Author: Editorial Office CVJ.CH

The current economic crisis and the ultra-loose monetary policy of central banks raise many questions. Structural change seems unstoppable. What role will digitalization, block-chain technology, digital currencies and assets play? Dr. Cyrus de la Rubia, Chief Economist of Hamburg Commercial Bank, answers these and other questions. De la Rubia has 25 years of financial market experience and is a sought-after speaker at renowned conferences as an expert on digital central bank money and block-chain based private currencies. CVJ.CH: At the moment there are a number of issues that are keeping the economy and the financial world on its toes. How…

The three telecommunications companies Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone are working on a block chain solution to simplify the billing of roaming costs. The system should make it possible to generate roaming billing results within a few minutes. As part of the project, Spain’s Telefonica, as well as Deutsche Telekom, already contributed $13 million to the Series A financing of a start-up called “Clear” at the beginning of the year. Roaming agreements are complex and costly The system should enable companies to receive roaming billing results within minutes. System-relevant data can also be updated immediately. Furthermore, the solution of the…

The unchangeability of the block chain ensures transaction security. An Israeli start-up wants to use “revocable transfers” to offer the senders of crypto-currencies the possibility of cancelling transactions that have been carried out incorrectly. According to Kirobo CEO Asaf Naim, the aim of the innovation is to make blockchain transactions as simple and secure as online banking. With the issued product and the Retrievable Transfer, users should be protected from human error within the block chain. A survey conducted by the Fio Foundation shows that around 55 percent of those surveyed made mistakes when sending crypto-currencies, which can be explained…

What has been happening around Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies this week? The most relevant local and international developments as well as appealing background reports in a pointed and compact way in retrospect. This week we reported on the new trading app of a Swiss start-up. The app is designed to be as simple and secure as possible so that everyone can trade digital assets. The history of money goes way back. The detachment from the gold standard and the subsequent transformation to the current FIAT system has fundamentally changed the structure of our monetary system. In times of exuberant money…

The Swiss start-up Honesto is launching a trading app for the secure trading of digital assets such as crypto currencies and security tokens, using the services of the B2B transaction bank InCore Bank. Analyses carried out by the start-up revealed a large number of private investors who are interested in crypto trade or security tokens, but were previously hesitant. Whoever is not already familiar with the crypto world may quickly perceive it as intransparent and complex. Now Honesto wants to change this. Honesto focuses on providing a maximum of simplicity and safety. Trades are executed by using a digital purse,…

Payoff, the investor portal focusing on structured products, again presented the Swiss Derivative Awards this year. The most innovative products in various categories were honoured. A Bitcoin Reverse Convertible was chosen as the best product on alternative underlyings. For the fifteenth time, the Swiss Derivative Awards 2020 honoured the best structured products and their issuers. For the first time, awards were presented for two categories specifically focused on environmental protection (ESG and climate protection). The jury, consisting of experts from asset management companies, the SIX Swiss Exchange, and the Universities of Fribourg and Zurich, selected the winners in the various…

Within the scope of a cooperation between the Australian shoe producer “Chase Shiel” and the retailer “The Kickz”, a limited production of sneakers including placement on the Blockchain is planned. The shoes, inspired by the Nike Air Max 1, can be tracked with the help of VeChain’s ToolChain Suite and the Thor Blockchain. Chase Shiel and VeChain – whose cooperation already exists since November 2019 – would like to use the platform also in the future to prove authenticity and to fight plagiarism. The ordered products are transmitted to VeChain with a tracking chip from the company. Since the shoes were…

The world’s leading issuer of crypto ETPs, 21Shares AG, is launching the 21Shares Bitcoin ETP on the regulated market of Deutsche Börse on July 2, 2020. 21Shares AG – headquartered in Zug, Switzerland – has listed the world’s first crypto basket (HODL) on the SIX Swiss Exchange in November 2018. Since Zug became the global hotspot for so-called Initial Coin Offerings at the beginning of 2017, Switzerland has become the world leader in the block chain industry. As the institution that has facilitated global access to this novel asset class, 21Shares AG is now further strengthening Switzerland’s leading position by…

In line with its recently communicated strategy regarding digital assets, InCore Bank is now the first financial institution in Switzerland to offer banking services to Kraken clients. Zurich/Schlieren, 3 July 2020 – Kraken is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Europe according to euro-based volume. With this integration, Kraken is offering clients another simple and secure method to fund their account in four major currencies CAD, CHF, EUR and GBP. Beginning today, clients located in Europe can fund their accounts in euro via SEPA deposits. Later in Q3, InCore and Kraken will enable CHF, GBP and CAD deposits as well. Support…

Sector Analysis first half of 2020 Index Performance This is the first half-year review since we started publishing our Sector Analysis Report. A great deal has happened over the past six months. We see this reflected in the very volatile sector performances. Q1 2020 was quite dull. With the massive sell off around mid-March, the entire crypto trading sector took a serious hit. The total index gained 6.94% during this quarter. BTC$ performed even worse: down roughly 10%. Throughout the beginning of 2020, altcoins were already performing nicely in dollar terms, but also against bitcoin. The interesting part is that…

The UK Financial Services Authority (FCA) has recently published a study that examines consumer interaction with crypto-currencies in the country. According to the study, around 3.86% of the UK population is said to own crypto-currencies. The study was published in October 2018 and March 2019 as a continuation of previously published reports. The studies were commissioned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to gain insight into the size of the market and identify potential losses. The authority is also interested in recording consumer attitudes and awareness of cryptoassets. The aim is to gain insights into how consumers interact with the cryptoasset market. Significant increase…

Leonteq is expanding its range of listed products to include crypto-currencies. In addition to a total of 17 tracker and actively managed certificates, the expert for structured investment products is expanding its range with new SIX listed reverse convertibles. In addition to the Reverse Convertible already listed, Leonteq AG is issuing two new products with a maturity of 6 months from today’s date of issue. The products available for subscription have coupons of 15.75% and 11.4% respectively, with corresponding strike prices of USD 9,000 and USD 8,000. Reverse convertibles for Bitcoin Coupon (p.a.) Underlying value Exercise price Currency Expiration Valor…

The product range with analysis functions, which is based on crypto-asset data and infrastructure products, is intended to enable financial services companies to offer crypto-asset functions and services in institutional quality. The nature of the block-chain technology that drives crypto-assets such as Bitcoin and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) is fundamentally different from the traditional information systems that underlie the existing financial market infrastructure. With the new product called Chain Fusion, the auditor aims to provide solutions for companies to the increasing pressure from investor demand and technological innovation. In a press release the company states: The year 2020 has…

The Italian Banking Association (ABI), which has more than 700 banking institutions as members, wants to further promote the introduction of a digital currency in the form of a Euro CBDC. In a position paper, the association points out the advantages of a digital currency. By participating in various projects and a separate working group, which explicitly deals with digital and cryptographic currencies, the development is to be accelerated even further. For example, the ABI states that Italian banks are already working with distributed ledger technology and refers to the Spunta project. The project, which is also an initiative of…

According to reports, the Fintech giant PayPal, through its mobile payment subsidiary Venmo, is planning to sell crypto-currencies directly to its 325 million users. Digital payment giant PayPal plans to offer direct purchases of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies to more than 300 million users worldwide through its subsidiary, according to a report by Coindesk. Venmo became part of the PayPal company through an acquisition in 2013. By the end of 2019, the payment service had 52 million registered users. Direct buying and selling of crypto-currencies According to the persons quoted in the article who are familiar with the matter, “in…

A survey conducted by Deloitte as part of the Global Blockchain Survey 2020 attests to the increasing relevance of emerging technology in companies. The survey was aimed at gaining a better insight into the general perception of and investment in blockchain technology. The authors of the study concluded that progress has been made in the past year in the introduction and implementation of real blockchain-enabled solutions in a wide range of companies and sectors. Attitudes towards blockchain have obviously and measurably changed as managers and business leaders implement block-chain-enabled solutions, whether through the use of digital assets in particular or through…