The adoption rate of a cryptocurrency is heavily dependent on its use cases in the real world. Balancer Protocol’s latest effort in this regard is the launch of support on the Layer-2 solution Polygon to reduce Ethereum gas costs. With this partnership, Balancer joins the team of major DeFi projects lik Aave, Curve and SushiSwap, which have recently witnessed strong user adoption. With Polygon (formerly MATIC) offering near-zero fees for trades, Balancer’s position as “the ultimate flexible AMM is more easily realized” given the ability to perform unique experimentation for pools without risking higher trade fees. While highlighting the ability …

Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business, has reiterated his criticism of Bitcoin (BTC). Appearing on episode 10 of the Moneycontrol Masterclass program, the NYU professor doubled down on his longstanding repudiation of Bitcoin as currency. According to Damodaran, Bitcoin’s limited use in microtransactions flies in the face of claims that BTC is viable as a form of money, stating: “A good currency, in my view, is one that's used to buy coffee, buy your house, buy a car, and on that count, Bitcoin has failed, and not just failed, it's failed miserably.” For …

Despite BNY Mellon’s entrance into Bitcoin (BTC), the CEO of one of the company’s asset management units is still sceptical about major risks associated with the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Francesca Fornasari, head of currency solutions at BNY Mellon’s subsidiary Insight Investment, believes that Bitcoin may not be suitable for most institutional investors due to extreme volatility, low liquidity, governance issues and environment-related risks. In a Tuesday Bloomberg interview, Fornasari said that Bitcoin can be more difficult to evaluate than gold due to its massive price swings, which further complicates its possible reactions in an inflationary environment. “At the end of …

An adoption-focused ecosystem that is built to simplify the way crypto payments are made says its smart contracts have been successfully audited by an independent firm — with the beta version of its app receiving a warm reception since being launched in early June. Samecoin says more than $2 million was locked in its protocol within an hour of launch, and an extensive list of partnerships means that it delivers immediate utility. The project’s team is also growing quickly, with new hires being made on a regular basis. Permissionless asset creation is one of Samecoin’s strong suits, and these tokens …

Two payments firms have partnered to roll out crypto payments across 50,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Europe. The partnership is between Irish e-commerce and mobile payment solutions firm HIPS Payment Group Ltd and Vourity, a Swedish firm that specializes in unattended payment facilities such as EV charging stations. The integration of crypto payments with charging stations will occur over the next three years starting from November 2021. The firms haven’t revealed which cryptocurrencies will be supported yet, but Vourity has dropped a pretty strong hint that Ethereum is likely to be among the first after it released an …

Intercontinental Exchange subsidiary Bakkt has introduced a debit card allowing customers to use crypto for retail purchases. In a Tuesday announcement, Bakkt said it had launched a fully virtual Visa debit card for both online and in-store spending. Card holders can spend Bitcoin (BTC) from their Bakkt accounts without waiting to convert the cryptocurrency to fiat. “Imagine a Bitcoin user who sees a significant gain,” said Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael. “Now, instead of selling and waiting to transfer to a bank, they can simply walk into their favorite store, tap their Bakkt Card and buy that new item they’ve been …

Luxury auction house Sotheby’s will accept bids in crypto for a massive diamond scheduled to be auctioned in Hong Kong next month. According to a Monday Reuters report, Sotheby’s will offer a 101.38-carat pear-shaped diamond for bids in crypto and fiat starting on July 9. Buyers are expected to bid up $118 million HKD — roughly $15 million — for the stone. This amounts to more than 454 Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of publication at a price of $32,974. Sotheby’s has also accepted Ether (ETH) in previous auctions. The auction house seems to be marketing to crypto users in …

Bitcoin’s status as legal tender in El Salvador has recently sparked a new round of discussion concerning Bitcoin (BTC) and its role in the world economy. Despite ambiguous reactions from institutions such as JPMorgan Chase and the World Bank, some feel that Bitcoin’s status as a means of payment is now more explicit than ever. Meanwhile, the perception of Bitcoin among retail users is contrasted sharply by institutional uncertainty. A recent study by CryptoRefills, a company that sells vouchers and gift cards in exchange for cryptocurrency, seems to suggest that many users view Bitcoin as a useful way to pay …

Indonesia’s central bank governor, Perry Warjiyo, is mobilizing official supervisors to enforce the country’s ban on financial institutions using crypto assets as a means of payment. During a virtual seminar on Tuesday, June 15, Warjiyo reiterated that local financial firms and payment provided are prohibited from facilitating the use of cryptocurrency to settle payments or as an instrument used in other financial services. The central bank governor emphasized that crypto assets are “not legitimate payment instruments under the constitution, Bank Indonesia Law, and Currency Law,” noting that field supervisors will be sent out to ensure that local financial institutions adhere …

El Salvador’s Minister of Labor and Social Welfare has said that the country is not yet ready to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) for salary payments. In a Wednesday tweet, Rolando Castro denied local reports which claimed that his ministry had begun analyzing the possibility of Bitcoin-based salaries with officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy on Monday. Castro stressed that he was just answering a question, stating that it was “too premature to talk about wages.” The official added that he is now focused on finding more and better jobs for El Salvadoreans. “Monetary issues fall under …

GoldConnect, a Latin American telecommunications wholesaler, announced Tuesday that it will allow customers to pay with cryptocurrencies through payment processor BitPay, marking another important milestone in the region’s embrace of Bitcoin (BTC). Crypto payments can be made directly through LatamConnect, a platform that connects directly with BitPay. Crypto payments made through BitPay are settled in local fiat currency. GoldConnect said its embrace of crypto payments reflects growing demand for such services across the 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries in which it operates. "As a disruptive telecom provider in the LATAM region, we must continuously embrace the latest technologies and …

Two former PayPal workers in business and technology have launched a cross-border payment system aimed at “faster, cheaper, and more transparent payments.” In an announcement on Tuesday, fintech infrastructure firm Six Clovers said it launched its Rapid network, which connects banks, merchants and payment providers, allowing clients to transact in digital currencies and fiat. Founded by former PayPal employees Jim Nguyen and Nas Kavian and backed by venture capital firm Borderless Capital, the network is built on the Algorand blockchain and employs the technology behind stablecoins to represent fiat. “Six Clovers is creating a bridge between traditional and decentralized finance, …