Category: Forex

Ever since its launch in 2009, it seems that the business and finance world can’t stop talking about Bitcoins. It is one of the technologies changing how the world does business. If you run your own business, you must have heard of Bitcoin at some point and wondered if it was worthwhile to make the jump to working with it. 

There are many reasons to start working with Bitcoins – they are faster and easier to use, cost much less than credit cards, and come with a wide-range of options to tailor them to your scale and type of business. There is also the novelty of being a Bitcoin business – just the announcement will get you the attention of steady Bitcoin users!

While the Bitcoin market is still quite volatile, it has proven to be one of the most successful cryptocurrencies ever – safe, anonymous, and impossible to hack. It is therefore no surprise that entrepreneurs and small business owners are jumping on the bandwagon. If you are one of these people, read on for a step-by-step guide on how to work with Bitcoins. 

Do Legal Research 

While Bitcoins don’t face as much scrutiny as some other business, they still run into some legal trouble. If you are planning on using them for your business, you will need to look into the various regulations and restrictions surrounding them, especially in your country. The best way to do it is to sit with a trusted lawyer and work out the legal aspects of accepting Bitcoins as currency for your business. 

Set Up A Bitcoin Wallet

You can simply start by making Bitcoin wallet one of the accepted payment methods for your business. A Bitcoin wallet is the address where your customers send money. The process is quite simple, much like using any other digital wallet – people put in your address or scan your QR code, enter the amount, and press ‘Send’. 

Tutorials on how to set up a Bitcoin wallet for your business can be easily found on the internet, along with the best practices to secure the wallet. Treat your Bitcoin wallet just like a cash register and regularly take out the money to store in a safer environment than your computer or mobile. Keep only small amounts of Bitcoins on your gadgets. 

Look For A Payment Processor

If your business is on the bigger side, or if you accept payments beyond the scope of a simple Bitcoin wallet, you might want to consider working with a payment processor. Your search for a suitable Bitcoin processor will depend on the type of business you are running, the amount of scale of payments you handle on a daily basis, and options for protecting yourself against the volatile Bitcoin market. 

Be aware that external payment processors charge a service fee, but they are still a much cheaper option than Paypal or credit cards. Popular payment processors like BitPay also offer a host of exciting add-ons like the email invoice feature or adding a shopping cart option to your online business. 

Advertise Your Use Of Bitcoins

Whatever you do, do not forget to be loud about the fact that your business accepts Bitcoins. If you run a physical store, make sure you have lots of displays and pop-ups indicating Bitcoin acceptance at your store. A flashy banner on the site would do the job for online business owners, right beside your other payment options. 

Advertising that your business works with Bitcoins has two major benefits – first because Bitcoins are a shiny, new thing in the business world, you will get press, even if you are a small business. Secondly, you will grab the attention of the small but sizable group of Bitcoin users, who are always enthusiastic about supporting Bitcoin using businesses. This also opens up your business to an entirely new target audience. 

Use Blockchain Network To Your Advantage

Bitcoins are based on the Blockchain network, which offers a lot of exciting features for business owners. You can safely store your business inventory within the network and keep track of all transactions. The network doesn’t allow for any changes or deletions and is one of the most secure ways to keep your records transparent. You have the option to track every single transaction, including shipping fees. 

Another feature integrated with Bitcoin usage is smart contracts that can be signed digitally and stored on a single, safe platform. Once again, complete transparency is the function of this feature as it ensures that the terms and conditions included in your contract remain unchangeable and secure. 

Keep Records Of Bitcoin

Once you have decided to work with Bitcoins and worked out the above-mentioned steps, the final step is to get in touch with a bookkeeper to figure out how to keep records of your Bitcoin payments. These days, plenty of tax firms specialize in Bitcoins. Narrow down one of them and make sure you have a trusted bookkeeper in place before you launch Bitcoin payments for your business. 

Craig Russo, director of Polyient Games has seen a huge opportunity in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Since the launch of the first NFT in 2017, it has become a trend in the gaming industry. The first NFT came into the market through Cryptokittie, a game that allows the users to collect ETH coins.

Apart from the gaming, NFTs are now also being used in the ticketing in the sports industry, other financial services, and in selling and buying property. Russo believes that NFT is one of the most attractive opportunities in the crypto industry.

Its uses can be seen in the collectibles, art, and other gaming platforms. But why NFTs are so much popular in the gaming space? Russo has explained that in detail by highlighting its point of view from the gamer’s perspective.

Gamers are constantly getting attracted towards blockchain because they can have the ownership to the items they win through gaming. Unlike traditional gaming, blockchain gaming gives them a chance to earn while they are playing.

In this case, NFTs and other digital collectibles have given them an entirely new experience. What is the result of this new sort of gaming? The collectibles market has grown and tremendously reached $370 billion.

Will NFTs Emerge As A Standalone Asset?

Russo has also pointed out that NFTs may soon become a standalone asset in decentralized finance (DeFi). Companies like Polyient Games strongly believe that NFTs will soon be a part of the decentralized finance along with lending, and fractional trading.

However, emerging as a standalone asset is not easy for NFT. There are many hurdles in the path, for example, the public’s perspective and media. But these hurdles are not that difficult to beat, said Russo. Since the mainstream media is drawn towards NFTs lately, it will become a crypto asset soon.

Has COVID-19 Contributed To The Popularity Of NFTs?

The pandemic has affected everything from the way people interact, travel, communicate, and conduct business. But Russo says it has also affected the gaming space. According to research, $10.5 billion were spent on gaming in the U.S. alone.

The data was based on in-home gaming users. Shockingly this report was only based in April 2020. People spent more time playing games than ever before. The pandemic has put people in a situation where the social distance is mandatory which may lead to increase the gaming consumption.

The concept of digital collectibles and NFTs is entirely new for some users but as it gives rewards to the gamers, the passion will tend to increase in the future as well. Thus, a greater number of gamers will embrace the blockchain games.

Binance is finally rolling out its long-awaited debit card, Binance Card, across countries within the European Economic Area (EEA). Binance communicated this news on July 14, 2020, stating that people who live in these countries can apply for the card come August, while those living in the United Kingdom will have it available a little after that.

Other regions can register their interest in the company’s website as the company plans how to roll out in these areas.

Swipe has rolled out its services across 31 countries in the EEA, including France, Spain, Germany, and others. The firm is said to be in the final phases of rolling out the Swipe service in the United States as it has met licensing and regulatory requirements.

The press release stated that the Binance debit card would carry four cryptocurrencies upon its launch. These currencies include the gold standard, Bitcoin, stablecoin, Binance USD, Binance’s native Token, and Swipe’s native Token.

The Binance card has come to allow its users to automatically convert their crypto into fiat that they can spend across 60 million-plus merchants in 200 different locations.

The struggle that has always been there being where a crypto owner has to manually convert their digital currency before spending. This struggle gets eliminated using the Binance card. This advantage will make this card just like your regular debit card.

Binance says that the card will work by recharging their Binance card wallet using the integrated spot wallet that houses their different digital assets on Binance. They will then get to choose the order of preference they want their crypto debited. The four supported cryptocurrencies will then get converted into the debit card based on the user’s order of preference.

For example, if the user has two cryptocurrencies, each worth 50 Euros, they can determine how these currencies get converted into fiat. A user may want to spend 75 Euros and chooses for their Bitcoin to get converted first, followed by stablecoin, The 50 Euros of Bitcoin will all get converted first. The system will then convert 25 Euros of the stablecoin to make a total of the 75 Euros needed.

The Swipe feature allows cryptocurrency to be stored in the Binance card and only prompts it to convert to fiat when required in that form. The Binance card works to help the world adopt digital currency by having crypto readily available for use in the working world. This practicality is according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Zhao demonstrated the first Binance card transactions in the first week of July 2020. He confirmed that Binance had acquired Swipe in the first week of July 2020, marking this as the second major acquisition Binance has made this year.

Binance undertook nine significant acquisitions in 2019 to help it achieve its goals. Some of these acquisitions were like Dappreview, a blockchain data startup, and JEX, a derivative platform based in Seychelles. The CEO believes that by 2030 cryptocurrency will be a regular currency used in every part of the world.

The world-traveling has come to a standstill due to the pandemic. Many countries have banned people from traveling, canceled flights, quarantine restrictions, and so on. It took a toll on the travel companies, and the companies are trying to embrace technology to recover the losses. The pandemic has canceled people from traveling for a few months. The bookings made for holidays during the summer months are canceled. The consumers are getting promissory notes and travel vouchers in the form of funds.

Few countries started to lift the ban on travel, and they are running flights to different countries. The flight corridors are also removing restrictions on quarantine. Expedia and Travala have extended their mode of payments for travelers. This encourages travelers to travel once more without losing their money. The new partnership with the travel giant and the online accommodation booking platform will allow people to book the accommodation from umpteen options available on Expedia.

Travala.com, which is an online travel agency, is allowing people to book hotels using cryptocurrency. The Binance crypto exchange backs it. The online travel agency is giving support for Expedia bookings. So the bitcoin payments are now possible for the travel giant to accept, which was otherwise shelved back in 2018.

Travala, the hotel booking platform based in Australia, is integrated with Rapid API of the Expedia group partner services. This allows the company to gain access to around 7 00,000 hotels. The Expedia listing would pay with approximately 30 different types of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Binance coin, AVA, Ethereum, and other currencies. The transactions are carried out by the users of Travala. Earlier, Expedia used to accept cryptocurrency payments, but it disconnected the payment form in 2018 and again resumed it.

You can make payments using cryptocurrency using the booking API that is offered by the subsidiary of Expedia.

The CEO of Travala, Juan Otero, has explained about the new move with the public. The Expedia booking was not developed with the intent to accept crypto. On the other hand, the CEO stated that there were many issues that Expedia has faced to make the bitcoin payment work.

The senior vice president of Expedia Partner services stated that found that the choice of payment has evolved over a period, and the partnership with Travala would allow the customers to make payment through bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.

This kind of partnership will rarely happen since these two are strong competitors in the market. Expedia is a well-established company, while Travala focuses on cryptocurrency. Expedia is the second largest online travel agency in the world. Travala is one of the cryptocurrency projects that bridge the travel gaps between multiple nations.

The partnership has come into force with the world recovering from the recent pandemic. The booking revenue of Travala has seen a rise of up to 170% and a value of USD 1, 84,000. The night room bookings have increased to 81%, and slowly the world is getting back to its feet.

Forex is a huge storage of foreign currency and exchange. Foreign exchange (Forex) is actually the system that converts one currency to any other currency. It can happen for many reasons: commercial purpose, trading, or very commonly for tourism.

Based on the recent report from the Bank for International Settlements, the average was over $5.1 trillion in daily forex volume. Here, you’ll learn about forex trading courses and some top books on it.

Forex Courses

Investors who plan to get into foreign exchange can face a drastic fall, losing capital within a flash and optimism even quicker.

If investing in forex, it can prove fortunate as it can bring great opportunities. But, it’s a very distinct environment compared to the equities market. For getting the failures avoided by the stock traders, forex trading courses are available.

Various Forex Trading Courses

There are mainly two kinds of forex trading courses.

Online Courses

You can compare this type to distance learning in college, as many people do. There will be a guide or an instructor who will come up with different eBooks, PowerPoint presentations, trading simulations, etc.

You have three stages: beginner, intermediate, and finally advanced. For a trader with little knowledge of forex, it can be super valuable for his or her future. The course fees vary from platform to platform. It starts at only $50.

Individual Training

This is more specific compared to the previous one. You should have a basic knowledge of forex trading for continuing in this course.

A successful trader acts as your trainer here. He always explores different strategies and risk management processes with the students. But, he or she will spend a lot of time teaching by placing real trades. This training is a bit expensive, ranging from $1000 to $1200.

Top Books for Forex Trading

The course can be way more straightforward if you get some good books on this for yourself. Sometimes observing presentations or hearing lectures is not sufficient. So, books are necessary. Here are a few of the best books you can read to learn forex trading.

Currency Trading for Dummies

This masterpiece by Brian Dolan is the best book for the beginners, comes with clear presentations, and instructions that are easy to read. It is even quite a good book for the ones who want to revise the basic lessons they have already learned.

The financial media makes regular use of this book as a resource. It was published in the year 2011. The chief currency strategist, Brian Dolan, and the research director, Kathleen Brooks co-wrote this book. Both of them belong to forex.com.

How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange

Smith is the writer of this book, his full name is Courtney Smith. It starts with the introduction to the world of forex, describing how the market runs. It includes mainly 6 strategies to earn a balanced income by trading. The book also comes with various important risk management procedures and also the psychology of trading. It was published in 2010.

Forex Trading: Breaking Down The Basics

Jim Brown is the author of this book. The name itself tells that it provides the basics of forex. The best thing about the author is he is a self-trained forex trader, so this book is written on the basis of various strong experiences as well. It covers:

• Forex definition
• Entrance-exit strategies
• Trading psychology
• Places to trade foreign currencies
• Selecting broker and more

Wind-Up

Understanding the world economy is important to carry out forex trading. A quality course and a good book can make you a master in no time if you are a good learner. Hopefully, you got everything you wanted to know about forex trading. Focus, hard work, and a little risk can make your life full of prosperity. Good luck!

The Credits team finally enters the European market, and for this, it has obtained a crypto license. The company plans to reach new heights of a global network by developing new ideas and implementing modern technology.

For some countries, the main legislative transformation is establishing special permission, allowing companies dealing with cryptocurrencies to perform digital currency exchange. Credits aim to use blockchain technology in IT solutions and business. It creates transactions and stores these transactions and data by using “autonomous smart contracts.” 

The company plans to ensure that transactions are effectively carried out and to expand its user base. Credits has also introduced new partner-acquirers, and consequently increased opportunities for users. One of the partners is Axcess Merchant Services, which will assist the internal currency of the company. This support will be provided by accepting Mastercard and Visa cards and by implementing tools to prevent fraud. This will ensure reliable and smooth blockchain working.

The most important step in developing payment technology was in obtaining the crypto license. This was important for the company’s business niches.

The new benefits of the crypto activities include –

· Virtual value legislation

· Tax-free CS currency

· License for versatile exchange of fiat and virtual currency

· Official license for crypto-wallet

Users will have access to Credits Mobile Wallet, blockchain technology-based. The Wallet has all the new features, as given below –

· Zero fees

· Instant transactions

· Global Accessibility

Credits.com is an online financial company that supports online transfers and e-payment solutions with the help of traditional methods and blockchain technology. It uses modern solutions for payment like P2P with stablecoins, cryptocurrencies, and several other products. Traditional partners include SWIFT, SEPA, Visa/MC.

The mission of Credits is the globalization of online payments, making it instant, simple, and inexpensive.

All the information on the platform is secure as it follows the “Proof-of-Agreement protocol.”

Axcess and Credits Partnership

Credits announced its partnership with Axcess Merchant Services, which is a British payment gateway. The company works with several banking partners and is known to provide effective and reliable payment solutions. Axcess works with merchants to find out their requirements and then find the perfect banking solution for them. They have connections with more than 390 banks.

Credits Mobile Wallet App

Axcess will accept Mastercard and Visa Cards in Credits’ Mobile Wallet app, which was released in May 2020. The key features of the Mobile Wallet app are –

• Cashbacks
• Cryptocurrencies such as ETH, CS, Stablecoins, and BTC which will be added later
• Bank Transfers
• Mastercard
• KYC procedure
• Registration of account via email and SMS
• Account opening on Credits blockchain
• In-app fund storage
• History of external and internal transactions
• CS cryptocurrency purchase through 3rd party

At present, the Mobile wallet is undergoing internal testing. It will be available for public download after the tests are successful.

The partnership between Credits and Axcess will help in the implementation of blockchain technology and CS coin in several services. There is also the opportunity in the acceptance of new products such as Stablecoins and Credits Wallet.

Another added advantage of this partnership is Axcess’s vast experience in monitoring collective fraud and preventing it. The company conducts “continuing chargeback and fraud alert data aggregation and analysis.” As a result, they can project calculations and avoid threshold breaches. This also helps them proactively deal with 3rd party fraud.

About Credits

It is a decentralized and open-source platform that helps in developing and executing decentralized applications and smart contracts. The company offers both private and public solutions that are suitable for B2B and B2C markets, getting rid of issues like uncertainty and trust. One of the unusual features of Credits is its high-speed blockchain platform.

There is a global competition for domination in the cryptocurrency markets, and China is not lagging. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, China announced its intentions to launch an East Asian Cryptocurrency to compete with Bitcoin and the US dollar worldwide. The cryptocurrency will comprise the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, South Korean, and the Hong Kong dollar.

A political advisory body called the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference met in Beijing on May 10th, 2020, and proposed this new form of digital currency. There is no official name given to it yet, but the crypto is referred to as DC-EP or Digital Currency- Electronic Payment. Ideas for making a digital basket to include all four fiat currencies are going back and forth. However, the final decision is yet to be confirmed by an official.

Bitcoin transactions have been banned in China by the Public Bank Of China (PBOC), since December 2013. 

Initially, this regulation came into play for financial institutions, but later on, by January 2018, all Bitcoin mining in China saw a complete crackdown and ban. However, with more people moving towards the digital currency platform, China has been developing a cryptocurrency for a few years now. PBOC has started testing out digital yuan in several cities in China to judge the response it gets before launching it globally. 

China has claimed that this cryptocurrency intends to reduce cash-flow problems and prevent inflation. Digital currencies such as Bitcoin aren’t governed by any centralized authority and provide complete autonomy. The Chinese cryptocurrency, however, will be regulated by a central power. It will also become a part of the surveillance state of China.

The meeting conducted at the Great Hall of the People consisted of a 10-member committee. They proposed that since there are four currencies involved in creating the East Asian cryptocurrency, the ratio of endorsements should be based on each currency’s economic scale. For example, the yuan and the yen will account for 60% and 20% of the calculated guarantee.

The value of the digital currency will be corresponding to the current value of the paper currency and coins. People will be able to convert paper notes through the central bank and use digital currencies for transactions. China hopes that the digital form of money will make it more convenient for people to perform their monetary operations and bring transparency to transactions.

There is a free trade agreement underway between China, South Korea, and Japan, and negotiations are still on-going. The agreement will not only discuss the launch of the cryptocurrency but also reflect on the countries’ trade policies using digital money. It can also be seen as an attempt by China to maintain relations with other East Asian countries as it faces backlash from the USA.

Meanwhile, the US is trying to scale its development of the digital dollar as questions of the dollar’s dominance as the world’s reserve currency started rising. Facebook’s Libra Association is already planning to launch and organize separate digital currencies as per the sanctioned currencies of individual countries. It will include the dollar and the euro. Thus, Libra could ultimately prove to be a counterpart for the digital dollar.

China is trying to change the dominance of dollar-based transactions worldwide while promoting the Chinese currency. Currently, the dollar has been imperative for global trade and business transactions. Internationally, the dollar holds more value than any other currency in trading. The East Asian cryptocurrency is China’s attempt to change this global scenario and build its own network for payments.