Biz Builder Mike

You can't sail Today's boat on Yesterdays wind - Michael Noel

four years

Fintech Ant Group Affiliate MYbank Is Planning to Expand Operations in China to Serve More Rural SMEs

China-based MYbank, an online private commercial bank and an affiliate of the Ant Group with a special focus on working with rural areas and SMEs, has revealed that it will be doubling the number of rural counties it serves in the coming years.

MYbank and its business partners plan to provide financial services in 2,000 rural counties in China within the next four years (by 2025). This should coincide with the bank’s 10th year since its launch. The initiative will ensure that rural clients are able to access the same modern financial services that are offered in some of China’s largest cities. The initiative should also help with addressing the last-mile problem in the rural finance sector.

This latest announcement from MYbank has come along with the release of the firm’s 2020 annual report, which reveals that MYbank had been serving 70% more (year-on-year) SMEs in 2020 when compared to 2019. This rise in activity has mainly been driven by MYbank’s expansion into rural areas.

Since launching operations 6 years back, MYbank has managed to serve clients in over 750 different counties across China.

Xiaolong Jin, President of MYbank, stated:

“We have continued to record remarkable growth in customer base for five consecutive years. We expect rural finance to play a significant role in advancing financial inclusion, and will further our efforts to make rural finance more accessible with our financial institution partners.”

MYbank has reportedly kept its non-performing loan ratio at around 1.52%, which is a lot lower than the 2.99% average for Chinese SME loans (as of June of last year).

MYbank had teamed up with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the China Banking Association (in March 2020) in order to introduce a “Contactless Loans” initiative, in which 118 Chinese banking institutions had come together to provide supportive loans for small and medium-sized businesses as they tried to maintain operations.

The initiatve reportedly offered more than RMB 870 billion worth of loans to many different SMEs in sectors that were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak (including local dining and retail outlets).

During the 6 months since the campaign began, MYbank and its partner banks have waived RMB 665 million in interest payments for Chinese SMEs.

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ECB’s Christine Lagarde Discusses Timeline for Digital Euro

European Central Bank’s (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde said that the possibility of a digital Euro, known more technically as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), coming into circulation is growing given the change in digital priorities.

But it could still take the European Union sometime before it decides on moving forward with the idea.

CBDC Roll-out Process Is Complicated

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Lagarde pointed to the intricate processes needed for a decision to be made towards launching a digital Euro. According to her, there is a possibility that a state-backed digital currency could come into existence in the next couple of years once the Governing Council gives the go-ahead.

The ECB would first release an analysis of eight thousand responses it received following its digital Euro consultation exercise. According to the French business guru, these responses would first be communicated to the European Parliament, a key player. Then the ECB’s decision-making Governing Council would decide whether to proceed with the fiat replica experimentation.

The consultation results would determine whether the ECB would commence experimentation on a digital fiat in the next six months or a year.

“It’s a technical endeavor as well as a fundamental change,” Lagarde said. “We need to make sure that we’re not going to break any system, but to enhance the system,” she added.

Lagarde’s enhancement speech echoes the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report, which noted that over 20% of national banks globally actively considered rolling out a state-sanctioned digital currency. The report published in late 2020 recommended that any efforts in this direction should not usurp the fundamental role that fiat plays in the economy. According to the BIS, CBDCs should be integrated into the extant settlement framework.

Four Years At Most

But despite this supposed positive outlook for CBDCs, Lagarde has said it may take up to four years before anything meaningful comes out.

The CBDC race is led by China, which is currently fast-tracking the digital yuan pilot tests to meet up to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. But China is not the only country that has made efforts to revolutionize the way people spend cash. The Bahamas is the first recognized economy using a state-backed digital currency called Sands Dollar, and Lagarde says she is keenly interested in this project.

According to her, any decision on CBDCs would be targeted at providing Europeans with a fairly stable, safe, and secure digital currency, given the immense shift it would bring to the European financial scape.

Lagarde is a well-known critic of Bitcoin being perceived as a medium of exchange.

Noting the potential harm the digital asset may bring to the financial system, Lagarde said the pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin could serve criminal intents like money laundering and terrorist financing.

To many like her, the CBDC is a concept to regain the financial system disruptively usurped by decentralization.

ECB’s Christine Lagarde Discusses Timeline for Digital Euro

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Astorya, Search Engine for Insurance and Banking Tech, Reviews 10 Years of Insurtech in Europe

Astorya.io, which aims to serve as the search engine for Insurance and Banking technologies, has published a blog post, titled InsurTech Europe: 10 Years Of InsurTech In Europe Analyzed Through 800+ Startups (based on data from astorya.io).

While discussing how InsurTech startups are gaining considerable ground across Europe, the blog post notes that insurance tech firms are “moving the lines in the insurance world.” This, according to the study performed by astorya.io for L’Argus. These startups have played a key role in the transformation of the sector which is expected to expand further.

As noted in the blog post:

“Unrecognized five years ago, InsurTech startups seem to have found their place in the insurance industry, despite pockets of resistance. A recent study by research firm Juniper thus underlines that globally they already account for 5% of the turnover of the entire market, a rate that is set to double over the next four years. But this groundswell covers distinct trends.”

The blog adds that the US and China have witnessed the rise of a relatively large number of online or digital insurance providers “oriented B to C (business to consumer), the size and regulation of local markets allowing it.” The post further notes that this may be “an approach that is less suited to Europe, even if Alan or Luko are showing [solid] growth.”

For example, Maif announced last year that it had managed to acquire 66,000 new clients “across all of its products.” Meanwhile, Luko, on home insurance alone, “won nearly 100,000” customers — according to Florian Graillot, founder astorya.vc, an InsurTech fund.

The post further noted that “beyond these exceptions, the world of European InsurTech has experienced certain structural and historical trends, which astorya.io (database on InsurTech and FinTech, created by the founders of astorya.vc) analyzes in a study for L’Argus.”

The Astorya team added:

“First observation: the European InsurTech ecosystem has entered a phase of maturity for two years, as shown by the significant decrease in the number of newcomers. And for good reason: in France, Alan, Luko and Shift Technology have monopolized new financing, as has pet insurance specialist Bought by Many in the UK, or even, in Germany, players such as Coya and WeFox. For several years now, these three countries alone have grouped together three-quarters of the continent’s InsurTech startups.”

The report pointed out that another key highlight is “the positioning of these newcomers in the insurance value chain.” It also mentions that in this regard, the astorya.io study emphasizes one important point: “the preponderance of these InsurTech startups in the individual insurance segment, mainly car and home, to a lesser extent health.”

The blog post added that P&C insurance products are “simple, therefore standardized, and have low margins … For traditional insurers, they are primarily starter products. ” It also noted that to gain a foothold, InsurTech startups must “rethink its distribution” — according to Florian Graillot.

The  blog post continued:

“Although there have been a number of failures in this segment, the founder of astorya.vc believes the market is far from saturated and new start-ups may appear: E-commerce is estimated to account for 30% of total commerce, almost 50% if outside of the food market. Where are we in insurance? Comparators represent 10% of the market … In short, if insurance follows other sectors of the economy, there is still plenty of room for these new digital native players.”

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A year into the pandemic: How Argentina’s economy struggled while its crypto ecosystem flourished

The year 2020 will go down in history as the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the way it affected the Argentine economy. But it is also true that Argentina has been dragging along economic problems for decades, with high fiscal pressure, devaluation of the national currency (the Argentine peso), restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency, etc. 

Beyond that, events have occurred that have to do with attempts to regulate the crypto ecosystem, in addition to those linked to private companies and the adoption of cryptocurrencies. The following is a summary of the events that marked the last year and the opinions of various people who lived it from inside the ecosystem.

First quarter of 2020

Second quarter of 2020

Third quarter of 2020

  • A Paxful survey finds that Argentines believe investing in cryptocurrency is the most effective way to save

Fourth quarter of 2020

Attempts at regulation

There have been two initiatives at the national level in Argentina and one at the provincial level (in the province of Misiones) that are related to attempts to regulate cryptocurrencies.

In the Chamber of Deputies, a bill from Everybody’s Front was formally presented with the signature of 15 national deputies. This initiative, under file 6055-D-2020, has as its summary title: Integral Regulatory Framework Applicable to Civil and Commercial Transactions and Operations of Crypto Assets.

On the other hand, from the opposition, Argentine deputy Ignacio Torres of the Together for Change front also has in his hands a project on cryptocurrencies, but it has not yet been formally presented to Congress. This legislator, a representative of the district of Chubut, is holding a series of meetings and consultations on the subject with different sectors.

These projects have also been the focus of controversy and criticism from various sectors of the Argentine cryptosphere.

In addition, in the province of Misiones, Provincial Deputy Roque Gervasoni of the Front for the Renewal of Concord presented a project in the Chamber of Deputies. Registered under file D-55787/20, it is a bill that, in theory, also proposes to regulate the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The initiative has another peculiarity, which is that it provides for the creation of an exchange.

Rodolfo Andragnes, president of Bitcoin Argentina, said:

“A very relevant issue in November was the national law projects that emerged to regulate crypto assets, which were highly criticized by us.”

Pedro Rey Puma, OKEx community manager for Latin America, observed: “We must highlight the exposure of the two bills presented to the UIF and the Congress, although I think they need changes, and I adhere to the general dissatisfaction of the community.”

“I also believe that a positive aspect is the legitimization of cryptocurrencies by government officials, because if a favorable regulation is achieved, it will be a huge opportunity for the country to lead the innovation and the creation of services based on this technology. Otherwise, this activity will be taken to informality.”

Bitcoin’s price rose, and adoption grew

It was a very interesting year in terms of the price of Bitcoin (BTC), especially in its last few weeks. Bitcoin reached another historic high, something that hadn’t happened since 2017. It shouldn’t be forgotten either that it was a year where there was another halving, which many think was decisive for the price.

Andragnes said that in Argentina, during 2020, new projects appeared, while others were consolidated. “Not only have the exchanges seen exponential growth of users, multiplying by three or five times their volumes, but those companies that offered services such as digital certifications or developments on blockchain have also noticed growth,” he highlighted.

Ivan Tello, co-founder of Decrypto, expressed that the most important thing about 2020 in the crypto ecosystem was adoption:

“COVID and quarantine taught us that everything is virtual. Shopping at the supermarket or mall is now virtual. Procedures and even birthdays were virtual, but also savings, investment and money are virtual.”

On the other hand, he estimated that before “the trap” and prohibition of buying dollars in Argentina, investors and traditional savers discovered the possibility of being able to continue buying “virtual dollars” in the form of the stablecoins, which in many cases are the door to the crypto world. “Then they discover all the solutions that this new world brings to them,” he remarked. “More and more people are losing their fear of the virtual, of the intangible.”

But he also highlighted “the Halving (reduction in emission) of Bitcoin,” saying: “It happened in a year where all the central banks went out to issue and counterfeit their currency without any support, and it made evident the cracks in the system and how the perfect storm only favors Bitcoin to keep increasing its price.”

According to Gabriel Vago, CEO of ArgenBTC, 2020 was undoubtedly the best year for the crypto ecosystem in Argentina. “The different circumstances that occurred throughout the year — between, the exchange rate gap, the quarantine lockdown and the unstoppable rise in the price of Bitcoin since March — prepared a perfect scenario for hundreds of thousands of Argentines to join the crypto world,” he highlighted.

Emiliano Limia, public relations manager at Buenbit, said that the most important thing was the exponential growth of users. “The reasons behind this generalised growth are mainly related to the complex economic context the country is going through. Crypto assets gained ground as a form of savings in the context of the devaluation of the Argentine peso and restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency.”

In particular, he stated that the adoption of Dai became popular: “As it is a stablecoin, which has a price linked to the U.S. dollar, many Argentines turned to acquiring it. The reason is that in Argentina, there is a maximum quota of up to 200 dollars per month, and this is combined with interest rates in low-yielding Argentine pesos and a historical preference of Argentines for the dollar. So, for new users, DAI works as a good gateway to the ecosystem. In fact, MakerDAO, the organization that created this stablecoin, assures in its official blog that DAI has become the most popular crypto in Argentina by exchange volumes, even ahead of Bitcoin, due to concerns about hyperinflation.”

On the other hand, he talked about the increase in Bitcoin’s price. “It caught the attention of the press and of many people who had not yet entered the ecosystem, and who now notice that the asset is consolidating,” he said.

For economist Nicolas Litvinoff, director of Estudinero, the most important events of 2020 had to do with two things: operations and access.

“On the side of fundamentals, easy access to the purchase of Bitcoin was the big news,” he said. “The access ramp benefited from the development and implementation of P2P operations but monitored and guaranteed by exchanges or multi-currency platforms. The proposals of Airtm, Uphold and now Binance — that an Argentinean can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum or other assets with a transfer in pesos and the other person can send the crypto — is a model of operation that facilitates the access to crypto assets. Peer-to-peer opens the door for millions of people to the world of crypto assets.”

He added: “From the point of view of prices, the consolidation of Bitcoin as a safeguard against inflation, and the possibility of accessing stablecoins linked to the dollar as a safeguard against inflation, is good news. Beyond the price increase, Bitcoin has shown that it is an excellent refuge of value, especially for countries with a high degree of financial repression or regulation, like ours.”

For Matías Part, chief operating officer of Crypto Rocket and CR Academia, there were a series of internal and external factors that helped to put cryptocurrencies on the map in a definitive way.

“When the previous government regulated the exchange rate trap in September 2019, there was a great uncertainty that was immediately solved by the ecosystem,” he said. “The local exchanges already had DAI listed and the (misnamed) Crypto Dollar emerged.”

“Then, with the change of government, the economic crisis deepened, making people want to support themselves as best they could by buying DAIs without restrictions and with Argentine pesos.”

Rey Puma observed: “I think one of the most important things is the increased adoption of Bitcoin, DAI and USDT because of the overall growth in digital payments due to the pandemic.”

“Many people opted for traditional mobile peso wallets and others started using crypto wallets or custodial apps from exchanges for the first time,” he added.

For Rey Puma, another important thing that happened is that the population was to a greater extent exposed to the fact that Bitcoin can be an alternative to the peso or the dollar to safeguard value, “since in just a couple of months Bitcoin went from being worth 1 million to 3 million pesos.”

This provoked a great growth in new users, and OKEX also noticed it. Rey Puma confirmed that Argentina became one of the countries with the most movement in Latin America.

For Marcos Zocaro, a tax consultant, “Despite the fact that these were not very fortunate events (or measures) for the direction of the Argentine economy, the growing exchange restrictions and the depreciation of the national currency were the trigger for an adoption of cryptocurrencies as we had not seen before.”

“The crypto ecosystem received new users and investors who were discovering the technology as they tried to find some way to dollarize their savings, bypassing (legally) existing restrictions,” he added. “And this boom also generated the emergence of new local crypto ventures and the arrival of important players (among which are the main exchanges worldwide).”

Bitcoin halving

In addition to highlighting many events globally, Abraham Cobos, “crypto catalyst” of Bitso, spoke of Bitcoin’s halving: “On May 11, for the third time in its history, the reward for each mined block was halved. This went down from 12.5 to 6.25 Bitcoin for every block processed (every 10 minutes). When Bitcoin first appeared in 2009, its emission per block was 50 BTC, and then successively halved every 210,000 blocks for four years, resulting in 25 BTC in 2012 and 12.5 BTC in 2016.”

“The halving phenomenon reminds us that Bitcoin is an extremely scarce resource and that its supply is increasingly limited,” he said.

Decentralized finance

Decentralized finance is an international phenomenon, and Argentina has also seen momentum and different developments in this particular sector.

For Juan Manuel Domínguez, director of STO Managers, 2020 was as chaotic as it was interesting for the crypto ecosystem: “The acceleration in interest from people not directly related to the industry, ordinary people who had already heard about it at some point from a friend or family member, and are finally deciding to take the first step even at a higher rate than was the case in 2017.”

In this sense, he highlighted the further development of new applications with more user-friendly interfaces that has been taking place, partly as a result of the intense growth of DeFi platforms that emerged this year. “This plays a significant role in favoring the adoption by users who are just starting out in the industry,” he said.

Part stated: “After the first quarter came the boom of DeFi, with yields of between 5% and 8% per year, which ended up discouraging the FCI and fixed terms.”

On the other hand, he also highlighted the price of BTC surpassing a new all-time high:

“I think that we must also highlight the great work of the community and the exchanges that during this year understood that we must educate the population in a correct way and took care of giving webinars and organizing ATP events. Clearly, it is a year that is hinged in every way.”

A “Crypto Valley”

For Alan Boryszanski, chief financial officer of Lemon Cash, one of the most outstanding milestones in the ecosystem of Argentina was the creation of what he calls “the first Crypto Valley of LATAM” in San Martin de los Andes in the province of Neuquen. It “became a pioneer city that works as a technological testing ground for companies, startups, entrepreneurs, academics and organizations,” he explained.

“With more than 600 merchants that accept digital assets as a form of payment, Crypto Valley has a direct relationship with the Chamber of Commerce of the city and has the support of the local Ministry of Tourism,” he added. “In addition, it contributes to financial inclusion thanks to webinar cycles and research agreements with different universities in the country. The Crypto Valley condenses many changes that happened in 2020 as a consequence of the pandemic, the currency trap and the tax increases, which forced the massive adoption of cryptocurrencies as a value reserve.”

A year into the pandemic: How Argentina\’s economy struggled while its crypto ecosystem flourished

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Treasury Secretary Once Again Calls Out Cryptos Role in Illicit Transactions 

Janet Yellen, the new Treasury Secretary, has been put in a central role and is expected to push crypto regulations sometime in the next four years. While she has shared mixed feelings towards digital assets, she maintains that her primary objective is investor protection.

Investor Protection Takes Priority

This week, Yellen appeared in a CNBC interview where she touched several topics, including the prospect of crypto regulations. The Treasury Secretary explained that cryptocurrencies would need a special regulatory environment, as the government hopes to protect investors from their speculative nature and propensity to be used in criminal activities.

The Treasury Secretary recently held a meeting with several other policymakers, including the Federal Reserve Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and New York Federal Reserve – over the GameStop saga of last month and its fallout.

At the meeting, the policymakers agreed that market practices worked reasonably well. However, Yellen remains committed to investor protection as far as cryptocurrencies are concerned.

All Eyes on Janet

This isn’t the first time Yellen will raise the issue of criminal activity in particular. As part of her Senate confirmation in January, she pointed out that digital assets remain a particular anti-money laundering (AML) concern that she hopes to mitigate in her tenure as Treasury Secretary.

“We need to make sure that our methods for dealing with these matters — with terrorist financing — change along with changing technology. Cryptocurrencies are a particular concern. I think many are used at least in a transaction sense mainly for illicit financing and I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use and make sure that anti-money laundering doesn’t occur through those channels,” Yellen said.

Despite this, the policymaker has also pointed out that cryptocurrencies can improve the American financial system. In a written statement to the Senate Finance Committee, Yellen explained that she would look to harness cryptocurrencies’ potential to improve the financial system’s efficiency.

For now, Yellen has yet to adopt any particular policies that could harm the crypto industry. Of course, the Biden administration appears to be focusing on mitigating the coronavirus, and the Treasury Secretary has her hands full with managing its financial implications. However, all eyes will be on her in the coming months as she begins rolling out specific policy proposals.

Treasury Secretary Once Again Calls Out Cryptos Role in Illicit Transactions 

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