Your Cryptocurrency Newsletter for 06 November,2020

If you are interested in cryptocurrencies, this newsletter is for you. [img]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [img]( [FeedBinary Newsletter]( [Bitcoin Cash Services Reveal Contingency Plans for Upcoming Fork]( The Bitcoin Cash blockchain is set to upgrade on Sunday, November 15 and it’s still expected that the network will bifurcate. So far, a number of crypto services have revealed contingency plans for the fork, and today’s data shows that at least 754 out of 1,000 bitcoin cash blocks were mined with the BCHN software.In 11 days, the Bitcoin Cash upgrade is coming and the latest feature that will be added to the network is the ASERT Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA). However, the community is also preparing for a contentious fork, as one of the seven BCH full node projects has introduced the Infrastructure Funding Proposal (IFP) into the codebase. The IFP has been extremely controversial, as it has created a great divide between those who support it and those who do not. In September, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how most BCH market participants including businesses, executives, miners, and developers from six full node projects decided to bid Bitcoin ABC farewell. As far as coin votes, hashpower, and futures markets are concerned, Bitcoin ABC is not faring well in comparison to the six other full node projects. Block statistics from the web portal Coin Dance shows that 75.4% or 754 blocks out of 1,000 were mined using the BCHN software. 11 blocks out of the last 1,000 BCH blocks have signaled for ABC, which accounts for 1.09% of the thousand blocks mined. There is roughly 2 exahash per second (EH/s) of SHA256 hashrate pointed at the Bitcoin Cash network. Bitcoin ABC futures show that the market is trading for much less than BCHN futures on Wednesday afternoon. Poloniex ABC futures paired tether (USDT) indicates the token is swapping for $20 per unit. ABC futures on Coinflex are priced similarly at $20.50 per ABC token. The ABC futures on Coinex are even lower, as the ABC token is swapping for $16.34 at the time of publication. If the prices end up being roughly the same after November 15, 2020, then the ABC airdrop will have a very small market valuation amid the totem pole of top coin market cap positions. Since our last report, a few infrastructure providers have announced contingency plans for the upcoming fork. For instance, the mining operation Poolin has revealed its plans for the BCH fork scheduled on the 15th.The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is expected to undergo a hardfork on the 15th of November, 2020,” Poolin detailed. “There are currently two competing fork proposals, Bitcoin Cash ABC (ABC) and Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN). As per the latest data from Coin Dance, 76.3% of BCH blocks have signaled support for BCHN over the last 7 days, compared to 1.0% for ABC. In the event of a successful fork, users holding BCH prior to the fork will receive the new assets.” The mining pool also said the operation will switch all of the BCH hashrate to BTC one day before the hardfork, it also plans to suspend BCH payments on November 15, and “a separate announcement about switching the BTC hashrate back to BCH will be published once the hard fork has completed and the network is stable.” At press time, Poolin only captures a touch over 1% of the BCH network hashrate, according to Coin Dance data. Bitgo detailed that it was preparing for the upcoming fork on November 15 as well. “Bitgo is currently running BCHN nodes and expects that it will be the dominant chain post-fork,” the company tweeted. “We will pause all BCH services at 00:00 a.m. UTC Nov. 15 in preparation for the fork. We will monitor the network and restore service as soon as the dominant chain is confirmed. Our primary goal is to ensure the safety of client coins. We will post more details about Bitgo’s approach to this upcoming potential fork in a blog post next week,” the company added. During the evening crypto trading sessions (ET), the San Francisco exchange Coinbase revealed its plans for the upcoming fork. “Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is expected to undergo a hard fork on November 15th, 2020,” Coinbase tweeted. “Prior to the fork, Coinbase will run BCHN nodes and expects that it will be the dominant chain post fork. Once the fork begins, BCH sends/receives to and from coinbase.com and Coinbase Pro will pause, and will be re-enabled once we’ve determined the upgrade is stable.” The hardware wallet firm, Satoshilabs (manufacturers of the Trezor wallet), revealed its contingency plans on November 4, 2020. According to the blog post, Satoshilabs has decided to run Bitcoin ABC and conceding to understand that there “may be service interruptions.”Depending on user consensus following the fork, this will either remain unchanged or switch to supporting only the forked chain, named Bitcoin Cash Node,” Satoshilabs’ post explains.Following the fork, Satoshilabs will monitor whether the forked chain has sufficient support to justify supporting it. If the community chooses Bitcoin Cash Node, Satoshilabs will drop support for Bitcoin Cash ABC and connect to the new network,” the company added. Bitcoin Cash proponents and Trezor owners on social media and forums were not pleased with Satoshilabs’ decision to operate the minority node. Furthermore, the hardware wallet company Ledger Wallet gave information on how the firm will handle the upcoming upgrade in mid-November. “Ledger will suspend their BCH services from the 12th of November at 07:00 UTC for security reasons,” the hardware wallet company wrote. “We’ll be keeping an eye on the developments after the fork to see which chain will remain viable both technically and economically.” Seven days ago, the exchange, Okex, informed customers about the trading platform’s BCH fork contingency plans. “The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is expected to undergo a hard fork,” the blog post notes. “There are currently two competing fork proposals, Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH ABC) and Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN). In the event of a successful fork, Okex users holding BCH prior to the fork will receive the two new assets, BCH ABC and BCHN.” The trading platform Binance detailed its BCH fork arrangements on November 3, 2020, and said that this is “a contentious hard fork that may result in an additional token.” Interestingly, the exchange is listing a leverage tokens market called “BCHUP” and “BCHDOWN” and Binance plans to delist the market on November 9, 2020. Moreover, two days ago the exchange Huobi also announced the trading platform’s contingency plans. “This upgrade is expected to fork Bitcoin Cash out of two chains, BCHA (Bitcoin Cash ABC) and BCHN (Bitcoin Cash Node),” Huobi’s blog post details. “Since there is no fair naming standard for the BCH fork in the current community, Huobi Global respects the opinions and consensus of the community and users and will set a transition period for the fork. After the community has formed a consensus on BCH naming, we will end the transition period and rename BCHA or BCHN.” With just over a week left until the upgrade and possibility of a minority fork, BCH supporters are preparing for the outcome. The best thing users can do is patiently wait, but also make sure they have control over their bitcoin cash private keys. BCH enthusiasts who store funds on an exchange should make sure the trading platform has updated customers on how it will proceed with the fork. If a BCH user is unhappy with the direction of any third-party software provider or trading platform, they should move their BCH to another location before the fork. [Read Full News]( The post [Bitcoin Cash Services Reveal Contingency Plans for Upcoming Fork]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ [Not bad for 2020: Up 42% in Q4, Bitcoin Price Outperforms Top Bank Stocks]( 2020 has been a rough year for markets but Bitcoin has outperformed JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and the majority of top U.S. financial sector stocks.Historically, traditional market analysts and old school investors tend to look at Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with a wary eye, and when crypto pundits attempt to make comparisons between the two these investors say it’s an apples to oranges argument.Take, for example, Warren Buffett, who many a time has said Bitcoin is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme as it does not produce anything and therefore has no value.According to these traditionalists, comparing Bitcoin to Apple, Tesla, or a bank stock like JPMorgan is irrational as the latter employ workers, produce products, and generate revenues and dividends which are distributed to shareholders. Despite these arguments, a simple fact remains. Bitcoin has had a strong year and the digital asset is outperforming financial stocks in 2020 due to a considerable increase in institutional demand, investors’ belief in BTC’s exponential growth potential, and its asymmetrical price action in the face of global economic uncertainty. As shown in the chart below, the majority of top U.S. banks posted record results in Q2 as the entire market roared back from the COVID-19-induced sell-off in mid-March, but significant threats to the stock market and global economy remain. At the same time, Bitcoin massively outperformed the financial sector, particularly in the fourth quarter. Bitcoin price rallied 42% since the start of Q4 Since the start of the fourth quarter, the price of Bitcoin has increased from $10,773 to as high as $15,366 on Binance. This is an impressive 42% increase in less than two months and a show of the digital asset’s strong momentum. The strength of Bitcoin’s rally can partially be attributed to the growing perception that is an alternative store of value. Earlier in the year billionaire Wall Street investor, Paul Tudor Jones described Bitcoin as the ideal inflation play. The overall positive sentiment around BTC as a potential safe-haven asset is clearly buoying its momentum.In comparison to other sectors, bank stocks have performed relatively well since the March crash. The shift in consumer demand from in-store purchasing to online shopping severely affected businesses that lacked a digital footprint. But relaxed financial conditions, massive economic stimulus from the Fed, and the government’s business-friendly stance led banks to beat quarterly estimates and perform strongly. JPMorgan, for instance, recorded a 32.63% rally since the March 23 low. In the fourth quarter, the $319 billion banking giant is up over 8%.In the second quarter of 2020, JPMorgan recorded a revenue of $7.3 billion from bond trading, wildly outperforming analyst estimates. At the same time, investment banking and equities trading revenues also soared.Other major banks, including Goldman Sachs, saw a similar trend. Goldman’s trading division recorded a revenue of $4.55 billion. The bank exceeded Wall Street expectations with ease, posting a 29% year-over-year increase.While each of these is a commendable performance, especially considering the high levels of uncertainty and economic downturn brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, Bitcoin’s price action has dwarfed that of banks and other risk-on assets for the majority of 2020. Why is BTC continuing to outperform most assets? Bitcoin has consistently seen a unique combination of surging institutional demand a steady increase in mainstream awareness.According to a survey released by Grayscale, more than half of U.S. investors are interested in investing in Bitcoin. The study said:Interest is on the rise: More than half of U.S. investors are interested in investing in Bitcoin In 2020, more than half (55%) of survey respondents expressed interest in Bitcoin investment products. This marks a significant increase from the 36% of investors who said they were interested in 2019. Businesses, investment banks, and retail investors have all recognized that there is great growth potential in Bitcoin, and this possibly why companies like PayPal and Square, have decided to support cryptocurrency.Coincidentally, financial institutions that have actively supported cryptocurrencies have performed especially well in recent months.PayPal stock, as an example, rose 12% in the past three days, demonstrating optimistic momentum since it announced that it would integrate crypto buying and selling. As 2020 comes to a close, investors of all levels will be keeping a close eye on Bitcoin’s (BTC) price to see if it continues to heavily outperform equities markets.The fact that major bank stocks like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Bank of America are falling behind a ‘small-cap’ cryptocurrency is a significant occurrence and this is likely to draw more curious investors to the crypto sector. [Read Full News]( The post [Not bad for 2020: Up 42% in Q4, Bitcoin Price Outperforms Top Bank Stocks]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ [Top Five Use Cases for Blockchain in Fintech]( Find out how blockchain can perform better and why you should update your tech stack to include it.Blockchain is guaranteed to change the way we operate. Since blockchain is a decentralized ledger with strong focus on cryptography, security, and privacy, it’s ideal for banking applications and fintech.Most banks are now using blockchain technology to create more efficient ways to record data. In 2020, the market share of blockchain in banking was 29.7 percent. Since blockchain allows you to update data in real-time, it’s a more cost-effective method to record transactions without intervention. Here are a few use cases of blockchain in fintech/banking. 1. Digital identity One of the most important aspects of banking online is security. Banks have to ensure that the transactions they are carrying out are secure and validated. Most banks have their own security algorithms to confirm user identity. But for customers, they often are a huge hassle as they have to go through multiple security checks for simple tasks like checking their balance, transaction history, etc. Banks sometimes also perform KYC (Know Your Customers) tools that further annoy customers. If you have accounts in different banks, going through different security protocols can be confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating.To counter this, you can use blockchain. With it, you can create your digital persona instead of relying on the one made by banks. You can also reuse your persona for identification at different institutes and locations, which will allow you to save time and effort. You can also customize your avatar, allowing you to create a personalized and accurate digital identity. This technique can accelerate identification and validation at the institutional level. Through their digital avatars, clients can transfer funds, share data, and perform other bank-related activities such as loans, claims, and drafting. Also, since the data stored on blockchain networks is much safer than traditional volumes, fintech organizations prefer it for the software requirements. 2. Trading Even these days, most trading companies require a lot of paperwork. Not only that, if you’re trading over the weekend, payments and transfers are delayed. Since vendors worldwide use trading systems, there is a need to establish a system where all participants can easily check and verify the trade. The trading system should ensure that all participants have correct entries and that the users can perform changes securely at any time they want. Blockchain is designed to handle exactly this. It can improve the whole process by using a generalized ledger. And since information is refreshed in real-time, the flow of information is fast, and it is easy to make business decisions and policies based on that. Such a system also improves the whole lifecycle of the trade by reducing shorting risks and improving accountability. 3. Payments across the world Blockchain supports decentralized currency, which means that you don’t have to go through banks for your payments or transfers. It can also help in faster and easier payments since it costs less to transfer money from one account to another. Since transfer through blockchain doesn’t require third party authorization, and banks don’t require resources to transfer funds, the payment processing fees are also less. Blockchain will help to improve the flow of currency all around the world. Normally banks charge 10-15 percent of the amount transferred as a remittance fee. With blockchain, this comes down to 3 percent. Blockchain payments are also very secure since all participants in the blockchain transaction have to provide their approval for the transaction to take place, and anyone can check the updated ledger after the transaction.Also, since you don’t require a third party to transfer funds, you can use P2P transfer to do so. Through this, banks can compete with fintech startups and provide their own fintech related services. 4. Investing and lending Most investment bankers require credit histories and finance details before investing. They need to make sure that their money is in the right hands. Through cryptocurrency, it’s very easy to validate accounts and maintain an investment ledger.Even without investment firms, there are many ways through which startups can leverage blockchain to generate investments. These days, instead of just huge firms, the general public can also invest in cryptocurrency and blockchain startups. There are many other options like IEO (Initial exchange offerings) and STO (Secure token offerings). They do require their due diligence but are easy investment options. Of course, banks still need to validate these through securities protocols, and these options need to comply with the government’s standards. But through these, startups can generate investments from many investors and get advice from global strategists instead of relying on one hedge fund manager. 5. Auditing Auditing is a process that verifies the accounts and narrows down any inconsistencies. For most banking sites, this is a slow process and requires many man-hours since it checks requirements and compliances set up by the organization and the government. For most organizations, data integrity is the biggest factor for auditing.Auditing is made simple through blockchain. Through it, you can add records directly into the ledger, which allows for a more efficient way to store and update data. Also, companies have incomparable proof of fund transfer in real-time given that the ledger is absolute and true. This also allows them to have cleaner records. They can also use the general ledger for auditing instead of taking data from different sources. You can also use blockchain to verify transactions that aren’t recorded by users. Smart contracts and automatic invoicing systems will allow your business to charge clients without manual intervention. Also, since blockchain is immutable, there is no doubt about the transparency and accuracy of records. There are many interesting applications of blockchain in fintech. There also are so many blockchain companies that are working on cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications that seek to provide quick and transparent fintech services. Even though blockchain has some risks, it can change the way banks do business by allowing faster payments, easier audits, and thorough identification.Of course, to integrate blockchain into the systems, banks and fintech have to make changes to their existing infrastructure. But rest assured, these changes will have significant returns. There are ample opportunities to grow existing solutions into new use cases, leading to an even better customer experience. [Read Full News]( The post [Top Five Use Cases for Blockchain in Fintech]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ ------------------ Connect with TheFeedBinary on Facebook and Twitter [fb](  [tw]( ------------------ You received this email because you operate or create content for a website/service and based on your website it seemed like this could be important information to you and your users. 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