payments

Apr 15 2021

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: BTC/USD Pauses Above $62,000 Support As Bulls Prepare For The Next Round Of Upside Momentum

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction – April 16, 2021
Bitcoin price now fluctuates between $62,000 and $65,000 as bulls struggle to break above the $65,000 resistance. For the past three days, the BTC/USD price has been in a downwards correction above the $62,000 support. Bitcoin will attain a new high above $70,000 if the bulls clear the resistance at $65,000.

Resistance Levels: $65,000, $70,000, $75,000
Support Levels: $50,000, $45,000, $40,000

It is no longer news that buyers have overcome the $60,000 ad $61,825 resistance levels after one month of price struggle. The breakout above the resistance levels propels the price to rally to $65,000 high. Nonetheless, for the past three days, buyers are still struggling to overcome the new resistance level at $65,000. After its initial fall to $61,306 low, BTC price resumed fluctuation between $62,000 and $64,000. Buyers have not been able to retest the $65,000 resistance as price consolidates above the $62,000 support. On the upside, if buyers breach the $65,000 resistance, Bitcoin will rally above the $70,000 psychological price level. On the other hand, if sellers break the $62,000 support, the king coin will decline to $60,000 low.

Europe’s Second Largest Insurance Firm, AXA Begins Acceptance of Bitcoin as Payment
AXA has become Switzerland’s first all-line insurer to offer its customers to pay their bills with Bitcoin. Bitcoin payments will be accepted for nearly all AXA products, except for life insurance due to regulatory barriers to the latter. This new policy arrangement has been facilitated through a partnership with the established cryptocurrency broker Bitcoin Suisse. The accelerated digital transformation of the global economy during the coronavirus pandemic has been the main reason for the adoption of Bitcoin as a means of payment. Another reason is that market research conducted by AXA showed that a third of respondents aged between 18 and 55 are interested in Bitcoin. According to AXA Switzerland, “the acceptance of Bitcoin payments is AXA’s response to growing demand from its customers for alternative payment solutions, with new technologies playing an ever greater role.”

Bitcoin price is consolidating above the $62,000 support as it prepares for the next round of upside momentum. According to the Fibonacci tool indicator, Bitcoin will rise to the next psychological price level. Meanwhile, on April 14 uptrend; a retraced candle body tested the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. The retracement implies that Bitcoin will rise to level 2.0 Fibonacci extension or the high of $70,057.50.

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: BTC/USD Pauses Above $62,000 Support As Bulls Prepare For The Next Round Of Upside Momentum

Source

Apr 12 2021

Malaysia’s PayNet Partners FassPay to Help Small Merchants Process Card Payments with Mobile Devices as POS Terminals

Malaysia’s PayNet, the national payments network and shared central infrastructure for that nation’s capital markets, has decided to work with FassPay, a subsidiary of Soft Space, which will be a third-party acquirer for MyDebit, the country’s local debit card scheme.

This new appointment should allow Fasspay to acquire smaller merchants and provide them with its suite of payment solutions which includes their Tap on Phone Payment solution, Fasstap — a product that allows merchants to use their own mobile devices like POS terminals to take card payments.

Merchants looking to sign up with Fasspay don’t have to be physically present as the onboarding and approval process (including Know-Your-Customer or KYC checks) is handled remotely via a step-by-step procedure that may be completed online.

FassPay has also teamed up with digital commerce platform Elokal to digitally support 2,000 small businesses in rural areas by helping them accept cashless payments.

Chris Leong, Chief Executive Officer of Fasspay, explained that Fasstap is a “robust” Cloud-enabled solution that eliminates the need for costly and dedicated payment hardware – which makes it viable or practical for small merchants. Leong also noted that the solution provides access to businesses to tap into their “value-added” loyalty platform and various other developer-based services.

Leong also mentioned that Tap on Phone payments are “reliable and secure, so merchants can be confident in knowing that their solutions face little to no risk.” He added that with their collaboration with PayNet, they think that Fasstap will “create an innovation cycle to further spur contactless usage in Malaysia.”

Leong further noted:

“The collaboration between PayNet and Soft Space, which began with a pilot launch in October 2018, has enabled merchants, particularly smaller merchants to go cashless and accept MyDebit payments without incurring the monthly expenses for a separate card payment terminal. Merchants that sign up with Fasspay would be able to use their Android mobile devices to accept MyDebit payments with the “Tap on Phone” solution called “Fasstap” by leveraging on near-field communication capabilities.”

Peter Schiesser, Group Chief Executive Officer of PayNet, stated:

“PayNet has partnered with Soft Space and now Fasspay to introduce the Tap on Phone solution to merchants for the acceptance of MyDebit in promoting a more cost-effective payment option. The Covid-19 pandemic has raised concern about safety and hygiene, and we are pleased that with the Fasstap solution, merchants can meet their customers’ preference for contactless payments. PayNet strives to offer payment eco-systems that are resilient, competitive and accessible to all. This is in line with our mission to be a trusted enabler of inclusive and collaborative financial ecosystems, which supports the nation’s vision to transform into a digitally-driven, high income nation and a regional leader in the digital economy.”

Source

Apr 10 2021

Ripple becomes tidal wave, leads weekend pump and notches legal victories

Amid a weekend pump carrying multiple cryptocurrencies higher, Ripple’s XRP looks to be leading the way with a push as high as 30% on the daily — carried on the back of a string of legal victories and rumors of relisting at some exchanges.

Where Bitcoin and Ethereum are up merely 2.7% and 3.4% respectively on the day, XRP climbed to $1.36 before retreating to $1.32, where it sits at the time of publication. The digital currency is now up 111% on a 7 day basis, and a staggering 544% on the year. The recent push has also buoyed XRP back into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by marketcap, behind only BTC, ETH, and BNB at #4.

🙂 pic.twitter.com/qYIf6RPOoY

— sats (@satsdart) April 10, 2021

The rally flies in the face of a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which charges that XRP’s $1.3 billion ICO was an “unregistered securities offering.” The news led multiple exchanges to delist the currency, and XRP lost its place as the 3rd largest currency by marketcap, at time looking as if it would even fall out of the top ten.

The bad news for XRP didn’t stop with the SEC, either. In March Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the company would be “winding down” its relationship with Moneygram — a once highly-touted partnership that investors often pointed to as proof of the digital currency being on a path towards becoming “the standard” for payments and settlement.

Despite the deluge of negative headlines, it appears all buyers needed was a small ray of hope to jump back in — and they’ve gotten exactly that. Ripple lawyers have notched two victories in their legal battle against the SEC, including winning access to internal SEC discussion history regarding cryptocurrencies, and a court denied the SEC the ability to disclose the financial records of two Ripple execs, including Garlinghouse.

Ripple executives themselves seem heartened by the news, with CTO David Schwartz saying the US isn’t “prepared” to regulate cryptocurrencies (a possible dig at the ongoing legal proceedings).

All in all, it’s just another week for one of the most controversial cryptocurrencies in the space.

Ripple becomes tidal wave, leads weekend pump and notches legal victories

Source

Apr 08 2021

Malaysia based Telecom Axiata Group and Norway’s Telenor to Merge Malaysian Mobile Businesses

Axiata Group and Telenor Asia revealed on Thursday (April 8, 2021) that they’ve revisted and confirmed their merger plans involving Celcom and Digi. At present, the deal is in advanced discussions.

Malaysian telecoms company Axiata Group Bhd and Norway-based Telenor ASA will be focused on merging their Malaysia-based mobile business operations.

Both firms stated that they had been planning the merger of the telco operations of Celcom Axiata Berhad and Digi.Com Bhd. As part of the deal, both companies will have equal ownership (at around 33% for each company).

As first reported by Reuters, Malaysian institutional investors need to own at least 17.9% of the outstanding shares in the new firm, ensuring that the total domestic ownership is more than 51%, Axiata confirmed.

The firm will be known as Celcom Digi Bhd.

Reuters had also reported earlier that Axiata and Telenor were planning to confirm a deal that was expected to involve the Malaysia-based mobile operations of both companies.

As part of the deal, Axiata will be getting newly issued shares in Digi, which is a cash consideration from new debt in the merged firm of around $400 million and an additional $70 million from Telenor Group, Telenor’s management noted.

Telenor also mentioned:

“A transaction will realize synergies and provide value for shareholders in line with our strategy of further developing Telenor’s Asian portfolio.”

The Norwegian firm, which is the major shareholder in Digi, has other Asia-based operations in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Axiata’s management confirmed that the merged entity will aim to serve as “a leading telecommunications service provider in Malaysia in terms of value, revenue and profit.” It’s expected to generate proforma revenue of approximately 12.4 billion ringgit or around $3 billion USD.

The entity is also expected to have earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of around 5.7 billion ringgit, and about 19 million customers.

Trading in the company shares of Axiata and Digi had been suspended earlier, as the announcement details were being finalized.

In September of last year, Axiata and Telenor had backed out of a potential deal to establish a telecoms joint initiative with almost 300 million clients based in Southeast Asia. The firms had said that the transaction may have led to certain “complexities” which is why they didn’t follow through with it.

During 2020, Telenor had also been planning to combine its Asia-based business operations into one entity under new management so that it could work on other initiatives more effectively.

Digi is notably one of Malaysia’s biggest mobile services platforms in terms of subscribers, while Axiata’s local division Celcom is the third-largest.

As covered in February of last year, the Telenor Microfinance Bank of Pakistan revealed the new DLT-based cross-border payments service, which is available via Easypaisa, a leading mobile-based digital wallet.

The Easypaisa online wallet app lets Pakistani citizens, working in Malaysia, send money back home instantly and securely, via Telenor’s Malaysia-headquartered payment platform Valyou.

As reported in June 2020, GREAT Eastern (Life Assurance), the largest life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia, had confirmed a $70 million investment into Axiata Digital’s financial services business, in order to take part in the company’s Fintech-focused plans, according to Khor Hock Seng, group CEO at Great Eastern.

The investment was reportedly made through a newly launched holding company, called Boost Holdings.

As mentioned in the announcement, Boost Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Axiata Digital, which is the digital services division of the Axiata Group, a major telecommunications group in Malaysia.

After finalizing the investment, Great Eastern will have a 21.875% stake in Boost Holdings. As noted in the release, Axiata Digital Services will be holding the remaining stake in the company.

Malaysia-based Boost offers a digital wallet and lifestyle app which has more than 7.5 million users and around 170,000 merchant touchpoints (as of June 2020).

The investment will reportedly be used to finance Axiata Digital’s new digital financial services business in Malaysia (and in Asia in general). The expansion includes Boost Holdings’ plans to support and develop its merchants network while onboarding more customers. The funds will also be used to improve Aspirasi’s credit-scoring technology. Aspirasi is an online micro-financing and micro-insurance provider.

Source

Apr 06 2021

Sacramento Kings To Offer Bitcoin Salary Option To Players

US professional basketball team Sacramento Kings is offering its staff and players the option of earning in Bitcoin. This was disclosed by the team’s Chairman, CEO, and Governor Vivek Ranadivé on popular social networking app, Clubhouse.

Sacramento Becomes First NBA Team To Offer Bitcoin Salaries

Ranadivé made this known in a room hosted by a club called the ‘Satoshi Roundtable.’ The room was headed by Tim Draper, a venture capitalist well-known in the industry for purchasing Bitcoin from the US Marshall’s auction in 2014, and co-hosted by Bruce Fenton, a prominent Bitcoin advocate, and investor.

The news first broke out on Twitter after a Clubhouse audience member, Neil Jacobs, tweeted what the Sacramento Kings owner said.

“I’m going to announce in the next few days that I’m going to offer everyone in the Kings organization, they can get paid as much of their salary in bitcoin as they want, including the players,” said Ranadivé, according to Jacobs.

The news has generated many opinions from crypto critics and enthusiasts. Most say that this move would strengthen the California NBA team’s long-standing claim to be one of the most pro-crypto teams in professional sports.

This is not the first time the sports team has innovated using blockchain tech. Sacramento Kings announced back in 2014 that they were open to receiving payments in Bitcoin for their team merchandise in partnership with payment processor BitPay.

It also started mining cryptocurrency in 2018 by setting up a program called MiningForGood that donates the funds to charity.

In 2019, Sacramento Kings went on to launch rewards tokens for fans. The token was called The Kings Token, and it was done in partnership with blockchain-based event ticketing platform Blockparty.

Basketball Embraces Crypto

The recent use of crypto in sports has triggered the global expansion of sports and teams as cryptocurrencies are now widely adopted in the sports sector.

The Dallas Mavericks sports franchise owned by Mark Cuban is another NBA team using crypto as payments for tickets and sports merchandise.

Last month, Cuban announced that they would be accepting Dogecoin as payment for tickets and merchandise. Shortly after that, Cuban confirmed that they immediately received more than 20,000 Dogecoin transactions making the Mavericks the largest Dogecoin merchant in the world.

Before the Dogecoin announcement, Mavericks already allow Bitcoin payments for tickets and merchandise through a partnership made with BitPay in 2019.

Not only is crypto being used to allow fans to purchase tickets and merchandise and for clubs to pay players’ salaries and transfer fees recently, but it has also gained momentum in the NFT sector.

The NFT market for trading cards and collectibles is a multi-million dollar industry enabling fans to immortalize sporting moments in pictures and other various mediums.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a major player in the NFT space through its online digital collectibles marketplace, the NBA Top Shot. The NFT mania has become a good source of revenue for basketball teams, with the NBA reportedly closing deals over $500 million, according to The Verge.

Sacramento Kings To Offer Bitcoin Salary Option To Players

Source