The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines issued an advisory on Wednesday to inform the public that Skyline Crypto and Dry Goods Trading is not authorized to solicit investments from the public. The company has been offering investment opportunities online, promising returns of 35% in 15 days and rewards like smartphones and vehicles. Skyline […]
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Goods for Staked Crypto: What Is Commodity Staking?
In March 2021, MinePlex — a new-generation mobile crypto bank — launched a product called the MinePlex Marketplace. This marketplace gives users the ability to buy products they can’t afford straight away through the simple act of Commodity Staking.
Say you want to buy the latest iPhone or MacBook Pro, but it’s too expensive right now. Making a purchase through commodity staking solves that problem. In this article, we take a closer look at commodity staking, and how it solves the problem of making high-end consumer products more affordable.
What is staking?
In the cryptocurrency sector, staking is a way of investing in new blockchain technologies, coins, tokens and currencies. Investors agree to commit a fixed amount for a fixed period, usually when investing in a new coin or token. Crypto and blockchain startups launch these tokens through private and public token sales (e.g. an ICO), often raising millions to fund future growth roadmaps.
However, unlike with crowdfunding, equity or debt-based angel and VC financing for startups, crypto investors almost always get returns for staking a percentage of the required investment. Crypto investors don’t need to wait in the hope for a startup to achieve an exit event or at least start generating a profit before getting something back for the initial and any follow-on investments.
When crypto investors ‘stake’ a cryptocurrency, token, or blockchain-based startup, there are usually a series of rewards available for those contributing to the startup capital. Generally speaking, the more an investor puts in, and the longer a stake is held, the greater level of rewards earned.
Rewards are usually earned through what’s called a ‘staking pool.’ Think of this similar to an interest-earning savings account. As an investor, you gain a percentage of the income invested over time, and as the investment vehicle grows (e.g. a token, coin, or blockchain-based startup), the amount earned back should exceed the original investment.
Cryptocurrencies and other startups that use staking mechanisms put that investment to work. A consensus mechanism, known as the “Proof of Stake” is integral to the way a startup or cryptocurrency functions.
What is commodity staking?
Commodity staking takes the concept of staking, but applies it in an innovative way. Making it possible for people to buy products they want using crypto commodity staking. You agree to commit a fixed sum of money into a staking pool, whereby your reward is the purchase price of the product you want to buy. This is a MinePlex innovation, and something users on MinePlex can start doing right now.
Now let’s take a look at how people can now buy a growing list of products using crypto commodity staking.
How can you buy goods using crypto commodity staking?
Using the same concept as staking in return for rewards, commodity staking for goods is an innovative new way to buy things over a fixed period of time, if the purchase price is too high for a customer. You can only do this through MinePlex, which has created this exciting new staking-based purchasing solution for crypto users, giving shoppers an alternative way to buy the things they really want.
MinePlex, a new generation mobile crypto bank, has opened a marketplace where registered users can buy products — such as smartphones, computers, furniture, etc. — through a simple staking mechanism, similar to investing.
Imagine a phone you want to buy is 00. But you only have 0 spare. Where can you get that extra 0 from? Borrowing money is going to cost interest, say anything from 12% all the way up to 50%, or more! Making whatever you want to buy even more expensive, with the only advantage that you can get it straight away.
With commodity staking, you don’t need to wait to save out of your income or borrow more. That extra 0 can be earned from commodity staking, a new CrossFi MinePlex is pioneering.
Using the example of that 00 smartphone, this is how commodity staking works:
- Choose the product you want on the MinePlex Marketplace (you need to be a registered user first): https://mineplex.market/
- Put the 0 goes into staking to earn enough for the remainder, the other 0 needed to buy the phone.
- Once enough interest is generated from staking to cover the total amount, 00, the product is yours and will be shipped out.
It’s as simple as that! No need to borrow money for the products you want. A growing list of products is being added to the MinePlex Marketplace every day. Giving anyone the ability to stake funds and purchase them with PLEX Tokens, the native crypto-token of
Although it means waiting for the staking period to end, the more you put in, the shorter the wait. Commodity staking will make buying high-end consumer products more achievable for a worldwide community of 200 million crypto users, investors and enthusiasts.
“Commodity staking allows you to purchase a product for a part of its cost. After making the payment, the product can be picked up at the end of its staking period. The lower the contribution from the cost of the product, the longer the staking period and vice versa”, MinePlex said in a press release to Bloomberg.
Image: Pixabay
Limited Edition Luxury and Lifestyle Goods as NFTs, on Bling Marketplace
NFTs, short for Non-Fungible Assets have gained popularity in the crypto space. Most of the NFTs currently in use are either digital collectibles like trading cards or tokenized representations of digital content — like digital artwork, music or videos. Generally, possession of these NFTs signifies true ownership of the product it represents.
However, the use of NFTs does not stop there as it can also represent real-world physical goods, and making it happen is Trace Network — an NFT based Enterprise DeFi protocol. The project recently achieved a milestone by launching Bling, the world’s first marketplace for NFTs based on limited edition luxury and lifestyle products.
Bling acts as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds by enabling designers and manufacturers to generate NFTs representing their limited edition collection of luxury and lifestyle goods. These NFTs can then be listed on Bling, enabling anyone interested to browse through the marketplace and purchase the item of choice. Bling also supports NFT auctions on the platform.
Anyone purchasing the NFTs on Bling Marketplace will not only own the digital representation of the limited-edition luxury goods but also the actual goods. Once in possession of the crypto asset, they can either choose to hold on to it, trade it with others just like any other NFT or redeem it on the Bling platform to get the actual physical product shipped to their address. Meanwhile, all transactions including the purchase, sale and possession of NFT as well as its accompanying physical product will be recorded on the blockchain.
Bling NFT Marketplace leverages Trace Network’s enterprise-grade DeFi protocol, its smart contract and merchandise identification solutions, in combination with Biconomy’s end-to-end gasless solution to provide a completely transparent, decentralized and economical solution for a niche market. Soon, Bling will be compatible with Polygon Network.
Learn more Bling Marketplace at – https://medium.com/trace-network/introducing-bling-2e0dd14d6bb1
Bitcoin Gains as Trump Threatens $300B Tariffs on Chinese Goods
The bitcoin price soared higher on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced another 0 billion tariffs on Chinese goods.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency touched the ,527-high ahead of the European market open, posting up to 2.47 percent intraday gains. The upside action brought its weekly profit closer to 11 percent, accompanied by a decent rise in volume on spot exchanges. The move further influenced the rest of the cryptocurrency market to follow suit, with the combined altcoin market capitalization surging from .149 billion on July 29 to as high as .697 billion today.
Meanwhile, global markets felt the pressure of Trump’s announcement. The Asian equity markets posted more than 1.4 percent losses, while their European counterparts opened 1 percent lower on Friday morning. US Futures, at the time of this writing, were also erasing their Fed rate cut gains, indicating a weaker session for the Dow Jones Index, Nasdaq Composite Index, and S&P 500 Index this Friday.
The US Dollar Index also felt the heat of an escalating US-China trade war as it gave up its overnight gains to Trump’s tweets. It fell 0.14 percent to 98.23.
Our representatives have just returned from China where they had constructive talks having to do with a future Trade Deal. We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing. More recently, China agreed to…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2019
For Haven Sake
Analysts have been digging a possible correlation between the ongoing US-China trade dispute and bitcoin price. They believe the rising tensions between the two superpowers weaken their national currencies, especially the Chinese Yuan, which remains under a strict capital control imposed by the Chinese government.
Between May 5 – the day Trump announced that he would increase tariffs on Chinese imports – and June 26, the bitcoin price surged by more than 142 percent. The period also saw yuan tumbling to its six-month low after Beijing counterattacked Trump’s tariffs with its own.
The fundamentals are very same even today. Soon after Trump’s tweet yesterday, yuan took a beating and fell up to 0.83 percent against the dollar.
![yuan, bitcoin](https://www.newsbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/yuan-price-02082019-1-860x550.png)
Chinese Yuan Slips against US Dollar following Trump’s Tariff Threat | Image Credits: TradingView.com, ICE
The correlation is not entirely accurate, believes Garrick Hileman, head of research at Blockchain.com. The London School of Economics researcher told SCMP in May that bitcoin price moves uniquely alongside yuan concerns.
“We can’t be 100 percent certain that bitcoin’s recent price increase is being driven by concerns over the trade tensions and declines in the RMB’s exchange rate as correlation does not necessarily equal causation,” Hileman said.
But Brian Kelly of CNBC believes the correlation cannot be a coincidence. He tweeted shortly after Trump’s tariff threat an image showing very correlated price movements of yuan and bitcoin.
“Offshore Yuan and bitcoin moving together after additional tariff announcement. [It] does not appear to be [a] coincidence,” he stated.
Offshore Yuan and #bitcoin moving together after additional tariff announcement…does not appear to be coincidence pic.twitter.com/l757DgYQ5B
— Brian Kelly (@BKBrianKelly) August 1, 2019
It is possible, if not entirely correct, that investors in China hedge into bitcoin as if its a haven asset. That could also be due to the cryptocurrency’s growing popularity as “digital gold.”
The post Bitcoin Gains as Trump Threatens 0B Tariffs on Chinese Goods appeared first on NewsBTC.
Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior Owner Unveils Blockchain Platform to Verify Luxury Goods
n ConsenSys has teamed up with LVMH and Microsoft to build a blockchain platform that allows consumers to verify the authenticity of luxury goodsn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Iota, IoT Firm Evrythng Partner to Increase Transparency for Consumer Goods Supply Chain
n Iota and internet of things firm Evrythng are integrating their solutions to provide greater transparency for supply chains in the consumer goods sectorn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Louis Vuitton Owner LVMH Is Launching a Blockchain to Track Luxury Goods
LVMH, parent company of Louis Vuitton, is about to launch a blockchain for proving the authenticity of luxury goods, sources say.
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Equity Fund CEO Recommends to Steer Clear of Crypto, Advises to Focus on Basic Goods
n Gateway Partners CEO Viswanathan Shankar has said investors should avoid cryptocurrencies and concentrate on more traditional investmentsn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
NAGA VIRTUAL: New Opportunities in the Virtual Goods Market
In August 2018, gamers met in Cologne, Germany, for one of the largest gaming events in the industry – Gamescom. The fair hosted a perfect mix of renowned game studios, publishers, gamers and enthusiasts from around the world, all interacting freely with each other. Some of the notable entities participating in the event included the likes of Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
The Gamescom event is the ideal place for gaming companies to make announcements about new releases, check out the latest trends in gaming, and get more information about what is hot and what’s not. NAGA VIRTUAL graced this event and was part of the team that showcased their products to the gamers and game developers.
During the event, it was quite evident that the industry trend is slowly shifting. Traditionally, game publishers made a majority of their revenue upfront through high sales prices. Nowadays, they are looking to strengthen their revenue models by monetizing in-game time by incentivizing gamers to engage in microtransactions.
NAGA VIRTUAL has identified this trend and is leveraging it. The company has set up an ingenious platform that acts as a virtual store for publishers to sell virtual products. Think of it as your local store where you can easily get virtual goods, with the gamers on NAGA VIRTUAL also having the chance to trade in-game items with each other.
The reception from the gaming community was enormously positive. Most of the gamers who attended the show loved the idea of having an independent platform that sells virtual gaming products. Over 80 percent of the participants expressed a desire to learn more and visited the platform to check out various wares that were on offer.
Globally, game publishers have started to embrace new models of monetization. Fortnite, in particular, has brought this to fore by showing that gaming companies can make significant revenues from the sale of cosmetic items through microtransactions. At the same time, players are now looking at cosmetic items that add value to the ownership of these items and allow interoperability across multiple platforms for these items.
Having cosmetic items that are unique to a particular player is slowly emerging as an essential feature for most gamers. This is especially the case in Asia. Trends show that players from Asia are more interested in buying cosmetic items as they play their favorite games.
Game publishers can take advantage of this interest in cosmetic ownership and increase revenue within their companies, and NAGA VIRTUAL is on its way to helping companies leverage this trend.
Game publishers and even users can also enjoy additional exposure by listing products on NAGA VIRTUAL. Players can easily have a look at such listed wares, which in turn will provide additional exposure to the gaming products that are available on the market.
NAGA VIRTUAL states,
“We offer a comprehensive solution to publishers that allows them to simply list their virtual products without any additional technical hitches.
Due to the increased interest in virtual products across the gaming industry, our platform gives publishers the advantage of being early adopters of this changing trend.
As a publisher, you get full control of your store and can easily monitor the sales and other KPIs for your products. We are also supporting multiple platforms in our virtual store and the time it takes for product integration is also short.”
NAGA VIRTUAL is fully compliant with all statutory obligations in Europe, so gamers and developers can be sure that they will be dealing with a trustworthy and a compliant company.
Speaking about the company’s participation in various events, NAGA VIRTUAL’s representative stated:
“We are seeing an increase in the interest on our platform. Due to this fact, we will be part of the delegation that will take part in Games Connection Europe that will be held in Paris from October 24th till 26th. We will also be in Busan for the G- start event from November 15th till 18th. These events will provide us with a great chance to meet more publishers and interact with players and enthusiasts. We have added better features on our virtual store and have already incorporated most of the feedback we got from the Gamescom Show held in Cologne Germany.”
The post NAGA VIRTUAL: New Opportunities in the Virtual Goods Market appeared first on NewsBTC.
Only 33% of Bitcoin Payments Used to Purchase Goods, Economic Value in Question
As global investors flock to cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle, the use of cryptocurrencies for their intended purposes has come into question. New research suggests that only one-third of transactional activity occurring on the Bitcoin network is related to the purchase of goods or services.
The Network Value of Cryptocurrency
One of the main criticisms surrounding cryptocurrencies is that they aren’t actually operating as currencies, and the data surrounding Bitcoin’s transactional information seems to confirm this. According to data from blockchain data provider CoinMetrics, the majority of Bitcoin’s transactional activity can be attributed to factors like mining pool distributions, spoofing, and manipulation.
CoinMetrics uses a formula that devises a Network Value to Transactions Ratio (NVT) to compare the dollar value of the virtual currency to the network value. This system of measurement allows investors to better understand how certain cryptocurrencies are actually being used. According to Coin Metrics, “a low market to transaction value (NVT) denotes an asset which is more cheaply valued per unit of on-chain transaction volume.”
This value varies significantly between different cryptocurrencies and gives a good idea of which virtual currencies are overvalued based on their average on-chain transaction volume. For instance, Cardano’s (ADA) on-chain transaction volume is actually higher than its network value, giving it a low NVT of 0.78. This is compared to Bitcoin, who has an NVT of 30.78.
Although the Network Value to Transaction Ratio gives a general idea of how cryptocurrencies are being used, it doesn’t give a reliable idea of how many of the on-chain transactions have economic value.
Although Cardano has significantly higher on-chain transaction volume than Bitcoin, further research conducted by Elementus Inc. suggests that only 2% of economic transactions occurring on Cardano’s network carry economic value. Even though Bitcoin’s NVT is significantly higher than Cardano’s, more of its on-chain transactions carry economic value, at approximately 33%.
Cryptocurrency as a Form of Payment
The use of cryptocurrencies as forms of payment has increased significantly in recent years but is still nowhere near being adopted by the masses. New systems like Coinbase Merchant and Square’s payment systems have made it significantly easier for companies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment, and these are still relatively new services.
Overstock.com was one of the first major online retailers to accept cryptocurrency, and they have seen tremendous success in their cryptocurrency payment program.
According to one of the company’s board members, Jonathan Johnson, Overstock is generating a significant amount of money through cryptocurrency payments.
“We have somewhere between ,000 and 0,000 a week in cryptocurrency revenues; people buying sheets and toasters using Bitcoin or Ethereum or other coins.” Johnson said while speaking to the Heritage Foundation.
Johnson also explained the benefits that Overstock sees in using cryptocurrencies rather than fiat currency, saying:
“We pay a processing fee for credit cards, and we employ about 40 people in our fraud department. That’s a cost of doing business with credit cards. When we take cryptocurrency, we have a very small transaction fee with Coinbase, much smaller than our credit card processing fee, and we have no fraud prevention department. It’s like a cash transaction. For us, that is a much cheaper way of doing business.”
As companies become increasingly open to accepting cryptocurrencies due to the fiscal benefits, the amount of economic transactions occurring on cryptocurrency’s networks will increase significantly. This will be reflected in the price of commonly used cryptocurrencies, as their NVT ratio will skyrocket.
Featured image from Shutterstock
The post Only 33% of Bitcoin Payments Used to Purchase Goods, Economic Value in Question appeared first on NewsBTC.