Indonesia Is Ripe For Cryptocurrency Disruption -- Could It Be Asia's Next Bitcoin Hub?
At first glance, Indonesia possesses the unique conditions that make it well-poised for bitcoin adoption. As the world’s fourth most populous country, it’s home to a largely cash-based and offline community, and huge swaths of the population—up to 80%— remain unbanked. Because one of the inherent advantages of digital currency is that it doesn’t necessitate having a bank account, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have long championed bitcoin's immense potential to bring those without access to traditional banking services into the fold by offering an alternative form of money remittance and transfer. Other factors—the absence of a national credit lending system, coupled with increasing smartphone penetration, also make Indonesia ripe for cryptocurrency disruption, according to Zac Cheah, CEO of blockchain startup Pundi X.
Given these fertile conditions, one would expect bitcoin to have taken off in Indonesia. And for the most part, this is true. Oscar Darmawan, CEO of Bitcoin Indonesia, the country’s major exchange which controls more than 70% of bitcoin transactions in Indonesia, has observed what he calls “exponential growth” in users of Bitcoin Indonesia’s marketplace platform. He has seen his users grow 50,000 members in 2015 to 500,000 members this year.
Still, despite reaching a daily transaction value of $1.48 million, he believes it has barely moved the needle in terms of capturing the wider consumer market. “To be honest, we have not even penetrated the 1% of the total population in Indonesia. The opportunity to grab an even bigger market is huge,” Darmawan says.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2iRCzw2
Source: Forbes
Cryptocurrency: The Great Equalizer
Cryptocurrency is an early blockchain invention that still has the market obsessed. Bitcoinwas its first real application in 2008, thanks to the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, and has since become synonymous with blockchain itself. The currency has gained over 500% in value this year alone, but despite its steady trajectory towards the moon, blockchain has emerged from bitcoin’s shadow entirely. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the power of the infrastructure as bitcoin’s primary contribution to the tech world, and around the globe they are using it to create revolutionary digital inventions.
However, a key function of blockchain is its support for smart contracts, which are computer contracts that use cryptocurrency, bringing the technology back to its roots. Smart contracts can understand when their conditions have been fulfilled absolutely thanks to the permanence of blockchain, and have made cryptocurrency a sort of digital tender with unique value. Not only do smart contracts make cryptocurrencies available, but they can also mirror other digital assets like stocks, bonds, commodities, ETFs, and other instruments. Achieving digital parity unlocks a new decentralized market of investors for innovators to cater to.
The system of trading assets today cannot boast such capabilities. Before blockchain, the most efficient way of serving a high volume of requests was to centralize servers and use huge arrays of hardware to handle the load. This method of handling data is obsolete due to hackers who can do system-wide damage just by entering a single “door”. Additionally, the system is stratified between geographical borders and asset classes as well. Single exchanges handle different assets, like commodities on the CBOE or stocks on the NYSE. Americans must jump through several annoying hoops to own stock in companies on the DAX, and the bureaucracy required of such a system is fraught with middlemen and fees.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2iRCAA6
Source: Huffington Post
Major Chinese Exchanges Launch P2P Trading Platforms
Huobi has recently launched its P2P trading platform, Huobi Pro. Okex, the international counterpart to the no longer operating Okcoin, has announced the launch of a P2P trading platform. The platform will accept a number of fiat currencies, including CNY. Both Okcoin and Huobi responded to China’s crackdown by relocating much of their operations to outside of China and launching P2P trading platforms via international affiliate companies. The move appears to be intended as a means through which the companies can continue servicing the Chinese cryptocurrency markets whilst evading recourse from China’s regulators.
Lennix Lai, the financial market director for Okex, has stated that the “centralized order-book exchange model is still the mainstream among [the] crypto industry. However, the changing regulatory environment brings uncertainties to crypto market. Some of the countries have already ceased the exchange model.” Mr. Lai states that the decision to launch a P2P trading platform was motivated by a desire “to better serve [its] clients across the globe.” Okex will also provide markets for Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic futures contracts.
Okex claims to have developed a distinct “market maker model” for its P2P exchange, claiming that such “reduce[s]… counterparty risk” when conducting P2P transactions. Okex states that “when the buyer or seller place an order, the market maker would step-in and become the counterparty of buyer or seller – with the consideration to their own net exposure, therefore the counterparty risk is diversified.” The company states that “all accredited market makers will go through a robust selection process by the Okex team.”
Rumors pertaining to Okex’s intentions to launch a P2P cryptocurrency trading platform were first reported by Cnledger, who posted “Okex (and likely, Huobi-Pro) will soon launch P2P bitcoin tradings with various fiat currency support” on the 29th of October.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2iRCCYK
Source: Bitcoin News
What If Satoshi Nakamoto Sold All His Bitcoin Today?
Essentially, the mysterious nature of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's creator, means that the entire ecosystem is sitting on a potential volcano. It lays dormant at the moment, but if the creator had the inkling, he could flood the market with one mln coins and destroy its value.
One of the biggest mysteries in the technology world is the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. No one knows who he is, where he is or what he is doing with his millions.
That is millions, as in millions of Bitcoins as it has been reasonably estimated that Nakamoto could own over one mln coins.
Matt Green, a cryptocurrency professor at Johns Hopkins University, says Nakamoto has the power to tank the currency if he wants to.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xGeACn
Source: CoinTelegraph
Bitcoin's Market Cap Surges Past $100 Billion
Another day. Another record for bitcoin.
The most widely used digital currency will now cost you about $6,125 apiece after blowing past the $5,000 and $6,000 price levels for the first time earlier this month. Bitcoin’s total value is just over $100 billion, meaning it makes up more than half of the overall cryptocurrency market.
Cryptocurrency prices have been unfazed by recent regulatory crackdowns across the world and skepticism from Wall Street stalwarts including Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon. More than $3 billion has poured into initial coin offerings this year despite warnings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other government watchdogs.
The price of ether, the second most valuable virtual coin, has climbed 8 percent in the past week, eclipsing bitcoin’s 4.8 percent gain during the same period, according to Coinmarketcap.com. That comes amid cautious comments from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., a company that makes hardware for mining ether.
Full story at https://bloom.bg/2xGeH0L
Source: Bloomberg
Trump to Appoint Bitcoin-Skeptic Powell as Fed Chair
President Trump is widely expected to nominate Federal Reserve Board of Governors member, Jerome H. Powell, for Senate confirmation as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. The potential Fed chair has previously stated what he sees as a tension with bitcoin as the Fed “could face difficult trade-offs between strengthening security and enabling illegal activity.”
Mr. Powell has held a Fed governor’s seat since 2012, and is currently at the relative beginning of a term that would have kept him installed until 2028.
Governor Powell appears familiar with bitcoin as a currency and Bitcoin as a network.
This spring, he gave a talk titled Innovation, Technology, and the Payments Systemfor the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law, during nearly half of which he spent discussing “distributed ledger technologies” (DLT) and “digital currencies.”
“Bitcoin helped bring [DLT] to public attention,” the governor began. “Using blockchain technology – which employs a form of DLT – and an open architecture, Bitcoin allows for the transfer of value (bitcoins) between participants connected to its ecosystem without reliance on banks or other trusted intermediaries,” he outlined.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2xGeniz
Source: Bitcoin News
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