Did you know according to the WEF, the global female presence in the crypto-economy is between 1% to 5%? Now, how can the industry witness women come in contrast with men? And most importantly, how can we make a jump in the numbers? 

To get a better understanding and to put an outlook, various key factors are responsible. These factors encourage women to join the blockchain industry. Here is a snippet of Marie Tatibouet who is CMO at Gate.io and is a blockchain influencer in the space. 

How were you able to build interest in blockchain technology? Please throw some light on your background. 

I am a pass out in marketing and finance and since then I have always loved how the two subjects bring a change in today’s world. Once my education was over, I worked hard in the consumer technology space. Later, I found a marketing consultancy field that helped tech companies with their marketing strategies, Until 2016, I did not realize the magic that blockchain was creating and I returned to the finance sector. In 2016, I joined an online platform known as 21 and started using it as a fun activity. A few months later, I started my research on how to withdraw the BTC and found myself hooked to the concept. 

After two years, I was offered an exciting role at Gate Technology, where I love how I engage with the larger community to spread the word about Gate.io.

What are the achievements of Industry Women and what do they want from the future? 

There has been an increase in the number of women blockchain influencers. Some women like Neha Nerula are using their technical skills to work. And other women like Molly Jane and Angie Lau are interrogating the correct questions to ensure that we understand both sides of the crypto-coin. 

But, the need of the hour is that industry requires more women to be in leadership roles, and reduce the gender gap. There are a lot of women in the industry, and I would like to create a space where women are felt appreciated not only for their technical skills but also for their ability to use design in various blockchain technology applications. 

Why is Blockchain Space being dominated by men? 

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency are still struggling to become gender-balanced. This trend has kept women in the backseat while blockchain technology was introduced a decade ago. 

It is an indisputable fact that every technological application needs variety to scale and succeed. Women are more risk-takers than men, which keeps them away from entering the industry. 

However, since the sector is becoming conventional, we need to take the necessary steps to eradicate those barriers to improve the gender gap. 

Today, we are witnessing more women than men because they have an invaluable contribution to the finance sector. 

Why are Women important for innovation in the blockchain technology space? 

Women have unique experiences and expertise. In fact, according to research women have an inherited quality that allows them to go to the basics. It is a better learning approach and an unbelievable quality that allows innovation. 

Although, blockchain technology mass adoption is difficult unless all diverse minds put their thoughts together. Those minds are great community builders, something that the crypto industry works on. These qualities can help businesses and communities to understand several applications.

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It’s been another busy month for cryptocurrencies, especially now that a stablecoin has a major backer that will allow customers to us it for payments.

Tesla, with its elusive founder Elon Musk, said that people can now buy its electric cars with bitcoin, just a month after announcing its intentions. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('1x3'); });

Last week, Fidelity Investments, one of the largest mutual fund companies in the US, unveiled plans to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the price of bitcoin. Should the ETF be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC), it would be the first US bitcoin ETF and mark a further push to bring cryptocurrencies to mainstream finance. The SEC has repeatedly rejected applications for bitcoin ETFs, but there is belief that this might be the one that finally goes through.

However, the biggest news came on Monday when payments giant Visa announced that it will enable customers to settle transactions in USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar in a 1:1 ratio, becoming the first big payments network to use a cryptocurrency to settle payments. The move marks another major step in bringing cryptocurrencies to mainstream finance. Stablecoin bridges the worlds of traditional and digital money

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that are pegged to an external asset, such as a fiat currency (like the US dollar) or a commodity (like gold). If a person owns one USDC, they can always exchange it for one traditional US dollar. This means that stablecoins, or USDC in Visa’s case, are not subject to the highly volatile market prices experienced by the likes of bitcoin and Ethereum.

Visa partnered with Anchorage, a digital asset bank, and cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to settle transactions over the Ethereum network for the pilot program. The payments giant plans to add more partners later this year. The project did not materialize out of thin air, it has been an 18-month work in progress initiated back in 2019. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('Unit2'); }); -->

The move aims to facilitate transfers between digital assets and fiat currencies without incurring any extra fees, reflecting increased interest in the crypto space, especially from crypto-native FinTechs. Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, said: “we see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies”. Why is the move by Visa such a big deal?

Visa’s pilot program eliminates the need for cryptocurrency platforms to convert digital currencies into traditional fiat currency before settling transactions with Visa. The fiat-denominated cryptocurrency USDC will, as such, be treated like any other the other 160 fiat currencies Visa clears and settles. This enables crypto-native companies to settle transactions with Visa without having to maintain a traditional bank account. This reduces complexity, speeds up the process, and reduce transaction costs. Visa is already partnering with around 35 digital platforms, including Coinbase, Bitpanda, and Crypto.com, all of which have more than 50 million active users.

Bridging the gap between digital and traditional fiat currency payment networks is essential for cryptocurrencies to become a widely accepted payment method used by consumers. Visa’s pilot program will facilitate a more widespread use of digital currencies.

Visa also gave another indication of how it thinks the market will development when it said that the upgrades to its infrastructure will allow the support for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as they roll-out in the future. CBDCs are exactly what they sound like, digital currencies issued and managed directly by a central bank. Cryptocurrencies rise sharply on the news

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies rose after Visa said its payment network will use USDC to settle transactions. Bitcoin jumped to a one-week high on the news, rising as much as 4.5% to $58,000 and heading back towards its all-time high notation of $61,000, hit earlier this month.

As Sheffield said, “the biggest takeaway is that Visa is open for business for crypto partners”. The message doesn’t get much clearer than that. Traditional financial companies are increasingly embracing cryptocurrencies for investment and payment purposes. Visa’s move comes as finance firms such as BNY Mellon, BlackRock, Mastercard, and mainstream companies, most notably Tesla, are working on or encouraging the use of digital currencies. The State of Technology This Week --> function isEmail(email) { var regex = /^([a-zA-Z0-9_.+-])+\@(([a-zA-Z0-9-])+\.)+([a-zA-Z0-9]{2,4})+$/; return regex.test(email); } (function($){ $(document).ready(function(){ $( 'form.widget_wysija' ).submit(function(e){ e.preventDefault(); setTimeout(function() { var msg = $( '.wysija-msg' ); var email = $( '#form-validation-field-0' ).val(); if( msg.text() !== '' ){ //window.location.replace( 'http://your_thank_you_page_url' ); //alert(email); jQuery.ajax({ type:"POST", url: "/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php", data: { email : email, action : 'add_to_mail'}, success:function(data){ //alert(data); } }); return false; } }, 3000); }); }); })(window.jQuery); Related Report Download the full report from GlobalData's Report Store Get the Report

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Cryptocurrencies have been “a thing” since the inception of Bitcoin, more than a decade ago. It’s clear that cryptos and the blockchain are here to stay. Unlike fiat (non-digital) money, cryptocurrencies aren’t stored in bank accounts or in any physical manner, at least not in any commonly-known sense.

To store cryptocurrencies, the user needs to use a crypto wallet. Selecting the perfect type for you and understanding how to use it is the key to safe crypto use. In this article, we’re going to help you with this.

Before anything else, you should introduce yourself to the world of crypto wallet types. There are physical and software wallets, and most crypto holders use both types for extra safety.

Cryptocurrencies aren’t stored on any wallet. They can’t be moved from their blockchain ledger. A cryptocurrency will always be on its blockchain. The information necessary for owning any crypto is actually what the holder has. It is this information that is stored on crypto wallets. For the purpose of this article, though, we’re going to act as if the cryptocurrencies are stored directly on one’s wallet.

Software wallets are programs, apps, and extensions that store your crypto currencies. The simplest wallet type is the web app wallet. These are located on a domain. Safety measures do exist, but web app wallets are prone to various hacks and phishing scams. Exchange wallets are the most common web wallet type.

Extension browsers are located within your browser to decrease the risk of phishing. Desktop wallet apps are typically the safest software option, with minimal hack risks.

Physical wallets are somewhat more inconvenient than software wallets but are a much safer option. Paper wallets are the most straightforward physical wallet option. These are simple pieces of paper with QR codes for the user’s private and public key. They are unhackable but, like anything physical, can be lost.

Then, there are hardware and cold storage wallets. It’s normal to confuse the two terms, so let’s talk more about cold storage vs. hardware wallet options.

Cold storage wallets are pieces of hardware that resemble a wallet. This wallet type keeps your cryptocurrencies encrypted on it. The only way to access the valuable data stored on them is through authorization from the owner.

Hardware wallets, on the other hand, merely store the encryption keys that are necessary for accessing one’s crypto funds.

Whereas hardware wallets have hardware authorization options, cold storage wallets feature software and hardware authorization. As such, cold storage wallets are the safest crypto storage option available.

Now that you know about the available types of crypto wallets, you’re probably wondering which one you should go with. As we mentioned earlier, most crypto holders use more than one wallet for their crypto funds.

Software wallets are always more convenient than hardware wallets, as they are easier to access. But hardware wallets are a safer option, overall. A combination of hardware and software crypto storage options is the safest and the easiest way to work with your funds.

For instance, without a software wallet, you won’t be able to transfer money to most locations, making crypto payments and trading difficult, if not impossible. A combination of both wallet types is a must.

You’re probably going to have to use multiple software wallets as well. Certain services support certain wallets, and most software wallets don’t support every single cryptocurrency on the market.

If you’re looking for the safest solution to store your cryptos, though, the cold storage option is the best one.

We won’t be getting into the particulars on how to use each wallet, but we are going to help you understand how to use multiple wallets.

Let’s say you have a small amount of a cryptocurrency. You aren’t a trader, and you aren’t looking to earn money in crypto.The most straightforward way to use these funds is to keep them where you probably bought them in the first place – the exchange wallet. Now exchange-wide hacks have been known to happen and are a clear and present danger. However, for small amounts of money, the risk of losing the entiretyof your funds isn’t worth investing in more complex storage options.

But if you are a crypto holder with significant amounts of cryptocurrency, holding it all in one spot is pretty risky, not to mention holding it all on an exchange wallet. Investing in a hardware wallet and creating a software wallet is the best way to go.

The majority of your funds should be stored on a hardware storage solution, ideally on a cold storage wallet. Then, a much smaller portion of your funds should sit in your extension or desktop (mobile) wallet. This amount should be used for quick to-and-fro transactions with your exchange wallet. Finally, you should have a tiny amount of crypto on your exchange wallet for quick transactions.

The percentage of your funds for each of the three mentioned storage options depends on the nature of your crypto usage. If you are a HODL-er, you won’t need to worry about using a software wallet too much. If you are an active trader, you’re going to constantly have to teeter between convenience and security.

If you need to store a small amount of crypto that you wouldn’t cry over losing and are looking for ease of use, online wallets are your best option. Keep in mind, though, that software wallets aren’t the pillars of privacy or security.

Alternatively, if you have a large amount of crypto and security is an important factor for you, a physical storage option should go without saying. Be aware that the hardware storage options can set you back as much as a few hundred pounds. Still, an investment in your crypto safety and privacy is more than worth the money.

Ideally, you’ll want to use a combination of more wallets.

Author Bio: Hitesh is a digital marketing strategist and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in digital marketing, start-ups, branding, and customer acquisition strategies. Hitesh is the CEO and Founder of Reposition Group, which specializes in digital growth strategies for companies in the cryptocurrency market, such as Bitamp.com.

Rene Peters is editor-in-chief of CaptainAltcoin and is responsible for editorial planning and business development. After his training as an accountant, he studied diplomacy and economics and held various positions in one of the management consultancies and in couple of digital marketing agencies. He is particularly interested in the long-term implications of blockchain technology for politics, society and the economy.

The chain-agnostic Layer-2 infrastructure, Cartesi, has partnered with the IOTA Foundation to expand the use cases of DeFi, gaming, and NFTs. Additionally, both parties aim to serve as the bridge between traditional technological solutions and blockchain.

Headquartered in Germany, the IOTA Foundation is a global not-for-profit establishment focusing on research and development of new blockchain solutions. The popular project has recently partnered with Cartesi – the Layer-2 infrastructure aiming to solve the “pressing problem of scalability on the most important blockchains.”

The statement reads that both organizations will focus on implementing improvements within some of the most popular fields of the cryptocurrency industry as of late.

More specifically, they will bring together existing solutions to “expand the user base of DeFi use cases, such as automated market makers (AMMs), gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and oracles.” At the same time, they will strengthen IOTA’s ability to offer decentralized technologies to large corporations.

Furthermore, both parties will employ Cartesi’s Linux-based virtual machine, IOTA Oracles, and IOTA Smart Contracts to bring “non-blockchain-based use cases and businesses” into the aforementioned areas and industrial Internet of Things.

“From the early days, Cartesi and IOTA have been exchanging thoughts and studying the best ways to collaborate. After several technical meetings over the last years, we see an integration path forward that will bring tremendous opportunities for DeFi, Gaming, NFT, and industrial IoT.” – commented Cartesi CEO Erick de Moura.

CryptoPotato reported recently IOTA’s endeavors to reinvent itself after announcing plans to implement new upgrades, including the removal of the controversial coordinator node.

According to the statement, mainstream developers will be able to unlock the “vast capability of smart contracts through the functionality and expressive power of Linux and the many software components that are supported by it.” This will be possible by integrating Cartesi’s Linux VM as a customer virtual machine for IOTA Smart Contracts (ISCP).

Moreover, the partnership will enable corporate servers and smart devices to check data integrity and provenance. As such, they will be able to execute verifiable batch processings through the integration of Cartesi’s computational oracle to IOTA Oracles.

Both parties called this partnership a “big step forward in the journey towards mainstream adoption of distributed technologies.”

IOTA’s co-founder Dominik Schiener said that his team’s vision and value proposition has always strived to grow outside the traditional world of blockchain. Consequently, the collaboration with Cartesi will enable the two organizations to be at the “forefront of bridging the gap between blockchain and the traditional world.”

Source

Earlier today, Visa Inc announces a major move in which the company will allow the use of cryptocurrency to settle transactions. This report comes courtesy of Reuters‘ exclusive coverage. In this new move, the American finance company revealed that it will make use of stable coin USD Coin to settle the transactions on its network. This new development becomes yet another major step towards the adoption of cryptocurrency.

Visa has launched this pilot program with cryto.com, a popular payment and crypto platform. For those who’re unaware, the service also provides Visa cards to its users. With that said, Visa has ensured that it will add more partners by the end of this year. Earlier today, Viva executed the first transactions settled in USDC.

For those who’re unaware, USDC (or USD Coin) is a stable coin cryptocurrency launched by Coinbase and Circle in 2018. The USDC is pegged directly to the U.S. dollar with a 1:1 ratio. In fact, it is the 12th largest cryptocurrency in the market at the time of writing this. According to the company, the sudden move comes after looking at the “increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies”.

With this new move, Visa aims to strip out the need to convert digital coins into traditional money for settled transactions. For this very purpose, the company will be using the Ethereum blockchain. For instance, if you decide to pay for a coffee using a Crypto.com Visa card, then the digital currency in your cryptocurrency wallet needs to be converted to traditional money.

To settle the transaction, the cryptocurrency wallet will then deposit traditional fiat currency in a bank account. It will then be wired to Visa at the end of the day. The entire process sounds quite complex and might be costing the company excess resources. To fix this annoying problem, Visa decided to make use of the Ethereum blockchain to settle payments.

The company has partnered with digital asset bank Anchorage. In fact, it has settled the first transaction in which Crypto.com sent USDC to Visa’s Ethereum address at Anchorage.

Visa is not the only company to openly accept the rise of digital currencies. In fact, Tesla recently announced that customers can now buy its electric vehicles with bitcoin. Other financial companies such as BNY Mellon, BlackRock Inc, and Mastercard Inc have also taken the step to make more use of cryptocurrencies.

Looking to know more about crypto? Check out our coverage on the top 5 options out there

Bitcoin (BTC) has a lot of myths, and one of them is about its privacy. The first cryptocurrency wasn’t designed to be private, let alone anonymous. It’s the opposite, indeed. Its blockchain is a public one, which means anybody can check all the transactions and their details on the Internet. That’s why Monero (XMR) was created.

Monero is an open-source and mineable cryptocurrency, just like Bitcoin. Anyone can open a wallet and send and receive transactions. However, its blockchain is obfuscated. This means that no one outside the involved people can tell the source, amount, or destination.

The technology used to reach that kind of privacy are ring signatures, stealth addresses, and non-interactive zero-knowledge proof (NIZKP). With these cryptographic protocols, the important details of every transaction are hidden from the public. Additionally, the function Dandelion ++, implemented in 2020, lets the users obscuring their IP addresses.

Therefore, if you’re careful, no one should know a thing about your finances while using XMR. Nevertheless, as they explain in the official webpage, Monero does its best, but isn’t magical:

“Monero is not magic. If you use Monero but give your name and address to another party, the other party will not magically forget your name and address. If you give out your secret keys, others will know what you’ve done. If you get compromised, others will be able to keylog you. If you use a weak password, others will be able to brute force your keys file. If you backup your seed in the cloud, you’ll be poorer soon.”

If you check the original whitepaper, the names you’ll find there are “CryptoNote v2.0” and Nicolas van Saberhagen (2013). Nobody knows who that is, though. As for the CryptoNote thing, that is a privacy-focused protocol that powers several private coins —including Monero until 2019.

Previously, the first cryptocurrency to implement CryptoNote was Bytecoin (BCN). In April 2014, a Bitcointalk user dubbed “thankful_for_today” decided to make a fork (copy) of it to apply several improvements, including the fixing of “a number of technical and marketing issues”. It would be a separate currency from the scratch, though. They called it “BitMonero”, from Bitcoin and the Esperanto word for “coin”.

Soon after, BitMonero presented some technical and governance issues, for which the community was very unsatisfied. Thankful_for_today disappeared, abandoning the project, but some developers were still interested in the original idea. So, they joined forces to make a new fork with improvements and called it just Monero.

Most of them never revealed their identities. Initially, the Monero Core Team was formed by othe, smooth, binaryFate, luigi1111, NoddleDoodle, tacotime, Franciso «ArticMine» Cabañas, and Riccardo «fluffypony» Spagni. By 2021, at least tacotime and Spagni have stepped down.

Mostly, you can use Monero as any other cryptocurrency. First things first: you’ll need a wallet. And a lot are listing XMR to date, including options for mobile and desktop devices, and hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor. Others we can mention are Monero GUI (the original Monero wallet), My Monero, Lightwallet, or Exodus (multicurrency).

Now, beyond the mere wallet, you’ll need to know some extra terms to protect your privacy. Just like Bitcoin, Monero also uses addresses (they’re longer, though – 95 characters) and a Mnemonic phrase or seed to recover your funds in another device (25 words). The extras are the Private View Key and the Private Spend Key.

The Private View Key has to do with the fact that you can’t publicly view any transaction and its details on the Monero blockchain. So, if you want to check your transaction or show it to someone else, you’ll need to input this key in the explorer, along with the transaction ID and the deposit address.

On the other hand, the Private Spend Key isn’t shareable. This is the “master key” of your Monero account, with which it’s possible to spend all the XMR associated with that address. Additionally, to create a new address for every transaction (a subaddress) and increase your privacy that way, you’ll need to activate the function in your wallet of choice.

Well, for starting, you can pay for goods and services worldwide. According to Cryptwerk, over 900 merchants and venues accept this cryptocurrency as a payment. That includes all kinds of shops and markets (electronics, books, vehicles, clothing, food, music, pharmacies, gift cards, etc.), Internet services, business services, offline services (restaurants, education, entertainment, medicine, real estate, etc.), tourism and gambling.

On the other hand, you can also mine XMR, since it’s a lot easier than other cryptos, like Bitcoin. From 2019, they applied the new mining algorithm RandomX. With it, they want to avoid that XMR can be minted by ASIC miners (specialized machines) and high-end GPUs. So, anyone with a CPU (laptop or PC) can mine Monero. You can do this by downloading the required app and (preferably) joining a pool.

Of course, you can also hodl it. A Ukrainian politician did it since 2015, by buying around $58,100 in XMR. Now he has over $43m. But if you need to exchange it for fiat money (or decide to buy it), you can always use Alfacash!

Complete anonymity isn’t something very welcomed by authorities, we must say. Last year, Europol stated that privacy methods in cryptocurrency, like digital wallets, open markets, and yes, privacy coins as Monero, can facilitate criminal activity. Of course, that’s not always true, and activities like money laundering are still a way lot more popular with traditional cash.

Despite that fact, France’s finance committee has recommended a ban for these coins, the U.S. secret service is probably investigating them right now, several exchanges worldwide have delisted these coins due to banking or regulatory pressures and, the cherry on the cake, Japan and South Korea have already banned the privacy coins.

Beyond the current bans in the said countries, there are also some existent regulations for privacy coins, as the legal firm Perkins Coie described in a whitepaper. Maybe they differ in some small things, but these rules and guides basically come down to one thing and one party: Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) applying Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes. In other words, crypto-exchanges and the like asking for personal data and documents to their customers before allowing any trade.

In any case, according to a recent study by the non-profit consulting firm RAND Corporation, “While privacy coins may theoretically seem a boon to users engaged in illicit or criminal activities, various practical considerations may, in fact, make them less attractive for conducting illicit transactions on the dark web”.

Against all odds, Monero keeps thriving. Year-to-date, its price has increased by over 41% and it has a market capitalization of $4.2b so far [CoinMarketCap]. The following regulations, more than cut its development, could make it grow stronger and with more trust.

Representatives of regulatory bodies from both the United States and the European Union met at the Joint Financial Regulatory Forum on March 24 and 25. They discussed coronavirus-related recovery stimulus, sustainable finance and touched upon stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). 

US participants in the Forum included officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and staff from independent regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). EU participants included representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), and other regulatory agencies. The discussions in the forum also covered stablecoins and CBDCs.

Overall, participants discussed six themes over the course of the two-day Forum. The talks primarily focused on the pressing issue of COVID-19 recovery and mitigating related financial stability risk. Additionally, the new American administration highlighted climate change as a potential financial risk. They also discussed the usual subject material of multilateral engagement in banking and regulatory cooperation in capital markets. 

Notably, cryptocurrencies came up, as the aspiring assets class plays an increasing role in financial markets. According to the announcement, “participants also exchanged views on recent developments and regulatory proposals involving new forms of digital payments, including crypto-assets, so-called stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies.” These were also highlighted in the context of anti-money laundering and countering the finance of terrorism.

Despite lacking plans to issue a CBDC, the Federal Reserve’s Boston branch has conducted research on the subject. This preliminary work, done in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has prominent skeptics. The American Banking Association says it could set payments back several years but likely fears being squeezed out. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said such a project could help Americans who lack access to the banking system.

However, Secretary Yellen’s enthusiasm for other crypto assets is a bit cooler. Recently, Yellen said bitcoin (BTC) was “highly speculative” and “an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions.” She also expressed concern over the “growing problem” of cryptocurrency “misuse.”

According to executive director Kristen Smith, The Blockchain Association, a leading blockchain and crypto trade organization, has been “mounting a charm offensive,” assuaging these concerns. “Our number one priority is helping Yellen understand crypto goes beyond the financing of criminal enterprises,” Smith emphasized. “We want her to understand the value of crypto networks.”

Nick is a data scientist who teaches economics and communication in Budapest, Hungary, where he received a BA in Political Science and Economics and an MSc in Business Analytics from CEU. He has been writing about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology since 2018, and is intrigued by its potential economic and political usage. He can best be described as an optimistic center-left skeptic.

Visa said on Monday it will allow the use of the cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transactions on its payment network, the latest sign of growing acceptance of digital currencies by the mainstream financial industry.

The company told Reuters it had launched the pilot program with payment and crypto platform Crypto.com and plans to offer the option to more partners later this year.

Bitcoin, the most popular crypto coin, jumped to a one-week high on the news, rising as much as 4.5 percent to $58,300 and heading back toward a record-high above $61,000 hit earlier this month.

Visa subsequently confirmed the news in a statement.

The USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin cryptocurrency whose value is pegged directly to the U.S. dollar.

Visa’s move comes as finance firms including BNY Mellon, BlackRock and Mastercard take steps to make more use of cryptocurrencies for investment and payment purposes.

Tesla boss Elon Musk, a major proponent of cryptocurrencies, said last week that customers can buy its electric vehicles with bitcoin, hoping to encourage more day-to- day use of the digital currency.

“We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we’re seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers,” Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, said.

Traditionally, if a customer chooses to use a Crypto.com Visa card to pay for a coffee, the digital currency held in a cryptocurrency wallet needs to be converted into traditional money.

The cryptocurrency wallet will deposit traditional fiat currency in a bank account, to be wired to Visa at the end of the day to settle any transactions, adding cost and complexity for businesses.

Visa’s latest step, which will use the ethereum blockchain, strips out the need to convert digital coin into traditional money in order for the transaction to be settled.

Paysafe has sealed a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, as it seeks market expansion in the U.S. Paysafe owns and maintains popular digital wallet Skrill.

Skrill Digital Wallet For US Customers

According to the partnership terms, Coinbase will provide a white label solution for Skrill to aid the digital wallet’s growth in the United States. This will see customers from over 30 US states and territories trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin with their digital wallet.

Head of Institutional Trading at Coinbase, Brett Tejpaul, said:

“As we focus on building the crypto-economy, we look to partner with leaders like Skrill who can white-label our turnkey solution to provide and support digital assets to their clients without having to learn the nuances of building a crypto exchange.”

Following the announcement, the payments company said the expansion program would commence immediately. Skrill says it will look into strengthening its digital wallet’s features for the American consumer.

Skrill had previously launched its Skrill Visa Prepaid Card. It also brought to market Skrill Money Transfer remittance solution and Skrill Knect loyalty and rewards program.

Coinbase has had a prosperous year so far. The company, which is reportedly eyeing an initial public offering (IPO), is worth more than $100 billion.

Brain Armstrong, who is the company CEO and co-founder, has successfully navigated the crypto exchange into occupying the enviable position of being the largest Bitcoin exchange in the United States.

Rising institutional demand following crypto upsurge has seen Coinbase become the ultimate destination for companies seeking exposure to the volatile asset class.

Coinbase has high-value clients like intelligence company MicroStrategy, electric car company Tesla, and recently added Chinese tech company Meitu to its list.

Aside from giving exposure to cryptocurrencies, Coinbase has been adding many crypto projects to its platform. In a March 19 post , Coinbase announced that it was adding ADA to its platform. The announcement that quickly propelled the proof-of-stake blockchain protocol to the third position will see Coinbase facilitate buying and selling Cardano’s ADA.

The San Francisco firm also said it is preparing to build a business presence in India. The company said it would initially house IT services, including engineering, software development, and customer support.

New hires will work from home before a physical office is opened in the engineering hub of Hyderabad, subject to the covid-19 protocols.

For now, the company has not posted any vacancy on Coinbase India’s career page.

You’ve probably already heard about digital currencies and how they are disrupting the traditional way people transact. You’ve also probably heard about Bitcoin— the world’s most popular digital currency. And like most people, you may be wondering why this cryptocurrency suddenly becomes a hot topic whenever its value rises or drops.

While it can be hard to tell whether or not cryptocurrencies are the future of currency, one thing that’s for sure is that more and more businesses are starting to accept bitcoin as payment for products and services. Individuals are also increasingly adopting blockchain technology and investing in bitcoin. And here’s why:

If you’re looking to start investing in Bitcoin or are just curious about how someone can buy, sell, and use this cryptocurrency, this guide is for you. Here are four steps to getting started with Bitcoin.

A bitcoin exchange is an online platform that facilitates the exchange and trading of bitcoins for other digital assets, including traditional, fiat, and digital currencies. The online platform acts as an intermediary or middleman when it comes to bitcoin investing.

Joining a bitcoin exchange will allow you to not only buy and sell bitcoin but also hold and withdraw your cryptocurrency to your own wallet. It’s important that you check which currencies an exchange supports before signing up. Keep in mind that there are many types of bitcoin exchanges and you may need to decide which one to use.

In order to trade, store, and buy Bitcoin instantly, you need to have a crypto wallet like BitWallet. Bitcoin wallets can be categorized into hot and cold wallets. Hot wallets are wallets that are run and operated on internet-connected devices, such as mobile phones, desktops, tablets, and computers.

The fact that they’re usually connected to the internet creates vulnerability, making them susceptible to hacking. However, hot wallets are more convenient as users can easily access their bitcoins through a software program or using the internet.

Cold wallets are wallets that aren’t connected to the internet. They are considered to be the safest and most secure option as they’re less likely to be compromised. Cold wallets can either be hardware wallets (almost similar to an external hard drive or USB-stick) or paper wallets (a printout with both your public and private keys).

If you’re planning to store or trade small to medium amounts of bitcoin, then a hot wallet would be ideal. However, if you intend to store and trade larger amounts of bitcoin, it’s recommended that you choose a cold wallet.

At this point, you have joined an exchange and obtained your bitcoin wallet. The next thing is to connect your wallet directly to your bank account or link it with a debit or credit card. Alternatively, you can link your bank account to your bitcoin exchange account. Once you’ve linked your bitcoin wallet or exchange to your bank account, you can now start buying and selling bitcoin.

Now that you’ve set up the foundation, you can purchase as many bitcoins as you want. You don’t need thousands of dollars to invest in bitcoin. Most exchanges often allow users to purchase fractions of a single bitcoin. This means you can have $25 as your initial investment.

And remember to track your purchases and sales from the moment you make your first transaction. Take time to study the trends, review your investment strategy, and carefully assess your risk tolerance before investing in bitcoin.

Buy, sell, and instant exchange cryptocurrency. Changelly offers the simplest way to buy cryptocurrency only using your bank cards, Mastercard or Visa. Also, the Changelly platform connects with the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges to deliver the best rates for their users. Is Changelly legit and safe? Keep on reading this Changelly review to find out more about this instant crypto exchange platform.

Limited time offer for the first-time users of MoonPay. Until March 31, 2021, the buy crypto feature on Changelly via MoonPay will be without fees. Check out more details here.

Changelly started its services in the year 2015, as an intermediary between some of the biggest crypto exchanges and cryptocurrency enthusiasts. The intermediary process was constructed to make cryptocurrency exchanges faster and, with a better user experience, to immediately exchange and buy cryptocurrencies.

In 2020, the Changelly platform expanded its services with a custodial cryptocurrency trading platform, Changelly PRO. As a result, with Changelly PRO, users can trade multiple cryptocurrencies on a user-friendly exchange platform. All major cryptocurrencies are supported in multiple trading pairs. For example, Bitcoin – BTC, Ethereum – ETH, Tether – USDT, Binance Coin – BNB, Litecoin – LTC, Cardano – ADA, and much more others.

Also in 2020, the instant swap crypto feature on Changelly reached a number of 170 cryptocurrencies listed.

More to say about the Changelly platform is that it has some pretty impressive partners. For example, Binance exchange, Trezor, Exodus, Coinomi, Nexo, HitBTC.

The CEO of Changelly is Eric Benz, a person with a history in financial institutions and blockchain companies. On a quick search on LinkedIn, everybody can see his business activity history.

What is Changelly? In simple words, Changelly is a non-custodial instant cryptocurrency exchange platform, on which users can buy, sell, and exchange their crypto-assets. All these in a very simple way and without holding the user’s funds.

The process behind Changelly might seem easy but is not quite as simple, and firstly, let’s take the instant crypto exchange. Changelly has integrated a trading algorithm, on some of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, for example, Binance, Poloniex, HitBTC, Bittrex, and other exchanges, to deliver the best exchange rates. Therefore, once a user makes an exchange order on Changelly, an automatic process of making offers and requests on these exchange platforms is triggered, and then is selected the best rate found. As a result, Changelly will display this selected exchange rate, and the user can choose it to finish the order.

The buy crypto orders with bank cards or bank transfers are done through third-party platforms. For example, MoonPay, Banxa, Simplex, Coinify, Indacoin, and others. As well as the instant exchange feature, Changelly will display the best buying rates, so the user can choose the best option. On some cryptocurrencies there are pretty high fees, therefore everybody should do their research before investing, buying, or selling.

As well as in the previous two cases, with the Changelly sell crypto feature, the platform will choose the best-selling rate. Users can sell their crypto assets for fiat money, and the funds will be sent to their bank account. On this feature, there are also, some pretty high fees. Therefore, before selling crypto, see the coin’s exchange rate to decide if this works well for you, and not lose too much money on fees. The selling orders are executed through the third-party company, Mercuryo.

The process is pretty easy and simple. Once you are on the main page of the Changelly platform, all you have to do is choose into what currency to buy and what cryptocurrency to buy. Also, enter the amount you want to spend on that specific order. Changelly is also integrated into my blog, therefore all the features are available on this website. Press the button below and it will pop-up an exchange widget.

Be informed that, on the Changelly platform, is also a minimum buy amount of $50. And users can choose from multiple cryptocurrencies to buy. For example, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Cardano, ChainLink, Elrond, and many others.

For the new users, the process can be a little long, but once they are registered, it is very simple and fast, to buy crypto using Changelly and bank cards.

There will be some daily and monthly limits on buying cryptocurrency using the third-party platforms on Changelly. Therefore, let’s take everyone and see these limits and the necessary KYC – know your customer.

Users of Changelly can swap between multiple cryptocurrencies with this feature. For example, Bitcoin – BTC, Ethereum – ETH, Cardano – ADA, ChainLink – LINK, Binance Coin – BNB, Elrond Coin – eGold, and much more. How this feature works, was described above in this Changelly review. Therefore, let’s take this in simple steps and see how to trade on the Changelly platform.

The transactions can take up to 30 minutes, from the moment the payment is received by Changelly. Every order will have a transaction ID, therefore it is advised to save it if something goes wrong with the transaction.

Also, take notice that Changelly has a risk scoring system to prevent illegal activities. If a transaction is signaled as suspicious by this system, it will be put on hold, and as a result, the user must pass the KYC procedure.

We all know the high volatility of cryptocurrencies, therefore a floating rate will make sure the transaction will be executed if the rates change. A floating rate can change at any time, and as a result, you can get a different amount of crypto when the transaction is executed. This can work in your favor or, at the same time, against you.

A fixed-rate will lock the rate displayed by Changelly. Therefore, all the time users will know the amount of crypto that will have to receive. Also, if the transaction will not get executed for some reason, every user who chooses this fixed-rate will need to enter a refund crypto address.

As I said above, these transactions will be executed through a third-party company, called Mercuryo. For now, the only crypto asset that can be exchanged for fiat money is Bitcoin – BTC. And it can only be exchanged for EURO currency.

The minimum amount of Bitcoin that can be sold is set to $250, and for the users who pass the advanced KYC procedure, they can sell an unlimited quantity of Bitcoin. For the users with the basic KYC, there will be a maximum amount of $10,000 to sell.

Bitcoin to EURO transactions can only be executed in some of the European countries. Therefore, before you make any transaction, make sure to check the list on the official Changelly website.

Changelly is far from being a scam. It is in the crypto market since 2015 and it has more than 2 million users worldwide. Also, with the latest crypto exchange release, Changelly PRO, the company indicates that is here to stay.

Changelly has some high trust scores from its users. But at the same time, there are also some user reviews, where they encountered some issues with their transactions and high fees.

On the other hand, I use for quite some while the Changelly services and didn’t face any problems. Every time, my funds arrived fast and without any issues. More specifically, my last transaction was executed in under 10 minutes.

Changelly is a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange, that is also available as a mobile app supported by both IOS and Android operating systems. Therefore, you can buy and exchange cryptocurrency on the go.

Regarding the fees on the Changelly platform, on some crypto coins, there are pretty high. But to understand why, Changelly automatically buys cryptocurrency from some of the biggest crypto exchanges, and in these fees are included the blockchain transactions fees and the trading transactions fees. Therefore, these might seem high, but Changelly only imposes 0.25% in fees.

Also, in the buying transactions fees, orders that are executed on the crypto exchanges, are included multiple transactions. More explicitly, some crypto coins only have trading pairs with Bitcoin, for example. And if users choose different pairs, there will be made multiple transactions to complete the order. As a result, the fees will be higher on some coins.

Nowadays, we can use so many platforms to buy and exchange our digital assets. Changelly comes as an intermediary between us and these platforms. As a result, Changelly offers a quick way to buy and exchange cryptocurrency, without holding funds, or creating many accounts on different exchanges.

To avoid the high fees, as I do it, only buy or exchange on the Changelly platform, those cryptocurrencies with low fees. More exactly, those who don’t have high blockchain fees or require multiple transactions to complete your order. For the other ones, I use different crypto exchanges. Always check the rates and the fees at the moment you make your order.

Keep in mind that Changelly services can be used directly from my blog. Thank you for reading this Changelly review, please share and subscribe to my little blog. Also, visit CryptoFiveo on Youtube, LBRY and Odysee, Pinterest, Facebook, Publish0x, Instagram, Twitter.

This Changelly exchange review, and if Changelly is legit and safe to use, is intended for informational purposes only. Therefore, the views expressed in this document are not, and should not, be construed as investment advice or recommendations. Readers of this document should do their own research, taking into account their specific financial circumstances. Also, the investment objectives and risk tolerance before investing. This document is not an offer, nor the solicitation of an offer, to invest, buy or sell any of the assets mentioned herein.

This post might contain affiliate/referral link(s) or referral codes. All this means that I may earn advertising/referral fees if you purchase/register through my link.

Also, the CryptoFiveo blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. An affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn some fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

NewsHomeTechnologycryptocurrenciesPayPal users can now checkout using BitcoinCustomers can use Checkout with Crypto to buy goods using Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cashby: Zach Marzouk30 Mar 2021

Global payment giant Visa on Monday, 29 March said that it will permit the use of cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transactions on its payment network amid speculations over the ban of cryptocurrency in India.

The USD Coin is a stable coin whose value is pegged to that of a US dollar. Visa Inc has launched this pilot program in association with online crypto platform Crypto.com.

“We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we're seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers,” said Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa.

If a customer chooses to use Crypto.com visa card for buying any items, the digital currency held in the crypto wallet must be converted into conventional cash.

However, with Visa’s latest step, the cryptocurrency wallet will deposit fiat currency in a bank account, which will be wired to Visa at the end of the day to settle any transactions, including cost and complexity for companies.

Earlier last week, electric vehicle and clean energy firm Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday, 24 March, that people in the US can now buy a car from the company using Bitcoins. The option to pay with the popular cryptocurrency will be available to other countries later this year.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), which added cryptocurrency buying, selling and holding services, is now allowing United States-based consumers to pay merchants in cryptocurrencies, the payments company announced on Tuesday.

The feature called ‘Checkout with Crypto’ will be available to all PayPal users across the globe in the coming months. 

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The company detailed that the new payment option will automatically appear in the PayPal wallet on checkout pages for customers with sufficient crypto balance to make the purchase. However, the merchants will receive the payments in fiat.

“Enabling cryptocurrencies to make purchases at businesses around the world is the next chapter in driving the ubiquity and mass acceptance of digital currencies,” said Dan Schulman, PayPal’s President and CEO.

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The official press release detailed that the users can only use one supported cryptocurrency in a transaction, and there will be no transaction fee.

PayPal, a big name in the payments industry, added cryptocurrency services in November last year, allowing users to trade cryptocurrencies directly on its platform. Earlier, other crypto exchanges were using its gateway services for deposits.

The California-headquartered company’s direct involvement in crypto is seen as a major breakthrough for the crypto economy, given the platform’s reach across the world. It has 346 million active accounts, domestic and international combined  and processed $222 billion in payments in Q2 of 2020.

“As the use of digital payments and digital currencies accelerates, the introduction of Checkout with Crypto continues our focus on driving mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies while continuing to offer PayPal customers choice and flexibility in the ways they can pay using the PayPal wallet,” Schulman added.

Meanwhile, PayPal expanding its presence in the cryptocurrency market with the plans of acquiring custodian startup Curv.