JUST IN: Drake has bet $275,000 in #Bitcoin on Jorge Masvidal to win tonights #UFC272 main event against Colby Covington. He doesnt have any knowledge in UFC but this wont hurt him too bad lol.... MORE -> https://worldnewsinpictures.com/colby
Saturday, March 5, 2022
Web3 Ecosystem and Beyond: Top Challenges That Analog Wants To Address
Thirteen years ago, a cryptographer named Satoshi Nakamoto published a whitepaper in an obscure cryptography listserv outlining a new peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currency he called Bitcoin. Nakamoto’s creation — Blockchain — cracked the double-spending problem that had hampered the development and unveiling of digital currencies for decades.
Blockchain changed our perception of what constitutes money, including its storage and transfer of value. However, what makes Blockchain truly disruptive is its potential for applications outside the realm of Bitcoin transactions. Today, there are thousands of startups using Blockchain in areas such as payments, banking, supply chain, identity and reputation, and cybersecurity, among others.
Despite the many sectors that Blockchain has impacted, there are also issues about the technology that are still preventing it from going mainstream. By now, we expected the technology to have reached mainstream adoption the same way the internet grew in the 1990s and early 2000s.
According to Statista, the number of Blockchain users (as measured by Blockchain wallets) reached 70 million by the end of March 2021. This represents a paltry 0.9% of the world population, which currently stands at 7.9 billion as of February 2022.
In this post, we delve deeper to explore four main concerns stemming Blockchain from widespread adoption.
Blockchain Challenges
Stakeholders in the Blockchain sector must address many issues ranging from user experience to steep learning curves to push back from existing power structures before the technology is widely adopted. However, we believe that the sector will need to tackle the following four major hurdles to achieve mass adoption:
- Lack of an interoperability framework
Dozens of new Blockchain-based projects are emerging each year, with each project promising to develop the “best” Blockchain. The companies behind these projects often emphasize their products’ alleged “market-readiness,” arguing that their cryptosystems are more secure and scalable than their competitors.
Whether such assertions are factual or not, these projects represent stand-alone and disconnected Blockchains. The unveiled Blockchains entail different ecosystems, consensus protocols, hashing algorithms, and communities. Consequently, the Blockchain sector has increasingly become siloed, undermining decentralization, its core philosophy.
For example, the Ethereum network exists fully independent of the Solana Blockchain — in the sense that it has no knowledge of Solana’s consensus protocol or smart contracts. While existing bridges such as Neon EVM may allow Ethereum-like transactions to run inside Solana’s runtime, they do not offer full interoperability functionalities.
For example, Solana’s runtime restricts the resources that Ethereum-like transactions need because of the need to optimize hardware usage. This situation doesn’t portend well for the sector. Let us consider a world where Blockchain actually goes mainstream.
Now, suppose a patient — whose healthcare records are stored in Blockchain A — needs to be transferred to another hospital using a different Blockchain, say B. If the two Blockchains are not interoperable, the referred hospital cannot access the patient’s medical data. Because of the interoperability problem, many hospitals are reluctant to adopt Blockchains.
- Lack of scalability
Legacy transaction networks usually process thousands of transactions per second (tps). Visa, for example, can process an average of 1,700 tps. Meanwhile, Bitcoin can only handle a paltry 5 tps, with Ethereum handling roughly 15 tps. The sluggish transaction speeds in public Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum is a major concern for companies that rely on high-performance legacy networks.
Because of performance issues, Bitcoin and Ethereum are facing stiff competition from emerging Blockchains like Solana which can process as high as 65,000 tps. Despite the massive speed, Solana has suffered a series of outages in the recent past and the network is less decentralized than Bitcoin and Ethereum. This makes it more vulnerable to security hacks and issues.
In a proof-of-work (PoW)-powered public Blockchain, the network broadcasts all the transactions and blocks, validates them, and stores them in each node in a decentralized and P2P fashion. This process ensures that the entire chain is stable, immutable, and secure as long as more than half of the nodes are honest.
However, achieving an honest majority is costly on the scalability side because all nodes need to agree about the status of the ledger. Scalability is not such an issue in permissioned Blockchains because the network purposefully selects nodes to validate blocks in a trusted environment.
However, while permissioned Blockchains may make business sense because of high throughput, these networks’ scalability often comes at the cost of sacrificing security and decentralization.
- Lack of regulatory clarity
Regulatory regimes have always struggled to keep up with developments in technology, and Blockchain is no exception. One of the hurdles of Blockchain (which is also its original motivation) is that it eliminates oversight. Even though many organizations are increasingly using Blockchain to transact, two key regulatory issues remain unresolved.
The first is that nodes in a decentralized network can span multiple jurisdictions. This makes it difficult to establish which authorities’ laws and regulations can apply to a given decentralized application (dApp). There is a risk that transactions undertaken by one company could fall under every jurisdiction where the decentralized nodes are situated, resulting in overwhelming regulations and laws that could apply to transactions in such an ecosystem.
The second is that crypto-assets appear to be difficult to regulate. The challenge for regulators largely lies in classifying crypto assets that exist, with many arguing that they represent an entirely new asset class. While this classification may be true of tokens that operate like securities, utility tokens are not the case.
For example, under the “Howey Test” framework, utility tokens cannot qualify as securities because they function far more like promotional tools and do not grant ownership stakes in the organizations. Moreover, you cannot classify all tokens as securities because they can simultaneously work across multiple classes: as cryptocurrencies, as traditional securities, or as voting instruments, among others.
- Lack of privacy
Blockchain was unveiled to facilitate P2P transactions without the need for a trusted intermediary. In a permissionless Blockchain, no single entity takes responsibility for the network’s security or availability, and all nodes can access the stored transactions and even write to the ledger.
These features conflict with privacy and data protection measures, which require the controller and processor to safeguard the security and confidentiality of data on behalf of users or “data subjects.” For example, under the general data protection regulations (GDPRs), both controllers and processors have distinct obligations to safeguard privacy.
In a Blockchain environment, parties that submit personal data and transactions to the network are more likely to be deemed controllers under the GDPR as they determine processing aspects. Similarly, validators or miners that process the transactions are more likely to become processors because they facilitate the network’s operations.
Achieving privacy in such an environment is impractical because the system verifies transactions by chaining the personal details (sender’s and recipient’s addresses) and input/output values on the chain. Because the addresses records are public and pseudonymous, any user can derive personal data from them.
What Is the Analog Network Trying to Solve?
Blockchain has made tremendous strides and widespread adoption in recent years. Its impact can only be compared to that of the internet. However, mainstream adoption of the technology is still a mirage. At Analog, we believe Blockchain can only make a meaningful impact if interoperability, scalability, and privacy issues are addressed.
Our primary goal is to create a layer-0, cross-chain platform that powers the next generation of time-based dApps. We believe that interoperability is inevitable because there is no one-size-fits-all platform when it comes to Blockchains, not even Analog. As a fully decentralized network, the Analog network will complement both new and existing Blockchains, allowing them to seamlessly exchange value.
Aside from interoperability, the Analog network is also scalable. Our proof-of-time (PoT) is unlike any other in the industry. In PoW-powered Blockchains, for example, miners must expend high computational resources to confirm blocks in the network in an unfair process.
In Analog, every online user who possesses $ANLOG tokens and has a high ranking score can propose blocks. Users do not utilize their spending keys (i.e., keys that manage their coins) for block proposal and consensus to minimize exposure. Instead, any user who wants to propose or confirm blocks generates a participation key. Using the participation key ensures that users’ $ANLOG coins remain secure even if the participating time nodes get compromised. What differentiates the PoT from other consensus protocols is that any node can propose and confirm blocks provided it has a higher ranking score and has staked a fixed amount of $ANLOG tokens that the protocol specifies. The protocol uses a verifiable delay function (VDF) which behaves similarly to a weighted lottery process to determine which nodes validate and confirm event data. It is as if every $ANLOG in an account generates its own lottery ticket in a self-selection process to propose or confirm blocks. The VDF protocol also ensures that the Analog network has minimal latency.
Besides scalability, Analog is also privacy-oriented. The platform also uses zero-knowledge scalable transparent arguments of knowledge (zk-STARKs). This is a highly secure cryptographic protocol that uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to create encrypted data that users can easily share without worrying about their privacy. We believe the use of zk-STARKs on the Analog platform guarantees security even under quantum computing environments. Most importantly, the platform is interoperable. Analog is an Omni-chain platform where validated event data can flow seamlessly through all platforms. Unlike multi-chain ecosystems where multiple networks connect to a single chain such as Ethereum or Solana but not to each other, Analog is a genuine interoperable solution that ushers in a new era of cross-chain, time-dependent dApps.
Learn more about the Analog network from the links below:
Website: https://www.analog.one
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogToken/
Medium: https://medium.com/@analogtime
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/analogpost
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/analogone
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/analogoneofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneAnalog
You can also join the chat and learn more about the Analog network from the following community channels:
Telegram: https://t.me/analogtimer
Telegram (Announcements): https://t.me/analogannouncements
Discord: https://discord.gg/jacDmeyQge
New word added to #SLictionary Maxwellian, /maksˈ welēən/, [adjective]: "characteristic of the writings of BlockStream co-founder Greg Maxwell, especially with reference to his misleading and fictional narration of events in the Bitcoin space."
https://twitter.com/cryptorebel_SV/status/1500232496767717377
The Crypto 411 is Not a token! It is a TG information channel set up to protect investors. It is the only investor group that has a AI contract scanner built into the Channel.
You can scan all BSC contracts for free at the 411. Discuss your plays, ask questions about anything Crypto in real time. We have a Solidity developer and the CEO's from some of the top tokens as members. Get into SAFU pre-sales first, get tips on when it's time to sell. We hold AMA's that inform and enrich investors. We show how to use Twitter to promote your investments. Please get informed and join the 411!
We are not limited to BSC and we discuss all tokens on the following Networks!
ETH, BNB, Polygon, Fantom, CRO, AVAX, WAN, OASIS, VLX, KCC, METIS, OP, ARBITRUM, CELO, TELOS, AURORA, MOONBEAM, MOONRIVER and whatever new is coming up next!
What is Crypto?
A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange that is digital, encrypted, decentralized and secured by cryptography which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Many cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology – a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers known as miners. A defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority, rendering them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. Unlike the U.S. Dollar or the Euro, there is no central authority that manages and maintains the value of a cryptocurrency
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain is a system in which a record of transactions made in cryptocurrency is maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network. As the name suggests, it is a chain of blocks. Each block holds a historical database of all cryptocurrency transactions made until the block is full. It’s a permanent record, like a bag of data that can be opened and viewed at any time.
What is a CEX / CeFi?
A CEX - centralized exchange is a platform that offers a convenient on and off ramp of your local currencies, such as the US Dollar or Euro, which allows cryptocurrency investors to buy and sell crypto assets on the live market using FIAT currencies or other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. CEX are sometimes referred to as the middleman for investors by offering an order book service that pairs each buyer with a seller - and vise-versa. An easy way to think about this topic is as follows; when you use a credit card at any vendor, you are allowing the credit card company to be the middleman between you and the vendor. This is similar to the way centralized exchanges work.
CEX normally offers a better trading experience by providing a simplistic user-friendly interface that allows the trader to easily understand, place trades, and view balances. Some CEX's offer premium features like leveraged trading, limit orders, and stop losses.
Examples of CEX: Crypto.com, Binance.com / Binance.US, Coinbase.com
What is a DEX / DeFi?
A Decentralized Exchange (DEX) is a peer-to-peer marketplace where crypto traders can directly transact with each other without the need of a middleman/intermediary. While transactions on a centralized exchange are recorded on the exchange's database, DEX transactions are settled directly on the blockchain.
Unlike centralized exchanges, DEX's don't allow for exchanges between FIAT and crypto.
Arguably, the most notable differences between the two is that CEX's offer a more user-friendly interface, crypto to FIAT on/off-ramping and a limited but vetted cryptocurrencies whereas DEX's offer a vast variety of unvetted tokens in their infancy, anonymity, speedy transactions and trader's funds are stored directly on their own wallet.
Examples of Decentralized exchanges : Uniswap on Ethereum PancakeSwap on Binance Smart Chain VVS on Cronos
What is a crypto wallet? (hot / cold)
A crypto wallet is defined by a unique code that represents its “address” on the blockchain. The wallet address is public, but within it is a set of private keys determining ownership of the balance and the balance itself. There are different forms of wallets such as software, hardware, paper, or other forms. Furthermore, there are two types of wallets, referred to as either “hot” or “cold” wallets. The difference between the two is that the hot wallet requires an internet connection whereas cold wallets do not require one. Examples of hot wallets are : Exchanges, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Phantom Wallet
What is a smart contract?
When a contract is written in a computer code, as opposed to traditional legal language, it is deemed a smart contract. This programmed contract is set up to execute, control or document relevant events or actions automatically according to the agreement, thus allowing parties to agree to complex terms without needing to trust each other and without involvement of third parties.
What is Web 1/2/3?
The first version of the world wide web is the Web 1.0 where users were limited to reading information provided by the content producers. An example of Web 1.0 are static websites and personal sites.
The Web 2.0, also referred to as Social Web, was not limited to reading information only but rather allowed users to communicate with other users. This means that every user can be a content creator as content is distributed and shared between sites. Some of the famous Web 2.0 applications are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
The Web 3.0 , also known as "Semantic Web" is also referred to as the future of Web. The purpose of Web 3.0 is to make the Web readable by machines rather than only by humans, and this is accomplished thanks to a Metadata system. Other technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are also found in Web 3.0, Apple's SIRI being one example of such application.
A simple guide in distinguishing the difference between Web Version is as follows:
Web 1.0 = Read Web 2.0 = Read-Write Web 3.0 = Read-Write-Execute
Known Scams: Rug Pull / Honeypot
Crypto has opened up new and revolutionary ways of investing, but along with the potential for great returns comes great risk of losing money to scams. Investors can increase their security by avoiding the red flags of crypto scams and rug pulls. Common warning signs of crypto scams are fake testimonials, unlicensed or unregistered sellers,promises of guaranteed high returns, websites or messages having many spelling/grammar errors and depicting rapidly increasing investment accounts, among others.
Rug pulls are inherently more difficult to spot as there are various ways in which the founders/team members of a project are able to do that. Most frequently used method is by using smart contract functions maliciously. Investors can mitigate some of these risks by taking the time to do proper research on various aspects such as scanning the smart contract for malicious functions (audits), research team members (KYC), search the website and project documentations such as gitbook or whitepaper.
What are gas/gas fees?
Gas is essentially a fee that is required to execute a transaction on the blockchain. Fees vary according to blockchain and are paid in native tokens. For instance, BNB is the native token for the Binance Smart chain (BSC) and thus all gas fees are paid in BNB.
What is a blockchain explorer?
A blockchain explorer is an online tool for exploring the blockchain of a cryptocurrency, where you can watch and follow all the transactions happening on the blockchain in real time. Block explorers can serve as blockchain analysis and provide information such as total network hash rate, coin supply, transaction growth, etc.
What is a bridge and how to use it?
A cryptocurrency bridge is an interoperability protocol which allows the transfer of tokens or data from one network to another. Bridges generally use a mint-and-burn protocol to keep the tokens supply constant on all platforms. When a token leaves one blockchain, said token is burned or locked and an equivalent token is minted on the opposite blockchain. When said token is moved back to its original network, the newly minted equivalent token is burned or locked. Thus keeping a constant supply across all platforms.
What is staking?
The concept of Crypto staking is primarily used in proof-of-stake blockchain and it involves committing holdings to support a proof-of-stake blockchain network and confirm the transactions. For their contribution to the network, participants are rewarded with tokens and thus earn passive income on their holdings. As the technology evolves, however, more applications have been making use of this concept such as launchpads, NFT's and most notably in the DeFi sector. For instance, most launchpads have adapted a staking system where participants are required to stake a set amount of tokens to be eligible for a guaranteed allocation in projects using said launchpad.
Compared to traditional markets, staking cryptocurrencies offer much higher returns mainly because there are no third party fees and a portion of all transaction rewards go directly to the staking pool as rewards to participants.
What are liquidity tokens?
For decentralized exchanges (DEX) that offer an automated market makers protocol (AMMs) like Uniswap, Sushi, and PancakeSwap, crypto liquidity providers must contribute/stake assets to crypto liquidity pools (LP). When tokens are deposited into a crypto liquidity pool, the platform automatically generates a new token that represents the share the depositor owns of that pool. This is called liquidity provider tokens (LPT) . Liquidity pool tokens are held in providers' DeFi wallet until they are removed from the Liquidity Pool. In that case, the LPT's are reverted back to the pair of assets provided according to the participants share of the pool.
What is liquidity farming?
Funds are locked, or staked, into smart contracts that control the liquidity pools DeFi lending protocols rely on. These are simply pooled funds from which borrowers draw funds. Pool members earn a share of the interest received based on how much they have locked.
What is liquidity mining?
Liquidity mining is a process in which crypto holders lend assets to a decentralized exchange in return for rewards. These rewards commonly stem from trading fees that are accrued from traders swapping tokens.
What is Fiat Currency?
Fiat currency is a medium of exchange in the form of physical money, issued and backed by the government. Most modern currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, euro, pound, and yen, are all fiat currencies. The value of fiat money depends on supply and demand, which is controlled by central banks who gauge how much money is needed in the economy and print accordingly. The current fiat-money system came about during the 20th century when countries moved away from the gold standard. Because fiat money is not linked to physical reserves, such as a national stockpile of gold or silver, it risks losing value due to inflation or even becoming worthless in the event of hyperinflation. There are currently over 180 fiat currencies in the world today.
Tether And The City Of Lugano Presented Its “Plan B.” What Did We Learn?
The City of Lugano in Switzerland, the most important Italian-speaking city outside of Italy, is not playing around. The goal of their “Plan B” is to “make Lugano the blockchain hub for the entire Europe,” according to Tether’s Paolo Ardoino, and it will probably succeed. The city wants to attract investment and talent, attract wealth and smart minds, and they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
Why do they have to brand their plan using bitcoin’s name, though? In NewsBTC’s previous article about the project we were very critical, and even raised the possibility of this being an affinity scam. Bitcoin name is heavily used in all promotional materials, but the protagonists talk about blockchain and crypto like there’s no tomorrow. Why would Tether Ltd. and its partners not make this a crypto project and call it a day?
We closed said article giving them the benefit of the doubt:
“And here comes the Mayor of the city of Lugano and Tether to sing bitcoin’s praises. A “blockchain not bitcoin” guy and the organization behind the most controversial stablecoin. Even though it’s suspicious, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and hear what they have to say. They might surprise us at the March 3rd conference. Maybe Lugano has a Plan B after all.”
Do they have a Plan B? Let’s find out.
Bitcoin Legal Tender In Lugano. And USDT. And LVGA The story’s headline is that Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA, the city’s own cryptocurrency, will be legal tender in Lugano. Residents will be able to “pay all personal and corporate municipal taxes” in any of those cryptocurrencies. Besides that, the city’s authorities have already onboarded 200+ shops and businesses to accept them.
There’s more though. You’ll be able to use bitcoin, USDT, and LVGA to pay for: public services, parking tickets, dog taxes, ID and passport issuance fees, naturalization fees, construction permit fees, boat docking fees, tuition and meal fees, garbage taxes, signature authorization, access to public infrastructure, access to public events, rental spaces for events, and cemetery taxes.
Who Presented The News And What Did They Say? The panel consisted of:
- Michele Foletti, the city’s Mayor, who spoke in Italian.
- Jan Ludovicus van der Velde, CEO of Tether, who spoke via video.
- Pietro Poretti, economic development division for the City of Lugano.
- Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether
The Mayor said that “Lugano is, historically, a land of technological innovation and freedom.” He believes that “Bitcoin, blockchain, and crypto” should be “disseminated and accessible to all.” And that he’s convinced “that this journey will bring benefits to all the citizens and that’s why this is our commitment.”
Jan Ludovicus van der Velde briefly recapitulated bitcoin’s history and talked about the value of open-source software. About cryptocurrencies, he said that while the adoption is wide scaled, in practice, “we lack the ability to exchange with the local bakeries and tailors. We lack the ability to pay for higher education or automobiles. We’re stuck waiting for the world to catch up to the future of financial freedom.”
About “Plan B” specifically, van der Velde said, “We envision blockchain touching every facet of this city.”
NEW: Switzerland's City of Lugano will "roll the red carpet" for #Bitcoin businesses and enthusiasts pic.twitter.com/2hujg4V4wm
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) March 3, 2022
Paolo Ardoino stated that “with this Plan B we want to show that the tooling, the instruments, that we’re creating can be actually put to work in a local, controlled, vibrant environment like the City of Lugano.” While Pietro Poretti said that the plan was to “create the ideal conditions for companies to thrive.” They both carried the conference and announced everything else in this article.
Ardoino also explained why they chose Lugano. Among other things:
- It’s in the center of Europe.
- Switzerland is safe and secure.
- The city is near big airports.
-
It has forward-looking institutions and administration.
BTC price chart for 03/04/2022 on Coinbase | Source: BTC/USDT on TradingView.com What Does Lugano ‘s “Plan B” Consists Of, Exactly? The only mention of something bitcoin-specific goes to Paolo Ardoino, who sang the Lightning Network’s praises and expressed his wishes for Lugano to be the “first wide adopter.” We know he meant after the legendary Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, of course.
Ardoino also announced a 100 million CHF fund “for start-ups that want to relocate here and want to put their headquarter here.” “Infrastructure partners like Polygon” made the fund possible. One of USDT’s versions runs on the Ethereum Layer 2 chain, and in this conference, we learned that LVGA, the city’s coin, also runs on Polygon rails.
Besides that fund, Lugano’s “Plan B” consists of:
- A “Start-up hub for 25+ innovative companies”
- A “space for meetups and workshops open to the public.”
- “3+ million CHF investment into practical grassroot blockchain projects”
-
“500+ student grants for education in bitcoin and decentralized technologies.” According to Poretti, this whole thing isn’t possible without “synergy with academia.”
Announcing The Bitcoin World Forum From October 26th to 28th, at Lugano’s Palazzo dei Congressi, there will be a huge conference. So far, the confirmed speakers are Blockstream’s Adam Back, bitcoin ambassador Samson Mow, and the controversial Max Keiser. More guests are to be announced.
Keep your eye on NewsBTC for following stories about the Bitcoin World Forum and Lugano’s “Plan B.”
Featured Image: Lugano's Plan B announcement, screenshot from the video | Charts by TradingView See more on https://bit.ly/3tmEOI8
Tether And The City Of Lugano Presented Its “Plan B.” What Did We Learn?
The City of Lugano in Switzerland, the most important Italian-speaking city outside of Italy, is not playing around. The goal of their “Plan B” is to “make Lugano the blockchain hub for the entire Europe,” according to Tether’s Paolo Ardoino, and it will probably succeed. The city wants to attract investment and talent, attract wealth and smart minds, and they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
Why do they have to brand their plan using bitcoin’s name, though? In NewsBTC’s previous article about the project we were very critical, and even raised the possibility of this being an affinity scam. Bitcoin name is heavily used in all promotional materials, but the protagonists talk about blockchain and crypto like there’s no tomorrow. Why would Tether Ltd. and its partners not make this a crypto project and call it a day?
We closed said article giving them the benefit of the doubt:
“And here comes the Mayor of the city of Lugano and Tether to sing bitcoin’s praises. A “blockchain not bitcoin” guy and the organization behind the most controversial stablecoin. Even though it’s suspicious, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and hear what they have to say. They might surprise us at the March 3rd conference. Maybe Lugano has a Plan B after all.”
Do they have a Plan B? Let’s find out.
Bitcoin Legal Tender In Lugano. And USDT. And LVGA
The story’s headline is that Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA, the city’s own cryptocurrency, will be legal tender in Lugano. Residents will be able to “pay all personal and corporate municipal taxes” in any of those cryptocurrencies. Besides that, the city’s authorities have already onboarded 200+ shops and businesses to accept them.
There’s more though. You’ll be able to use bitcoin, USDT, and LVGA to pay for: public services, parking tickets, dog taxes, ID and passport issuance fees, naturalization fees, construction permit fees, boat docking fees, tuition and meal fees, garbage taxes, signature authorization, access to public infrastructure, access to public events, rental spaces for events, and cemetery taxes.
Who Presented The News And What Did They Say?
The panel consisted of:
- Michele Foletti, the city’s Mayor, who spoke in Italian.
- Jan Ludovicus van der Velde, CEO of Tether, who spoke via video.
- Pietro Poretti, economic development division for the City of Lugano.
- Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether
The Mayor said that “Lugano is, historically, a land of technological innovation and freedom.” He believes that “Bitcoin, blockchain, and crypto” should be “disseminated and accessible to all.” And that he’s convinced “that this journey will bring benefits to all the citizens and that’s why this is our commitment.”
Jan Ludovicus van der Velde briefly recapitulated bitcoin’s history and talked about the value of open-source software. About cryptocurrencies, he said that while the adoption is wide scaled, in practice, “we lack the ability to exchange with the local bakeries and tailors. We lack the ability to pay for higher education or automobiles. We’re stuck waiting for the world to catch up to the future of financial freedom.”
About “Plan B” specifically, van der Velde said, “We envision blockchain touching every facet of this city.”
NEW: Switzerland's City of Lugano will "roll the red carpet" for #Bitcoin businesses and enthusiasts pic.twitter.com/2hujg4V4wm
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) March 3, 2022
Paolo Ardoino stated that “with this Plan B we want to show that the tooling, the instruments, that we’re creating can be actually put to work in a local, controlled, vibrant environment like the City of Lugano.” While Pietro Poretti said that the plan was to “create the ideal conditions for companies to thrive.” They both carried the conference and announced everything else in this article.
Ardoino also explained why they chose Lugano. Among other things:
- It’s in the center of Europe.
- Switzerland is safe and secure.
- The city is near big airports.
- It has forward-looking institutions and administration.
BTC price chart for 03/04/2022 on Coinbase | Source: BTC/USDT on TradingView.com
What Does Lugano ‘s “Plan B” Consists Of, Exactly?
The only mention of something bitcoin-specific goes to Paolo Ardoino, who sang the Lightning Network’s praises and expressed his wishes for Lugano to be the “first wide adopter.” We know he meant after the legendary Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, of course.
Ardoino also announced a 100 million CHF fund “for start-ups that want to relocate here and want to put their headquarter here.” “Infrastructure partners like Polygon” made the fund possible. One of USDT’s versions runs on the Ethereum Layer 2 chain, and in this conference, we learned that LVGA, the city’s coin, also runs on Polygon rails.
Besides that fund, Lugano’s “Plan B” consists of:
- A “Start-up hub for 25+ innovative companies”
- A “space for meetups and workshops open to the public.”
- “3+ million CHF investment into practical grassroot blockchain projects”
- “500+ student grants for education in bitcoin and decentralized technologies.” According to Poretti, this whole thing isn’t possible without “synergy with academia.”
Announcing The Bitcoin World Forum
From October 26th to 28th, at Lugano’s Palazzo dei Congressi, there will be a huge conference. So far, the confirmed speakers are Blockstream’s Adam Back, bitcoin ambassador Samson Mow, and the controversial Max Keiser. More guests are to be announced.
Keep your eye on NewsBTC for following stories about the Bitcoin World Forum and Lugano’s “Plan B.”
Featured Image: Lugano’s Plan B announcement, screenshot from the video | Charts by TradingView
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via IFTTT
Coinbetter: Looking at Bitcoin's Anti-risk Ability from the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict
In the past few days, many countries such as the United States and Europe have continued to increase economic sanctions against Russia, and Russia's economic counter-sanctions have also been continuously strengthened.
On February 26th, the White House of the United States issued a joint statement that it will join European countries to impose financial sanctions on Russia, including removing some Russian banks from the SWIFT system and restricting the Russian central bank from placing international reserves. On March 2nd, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree aimed at stabilizing the Russian financial market. According to this order, from March 2nd, citizens are prohibited from carrying foreign currency, cash or payment instruments of the equivalent value of more than 10,000 US dollars. out of the country.
It is obvious that the financial "confrontation" between the United States and Europe and other Western countries and Russia is constantly intensifying. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has not only brought the financial systems of the two countries to the brink of collapse, but the world economic system has also been greatly conflicted.
Driven by this series of financial backgrounds, global risk aversion pushed the price of gold higher, which was running around $1,915 an ounce, with a cumulative increase of nearly 5% during the year. Some investors believe that gold is an efficient safe-haven asset that can help investors hedge against tail risk events. At the same time, Bitcoin is also favored by market funds as an emerging safe-haven asset. The latest data shows that $260 billion has poured into cryptocurrencies in a single week. Among them, the Ukrainian hryvnia transaction volume and the number of Russian users hit record highs.
According to Coinbetter’s market data, the price of bitcoin soared from $35,000 to $44,000, and is now back around $42,381.
Coinbetter experts believe that it is precisely because of the frenzied buying in a short period of time by Ukrainians and Russians under geopolitical conflict and financial sanctions that the price has risen. Because of the uncertainty of the external environment, both parties and individuals, companies and even government agencies around the world are looking for targets that can replace traditional assets, and cryptocurrencies led by Bitcoin are becoming more and more attractive to investors.
A few days ago, Barry Silbert, founder of Grayscale’s parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), tweeted that Bitcoin looks good and we are buying.
All of the above points to Coinbetter's speculation that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies around the world will reach a peak.
As JPMorgan pointed out in a note on March 2nd, the cryptocurrency market has more upside ahead as inflows into the stablecoin market have surged over the past week. Morgan emphasized that stablecoins’ market share in the overall cryptocurrency market has soared to an all-time high of about 10 percent, which means there will be more upside for the general cryptocurrency market, as stablecoins are “often used as fiat to crypto. The initial tool for currency conversion".
Although under various circumstances such as tightening monetary policy, geopolitical tension, and intensified economic sanctions, the crypto market around the world will suffer a setback to varying degrees, and a short-term downturn is inevitable, but in the past few days, Bitcoin’s ability to hedge against catastrophic events has surpassed other cryptocurrencies, and its share of the entire cryptocurrency market has risen to 43%.
Of course, Coinbetter still maintains a developmental perspective on Bitcoin's anti-risk capabilities. The emergence of Bitcoin has provided global investors with a new type of global safe-haven asset, and the excellent performance of the short-term market has proved its long-term strong vitality and growing global consensus. This will qualitatively improve Bitcoin's hedging ability against catastrophic events.
Finally, Coinbetter also reminds users that there are risks in the market, the uncertainty of the external environment continues to increase, and investment needs to be rational.
Is Russia going to make Bitcoin legal tender?
Given the recent events such as the collapse of the Russian Ruble, the possible SWIFT block, sanctions and so on, do you think it would be reasonable for Russia to make Bitcoin legal tender? And if so, is this good for BTC?
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