Blockchain - Finance Monthly | Personal Finance. Money. Investing

In a statement, the company said it was reserving the decision which it made in January 2018 as the crypto landscape continues to “mature and stabilise.” Meta also said that new government regulations had provided clearer rules for the sector.

Crypto companies will now have access to the more than 3 billion people who use Meta’s platforms across the world. These include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Meta also plans to expand the number of regulatory licenses it accepts from 3 to 27, though advertisers still require written permission from the company before moving to promote crypto exchanges, lending and borrowing, crypto wallets, and crypto mining tools.

“These changes will help to make our policy in this space more equitable and transparent and help more advertisers, including small businesses, grow their audiences and reach more potential customers,” Meta said. “Cryptocurrency continues to be an evolving space and we may refine these rules over time as the industry changes.”

The move comes as Meta pushes toward the metaverse, a virtual world in which people can interact via digital avatars. It is hoped that the metaverse will support crypto payments and other blockchain-based technologies.

In an announcement, Square said that its new name, effective December 10, “acknowledges the company’s growth” and “creates room for further growth.”

In a statement, Square CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said, “We built the Square brand for our Seller business, which is where it belongs [...] Block is a new name, but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same. No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy.”

Dorsey founded Square in 2009 alongside Jim McKelvey with a focus on in-person payments and its smartphone-friendly card readers. Since, Square has added a peer-to-peer digital banking app and small business lending and started to offer crypto and stock trading.

Under the rebrand, there will also be a name change for Square Crypto, a separate part of the company focused on the advancement of bitcoin, which will soon become “Spiral”.

In a statement, Dorsey's company said that the name Block “has many associated meanings for the company — building blocks, neighborhood blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a blockchain, a section of code, and obstacles to overcome.”

The announcement follows Dorsey’s resignation from his role as CEO at Twitter on Monday. He had served as the CEO for both Twitter and Square since 2015.

Avalanche

Avalanche is a manageable, creative contract platform for designing custom blockchain tracks and decentralised applications (especially those focused on DeFi). Avalanche is the best platform for generating Blockchain strings and developing a decentralised app (dApps). Invented by the Ava Lab, Avalanche cryptocurrency is known as one of the perfect projects looking to displace Etherum as the most extensively adopted innovative deal in the blockchain ecosystem. Avalanche claims greater scalability than Ethereum with 4500 high transaction throughput (TPS) per second. Avalanche's original AVAX coin, capped at 720m, is used as part of the Avalanche consensus and to pay for online transactions.

123 swap Finance

123 swap Finance is also the platform to automate and make the recovery process fast by leveraging bright contracts. The forum will promote decentralised financial management through its smart contracts.

Critical solutions: Simple and easy to use interface, no change rate during transactions, no hidden charges, variety of assets, security, one-window cross-chain platform.

Through its intelligent cross-chain contracts, it will bring smart, autonomous financial management in one place. 123swap has invented certain technologies that will help the platform beat the competition, become faster, and become the best trading platform in the world.

What is next for 123 swaps?

The 123swap platform aggregates the features of popular DEX&DeFi platforms such as pancake swaps and YFIs. It merges the features of famous DEX and DeFi platforms such as Bancor and Mutable to provide an all-in-one platform. Consolidate all your DeFi assets, liquidity pools, and savings into one dashboard. It makes it simple for the businessmen to compare it with others and choose the best option

The following are considerations that allow users to perform multiple functions on a single platform:

You can perform various tasks on a single platform.
View all Defi products in one dashboard
Portfolio management
Liquidity pool
DEX and SWAP aggregators
Cross-chain asset swap
Best yield strategy in one place

Conclusion

Avalanche describes itself as an open and programmable intelligent contract platform for decentralised applications. AVAX is used to pay transaction fees and can be staked to ensure network safety. Avalanche is compatible with Ethereum's programming language, Solidity. It can be used to deploy custom private or public blockchains as "subnets." Initially, Avalanche supported standard Solidity-based smart contracts through Ethereum virtual machines (EVMs). In the future, it is expected to support more rich and powerful innovative contract tools.

Supports tools.
Smart contracts that can be executed off-chain and verified on-chain.
Smart contract for parallel execution. Smart contracts that do not work in the same state on any subnet of the Avalanche
It can be run in parallel.

Website — https://123swap.finance/

Twitter — https://twitter.com/123swapfinance

Telegram — https://t.me/my123swap_chat

Reddit — https://www.reddit.com/r/123swap/

Discord — https://discord.gg/arNbvrPgZx

The past 18 months have brought unprecedented changes to the business environment and in this new world of hybrid working, businesses will need to start familiarising themselves with blockchain technology. This new way of working means that businesses need a certain level of flexibility, connectivity and speed from their communications providers, which is something that blockchain technology can help to provide.

The finance sector has already profited from the world of blockchain, with the technology helping it to carry out transactions in a cost-effective and secure way. The technology has also been developed across other industries, and now the telco industry can reap its benefits through its on-demand connectivity and transparency.

How Can Blockchain Transform The Industry?

Blockchain emerged at an increasing pace in the financial sector across banking, insurance and trade finance, as partners working together can use the technology to create a shared, distributed ledger that has a confidential merged record of company transactions. For the telco industry, not only will this improve efficiency, quality and speed for communications providers, it will also strengthen its global ecosystem and help to build the partner’s working relationships.

And we’ve already seen how blockchain transforms the way that businesses operate. At Vodafone Business, we worked with partner communications providers PCCW Global and Colt Technology Services, and leading blockchain company Clear, to improve customer service. We are leveraging Clear’s solution to ensure real-time service between the partners’ inventories which allows timely and precise settlement.

Thanks to a more efficient and streamlined process from the partnership, we can make subsequent amends to services. With improved service provision and real-time alignment, there is also faster problem management between all partners who are also able to give quicker and more accurate quotes. This also leads to full transparency and traceability resulting in faster activation and quick delivery of international services. The technology optimises transactions such as quotes, orders, invoices and settlements and as there is no ‘central authority’ needed, there are lower costs and faster transactions.

Looking To The Future

For the telecoms industry, the blockchain innovation will play a key role in driving standardisation across the network for all partners. Now, establishing a fully digitalised quote to cash service delivery process is an attainable goal that will provide more flexibility around service agreements and help to settle them across all accounts.

Communications providers should continue to keep track of the progress and benefits of blockchain to establish new opportunities for their products and services and to continue to improve their customers’ experience. This decentralised approach will also help to cloudify the connectivity market, which will make on-demand services easier for customers to utilise.

If Web 2.0 took the world by storm by transitioning from the original “read/write” internet model to an interactive medium, where information transfer became a two-way street and social media platforms emerged, Web 3.0 will blur the conventional lines between the digital and physical realms, through the advancement of artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, virtual reality and decentralised data networks. But perhaps even more strikingly, the web’s latest evolution may very well prove to be a leap forward towards a truly open and democratised digital landscape.

A closer look at Web 3.0

As we cross the threshold into the Web 3.0 era, users should prepare to enter a web dimension where the people, places and physical aspects of life as we know it break into the virtual world. Through the integration of virtual and augmented reality technologies, Web 3.0 will incorporate a third dimension to users’ browsing experience, enabling immersive interactions. More importantly, its evolution has the potential to redefine the way we experience the world. What was already a vital tool of human interaction, undeniably embedded in our everyday environment is on the verge of becoming even more indispensable.

To put it simply, websites have been gaining more and more features over the years. The once static webs that defined Web 1.0 led the way to the so-called “Social Web”, which enabled richer methods of user interaction. The term Web 3.0, coined by The New York Times reporter John Markoff in 2006, refers to the third generation of the web, which is deeply reliant on the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).

Often defined as an ‘intelligent’ internet, it aims to facilitate faster, ubiquitous connectivity. Astutely built upon extraordinary technological innovations, the next stage of the web evolution will operate on a machine-based understanding of data, capable of processing information with near-human-like intelligence. The projected outcome is a breakthrough towards a decentralised web space where content creation and decision power is shared by human and artificial intelligence alike.

Paving the way towards a decentralised gateway

“It's hard to overstate the impact of the global system he created. It's almost Gutenbergian.” — Time Magazine

In 1991, British software scientist Tim Berners-Lee radically changed the course of technology with his development of the World Wide Web. At the time he was working at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Geneva and realising the challenges of navigating and sharing research between thousands of scientists across incompatible computers. His creation was developed to enable the automated exchange of information on a global scale between scientists and organisations. Indeed, the first-ever web page described the project’s mission as a way “to give universal access to a large universe of documents.”

Web 3.0 in many ways signifies a return to the original web Berners-Lee conceived, where there is no central authority presiding over what is shared, by whom and when; his vision defiantly emboldened by the principles of data sovereignty, universality and decentralisation.

With blockchain technology at its core, it is the driving force powering the possibility of a decentralised infrastructure that could in time displace Web 2.0’s existing centralisation at the hands of tech giants, rendering the role of major search engines and platforms as ‘gatekeepers’ irrelevant in the future ecosystem.

Understanding the impact of a Web 3.0 environment

As internet consumers, individuals have become accustomed to the give-and-take rules of navigation, such as the invasive surveillance, collection and commercialisation of personal data at the hands of tech giants as well as the increasingly exploitative advertising users face.

The exponential growth of the Internet interconnections has also led to increased security vulnerabilities for individuals and businesses. But what if users were given a choice of operating in a decentralised web environment and forever eradicating the looming threat of cyber risk?

Enter Web 3.0.

We’ve talked about how the rise of distributed ledger technology has fuelled the next dimension of the Internet, but more importantly, the collaborative, transparent and open-source attributes that define blockchain have allowed for a paradigm shift towards an online environment characterised by self-sovereignty, autonomy and decentralisation.

The disruptive potential of Filecoin is a key example of the ecosystem heralded by Web 3.0. Filecoin’s ethos is defined as a decentralised storage network designed to store humanity’s most important information. In other words, this transformative technology has the potential to catalyse the restoration of user trust and revolutionise the way individuals and businesses share, store and move their data in an online environment.

While we may not know with exact certainty what the Web’s latest phase will look like in the near future, behind the scenes change is happening and it won’t be too long until tech disruptors manage to re-route the trajectory of the web’s evolution to its original decentralised architecture in their quest for a fairer internet.

Chris Starkey is the founder and director of NexGen Cloud, which is on a mission to bring cheap affordable cloud computing to all. London-headquartered NexGen Cloud is working with Cudo Ventures to disrupt the cloud compute market. With data centre operations established in Sweden and Norway, the company is able to deliver infrastructure-as-a-service cloud computing that is cheaper and greener than the mainstream providers. NexGen Cloud also provides opportunities for investors to access the cloud sector, giving them the chance to share in the growth of the market sector by investing in compute power.

What exactly is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a very popular crypto that was created in 2009. Because Bitcoin is a digital currency, it cannot be physically used. Many people see this cryptocurrency as an excellent investment. Some supporters even believe that it could be the currency of the future. There is a limited supply of Bitcoin, and no more will be created after about twenty years, so having it can be a great idea. Some people say that the government will be able to purchase it one day. As a result, these limited Bitcoins of yours may be in high demand. In any case, never invest more than you are willing to lose.

How does Bitcoin function?

Each Bitcoin is a computer file that is stored in a device known as a “digital wallet.” Every transaction is recorded in a public list known as the blockchain. The main thing most people are really interested in – is it secure? Because every transaction is publicly recorded, it is extremely difficult to create fake Bitcoins or spend ones you do not own. However, you could lose your wallet or delete your crypto and lose it forever.

Let’s go back to advantages now and start by saying that Bitcoin is decentralised and digital, which means that with it people have the freedom to exchange value without the use of intermediaries. Bitcoin is faster, more secure, and less expensive. This is the main reason why many people use it to buy everyday utilities. For example, you can even buy a variety of gift cards with Bitcoin including gift cards for Airbnb, PlayStation and even Walmart. Basically, banks control cash, whereas Bitcoin has owners. Also, it is very important to mention that there is no way to duplicate a Bitcoin. It is a global digital currency. There are no exchange values or third-party interventions. Bitcoin enables cross-border transactions by maintaining a ledger on the backend. Also, when you pay in cash for goods, your bank can track the transactions. When using a credit card, you must provide personal information. Bitcoin, on the other hand, allows users to remain anonymous, which means they do not need to share financial information. Let‘s not forget that you can send Bitcoins to the recipient in a matter of seconds with the help of a Bitcoin wallet. These cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, and they cannot be cancelled. Also, it is important to remind you that customers are charged high transaction fees by the majority of credit card companies. You must also pay overdraft and minimum balance charges. To avoid all of these fees, you should consider using Bitcoin.

As you can see, Bitcoin has loads of advantages over traditional payment methods. It is secure, less expensive, faster, and banks have no control over it. Also, it has very low fees, so if you want to avoid high transaction fees, overdrafts, and minimum balance charges, it may be a good idea to buy some cryptocurrencies. But in the end, it is all up to you to decide if you really want to use it. Do not forget that you can always have both of them – cash and cryptocurrencies at the same time.

As the popularity of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) proliferates, blockchain developers seek to provide new opportunities for investors using a novel structure of finance. Synthetic stocks, which grant users exposure to numerous assets while eliminating traditional barriers to entry, are among the latest forms of such innovation. In essence, synthetic assets refer to the tokenized clone of traditional financial assets. This ‘clone’ rests solely on a blockchain, however. Generally, synthetic assets can represent tech stocks, currencies, commodities, and even precious metals. Since they are blockchain-based, DeFi has become a home to these assets. In fact, the integration of blockchain technology which brings automation and removes the need for intermediaries is what makes synthetic assets so innovative. Courtesy of the blockchain, traders can enjoy exposure to traditional assets without the need to worry about the drawbacks a centralised platform brings. In addition, the decentralised nature of DeFi largely removes the troubles commonly emanated from regulatory bodies. Do Kwon, CEO and co-founder at Terraform Labs, the company behind Mirror Protocol, emphasised the nature of the quickly developing space:

“DeFi is so powerful in unlocking financial services for disenfranchised people around the world. It’s better to move fast and break things.Waiting for fragmented regulatory frameworks to crystallise before innovating is counterintuitive.”

How Synthetic Assets Work

Similar to derivatives in traditional finance, synthetic assets are digital assets with their price pegged to other real-world assets—such as TSLA or AAPL. Also referred to as “synths,” these assets track and provide the returns of traditional assets without requiring access to the real-world asset.

Since synthetic stocks are derivatives, their value is derived from an underlying asset through smart contracts. Therefore, one can use these assets to trade the movement of price and value of traditional assets.Synthetic assets are typically created in the form of ERC-20 smart contracts that run on the Ethereum blockchain. They are different from options and other forms of traditional derivatives in that they tokenize the relationship between the derivative product and the underlying asset.

On the other hand, traditional derivatives are financial contracts that create terms for an asset and its price. This allows DeFi users to leverage synthetic assets in the use of various trading strategies. For instance, hedging, which is a popular strategy in binary options trading, allows users to offset losses and manage risks by taking positions in derivatives. Such strategies are also used in DeFi's world of synthetic assets.

Advantages of Synthetic Assets

Synthetic assets carry a number of unique advantages. While there are no specific citizenship requirements to participate in the stock market, there are certain needs that investors must satisfy. Non-US persons must provide identification documents, pass Know Your Customer (KYC) screening, and comply with a number of laws that are intended to protect US interests.

However, synthetic assets feasibly provide investors of any location or jurisdiction exposure to the price action of stocks, commodities, and currencies. To trade these tokens, users would hardly need any of the requirements to enter the US equities market. This makes synthetic assets a favourable alternative for foreign investors experiencing barriers to entry. Moreover, synthetic assets are openly tradeable and transferable, meaning anyone can send and receive them using standard crypto wallets. The only need is access to the internet and a bit of technical know-how. Since DeFi is always on, synthetic tokens can be traded 24/7. This is in great contrast to traditional markets, where trading is limited to specific days and specific hours.

In addition, with synthetic assets, there are no central party restrictions or risks. This is in stark contrast to the recent reddit-fueled GME drama when thousands of retail investors were unable to sell select securities due to restrictions imposed by stock brokers such as Robinhood. In such cases, these controlling parties can halt or even execute trades—keeping their primary interest in mind, without prioritising the trader.

Disadvantages of Synthetic Assets

DeFi -Decentralized Finance on dark blue abstract polygonal background. Concept of blockchain, decentralized financial system Probably the most noticeable drawback of these tokens is that they never grant ownership of the underlying asset. A trader can earn profit and get exposure to the price of an asset, but this is merely a representation of the actual real-world asset. Therefore, synthetic assets holders do not obtain shareholder rights, votes, or access to dividends (if applicable).In addition, at times, scalability might also become an issue since DeFi is largely in an experimental phase. When minting synthetic assets, users should strive to choose the most suitable blockchain.

Despite being powerful, Ethereum is still prone to scaling issues and network congestion. Though they are typically much faster, transactions can take up to four hours to process via Ethereum, with average transaction fees breaching $20 throughout a number of days in early 2021. This is in stark contrast to the traditional payments world where credit card payments are facilitated seamlessly, showing the adolescent state that blockchain technology continues to remain in.

Lastly, DeFi is very vulnerable to hacks and exploits. Despite disrupting legacy finance, decentralised finance is still in the preliminary stages. In other words, no matter how cautious a project might be, a single breach can lead to the loss of all funds. One recent hacker stole more than $600 million in digital assets—though they were later returned as the “white hat” hacker prioritised the development of the network over his own riches.

Still, all of this is also true with synthetic stocks, which are—after all—a DeFi project.

Popular Synthetic Protocols

The most popular synthetic protocol in terms of total value locked is Synthetix, with over $1.8 billion in total value locked. Synthetix, which is the biggest derivatives protocol on the Ethereum blockchain, was the first project to introduce synthetic assets and bring this innovation to DeFi.

Synthetix reflects assets in the form of “sAssets” on the blockchain. As of now, the platform supports over 30 synths which range from cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, indexes, and commodities like gold. The project also aims to add synthetic DeFi tokens for popular protocols like Aave, Uniswap, Polkadot, and Compound to its list of offerings.Following Synthetix, the second most popular synthetic asset protocol is Mirror, with over $1.7 billion in TVL. Mirror Protocol, which aims to grant everyone intuitive access to global markets, mirrors traditional assets in the form of “mAssets.”

These mAssets are a representation of the real-world asset that is pegged at a 1:1 ratio. Currently, the protocol reflects 14 real-world stocks on the blockchain. These tokenized assets include mTSLA, mTWTR, mNFLX, mAAPL, mAMZN, mGOOGL, mMSFT, and more. Other more prominent synthetic asset protocols include Uma, DAFI, and DEUS. Each of these projects offers a range of different synths, including stocks, currencies, commodities, and more.

Conclusion

While there are many advantages to synthetic assets, there are also many downfalls and risks. Perhaps the most likely user of synthetic assets would include an individual who faces significant trouble when trying to access traditional securities through a broker such as Robinhood. For the investors who do not face such barriers to entry, it will likely take some time before the benefits of synthetic assets outweigh their risks—which are not entirely present in the traditional financial realm.

Hackers breached the blockchain-based Poly Network platform, which was launched by the founder of Chinese blockchain project Neo. Poly Network announced the attack on Twitter, urging the hackers to return the assets.

Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes changing, hacking, or cheating the system incredibly difficult, if not impossible. It is fundamentally a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated, then distributed, across the whole network of computer systems on the blockchain. Every digital coin has its own blockchain and each is different from the others. Poly Network, a decentralised finance platform, works to connect these different blockchains so that they are able to work together. “DeFi” is the broad term given to financial applications based on blockchain technology that works to cut out intermediaries, such as exchanges and brokerages. Supporters argue that this makes financial applications, such as lending, more affordable. In a tweet, Poly Network stated that the amount of money stolen is the largest in DeFi history.

Hackers have since sent the stolen money to various other cryptocurrency addresses. Researchers at blockchain ecosystem security company SlowMist have said that over $610 million worth of cryptocurrency was moved to three different addresses. Poly Network has urged crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens coming from these three addresses.

Bitcoin, blockchain, and other innovations are proving that they are capable of transforming the status quo, as well as advance digital currencies as a whole. This makes it a likely contender to completely replace traditional fiat currency, which in turn is putting governments in an awkward position.

The topic of digital currencies and regulations is a complicated one. Cryptocurrencies, by their nature, are freewheeling and not bound by country borders or a government’s agencies. However, this admirable nature introduces a predicament to policymakers who are accustomed to handling straightforward definitions for assets.

Regulation is one of the most important factors affecting the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The rise of this new form of finance has been halted whenever a government brings up its policies, with each country taking a different approach to crypto regulation.

Walking a fine line

Creating legislation that urges the adoption of trailblazing financial infrastructure could provide a sizeable benefit to economic competitiveness. However, granting too much freedom to people might put the integrity of the country’s paper money at serious risk.

A balance has yet to be established. Therefore major governments have different reactions to the emergence of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their respective countries. These responses have ranged from hesitation and fear to genuine acceptance. Something that they can all agree on is that the choice should not be taken lightly.

Canadian regulations and crypto

Digital currencies are rapidly becoming more mainstream in Canadian finances. Now more than ever, investors are looking to buy cryptocurrency in Canada. Since becoming the first government to pass a national law on digital currencies, Canadian regulators have remained proactive in their approach towards crypto. They are cautiously optimistic and are trying to promote innovation while at the same time protecting the interests of investors.

In Canada, digital currencies are regulated under securities laws as part of the securities’ regulators directive of protecting the public. The Canada Revenue Agency characterises cryptocurrency as a commodity, and states using cryptocurrency to pay for goods or services should be treated similarly as a barter transaction. Because of cryptocurrency’s commodity treatment, it has consequently prohibited the unfavourable misreporting of taxes. With that said, the landscape is always evolving, meaning that regulators need to be up to date to keep crypto enthusiasts from looking at the U.S., Asia, or Europe as alternatives.

Progress in other countries

As is the case with other countries, America has a lot on the line and a lot to gain from the adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Interestingly, lawmakers have mostly opted not to acknowledge the budding trend and instead let it exist without much hullabaloo.

The United States Federal Government has not claimed the right to regulate cryptocurrencies exclusively yet. They are allowing individual states to figure out how their citizens can partake. New York, Nevada, Arizona, Vermont, and Maine, among other states, have introduced bills to their state senates thus far. They are primarily dealing with the appropriate use of smart contracts and blockchain ledgers for various tasks such as record-keeping.

Switzerland is embracing cryptocurrency in the same non-regulatory fashion as other European countries. The Swiss Federal Council affirms that while there is currently no need to regulate cryptocurrency, laws regarding the financial sector’s use of them are being put in place to establish their status as securities and taxability.

Price control

Government intervention can impact cryptocurrency prices in a handful of ways. First and foremost, governments can regulate the price of assets, like fiat currencies, through purchasing and selling activities in international markets.

Second, they can compress extreme enthusiasm for an asset class by attaching regulations to it. Specifically, ones that boost the cost of conducting business. A notable example of this tactic is the consideration of Bitcoin regulation from an array of states in the U.S. For cryptocurrency exchanges within their jurisdictions, most states need surety bonds. Alternatively, an equivalent amount in fiat currency.

Lastly, governments can make the asset rare by forcing certain controls on it. Take the case of gold as an example of this method. This precious metal has import restrictions in various countries. Each of these actions has the capacity to fail regarding Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The reason for this being that cryptocurrencies have decentralised ledgers that extend across multiple countries. Their regulation demands an organised effort from several economies, which might be a difficult task to complete. Especially given the different levels of fascination with cryptocurrencies, as well as their effect on national economies in diverse locations.

Conclusion

Overall, the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrency is quickly rising into the hundreds of billions. Because of this, the world’s governments have implied that they are willing to allow this revolution to transpire. With a few exceptions, their key strategy has been – and will continue to be for the time being – to watch from the sidelines.

Just like in many other industries of production as well as utilisation of commodities, food cannot be left unmentioned. This is because food and associated products are a universal need, without which the economy is affected in one way or the other. We have seen food produced in one continent shipped into another, thus satisfying the demand-supply chain of food.

Understanding the food production process

Within this chain of food production and supply, there are many participants involved in between the farmer and the final consumer. These include, but not limited to brokers, transporting firms, quality and quantitative analysts, food processors, government agencies. Each of these individuals shares critical information about the product that majorly remains in their circuit. If this information remains as such, it could hatch into avenues for fraud to occur. For instance, price ratings, quality, quantity, dates of certification and so forth. A farmer, for instance, uses vegetable spray less than 24 hours before harvest, yet goes ahead to supply to brokers who forward the produce through certifying agencies, that clear the product as safe for use and even endorse the dates of expiry and content. This implies that, in an actual sense, this product is unsafe for consumption in its state, but in a practical sense, it has passed the test, oblivious to the client's knowledge. The client in this case loses on his value for commodity.

In this view, such loopholes can be sealed if the blockchain technology of cryptocurrency trade should be incorporated in the said chain as explained by Food Institute. First and foremost, the data shared as in the example given; about the dates of verification cannot be tampered with. If chemicals that are considered hazardous are detected on the vegetables after the farmer’s actions, then it would be public knowledge to all who have interests in the said produce that it was unfit for human consumption. A certificate of quality would therefore not be generated. The client, who is the ultimate investor, in this case, gets value for investment. With blockchain, a secure environment is created.

Further, look at the advantages of blockchain tech in the food industry.

Several advantages are associated with crypto trade in the food supply chain that can be mentioned are decreased fraud, help expedite the whole process and reducing retailers’ costs. By implementing the use of a smart contract as explained in Bitcoin Circuit software, unnecessary intermediaries in the food chain would be eliminated. A few giants who have come up with solutions in the food chain supply are Food Trust and Watson platforms and track and trace. According to the newfoodmagazine.com, the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) has collaborated with IBM to use its food trust Ecosystem to provide complete traceability of SSP shrimp for their consumers. In such a case, verification of product authenticity is possible and data related to the production is thus uploaded onto the blockchain and thus made readily available for the consumers and retailers at every stage of the process.

Another example as quoted in the newfoodmagazine.com is the collaboration between Nestle and Carrefour to improve the confidence of their consumers by being transparent in production and packaging. This is seen as an attempt that ensures high standards of products while protecting the consumers’ interests.

Rising crypto volatility

In a world where cryptocurrency volatility is high, Bitcoin Circuit helps with a positive trading experience even as the demand to implement blockchain technology in industrial operations keeps rising constantly at an ever-steady pace. A successful algorithmic trading strategy is squarely based on Artificial Intelligence that is well incorporated in this platform, in a system that you, as a client, can easily access through your desktop and even via mobile devices.

Not only has the Bitcoin bull cycle affected the bullish run of other cryptocurrencies, but it has also managed to completely alter the perception of institutional as well as retail investors regarding BTC. Today there are hundreds of new businesses and investors that support BTC, and by doing so, they have triggered Bitcoin's success. However, other important components prompted the rise of Bitcoin. So, without further ado, let's take a look at some of the most important components of Bitcoin's success.

Innovative Nature Of The Blockchain Network

The blockchain network is the foundation that made Bitcoin the first digital currency that operates without any third party. Otherwise, as this is a peer-to-peer-based electronic cash system, it allows the transactions to be processed quickly without any high fees. Moreover, it offers total transparency about the data of the transactions and processes, while the identity of the users stays anonymous. This triggered the success of Bitcoin. It had a good head start and was supported by the early adopters of the cryptocurrency. It also had the first-mover advantage in the market. It is worth noting that the above-mentioned advantages always put Bitcoin in an envious position in the crypto market.

Digital Scarcity

Another component that is crucial for Bitcoin's profitability is the digital scarcity of this virtual currency. Because Bitcoin has 21 million Bitcoin tokens in total, the supply is capped without the possibility of creating another Bitcoin token, which puts Bitcoin in a space with rare and valuable assets. This also positioned Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset because there are only about 3 million BTC left to be mined. It is powered by decentralised blockchain technology, it is not influenced by economic factors like monetary policies, recession, financial crisis, and even political instability.

Availability On Online Trading Platforms

Because Bitcoin is one of the first cryptocurrencies to ever be created, it is widely accessible on most online trading platforms. For example, Bitcoin Fortress is a recognised automated trading platform that is driven by Artificial Intelligence Technology and it can generate top tradable insights for its members. Plus, the complex trading processes are fully automated, which means you can start trading even as a complete crypto newbie. You only need to deposit a minimum of $250. Another important feature of this trading platform is they don't charge any fees to their users except for a 2% commission on profitable accounts. So if you want to invest in Bitcoin today, you can choose from many online trading platforms as well as automated trading platforms, which are great for any inexperienced investor. Because most platforms are compatible with mobile devices, you can even trade on the go.

Support From The Business Sector

It's worth mentioning that businesses have continued to support Bitcoin even when it was considered a volatile investment. Naturally, in the beginning, there weren't many businesses that supported BTC. However, when reliable brands like Overstock accepted BTC payments, this positively impacted the value of Bitcoin. Over the years, the number of famous companies that accept BTC payments would grow significantly. You can even recognise big brands like Microsoft, Etsy, OkCupid, Home Depot, PayPal, and many others that now accept BTC transactions. However, the success of Bitcoin was also supported by brick-and-mortar businesses that decided to accept BTC payments, and along with online businesses, they made Bitcoin an accessible currency and drove the demand for BTC. Today businesses like Tesla have invested over $1 billion in BTC — a move completely unheard of until 2021.

While these new digital banks do not boast the same kind of experience as their traditional rivals, this is a big part of their success. What they lack in heritage, they also lack in being tied into the established banking system. While banks that have been around for decades have made great strides to adapt to a digital market, they have no choice but to depend on technologies that have been around for just as long for some of their processes. Challenger banks are not tied down in the same way and benefit from being built around technology that is difficult, if not impossible, for the more established names to deploy.

1. Cloud Computing

Virtually everyone has heard of cloud computing, even if only in terms of storing their photos in the cloud. It shouldn't come as a surprise that banks rely on vast amounts of data storage and that the security of this data is of paramount importance. For a website, deciding to switch to cloud computing is relatively simple. It involves a simple data transfer and perhaps a few days of downtime at most. However, for a bank, moving data is not as straightforward. Banks that have been around for many years may have vast amounts of data collected before cloud storage was even a concept. Those established names cannot afford downtime either – even outages lasting just a few hours make national news in some countries.

The advantage that challenger banks have is that cloud computing existed as a robust, secure concept before they did. They had the opportunity to start collecting data in the cloud immediately, with no need to ever look back. In practice, this makes their data storage just as secure as any other bank but far more flexible and sustainable. These incredible connectivity levels also ensure few restrictions on new features and ideas, as cloud data can plug into just about anything.

2. Blockchain

Many people associate blockchain with cryptocurrencies, and while this is undoubtedly the most prominent connection to date, there are far wider use cases. Blockchain technology also underpins the trend for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and also powers some of the latest functionality in challenger banks.

While some people value cryptocurrencies primarily due to their lack of relationship with the traditional banking system, some challenger banks use the concept extensively. At some of the biggest digital banks, this involves providing wallet storage for existing and emerging cryptocurrencies. Others go further and use blockchain technology at the core of their offering, favouring blockchain-based currencies over their fiat counterparts and providing traditional banking services without a dollar in sight.

3. Open Banking

Open banking protocols vary in popularity depending on where in the world a bank is based. It remains an emerging technology in the US, although support is increasing all the time. It is already so established in the UK that many of the biggest banks now utilise the technology to some degree.

In an industry where rivals can quickly become enemies, the concept of sharing data and financial information was virtually taboo for a long time. However, the sheer number of digital banks that have entered the market meant they learnt the importance of working closely early on.

Many of these new digital banks were built with open banking in mind. Even those that do not explicitly utilise it themselves are happy to share that information with financial services beyond banks. An increase in solutions to view balances, outgoings, and payment schedules on apps that are not banks in their own right, makes banking easier for consumers. The concept of shared data without any negative impact on security will remain a cornerstone of digital banks and one that their established counterparts will need to catch up with.

4. Microservices

An individual does not need to go too far back in time to remember when a transfer from an account with one bank to another could take several days. This remained the case even as the internet and e-commerce became mainstream. The delay reflects the outdated processing systems in place at established banks and the limitations on implementing change.

In some cases, those traditional banks are still working to catch up to this day. Digital banks benefit, once again, from launching at a time when the framework to operate a bank was far more advanced. Microservices are a fairly advanced concept even compared to current IT services, let alone banking infrastructure. However, they also represent an invaluable tool for digital banks to be faster and more reactive to the needs of their customers.

In the past, changes to established banking protocol could take months or even years. In one case, a digital bank founder left a senior role with an established brand to start a digital alternative because it was easier to create a new bank than fix the old one. However, these days, updates and new features can go live instantly with absolutely no downtime thanks to microservices.

Some say that established banks are a relic of the past. Between digital banks and cryptocurrencies, their role has diminished over time. That remains to be seen, and some are doing better than others in adapting to new opportunities. However, the rapid increase in popularity of challenger banks indicates a sentiment among the general public for faster speeds, more features, and greater flexibility. It would take many years for the big names to disappear if that were to be the case, but it is clear that their upstart rivals have vast technological advantages, and it is up to them to capitalise.

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