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Signals of Hope for Crypto Gold-Bugs? Renewed Signs that Gold-Linked Tokens Are Making Comeback

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Gold protected tokens like GoldFinX appears to be the best investment source for institutional and retail investors since they can be easily traced back to find its custodial asset backing its worth.

The current market perception for cryptocurrencies has been shifting recently, in a seemingly ever more positive direction, even with the global economy suffering massive blows from the prevailing pandemic. Facebook‘s Libra and JPMorgan‘s JPM coin are anticipated to launch in 2021; Bitcoin and other digital assets have emerged as top choices for investors due to their low correlation with other traditional asset classes. Since 45% of the UK companies have opted out not to pay dividends this year, as per the report of Investors Chronicle, traditional markets and institutions have shifted towards cryptocurrencies for refuge. At the time of this writing, the asset class has witnessed a 6% increase compared to 2013, with the adoption of non-cash assets reaching a whopping US$13.4 trillion net value.

It is becoming apparent institutional money is quickly finding more trust in this new market. Perhaps this could be linked to the spike in BTC computational power, establishing verifiable and systematic trust in the network’s underlying security. But there is also reason to believe a lot of the renewed interest in Bitcoin and other alternative digital currencies stems from the competition in a race to get ahead. Statista has revealed in its report that blockchain and the market for cryptocurrencies will rise exponentially on their way to becoming a US$23.3 billion economy by 2023. The trend will be primarily driven by the adoption of blockchain in the insurance and supply chain sector. Institutional investors, including asset management companies like Fidelity Investments, have launched Fidelity Digital Assets, and the New York Stock Exchange has launched a Bitcoin futures-exchange known as Bakkt. Ivy League University Endowment has also maintained a crypto-class investment portfolio lately driving the euphoria.

Recovery for  Cryptos in 2020 after Enchanting  Institutional Investors

Oil and other commodity prices have been slashed significantly in value during the pandemic causing notable moments of widespread panic among investors. As a result, equity investment firms are delegating their portfolio management to venture capitals, alternative investments (preferably cryptos), and private equity after the Fed decided to cut down on the interest rate and bring it down to almost zero.

This trend has primarily picked up pace since investors are looking for risk diversification and exploring non-correlated assets.  Thus, Bitcoin trends as a better opportunity cost for investments at the moment. The returns on Bitcoin in a year-on-year assessment show a 0.11 correlation related to Gold, which is at a lower trajectory. When we talk about other assets like the US and international shares, it is 0.15 & 0.14, respectively.

Real Vision Group CEO, Raoula Pal, said “possibly in the future, BTC could replace Gold as a store of value. BTC has gained 30.36% against the US$.” Investments from institutional investors like Square, Micro Strategy, and Stone Ridge have raised fresh optimism among investors to choose this as a preferred investment.

This trend has primarily picked up pace since investors are looking for risk diversification and exploring non-correlated assets. Thus, Bitcoin shows better opportunity cost for investments at the moment. The returns on Bitcoin in a year-on-year assessment show a 0.11 correlation concerning gold, which is at a lower trajectory. When we talk about other assets like the  US and international shares, it is 0.15 & 0.14, respectively.

This shows that Bitcoin has a close correlation with its ecosystem impact, instead of a near parallel investment portfolio, causing more investors to choose BTC over other portfolios. Thereby, pushing the market attention to cryptos at the moment, CAIA(Chartered Alternative Investment Analysts)  has predicted a growth rate of 18% to 24% for alternative investment portfolios by 2025. A 5% hypothetical investment diversification by retail and institutional investors would push the growth to US$670 billion. Whereas, seeing the present adoption during the pandemic, where BTC prices shot for the moon, a 10% alternative investment asset portfolio will push the market size to US$1.3 trillion.

Suppose institutional investors like ARK Invest, Coinshares, Fidelity Investments, Octonomics, and Arca jointly invest in BTC in the future collaboratively. In that case, it could unleash an unparalleled bull-run, and could easily dwarf the previous run of 2017, which was mainly led by retail and smaller venture capitalists, as opposed to this time around, which sees the entrance of big banks, hedge funds, and other wealthy, global institutions also joining the field.

With just Fidelity investing US$3.3 trillion AUM (Asset Under Management) taking a 5% hypothetical investment diversification state, the BTC market would see an influx of approximately US$165 billion. You can do the rest of the math for a joint AUM diversification to cryptos by whales and the likes of other big institutional investors that are getting a better taste for alternative investment strategies in Bitcoin, Blockchain, and related markets en-masse.  Besides, the launch of crypto exchanges and Dapps has simplified investment in cryptocurrencies pushing institutional money investments at exchanges such as CoinBase, American Exchange CEO Brian Strong claimed.

He tweeted, “Whether institutions were going to adopt crypto or not was an open question about 12 months ago. I think it’s safe to say we now know the answer. We’re seeing $200-400M a week in new crypto deposits come in from institutional customers.” Therefore, it wouldn’t be an understatement to mention that institutional investors are warming up after Alluva, ARK, Coinshare, Fidelity Investments, Octonomics, Arca, and Fidelity continue to paint the investment market in crypto colours in 2020.

How Stable Coins and BTC Have Been Included in Institutional Investors’ Portfolio?

There has been a splurge in the crypto adoption in the institutional investor’s portfolio after economies known for stringent regulations like the UK, Germany, and Switzerland have advocated for crypto exchanges. Their claims have been fortified post institutional investors like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have been seriously getting indulged in the crypto business. Nevertheless, they have their share of careful forewarnings concerning the growth of their portfolio.

Bitcoin has been highly volatile, and it may have too much of a risk involved to buy BTC for a pension fund portfolio. Still, investors have been interested in investing in crypto-funds because their volatility has also attracted opportunities when asset classes like stocks and bonds increasingly lie idle or depressed during the pandemic. Cryptos have a lower correlation with other existing investment portfolios incentivizing investments for institutional investors.

Their unhackable traits, which get strengthened by the network effect, increase the value share of crypto-based assets and drive institutional investors’ adoption. GrayScale has apportioned 1.7% of the total BTC supply in its GrayScale Bitcoin Trust. Their share has increased by 0.1% during the pandemic. It is expected that GrayScale will have roughly 500,000 BTC by the end of 2020, as reported by CoinTelegraph.

The rise in BTC has affected other cryptos as well, following stable coins where Tether ended up as the third-best performing cryptocurrency in 2020. But the unchecked minting of Tether has unsurprisingly acted otherwise. Instead of acting as a hedge against inflation, it has pushed the demand for BTC to an all-time high. 50 Institutional investors plan to aggressively take action on the BTC price dip where they will divert pension funds, insurers, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds to BTC after every dip. They anticipate regulations would become more evident and could fuel investments, thus driving purchase at the OTC. More than a third of institutional investors, or roughly 27%, affirmed purchasing BTC and other altcoins, up from the previous investment season of 22%. Even in Europe, 45% of institutional investors have diversified their portfolio and included BTC and other stable tokens in their wallets.

But with the current Bitcoin and gold boom compared to other assets, the question is how the market, especially the institutional investors, will react to the launch of Libra and Bitcoin adoption by PayPal.

How Will the Gold Supply-chain and Bitcoin shape Institutional Investors Perception Towards Cryptos?

Countries like Iran, Venezuela, and Turkey have responded positively to cryptocurrency adoption as their currencies have significantly devalued recently. As central banks and the Fed work on stimulus packages for the coronavirus pandemic, which actually means dollars will be printed out of thin air, we could well see a further downward spiral of fiat. At this time, assets like Gold and Bitcoin see bright days ahead since they are mined rather than being pegged or staked to existing tangible assets for minting.

Stalwarts in finance, like Visa and PayPal, have already given the go-ahead to allow staking and trading in  BTC, which means that it will be relatively simpler to convert the earnings to acceptable currencies. Bitcoin has turned bullish during the post-US election. As the market players and individuals still trust Gold as a store of value, it’s realistic to expect some will inevitably move towards gold-linked tokens that mimic critical aspects of real Gold without many of the drawbacks.

What Will Be the Contribution of GoldFinX in Stabilizing Portfolio Management during This Time?

GoldFinX is a smart solution that aims to transform the Artisanal mining industry completely. The GoldFinX token allows mines and remote communities in hard-to-service regions to rely on other forms of funding while accessing better education. They enable a revival whereby untapped gold mines can be vastly improved to operate without the devastating effects on the local and global environment through the present use of mercury and cyanide. In this model, the artisanal and small gold miners are funded to undertake the mining. Utilising the GoldFinX token over gold dust for payment, artisanal miners would benefit from the utility the token advocates for better working conditions and cleaner environment methods, safeguarding the miners. As the tokens are linked to gold accumulating in trustworthy custodial vaults worldwide, it improves the trust in these tokens.

Summary

“Everything that glitters is not gold” can be applied to many things, especially while seeing the unprecedented volatility that Bitcoin has shown ever since its worst bearish run of 2017. BTC’s volatility has been at an all-time high of 3% to 8% at the time of this writing. At this point, Gold’s average volatility stands at 1.2%. Gold protected tokens like GoldFinX appears to be the best investment source for institutional and retail investors since they can be easily traced back to find its custodial asset backing its worth.

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Author: James Fisher

James is an early Bitcoin investor and a long-time trader in the crypto market. He’s fascinated by the complex possibilities of blockchain and tries to make this topic accessible to everyone.



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Altcoin Rally Dimming Bitcoin’s Shine, Polkadot Gains 34% in One Week

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Polkadot (DOT) saw daily gains of 22.5% wrapping up an impressive week with an almost 34% rise in its value.

Bitcoin bullish run looks to have come to a halt amidst an altcoin rally which has seen relatively lower coins put up impressive performances in the past few weeks. Bitcoin dominance is gradually fading as many experts believe the biggest digital coin is backing down as some top altcoin are showing strong “moves” or signals. 

Bitcoin hit an all-time high over the weekend, the third time its price has done so in just over 2 months. The price of the biggest digital coin touched $28,400 on December 27, before a lightning drop took it to $27,000 just hours of that incredible feat. 

Bitcoin failed to hold onto the $27,000 mark as its price further dropped to $26,000 a day after and is now testing lower levels centered on $26,000 as immediate support. Reports from crypto exchanges revealed BTC/USD trading at lows of $25,830 during the early hours of December 29. 

While Bitcoin has seen red over a couple of days, some altcoins are putting up impressive numbers, giving off signals of a strong altcoin rally. Despite XRP’s current issues, the altcoin market is showing glimpses of its glory days as some digital coins are poised to see major gains over the next couple of weeks. Ethereum (ETH) is at the forefront of the rally, with its price climbing above $700 for the first time since May 2018. 

Polkadot (DOT) also saw daily gains of 22.5% wrapping up an impressive week with an almost 34% rise in its value. The coin is now the seventh-largest token by market cap. Kusama (KSM), a cousin of Polkadot, also saw its price gain 46% last week, pushing its price from $43.1 to $63. The digital token is currently trading at $56 but experts are adamant a breakout above $65 is possible as the token has rebounded off the 20-day exponential moving average ($50.90)

Speaking on the possibility of a long term altcoin rally, analyst Van de Poppe stated that altcoins are next in line to see greens. He added that the next “impulse wave” on Bitcoin next year should be able to take the market to $40,000 or $50,000, but until then, the possibility of a continuance altcoin rally is very much likely.

Although many factors could be in play with regards to the latest Bitcoin price dip, it’s recent fallout with Ripple’s XRP leads the way. Ripple was hit with a lawsuit from the United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and subsequently suffered drops that left its price in a pit. XRP, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is now trading at $0.20 as news broke that Coinbase, a major US cryptocurrency exchange has decided to suspend its trading from next month.

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Crypto fanatic, writer and researcher. Thinks that Blockchain is second to a digital camera on the list of greatest inventions.



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Taylor Monahan: The Year the Narrative Became the Truth

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The year 2020, as told by the Crypto Believers, will most certainly go down in history as the year the curtain was finally pulled back.

For so long we sounded the alarm about the threat of centralized entities. For so long we warned of the unsustainable monetary policy of the United States Federal Reserve. And then, suddenly, a global pandemic begets “money printer go BRRR” begets endless inaction by those who claim to be our leaders. Finally, those outside our bubble began to question what they once knew.

This post is part of CoinDesk’s 2020 Year in Review – a collection of op-eds, essays and interviews about the year in crypto and beyond. Taylor Monahan is the founder and CEO of MyCrypto, a simple dashboard for managing all your Ethereum-based assets.

There were signs of a new, shared realization as non-believers began to quip, “If we can just print money, I shouldn’t have to pay taxes” and, “This is unsustainable. We’re screwing ourselves.” There were also signs they began to see how much absurdity dominates our lives. Discrimination didn’t end in 1863 or in 1964 or in 2019. We have never had “the lowest Fatality (Mortality) Rate in the World.” The stock market is not the economy. Their truth is not true.

Moreso, the truth seemed to be whatever those in power wanted it to be. Or rather, the truth is whatever we, those not in power, believe it to be. So long as enough people believe it to be true, it is true.

Our new reality manifested in everything from increased anxiety and depression as the world remained in a state of locked-down uncertainty, to debates about masks and potential COVID-19 treatments, to the Black Lives Matter movement coming back with a vengeance. 

One of the least-complex manifestations of the power of shared belief was the curious case of Hertz’s stock price pumping 900% in the weeks following its bankruptcy filing. It left otherwise rational, mature, market-minded adults (and Hertz itself) bewildered. As far as anyone has been able to sort out, after a lifetime of believing The Adults knew what they were doing The Kids realized the truth and took action on the not-so-secret secret that you don’t win the market by betting on the future – you win when you bet on what other people think will happen in the future. The Kids also happen to know, more than any other generation, that technology is the key to changing what other people think.

(Wikimedia)

The Hertz moment

I actually completely missed the Hertz situation when it first made headlines. I’m sure I saw the articles as I doomscrolled through another day of lockdown. But, as the story is so familiar, I didn’t even bother registering it to my memory. Crypto has been pumping and dumping and re-pumping and re-dumping empty shells of coins for years.

Hertz was especially uninteresting as it followed the classic pump-and-dump scheme, like what might be found on bitcointalk.org in 2013. Today’s decentralized finance (DeFi) token schemes are wrapped up in automated market makers, interoperability and yields, often making it hard to discern whether the shared delusions of the players are giving the tokens value, or if the perceived value of the tokens are creating the shared delusion. To complicate things, there is a third, meta layer: The players are aware they are playing a game and can predict the cycle of their shared delusion. The whole thing is a grotesque ouroboros – all simultaneously feeding itself, and feeding off itself, and birthing itself in some eternal, cyclical, scammy mindf**k.

See also: Taylor Monahan – As We Hunger for Viability, Let’s Stay True to Our Values

Well, maybe not “eternal.” The folks who “ape’d into” the DeFi things this summer had such a finite view, usually minutes or hours rather than months or years. It’s hard to grok how any DeFi thing could survive once the heavily subsidized reward period wore off. Especially if two or three or 10 freshly subsidized DeFi things had launched since. Yet they somehow did … sorta.

It’s even harder to understand how this became a dominating force of 2020 considering the intense individualism and selfishness that it both fuel, and is fueled by. We’ve managed to build thousands of “every man for himself” sub-networks on a sprawling, decentralized, cooperative, consensus network. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily if we value our humanity, decentralized consensus networks don’t care about the morality of the things running on it.

And, as much as they continue to fight me on it, I remain convinced that these half-baked farming games are unsustainable in the same way initial coin offerings (ICOs) are unsustainable, in the same way hacked smart contracts are catastrophic, in the same way the money printer cannot go BRRRRRR forever and in the same way the serpent cannot devour itself in perpetuity. 

Better system?

Bitcoin has seemingly solidified its place as an alternative, though still slightly experimental, store of value. I would talk more on this but literally everyone is talking about it and I have nothing original to add. I will admit I was wrong in 2015 and 2016 and 2017 when I said the digital gold narrative will never be more valuable than the digital cash one. Any narrative that becomes truth is more valuable than the narrative that fades from memory.

I do wonder what will ultimately become of our historically most persistent narrative, that we are creating a better world. Have we made real progress on banking the unbanked, unbanking the banked, breaking down borders and removing power from repressive regimes and corrupt cabals?

For me, crypto is a worthwhile endeavor because it can provide a viable alternative to the existing systems. Crypto can give people the gift of choice. And with that choice we can opt into the systems that benefit us and opt out of the ones that oppress us.

I wonder if this system will ever be a ‘better system’ or just ‘a system that better serves me?’

CoinDesk’s Year in Review 2020

Between the diminishing returns on truth, the ever-increasing individualism, and our submissiveness to life’s cycles, I wonder if this system will ever be a “better system” or just “a system that better serves me?”

This is important. In one, we aim to remove the system’s very ability to have a 1%. We attempt to break the cycle of oppression. We create systems to humanize any and all participants and prevent ourselves, the early adopters, the influencers and the Believers, from gaining power on the backs of others.

In the other, we simply shift the power from the oppressors of today to the oppressors of tomorrow. The oppressed devour the oppressors. The oppressors are reborn as the oppressed. The cycle continues. And then, one day, some kids show up and it is the Crypto Believers who this time must shout, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”





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House Approves $2,000 Direct Payments in COVID-19 Stimulus Payouts, Looks to Senate to Vote

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There is a possibility that the Senate Republicans may want to hold onto their conservative approach in increased spending citing longer-term consequences.

The United States House of Representatives passed the votes to support the issuance of $2,000 in stimulus checks to American households or beneficiaries, with expectations from the Senate to also sign off on the higher payments. According to a report from Newsweek, the vote from the House came a day after President Donald Trump signed off the COVID-19 stimulus bill with a $600 direct payment to Americans and his unusual demand to raise the payments calling the initial proposal a “Disgrace.”

The second batch of the COVID-19 relief funds which has been marred by months of negotiation impasse over differences in the budget from both the Republicans and the Democrats in the House and Senate respectively finally saw the consent of the lawmakers and the president who recognized the need to support American families during this holidays season. The President’s proposal to boost the payments has been well received by the Democrats and marked by a 275-134 vote in the House, beating the two-third majority required to pass the bill.

Speaking ahead of the House signing off on the deal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted that “the president of the United States has put this forth as something that he wants to see and part of his signing the legislation yesterday. I hope that view will be shared by the Republicans in the Senate, because we will pass this bill today.” “Republicans have a choice: vote for this legislation or vote to deny the American people the bigger paychecks this need. To reject this would be in denial of the economic challenges that people are facing and it would deny them, again, the relief they need,” added she.

Will the Senate Object to the House Ratified Higher COVID-19 Payments?

From the longer-term dispositions of the Republican-controlled Senate as seen in the months of negotiations for this new paycheck, many believe that there is a possibility that the Senate Republicans may want to hold onto their conservative approach in increased spending citing longer-term consequences.

However, many expect that a move in opposition to the higher payments will be a direct affront to the American people who needed these funds more than ever, and also to the president who is in his last days in office, barring any new developments in his attempts to overturn the results of the November 3rd Presidential elections.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., however, has noted he would force the chamber to take up the measure Tuesday but only one senator would need to object to block the bill from passing.

“Following the strong bipartisan vote in the House, tomorrow I will move to pass the legislation in the Senate to quickly deliver Americans with $2,000 emergency checks,” Schumer said in a statement Monday. “Every Senate Democrat is for this much-needed increase in emergency financial relief, which can be approved tomorrow if no Republican blocks it – there is no good reason for Senate Republicans to stand in the way.”

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Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalists who relish writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desires to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain based media and sites. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture.



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