Author: Editorial Office CVJ.CH

The Colombian city of Bogota, which houses 10.7 million inhabitants (agglomeration), is the largest urban agglomeration in Colombia and has now launched a series of free online courses on the subject of “New Technologies”. Blockchain technology is also part of these courses. As part of these courses, the metropolitan area offers individual units in blockchain technology. The programme, which was created by the Bogota Mayor’s Office, is called “Bogota Aprende TIC” and is designed to strengthen innovation and enable new technologies to make their way into the capital, Bogota. The contents include are Cloud Computing, Big Data, artificial Intelligence, Internet…

Sector Analysis April 2020 Index Performance The index performed around 36%, with some winning and some losing sectors (please see monthly performance relative to Index). One winning sectors was SoV, with an outperformance of 14%; the Payment sector underperformed by 7.75%. SoV (Store of Value) DGB (DigiByte) contributed positively with a performance of 222%. DigiByte is a modification of the Bitcoin protocol design that adjusts confirmation speeds and security assurances when transacting on the base layer. The genesis block was created on January 10, 2014, with an outstanding supply of 105 million. The overall supply is capped at 21…

Most recently, the Geneva-based Libra Foundation returned with a revised white paper and a FINMA application for the authorization of a payment system. This week the admission of a new member in the form of a payment provider was announced. The new payment service provider is the British start-up Checkout.com, who will join the Libra Association as their 24th member. Guillaume Pousaz, CEO and founder of Checkout.com has announced the news in an official statement from the company. The company not only wants to support the technological progress behind Libra, but also to play its part in the necessary regulatory…

Digital currencies issued by central banks will be a hot topic in 2020. Meanwhile, many central banks have already discussed the advantages and disadvantages of CBDC’s, and some nations are already working on their own digital currency. In a survey conducted this year by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) among 66 central banks, 80% of the institutions surveyed stated that they are actively involved in the design of a CBDC. 40% of the banks have already skipped the theoretical research of CBDC’s and are now in an experimental phase. Dutch central bank wants to take a “leading role” in development The Dutch central…

Bitcoin/USD daily basis Source: Tradingview.com Bitcoin USD – New highs since March crash At the beginning of the reporting week, the Bitcoin price was still testing the newly created support zones around USD 6,800. From the middle of the week onward, it climbed again and closed above the USD 7,000 mark. Already on Thursday, an advance into higher regions was seen, which came to a temporary halt at USD 7,800. The following days were characterized by a slightly higher trend in the share price. Consistently slightly higher daily lows in the last three trading days of the week, with narrow…

The following article is an overview of the Tezos project, including an exclusive interview with foundation board member Hubertus Thonhauser about the current status of the blockchain-based smart contract platform. The Tezos project was first presented in a white paper published in 2014. The network is designed in such a way that stakeholders or validators can vote for proposed changes. Proposed changes will only be introduced if a majority of voters are present, thus reducing the risk of splitting the network (hardforks). Software teams will be paid if their proposed changes are implemented. At the core of the code base is…

The Bitcoin price has fallen sharply in recent months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this has not reduced public interest in crypto-currencies. Some of the US government’s helicopter money is also being used to buy Bitcoin. As Forbes magazine reports, several Americans are using the $1,200 stimulus checks to purchase crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin. A high volatility of the Bitcoin price usually attracts investors as well. According to the report, crypto exchanges have seen increased account and trading activity after the price fall in March, with crypto exchanges specializing in derivatives in particular — posting record volumes. Number…

Among other things, blockchain is ideally suited for the tokenization of assets. This can typically include illiquid assets such as real estate. An STO (security token offering) has just been launched in Germany for a real estate project in Berlin. The Berlin real estate STO is being conducted by Black Manta Capital Partners, a German company specializing in asset tokenization. According to a company spokesperson, the offer will be regulated by the German BaFin. Black Manta Capital has reported that BaFin had some questions to clarify, but then confirmed the project. Initially, only German and Austrian investors will be able…

Bitcoin/USD daily basis Bitcoin USD – Range between 6’500 and 7’000 USD The Bitcoin price tested the zone below USD 7,000 at the beginning of the reporting week. Already on Monday there was a downward movement to just under USD 6,500. However, the price recovered to over USD 6,800 on the same day. On Wednesday the next detour to 6,500 USD took place and on Thursday another attempt to bring the price below 6,500 USD was clearly rejected. As a consequence, higher daily lows and highs followed over the next 3 trading days, which in turn brought the price…

If your bank account was compromised during a hacker attack, your bank can “easily” refund the money you have lost. However, if your crypto wallet has been hacked and your bitcoins have been sent to the wrong address, your bitcoins are permanently lost. The reason for this is that most cryptocurrencies are not controlled by a central authority. As a result, there is a great need for secure custody solutions for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. One of the most common ways to protect your bitcoins from attackers is to sign transactions using hardware wallets, where the signing process takes place…

For a long time it was quiet around the planned stable coin social media company Facebook. Now the Geneva-based Libra Foundation is back with a revised whitepaper and a FINMA application for a licence to be considered payment system. As can be seen from the announcement on the Association’s blog, the project wants to support central banks in the future, in their development of central bank digital currencies (CBDC’s). Efforts are being made to bring blockchain technology inline with recognized regulations. The updated white paper provides an overview of the categories of network participants, including virtual asset service providers (VASP’s).…

In an open letter to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Bitcoin Association Switzerland (BAS) is formulating a recommendation to amend the Money Laundering Ordinance presented in February. It calls for all financial market players to be treated equally. On 7 February 2020, FINMA published a proposed ordinance and several partial ordinance revision projects, including the FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (GWV-FINMA). The BAS refers to a specific detail concerning crypto-currencies. Regulation shows differences between virtual and traditional currencies The proposed Article 51a GWV-FINMA would create a legal distinction between virtual currencies and traditional currencies. It would set different…

Bitcoin/USD daily basis Source: Tradingview.com Bitcoin/USD – Not much new in the reporting week On Monday, Bitcoin was able to advance to just over USD 7,300 right at the beginning of the reporting week. This was followed on Tuesday by another attempt to climb higher spheres. However, this was rejected at USD 7,500. This was followed by an intraday correction to a low of USD 7,050, but the daily closing price was marked slightly higher at USD 7,200. The next two days the Bitcoin price consolidated at these levels until Friday when it was sharply rejected below the USD 7’000…

Crypto Valley and the entire Swiss Blockchain scene is facing an existential threat due to the restrictions caused by the Corona pandemic. The Swiss Blockchain Federation recently conducted a broad survey among companies in the Valley. Startups from Crypto Valley are particularly hard hit Due to the uncertainties of the Corona crisis, numerous industry players have already contacted the umbrella organisation and asked for urgent support. Crypto Valley, which today stretches far beyond the canton of Zug, had established itself in recent years as a global showcase cluster in the field of blockchain technology. Survey of 203 companies The Swiss…

In order to improve the traceability of its own coffee brand “Zoégas”, Nestlé is expanding the use of the IBM’s Food Trust blockchain and is entering into a cooperation with the Rainforest Alliance. Zoega’s coffee packaging is labelled with QR codes According to the company, the IBM Food Trust blockchain will provide consumers with more detailed information about the logistics processes. As part of this, Zoégas coffee packaging sold in Sweden will be labelled with QR codes. These can provide customers with various types of information, such as the distance the coffee beans have travelled from harvest to the supermarket…

Central bank policy and monetary system The trend displayed below is one of an expansive monetary policy (which was originally intended to rescue the traditional banking system). Despite being intended only to rescue the traditional banking system, this policy is now further being continued in the hopes of achieving the vision of eternal growth without recessionary periods.  Low interest rates and the continuous printing of new money to buy bonds and shares on the market is fast becoming a normality for central banks. Effectively, the aim is to provide the world with cheap capital. Under the term “Quantitative Easing,” an…