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Regulation and Innovation Shape the Future of Digital Currencies

Cryptocurrencies in 2024: Navigating New Regulations

2024 has been a pivotal year for cryptocurrencies as governments around the world ramp up regulatory efforts. Countries like the U.S., European Union, and China are tightening controls on digital currencies, aiming to curb illegal activities and increase transparency. These regulations have led to significant shifts in the market, with investors cautiously navigating this new landscape.

The Rise of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

In addition to regulatory scrutiny, central banks are exploring their own digital currencies, known as CBDCs. These government-backed digital assets are designed to offer a stable alternative to traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. While not as volatile as decentralized cryptos, CBDCs could change the way digital transactions are conducted and further legitimize blockchain technology.

Innovation Continues Despite Regulatory Pressure

Despite the tighter regulations, the cryptocurrency space remains a hub for innovation. Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and blockchain-based solutions continue to attract attention from both investors and technologists. As cryptocurrencies evolve, they are expected to play a significant role in the future of finance, from cross-border payments to investment portfolios.

Posted by Lyndsey Annabel
How Does Bitcoin Actually Work

How Does Bitcoin Actually Work

Is bitcoins traceable

Bitcoin operates on a technology called blockchain, which is a decentralized digital ledger that records all transactions across a network of computers. When a transaction is made, it is grouped with other transactions into a “block” and added to a chain of previous transactions, forming a continuous and unalterable record. This process is secured by cryptographic algorithms, ensuring that it cannot be changed once a block is added. Miners, who are participants in the network, use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems that validate these transactions. In return for their efforts, miners are rewarded with newly created bitcoins, which incentivizes them to maintain the network’s integrity.

Each Bitcoin transaction is verified by the network through a process called mining, which involves solving cryptographic puzzles. This ensures the transaction is legitimate and prevents double-spending, where the same Bitcoin could be used more than once. Bitcoin wallets, which store users’ private keys, are used to sign transactions, proving that the transaction comes from the wallet’s owner. Once verified, the transaction is added to the blockchain, making it publicly visible and immutable. This decentralized system eliminates the need for intermediaries like banks, allowing for peer-to-peer transactions that are secure, transparent, and resistant to censorship.

https://www.ibtcrea.org

Posted by Seamus Stuart

Some Of The Key Benefits Of Cryptocurrencies

Anyone who understands how the general monetary system works, who benefits from it, and who manipulates it, has an advantage.  Anyone cannot manipulate decentralized markets.

Access for everyone

Cryptocurrencies offer extremely great potential precisely for people who have access to the internet and smartphone.

Instant Settlement

Both the processing of classic transactions such as online transfers and the purchase of tangible assets take a lot of time due to delays caused by third parties.

Transactions in cryptocurrencies can usually be carried out in seconds or minutes.

Posted by Merlyn Sandra

Blockchain and State Insurance Laws – Features vs. Requirements

Blockchain technology has gained traction as a helpful solution in reducing costs, fraud risks and/or cyber attacks in various financial services sectors. Yet the one sector that has been struggling with blockchain adoption is the insurance industry. Primarily because basic blockchain features, specifically anonymity of participants, do not conform with basic regulatory and legal requirements that tend to vary in certain jurisdictions.

 

Federal and state insurance laws require insurance holders to provide personal data and other information in relation to policy coverage. Yet provision of such information is subject to data and privacy protection laws. While blockchain technology allows anonymity between transacting parties, transactions run on a decentralized system that reduces information failure, which at times, poses an advantage to one party over another. Financial transactions carried in the blockchain ledger are blocks of encrypted pieces of stored information.

An Example of How Automobile Insurance Laws Work

In citing an example of how automobile insurance laws work, reference is made to vehicle insurance requirements in North Carolina. The state is one of several U.S. jurisdictions that require additional insurance protection for uninsured and underinsured third parties. Uninsured or underinsured third parties who suffer from bodily injury, damage to property or death as results of a car accident, can make financial claims from the car insurance provider of the driver at fault.

The Old North State also requires motorists who drive rented/leased vehicles, or drive vehicles that they do not own, to obtain non-owner insurance coverage as financial protection

Moreover, the state does not acknowledge out-of-state insurance policies as acceptable compliance with NC’s insurance laws. Primarily because the state laws require a​ll vehicles registered with North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to purchase continuous liability insurance coverage from a North Carolina-licensed insurance company.

Under the state’s laws, NC’s insurance companies are required to notify the NC-DMV if an owner of a vehicle has canceled his liability insurance policy or has allowed his policy to expire for any reason. The NC-DMV will then send the owner of the vehicle, a notification about the terminated or expired policy, whilst giving the car owner 10 days to respond.

Failure to respond or for that matter, obtain continuous liability coverage will result in the revocation and surrender of the car’s license plate. In addition, the car owner will have to pay civil penalties, late fees and interests.

Apparently, all these denote that transactions related to insurance coverage in the Tar Heel State are for the account of the vehicle owner only. Unlike goods and other financial services that can be transacted anonymously by way of blockchain, insurance policy transactions must point and be confined to the account of a purchaser, and whose identity must be specified for reporting purposes.

Cost of Liability Insurance Policies, a Greater Concern for NC Motorists

The greater concern among owners of vehicles in North Carolina is the cost of liability insurance and not the manner by which they can be bought. NC’s minimum coverage amounts are higher when compared to other states.

That is why many North Carolinians prefer to lease rather than own a car, and then buy a non-owner insurance policy for their protection and as a cost-efficient means of complying with insurance laws. In the event that they decide to buy and own a car, the non-owner insurance can simply be converted into the more conforming type of insurance coverage with little if no extra costs.

As there are also many providers of non-owner insurance in NC, those looking for one can simply go to website of Non Owners Car Insurance NC to compare insurance quotes, so they can save on auto insurance and cost of SR22 or proof of minimum liability insurance coverage.

Posted by Lucia Kerri

Can We Buy an Item With The Use of Cryptocurrency?

People critique cryptocurrencies as something that they are claiming to be but they are not. Up to this time, one cannot use cryptocurrency to purchase items like traditional currency does. It would be amazing if a person can use these digital currencies to purchase something in the grocery or in malls. This isn’t yet possible because it’s still in the early stages and there are many skepticisms on the use of this. As far as this article goes, cryptocurrencies cannot be used to buy or spend. There are merely digital tokens. However the founders of these digital tokens are looking to change this on the years to come. They are hoping for wider acceptance and adaptation of these digital currencies.

Who Accepts Bitcoin as Payment? Where Can I Spend Crypto?

Posted by Lyndsey Annabel

Quick Glimpse of Cryptocurrencies as Part of Norges Lifestyle

Cryptocurrencies are very much a part of Norges lifestyle and of Norway’s taxation system; bitcoins as assets, as income and as a means, are all subject to tax. That being said cryptocurrency is legal in Norway, but is classified as an asset and not recognized as a form of currency.

Tax rates on digital money earned from mining activities depend on the size or scale of the blockchain transactions from which the income was earned. On the other hand, income from the sale of cryptocurrencies are recognized as income from sale of capital assets, and therefore subject to payment of Capital Gains Tax.

Since the Norwegian government actively takes part in controlling the economies of the nation, all cryptocurrency market operators are required to register with the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. The latter is the government agency tasked to oversee that all Norwegian financial companies are operating in accordance with the laws and regulations legislated by Stortinget, Norway’s supreme legislature.

Inasmuch as cryptocurrencies are recognized as assets in Norway, Norges banks do not release loàn proceeds by way of digital money. After all, the value of crypto money is volatile, being dependent on the level of supply and demand. That is why not even a short-term no-credit check loan per minute or lån på minuttet uten kredittsjekk can be released in the form of digital currency.

How Norwegians Buy Cryptocurrencies?

In Norway, the most common form of cryptocurrency in use is bitcoin, while most Norwegians purchase their bitcoins from leading crypto-exchange entity Bitcoins Norway (BN). Mainly because Bitcoins Norway has ties with the largest Norges bank DNB ASA, specifically in relation to the use of the bank’s mobile phone app Vipps. Bitcoin purchasers however must have a registered account with BN through which they can purchase or send bitcoins to other cryptocurrency users.

DNB’s Vipps app enables BN customers to complete their bitcoin transactions using their credit or debit card as mode of payment. That is regardless of whether a BN customer maintains a deposit account with DNB. Statistical reports show that about 43 percent of Vipps app users are not DNB customers, while 27% of the entire Norwegian population are actively using the DNB Vipps app.

Posted by Lucia Kerri

Cryptocurrencies – Subject To New Threats

Whether or not a company accepts a cryptocurrency, it is still subject to the risk of new threats. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency at the moment, has experienced rapid growth in terms of perceived value. A year ago, the exchange rate was $ 104 per Bitcoin, peaking at around $ 1,100 in December 2013. This explosion in value has sparked new advanced threats centered on the creation (“mining”) and theft of Bitcoin. No device has remained immune to the phenomenon, including mobile environments, virtualization platforms such as VMware, and endpoint devices.

The Risks of Investing in Cryptocurrency

Companies that accept payments in cryptocurrencies are exposing themselves to new types of risk. Some points must be considered very carefully: immediately store or convert the digital money received, pay suppliers in traditional or cryptographic currency, what methods to use to convert cryptocurrencies into normal currency if necessary. Storing crypto money as a form of asset or payment exposes the company to risks similar to those of any other digital asset, not to mention extreme fluctuations in market values. Using a payment processor to convert cryptocurrencies into traditional money can mitigate this risk. But if a company decides to leave these options out and keep digital money, this is where the implications of such a choice would come in as most regulators do not currently insure assets of this type. To ensure maximum security, it is highly advisable to keep Bitcoins in an isolated storage resource disconnected from everything else.

The new advances made by cryptocurrencies offer companies interesting opportunities to compete in the global market; however, new spaces have also been created for advanced threats, also provoked from within companies themselves. It is, therefore, necessary to be aware of the implications that this phenomenon presents in terms of digital security regardless of the attitude that a company may have towards cryptographic currencies. Careful examination of users and internal assets is essential for maximum protection against fraud and vulnerabilities and new waves of attacks. Finally, businesses need to understand the security risks associated with accepting cryptocurrencies.

Posted by Lyndsey Annabel

Cryptocurrencies and the Future

The Digital age has brought about the use of digital currency. This is also popularly known as Cryptocurrencies. This came about by the use of cryptography. This technique uses advanced encryption techniques that encode information.
 
While cryptocurrency is gaining popularity some may still be hesitant about this concept. Users take to consider many limitations in its use compared to traditional currency. Users are considering safety measures that come.

Cryptocurrency: The Future of Finance and Money

when using it. They consider issues like losing digital earnings when a computer gets corrupted. Or the possibility of digital earnings stolen by hackers. Although this may improve as technology advances many are still questioning its existence. But still, cryptocurrency is widely used in the net.
 
Many users are embracing its existence thus the government is scrutinizing its use. Stricter regulations are also imposed. This will strengthen the use of cryptocurrency.
Posted by Lyndsey Annabel

Investing in Crypto Exchange is Your Best Move during this Pandemic

The presence of cryptocurrency is strong in various social media sites. This is why it is not a big surprise why there are many people who are reaching out to brokers such as https://moreforexbrokers.com/ja/fx-brokers/ to help them with their crypto investment and journey.

But why is there a global acceptance to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology? What makes it so loved and popular among people these days? Let us try to decipher the mystery behind in the next paragraphs.

Incredible Liquidity Pool

In each and every asset that’s sold or bought regardless if it is FOREX or crypto, one thing will be a mandatory requirement; it needs someone to buy or sell from. The more who are selling and buying, the more liquid the exchange is. Whenever there’s a new crypto exchange that opens, it should populate all the trading pair order books with the sellers and buyers in order to provide a market among users to trade.

This is distributing the trading liquidity from the current exchanges that may adversely impact the smaller exchanges that you may be trading with at the moment. Brokers on the other hand may avoid such issue by means of closely monitoring the market and reacting on the situation.

Lower Slippage Fees and Spread

One very frequent mistake when choosing a crypto exchange particularly the newer ones are doing it based on the low trading. This may seem to be a very appealing proposition as well as logical decision to make the most of fiat deposit. However, there are brokers who are capable of distributing the sells and buys across exchanges that have the most liquidity. This is strategically done to identify where the highest liquidity is for that asset and then, split the order throughout those exchanges.

Traders are using brokers benefit by acquiring the following:

  • Best Market Rate
  • Lowest Spread
  • Minimal Slippage

Increased Pairs to Trade

Depending on the trading volume per day, crypto pairs on each exchange have its own order book for every asset against fiat like EUR, USD and of course, BTC or Bitcoin. Meaning to say, there’s less liquidity that’s available on the exchange that leads to higher slippage charge and spread for the traded asset.

Brokers have the ability to offer assets without any losses in liquidity are such in an advantageous position. Not just this is lowering the fees in slippage and spread, users can also use one broker trade as well as store their assets in a single location without registering with several exchanges.

Posted by Bella Isolde

Does the Covid-19 Pandemic makes a Beautiful Time to Invest in Bitcoin?

Leading cryptocurrency which is Bitcoin Is deemed to be a hedge towards inflation primarily because of the reason that its supply has a ceiling of 21 million while its monetary policy is predesigned to reduce the expansion supply by 50% every 4 years. Because of this, any deflationary collapse of the cryptocurrency might be seen as price-bearish development.

At times of deflation, cash is mostly the king due to the drop in general price level is boosting the purchasing power of monetary unit or its ability to buy services and goods. According to Erick Pinos, in comparison to inflation, when people are trying to get the most of their money due to its losing value, during deflation, people become more comfortable with the fiat currency because the value is going up.

Growing Steadily

The rush for cash on the other hand might not have negatively impacted Bitcoin’s prices. This is because deflation will boost the buying power of crypto. As a matter of fact, the rise in purchasing power draws bigger demand for Bitcoin since crypto is being used already as a mode of payment.

Actually, it isn’t strange for there are countless of businesses, merchants and brands that are accepting Bitcoin as payment and many more are beginning to realize the benefits associated to crypto and by diversifying revenue streams.

Not just that, cryptocurrency has great appeal as being a medium of exchange and will most likely keep its trend. Thanks to the continuous growth of technology especially at these times of pandemic. Well, aside from the fact that Bitcoin and other digital currency is being used as a mode of payment, you can see it as well in the financial market. In fact, many people are trading cryptocurrency and using several indicators such as mt4 indicators to gauge where the trend will go and make more money from it.

Digital Gold

From the time of its invented and introduced to the public, Bitcoin has been named as “digital gold”. Much like actual gold, cryptocurrency is divisible, fungible, durable, recognizable and scarce. Both assets do share the same features which are being functional and practical. Bitcoin though has an actual utility as a mode of payment; something that gold is lacking of.

In fact, both the Federal Reserve and the US government released an enormous amount of liquidity in the system for the past several weeks in an effort to contain the fallout from Covid-19 outbreak. Thing is, many of the central banks and governments are having a hard time keeping up with it. Hence, if the virus never stops, it might result to several corporations going to default, investors might have lose trust in using traditional finance and seek for alternative similar to cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin.

Posted by Bella Isolde

Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies

Decentralized Proof of Ownership cryptocurrencies has become increasingly popular in recent years. Analysts calculate that over 300 types of cryptocurrencies are currently in use. Bitcoin and Litecoin are two of the most popular, while companies continue to grow a platform suitable for accepting these cryptocurrencies. An alternative payment platform offers numerous benefits to both buyers and sellers, such as lower collection costs for the seller and a global instant payment system for the consumer. The rapid growth in the value of Bitcoin and Litecoin has created a new market for seigniorage, digital asset trading, and a global payment system. Because of this, a new market for fraud and digital threats also exists today.

Digital currencies are based on the principle of decentralization; no one “owns” the protocol and everyone can participate in it. Likewise, no one owns the Internet. If an individual wants to create a website, all they need is a computer and a gateway to the Internet. The same concept applies to Bitcoin. Anyone can participate in the protocol and make it secure. The recent introduction of cryptocurrencies was designed to use public-key cryptographic techniques to ensure the security, traceability, and verification of each transaction. Businesses are quickly realizing that cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, have now become mainstream in many areas of the world. Due to the global nature of the internet, a payment through Bitcoin and other similar currencies is instant and free of costs. A truly remarkable advantage when you think of credit card fees, which can weigh on the merchant up to 5% of each transaction.

Posted by Lyndsey Annabel

3 Primary Types of Cryptocurrency in Existence Today

Back then, the types and number of cryptocurrency in the world can be counted by the fingers in your hand. These days, good luck with that! Cryptocurrency market grown a lot since its inception. As we proceed in this article, we will be explaining the major types of crypto which are:

  1. Bitcoin
  2. Altcoins and;
  3. Tokens

With blockchain technology, this becomes possible. In fact, Bitcoin was the very first one. From there on, there have been countless of blockchains that were created and these are otherwise referred to as altcoins. Then there were tokens.

A Deeper Look into Blockchain Technology

Alright, so we already know the three main types of crypto. But what about it? How they are different from each and what they can do?

Bitcoin

It’s a digital currency you could send to others; perhaps has a gift, as payment for service and/or product.

Bitcoin acts like money but it is purely in digital form. But that is not where the difference lies. This is decentralized as well or in other words, no bank or third party handles it.

When using Bitcoin, every transaction takes place between users or called as P2P network. Since no third-party is needed, there’s no reason to identity yourself. You could start making payments and remain anonymous. And mind you, there are many people who are investing in Bitcoin and even using their law cash pre settlement funding just to get their hands off of it.

Altcoins

Then come the altcoins. As of the moment, there are literally thousands of it you can find. But never let that scare you. Most of the altcoins are only an alternative version of Bitcoin, but with a bit of tweak on them; hence the name. Some of the altcoins are using different algorithms like for instance, Factom is an altcoin that’s using PoS or Proof of stake. Here, there are no miners, only stakers.

These are individuals who are verifying transactions in exchange of rewards, much like miners. Rather than verifying blocks before anyone else, they’re chosen one by one and taking turns.

Tokens

Among the three, some consider this as being the most interesting. These are totally unique that they don’t have blockchain of their own. They’re being used on decentralized applications or dApps. These are dApps are made to make use of smart contracts which is the reason why they are using tokens.

Posted by Bella Isolde