Mediaboss Marketing

Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. It is decentralized, and has been praised for its potential to revolutionize the way money is transferred and provides a more secure and anonymous way to transact, but has also been criticized for its high volatility, its use in criminal activity, and its environmental impact.

Jenny Johnson, the CEO of Franklin Templeton, said at the Consensus 2023 event that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are only distractions in the crypto industry. Bitcoin is the greatest distraction from the greatest disruption coming to the financial system, and thats blockchain, Johnson said. She added that while there is great value in the use of blockchain, cryptocurrencies have diverted attention from the real value of the industry.

Jenny also said that if Bitcoin grows so large and becomes a threat to the global economy, especially that of the US, the nation will not hesitate to clamp down on digital assets. No nation wants to lose such control or power to a global currency. Currencies are very important for governments to manage their economies, and will not cede their currency to this concept of a global currency.

The CEO said that the future of crypto is regulated. She added that users and supporters of crypto should accept the reality that more regulations are coming, as there is no other way out.

The CEO advised companies that are involved in the crypto market to work side-by-side with regulators. Citing the relationship between her firm, Franklin Templeton, and the US regulators, especially the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the guest noted that the release of products for the industry should be in line with regulatory guidelines.

Apart from the US, she revealed that Franklin Templeton is always in tune with regulators from other nations, especially those that are crypto-friendly like Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE. Although these regulators are trying their best not to approve regulations that are against the industry, she told the audience. This is a complicated space, and the regulators are trying to be thoughtful.

Finally, she believes that the innovation brought by crypto and blockchain holds a lot of pros for the financial world if utilized properly.

Expect our Bitcoin ETF by Q3 2023 Grayscale CEO

Soulbound tokens are useless Panelists at Consensus 2023

See the article here:

Bitcoin is the greatest distraction from the greatest disruption ... - CryptoTvplus

but what is driving the uptake and will it last?getty

Cryptocurrency may have originated in the G7 if we assume Satoshi Nakamoto is Japanese but in practice developing countries have often been the most enthusiastic about embracing decentralized virtual currencies. The reason is simple: Cryptos promise of financial democratization has a strong appeal in countries where large segments of the population lack access to certain banking services.

It is not a coincidence that Asias two largest developing countries, China and India, have cracked down hard on crypto while emerging Southeast Asia has not. About 80% of the people in both of those countries have bank accounts.

In contrast, up to 70% of Vietnamese are unbanked, as are around 66% of Indonesians and 44% of Filipinos. Regulators in these countries are, unsurprisingly, less quick than their counterparts in China and India to restrict access to cryptocurrency.

To be sure, they recognize that crypto is not a panacea for financial exclusion, but they also do not see it as a threat to the integrity of their respective central banks, and in the case of the Philippines, are even allowing its use for payments. Crypto could thus ultimately help to boost financial inclusion in some of Southeast Asias most important emerging economies.

Vietnam has been slow to adopt crypto regulations, though it allows its citizens to hold virtual assets. It does not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender.

In this legal gray area, crypto has found space to thrive. A March 2023 report by Chainalysis finds that almost 17% of Vietnams 97 million people own cryptocurrency, with bitcoin being the most popular digital asset. It would seem that the collapse of FTX and persistent bear market have not undermined the faith of Vietnamese in decentralized digital currencies.

One likely reason for cryptos popularity in Vietnam is that it has important practical uses. For instance, the 600,000 Vietnamese working overseas in more than 40 countries annually remit an estimated US$3-3.5 billion every year, according to Vietnamese government data. While traditional remittance methods have high transaction fees, using crypto can be significantly cheaper.

With that in mind, Strike, a digital payments platform built on Bitcoins Lightning Network, in late March announced the launch of money transfers from the U.S. to Vietnam in partnership with the crypto exchange Getbit. In a press release, Strike said it would enable lightning-fast transfers from U.S. dollars received as local currency in a recipient's bank account in Vietnam. Vietnam is among the top ten largest receiving remittance markets from the U.S. In 2021, the country received more than $18 billion in remittances.

We're thrilled to play a role in building a more inclusive experience and shaping the future of payments, Abhay Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Getbit, said in the press release.

For its part, Indonesia has generally been supportive of crypto as an investment class, but not for payments. Bank Indonesia banned payment processors from using cryptocurrency to settle transactions in 2016 and in late 2017 prohibited financial institutions from using crypto for payments. During the last crypto bull market in 2021, the Indonesian central bank even mobilized official supervisors to enforce the ban on financial institutions using crypto assets as a means of payment.

That said, Indonesia plans to set up a cryptocurrency exchange this year ahead of a shift of regulatory powers over digital assets to the Financial Services Authority from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, known as Bappebti. Indonesian regulators believe virtual assets should be regulated on an equal basis with other financial and investment instruments. According The Paypers, as of early 2023, there were 383 crypto assets and 10 local coins that can be traded in Indonesia, while an additional 151 assets and 10 coins under review by Bappebti.

In the most recent crypto bull market, Indonesian investors were very active. Transaction volume of crypto assets in the country rose more than 1,000% in 2021 to 859.4 trillion rupiah ($57.37 billion), according to Bappebti's data.

A widely cited survey published by Gemini in April 2022, the "Global State of Crypto Report," found that 41% of Indonesians aged between 18 and 75 years old with an income of more than $14,000 per year own crypto assets. The country shared the top spots with Brazil among the 20 countries surveyed by Gemini.

The Philippines is the most pro-crypto country in Southeast Asia, buoyed by regulatory tolerance linked to the central banks digitization and financial inclusion goals. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) aims for 50% of retail payments to be digital by the end of 2024 as well as for 70% of adults to be financially included. Crypto can probably help support these goals. For instance, UnionBank has also launched a payments-focused stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso for financial inclusion purposes. It attempts to link the main banks of the country to rural banks and bring financial access to previously unbanked parts of the country.

Estimates of crypto ownership in the country vary widely. For instance, a recent study by CoinJournal, the Philippines ranked globally by number of virtual asset traders about 7 million or 6% of the population of 113 million. However, according to Finders Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, the crypto ownership rate in the Philippines is 15%, with almost 11 million Filipinos owning digital assets.

Meanwhile, like Vietnam, the Philippines has a huge remittances market. Data released by the central bank showed personal remittances increased by 3.6% to a record high US$36.1 billion in 2022 from the previous high of $34.9 billion in 2021. Personal remittances the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers and capital transfers between households accounted for 8.9% of the Philippines GDP.

With that opportunity in mind, digital payments firm Strike expanded into the Philippines in January.

Given the potential financial inclusion benefits of digital assets, we expect that regulators in emerging Southeast Asia will gradually take steps to legalize their use. The gray area in which crypto has operated in these countries until now will eventually become blacker and whiter.

Vietnam has considered crypto regulation over the years, but to date, has been slow to enact any rules. That should change given the adverse effects on investors of the FTX collapse. In the aftermath of the exchanges implosion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh reportedly said that the government should study crypto regulation, which followed an earlier request by Deputy Prime Minister for General Economics Le Minh Khai that the countrys Ministry of Finance develop a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Indonesia can be expected to follow through with its planned national crypto exchange, while the Philippines will likely be the most crypto-friendly of the three countries, even allowing a wide variety of crypto payments.

Given the recent passage of MiCA in Europe, stablecoins may have a way forward as a viable Web3 payment method that eschews the problems of cryptocurrencies without a peg. If that proves to be the case, Vietnam and Indonesia may eventually reverse their crypto payment bans, which are linked to a regulatory concern about the inherent instability of digital assets like bitcoin, and thus allow a larger virtual currency ecosystem to take root in both countries.

I am the Founder and Director of Kapronasia, one of Asias leading providers of consulting services focusing on the fintech industry. I have been involved in financial technology for over 20 years and covers all topics fintech and blockchain. Before Kapronasia, I was the Global Banking Industry Manager for Intel based out of Shanghai, China and, prior to Intel, was the CIO for Citigroup Portugal. I have testified in front of the U.S. Congress on issues of China fintech and am the author of Chomping at the Bitcoin: The History and Future of Bitcoin in China published by Penguin. I hold a B.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Read the rest here:

Why Emerging Southeast Asia Is Crypto Friendly - Forbes

With a total artwork value of $24 million Trevor Jones is one of the Top 10 most successfulcrypto artists worldwide.

Trevor Jones journey to crypto art stardom started the same way as many crypto noobs: His portfolio went way up, he failed to take profits, and the price came crashing down wiping out the paper gains.

A traditional painter, Jones always wanted to explore the intersection of art and technology, and he experimented with QR code oil paintings in 2012 and dived into AR art in 2013.

But it was his 2017 investment in Bitcoin that sparked deep curiosity in what this new world of crypto and blockchain was about. After getting rekt in 2018s crypto winter, Jones turned his attention from crypto trader to crypto painter.He says:

I caught that bull run and made a lot of money and then lost a lot of money in 2018. It all went up and all came crashing down.

I really fell down the rabbit hole and got completely excited about the space and the people. I was following whoever I could on Twitter, the likes of Vitalik Buterin and John McAfee and characters like that. Very quickly, I started having thoughts that this is something I would like to explore with my art.

Crypto art was almost non-existent as a genre in 2018 within traditional art circles, so Jones took it upon himself to hire a commercial gallery to stage a crypto-themed exhibition where he showcased some of his first original crypto art at the Crypto Disruption Exhibition.

The 12 paintings I did were all inspired by the crypto space, and from the new perspective I was coming in from, I didnt know a lot about it at the time. I focused on some of the characters, such as Satoshi Nakamoto, ideas and themes like the bull and the bear, hodling and riding the wave. It was kind of me figuring out how to visualize this space through these paintings, he said.

I sold almost everything from the exhibition to anonymous collectors around the world where they paid me in Bitcoin and Ethereum. It really blew my mind because normally when you go through an art gallery to sell work, you dont get to meet the collectors for the most part, its all done behind closed doors. Youd hopefully receive money two to three months down the line when the gallery pays you out.

To get paid immediately was just so eye-opening. A few of the paintings were actually sold before the exhibition even opened. I was just posting some images on Twitter and somebody would reply saying they liked it and how much is it? Id tell them a number, and theyd just send me some Bitcoin, and the sale was done. It was just the most surreal thing.

With a path similar to Josie Bellinis, from crypto artist first to NFT artist second, Jones recalls Coin Fest in April 2019 in Manchester being a pivotal moment. David Moore from Known Origin tried to explain to him why he should be interested in NFTs.

Coming from the perspective of a traditional artist who had a very successful exhibition of paintings that were selling between $5,000 and $12,000, I was grappling with the fact that NFTs at this time were only selling for about $20 or being gifted, Jones says.

It didnt make sense in my head that I should sell a digital representation of a painting for $30 when the physicals were being sold for five figures.

But Jones continued to investigate the world of NFTs, tapping into newfound relationships with the likes of Alotta Money, Pascal Boyart and Coldie. He paid particular attention to Matt Kane and Coldie in the back half of 2019 who were starting to make sales in the hundreds or thousands of dollars and started to think maybe theres a way that it makes sense to bring my work together with a digital counterpart.

He says he was initially hesitant out of concern for collectors of his physical art who had paid top dollar. I felt that it would be disrespectful to then sell that painting for $30, but I was still learning about editions and all the nuances of the space at the time, he says.

The Canadian artist was an instant success when he finally decided to take the NFT plunge. His very first NFT titled EthGirl, a collaboration with NFT art legends Alotta Money, broke the record for the highest sale on SuperRare, selling to ModeratsArt for 72.1 ETH ($10,207 at the time of sale).

Alotta Money is the most amazing dude. I worked with him on EthGirl, which was inspired by the Picasso piece Girl with a Mandolin. It was a big oil painting I did, and he animated it. It was still super early days in the NFT art scene, but it caused a huge bidding war between Moderats and Whale Shark and ended up breaking records.

Everybody was talking about it because this was really the first time that I think artists, including myself, realized we could actually make a living from selling digital art through NFTs. It was really a pivotal moment I believe in the space. It raised a lot of eyebrows to where we might be headed.Check it out by clicking the Play button in the tweet below.

Coming from a traditional art background but with a love of technology and an appreciation for history, Jones says his style is hard to label, but his aim was to be a social realist in this space to capture moments in the crypto space but also in the real world.

I dont really have a unique style, but my work is always connected to the long history and tradition of painting and art history. I studied art history at university for five years. Im somewhat of an anachronism in this space of crypto; heres this crazy innovative digital new world and then some old painter dude comes in and starts working away, and people like what Im doing.

Ive been interested in technology for a while with my previous work painting QR codes and exploring AR back in 2013, so I think thats probably one of the reasons why the collectors in NFTs accepted me with open arms because theres a history of my curiosity in technology and innovation.

Jones, who has lived in Scotland since 1999, has put his own spin on what an NFT IRL event should look like with his Bitcoin Angels Castle Party. The event brings artists and collectors together for a two-night celebration.

With Bitcoin Angel, my life changed entirely in seven minutes, and having spoken with a few bigger collectors on Twitter, one suggested I throw a castle party. At first, I thought it was a stupid idea, but after sleeping on it for a day or two, I came to realize it was a great idea.

I have an opportunity through this castle party to thank all the people who bought one of my artworks. Thats really how it started off, to invite all the owners of Bitcoin Angels and a way of giving back to my community, and its grown from there.

The 2023 castle party will be held in France from September 3 to 5, with holders of Jones artworks receiving discounted tickets. More information here.

To celebrate the coronation of the new King, Jones recently teamed up with the Evening Standard newspaper and Apollo Entertainment to release an open-edition NFT titled The Oath to own a piece of history.

It was a free mint dropped on Nifty Gateway, with 20,200 being minted, which set a record for an open-edition mint on the platform.

I thought it was a cool opportunity to capture a moment in history and get people excited about digital art and what NFTs are. The Evening Standard is one of the biggest U.K. publications, and this was a chance to create something with them to get disseminated out into the real world, said Jones.

Jones cites four artists who were part of the #ArtAngelsNFT series he created to shine a spotlight on emerging artists.

Saint MG (@SaintMG1) Artist and architect from Colombia. Lost Angel in the digital renaissance.

Nurart (@NurArt_) Visual artist from Cuba. Weaver of symbols.

Richard Masa (@RichardMasaArt) Abstract-surrealist from Paris.

Maria Fynsk Norup (@mariafynsknorup) Conceptual self-portrait artist from Denmark. Emotional storytelling.

Art Angels could be considered somewhat of a Shark Tank show meets the dating game. Its where wed connect artists and collectors. Its been life-changing for some of the artists involved. Saint MG made a 1-of-1 sale on SuperRare and some other sales and sold about $9,000, which is a lot in his hometown of Colombia.

Nurart from Cuba has also made life-changing money from some sales and is such a great artist. Richard Masa is absolutely phenomenal, just an amazing artist, be sure to check him out. Maria as a photographer is really special her work just takes you to places.

La Peste Bleue by Alotta Money

(r)Evolution by Alotta Money (gifted by ModeratsArt)

Twitter: twitter.com/trevorjonesart

Linktree: linktr.ee/trevorjonesart

Website: trevorjonesart.com/

Subscribe

The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a week.

Greg Oakford is the co-founder of NFT Fest Australia. A former marketing and communications specialist in the sports world, Greg now focuses his time on running events, creating content and consulting in web3. He is an avid NFT collector and hosts a weekly podcast covering all things NFTs.

See the original post here:

Top 10 crypto artist Trevor Jones on being rich, rekt and rich again ... - Cointelegraph

While working at JPMorgan within a range of activities, including the London interbank offered rate, investment banking and decentralised finance (DeFi), Ijeoma Okoli learned aboutthree AfricanAmerican mathematicians Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson and their previously unknown contribution to the US space programme in the 1950s and 1960s.

This discovery prompted Ms Okoli to embark on a mission of self-study. This research resulted in an exhibition,Stories of Black Leadership, which is now part of the UKs Black Cultural Archives a collection of black history in the country.She calls this her proudest moment.

The tendency to dedicate time to self-study led Ms Okoli, a financial services lawyer in the traditional finance space, to the non-traditional world of cryptocurrencies and DeFi. That self-study was promoted by the rise of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2017.

2022 The Digital Economy Initiative, co-founder, director

2019 Impact X Capital Partners, founding member andlimited partner

2017 Women in Law EmpowermentForum, global advisory board

2015 JPMorgan, executive director

Having spent much of her career as a securities lawyer with extensive experience in structuring deals, Ms Okoli became intrigued by ICOs, which seemed to her to be securities. The ICOs being offered to the public did not seem to qualify with any of the exemptions to registration that exist in the US framework, and were not being registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In order to understand this, Ms Okoli went about learning the language of crypto.

I had to educate myself on the lingo, the technology, the products, and actually do that legal analysis, she adds. I do this with things that interest me. I just go off and think about them and try to figure them out this is one thing that set me on that journey.

While Ms Okoli did eventually conclude that the ICOs she was seeing were not strictly securities offerings, she was still puzzled as to why the SEC was allowing them to flourish and why participants were either intentionally or unintentionally not complying with US securities laws.

As a securities lawyer, she knew (and accurately predicted) when the SEC would start to crack down on the rise of ICOs. Three months after Ms Okoli started her research, in July 2017, the SEC published what is known as the DAO Report.

The report found that tokens or coins offered and sold by a virtualorganisation known as The DAO (digital asset organisation)were securities and therefore subject to the federal securities laws.It confirms that issuers of distributed ledger or blockchain technology-based securities must register offers and sales of such securities unless a valid exemption applies.Those participating in unregistered offerings also may be liable for violations of the securities laws.

During this time, Ms Okoli was asked to co-design the risk and governance framework for cryptocurrencies at JPMorgan.

After leaving the bank in 2022, Ms Okoli founded the Digital Economy Initiative along with Toby Norfolk-Thompson, who serves as a director and chair of the advisory council and is the chief investment officer of Matrixport, a global digital asset manager.

The Digital Economy Initiative is an independent think tank focused on crypto asset policy in the US and UK. It is founded on the understanding that there is a lack of comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks in both jurisdictions. The initiative finds ways to encourage common sense regulatory frameworks that will take into consideration investor and consumer protection, as well as market integrity and financial stability. It is also dedicated to encouraging and not stifling innovation, adds Ms Okoli.

I wanted to make sure that just because its crypto doesnt mean its bad

I wanted to make sure that just because its crypto doesnt mean its bad, she says.

Her experience underpins the work of the Digital Economy Initiative, having worked as a financial regulatory lawyer within several banking groups including asset management, corporate treasury, investment banking and with financial stability issues in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

All of that led to the time we currently exist in now, and can help folks understand the products and understand how things from the traditional financial sector would help in terms of minimising the risks, she adds.

After all, the crypto sector is only around 15 years old (starting with the publishing of the Satoshi Nakamoto white paper laying out the creation of bitcoin in 2009), remarks Ms Okoli.

We must think about everything because its a brand-new sector, she adds.

One element that is yet to exist is the proposed development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Their development is controversial.

CBDCs are issued by governments, she says. To the extent they are actually issued, they would enjoy the full faith and credit of the relevant governments, but you have some folks who are concerned about the governments ability to see their activities in intimate detail in ways we currently dont envisage.

In the US, the constitution protects citizens from government abuses, says Ms Okoli, but privacy and security concerns are valid. These are things that must be considered and worked through, before any decision to issue CBDCs are made, she adds.

Read the rest here:

Crypto is a song of youth and experience - - The Banker

The world of cryptocurrencies is a fascinating one, with many different types of digital assets to choose from. However, two of the most popular and widely known cryptocurrencies are Ethereum and Bitcoin. These two digital currencies have made a significant impact on the market, and investors have shown great interest in them. But which is a better investment? In this article, we will compare Ethereum and Bitcoin and determine which one is the better choice for investors. If you are just getting started with bitcoin trading try Immediate Future for a perfect trading experience, it is a fantastic online trading platform.

Ethereum is a blockchain-based platform that enables developers to build decentralized applications (dapps) using smart contracts. The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform is Ether (ETH). Ethereum was launched in 2015 and has since grown to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The platform has a wide range of use cases, including finance, gaming, and supply chain management.

Bitcoin is the first and most well-known cryptocurrency in the world. It was created in 2009 by an unknown person or group of people using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates on a peer-to-peer network. Transactions are recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, and new bitcoins are created through a process called mining.

Both Ethereum and Bitcoin have their unique advantages and disadvantages, and both have a place in the world of cryptocurrencies. However, if we consider the potential for growth and versatility, Ethereum may be the better investment. Ethereums smart contract capabilities make it a more versatile platform than Bitcoin, with a wider range of use cases. Ethereums market cap has been growing steadily, and its potential for growth is significant.

In conclusion, while Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency and has been around for much longer than Ethereum, Ethereums smart contract capabilities make it a more versatile platform with a wider range of use cases. Both cryptocurrencies have their unique advantages and disadvantages, but if we consider the potential for growth and versatility, Ethereum may be the better investment.

More:

Ethereum vs. Bitcoin: Which is a Better Investment? - Daily Californian