XcelToken Plus- News Bitspark Shuts Down

Hong Kong-based blockchain remittance start-up Bitspark has abruptly announced its closure, citing internal restructuring issues.

On Feb. 3, Bitspark co-founder and CEO George Harrap officially announced the platform’s plans to shut down its services on the 4th of March, 2020.

According to the statement, Bitspark users will be able to withdraw their cryptocurrencies from Feb. 3 to March 4 as the platform’s functionality will stay intact over the period. After March 4, account logins will be disabled for a period of 90 days, with users being able to withdraw their funds via Bitspark customer support, the announcement reads.

Harrap emphasized that the firm’s abrupt closure comes despite the “excellent performance” that Bitspark has seen since the release of its new remittance service Cash Point in 2019. According to Harrap, Bitspark saw a 400% month-over-month growth after releasing the product.

Co-founded by Harrap and Maxine Ryan in 2014, Bitspark emerged as a major blockchain-powered financial services company for the Asia-Pacific region, serving countries like Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Bitspark’s closure comes a month after its co-founder Ryan announced her intention to step down from her position as chief operating officer. According to the official announcement, Ryan’s decision caused internal restructuring issues that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak in China as well as anti-government protests in Hong Kong,which drove Bitspark to close the firm:

“Unfortunately due to internal restructuring that hasn’t worked out, and a decision taken by shareholders internally, we have made the decision to close our doors. While the HK protests and now virus epidemic haven’t affected us much, it hasn’t helped either.”

In a Twitter thread on Feb. 3, Ryan confirmed Bitspark’s reasons for the closure:

“What caused the closure. As of a month ago, I made the decision to step down from my position as COO of Bitspark. This naturally caused a need to restructure the company which unfortunately landed this result […] This paired with the landscape of Hong Kong with protests and the coronavirus where Bitspark HQ is located. The team and shareholders decided this was the best way forward to prevent integrity decay of the company.”

Bitspark conducted an initial coin offering amid the ICO hype of 2017, launching its Zephyr (ZEPH) rewards token ICO in November of that year for a project specializing in the transfer of fiat money on a blockchain.

Liechtenstein Based Start-up To Issue Tokens At The Value Of Collectable Cars

Investment platform CurioInvest and Seychelles-based digital asset platform MERJ Exchange Ltd. will jointly begin offering a token backed by collector luxury cars.

The so-called Car Token (CT1) token is set to be attached to the value of collectible cars giving more people a chance to have a portion of an asset, BNN Bloomberg informed on the 30th of January, 2020.

The company specified that the appeal of the token also lies in the fact that the value of such goods continues to increase in value. “When you look at fine art, collectible cars, they have been perceived historically as safe havens,” said Fernando Verboonen, founder and CEO of CurioInvest.

Verboonen added that each holder of CT1 tokens will be an advantage from holding a portion of an asset, though did not delve into a comprehensive explanation at that juncture. CurioInvest’s site stipulates that a token owner is able to share in any latent profit when the vehicle is resold, where the amount of money they get is directly proportional to the value of the car.

It is also said that “any vehicle that increases in value by more than 20% will be resold by CurioInvest so that investors can share in the profits.” As such, the partners are planning to list 500 collectible cars on the exchange worth over $200 million.

Although the token is backed by the value of classic cars, CurioInvest told Cointelegraph that it does not consider it a stablecoin but rather a security token as it comes with and by the Financial Market Authority approved prospectus and International Securities Identification Number.

Jim Needham, head of digital strategy at MERJ, further said: “You can have a guy in Uganda who’s able to invest in a rare car that’s kept in a vault in Stuttgart, tokenized by a company in Liechtenstein and it all fits within this recognized regulatory environment.” However, that Ugandan investor will hardly be able to drive the car he invested in..

When asked what would push people to hold such tokens and what would be the impetus behind it, CurioInvest said that individuals can invest in multiple cars and thus “invest in the virtual garage of your dreams, backed by tangible, real-world assets.”

For the future, CurioInvest plans to allow investors to monitor their vehicles via webcam, occasionally visit the vehicles, and participate in driving experiences involving similar cars.

Considering the way depreciation could affect the token value, CurioInvest pointed out that all forms of investment are vulnerable to risks. The company also noted that cars are real assets, which may be subject to material risks such as potential vehicle damage, and added:

“The value of an investment is determined by market forces and thus, it can fluctuate in both directions. You will make a profit if the value of the vehicle exceeds maintenance costs when it is resold by Curio. If you are selling Car Tokens peer-to-peer, there is no guarantee that you will locate a buyer willing to purchase them at your desired price.”

Some other car manufacturers have also embraced blockchain in regard to classic cars. Thus, Italian luxury sports car brand Lamborghini began using the Salesforce Blockchain to authenticate heritage Lamborghini cars. The platform enables Lamborghini to trace, certify andauthenticate heritage cars faster and more securely using its blockchain platform.

Weekly Overview: Cryptocurrency

Canada Issues Guidelines For Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Canadian authorities have issued new direction to regulate which digital currency trading platforms fall under derivatives law.

The Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) clarified new provisions in the “Guidance on the Application of Securities Legislation to Entities Facilitating the Trading of Crypto Assets” published on the 16th of January, 2020.

To know more check out our previous blog.

Canadian Teen Charged For Cryptocurrency Theft

A Montreal resident, age 18 if facing 4 criminal charges connected to a $50 million SIM Swap scam that targeted cryptocurrency holders.

“Eighteen-year-old hacker Samy Bensaci is accused of being part of a crime ring that stole millions of dollars in crypto-currency by gaining unauthorized access to the cell phones of crypto-currency holders in America and Canada.” — Infosecurity Magazine. 17th January, 2020

To know more check out our previous blog.

South Korea Considers Imposing Income Tax on Cryptocurrencies

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of South Korea, is considering levying a 20% tax on the incomes made through cryptocurrency transactions.

According to a news report published by The Korea Times on the 20th of January, 2020, the ministry had reportedly ordered its income office to review cryptocurrency taxation. The Korea Times cited an anonymous official who reportedly said that the ministry has not finalized its plan, but noted that the government may impose a 20% tax on crypto income.

To know more check out our previous blog.

PornHub Adds Tether As A Payment Option

Adult entertainment website Pornhub has added a new cryptocurrency payment option after PayPal had abruptly stopped servicing its models in late 2019.

According to a Jan. 23 blog post, Pornhub now supports Tether (USDT) — a major United States dollar-pegged stablecoin — to allow instant and zero-fee payments via the crypto wallet and browser extension TronLink.

Binance Invests In Taiwanese Startup Numbers

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has invested an undisclosed sum in blockchain data monetization startup Numbers.

According to a post published on Binance’s official blog on Jan. 21, Numbers aims to create an open, transparent and traceable data sharing, verification and management system. The firm’s open source application reportedly allows individuals to own and monetize their personal data.

Ether Is The Most Correlated Cryptocurrency To Other Coins

Recent research shows that Ether (ETH) was the cryptocurrency most correlated to the rest of the crypto market in 2019.

In a report published on Jan. 22, the research arm of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance suggests that throughout 2019, ETH had an average correlation coefficient of 0.69.

South Korea Considers Imposing Income Tax on Cryptocurrencies

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of South Korea, is considering levying a 20% tax on the incomes made through cryptocurrency transactions.

According to a news report published by The Korea Times on the 20th of January, 2020, the ministry had reportedly ordered its income office to review cryptocurrency taxation. The Korea Times cited an anonymous official who reportedly said that the ministry has not finalized its plan, but noted that the government may impose a 20% tax on crypto income.

“A government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the finance ministry has not finalized its plan to tax cryptocurrencies.” stated The Korea Times article.

Some have speculated that the government may categorize gains obtained through cryptocurrency trading as “other income” and not capital gains. The other income category also includes gains made from lectures, lottery purchases and prizes.

A clear scheme for crypto cryptocurrency taxation is much needed in South Korea. This became particularly apparent when, at the end of December, major local cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb announced that it was considering administrative litigation over an $68.9 million tax bill that it believes has no legal basis. More recent reports indicate that the firm decided to follow through and take tax authorities to court.

As an article on Cointelegraph exemplified, South Korea’s cryptocurrency guideline has seen noteworthy progress since Park Yong-jin, a member of the National Policy Committee from the ruling Democratic Party, presented the first-ever taxation policy for crypto in 2017.

In 2019, the National Assembly’s national policy committee approved a bill that would give more legitimacy to digital assets by subjecting them to more scrutiny and government oversight.

Canadian Teen Charged For Cryptocurrency Theft

A Montreal resident, age 18 if facing 4 criminal charges connected to a $50 million SIM Swap scam that targeted cryptocurrency holders.

Among the purported victims were Don and Alex Tapscott, renowned Canadian crypto entrepreneurs and co-authors of the book “Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World.”

“We can confirm that last year a hacker attempted steal crypto assets from our company and its employees,” Don Tapscott said in an email to ‘The Star’. “That attempt was unsuccessful. We cooperated with the police (and) have been impressed with their determination to bring those responsible to justice.”

Bensaci was arrested in Victoria, British Columbia, in November and charged with fraudulently obtaining computer service, committing fraud over $5,000, identity fraud, and illegally accessing computer data. In December, the teen was released on $200,000 bail and ordered to live with his parents in northeast Montreal until his next court hearing.

While staying at his parents’ residence, Bensaci is prohibited from accessing “any computer, tablet, mobile phone, game console, including PS3, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or any other device capable of accessing the Internet,” and barred from holding or trading any form of cryptocurrency.

A SIM-swapping attack befalls when the hackers are able to trick the telecom company to transfer the victim’s phone number to the attacker’s SIM card. Though it is possible to do this by imitating the victim with the telecom’s customer service, the companies are overwhelmed by insiders that use their access to facilitate this type of crime. With a SIM-swap, aggressors can evade most authentication and password recovery devices that rely on phone numbers.

The Dow Theory

The Dow theory is a theory that says the market is in an upward trend if one of its averages (industrial or transportation) advances above a previous important high and is accompanied or followed by a similar advance in the other average. For example, if the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbs to an intermediate high, the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) is expected to follow suit within a reasonable period of time.

The Dow theory is an approach to trading developed by Charles H. Dow who, with Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser, founded Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and developed the DJIA. Dow fleshed out the theory in a series of editorials in the Wall Street Journal, which he co-founded.

Charles Dow died in 1902, and due to his death, he never published his complete theory on the markets, but several followers and associates have published works that have expanded on the editorials.

Dow believed that the stock market as a whole was a reliable measure of overall business conditions within the economy and that by analyzing the overall market, one could accurately gauge those conditions and identify the direction of major market trends and the likely direction of individual stocks.

The theory has undergone further developments in its 100-plus-year history, including contributions by William Hamilton in the 1920s, Robert Rhea in the 1930s, and E. George Shaefer and Richard Russell in the 1960s. Aspects of the theory have lost ground, for example, its emphasis on the transportation sector — or railroads, in its original form — but Dow’s approach still forms the core of modern technical analysis.

The market discounts all news

This principle explains that any information available in the market is already reflected in the price of stocks and indices. This includes all data such as earnings announcements by companies, rise (or fall) in inflation or even sentiments of investors.

As a result, it is better to analyse price movements instead of studying earnings reports or balance sheets of companies.

The market has three trends

This theory was the first to propound that the market moves in trends. The trends are:

Primary trend is the major trend for the market. It indicates how the market moves in the long-term. A primary trend could span many years.

Secondary trends are considered to be corrections to a primary trend. This is like an opposite movement to the primary trend. For example, if the primary trend is upward (bullish), the secondary trend(s) is downward. These trends could last anywhere between a few weeks to a few months.

Minor trends are fluctuations to the market movement on a daily basis. These trends last for less than three weeks and go against the movement of the secondary trend. Some analysts consider minor trends to mirror market chatter.

Trends have three phases

The theory says that there are three phases to each primary trend: accumulation phase, public participation phase and panic phase.

The beginning of a primary upward (or downward) trend in a bull (or bear) market is known as the accumulation phase. Here, traders enter the market to buy (or sell) stocks against common market opinions.

In the public participation phase, more investors enter the market as business conditions improve and positive sentiments become evident. This results in higher (or lower) prices in the market.

The panic phase is marked by excessive buying by investors. This could result in great speculation. At this stage, it is ideal for investors to book profits and exit.

Indices confirm each other

A trend in the market cannot be verified by a single index. All indices should reflect the same opinion. For example, in case of a bullish trend in India, the Nifty, Sensex, Nifty Midcap, Nifty Smallcap and other indices should move in the upward direction. Similarly, for a bearish trend, all indices should move in a downward direction.

Trends are confirmed by volume

The trend in the market should be supported by trading volumes. For instance, in an upward trend, the volume rises with increase in price and falls with decrease in price. And in a downward trend, the volume increases with fall in price and decreases with price rise.

Trends continue until definitive signals indicate otherwise

The theory says that market trends exist despite any noise in the market. That is, during an upward trend, a temporary trend reversal is possible but the market continues to move in the upward direction. In addition, the status quo remains until a clear reversal happens in the market.

Canada Issues Guidelines For Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Canadian authorities have issued new direction to regulate which digital currency trading platforms fall under derivatives law.

The Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) clarified new provisions in the “Guidance on the Application of Securities Legislation to Entities Facilitating the Trading of Crypto Assets” published on the 16th of January, 2020.

In general, the agency drew a line between trading platforms that make an immediate delivery of a crypto assets to its users, and those that hold the transaction of crypto assets until the user makes a later request.

Following an analysis of trading techniques on different platforms, the CSA concluded that some of them only provide their users with a contractual right or claim to a crypto asset, and do not immediately transfer it to a user. Such crypto trading platforms are subject to securities legislation, and thus fall under derivatives laws.

The CSA will not apply securities laws to crypto exchanges on which the underlying crypto asset is not a security or derivative, and crypto assets are delivered to the user immediately.

Previously, state and provincial securities regulators in the United States and Canada launched probes into potentially fraudulent crypto investment programs as part of the North American Securities Administrators Association’s (NASAA) “Operation Crypto Sweep.” The initiative resulted in hundreds of investigations of initial coin offerings and crypto-related investment products.

In late December 2019, the NASAA said that cryptocurrency investment is among the top five investor threats for 2020.

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Introduction to Web 3.0

Web 3.0is slated to be the new paradigm in web interaction and will mark a fundamental change in how developers create websites,

You have probably heard the term “web 3.0” floating around the internet. Simply put, web 3.0 is the new phase of the internet’s evolution. The changes that web 3.0 is bringing to the internet is going to take it to a whole new level. Computer scientists and Internet experts believe that these changes are going to make the internet smarter and our lives easier. So, to understand these paradigm-shifting changes, let’s first look at the evolution of the internet as we know it.

Web 1.0

Believe it or not, there used to be a version of the internet that existed before social media and video streaming! This was a time before Google in the mid-to-late ’90s. The internet used to be dominated by AltaVista and Netscape. Back then the internet existed to only advertise their brick-and-mortar companies. These websites were “read-only web,” meaning you were only allowed to search for information and read it.

Most e-commerce websites are still web 1.0 in nature since the concept behind them is simple. Present products to the customers and take money from the ones who are interested. These websites are usually very smooth and fast, however, the level of user interaction is minimalistic.

Web 2.0

The next iteration of the internet was called the “web 2.0” or the “read-write” web. Now, users were not just idle visitors, they could create their own content and upload it to a website. Starting roughly around 2003 when the term was coined by Dale Dougherty, Vice President at O’Reilly Media, web 2.0 has taken over the world by storm. In just over a decade, it has completely redefined marketing and business operations.

Instagram Influencers can make or break a brand by posting one single photo, Yelp reviewers can destroy a restaurant by one single negative review. Audience reviews are critical when it comes to buying decisions. According to a survey, 90 percent of customers reading online reviews before purchasing and 88 percent of them trusting them as much as a personal recommendation.

Web 2.0’s main aim was to make the internet more democratic and make it as user-accessible as possible.

Web 3.0

Every time you buy something on Amazon, the website’s algorithm will look at the other items that people who have purchased your product went on buy and then recommends that to you. So, think about what is going on here. The website is learning from other users what your preferred choices can be and then use it to recommend to you what you may like. In essence, the website itself is learning and becoming more intelligent.

That, in a nutshell, is the very philosophy behind web 3.0. Web 1.0 was primarily driven by content that came from the business or the institution for its customers. Web 2.0 took things a little bit further by allowing users to upload and share their content on the website itself. Web 3.0 allows online applications and websites to receive information that’s on the Web and give new information/data to the users.

The 4 Properties of Web 3.0

To understand the nuances and subtleties of Web 3.0, let’s look at the four properties of Web 3.0:

Semantic Web

Thanks to semantic metadata, Web 3.0 will help in greater connectivity between data. As a result, the user experience evolves to another level of connectivity that leverages all the available information.

Artificial Intelligence

AI will allow websites to filter and present users the best data possible. Currently in web 2.0, we have started taking user opinions to help us understand the quality of a particular product/asset. Think of a website like Rotten Tomatoes where users get to vote on a list of movies. Movies with a higher rating are usually considered “good movies”. Lists like these help us get to the “good data” without going through “bad data.”

3D Graphics

Web 3.0 is going to change the future of the internet develops from the simple 2D web into a more realistic three-dimensional cyberworld. The three-dimensional design is being used extensively in websites and services in Web 3.0 such as online games, e-commerce, real-estate industry etc.

Ubiquitous

Ubiquitous means the idea of existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time i.e., omnipresent. We have already got this feature in Web 2.0. Think of social media websites like Instagram, users capture images on the camera and they can upload and distribute it online where they become their intellectual property. The image thus becomes accessible everywhere aka ubiquitous.

In the next blog we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of Web 3.0 and the various challenges that it has to overcome.

Will Blockchain Security Issues Be Dealt With, In 2020?

The past few years have been a crisis for security in crypto. As the asset class has increased popularity, more and more security breaks have been highlighted and more institutions targeted.

The burgeoning industry is ripe with opportunity, but also with risk. Two incidents that highlight this lapse in security spring to mind.

Back in January 2018, Coincheck Japan was targeted, with attackers succeeding in stealing $530 million worth of NEM tokens from the crypto exchange. It is one of the biggest crypto exchange heists in the relatively short history of the industry and stands alongside the infamous attack on Mt. Gox, when around 800,000 BTC was stolen — a sum worth over $6 billion today.

Further back in February 2016, the Bangladesh Bank was targeted. Thieves tried to steal a total of $850 million via properly authenticated transactions in ordering the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to transfer the money through the SWIFT network. While “only” $101 million was transferred to final beneficiaries in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, this ended up resulting in a whopping total of $81 million successfully stolen during the incident.

What do these incidents have in common? The complacency of the victims — central banks and top crypto exchanges — and their management of security credentials (be it passwords or private keys) in giving access to the transfer of fiat money or cryptocurrencies.

The SWIFT network used for the Bangladesh Bank and other similar heists was not hacked, the users of the network were. The blockchains utilized to transfer the NEM out of Coincheck and the BTC out of Mt Gox were not hacked, the exchanges — i.e., the users of these blockchains — were. Their systems and credentials were so poorly protected that hackers were able to take control and impersonate their victims with ease.

The SWIFT community reacted to these events by reinforcing cybersecurity controls, by identifying the weakest players and by ensuring hackers’ modus operandi were shared among the community to prevent further incidents. Has the crypto industry done the same and learned from its mistakes? Probably not at the level this issue deserves. Will 2020 see more collaboration to prevent these incidents or to enable the recovery of stolen funds in case of successful hacks? The jury is still out.

In 2020, more education and awareness will be required. Exchanges, funds, projects, foundations, and all the other crypto players servicing underlying customers must put in place the proper transparent and secure processes around the safekeeping of the assets of their customers. Most will rightfully opt for the outsourcing of that critical task to third-party custodians whose job is to do precisely that.

This year will hopefully also be the year when digital asset service providers such as crypto exchanges and custodians will not only collaborate about the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force rules but also about the exchange of information on hackers’ modus operandi and blacklisting of addresses.

By the end of the year, the cashing out of hacked funds should be so difficult — thanks to a more formal collaboration between players — that thieves will be discouraged from targeting cryptocurrency organizations.

Beyond the adoption of the right established technology, it is only when common-sense operational and business practices — those of segregation of duty, focus on core activities and established risk management — are put in place that the digital asset industry will become mainstream. Today, it is not, and now you know why.

Dark Pool Explained

Dark pools are an ominous-sounding term for private exchanges or forums for securities trading. However, unlike stock exchanges, dark pools are not accessible by the investing public. Also known as “dark pools of liquidity,” these exchanges are so named for their complete lack of transparency. Dark pools came about primarily to facilitate block trading by institutional investors who did not wish to impact the markets with their large orders and obtain adverse prices for their trades.

Dark pools were cast in an unfavorable light in Michael Lewis’ bestseller Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, but the reality is that they do serve a purpose. However, their lack of transparency makes them vulnerable to potential conflicts of interest by their owners and predatory trading practices by some high-frequency traders.

Why Use a Dark Pool?

Contrast this with the present-day situation, where an institutional investor uses a dark pool to sell a one million share block. The lack of transparency actually works in the institutional investor’s favour since it may result in a better-realized price than if the sale was executed on an exchange. Note that, as dark pool participants do not disclose their trading intention to the exchange before execution, there is no order book visible to the public. Trade execution details are only released to the consolidated tape after a delay.

The institutional seller has a better chance of finding a buyer for the full share block in a dark pool since it is a forum dedicated to large investors. The possibility of price improvement also exists if the mid-point of the quoted bid and ask price is used for the transaction. Of course, this assumes that there is no information leakage of the investor’s proposed sale and that the dark pool is not vulnerable to high-frequency trading (HFT) predators who could engage in front-running once they sense the investor’s trading intentions.

Types of Dark Pools

Broker-Dealer-Owned

These dark pools are set up by large broker-dealers for their clients and may also include their own proprietary traders. These dark pools derive their own prices from order flow, so there is an element of price discovery. Examples of such dark pools include Credit Suisse’s CrossFinder, Goldman Sachs’ Sigma X, Citi’s Citi Match and Citi Cross, and Morgan Stanley’s MS Pool.

Agency Broker or Exchange-Owned

These are dark pools that act as agents, not as principals. As prices are derived from exchanges — such as the midpoint of the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO), there is no price discovery. Examples of agency broker dark pools include Instinet, Liquidnet and ITG Posit, while exchange-owned dark pools include those offered by BATS Trading and NYSE Euronext.

Electronic Market Makers

These are dark pools offered by independent operators like Getco and Knight, who operate as principals for their own account. Like the broker-dealer-owned dark pools, their transaction prices are not calculated from the NBBO, so there is price discovery.

Dark pools provide pricing and cost advantages to buy-side institutions such as mutual funds and pension funds, which hold that these benefits ultimately accrue to the retail investors who own these funds. However, dark pools’ lack of transparency makes them susceptible to conflicts of interest by their owners and predatory trading practices by HFT firms. HFT controversy has drawn increasing regulatory attention to dark pools, and implementation of the proposed “trade-at” rule could pose a threat to their long-term viability.