BTG Dol stablecoin token is available for buy from 100 Brazilian reals ($20) on the investment platform of BTG Pactual bank and in the cryptocurrency app Mynt

Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual announced the launch of stablecoin BTG Dol. Which will be related to the U.S. dollar exchange rate. The token will be based on the Polygon blockchain, the bank told DeCrypt.

BTG Pactual noted that this is the world’s first ” dollar” stablecoin issued by the bank. Also according to André Portillo, head of digital assets at BTG Pactual.  This asset will allow its owners to transfer some of their capital into dollars in a simple, efficient and safe way.

Additionally, BTG Pactual will hold and manage reserves of stablecoin. It will also be responsible for regulatory compliance.

Also BTG Dol is available for purchase from 100 Brazilian reais (about $20). It can be purchased on the BTG Pactual investment platform and in the Mynt app. Which was launched by the bank in 2021 and currently supports 22 cryptocurrencies.

Also Polygon is a Layer 2 solution for Ethereum, one of several blockchain platforms. Which allows to optimize the processing of transactions on network. This blockchain is used by Mastercard, Adidas, Disney, Starbucks, Adobe and many others.

Our experts note that the Polygon token (MATIC) is ranked tenth by market capitalization among all cryptocurrencies with an index of $10.4 billion.

Our experts have analyzed the situation on crypto market and told how it can change in the short term and what will happen to Bitcoin price

The final week of March on the crypto market began with a decrease in the pair BTC/USDt. Bitcoin fell by 5.81% to $28,484. The fall was caused by negative news in the crypto industry. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against the head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, and the heads of three other organizations that run the Binance platform. The regulator claims that the exchange failed to register as a platform that trades cryptocurrency derivatives. And therefore had no right to provide services to U.S. clients. However, it actively worked with U.S. investors, ignoring legal regulations.

In zone $26.5-26.6 thousand buyers regrouped and fought back on the positive news from the banking sector and the rise of American indices. The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that deposits and loans from bankrupt Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) are going to U.S. First-Citizens Bank.

On March 29, bitcoin recouped earlier losses, returning to the $29,184 level. Risk appetite returned for market participants as concerns about the banking sector eased following congressional hearings on the SVB bankruptcy.

Rising movement did not continue. The buyers, having met sellers’ volumes, started to fix profits from long positions. It was a purely technical factor, because this day external background was on the side of buyers. Also the dollar index was declining and S&P 500 futures were rising.

In the evening the buyers’ activity might have been low because of the speeches of the U.S. Federal Reserve representatives, who supported the further tightening of the monetary policy, despite the collapse of the three American banks.

On Friday (March 31), the price corrected to $27,511 and then went back to $28,656. Buyers have so far ignored the U.S. crackdown on Binance, Coinbase and TRON founder Justin Sun. This comes amid a rally in stock indexes and weakness in the U.S. dollar.

The S&P 500 index rose 3.23% to 4,109 points for the week and 6.88% for the quarter. Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2023 rose 72.08% against the dollar to $28,465.

Waiting for a level test of $30,000 for Bitcoin

In this week of April 3-9, the focus of market participants will be on U.S. statistics. These statistics will include: business activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, industrial production data, the labor market report for March. In Europe, it is a shortened week. Europeans will celebrate Good Friday on Friday (April 7) and Easter on Monday (April 10). Liquidity will affect the dollar, and through the currency market, the crypto market.

According to our experts’ estimates, the quarterly timeframe indicates a price recovery to $34,000. At the same time, the monthly – to $43,000 by August (with a very positive external situation). If the market gets stormy because of the actions of U.S. regulators or new bankruptcies, then by mid-September. Here we need to look at what wave structure of upward movement will be formed when the level of $34,000 is reached. Therefore, we are waiting for the test of $30,000 for Bitcoin this week.

U.S. exchange regulators are pressing charges against Binance and trying to disconnect it from the U.S. market. Our experts tell us who can take advantage of this situation and what the risks are for Binance and its users

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit against Binance and its executives. The regulator intends to completely deprive Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange of the U.S. market. It also accuses it of facilitating illegal activities and trade manipulation.

The text of the indictment took 74 pages. Citing quotes from internal chats, to which the agency managed to gain access, the service representatives accuse the exchange, its head Changpeng Zhao and former director of compliance Samuel Lim. That they knowingly allowed Americans to trade cryptocurrency derivatives without a license, in flagrant violation of U.S. law. The CFTC also alleges that Binance circumvented money laundering laws (AMLs). And “know your customer” (KYC) rules deliberately helped large U.S. clients circumvent their own compliance procedures.

What are the goals of U.S. regulators ?

The CFTC seeks a complete ban on Binance in the U.S. and return all trading revenues and commissions received from transactions of users from the U.S. Because, in their opinion, they were obtained illegally. The CFTC estimates that in 2019 and 2020, 18 to 20% of Binance’s revenues were generated by “illegal” transactions of U.S. citizens, although no data for later periods are provided. The exchange’s management supposedly turned a blind eye to the violations to maintain its market share in a key jurisdiction.

The document alleges that the exchange offered U.S. residents to trade leveraged futures and options contracts on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin without registering with the CFTC as a futures commodities trader (FCM). The agency considers these assets to be commodities, which is at odds with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which considers most crypto assets to be securities.

Our experts point out that different agencies in the U.S. have different views on what is going on. This inconsistency in itself can create more doubts. But lawyers can also use some language against others in their defense strategies. Even if a serious trial were to begin on any of the named charges. Then the investigation itself will require many months of work by lawyers on both sides of the conflict, our Crypto-Upvotes experts say.

Charges are directed at Binance, not a separate division of Binance.US

Binance.US is a separate division of Binance for the U.S. market. This division does not offer derivatives trading and is not mentioned in the complaint. There is a separate legal entity behind the platform, while Binance itself has no registration in the United States. And access to the exchange for American citizens is prohibited. In this case, the representatives of the CFTC precisely put forward charges against “global” Binance. They argument that the exchange falls under the U.S. law, working with local customers.

The CFTC complaint says that Binance not only serviced American users. But also deliberately didn’t take measures to block their accounts. Exchange executives also allegedly advised large institutional customers to move trading accounts to jurisdictions inaccessible to U.S. regulators. And they didn’t officially encourage the use of VPNs to bypass blockades. A spokesman for Radix Trading of Chicago confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that they had been trading on Binance for several years through offshore affiliates and a separate broker. While having legal backing for any cryptocurrency transactions.

The regulator also uncovered several other likely violations based on conversations from internal correspondence in work chats. In addition, the CFTC accused Binance of having about 300 internal trading accounts under its management. Which “directly or indirectly belonged to the head of Binance,” and the exchange failed to disclose their existence amid an anti-insider trading policy. Zhao responded in a statement, calling the allegations “an incomplete statement of facts.” And claims that Binance “under no circumstances” manipulates the market ! And “affiliates’ liquidity work” is under special control.

Who benefits from this?

The lawsuit against Binance is not the first precedent for a confrontation between the CFTC and the crypto business. In October 2020, the agency brought charges against BitMEX and its three founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed. The exchange actually invented a new format for cryptocurrency derivatives – perpetual futures contracts. And it created an entire market around the instrument, whose popularity quickly led to its appearance on other trading platforms as well. The Commission also accused BitMEX of operating in the U.S. futures market without proper authorization and FCM status.

The case was closed when BitMEX agreed to pay a record $100 million fine for the crypto industry, as well as to forcibly close the accounts of all U.S. customers and implement proper anti-money laundering measures. Hayes and Delo resigned from the company and pleaded guilty. They each paid an additional $10 million fine and were sentenced to two years’ probation.

This ended BitMEX’s influence in the cryptocurrency derivatives market. Which, until August 2019, it controlled nearly 100 percent of. However, her absence led to the rise of other platforms that now dominate this niche. These include Deribit, ByBit, and Binance, which regularly lists perpetual futures on most liquid crypto assets in demand.

Our Crypto Upvotes experts believe that if Binance is forced to reduce its share of this market. ByBit, as the next largest exchange in terms of trading volumes on the futures market, will benefit the most from this. Kraken and Coinbase will be able to pick up the remaining volumes, given that both have the necessary statuses and licenses to operate in the US.

When it comes to the global crypto market, Binance’s role as a player in the U.S. is not as significant compared to other states. Binance.US has tried to increase its share and its weight by buying distressed companies’ assets. Which left the market in 2022, but U.S. authorities prevented Binance from doing so.

What are the risks for exchange users?

Coinbase, Gemini, eToro, Kraken and some other platforms are much more present in the U.S. market than Binance. And also the volume of trades is ahead of its U.S. division. In this regard, leaving Binance from the North American market will not create difficulties for U.S. investors. Which have alternative exchanges, causing less questions from regulators.

For quite a long time Binance has been under the scrutiny of U.S. regulators. Major business media outlets have released several investigations about the internal structure of the exchange’s business. At the same time accusing it of various manipulations or non-transparent practices. The day after the CFTC lawsuit, the British Financial Times spoke about Binance’s longstanding ongoing relationship with China. And at the same time referring to internal documents, which came to the journalists of this edition. A few days before that, the exchange experienced a technical failure due to which it stopped trading for four hours. The cumulative negative events inevitably affected traders’ actions – in less than a week $2.2 billion worth of assets were withdrawn from this exchange.

In the context of the CFTC’s lawsuit, the fact that there is access to the correspondence of Binance employees is alarming. Our experts think that it might be an indirect evidence of an authorized “high-level” surveillance. Which could be due to investigations into very serious allegations. But thanks to the fairly distributed structure of Binance, we do not see any real risks of a complete trading stop or paralyzing difficulties.

The decision to withdraw assets from centralized exchanges depends on each investor’s individual needs and strategy! All investors need to keep in mind that withdrawing tokens to non-custodial wallets in and of themselves can seriously reduce risks of holding cryptocurrencies.

Launching your own crypto project and your own token can be a complicated process. But our experts will tell you what steps you need to take to get the results you want.

Determine the purpose of your token: Before creating a token, you need to determine its purpose. Will it be used as a utility token or security token? Will it be used as a means of payment or as a store of value?

Choose a blockchain platform: You will need to choose a blockchain platform to host your token. The most popular platforms are Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Solana.

Create a whitepaper: Your whitepaper should outline the purpose of your token, its technical specifications, and the use cases for it. It should also include information on the token distribution and any fundraising events.

Choose a token standard: You will need to choose a token standard such as ERC-20, BEP-20, or SPL. These standards dictate the rules for the token’s behavior and functionality.

Develop a Smart Contract and Deploy: Once you have decided on the token standard, you will need to develop a smart contract that defines the token’s behavior on the blockchain. The smart contract code contains the rules and logic of the token, including the token supply, distribution, and transaction rules.

Deploying a smart contract can be a complex process, and it is important to have a good understanding of the underlying technology and best practices. It is recommended to seek guidance from experts in the field and to thoroughly test your contract before deploying it to the mainnet. Our crypto marketing agency “Crypto Upvotes” can help you with smart contract development. This code will include the logic and rules for your token or application.

Marketing to attract investors: 

• Develop a Clear Value Proposition: Clearly articulate the value of your token and what problem it solves. This should be the foundation of your marketing message. 
• Build a Strong Community: Engage with potential investors and supporters on social media and community platforms. Provide regular updates on the progress of your project and encourage participation.
• Create Engaging Content: Produce high-quality content, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics, that educates and informs your target audience about your project and the benefits of your token.
• Participate in Crypto Events: Attend and participate in conferences and events in the crypto space to showcase your project and network with potential investors and partners.
• Leverage Paid Advertising: Consider using paid advertising companies such as Banner Ads on crypto platforms and MEDIA worldwide, Influencers Ads, or social media advertising such as Twitter promotion, Instagram promotion, Discord DMs to investors, WhatsApp DMs to investors, Telegram DMs to investors to reach a wider audience and increase awareness of your token.
• Engage with Crypto Media: Order press releases or sponsored articles in cryptocurrency-focused media to talk about your project and token. This can help create ads and increase visibility for your project.

Marketing and promotion for crypto project

Promoting and marketing crypto tokens requires a deep understanding of the target audience and crypto ecosystem. It is important to focus on building a strong community and providing regular updates on the progress of your project. Additionally, it is recommended to seek guidance from experts in the field to ensure that your marketing efforts are aligned with best practices. Our crypto marketing agency “Crypto Upvotes” can help you with this. We have many services to attract investors to your project. We can also draw up an individual marketing plan specifically for your project.

Launch the token: Once you have completed the previous steps, you can launch your token on the blockchain. Select the launchpad on which you will launch your token. You will need to distribute the tokens to investors, create a market for them, and comply with any regulatory requirements. 

Launching your own crypto-token requires technical knowledge and a lot of experience. It is recommended that you consult with experts in the field to ensure that you are following best practices and complying with all legal requirements. Our crypto marketing agency “Crypto Upvotes” will help with any problem. From developing a smart contract to listing a token on crypto exchanges. Contact our experts for the best advice and services.

Chinese banks offices in Hong Kong are trying to take advantage of the situation with the closure of cryptocurrency banks in the U.S. and take their place in an industry of digital assets in this region

Major Chinese banks have started offering banking services to cryptocurrency companies in Hong Kong. After cryptocurrency-friendly banks from the U.S. faced difficulties. Support for the industry from Chinese banks could fill the void and give a new boost to the industry in the region.

Over the past few months, Hong Kong branches of banks such as Bank of Communications, Bank of China and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank have reached out to local cryptocurrency firms to offer their services. And in one case, representatives from a Chinese bank even visited a cryptocurrency company’s office.

Due to regulatory uncertainties and the riskiness of digital assets, traditional financial institutions have usually avoided working with cryptocurrencies. But the latter need banking services to hold fiat money, pay staff and pay suppliers. According to Hong Kong cryptocurrencies, digital asset firms have been forced to find various workarounds to meet such operational banking needs.

At the same time, banks in Hong Kong did not routinely offer digital asset exchange services for fiat currencies. Therefore, many crypto firms turned to overseas banks such as Silvergate and Signature. Since the closure of these banks, crypto firms have had to look to them for a replacement. And industry representatives note that the “green light” from Beijing is opening up new opportunities for the market.

Hong Kong regulators to hold meeting between crypto companies and banks

Hong Kong authorities have scheduled a meeting of representatives of cryptocurrency companies and banks, according to Bloomberg. It will discuss the provision of banking services to firms working with digital assets.

The meeting will be held on April 28 at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and will be held jointly with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Both regulators oversee cryptocurrency activities. According to the announcement, the purpose of the discussion will be to “facilitate direct dialogue” between banks and cryptocurrencies and “share practical experiences and perspectives in opening and maintaining bank accounts.”

HKMA and SFC representatives told the publication that they would not comment on any details of the meeting. But they clarified that they are in dialogue with interested parties.

Huge benefit for Hong Kong

This year, Chinese government officials in Hong Kong started to frequently attend cryptocurrency events in Hong Kong. Industry participants see this as a positive attitude from Beijing toward Hong Kong’s intentions to become a cryptohub. Companies previously operating in mainland China (does not include Hong Kong and Macau), as well as foreign firms have begun to register their business in Hong Kong and plan to move to Chinese territory.

At the same time, the ability to open bank accounts and access banking services are among the priorities for companies from the crypto industry. Who intend to develop in this region. Banks in Hong Kong are well positioned to take advantage of the situation after the banking crashes in the U.S. While many Asian companies have partnered with friendly U.S. banks in the past, this is unlikely to happen again in the future due to regulatory issues.

Our experts note that Hong Kong would greatly benefit from such actions. However, the question remains whether the geopolitical climate will deter non-Asian crypto projects from cooperating with Chinese banks.

Net book value of digital assets of Playboy as of December dropped to $ 327 thousand. A year earlier the figure was equal to $ 6.8 million

PLBY Group, parent company of Playboy magazine, said it suffered a $4.9 million asset impairment loss in Ethereum (ETH) in 2022, according to its annual report. The company was accepting the leading altcoin as payment for its 2021 Rabbitars collection NFTs.

In 2021, the company received $7.8 million from the sale of NFTs. At the end of that year, however, it recorded a $1 million loss on their impairment. At the end of 2022, the value of the digital assets on the Playboy balance sheet was $327,000.

Digital assets as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 consisted of Ethereum cryptocurrency from the sale of NFT. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the carrying value of our digital assets was $0.3 million and $6.8 million, respectively. The digital asset impairment charges for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 were $4.9 million and $1 million, respectively.

Playboy explained that it accounts for its digital assets as “indefinite-lived intangible assets.” These are subject to impairment if their fair value falls below their carrying value at any time. Impairment losses that the company incurs on digital assets cannot be recovered. Even if the fair value of the assets increases after impairment losses are accepted.

The market price of a single Ethereum ranged from $964 to $3,813 during 2022. But book value of each Ethereum that Playboy owned at the end of a reporting period. It reflects the lowest price per Ethereum on the exchange at any time since it was received.

Our experts note that negative fluctuations in the market price of Ethereum could have a significant impact on Playboy’s profits and book value. While an increase in prices will only have a positive impact on company profits. If the tokens on the balance sheet are sold at a profit.

More than 1 billion users of leading Chinese social network WeChat can now use its function of fast payments in digital national currency to pay for goods and services

Leading Chinese social network WeChat has added support for digital yuan (e-CNY) to its payment services. This was reported by local publication The Paper. The integration of WeChat’s e-CNY fast payment feature should help expand the use of this form of currency promoted by the Chinese authorities.

The WeChat app, created by tech giant Tencent Holdings first as a messenger but has evolved into a full-fledged social network. It has more than 1.2 billion monthly active users. Now they can pay for goods and services in digital Yuan in certain WeChat mini-applications through the WeChat Pay system. In the future, the social network will add more options for using e-CNY.

Right now, there is a limit of 2 thousand yuan ($289) per transaction and a daily limit of 5 thousand yuan ($720).

The digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, is being tested in at least 26 Chinese provinces and cities. There are 5.6 million stores and businesses from the service sector taking part. As of the end of December 2022, e-CNY’s digital national currency payment volume was 13.61 billion yuan ($2 billion).

Our experts note that in December 2022, Alipay, Alibaba’s payment system, announced that it would begin accepting digital CNY. This system processes transactions between sellers and buyers on AliExpress. As well as on Taobao, Shanghai Bus, Youbao platforms and supermarket chains Tmall and Hema.

You will only be able to buy NFTs through your Amazon account with a bank card. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

The Amazon NFT Marketplace will launch on April 24, according to TheBigWhale. At first, a service called Amazon Digital Marketplace will be open only to U.S. users. But in future, customers from other countries, including Europe, will have access to it.

At launch, the site will feature 15 NFT collections. It will only be possible to buy NFTs through an Amazon account with a bank card. This method of payment was chosen to make it convenient for customers to use the service in the traditional way. At the same time not tying cryptocurrencies like Metamask to it.

To host a marketplace, Amazon chose a private blockchain platform that is not compatible with Ethereum. Therefore, developers who want their NFTs to be available on the new platform will have to use blockchain bridges (tools to transfer tokens between different networks).

Our experts note that Amazon is preparing to launch its own NFT-platform, it was reported in early January. At the time, it was known that US online retailer was considering launching blockchain games. Participants in such games will be able to receive digital tokens, and it plans to hold at least one NFT airdrop.

Cryptocurrency platforms providing liquid staking services came in second place in DeFi sector by volume of funds sent to them

Staking platforms came in second in terms of funds in the DeFi sector, overtaking lending services. According to DeFi platform Llama, the volume of total blocked value (TVL). Liquid staking platforms exceeded $14 billion, while TVL in cryptocurrency lending protocols is about $13.7 billion.

Liquid staking, allows users to earn from Ethereum stacking without having to make a mandatory deposit of 32 ETH. Users can send any amount of ETH or other Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrency coins to staking. Users will receive tokenized versions of their assets in return. For example, in form of stETH token in a 1:1 ratio. The latter can be used in parallel to generate additional income in DeFi-protocols. At the same time, you will not lose earnings from staking assets in the liquid staking service.

Decentralized exchanges (DEX) lead in terms of funds on DeFi-platforms. TVL on them is $19.3 billion. However, this category includes 716 services. While the staking services whose data is collected by the analytics platform are 71.

Over the last month, TVL of just one stacking protocol Lido increased by $1 billion to $9.3 billion, while this figure for leading DEX is almost twice as low: Curve has $4.9 billion, Uniswap has $4.1 billion, and Pancakeswap has $2.5 billion.

On February 25, the Lido team noted that it recorded the largest daily inflow of funds amounting to more than 150,000 ETH (about $245 million). According to crypto analyst Lookonchain, these funds were contributed by Tron blockchain founder and Huobi exchange chief Justin Sun.

On February 27, cryptoprotocol specialists from 0xScope noted that Sun continues to contribute funds to stake on Lido. Additionally, he sent another 88,000 ETH (about $144 million) there.

Reasons for growth

Our experts point out that the influx of funds into liquid staking protocols is caused by the fact that the Ethereum network is scheduled to start updating Shanghai in April 2023. Which will allow to withdraw previously blocked funds in ETH from staking. After it was revealed in January that developers had decided to focus on this particular upgrade feature, staking platform token rates soared by dozens percent and continue to rise.

Also, the growth in popularity of DeFi-protocols from this category was promoted by rumors about the possible ban on staking in USA. There has been no official confirmation of this yet. But the major U.S. exchange Kraken in early February closed stakng for U.S. customers at the request of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Hive Blockchain reported financial results for the last three months of 2022. It said it received 51.6% less profit from cryptocurrency mining in that period than it did a year earlier

The Ethereum blockchain’s transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm was one of the reasons for a $90 million loss at major miner Hive Blockchain for the fourth quarter of 2022. The company released its financial results for the last three months of last year. In doing so, it noted that in addition to September’s Ethereum update, the losses were also contributed to the decline in the price of digital assets. As well as on mining equipment at the end of last year.

Our experts note that this report shows that the miner generated $14.1 million in cryptocurrency mining revenue during that period, down 51.6 percent from a year earlier. And the gross profit earned by Hive from mining in the fourth quarter of last year was $3.6 million, down 77% from $15.9 million in the previous quarter.

According to Miner, the average mining cost per Bitcoin in the last three months of 2022 was $13,600. While the average Bitcoin price during that time was $18k. This increased BTC production costs by 37% over the previous quarter. The company revalued its mining equipment, which also led to a $38.8 million loss on Hive’s balance sheet.

Additional reasons for losses

In addition to the “Merger” and the strong decline in cryptocurrency prices from the end of 2021. Hive’s revenue was also driven by a significant increase in global Bitcoin hashrate and an annual increase in mining complexity of 60%, to nearly 40T.

At the same time, the company noted that it mined 787 BTC during this period. And this is 13% more than in the same period of 2021, when 697 Bitcoins were mined. According to the Hive team, this reflects continued growth in its operating hashrate.

Hive also reported that the fleet of GPUs formerly used to mine Ethereum is not currently idle. And it’s generating an average annual revenue of more than $1 million by being busy with computational workloads unrelated to mining digital assets.