Litecoin Price Nears $70 5201

Litecoin’s (LTC) price hit a one-month high on Monday amid a broader bullish tone in the cryptocurrency market.
The world’s seventh largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization reached $68.59 at 12:10:00 UTC – its highest price since August 7th, Litecoin Price Index – and was last seen trading at $68.18, up roughly 4.2 percent on the day.

The recent bullish mood in cryptocurrency markets could be attributed to bitcoin’s 20 percent rally from the August low of $6,000. More importantly, the world’s leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization is looking up, having witnessed a pennant breakout, as CoinDesk previously reported.

Litecoin’s market capitalization stands at $3.95 billion – its highest level since early August. The broader market is also flashing green. Names like bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH) and EOS are all recording price growth in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Monero (XMR) is the biggest gainer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies with a more than 10 percent price increase since yesterday.

Previous ArticleNext Article

80% of White Respondents Are Aware of Bitcoin Compared to 66% of Hispanics and 61% of Black Respondents, New Study by SimpleMoneyLyfe 12526

The research, which analyzed exclusive survey results and public databases, also discovered that males are more aware of Bitcoin than females, and 67% of Millennials favor Bitcoin over gold. The data encompasses results from November 2019 to January 2021 – making it the most comprehensive cryptocurrency study to date. Moreover, our data hits on topics that resonate with consumers, academia, and the private industry. The results shed light on a new narrative that has not been covered – one that reveals rampant disparity.

This SimpleMoneyLyfe Study also analyzed several other factors related to cryptocurrency and the broader blockchain industry.

Here is a quick snapshot of what our industry-leading research reveals:

Cryptocurrency Criminal Activity: Just 0.34% of Crypto’s Transaction Volume was Used for Criminal Activity. This equates to roughly 10 billion dollars.

Bitcoin Hoarders are Prevalent: 2% of Crypto Wallets Control 95% of all Bitcoin. This includes numerous governments, financial institutions, and early Bitcoin investors/miners.

Male vs Female Bitcoin Awareness: According to another survey, 78% of male survey respondents reported being aware of Bitcoin, while only 71% of females were aware of this particular digital asset (18+ or Older).

Massive Blockchain Investments: As blockchain is accepted and utilized across different industries, the U.S. is poised to remain at the forefront of innovation. It is projected to spend $4.2 billion on blockchain solutions.

Complete Study Results: https://simplemoneylyfe.com/cryptocurrency-statistics

Simplemoneylyfe.com is a leading financial website that covers the blockchain, financial, and credit industries. We simplify complex financial topics into digestible (action-oriented) information.

Oasis Pro Markets LLC Receives U.S. Regulatory Approval for its Digital Security Alternative Trading System 13653

Oasis Pro Markets (“Oasis”), a regulated broker-dealer, announced today that it recently received approval from FINRA and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) for its Digital Security Alternative Trading System (“ATS”).

Oasis is the first US-regulated ATS allowing Subscribers to trade digital (“blockchain”) securities and make payment for those digital securities in digital cash (i.e., Stablecoins such as USDC and DAI and, when available, central bank digital currencies (“CBDCs”) or fiat. Oasis’s ATS is authorized to allow its Subscribers to:

  1. Trade both registered and unregistered securities on the ATS
  2. Trade digital securities OTC
  3. Trade both equity and debt in digital form through the use of a blockchain
  4. Invest in initial private offerings that can be recorded on a blockchain

Approval for the ATS comes after working closely with the SEC and FINRA to ensure the platform offers legally compliant, regulated trading of digital securities.  Expected ATS launch date is Q2 2021.

“Obtaining approval with the world’s leading financial regulatory bodies has the potential to unleash a tremendous market opportunity; it advances investor protections, and coupled with digital cash, has the potential to unlock trillions of dollars of value in the digital securities space,” said Pat LaVecchia, CEO and Co-Chairman, Oasis Pro Markets. “Moving quickly with a regulation-first mindset, digital cash for digital security, and a deeply experienced team is a tremendous competitive advantage, and the only way to ensure that digital securities trading is viable long-term within the U.S. financial system.”

Oasis’s ATS provides access to liquid private and public digital security markets, via a secure interface that offers a range of custodians and digital security investments.  The ATS focuses on

  1. Institutional Quality Interface
  2. Overall Low Cost of Trading
  3. Liquidity with leading Market Makers
  4. Regulatory Protections
  5. Robust Technology

“Oasis’s ATS is set apart from other trading systems by the ability to accommodate Stablecoins and enable a more accessible, liquid, and transparent market for privately offered digital securities. We have worked tirelessly to deliver a low friction, digital security trading platform with streamlined onboarding and the type of volume that will excite issuers of securities and subscribers alike, whether accredited or institutional investors,” added Joseph Quintilian, Co-Chairman, Oasis Pro Markets.

“The only responsible path to successful financial industry adoption of blockchain’s advantages in digital securities trading, is through registered entities acknowledging the unmatched benefits and credibility that is provided by a regulated financial system,” said LaVecchia.

CES 2021 BayPay Rides Rise in Token Commerce with Its Simple, Fast, and Safe Payment Service 13273

BayPay is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for blockchain with a promise to offering simple, fast, and safe payments, especially with the anticipated growth in token-based commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people don’t necessarily want to hold physical money. BayPay’s Founder and CEO Scofield Yeh is positioning his company to reap the benefits of growth in the token economy. He said that, despite the fact that blockchain-related businesses are growing faster than the rest of the economy, only about 0.3 percent of global commerce happens on “chain” today.

“Regulatory complexity, a byzantine global financial system, and a shortage of engineers are constraining the impact of the token economy. Removing the barriers to token commerce helps more new businesses get started, expedites growth for existing companies, and increases economic output and trade globally. BayPay combines a payments platform with applications that put blockchain data at the heart of business operations,” Yeh said.

“Businesses of every size, from new startups to public companies, use our software to accept payments and manage their token businesses on chain,” he said.

He said that sitting atop BayPay’s blockchain platform are applications like the token, wallet, and cashier, which manage the lifecycle of the blockchain and deposit money into user bank accounts anywhere. BayPay includes a powerful API engine that makes transferring asset ownership easy. “Our SaaS (Software as a Service) infrastructure provides reliability, scalability, and security,” said Yeh.

NO-KEY

BayPay said that the biggest obstacle for users to enter the blockchain world is concerns related to establishing a wallet of their own such as managing private keys and remembering recovery phrases. By separating the two roles of identity authentication and authorization, BayPay allows users to use wallets as easily as using Gmail. It also allows companies to integrate token services into existing products to provide consistent user experiences.

NO-FEE

Yeh said the tokens issued by BayPay support the payment of fees by designated service providers, making it as easy for consumers as using ordinary points. “All transactions have costs. For example, the use of VISA cards incurs a fee charge of about 2%. Also, when the transaction fee is determined by the consumer and paid by the consumer using a token, it will confuse and inconvenience consumers. This is the current state of the token economy,” he said.

PAY-AS-YOU-GO

BayPay cloud service provides hundreds of application programming interfaces to assist your token economy operations as well as dozens of third-party integrated applications that help enterprises operate, including vouchers, discount coupons, gift certificates, meal coupons, redemption coupons, points, loyalty programs, and much more. The best part is that services are priced based on usage, without expensive program development costs and lengthy launch times.

Yeh noted that there are several ways to leverage BayPay. For example, it allows merchants, even those without blockchain knowledge such as POS retailers and e-commerce websites, to accept tokens as cash or to drop a link through chat or a Facebook post.

BayPay also helps ICO issuers improve the liquidity of their tokens. “Users can set the buyback price of their tokens and we will collect the tokens for them. There is no need to allocate manpower to work with your vendors and no more marketing subsidies need be spent on low-impact efforts.”

The company’s E2E also helps customers aggregate their spending power from separate sources and transfer their assets to whomever they want through the wallet. “No annoying private keys like with other wallets. All of the assets on BayPay are safeguarded by a hardware key vault.” Moreover, the B2B helps enterprises create stable coins as checks and deposit cash to their clients. This reduces the cost of accounting by adopting the distributed ledger services of blockchain. The innovative services of BayPay have earned the company selection by Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) as one of the 100 featured Taiwanese startups showcased at CES 2021.

BayPay’s Founder and CEO Scofield Yeh is an experienced chief technology officer with specific skills in operations management, IT service management, business model development, management, and accounts management. Yeh is a strong information technology professional. He earned his executive master of Business Administration (EMBA) focused on entrepreneurship from National Taiwan University.

ACORD Solutions Group Launches Data Exchange Platform with First-of-Its-Kind Implementation by Aon & Zurich North America 13731

ACORD Solutions Group (ASG), the industry-owned subsidiary of ACORD, the standards-setting body for the global insurance industry, today announced the successful implementation of its ADEPT platform to perform automated, real-time premium accounting reconciliation between insurers and brokers. This market capability was developed working closely with some of the industry’s largest stakeholders, with the first data exchanged by professional services firm and broker Aon plc and carrier Zurich North America.

“While ACORD works closely with virtually all major brokers and carriers, we owe special gratitude to Aon and Zurich, who have been leading the way in defining and implementing this technology,” said Bijesh Jacob, SVP of Technology & Standards, ACORD. “Their contributions have been invaluable in launching an industry-wide platform to enable secure, digital data exchange and validation for brokers and carriers.”

Working with Aon and Zurich, ACORD recognized the common issues and themes associated with the premium settlement process. “The premium accounting process is a highly inefficient transactional service provided by brokers and carriers. Leveraging the Blockchain-based backbone of ADEPT will provide brokers and carriers with an industrial-strength platform to identify and resolve inconsistent transactions very early in the process. This industry innovation will not only drive out non-value-added cycles, but also provide clients a more seamless premium payment experience,” noted Mark Schmalzer, Aon’s Global Service Delivery Leader.

ADEPT (ACORD Data Exchange Platform & Translator) offers a secure, decentralized storage and access service which acts as a ‘single source of truth,’ enabling participants to verify payment information. By structuring, translating, and validating the data in real time, ADEPT greatly reduces the time and cost of reconciliation.

“The insurance industry is experiencing unprecedented change and technology is unlocking new and efficient ways of conducting business,” said Tracey Bailey, Billing Solutions Lead, Zurich North America and project manager for Zurich’s implementation of the ADEPT platform.

“The ACORD ADEPT solution is well aligned with Zurich’s continued efforts to improve our customer experience and broker interactions through innovation. We are proud to be on the front end of this journey with ACORD and Aon and are excited about ADEPT’s continued adoption within the insurance industry.”

ADEPT is a market capability which leverages the industry-accepted ACORD Data Standards to link trading partners with real-time data exchange, transformation, and validation. Although extracting inefficiencies from the premium accounting process provides significant value for the trading partners, it only provides a glimpse of transformational functionality to come. Now that a central matching mechanism for policies is created, future use-cases may include claims, placing and other critical insurance processes covering all major lines of business.

“We are honored to help pioneer the first data exchanged on the ADEPT platform. Our collaboration with ACORD showcases Aon’s continued commitment to innovation within the insurance industry,” said Joe Propati, Chief Operating Officer for North America, Aon. “This technology will change the way we do business, boosting efficiency for insurance carriers and brokers all while protecting the integrity of the data.”

“Thanks to the efforts of these visionary organizations, ADEPT is now in production and able to support millions of transactions,” Jacob added. “By improving operational efficiencies, strategic positioning, and customer satisfaction, ADEPT will truly transform the operating economics of our industry.”

AccuChain Secures Investment from Vertex Partners 11839

AccuChain, Inc. today announced that it has received an investment from Vertex Partners Inc. in Tokyo, Japan. This investment will accelerate development of AccuChain’s Human Resource technology software. The funding also demonstrates Vertex Partners’ long-term vision and commitment to launch AccuChain in Japan and other countries in SE Asia. AccuChain is developing a resume validation and recruitment platform. This innovative platform will allow individuals to create their own validated resumes and enable HR departments to find the best qualified candidates.

Vertex Partners, a business development firm, reveals that there is a growing need for AccuChain in SE Asia. Junichi Yukihira, Co-founder of Vertex Partners Inc., said “It is very exciting and also significant for us to have the opportunity to participate in the AccuChain investment this time. We highly value the potential of AccuChain’s HR solutions based on AI/machine learning and blockchain technology, and as their business co-creation partner, we are now working together to develop markets in Japan and other Asian countries. We are confident that this investment will strengthen our relationship.” Hiring in SE Asia demonstrates a growing need for qualified candidates. AccuChain will reduce bad hires using validation methodologies, immutable records, matching of jobs to qualified candidates and uncovering false information.

AccuChain CEO, Tim R. Connelly adds “The Vertex Partners investment demonstrates the importance both of our organizations see in next generation HR recruitment software. The combined resources of our companies will make a positive difference in the successful launch of AccuChain in Japan and then SE Asia.” AccuChain is working to improve their hiring process, and create a new standard for applicants’ digital resumes. The technology will help reduce fraudulent resumes.

Stratis Brings Blockchain as a Service to All Businesses via Its C# Native Platform 12276

Stratis was created for a simple purpose – to provide enterprises with blockchain as a service (BaaS) solutions, designed to implement complex blockchain architecture within mainstream coding languages, used by everyday companies away from the crypto niche. It does this through cloud solutions, support for C# and .NET application building, alongside tool customization via its open source protocol. The result of this? Stratis unlocks the power of blockchain technology for mainstream businesses, and unlocks the mainstream market for the blockchain industry – two powerful combinations.

Enterprises that find themselves relying on the Stratis tool set will access a less expensive and less complex blockchain building framework. Companies no longer need to purchase and manage their own full nodes, nor do they need to build a blockchain infrastructure from scratch – something which is niche and represents a huge barrier to entry by setup cost to all but the largest of companies. Moreover, businesses in need of smart contract support will be pleased to find that Stratis supports virtual machines via Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

Stratis – Tailored with Perfection

Stratis holds several key values that make it an optimal choice for blockchain operations – decentralization, privacy, scalability, practicality, accessibility, reliability, security, and performance. To better understand this, Stratis blockchains run a number of cloud-based full nodes, so decentralization is assured. Privacy is guaranteed – through cryptographic encryption, all transactions and communications remain private. Stratis is also keen on providing an adaptable degree of scalability, achieved through the means of intuitive sidechain usage.

Companies looking to leverage the power of smart contracts must know that Stratis is the only platform providing support for C# execution, so developers can efficiently code self-enforcing programs utilising their existing development tools and existing knowledge of a rich and versatile programming language. Stratis is also working on facilitating cross-chain communication between contracts running within Stratis’ ecosystem and those deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, hence increasing their suitability for today’s interconnected world.

STRAX Swap on Binance

In September 2020, the team introduced STRAX, a more powerful protocol designed to flawlessly integrate within the platform’s existing business model. Previously-minted STRAT tokens have been swapped to STRAX tokens on a 1:1 basis via Binance. Following the shift, Stratis will introduce a series of other advanced features, such as the STRAX SideChain, Stratis InterFlux, SegWit support, cold-staking, the DeFi app library, IoT development tools, and many others.

Since STRAX is based on the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, network participants can receive token-based rewards in exchange for staking their STRAX tokens. Stratis is well-aware of the security risks posed by hot wallet storage, so the team has decided to use cold-staking for ideal token security.

2021 – The Year for Stratis & BaaS

In Q1 2021, Stratis will launch the Unity Development Kit (allowing the integration of NFTs and decentralized identities within the gaming ecosystem), the DeFi Software Library (a catalogue of C# standardized smart contracts), the Stratis DAO (a means of funding next-gen developments via voting), the Stratis System Contracts (introducing on-chain logic and simplifying user-driven processes), and the mobile wallet featuring token support (supporting tokens issued on the Cirrus Sidechain).

In Q2 2021, Stratis will launch the Python Development Kit (allowing Python coders to build on Stratis), the IoT Development Kit (meant to introduce Stratis solutions to IoT hardware), a new version of Proof-of-Stake (boasting improved security and additional features), Stratis Oracles (a distributed means of accessing off-chain data), and Dex Mobile Support (allowing mobile trading of SRC20 tokens).

In Q4 2021, Stratis will launch Ethereum Interoperability (known as InterFlux, this will enable usage of wrapped STRAX tokens on the Ethereum chain), alongside the STO & Digital Asset Platform (providing the tools needed to manage token offerings).