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Jan 20 2022

Google Pay recruits PayPal to carry crypto payments venture

With the exponential surge in the demand for cryptocurrencies, globally-acclaimed multinational firms have started venturing into the space with product expansion focused on crypto projects. The latest to join the league is one of the world’s biggest software companies, Google is all set to explore crypto with its online payment channel, Google Pay. With a view to further its plans, Google has hired Arnold Goldberg, a former PayPal executive, to use his expert knowledge in exploring the virtual currency sector.

As per the official announcement, Arnold Goldberg has been entrusted by Google to manage and operate the firm’s payments ecosystem. The chief will render his services to help Google support its company-wide push into the financial space. The company is looking forward to giving special emphasis to the use of cryptocurrencies as they are growing in popularity amongst investors. Google’s President of commerce, Bill Ready spoke to Bloomberg conveying that the company is focusing efforts on the crypto industry. The company is working to evolve with the market trend that is witnessing a surge in demand from investors and merchants too.

Google Pay is a popular online payments interface designed by Google to facilitate in-app and contactless purchases on multiple devices including phones, tablets, etc. The company is looking forward to providing a dedicated digital wallet for the users that will include digital tickets, airline passes, and vaccine passports. The price of BTC rose to a value of $42,478 soon after the news came from Google, however, it dropped to $41,887 later. The Google team has taken several crucial steps into the crypto domain through 2021 and has entered into strategic collaborations with many firms to expand its cluster within the crypto hub.

In April, Google Pay entered into a pact with renowned crypto exchange Gemini. The deal allowed investors to buy BTC using fiat money on a debit or credit card through Google Pay. Further, in June, the company collaborated with Coinbase exchange. The partnership allowed users to make payments via Google Pay using their Coinbase Card. The users were allowed 4% rebate on shopping through crypto. Later in October, it partnered with crypto exchange Bakkt to facilitate crypto-supported purchases and transactions. The company is keenly working to proliferate into the crypto space and mark a strong presence in the sector.

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Nov 26 2021

DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 26/11/21

Living in the era of technology is a task in itself as it requires us to be constantly aware of the latest happenings around the world. So, here we are trying to upgrade your crypto knowledge with the most important news items. Have a look:

Panther (DeFi privacy project) took 1.5-hour to raises $22M in a public sale

Known for providing dedicated privacy solutions to the DeFi and Web 3.0 industry, Panther Protocol has announced the successful completion of his recent public sale event. Starting on 23/11/2021, the Panther Protocol public sale was closed within 90 minutes from its launch after fetching $22M for the firm. The funds raised will be used to create powerful privacy solutions for revolutionizing the working experience across the DeFi and Web 3.0 sectors.

According to the report, the recent public sale has helped Panther Protocol to expand its cluster on the financial as well as operational levels. The company has raised a total amount of $32M for fueling its growth and development plans. The public sale included 5% of the total ZKP token supply with different unlocking schedules. Another 15% of the total supply was sold through pre-seed, seed, and three private sale events. The firm pooled $10M via private funding rounds.

Launched in 2020, Panther Protocol has gained a lot of popularity and support from crypto fans ever since its inception. The protocol is designed using zk-SNARKs, a new-age privacy-focused mechanism. The term zk-SNARKs stands for ‘Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. The technology facilitates zero-knowledge cryptography encryption that is found in tokens such as Zcash. Panther uses zAssets that are 1:1 pegged representations of the underlying assets providing high-end privacy benefits to the users. The channel allows developers to infuse privacy features within their applications without requiring any help from professional cryptographers or techies.

Bitcoin surpassed Paypal on dollar value, now eyes on Mastercard

Leading the financial domain as a true warrior, Bitcoin has yet again proved its potential as an irreplaceable tool for the digital era. This time, the virtual currency network has outshined the big fishes of the finance sector including Paypal. In a report, a market intelligence firm, Blockdata has revealed that the Bitcoin network processed nearly $489 billion per quarter in 2021 against the $302 Billion processed by Paypal.

The report was released on November 25, 2021, by Blockdata under the title of ‘When might the Bitcoin network process volumes like Mastercard and Visa?’ It highlighted the burgeoning success of the Bitcoin network achieved within a short span of 12 years from its launch in 2009. The data analyzed by the experts of Blockdata has reflected that Bitcoin manages about 27% of the total 1.8 trillion/quarter transaction volume of Mastercard and 15% of the total $3.2 trillion/quarter transaction volume executed on Visa.

According to the data, three significant factors can help Bitcoin expand its network in the future while leaving behind Mastercard and Paypal. These include:

Total volume of transactions
Average amount of BTC sent per transaction
Surge in BTC price

It is believed that with continuous growth in operational capacities and popularity, the Bitcoin network would surpass Mastercard by 2026 in terms of processing volume. The most variable-dependent factor in this process is the volume of transactions executed on the BTC network. The report could not clearly define if the average amount of Bitcoin sent per trade is on a surge. However, an upswing in Bitcoin price at the same volume can bring Bitcoin at par with Mastercard. The Blockdata network has indicated a positive future for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Axie Infinity raises 550 ETH by selling virtual land slots

Hailing from Venezuela, Axie Infinity, a popular Ethereum-powered NFT project has announced to pool $2.3 Million by selling a Genesis Land Plot for 550 ETH. The team released an official Twitter post sharing the celebratory news with its gaming community. The platform allows users to indulge in fights and compete in everyday quests using Axies, the main creatures of the Axie Infinity cluster.

As per the report, the Genesis Land that was traded by the team falls in the most unique virtual real estate present in the setup. There are only 220 Genesis land plots out of the total of 90,601 plots in the game. The ecosystem of Axie Infinity depicts a game world that is framed around a place called Lunacia inhabited by the Axie creatures. The entire setup is laid in a 301×301 square grid in which each part responds to a tokenized land called Terra. These virtual land plots can be purchased, sold, or rented out to other users easily.

Within the game, players have to defeat monsters called Chimeras that haunt the city of Lunacia. This helps the gamers to earn Smooth Love Potions or SLPs that can be quickly liquidated at crypto exchanges. After the defeat, Chimeras provide access to various resources that help to increase the earnings for the users.

The fast-growing industry of virtual real assets has witnessed a mixed reaction from people across the globe. Where some people fail to see it as an opportunity, others find it as a potent investment plan. The earnings offered by SLPs on Axie often cross the minimum wage level of developing countries which makes them quite popular amongst investors.

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Aug 24 2021

PayPal Launches Cryptocurrency Services In The United Kingdom

The global payments processing giant, PayPal, have been willing to launch their cryptocurrency services in the United Kingdom and have been making statements regarding their plan. Finally, they have announced officially that they are launching their cryptocurrency services in the United Kingdom from the following week.

The crypto service from PayPal which was launched in the United States during the month of October in the previous year would allow the citizens of the United Kingdom to buy cryptocurrencies and securely keep them in their PayPal crypto accounts. This initiative from PayPal marks the first venture from the company where they are going to provide crypto-related services to people outside the borders of the United States of America.

PayPal, which is a multi-million dollar payments processor, just confirmed that they will be providing services related to cryptocurrencies to the good people of the United Kingdom starting right from next week while expanding into foreign territory with their array of services. According to the suggested reports, it is confirmed that the services will be quite similar to the ones that the company provides back in the United States.PayPal will allow the citizens of UK to purchase four different cryptocurrencies on their platform. These four cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum.

According to the statements made by the authorities from PayPal, they are pretty sure that the demands for the aforementioned services will be quite high in the UK, as it was similarly on very high demand in the US when PayPal had launched their crypto initiative there. Jose Fernandez da Ponte, who also happens to be the General Manager for Blockchain, digital currencies, and other crypto-related services in PayPal commented in a statement that corroborates the aforementioned idea that since the services are doing great in the US, he is very hopeful that they would bear similar outcomes in the UK as well.

In order to offer and maintain this array of functionality in their crypto-related services, PayPal will continue to use the services from Paxos which also happens to be one of their key partners for all this time. Paxos is regulated and albeit a popular cryptocurrency company that is well established in New York. According to a report from CNBC, the giant payment processor has already established contacts with the crypto regulators in the UK regarding their initiative and also to make sure that all their endeavors and services are in complete compliance with the current and local law.

Demand for crypto is going pretty strong

The cryptocurrency services that PayPal is providing in the United States are actually doing extremely well there and can be easily called a really successful venture. Dan Schulman, who is the Chief Executive Officer of PayPal mentioned in a statement that the growing demand for cryptocurrencies have actually surpassed the initial expectations of the company by multiple folds. He added that this is also because the company is always more concerned about making sure that the general public can feel more at ease while venturing into the crypto space and that PayPal makes it even more easier for them. He further stated that even though the cryptocurrency coins and tokens have been introduced in the market a while ago, it usually required a relatively more sophisticated and updated user to be able to access them with ease, and if that ease could be provided on a platform, then there is absolutely nothing quite like it. PayPal wishes to do just the same.

However the company is not willing to limit itself only to providing crypto services which are limited to the investments aspect of the cryptocurrencies. PayPal is actually working on shifting their strategy of services more towards the areas that are more concerned with the cryptocurrency payment processing services. On the 30th of March this year, the company announced the launch of their latest product in the market which they have named as “Checkout with Crypto”. The product is geared towards enabling faster payments done through crypto at millions of online marketplaces and stores.

However PayPal is still functioning as somewhat of a closed ecosystem. They are still not allowing individuals to conduct withdrawals of cryptocurrencies that they had purchased, to third party digital wallets. People are hoping that they will eventually look into this issue and resolve it as well.

Finishing thoughts

Learning Blockchain, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are easy now, all thanks to reputed online courses and training sessions. Blockchain Council is one such organization that offers online training and certification programs to aspiring trainees to render them desired competencies so that they have a successful career in the Blockchain space. Keeping the rising demands of blockchain professionals in mind, Blockchain Council certifications are diversified to meet each aspirant’s discrete needs. They have a host of training and courses on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies that provide world class knowledge and support.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council.

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Aug 02 2021

As Global Adoption of Cryptocurrency Rises, PayPal Decides to Hire Hundreds For Crypto Positions

As the demand for cryptocurrencies continues to rise along with the soaring adoption rates in financial institutions and organizations across the world, PayPal, which is one of the leading payments giants globally, has decided to hire for more than a hundred positions related to cryptocurrencies. Dan Schulman, who is the CEO and President of PayPal stated that he is very pleased with the momentum with which cryptocurrencies are widely being adopted across the world. Hinting at future endeavours and expansion plans of the company, he also mentioned that PayPal will obviously be adding incremental functionality into the crypto space.

As the company is willing to expand into the crypto space, they are now hiring for more than 100 crypto-related positions in the company that will enhance their crypto services and offerings. According to the job postings on the website of PayPal, there are at least 102 job postings that were about vacancies for positions related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies at the time.

The jobs are mostly for people who are residing in the United States. However there are different positions open in several different countries around the world. These countries include Tel Aviv where there are five different positions open, Ireland where there are six, one position open in Hong Kong, one open in Singapore and there are five openings in Guatemala City for Xoom, the online money transfer service from PayPal.

Majority of the positions are located and are available in the United States. There are twenty-two open positions in California. In New York, there are sixteen, thirteen open positions in Texas, nine positions in Arizona and in Illinois, there are 8. Less than five jobs are posted in each of the few other states. The positions range across different departments. PayPal is looking for crypto engineering managers, strategy managers, program managers, blockchain AML analytics managers, operation managers, investigators, crypto investigations specialists, crypto legal directors and crypto tax reporting managers.

During the last earnings call, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman outlined several ways in which the payments giant is willing to expand their crypto services. He also talked about launching a “super app”, expansion in the market of the United Kingdom, integration in open banking systems and third-party wallet transfers.

According to Schulman, the company had garnered huge profits in the first quarter of the year. During the second quarter, he mentioned that, owing to the phenomenal rise in the adoption rate of crypto in financial institutions, organizations and businesses around the world, the company has seen growth rates in their revenue stream that was multiple times higher than what was initially predicted.

The outstanding rate of business growth in the second quarter of the year has prompted the team to increase the crypto purchase limit to $100,000 on a weekly basis. On top of that, they have also completely eliminated the annual limit for purchasing crypto altogether. Previously the weekly limit was fixed at $20,000 which means that there has been an increase of 5 times that amount, which is a staggering hike. Even the annual purchase limit of crypto was fixed at $50,000 which is completely lifted now since they are offering double that amount not on yearly but on weekly basis. Therefore it is quite evident that the increase that has been made is extremely substantial, to say the least. According to experts, PayPal is looking for dramatic increases in their revenue as the crypto market is proving to be a really great revenue generator for the company.

PayPal has been planning to extend into the UK market by this month and they are also planning to offer diverse services related to crypto to the global users. As announced by Schulman, they are intending to work on the architectural aspects of the crypto networks and develop the blockchain systems so as to provide optimum user experience during crypto transactions.

There is a rising trend globally among many central banks, regarding Central Bank Digital Currencies or better known as CBDCs, which are basically digital currencies rolled out by Central Banks themselves, and this trend is on a continual rise. So much so that even a year ago, analysts point out that globally there were around 40 banks that were probing into the matter of CBDCs and now that number stands at more than 100 banks, who are interested in adopting the system of digital currencies in future. PayPal wants to use this opportunity to the fullest possible extent and wants to play a pivotal role in the growth and evolution of this new technology.

Recent reports have suggested that the number of global crypto users have surpassed 220 million in the month of June this year. What is more shocking is that the number had risen from 100 million to 200 million in just a matter of four months.

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Blockchain Weekly Source