Bithumb Providing Payment Service For “Asia’s Amazon”

Qoo10, an online marketplace and widely considered as asia’s Amazon has recently partnered with one of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bithumb, to provide cryptocurrency payment service for its online business.

It was reported that the two companies have started their collaboration last August and have been developing the payment service since then.

The operation of the payment service started some days ago on the 5th of November 2018.

This is now currently listed as one of the payment option in the marketplace alongside Payco, Paypal and E-money.

Currently, this payment option is only available for South Korean locals and will eventually roll-out to other users moving forward.

It has been a year since Bithumb has revealed that they are developing a simple payment system that will allow its exchange users to use their cryptocurrencies holdings as payment for goods and services.

Dubbed as Bithumb Cash, it automatically converts digital assets of Bithumb users to fiat using current market prices and use them to settle fiat payments.

VanEck Says Bitcoin ETF Could Attract Billions Of Investments

Gabor Gurbac, the director of Digital Asset Strategy at VanEck has recently stated that a Bitcoin ETF could attract billions in new investment and it should be treated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an opportunity to regulate the crypto market once it is approved.

This comes after SEC rejected several proposal of its creation by several companies including Gurbac’s citing concerns on market manipulation in the crypto market.

VanEck is attempting to launch a crypto ETF under the conventional regulatory watch and have been revising its ETF application to address the SEC’s concerns.

Among all the application, it is widely seen the VanEck application has the greatest chance of approval.

If the SEC approves its ETF, it could pave the way for both regulators and industry companies to understand how crypto fits into the federal regulatory framework.

According to Gurback their ETF proposal is unique as it is a physical bitcoin ETF that is fully insured.

It safeguards the interest of investors from theft, hacks or losses while preserving the overall benefit associated with digital currency trading.

In addition, the company will use prices that will come from is price indexing subsidiary that is regulated entity.

The said ETF is also oriented towards institutional investors, each basket have a cap of 25 Bitcoins.

Four Thousand Bitcoin ATM locations Worldwide

As the cryptocurrency industry matures, so does the services that provides access to this new asset class.

One of these service providers is Bitcoin ATMs which enables users to buy and sell Bitcoin as well as a slew of other cryptocurrencies.

The growing number of Bitcoin ATMs is making their mark on the world and has recently risen to 4,000 locations around the world.

Although this number is still relatively low compared to regular ATM, it is a positive sign for the industry who has been trying to catalyze mass adoption for ordinary users.

This number is still growing as there is an average of 6 new Bitcoin ATM going online every single day.

North America has the most number of Bitcoin ATM followed by Europe with 71.3% and 25% respectively of all Bitcoin ATM in the world.

It is interesting to note that these ATMs are not only providing ATM services for Bitcoins as 6 out of 10 of the machines supports altcoins such as Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash.

Support for lesser known cryptocurrencies is also on the rise, these include Dash, Monero, Dogecoin and Zcash.

Additionally, nearly 4 in 10 Bitcoin ATMs let users both buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

However, the convenience of having them available in ATM comes at a price as average fees for people buying cryptocurrencies is about 8.85% and people selling is about 7.9% which is quite steep compared to online crypto exchanges.

Fiat-Backed Stablecoin Will Return In New Zealand Next Year

The New Zealand Dollar Stablecoin is set to make a comeback next year after it was sidelined due to regulatory concerns.

Commonly referred to as NZDT, it is the country’s first ever digital currency token pegged to its fiat currency, the New Zealand Dollar which was launched last May last year.

The creation of the token was in response to digital currency investors looking for a safe way to trade virtual currencies through New Zealand Banks.

This initiative was initially led by cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia with its partnership with a local bank ASB.

The NZ dollar-backed virtual tokens were made available to New Zealanders but however were suspended due to ASB pulling out of the partnership due to regulatory problems and the anonymity of its cryptocurrency customers.

However, with a new baking partner, the Cryptopia wants to reintroduce the new stablecoin early next year.

The company’s development manager, Adam Lyness, states that the company is in talks with government regulators regarding its re-launch.

He also reveals that despite a fall in virtual currency trading volume and fiat prices the NZDT is still in high demand.

Ethereum Co-Founder Says Blockchain Will Permeate Society More Than The Internet

The Co-founder of Ethereum and CEO of ConsenSys has again stated his optimistic but cautious vision of the future or cryptocurrencies.

In a recent interview Lubin says that blockchain technologies can redefine the future of technologies towards a more user-friendly orientation.

According to Lubin current web 2.0 model focuses on protecting the interests of content and technology providers which looks at consumers as mere products.

On the other hand blockchain will enable users to take back control of their data and identity.

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