#cryptocurrency

On July 20, the European Commission introduced a law proposing the prohibition of anonymous cryptocurrency wallets. The project offers to oblige companies involved in cryptocurrency transfers to track the personal data of senders and recipients of digital assets, including a full name, residence address, date of birth, and account number. Personal identification is said to be imperative for the security of such transfers and the facilitation of the enforcement agencies’ combat against money laundering and terrorist financing.

One of the largest global payment systems operators, Mastercard is preparing a special program expanding cryptocurrency payment options and simplifying the process of converting crypto into fiat (traditional) currencies. This will be possible thanks to MasterCard’s partnership with such fintech and blockchain companies as Evolve, Paxos, and Circle. The partnership is aimed at ensuring that cryptocurrency cardholders can pay for goods and services wherever MasterCard is accepted.

The partnership of cryptocurrency companies and the global payment system VISA has just reached a new level: the first-of-its-kind VISA credit card with 1.5-2% BTC cashback is now available for US customers. The card was developed and issued by the American crypto-lending platform BlockFi.

Today, we are witnessing the expansion of cryptocurrency’s global privileges. For example, a member of the Argentine House of Representatives Jose Luis Ramon announced the introduction of a bill allowing employees to be paid in cryptocurrency (either partially or in whole). According to the deputy, today cryptocurrency provides employees with a wide range of advantages and tackles several issues at once, including the “strengthening of the workers’ autonomy” along with “sustaining the purchasing power” of their assets. Thus, all employees will be free to choose between the standard salary format and the cryptocurrency one. In such an event, it is the employer who will bear all the costs related to the transfer of cryptocurrency to an employee. The impetus for the bill’s elaboration was largely due to the country's participation in the Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy several years ago.

In May 2021, a massive cryptocurrency crackdown happened in China: the government banned cryptocurrency mining in four major provinces. The clampdown led to the forced relocation of a solid number of both Chinese and international digital assets companies and brought about a drop in the bitcoin hash rate by more than 50%. The Chinese government's ultimate ban on financial institutions, including banks and online payment channels for applying cryptocurrency, then echoed around the world and hit the news reports of multiple crypto websites. According to Kevin Zhang, Vice President of Business Development at Chinese crypto company Foundry, by the end of June 2021, about 90% of Chinese miners were forced to completely stop mining digital assets.

On Monday Visa announced that it now makes payments in the USDC (USD Coin) on the Ethereum blockchain. As appeared, Visa is now considered as the first major payments network with Stablecoin as a settlement currency, though previously settling payments in fiat currencies only.

During an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Anthony Scaramucci compared Bitcoin’s future to Amazon shares. “Bitcoin is 12 years old. Amazon shares had a 64x return on your money from 2009 to 2021 after the 12th year,” Scaramucci said, noting that nobody expected Amazon shares to soar up in the next dozen years. They have actually surged more than 3,600% from the company’s IPO in May 1997 to May 2009.

The traditional financial landscape has drastically changed so far and a growing number of institutional investors are flocking to Bitcoin. Some of them like the stock market bulls are cooperatively purchasing the largest amount of BTC assets.

The big news in the cryptocurrency world! The world's first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund is off to a hot start. Missed that info? Well, just keep reading.

Bitcoin has surged over the last few months and is breaking new records. Experts predict the future of cryptocurrency, and global companies continue to invest more in BTC. The question is, will it continue to rise, and should you start the race for Bitcoins now?