n Coinbase has released Coinbase Card a Visa card that enables U.K.-based clients to make purchases with cryptocurrenciesn
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Industry Execs: Bitcoin Isn’t a Visa Alternative, BTC Will Surpass It
Since Bitcoin (BTC) garnered some semblance of traction, it has been touted as a viable alternative to traditional digital payment rails, like Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal. As ShapeShift Erik Voorhees said in a recent interview, BTC, unlike centralized digital monies, is free to use (accessible), borderless, and uncensorable — arguably making it a perfect substitute.
Related Reading: Crypto is Not Only a Hedge Against Inflation, But a Cashless Society Too
But one leading thinker and programmer in the industry has begged to differ. He claims that the crypto does (and shouldn’t) compete with global payment infrastructures. Is this really a logical argument though?
An Alternative To Western Union, Not Visa?
At the recent 2019 Bitcoin Expo at MIT, Peter Todd, a cryptographer who participated in friendly discourse with Satoshi contender Hal Finney as a teenager, revealed some surprising thoughts about the leading crypto asset. Per Forbes, the former contributor to the Bitcoin Core client argued that BTC being using in day-to-day payments in brick and mortar stores isn’t really its forte.
Remember MintChip? "Had this plan been approved, the world would have effectively had anonymous payments over the Internet that were difficult to shut down." https://t.co/VB51bHUtwD by @kyletorpey h/t @peterktodd via @ForbesCrypto
— Michael del Castillo (@DelRayMan) March 25, 2019
Todd explains that Visa and Mastercard, which have an effective iron grip over global payments, have “already won in many respects.” Surprisingly, the long-time Bitcoin pundit adds that the cryptocurrency doesn’t “have a hope” in Visa’s realm, presumably due to the minimal levels of adoption, the relatively slow growth of the Lightning Network, and other shortcomings.
Thus, Todd tells the crowd that Bitcoin should be seen as an alternative to rails where regulation decreases speed and increases costs, such as the remittance markets that many in lesser-developed nations rely on.
In his eyes, Western Union’s business model is entirely flawed, as the company purportedly relies solely on skirting regulations, paying fines, but continuing to operate globally, all while charging exorbitant fees and failing to make transactions quick. Attempting to convince his audience of this conviction, Todd stated:
“Of course, we don’t recognize [the company’s regulatory qualms] because we just go see the friendly Western Union agent, but that’s what’s actually happening in the background there, and it’s a constant for them for: How do we keep running in these crazy countries?”
And to many, Bitcoin’s viability in cross border payments makes total sense. (Maybe that’s why the institution purportedly halted crypto-related payments once upon a time.)
Sending 0 domestically in the U.S. through the service costs , and takes four business days with a bank account payment. With a credit or debit card, a 0 domestic Western Union transaction takes minutes, much like cryptocurrencies, but the fee tallies up to a jaw-dropping .49. In both cases, digital assets, like BTC, are better suited for the job, as transactions are finalized within minutes, fees are under .00 (whatever the transaction size), and governments cannot actively censor as they please.
What Todd is trying to claim is that these characteristics don’t exactly make Bitcoin ready to take on Visa or Mastercard.
Bitcoin Still To Overtake Visa
However, some are sure that with advancements like the Lightning Network, BTC could become a refreshed but decentralized version of Visa. As reported by NewsBTC previously, Morgan Creek’s Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano explained that the valuation of all BTC in circulation could surpass the market capitalization of both Visa and Mastercard within 36 months’ time.
Citing data from blockchain research unit Diar, Pomp explained that Bitcoin’s miners were “paid a total of .8 billion in revenue in 2018.” While this number seems irrelevant in and of itself, the Morgan Creek Digital partner notes that considering revenue multiples (revenue to market cap ratio), BTC is undervalued when compared to Visa and Mastercard, which both operate a slightly higher multiple than the flagship cryptocurrency.
With that, he writes that “given the fast growth rate and historical premiums” of promising upstarts and networks and the antiquated nature of Visa, Bitcoin should begin to creep up on the value of the two financial giants within the next three years.
While Pomp never explicitly stated that Bitcoin is cut out for use as a daily transactional tool, it was heavily implied that he sees the crypto asset as an alternative, or better yet, something new and entirely better.
And this entirely better thing might just be a revamped backbone to the macroeconomy. Dan Held, a co-founder at Interchange, once wrote in a Twitter thread that those pushing the sentiment that “Bitcoin was first made for payments” are bonkers, so to speak. Held subsequently explained that Bitcoin was conceived to become an alternative to banks, hence the iconic headline that Satoshi embedded in the Genesis Block’s coinbase, not a new version of Visa. To back his claim, he drew attention to the network’s cardinal rules — 21 million BTC supply cap, ten-minute blocks, and block size caps — claiming that Satoshi could have altered these values to push the digital money narrative.
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Banking Startup Launching Visa Card That Lets You Spend 7 Cryptos
Banking startup 2gether is launching a prepaid Visa debit card that allows eurozone-based users to spend cryptocurrencies.
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Opportunity for Litecoin (LTC), Kroger Bans Visa Citing High Fees
- Litecoin (LTC) trading above , bullish
- Can Kroger accept cheap LTC after banning Visa credit cards due to high fees
- Participation levels low days after prices rocketed from .
If by any chance Kroger accepts Litecoin after banning credit card fees due to high fees, Litecoin (LTC) will surge. The coin is up to fifth and 4.6 percent from last week’s close as bulls cement their position shaking off sellers.
Litecoin Price Analysis
Fundamentals
From inception, Litecoin founders were very specific. With all the pomp of a censorship resistance and global money that will eventually be a medium of exchange as well as a store of value, Litecoin wanted to be silver to this digital Gold.
To some extent, they have been successful. Thanks to their low fees—expected to decrease to a tenth of current transaction rates and fast block generation, merchants are slowly gravitating and trusting this new form of digital money. If anything, they are actively contributing to the burgeoning blockchain ecosystem where everyone has control of their assets.
With low-fee architecture, we also expect more to use Litecoin, and if we add to Mimble Wimble and the possibility of private transactions, it’s an all go for Litecoin. They may also capitalize and even convince Kroger, which recently banned Visa cards citing high fees, in their Smith’s Food & Drug Stores. If they do, LTC prices will undoubtedly surge from spot rates.
Candlestick Arrangements
At spot rates, Litecoin (LTC) is up 4.6 percent in the last week but down 4.4 percent in the previous 24 hours. It is understandable because this draw-down has been across the board. Even so, it is clear that the trajectory, the path of least resistance is upwards as our trend line shows.
Since bulls are in control trading within a breakout pattern with supports at and , every low should technically be a buying opportunity. That applies for risk-off, aggressive traders. Like in all previous LTC/USD trade plan, bulls have a chance from an effort versus result point of view.
Once prices close above , odds are Litecoin will finally rally to , and even 0 by mid-Q2 precisely what the market expects as prices bottom out from .
Technical Indicators
Volumes are stable, and our reference bar is Feb 8, high volume bull bar—832k versus 202k. As volumes stabilize around 220k, we need to see an upsurge above complete with high volume mirroring those of Feb 18—552k. Ideally, volumes should also exceed those of Feb 24—577k. Only then will we be confident of bulls.
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XRP Price Analysis: Visa Partners with Ripple Associate
- XRP prices bullish. Targets at 40 cents
- InstaReM join hands with Visa in the Fast-track Program
- Transactional volumes shrink but could rise as buy momentum pick up
After SWIFT and Corda Settler announcement, InstaReM is now collaborating with Visa to enhance Fintech’s money transfer arrangement. Everything else constant, this is good news, and as XRP find support in lower time frames, it is likely that prices will inch higher towards 40 cents in coming days.
XRP Price Analysis
Fundamentals
Latest news is that InstaReM—a money service provider that mainly serves the Asian market and a Ripple partner has joined Visa’s Fast-track Program.
The objective of this program is to give Fintechs in Singapore better payment experience. That means speed, veracity, and efficiency which is lacking in legacy systems.
We are excited to announce that InstaReM has joined @Visa’s #Fintech fast-track program, which makes it quicker and easier for fintechs in Singapore to build and deliver new #payment experiences powered by InstaReM. Read more: https://t.co/4W7jYMgv9q #Fintech #News
— InstaReM (@InstaReMit) February 1, 2019
Together with Visa, the two companies will work toward building new solutions that will lead to fast, cheap and efficient money flow between countries.
To that end, Prajit Nanu, co-founder, and CEO of InstaReM said they would begin issuing out cards to new partners within the first month of joining the program down from nine months it used to before the partnership.
The head of Visa’s Digital Partnership in Asia Pacific Hamish Moline said:
“Even with all the digital forms of payment that exist today, transferring money internationally can still be a time-consuming, inefficient process. We are keen to work together to tackle an area of payments where there is still a lot of opportunities to bring innovation to the customer experience.”
Candlestick Arrangements
XRP/USD price action points to bulls, and at stop rates, prices are stable. Because of our previous guidance, it is likely that XRP prices will expand over the weekend, confirm the bull bar of Jan 30. Subsequently, this shall set in motion the next wave that will pump prices back towards 34 cents and most importantly above 40 cents.
It is easy to see why. Notice that the past two bars do confine XRP prices inside Jan 30 high low. From an effort versus result point of view, this is bullish. Already, there is a long lower wick hinting of buy pressure in lower time frame meaning our trade conditions will likely be true in due course. Should prices rally above 34 cents, then risk-off traders can buy on dips with first targets at 40 cents and later Dec 2018 highs of 60 cents.
Technical Indicators
Technically, bulls have an upper hand as mentioned above. But, from an effort versus results, approach, we first need to see gains above 32 cents confirming buy pressure of Jan 30. Volumes should preferably exceed 47 million on the upper end and 15 million current averages on the lower end. Moves as such will lay the building blocks for 40 cents and 60 cents.
The post XRP Price Analysis: Visa Partners with Ripple Associate appeared first on NewsBTC.
Why a Major VC Investor Believes Bitcoin Will Overtake Market Cap of Visa at $302 Billion
“Long Bitcoin (BTC), short the bankers” has long been the war cry of crypto’s diehards, known for their use of rhetoric to convey a point. While many cynics cast aside these enthusiasts as near-religious zealots, blinded by “magical internet money,” these anti-establishment tones were validated on Tuesday, as reports arose that a legendary financial services provider was slapped with a fine. And it wasn’t any old fine, it was a 0 million one.
Related Reading: Bitcoin is Criminal Money Says the Media While Deutsche Bank Gets Raided for Laundering
Mastercard Slapped With 0 Million Bill
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal divulged that the European Commission, a regulatory facet of the E.U., hit Mastercard with a hefty €570.6 million fine, which equates to about 8 million U.S. dollars. Europe’s antitrust entity claimed that the New York-headquartered payment giant, valued at 6 billion on the public stock market, “artificially” raised credit and debit card fees in the Union’s nations.
The Wall Street darling purportedly accomplished this by preventing European retailers from accessing the bargain bank offerings outside of their home country, leading to higher prices overall for merchants and consumers alike. The E.U.-backed entity added that this act limited competition across borders, stunting economic growth in the bloc. Margrethe Vestager, an antitrust powerhouse in the E.U. who has tackled multi-billion dollar cases against Google and Apple, said on the matter:
“By preventing merchants from shopping around for better conditions offered by banks in other member states, Mastercard’s rules artificially raised the costs of card payments, harming consumers and retailers in the EU.”
Funnily enough, Mastercard representatives said that the 0 million fine is an “important milestone for the company,” claiming that the closure of this questionable bit of its history is welcomed. In fact, the firm had suspected that such a charge was flying its way, revealing that it collaborated with the European Commission to get a 10% reduction on its jaw-dropping fine.
Across the pond, in Mastercard’s home stadium, the conglomerate’s regulatory prospects haven’t looked much better. In September, the company paid 8 million for setting fees and card acceptance rules that favored banks processing transactions, rather than the merchants accepting transactions.
In the case, it was argued that merchants were subject to exorbitant fees that weren’t reasonable. Mastercard competitor Visa, whose CEO has been hesitant to comment on cryptocurrencies and related technologies previously, was also involved in this case.
With credit card companies often charging an average of 1.5% in interchange fees for each and every transaction, it makes sense why some forward-thinking futurists are turning to crypto and Bitcoin.
Crypto Pundit Believes Bitcoin To Surpass Visa’s Market Cap
Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, the founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, is one of those futurists. The former Snapchat and Facebook employee, who has downed the crypto red pill, recently took to Off The Chain, a crypto-centric publication he founded, to draw attention to his thought process that the market cap of Bitcoin could surpass that of Visa and Mastercard in 36 months’ time.
Citing data from blockchain research unit Diar, Pomp explained that Bitcoin’s miners were“paid a total of .8 billion in revenue (fiat value of BTC produced) in 2018.” While the Morgan Creek head acknowledged that the .8 billion sum wasn’t entirely accurate, considering depreciation of ASICs, operating costs, and other nuances, he noted that this “top line revenue figure” would help put Bitcoin “into context.”
Pomp remarked that from a revenue multiple (revenue to market capitalization) perspective, BTC is undervalued when compared to Visa and Mastercard, which both operate a slightly higher multiple than the flagship cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency investor, known for his incessant touting of anti-establishment rhetoric on Twitter, added that Bitcoin was never meant to be valued by revenue multiple ratios, but that this figure accentuates the network’s performance and growth potential.
In fact, he claimed that “given the fast growth rate and historical premiums” of promising upstarts and networks, the cryptocurrency could begin to make a move on Visa’s and Mastercard’s valuations. Pomp quipped:
“Today, it is 1/4th the market cap of Mastercard and 1/6th of Visa, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Bitcoin surpasses both within the next 36 months. The legacy networks were built for a world that we no longer live in and the decentralized network is built for the future.”
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The post Why a Major VC Investor Believes Bitcoin Will Overtake Market Cap of Visa at 2 Billion appeared first on NewsBTC.
Visa to Purchase Ripple Cross-Border Payments Partner Earthport
n Payment services giant Visa will reportedly purchase Ripple partner Earthport for over 1 millionn
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VISA CEO: Crypto no threat to VISA dominance; company may one day enter crypto assets market
The post VISA CEO: Crypto no threat to VISA dominance; company may one day enter crypto assets market appeared first on DCEBrief.
Visa CEO Crypto Doesnt Challenge Our Hegemony in the Short to Medium-Term
n Visa CEO claims that crypto needs to become somewhat like a fiat currency before it can compete with traditional financial systemsn
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Visa CEO: We May Move To Adopt Crypto Assets
Amid Mastercard’s unexpected push for a patent outlining “fractional reserve” banking for crypto assets, the CEO of Visa has claimed that cryptocurrencies aren’t a pertinent threat to the stability of legacy financial systems.
Al Kelly: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency Aren’t Immediate Threats To Visa
Months after claiming that the “sun has set” on Bitcoin and crypto assets, former hedge fund manager Jim Cramer, spoke with Al Kelly, CEO of Visa, on CNBC Mad Money to discuss the payment processor’s ambitions to enter the cryptosphere.
**EXCLUSIVE** @Visa ended its fiscal year with record profit & revenue growth, but could the stock charge higher? Don't miss @JimCramer's sit down with the CEO tonight to find out more – you can't afford to miss this! pic.twitter.com/sVGbhGA2KI
— Mad Money On CNBC (@MadMoneyOnCNBC) October 25, 2018
Cramer, who rose to prominence on the public stage as the eccentric showrunner for CNBC’s Mad Money segment, first asked Kelly if his firm deems cryptocurrencies as a challenge to the Visa’s hegemony in the financial world. Responding, Kelly stated:
“Certainly not in the short to medium-term in any way, as I think that [the market needs to actually believe] that crypto is moving from being a commodity to really being a payment instrument. [There also] needs to be a market so that it can become somewhat like a fiat currency in order for us to be comfortable with it.”
While the CEO’s comments sounded skeptical at best, Kelly added that if crypto assets somehow succeed, he would be open to pushing Visa to “move in that direction,” as the multinational corporation intends to situate itself in the world’s leading financial mediums. However, the traditionalist alluded to the fact that he still isn’t sold on the idea of cryptocurrencies, expressing that this innovation remains a commodity in Visa’s eyes.
He elaborated, closing his appearance on Cramer’s Mad Money with the following comment:
“If we have to go there (cryptocurrency), we will go there, but right now, its more of a commodity than a payment vehicle.”
Mastercard Seeks Crypto-Backed “Fractional Reserves,” Aims To Undermine Decentralization
Still, many are fearful that crypto-centric forays from firms like Visa and Mastercard could spell the end of financial decentralization, even though it has only been a single decade since Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous innovator and coder extraordinaire, launched the Bitcoin that many have grown to love.
Earlier this year, Mastercard, Visa’s foremost competitor, filed a U.S. patent that outlined a “method and system for linkage of blockchain-based assets to fiat currency accounts.” While the patent’s given title doesn’t raise any immediate red flags, decentralization diehards quickly took issue with the document’s abstract, which mentioned “fractional reserves” in its first sentence.
The official patent, which is still pending approval in U.S. courts, outlines a method that allows New York-based Mastercard to manage fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies simultaneously. The system, which allows financial institutions to monetize blockchain networks, will allow banks to facilitate fractional reserve banking for crypto assets through a complex ecosystem of databases, devices, and accounts.
Mastercard’s proposed system essentially undermines the concept of decentralized assets, as it links cryptocurrencies to the fiat world, which is an industry that Satoshi sought to crush by redistributing power to consumers. Surpsiringly, Mastercard’s move to file the aforementioned patent came just days before the CEO of Mastercard, Ajay Banga, bashed the cryptocurrency space for its supposed affiliation with the underside of society — money launders, terrorists, and the like.
While these two occurrences aren’t indicative of the firm’s final position on crypto assets, the bottom line is that Mastercard and Visa may not have the best intentions in mind when seeking to foray into this nascent market.
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