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The banking giant’s move could signal a thaw in relations with the crypto industry. But will Jamie Dimon change his mind about Bitcoin?
In brief
JP Morgan has approved banking accounts for crypto exchanges Coinbase and Gemini.
The exchanges are the bank's first crypto customers.
The news will be encouraging for crypto businesses seeking banking services.
JPMorgan has extended its banking services to popular cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. The exchanges will be the bank’s first cryptocurrency clients.
Reported today, the landmark move is a sign that Wall Street is gaining confidence in the cryptocurrency industry, but banking requirements could still be overly exacting for many crypto businesses struggling to acquire accounts.
Coinbase and Gemini had to jump through multiple hoops to gain JPMorgan’s approval, the sources said, emphasising the degree to which the exchanges have become regulated entities.
“The fact that both are regulated by multiple parties played a big part in the approval process,” they told the WSJ.
Both exchanges hold money transmitter licenses in multiple states; Gemini won a trust charter in 2015 from the New York State Department of Financial Services. Meanwhile, Coinbase has a BitLicense, a specialized license for crypto businesses, and is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
As well as an extensive vetting process, JPMorgan’s decision may have been influenced by increased interest in Bitcoin by mainstream investors and traders.
Trading volumes saw record highs in March and April, as people sought a safe haven from volatile traditional markets; investment platforms geared towards institutional investors, such as Grayscale, have been thriving, and more funds are turning to Bitcoin as a viable alternative, in the face of quantitive easing.
Even Wall Street legend Paul Tudor Jones has recently come out in favor of Bitcoin, contrasting its monetary policy with that of the Fed's. Beyond recommending it to other institutional traders, he also said that 1-2% of his assets are in Bitcoin.
In the past, JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has criticised Bitcoin. But, more recently, the bank has experimented with blockchain, and even its own digital currency, JPM Coin (for clients' digital payments.)
The bank approved the Coinbase and Gemini accounts in April, per the WSJ. Primarily, it will handle dollar-based transactions, and cash-management services for the exchanges.
No Bitcoin or crypto then—at least, not yet.
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In brief:
Stellar wants to become the global payments standard in the next 5 years.
While admitting it won't happen any time soon, the Stellar foundation wants governments to issue CBDCs on the network.
Several Stellar network upgrades are planned for June.
today the Stellar Development Foundation shared its lofty goal to become the next global payment standard. How it will get there, however, depends on whether governments choose to harness Stellar's permissionless network for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Since the talk, the price of Stellar has shot up 11%—beating the rest of the market.
Speaking during Consensus distributed, Stellar CEO, Denelle Dixon, kicked proceedings off with an applicable nod to the current financial crisis.
"The existing financial infrastructure is outdated, operating on models that have been unchanged for decades," said Dixon, "In the context of this pandemic, just look at how many people have waited weeks for paper stimulus checks.
This, she suggests, is forcing policymakers, governments, and central banks alike to recognize the need for innovation as well as equitable access to the financial system. In response, Stellar has been examining how to implement CBDCs.
"CBDCs was exactly the type of digital money Stellar was designed for, connecting today's real-world financial infrastructure with the digital blockchain world," Dixon explained.
When asked what this new normal might bring for Stellar, Dixon responded that it would likely create a huge opportunity with blockchain becoming the arbiter of innovation.
Talks inevitably turned to Facebook's Libra—a project that has had to drastically change direction from initial conception due to regulatory pressure. With Stellar attempting to achieve a similar goal, will regulation become a hindrance?
"The network layer is very much like the internet, it shouldn't be regulated," explains Dixon. "Stellar itself is the layer that everyone can build on top of, so I don't see regulation with respect to that."
No digital dollar on Stellar, yet
As for whether a government would opt to create a digital dollar on private sector initiatives such as Stellar or Libra, Stellar’s founder, Jed McCaleb, remained tactful.
"We've talked to a few governments around the world about CBDCs. I still think it's pretty early for that and especially early for them to issue these things on a public chain, most [governments] when they get into the nuts and bolts of it they want to control it," says McCaleb. "So, I still think the whole CBDC story is far away."
Nevertheless, he holds out hope that a government does choose a permissionless chain, Stellar's in particular. McCaleb argues that there is no benefit of a private chain as it technically already exists in the form of digitized dollars held in central bank reserves.
"It doesn't really get you anything unless you make it this more open system where it's flexible for people to send money around," he added.
Stellar's technical advancements
McCaleb ran through several technical upgrades to the Stellar ecosystem.
Rattling off the stats, McCaleb highlighted that since the network started in 2015, it has conducted over a billion operations, issued 7,000 assets, and onboarded 121 validators. This means that the network is now in a position to run without the support of the Stellar foundation.
"This is obviously a big step for decentralization," McCaleb said.
Stellar's next milestone is the Protocol 13 and Horizon 1.0 upgrades—expected to be voted on by validators in early June.
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Blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace has launched a new project which aims to help central banks launch digital currencies without compromising user privacy.
In brief
Blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace wants to expand its business to central banks.
A new initiative aims to help central banks launch their own digital currencies in a safe, private, and regulatory compliant manner.
CipherTrace, funded by DARPA, already works with banks and governments around the world.
Blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace is launching a new initiative designed to ensure central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are private, safe to use, and free of money laundering, terrorist funding and other illicit ties.
Since the introduction of Facebook’s Libra in 2019 and China’s unveiling of a digital version of the yuan, financial institutions have felt pressure to explore bank-issued digital assets. According to John Jeffries—chief financial analyst at the Silicon Valley-based CipherTrace—central bank digital currencies have several advantages to them, as they provide banks with immediate control over their monetary policies and they lower the costs of managing cash.
There is also great fear among central banks, he says, that Libra or China’s digital yuan could potentially become default reserve currencies or gain too much economic influence. At the moment, 80% of the world’s central banks, including the UK, France, India, and Russia, are already working on plans for bank-issued digital currency.
CipherTrace, initially funded by DARPA and the US Department of Homeland Security, believes most banks will ultimately issue CBDCs within the next five years. And its new initiative aims to enable these currencies with “customizable mechanisms,” so they can be trusted by financial institutions, government agencies and consumers alike.
But balancing compliance with security and privacy is no small feat.
In an interview with Decrypt, Jeffries explained that CBDCs should not be used to spy on users, and it will be critical to defend consumer privacy while protecting both individuals and institutions from harm due to illicit activity.
“Blockchain analytics have the power to identify illicit activities that should not remain anonymous, thus enabling privacy-be-default for all other transactions,” he said. “Privacy-enabled CBDCs should be designed to protect [revelatory] details and only enable authorities to view transaction details on large or suspicious transactions,” said Jeffries.
To achieve privacy-by-default, Jeffries said CBDCs should have a “protected” mode, but consumers ought to also be able to reveal their data for tax reasons, as well as to prove custody. Governments and law enforcement should only be allowed to request access to transaction details for legitimate legal investigations via subpoena or mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT), he explained.
In other words, transactions should only be unshielded by regulators and financial authorities when blockchain analytics reveals that digital assets have been used in illegal acts, according to Jeffries. Regulators can use risk profile monitoring to identify which digital asset companies and wallets are participating in illicit activities before unmasking transactions, he said.
CipherTrace is already seeking to form close working relationships with banks around the world. Last month, it launched Armada, a tool built to identify risks associated with virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and prevent banks from becoming unknowing participants in illegal financial schemes.
According to the blockchain analytics firm, banks already unknowingly process $2 billion in crypto-related transactions each year.
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The leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, reportedly experienced issues again as Bitcoin’s price suddenly dropped, losing around 20% quickly. This isn’t the first time the exchange goes down amid sudden movements of the kind.
Coinbase Goes Down As Bitcoin Price Plummets
Bitcoin is known to be volatile. What is more, when there’s volatility, it usually takes place in sudden bursts rather than prolonged trading sessions. In March, the price lost around 40% in just a few hours.
Hours ago, Bitcoin suddenly crashed, and in a few minutes, it tanked from a little less than $10,000 to below $8,000 before recovering to its current trading levels.
At times of the kind, it’s essential for users to be in control of their positions and minimize the losses or maximize the profits, depending on their trading setup. When an exchange is down, however, that’s practically impossible.
Coinbase, the leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange, reportedly went offline again. Numerous users on Twitter complained about the problem, while data shows that there are more than 1,000 reports around the time of the crash. Many even joked that Coinbase is acting like the NYSE circuit breakers that halt trading when legacy markets experience a violent drop.
The Fed’s Interest Cut And Global Markets’ Crash Might Lead To Bitcoin & Crypto Surge, Says Coinbase CEO
According to the official website, Coinbase experienced connectivity issues yesterday and delayed sends for ETH and ERC20 tokens because of network congestion. Many of the reports, however, point out that the site was inaccessible.
It’s Not The First Time
Back in 2019 in June, Bitcoin lost about 15% in about 15 minutes, reducing its price with about $1,700. At the time, Coinbase experienced technical issues again, and traders were unable to access their funds.
On April 29th this year, the exchange was off again as Bitcoin soared to just below $9,000. These are far from being the only instances when Coinbase has been going offline during times of severe volatility.
Being one of the world’s leading exchanges, issues of the kind should be reduced to a minimum. The industry has come a long way in the last few years, and setbacks of the kind are questionable, to say the least.
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Yuri Molchan
Last year, billionaire Tim Draper shared one major reason why Bitcoin would surge to $250,000 within two years, now his statement seems to be finding support
In December 2019, in one of his interviews, the billionaire, global investor and Bitcoin advocate Tim Draper doubled down on his forecast regarding the Bitcoin price in the near future.
He again stated that BTC would be worth not less than $250,000. Earlier, he mentioned that this was even a conservative prediction.
However, the trigger that would take Bitcoin as high as $250,000 by 2022-2023, according to Draper, now is confirmed by those who have a direct connection to it – women.
Women to drive Bitcoin adoption forward
The prominent Bitcoin advocate Tim Draper earlier several times predicted that by 2022-2023 Bitcoin would hit the astronomically high level of $250,000.
Back in December 2019, he stated that a wide Bitcoin adoption would be achieved thanks to women getting involved. As the main reason, Draper mentioned that around eighty percent of shopping is done by them.
However, as per Draper, only one wallet out of fifteen belongs to a woman. So as soon as they realize that paying with BTC is cheaper than using bank cards, the adoption is going to boost, as well as the price. He said:
“I think the flood gates are about to open because it turns out that women do about 75-80 percent of the shopping and only 1 out of 15 Bitcoin wallets is held by a woman. So once women realize they are wasting 2.5-4 percent every time they swipe their credit card they will definitely be starting to look for a better solution
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The cryptocurrency market has been going through some tough times in recent months as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the entire world. However, the prevailing conditions in the industry are far better than the conventional global financial markets.
While the entire world stares at an inevitable recession in the coming days, many investors have started investing in some of the leading digital currencies as a measure to minimize the impact on their finances. These decisions are based on the fact that Bitcoin and a significant number of altcoins exhibited a limited direct correlation with the traditional market instruments. Meaning, as the value of stocks continues to plummet, cryptocurrencies have held their ground registering a small percentage fall in their valuation.
Meanwhile, the crypto trading community hasn’t lost its hopes either, as one thing that has remained constant during these trying times is the volatile nature of these digital assets. As the interest in investing and trading in cryptocurrencies continues to increase, so does the search for the right platform that can satisfy all their trading requirements.
Changing Traffic Patterns on Crypto Platforms
A recent analysis of web traffic data shared by ICO Analytics shows that the number of users on a handful of crypto platforms has increased while the rest of them registered a decline. The comparison was made between the web traffic registered by these leading platforms in the months of March and April 2020
A quick glance at the numbers shows a list of 20 most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms, out of which only three have witnessed increased activities compared to their peers. These three platforms include OKEx, CoinsBit, and ZBcom with 147%, 33% and 18% respectively. On the other hand, the highest drop in web traffic in the month of April as compared to March 2020 was experienced by BitMEX at 40%. The web traffic trend favoring just 3 out of 20 exchanges may indicate that new traders are perceiving these 3 exchanges to be more reliable, trustworthy, and maybe even easier to access compared to others. Another possibility involves some of the existing traders favoring them over the rest due to favorable trading terms, supported assets, or a lot of other reasons.
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Bitcoin May Assist In Current Economic Slowdown in the Long-Term
The crypto market has been often compared to the traditional market and Bitcoin’s (BTC) volatility has often been a problem for the investors in equity or other asset class. Despite this volatility, Bitcoin and crypto have emerged as an asset class which attracted many seasoned and institutional investors in the past 12 to 18 months. However, this could not be possible without the uncertainty reflected in the traditional market. Now, as we are in the economic slowdown, can Bitcoin help?
Kevin Kelly of Delphi Digital said that the macro-economic background has never been more beneficial to Bitcoin. Kelly, who appeared in Block Crunch’s latest episode, said that ups and downs of the traditional market has often influenced even Bitcoin’s market along with other cryptocurrencies. The most recent example was the panic-driven fall seen in mid-March. As the traditional market recovered, crypto market did the same.
Bitcoin’s digital gold narrative has played well with the investors and has been considered as a safe haven. Even in the recent crash, despite the fall and recovery occurring across all asset classes, Bitcoin acted more like gold. Despite being around for a bit more than 10 years, BTC has gained the reputation of digital gold and has been considered as a safe haven asset. Thanks to its characteristics, Kelly stated, BTC can be regarded as a non-sovereign, digitally native, hard cap supply, which falls into the category of a safe haven asset, in the long-term.
However, there has been a correlation between Bitcoin and other asset classes, but in time, the correlation may fade with risk-assets. The money which has been injected into the economic system will finally mount inflation and people might turn to Bitcoin due to its digital gold narrative. The fading correlation will just not be visible with Bitcoin, but with altcoins as well.
Since Bitcoin is strongly correlated with Ethereum (ETH), the attention of the investors may also be diverted to the second-largest crypto and the various projects such as decentralized finance and DApps in the crypto industry. Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been working tirelessly to develop a parallel financial system, which will be a good alternative for traders and investors in the long-term, as the current economic system has to solve grave challenges. Kelly noted:
