PumaPay is paving the way for mass crypto adoption

PumaPay is one of the most innovative providers of a fully decentralized blockchain-based payment system. Since their establishment, the company has maintained that its vision is to be one of the frontrunners in supporting mass crypto adoption. To date, PumaPay continues to refine their technology, adding new features that are slowly helping their vision come to fruition. The latest developments are no different.

With their new hybrid solution, PumaPay differentiates itself from other payment service providers. Combining crypto with traditional finance, their service now enables payments to be made and received in any currency, with the PMA token acting as a means of value transfer, by virtually anyone from merchants of all varieties to end-users. With measures in place to ensure zero exposure to volatility for all parties and easy onboarding and offboarding to crypto the PumaPay solution offers maximum utility to all.

PumaPay CEO, Yoav Dror, said: “By providing innovative and much-needed developments ready to be utilized in the emerging crypto space, we bring the community one step closer to mass crypto adoption. As of today, we have managed to close the loop and offer a fully comprehensive, blockchain-based payment solution that mitigates widespread concerns regarding accessibility, regulation, volatility and usability.”

With that in mind, let’s review some of PumaPay’s groundbreaking contributions:

· The heart of their PullPayment Protocol; a variety of customizable billing models, such as their innovative Recurring and Auto-Up Schemes. Utilizing smart contract architecture, these billing models were designed to offer maximum utility to businesses in their daily transactions.

· A fully decentralized, native app: the PumaPay Cryptocurrency mobile wallet. Available for Android and iOS devices, the app enables the sending, receiving, and storing of main cryptocurrencies, such as: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), as well as all other ERC-20 tokens.

· Streamlined, in-app cryptocurrency exchange services that allow for easy conversion from other cryptocurrencies to PMA.

· Encouraged merchant-customer trust via easily accessible, in-app refund requests.

· Fully compliant user onboarding that adheres to the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the KYC verification process. PumaPay has also gone as far as to ensure that their solution is compliant with current AML laws but is also future proof for future developments in the field.

· A comprehensive payment gateway, the PumaPay Business console. This platform empowers merchants with the ability to accept crypto, set up customized billings models, as well as manage and optimize their payment flow.

· Zero exposure to crypto volatility and guaranteed full liquidity with the PumaPay Fiat Settlement Layer. With this service, the currency rate is “locked,” thereby eliminating volatility risks and enabling offboarding from crypto to fiat. Further, merchants also have a straightforward means to withdraw funds and directly transfer into their bank account.

· In-app banner placement that provides clear, uninterrupted communication channels between merchants and their respective customers.

· A comprehensive PSP API solution that supports seamless integration for PSPs and their merchants/businesses looking to accept crypto as a means of payment. These advanced tools also aid in easing the onboarding process for clients whilst also providing PSPs with access to all features of the PumaPay PullPayment Protocol.

· Full certification by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) and Data Security Standards (DSS). This has and continues to ensure that PumaPay adheres to the highest safety standards and application of anti-fraud prevention measures. In complying with global data security standards, they keep their users’ data safe and secure.

· Easy integration with a fully documented API.

· An open-source developer hub space completed with all necessary documentation, product library and guides available at Wiki PumaPay.

· Finally, PumaPay’s most recent development, the “Buy Crypto” service, enables PumaPay wallet users to purchase cryptocurrencies within the app with a credit/debit card. Combined with the ability to exchange crypto to PMA from within the wallet, and the Fiat Settlement Layer, PumaPay is ‘closing the loop’ and creating a complete payment system that is connected to the traditional financial system at its endpoints, allowing easy onboarding and offboarding. In the coming weeks, they will improve the process even further, allowing direct purchase of PMA tokens with credit card from within the wallet.

Going forward, PumaPay has already started to provide some insight into their blueprint for mass crypto adoption. A snapshot of some of the projects they are currently looking into includes:

· The introduction of their very own Side Chain which will provide users with an improved, more competitive service, by expediting transaction settlement times and lowering GAS fees.

· US token– a new project that will hopefully allow PumaPay to offer l tokens to US-based clients, whilst fully complying with US Government regulation.

· Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – a staking mechanism that will offer PMA token holders with the ability to earn money for their holdings.

In paving the way towards mass crypto adoption, PumaPay is maintaining their momentum by consistently providing their users with cost-effective, simple, and efficient means to manage and process their payments. From their billing models to the PumaPay crypto wallet, their services are designed for maximum utility by anyone; whether you be a user wanting to purchase services with crypto or a merchant looking to engage customers and maximize your revenue!

SOURCE: PRESSAT

Crypto Behemoth Huobi to Launch Bitcoin Options Trading

Huobi Futures to launch Bitcoin Options Trading in Q3 of 2020. 

Following the successful launch of Perpetual Swaps in Q2 of this year, Huobi Futures now has its sights on a Q3 launch for its Bitcoin Options.

Bitcoin Options are a form of financial derivatives that provide traders with the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell Bitcoin at a specific price at a certain date of expiry.

Alpha testing is already in full swing as the Huobi team looks to iron out and streamline the Options trading offering. Once complete, Huobi Futures will announce the official launch on the Web and API. The options will also then be expanded to the Huobi Trading App.

The contracts will be offered in the European style meaning that buyer of the Option can only be exercised at the expiration. The Options contracts will, at first, only be available for Bitcoin.

Options have long been a popular derivatives trading tool in the traditional space, but this type of trading has also permeated the cryptocurrency space recently. A Bitcoin Options contract is similar to a futures contract with the main difference being that the trader has an option, rather than an obligation, to buy or sell on a fixed date at an agreed upon price.

The crypto behemoth’s entry into the derivatives market has been incredibly successful so far and continues to be bolstered. The company has been sitting at the top of many metrics regarding trading volume and has rocketed to the top in Perpetual Swaps in just a few months.

PaperTale blends technology with sustainability through the blockchain

Since the environment we buy our products from has become ever more global, it has become more and more difficult to keep track of where and these products are made, and if they’ve been manufactured in a way that adheres to our principles. Now, however, a new Swedish blockchain company looks set to change all that.

PaperTale is a new venture in which you’re able to trace a product from its inception using the blockchain, and it brings with it lots of new possibilities.

Let’s say you’re looking at a table, but you’re curious as to the worker’s living standards where it was made, and wish to see if they were paid a fair wage. You can scan the product with your smartphone, and check to see if the employee’s who made the table receive salaries fit for the acceptable living standards in their country.

Or perhaps you want to get verified information about the table’s supply chain and its environmental impact? Again, just scan the product with your phone and the information will be relayed to you on the screen. Using PaperTale, consumers can be much more ethical with their purchases, choosing products that benefit the workers or the environment most.

This traceability is made a reality through PaperTale by way of special protocols built on the blockchain. These enable you to see detailed facets regarding the methods and ethics used to produce the item. On top of that, through PaperTale and your smartphone, it’s possible to send tips directly to the worker who made your products, and have it verified so you can be assured your money has gone to the right people.

PaperTale has been two years in the making, and is finally ready to make its mark on the world. They already have a proof of concept, through the way of a textile company in Pakistan, where all of their new clothes are manufactured using this technology in mind. The tech isn’t limited to textiles though, with PaperTale the possibilities are almost endless.

papertale

If you’re one of the many people concerned about workers’ rights and the environment and want to ensure that what you buy is ethical and complements your principles, PaperTale is the technology that will get you where you want to be. To show your support, their crowdfunding campaign is about to go underway on Kickstarter on 13th November, where you’ll have the chance to be the first to use the new technology.

Support worker’s rights by showing your support for PaperTale.

Mastercard has approved the first crypto debit card in Europe

Tap n Go (TAP) has partnered with Transact Payments Limited (TPL) to provide the Tap Prepaid Mastercard® that will allow customers to convert Crypto Assets held with TAP for spending wherever Mastercard is accepted.

The TAP accounts with multiple crypto and fiat wallets and will have access to real time crypto trading with numerous exchanges, all assets are held securely in multi signatory “cold storage” wallets or electronic money client accounts.

Tap n Go have applied to the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission for a DLT licence which is currently under review.

Arsen Torosian CEO of TAP commented: “the launch of TAP has been in the making for a number of years, our partnership with TPL for our provision of the TAP Prepaid Mastercard was the final piece of our vision. We are delighted to have TPL as our partner for this product”

Kriya Patel, MD of TNL commented: “TPL are delighted to be supporting the TAP Prepaid Mastercard project and look forward to continuing to work with such an initiative partner like TAP with the roll out of their in-demand solution”.

Here’s How Cryptocurrencies Could Change the Gaming Landscape

Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain have started to change many aspects of our lives and entertainment in recent years. However, one area that appears to have been slower than others in adopting this approach is that of gaming.

At first glance, there are a lot of areas of crossover between cryptos and gaming. Some people have even suggested that gaming paved the way for these coins to appear as per https://medium.com/singulardtv/how-video-games-helped-pave-the-way-for-cryptocurrency-f930521eef55. Yet, the expected surge in this area hasn’t appeared so far. In what ways could these industries come together in the future to change the gaming landscape?

“a gamer of XboX” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by AleZZitO1

Gaming ICOs Being Launched

There is work being done on numerous new decentralised gaming solutions. These are projects that use the blockchain and introduce their own cryptocurrencies that users can typically earn, buy or exchange.

Among the biggest and most talked about ICOs of this type is Bountie, with full details on it to be found at https://www.bountie.io/tokensale/. This is a platform that promises to use AI and IoT in order to modernise the world of gaming.

Another project of this type is called ALAX. In this case, the idea is that players in developing countries can play on their mobile devices even if they don’t have access to traditional banking facilities. The platform uses their own ALX token to monetise gaming, as described on their site, https://alax.io/tokens/.

Unless an ICO offers something new and useful, the fact that it is decentralised isn’t going to be enough. Let’s not forget that over half of all ICOS fail in the first few months too, according to the Boston College research at https://www.coindesk.com/over-half-of-icos-fail-within-4-months-suggests-us-study. So, there is no guarantee that these new platforms will succeed. Many gamers are happy to play in the ways that are currently available to them.

Indeed, among the most popular gaming options gaining ground right now are online casinos. These are websites where numerous casino games are brought together. For example, at https://casino.betfair.com/c/slots we can see dozens of slots ranging from Hot Gems to Grease and from Big Bear to Captain’s Treasure.

Source: Pixabay

Playing with Digital Currencies

Another possibility is that players start to use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to fund their games online. This may seem like a natural progression, since many gamers are now used to using in-game tokens and currencies.

However, perhaps the volatility of virtual currencies will play a big part in how widespread this becomes. Since these coins can gain or lose value very rapidly, anyone who pays using them is essentially making an investment rather than simply exchanging tokens.

It seems fair to say more stable cryptocurrency prices are likely to encourage more gamers to use these coins. There are certainly some good reasons for thinking this is a good idea. For example, it allows for virtually anonymous spending and means that no link to a bank account or credit card is needed.

It wouldn’t be a big surprise if the future were to bring a closer relationship between gaming and cryptocurrencies. Having said that, it would appear that we are still waiting for the perfect combination of these technologies that allows gamers to use cryptos to their full potential.

 

 

Could Online Gaming Aid the Growth of Cryptocurrencies?

The growth of cryptocurrencies has been a source of many headlines in the last few years. Yet, research by Finder shows that only 8% of Americans have invested in these digital currencies. What is needed to help them to truly break into the mainstream?

One suggestion is that online gaming could be the key. Could gamers around the world give Bitcoin, Ethereum and other coins the boost they need to move to the next level of popularity?

“Young gamer playing video game wearing h” (CC BY 2.0) by nodstrum

Gamers Are Comfortable with Virtual Money

Perhaps the most important factor here is that gamers were comfortable dealing with virtual money long before most other people had even considered the idea. This has been an important part of many games for some time, but it is the Mesos used in MapleStory from Nexon that are widely credited as being the first gaming currency to really take off.

The most popular games now have giant economies spring up around them. Gamers are happy to spend their fiat money on virtual tokens that can only be used in a certain game. This concept has seen the gold mining industry in World of Warcraft pass the “$2 billion mark”, while in-game revenue in FarmVille is now over $1 billion.

Non-gamers tend to need to make a mental shift to value digital money as much as the paper currency they can hold in their hand, whereas gamers already understand that digital tokens can be just as valuable to them.

The global gaming industry is continuing to grow at an impressive rate. According to a forecast from analysts Newzoo, the $134.9 billion market value in 2018 was a 10.9% increase on the figure achieved in 2017. As more new gamers appear, the concept of cryptocurrencies is likely to be more widely accepted.

Players Spend These Currencies to Buy Games or to Play

It is still a fairly common assumption that Bitcoin can only really be used by gamers. Indeed, it is easy to imagine that some people have failed to invest in cryptocurrencies so far because they believe it is of no use unless they play games.

While there are now many other ways of spending Bitcoin, it is true that gamers can spend or earn these coins more easily than other people. On many sites, it is possible to buy games and there are games where you use virtual coins as you play. Steam has stopped accepting this currency but others, such as MMOGA and Microsoft, let you shop with virtual coins.

A case where future progress is expected is in internet casinos, where Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals make sense. At the moment, there is a limited number of Bitcoin casinos. The big-name casinos, the ones with dozens of slots, table games and live dealer lobbies, such as Paddy Power, have so far tended to stick to traditional payment methods.

If acceptance of cryptocurrencies goes mainstream, with gaming sites like this beginning to adopt them, the demand for them will greatly increase. People will also become more trusting of cryptocurrencies if they begin to use them on a regular basis for something that gives them a lot of pleasure.

Indeed, the world of gaming is still closely linked to cryptocurrencies. There is a good chance that any major growth in the future will be linked to gamers and how they spend their money online.

Bitcoin Price Eyes $7.6K – The Resistance is Strong

Bitcoin appeared to lose vital $7k support earlier this week dropping to $6.9K on the 5th of August, but a small rally may soon be on the horizon from technical analysis of the charts.

What we might be seeing at the moment is a bearish decline from taking into consideration the 50-day moving average (MA) where selling pressure failed to push the price lower than $6.9k due to the strong resistance.

At the time of writing the price reached $7,287.91 on Huobi with Bithumb not far behind at $7,255.52 per Bitcoin, but western exchanges are much slow on the corrective rally with the price at $7,188.46.



At the time of writing the the price of one Bitcoin on the largest exchange by 24 hour volume, BitForex is $7,098.84

This strong buying support behind the 50-day moving average could be an early indicator of a bullish August with a rally towards $7,500 – $7,600 expected.

bitcoin market price

This change of market is based on strong rumours circulating that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may finally give the green light to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) at the end of this week when the SEC meet on the 10th of August.

In other news major Swiss-based banks, CoinBase and Goldman Sachs are enhancing custody services for their big institutional clients which will see a secure cryptocurrency service for storing large amounts of crypto.

What do you think will happen to the Bitcoin price this week?

Centralization broke the internet; It’s time to fix it

There are plenty of reasons not to like the internet today.

It starts with how we access it. Depending on where you are, internet connections can be unreliable, slow, and even pricey. There’s much disparity in the speed and pricing of the packages offered by internet service providers (ISPs) all over the world. ISPs can be quite restricting too. Monthly bandwidth caps are forcing us to prioritize what to access online.

This then leads us to the issue of net neutrality. ISPs are lobbying against an open internet claiming that they should have the right to set prices depending on the type of content or data that we access. This is at odds with our right to freely use (within lawful bounds) a utility we’re paying for.

Governments are also exerting their influence over the internet placing laws and regulations that allow them to censor and surveil our online activities. Private corporations also figure into this discussion as well. It seems that we’ve virtually forfeited our data to these companies when we agreed to their terms and conditions to use their services.

Then there’s the general profusion of bad products, bad content, and bad behavior. The list can go on.

The big question is, how can we fix it?

Centralization ruined it

Centralization has got a lot to do with these issues. The internet used to be highly decentralized operating essentially as a large peer-to-peer network. This changed when large telco companies took over the infrastructure in the effort to commercialize internet access.

Today’s tech giants eventually rose to prominence by providing most of the popularly used services and applications. They now happen to figure into almost every aspect of internet use. Google knows what questions we need answered. Facebook knows who and what we like.  Amazon, being our go-to store, knows our home addresses, payment information, and purchases.

Unless you’ve been living completely off the grid, these companies are bound to have your in-depth profile. What’s even scary is that such data can be used to manipulate us as revealed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Having only a small group of entities dictate what we can and can’t do on the internet isn’t a good thing. These companies can impose policies that are designed for them to profit from our participation in a not-so-equitable manner. They can also stifle competition due to their size and influence.

A centralized service also serves as a single point of failure, that when exploited, could lead to disastrous outcomes. For example, DNS service provider Dyn plays a major role in the today’s infrastructure. An outage caused by a cyberattack to its services back in 2016 took down popular applications like Twitter and Netflix. This disrupted the online activities of millions of users.

How about decentralization?

There is now growing interest in transitioning away from centralized approaches as more users become aware of these downsides. The vision of decentralization is lessen the hold of these few entities over the internet and give back power and control to users.

It’s even quite fortunate that blockchain and crypto activities have gained much acceptance over the past year. These technologies offer the means to make a decentralized internet viable. Through blockchain and smart contracts, it is now possible to build and deploy decentralized applications (dapps) and platforms founded on transparent and immutable rules designed to be fair to its users.

These platforms are making headway in their development.

Projects like Skycoin even seek to disrupt the internet infrastructure segment by coming up with Skyminer – a custom-built hardware that is designed to support a crypto-driven internet ecosystem. The device essentially functions as a cost-effective but high-performing server with secure routing and networking capabilities. The device is also planned to be able to broadcast using a wireless antenna which will allow owners to function as ISPs and share their bandwidth to others creating a real peer-to-peer infrastructure.

Moreover, these efforts are making use of crypto currencies to power their respective economies. This way, they become self-sustaining. Peers fairly pay each other directly using crypto currencies without the involvement of intermediaries. Prices are market-driven and not dictated by big corporations.

The community that these platforms create also become a self-policing body that could democratically decide on matters. They are also responsible for encouraging positive behavior and punishing poor products and services and malicious actions.

Fixing the internet

We’ve been letting the internet be under the control of just a few entities for far too long. What we need to fix is for ordinary users like us to regain control and create an internet that’s truly neutral. It does call for us to step away from centralized approaches. Fortunately, decentralization offers the means for us to do so.

Decentralized platforms allow us to participate in fair and equitable markets. The crypto currency economies ensure that platforms are self-sustaining. These platforms also provide the opportunity for us to get back ownership of our personal data.

These technologies may still be in relative infancy but with exciting and ambitious projects that even seek to disrupt not only services and applications but the underlying infrastructure, a decentralized internet might be in our future. This way, we get to enjoy an internet that’s truly for the people and by the people.

Bitcoin surges to record high after developers halt SegWit2x proposal

  • Bitcoin was scheduled to upgrade mid November following SegWit2x proposal
  • Major bitcoin developers dropped their support for the upgrade
  • Developers behind SegWit2x announced today they are calling off plans

The Bitcoin block size increase has been suspended after the organisers behind the scaling proposal called off the attempt earlier today.

The news surged Bitcoin to a record high of $7737 with altcoins also seeing a rise in price.

segwit2x bitcoin

Mike Belshe, the CEO of BitGo who was one of the leaders of the SegWit2x proposal announced today that the proceeding could divide the Bitcoin community and set back its growth.

“Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x.”

You can read the full email here.

Segwit2x gained early support from startups and mining pools who seeked to increase the block size this month.

The email was also signed by other notable figures pushing for Swgwit2x – Mike Belshe, Wences Casares, Jihan Wu, Jeff Garzik, Peter Smith and Erik
Voorhees.

Although the increase has been halted for now, the group aims to increase the block size at a later date with more support.

Did you miss the news as it broke? Monitor the Bitcoin news as it happens using our real-time app.

How many Bitcoins for a Pizza? Papa John’s now accepting Bitcoin

Pizza delivery restaurant chain Papa John’s now offers customers the option to pay using Bitcoin at their Manchester City Centre store.

The American based company operates as a franchise so it’s not yet clear if other franchisees are rolling out the new payment method but this is definitely a promising start.

This isn’t the first time Papa John’s and pizza made the headlines, back in 2010 a developer named Laszlo Hanyecz purchased two Pizzas in exchange for 10,000 Bitcoins which was worth just $25 at the time but at todays exchange rate $70 million dollars!

The price of one Bitcoin is now around $7,000 or £5411.

If you fancy paying for your next Margarita in Bitcoin then head down to Papa John’s on Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5AN.

papa johns bitcoin manchester
Credit Source: Twocanpocket