{"id":27957,"date":"2020-01-03T14:27:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T12:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bondora.com\/blog\/?p=27957"},"modified":"2020-01-03T14:27:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T12:27:02","slug":"microsoft-makes-a-blockchain-partner-and-facebooks-got-a-new-competitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/blog\/microsoft-makes-a-blockchain-partner-and-facebooks-got-a-new-competitor\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft makes a blockchain partner and Facebook\u2019s got a new competitor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Look out Facebook, you have a new competitor on the cryptocurrency market<\/a>.\nThe British-based Saga announced the launch of its Saga token (SGA)<\/a>,\na digital currency used to store and transfer value globally and backed by a\nreserve of fiat assets. SGA is fully compliant with know your customer (KYC)\nand anti-money laundering (AML) standards while maintaining user privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ido Sadeh Man, Founder of Saga, highlighted why SGA will succeed<\/a> where other cryptocurrencies have failed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrencies\nhave not kept up with the pace of globalization and they do not address the\nglobal scope and needs of modern lives. The decreasing economic importance of\nnational boundaries, changes in society, and a need for monetary\ndiversification have created a necessity for a complimentary, global,\nnon-governmental currency. We have set out to address this need by launching\nthe first stabilized, digital currency governed by its holders and compliant\nwith AML regulations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SGA is not the first project to take a direct\nshot at Libra. Metal Pay has called itself the \u201canti-Libra\u201d, and is working to\ndevelop a platform which is compared to a Venmo for cryptocurrencies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

At least one European bank sees\ncryptocurrencies replacing fiat in the coming years. In its Imagine 2030<\/a> report, Deutsche Bank highlights\ncryptocurrencies as one of the big forces that are set to takeover the\nfinancial sector, that is, as long as countries like the United States and\nChina get onboard and overcome their regulatory hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, cryptocurrencies\nwon\u2019t just provide an improvement for users, but for merchants as well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn the\n20th century, most companies and retailers accepted and favored cash for small\npayments. Today is quite different. Digital payments are preferred by retailers\nas cash means counting bills, finding change, dealing with bank queues, and\npotential theft. Those factors outweigh the cost of credit card fees on the\nsame transactions. The next logical step is a digital cash alternative that\nremoves, or at least lowers, the additional fees that card providers currently\ntake? According to dbDig primary research,1 nearly two-thirds of consumers\nprefer dematerialized to cash payments and a third are concerned by anonymity.\nThese are the two things that cryptocurrencies do best.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial institutions are preparing for the\nshift, and some, like Fidelity, are launching their own cryptocurrency services<\/a>\nfor European customers. The EU is hoping to provide better cryptocurrency\nguidance under its Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which is set to be imposed starting in Jan 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, cryptocurrency scams are still\na threat to the public. This has been made ever more apparent after three\npeople were arrested in a $722 million Ponzi scheme<\/a> involving\ncryptocurrencies. These fraudsters targeted uneducated investors and used the\ncomplexity of cryptocurrencies to receive millions in investments with no\nintention of producing a return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investors were shown falsified information\nfrom Bitcoin mining profits and other revenue streams that did not exist.\nAccording to public records these fraudsters knew what they were doing was illegal<\/a>,\nand showed no signs of halting their actions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In\nFebruary 2015, Goettsche directed Balaci to “bump up the daily mining\nearnings starting today by 60%,” according to the indictment, to which\nBalaci is alleged to have warned “that is not sustainable, that is ponzi\nteritori [sic] and fast cash-out ponzi … but sure.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge Ponzi schemes aren\u2019t the only type of\nfraud happening in the industry. There are countless small heists of\ncryptocurrencies — like a New York teenager who swiped over $1 million in cryptocurrencies<\/a> by\nstealing phone numbers — that make fraud a continued problem for\ncryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Microsoft announced a partnership with Enjin<\/a>, a\nblockchain-based gaming company, to create a tokenized reward system for\ncontributors to Azure, the company\u2019s cloud-based computing platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program, called Azure\nHeroes<\/a>, will operate on the Ethereum blockchain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMicrosoft\nand Enjin have collaborated in a local pilot to create a blockchain-based\nrecognition program. The Azure Heroes badgers were created in a number of\noriginal and unique designs that have been tokenized into a digital asset on\nthe Ethereum public blockchain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjin allows users to create their own non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs are unique assets which are useful in collectibles, gaming, and identification. As news of the Microsoft partnership became public, the price of Enjin Coin jumped higher by 44%<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*As with any investment,\nyour capital is at risk and the investments are not guaranteed. The yield is up\nto 6.75%. Before deciding to invest, please review our risk statement<\/a> or consult with a financial advisor if necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look out Facebook, you have a new competitor on the cryptocurrency market. The British-based Saga announced the launch of its Saga token (SGA), a digital currency used to store and transfer value globally and backed by a reserve of fiat assets. SGA is fully compliant with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) standards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-financial-well-being"],"acf":[],"featured_image":null,"categories_names":["Financial Well-being"],"category_name":"Financial Well-being","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}