Blackrock to explore Blockchain and Cryptocurrency sphere – No surprise here

Colleagues, the Cryptocurrency Academy predicted last month that we would see several large commercial banks and asset management firms will actively participate in the global Blockchain and Cryptocurrency arenas during the next 24-36 months. Since then have seen Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan – not to mention MasterCard - state their intentions to do just that. Without question adoption of Blockchain-based distributed ledger technology increase transaction speed while reducing OPEX is a de facto no-brainer for financial institutions. This will take time and R&D investment and more than a few such entities have filed Blockchain patent applications. We have also seen the steady rise in third party cryptocurrency Custodial Services. For many the next step is the establishment of crypto trading and investing services. Blackrock CEO Larry Fink is on record as saying that none of Blackrock’s institutional clients have “sought crypto exposure”. That is, for now. We expect that to change in the near future. Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Can Robinhood Effectively Compete Against the Top-Rate Crypto Trading Apps?

Colleagues, Coinbase, Bitworth, CryptoTrax, Zapo, Delta (aka “CoinDash”), Enjin, BTC.com and Investing.com-Cryptocurrency are among the most popular mobile apps available on both iOS and Android. These apps are commonly used by “millennial” crypto traders rather than institutional crypto investors. These apps are commonly viewed as “most popular” based upon 1) The number of cryptocurrencies they are equipped to trade, and 2) The market cap of the crypto assets they can trade (see CoinMarket Cap). Enter Robinhood. With much marketing fanfare the Robinhood app was designed with millennials in mind and began offering Bitcoin and Ethereum (the crypto assets with the largest market caps) earlier this year. Last week Robinhood announced that it would now trade Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. Bottom line two-fold question: 1) Can Robinhood – despite the number of crypto assets it can trade compete against the more established apps, and 2) Just how many mobile trading apps does the global crypto sphere really need? The Cryptocurrency Academy predicts a pending shakeout and consolidation of crypto trading apps over the coming 24-36 months. Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

The Battle to capture Institutions for Crypto Custody Services Heats Up

Colleagues, firms such as BitGo, Ledger, Coinbase and Madison Trust are all vying for institutional clients for their Cryptocurrency Custody services. Custodian services catering to large institutions is a growing and vital element of the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem. Such competition is one more indicator that crypto assets are crossing the chasm from individual traders to corporate and heavy weight institutions. For example, Madison Trust offers both Directed and Self-Directed IRA instruments for RIAs. Registered Investment Advisors are required to annually register with the SEC and disclose any conflicts of interest they have regarding the transactions they execute for their clients. A key data point is the Charles Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study which show steady grow in custodian services. While this study is rather conventional, what is really needed is a comparable benchmarking study of crypto assets under custodial management. The Cryptocurrency Academy fully expects crypto assets to comprise an increasingly higher percent of all assets under RIA management. Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Are we approaching an Era of Regulatory Approval of Crypto Investments in the Global Equity Markets?

Colleagues, South Korea and the UK are recognized as nations which are rapidly adopting cryptocurrencies along with a push toward strengthened regulatory environments. During mid-late July of a number of South Korean political parties are expected to propose legislation focused on regulating cryptocurrencies, ICOs and Blockchain-based investing. Concurrently, the UK is moving toward public companies with equities which can tokenized and issued within a fully compliant custody, settlement and clearing systems. Two small firms - 20|30 and Nivaura – are providing distributed ledger and corporate equity issuance. So how do these trends bode for the rest of the first-world cryptocurrency arena? The Crytocurrency Academy assumes that government regulators in the US, China, Russia and beyond are closely monitoring these developments. Moreover, if and when these programs transition from pilot to mass adoption other nations will closely follow. Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Do Blockchain Firewalls Represent the Next Generation of Internet Security?

Colleagues, amid the fanfare of R3’s recent launch of the first Blockchain-based firewall the fundamental question is whether Corda Enterprise does in fact represent a new era of improved network and Internet security? Corda states it is able to limit communication between Blockchain nodes operating in different environments, and with different informational needs from their network. in any Blockchain architecture each node uses point-to-point messaging to communicate with other peer nodes. It would be naïve to deploy the Blockchain node in the DMZ with a public IP address. By targeting specific nodes, an attacker can influence how consensuses are reached and possibly even halt the Blockchain operation. To provide additional security to the Blockchain nodes. One technique is to filter network traffic, thus implementing a firewall for Blockchain applications. Cisco projects they can provide access control functionality which can effectively mitigate flooding attacks from multiple sources at simultaneously. Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

Are we seeing the emergence of a dualistic world order for Crypto Exchanges?

Colleagues, as if the crypto universe needs another twenty-five exchanges. Well the Philippine government appears to foresee economic growth and the opportunity to compete with the US, China, the Ukraine, India and South Korea. Formation of the special economic zone recently approved by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) to serve both purposes. Bottom line questions: 1) Just how many crypto exchanges does the world need? and, 2) Can the Philippines financial and regulatory environment attract top-tier exchanges? The Cryptocurrency Academy is pro-competition, yet we question the ever-increasing number of exchanges around the globe … when in fact the five largest exchanges manage some 75% of all crypto transactions (see Crypto Coin Charts). We see the emergence of a dualistic crypto exchange world order whereby the 5-10 largest exchanges control the majority of “first-world” transactions in a reasonably secure and transparent manner. And in contrast, a multitude of micro- and/or specialty- exchanges process transactions for the “darker” side of the crypto world with little regulation and appeal to traders who seek to keep their transactions away from public scrutiny.  Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Bittrex & Invest.com: Does the Cryptocurrency World Need Yet Another Trading Exchange Platform?

Colleagues, US-based Bittrex and invest.com, a fintech startup based in London plan to launch a new EU-focused crypto trading platform. Skeptics abound as these same two firms had a false start earlier this year with the Zodiac exchange that was aimed at the retail market. The exchange in question has yet to be launched and information online regarding the platform has been sketchy at best. According to Crypto Coin Charts the five largest exchanges based upon overall trading volume are: Binance, BitFinex, HitBTC, Houbi and Coinbase GDAX. In aggregate these exchanges process some 75% of all cryptocurrency transactions worldwide. From a macro perspective the crypto segment is still in its infancy and the need for innovation is great. The Cryptocurrency Academy believes that a bona fide next gen platform which can manage multiple currencies with a high degree of security, speed and usability is needed. Bottom line question: Is the crypto world better off improving existing exchanges or developing new “purpose-built” exchanges? You make the call. Post a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)