiat value of the stablecoin fei usd (FEI) dropped below one dollar for a short period of time. So far, several of the projects mentioned above have recovered shortly after the parity loss, and stablecoin projects have maintained a stable parity ever since.

The Tron DAO Reserve purchase of 504,600,250 TRX was worth $38.99 million at the time of liquidation. The TRX purchase also follows the recent acquisition of $1.4 billion worth of bitcoin (BTC) by Luna Foundation Guard (LFG). The non-profit LFG now holds 80,394 BTC and $100 million worth of AVAX to protect UST. In addition, Tron DAO has partnered with three crypto institutions that are now whitelisted Tron DAO Reserve members. Tron DAO Reserve’s institutional partners include Poloniex, Alameda Research and Amber Group, while Tron DAO Reserve acts as the “initial custodian” of USDD.

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Trading App Giant Robinhood Lists Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Stocks in Grayscale

US trading giant Robinhood is adding two crypto-related products to its lineup for retail investors.

Investment asset manager Greyscale has announced that the company’s traditional investment vehicles for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are launching on the Robinhood trading app.

There are two new ways to access crypto on @RobinhoodApp. You can start trading $GBTC and $ETHE today. https://t.co/n09aiEVhqEhttps://t.co/6tFrYCsmzx pic.twitter.com/AxKH7xZ0nS

— Shades of Gray (@Grayscale) May 6, 2022

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) digital currency investment product was originally called the Bitcoin Investment Trust, created in September 2013, and offers institutional investors exposure to Bitcoin without the need to purchase or store it in person. Grayscale BTC Trust currently has $23.2 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Meanwhile, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) was founded in December 2017 and now has $8.4 billion in AUM.

Last October, Grayscale announced its intention to convert its Bitcoin fund into an exchange-traded fund (ETF), with the company’s global head of ETFs Dave LaValle saying:

“GBTC demonstrates that there is strong investor demand for physically backed Bitcoin investment vehicles.”

In November, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that banking giant Morgan Stanley significantly increased its holdings in GBTC.

In January, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev mentioned the platform’s goal of adding crypto-related products to its platform.

At the time of writing, Robinhood quotes GBTC price down 1.08% and trading at $24.75, while ETHE is in the red down 1.6% with a value of 19.76 $.

Bitcoin itself continues the sell-off that began earlier Thursday when it was priced above $39,000, down 2.22% on the day and changing hands at $36,189 at the time of writing.

Ethereum is also struggling, falling sharply from Thursday’s high of $2,937 and currently priced at $2,711.

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Gucci to Accept Crypto Payments in Retail Stores

High-end fashion house Gucci will begin accepting cryptocurrencies at some of its stores this month, including bitcoin, ether, dogecoin, and shiba inu. The company plans for all of its directly operated stores in North America to accept crypto by this summer.
Gucci to Start Accepting Crypto Payments

Italian high-end luxury fashion house Gucci will start accepting cryptocurrency payments in five stores later this month, Vogue Business reported Wednesday.

The five stores are located in New York City (Wooster Street), Los Angeles (Rodeo Drive), Miami (Design District), Atlanta (Phipps Plaza), and Las Vegas (The Shops at Crystals).

Gucci will accept bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, wrapped bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, shiba inu, and five stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar, the publication conveyed.

These coins are the ones supported by popular crypto payment service provider Bitpay, which also supports GUSD, USDC, USDP, DAI, and BUSD stablecoins.

Marco Bizzarri, the president and CEO of Gucci, commented: “Gucci is always looking to embrace new technologies when they can provide an enhanced experience for our customers.” He added:

Now that we are able to integrate cryptocurrencies within our payment system, it is a natural evolution for those customers who would like to have this option available to them.

The publication added that the fashion house plans for all of its directly operated North American stores to accept crypto payments by this summer.

Gucci has been ramping up its non-fungible token (NFT) and Web3 efforts. The company recently established a Web3-focused team and released a few NFTs.

The fashion house is also establishing a presence in the metaverse. It is developing digital real estate in The Sandbox. The two companies “will collaborate to create an interactive fashion experience based on Vault, Gucci’s conceptual space and meeting place inspired by childhood memories of the search for beauty,” they previously announced.

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