Square making real-world wallet for cryptocurrency

Square making real-world wallet for cryptocurrency

Square making real-world wallet for cryptocurrency

GOING OFFLINE: Hardware wallets would allow users to ‘take custody’ of their bitcoins, working with apps to make purchases easily, Square’s Jack Dorsey said

AFP, SAN FRANCISCO

Financial payments start-up Square Inc was on Friday at work on a real-world wallet for safely pocketing cryptocurrency.

Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, who is also the top executive at Twitter Inc, last month on Twitter asked for feedback on the notion.

“This community’s response to our thread about this project has been awesome — encouraging, generous, collaborative and inspiring,” Jesse Dorogusker, a member of Square’s hardware team, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

A screen showing the fluctuation of virtual cryptocurrencies is pictured at the Bitcoin Embassy bar in Mexico City on June 1. Photo: Reuters

“We have decided to build a hardware wallet and service to make bitcoin custody more mainstream,” he said.

Dorsey endorsed Dorogusker’s post, tweeting: “We’re doing it #bitcoin.”

Hardware wallets can be used to store digital currency offline, synchronizing with applications for transactions on the Internet as needed.

Another option for cryptocurrency owners is to use “virtual” wallets, essentially trusting third parties to keep money safe and using passwords to access funds.

Dorsey on Twitter said that bitcoin is a currency for the masses, and that it is important to have ways for people to hold it that do not involve entrusting it to outside parties.

“The exchange you used to buy your bitcoin probably attends to your security with good intent, but circumstances may reveal ‘custody’ actually means ‘IOU,’” Dorsey wrote on Twitter last month, referring to a shorthand for “I owe you.”

“Deciding to take custody, and security, of your bitcoin is complicated,” he added.

Dorsey envisioned a bitcoin wallet that makes it easy for people to use some of it for shopping, for example through smartphones, while protecting the rest of the cryptocurrency.

“We can imagine apps that work without Square and maybe also without permission from Apple and Google,” he said, referring to the makers of the world’s two most widely used smartphone operating systems.

Square would set up accounts on Twitter and software developer community Web site GitHub dedicated to the bitcoin wallet project, Dorsey said.

In related news, a 101.38 carat diamond was sold at Sotheby’s for HK$95.1 million (US$12.3 million) in cryptocurrency, becoming the most expensive piece of jewelry sold through such type of payment, the auction house said.

The pear-shaped diamond, named “The Key 10138,” was on Friday sold to an unidentified private collector, Sotheby’s said in a statement.

The gem from Diacore Co was the second-largest pear-shaped diamond ever to be sold publicly, it said.

Prior to the sale, the international auction house said it would take bitcoin or ether as payment for the diamond, which fetched less than the estimate of as much as US$15 million in the single-lot offering in Hong Kong.

The auction was livestreamed and attracted no more than a dozen bids.

Earlier last week, Sotheby’s said it was the most expensive physical object ever publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency.

Auction houses are increasingly accepting cryptocurrencies for payment, with Phillips last month offering a piece from street artist Banksy for ether or bitcoin.

Christie’s in March accepted payment in ether for the record US$69.3 million sale of Beeple’s Everydays: the First 5,000 Days.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

U.K. Banks Start Blocking Payments to Binance, Angering Some Clients

After the FCA issued a warning on Binance, some banks have decided to halt deposits to the site, leading to angered clients.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently issued warnings regarding the Binance crypto exchange and the overall risks of cryptocurrency. Following these warnings, users of some U.K.-based banks have started reporting that they will now be prohibited from depositing money to their Binance accounts going forward.

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In these warnings, the FCA said that Binance does not have authorization to “undertake any regulated activity in the U.K.” In reality, all this means is that Binance is not permitted to set up shop in the U.K. but citizens of the U.K. can still legally access Binance’s offerings.

Regardless, some U.K. banks have decided not to allow their customers to make deposits to Binance, even though doing so isn’t illegal.

In one report, the crypto Twitter account, Bitcoin Archive, alledged a coordinated effort against Binance in the U.K.

Attached to this tweet was the email they had received from Santander Bank.

There were numerous other reports of Santander clients experiencing the same issue, even though citizens of the U.K. are still legally allowed to use Binance services if they wish.

But Santander was not the only bank to take such action. Barclays made the move first and told its clients who had made deposits to Binance previously that they would now halt such transactions to keep their money safe.

One popular account on crypto Twitter, NFTeddy, likened Barclay’s move to the restrictions that China places on its citizens, calling it China 2.0. NFTeddy also posted the message he received from the bank about the ban.

So far, Santander and Barclays have been the only two banks to impose such restrictions on their clients, though it is unclear if this trend could spread to other banks. Santander and Barclays are two of the largest banks in the U.K with some $3.7 trillion in combined assets.

The halting of deposits to the site has created angered clients who believe that the move isn’t for their protection at all and that they should be able to use their money how they wish. Prominent crypto Twitter user, Aleksandra Huk, said that this is an attack on the broader crypto market.

Another Twitter user wrote, “@BarclaysUK banning @binance and using @TheFCA as an excuse… I’ll be moving all my funds away from @Barclays this week after decades together - GTFO - lose my number.”

3 key areas traders are watching as Bitcoin’s monthly close occurs

Bitcoin’s (BTC) whipsaw volatility has been on full display throughout June, leaving traders confused and in search of the latest technical indicator or major news announcement that might provide some hint at which way the price will move.

As the month of June comes toward an end, traders are now focused BTC’s on the monthly close to determine if the forward outlook is tilted toward bulls or bears.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin price is still 47% away from its all-time high at $64,873 and analysts have a mixed view on whether or not the bullish momentum will return in the short term. Here are three perspectives analysts have in mind as the market prepares to head into the month of July.

Bitcoin needs to hold the $34,500 support

A survey of crypto Twitter shows that many chart watchers have identified $34,500 as a crucial price level that needs to be defended to establish the bull case for Bitcoin moving forward.

So far, this current period in the 2021 cycle is very similar to the 2013 mid-cycle correction

A #BTC Monthly Candle Close above ~$34500 would mean that BTC will continue to respect historical Mid-Cycle tendencies$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin — Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) June 30, 2021

According to Rekt Capital, a pseudonymous trader on Twitter, a close near this level would put the market on a similar trajectory to the BItcoin price pattern seen during the 2013 bull market which included a mid-cycle correction before price broke out to a new all-time high later in the year.

From this bullish perspective, the price of Bitcoin should soon continue the uptrend that began in late 2020 and will theoretically lead to a new all-time high later in 2021 or early 2022 which is projected to surpass $100,000 according to the Bitcoin stock-to-flow model.

Bitcoin stock-to-flow model. Source: Lookintobitcoin

Despite the widespread acceptance and faith in the S2F model, Bitcoin’s recent price action led even Plan B, the creator of the popular model, to feel “uneasy” about BTC’s most recent dip to the lower bound of the model.

Even for me it is always a bit uneasy when bitcoin price is at the lower bound of the stock-to-flow model. Will it hold (like Mar 2019 when I published S2F, or Mar 2020 Covid, or Sep 2020 with BTC stuck at $10K) and is this another buying opportunity? Or will S2F be invalidated? pic.twitter.com/iIjTC2Ncy3 — PlanB (@100trillionUSD) June 23, 2021

Signs of a bearish breakdown

While bull market advocates look for any sign to validate a move higher, the price action on June 30 caught the eye of another pseudonymous Twitter analyst called John Wick. According to the analyst, there is a bearish topping pattern that can be se in the most recent BTC chart.

#BTC (4h update)

Just as we were getting off to a good start, a topping signal printed & confirmed. Had confluence from Bearish RSI cross + Bearish Thrust

Lets see if we can hold $34k support. If not we are still range bound. Getting above upper $36k & $41k are the resistances pic.twitter.com/RZ4IAGoi16 — John Wick (@ZeroHedge_) June 30, 2021

According to Wick, Bitcoin now needs to hold support at $34,000 or the market could be in for another extended period of sideways, range-bound trading rather than a fledgling move higher.

Bearish sentiments were also highlighted in the following tweet from the Twitter personality Nunya Bizniz, who points out that BTC would need to close above $37,400 to avoid three consecutive down months, which has historically indicated more downside in the future.

BTC monthly:

Month closes tomorrow.

A close above $37.4K would avoid 3 consecutive down months.

Three down months have marked more down side.

What happens?

Note: Green boxes = sort term bounce pic.twitter.com/aj1IWuGXXe — Nunya Bizniz (@Pladizow) June 29, 2021

Signs of rising sentiment

While the debate about a bullish or bearish future rages on, there are several indicators pointing to the possibility of rising sentiment amid the noise.

Grayscale #Bitcoin premium is returning to zero.

Purpose #Bitcoin ETF is buying again.

Market sentiment seems to be recovering pic.twitter.com/CmztgqHPvE — Bitcoin Archive (@BTC_Archive) June 30, 2021

Twitter personality ‘Bitcoin Archive’ pointed to the Grayscale Bitcoin premium approaching zero and renewed buying activity by the Purpose Bitcoin ETF as evidence that sentiment is on the rise.

Related: NYDIG set to bring Bitcoin adoption to 650 US banks and credit unions

On-chain analyst William Clemente III also posted the following chart to highlight the fact that long-term BTC holders have been accumulating since late May after the price of Bitcoin bottomed out below $29,000.

Bitcoin supply held by long-term holders. Source: Glassnode

Clemente said:

“Bitcoin is cheap and Long-Term BTC Holders know it. They’ve added 741,363 BTC to their holdings since the initial price drawdown in late May.

For a simplified explanation of important levels to keep an eye on, John Bollinger, a technical analyst and creator of Bollinger Bands, simply said that $41,000 and $31,000 are the key “logical levels” to watch and he also cited the $35,000 to $36,000 zone as crucial support levels to monitor.

These are the logical levels I am watching for $btcusd

41,000

35/36,000

31,000

So far they have been important milestones.#Bitcoin — John Bollinger (@bbands) June 30, 2021

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.