Switching to the Satoshi standard and Lightning Network connectivity makes Bitcoin more tangible and easy to use. AAX has made the first move in the crypto space, already providing BTC to SAT
The Wealth Today Summit highlights that UAE Leads the Way in the Regulated Adoption of Digital Assets
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The wealth and investment landscape has seen its fair share of changes over the last few years. While that happened, technology has emerged as the best bet to a better future. As the ecosystem matures, it presented opportunities and concerns in areas like DeFi and digital assets.
The Wealth Today Summit held on June 21, 2022, at the Address Dubai Mall Hotel, looked into emerging trends and factors that that affect the investment ecosystem, especially in the UAE. The Wealth Today Summit is an industry-driven event attended by over 200 professionals from the wealth and investment industry.
The digital assets adoption, the way forward in institutional capital were some of the topics discussed at The Wealth Today Summit. The experts who spoke at the forum were a mix of industry leaders and regulatory authorities, including Wai-Lum Kwok, CFA, Senior Executive Director, Authorisation & Fintech, FSRA, ADGM; Benjamin Ampen, Managing Director MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange; Dr. Ryan Lemand, Co-Founder & CEO, Neovision Wealth Management and Gaurav Dubey, CEO, TDeFi – Crypto Incubator and Advisory, among others. Topics covered various aspects of the digital asset spectrum such as DeFi for family offices, Tokenization of funds and virtual assets, investing alternative investments and hedge funds, Family offices navigating the Venture Capital space and Investing in offshore jurisdictions: themes and considerations.
“The number of people who attended The Wealth Today Summit reflects the current state of the market. At the event, we reflected upon why the traditional world should start considering digital assets as a part of their asset portfolio,” states Gaurav Dubey, CEO, TDeFi – Crypto Incubator and Advisory. He adds, “The last three years have been pivotal in mass adoption and acceptance of crypto as an asset class in average household. Factors such as tokenization of regulated securities like gold, carbon credits and even trees played a huge role in making this happen. Today, crypto has found its peg in the traditional finance market. We see that the cypto market is performing better than traditional assets currently. As a high-risk asset, crypto cannot form a majority of the asset portfolio but it has found its place in the wealth preservation funds.”
Everyone at the event agrees that the UAE is largely being recognized as a digital assets and digital hub globally. The UAE authorities have been aggressive in the digital asset space. Setting up a regulatory ecosystem with VARA, DMCC, ADGM and DWTC encourages players to license and authorize crypto assets, increases confidence among investors to trust regulated companies. The regulatory acceptance is a big influencer for the mass adoption of digital assets in the region.
DeFi and crypto assets are finding their way into family office portfolios and they become part of the diversification play. Dr. Ryan Lemand, Co-Founder & CEO, Neovision Wealth Management, comments, “Family offices, particularly in this region invested heavily in equities and real estate. Real estate takes a big portion of investment portfolio. However, it is tedious to register or exchange your property in the traditional manner. Besides, with the peak we observe in both these segments, it makes sense for family offices to consider alternative investments in the coming periods. At the sessions, we introduced DeFi to more traditional investors rather than specialized investors. With DeFi, a smart contract adds convenience and makes it accessible to investors.”
Benjamin Ampen, Managing Director MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange, adds, “DeFi is in a very interesting space, and still in its infancy. It can address issues like inefficiency, opacity, lack of interoperability and centralized control. It comes with an attractive promise of removing intermediaries.”
Going forward, regulations will play a key part. ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is at the forefront of issuing regulatory frameworks around DeFi. Wai-Lum Kwok, CFA, Senior Executive Director, Authorisation & Fintech, FSRA, ADGM reveals, “We released a whitepaper with reference points to encourage dialogue with the community. It is based on four concepts; DeFi does not change the nature of financial services; Equivalent risk, equivalent rules; No anonymous participants; and governance of defi protocols.”
During the panel “Family Offices Navigating the venture capital space: finding the right chemistry” moderated by Bhaskar Dasgupta, key speaker Arshad Khan highlighted that UAE becomes now the go-to hub for family offices to set up shop. Panelists added to the discussion that it is essential for family offices to take into consideration the digital assets approach and look at the ecosystem as a whole.
Breaking the myth about Bitcoins, Saqr Ereiqat, Co-Founder, Crypto Oasis, addressed, “There’s a big argument about the energy efficiency of Bitcoins. Bitcoin mining uses less than 1 per cent of global energy consumption for a multi-million-dollar economy. This created an entire new economy and that’s not bad. Moreover, 50 per cent of bitcoins are being mined by green energy.”
The Wealth Today Summit was sponsored by TDeFi, fasTToken, 21Shares, Kraken, Stockal, FRA, and Peregrine; with support from Crypto Oasis.
The Wealth Today is a vehicle of communication for professionals and organizations shaping the finance, wealth, banking, investment, trade, and business landscape.
DeFi lending giant Celsius halts withdrawals
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The Celsius Network, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform and one of the largest crypto lenders, announced Sunday night that it was “pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts.” It has 1.7 million customers.
The company’s token, CEL, is trading at 23 cents as of this writing, according to CoinMarketCap. That’s a 92 percent decrease from April 8th, when CEL was worth $3. The token was worth nearly $7 a year ago.
There have been questions about Celsius Networks’ high yields, its connections to failed stablecoin Terra, and its reserves. The value of assets on its platform dropped by half to $12 billion in May, from $24 billion in December 2021. Between March and May, a billion dollars flowed out of the system, The Financial Times reported.
In a June 7th blog post entitled “Damn the torpedoes,” the company said, “Celsius has the reserves (and more than enough ETH) to meet obligations, as dictated by our comprehensive liquidity risk management framework.”
That was then. On June 12th, an email to all customers started off like this:
Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations.
MoneyGram Launches Pioneering Global Crypto-to-Cash Service on the Stellar Network
— MoneyGram, a global leader in the evolution of digital P2P payments, and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source public blockchain that allows money to be tokenized and transferred globally, today announced the initial roll-out of a first-of-its-kind global on/off-ramp service for digital wallets to increase the utility of digital assets by creating a bridge between cash and cryptocurrencies. The service, a result of the partnership between MoneyGram and SDF announced in October 2021, is now available in a number of key remittance markets, including Canada, Kenya, Philippines and the U.S. for the first wave of users, with global cash-out functionality expected to be available by the end of June 2022.
Powered by the Stellar blockchain and Stellar-enabled digital wallets, MoneyGram’s retail agent network, and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), a fully-reserved dollar digital currency, the service provides cash users access to the world of cryptocurrency via any participating MoneyGram location. This service is a monumental step towards bridging the gap between physical and digital currencies in a way that has not been done before at scale. As it develops, this solution will pave the way for blockchain technology to further financial inclusion, creating fluidity between cash and crypto so more people can benefit from the digital economy.
To support adoption, MoneyGram will offer this as a zero-fee service for the first 12 months.
“We’re thrilled to work alongside the Stellar Development Foundation on this important initiative to bring more opportunities to consumers around the world by making the worlds of crypto and local fiat currency compatible,” said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO. “At MoneyGram, we’re on a mission to deliver innovative financial solutions that connect the world’s communities, and the initial launch of this service is another important milestone on our journey. It’s especially exciting to launch this service ahead of schedule due to the strong collaboration of our technology teams, and we look forward to further collaboration with SDF as we work on uncovering new ways to utilize blockchain to further streamline cross-border payments.”
The partnership focuses on delivering a service that revolutionizes the settlement process. For the first time, settlement with MoneyGram will occur in near-real-time using USDC, one of the world’s fastest growing dollar digital currencies. This enables an accelerated collection of funds, improving efficiencies and reducing risks.
“A much-needed solution to the cash-to-crypto on/off-ramp problem is here,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Today, almost 2 billion people rely on cash for their livelihood, with no options to access the digital economy. At the same time, a persistent pain point for crypto-native users is off-ramping cryptocurrency quickly and reliably. The groundbreaking nature of this service is how it solves problems for a range of users with varying needs around the world
With the launch of this service, digital wallet users can now move seamlessly from cash to cryptocurrency, to cash again — all without requiring a bank account or credit card. Consumers can now go into a MoneyGram location to either load their digital wallets to access the digital economy, or cash-out their digital currencies to increase the utility of their holdings.
Users of the Stellar-connected digital wallets Vibrant and LOBSTR, with more wallets expected to be added soon, can now access this service at MoneyGram’s participating international retail locations. This service also creates a developer platform that will allow more businesses within the Stellar ecosystem and beyond, including wallets and service providers, to expand the functionality and reach of MoneyGram’s integration with the Stellar network. For example, Elliptic, a global leader in crypto asset risk management, will provide MoneyGram with robust blockchain analytics solutions, and Wyre, a leading provider of blockchain payments APIs, will help other wallets, starting with Airtm, a digital dollar account, integrate with the MoneyGram service.
MoneyGram will expand access to the cash-in service into seven more countries by the end of June, at which point cash-out functionality will also be available globally, where permitted by law. Learn more about the service and how to access it at stellar.org/moneygram.
Top Finance Execs from ADGM, Kraken, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners To Discuss Future of The Investments Landscape In The MENA Region At The Wealth Today Summit
The Wealth Today will host the exclusive gathering of top executives in the MENA region at the Address Dubai Mall Hotel, to discuss and debate on the most critical emerging trends which are carving the wealth and investment domain globally.
The Summit will be an industry-driven event that will highlight contemporary topics and unfold the nuances over a day of interactive knowledge and networking sessions.
The Summit will provide an exclusive in-person platform to HNIs, Ultra HNIs, investment executives, family office representatives, and other stakeholders active in the wealth, investment management and crypto economy space, to engage, learn, and network with their peers, competitors, and other stakeholders in the value chain.
The Summit will provide an exclusive in-person platform for HNIs, investment executives, family office representatives, and other stakeholders active in the wealth, investment management and crypto economy, to engage, learn and network with their peers, competitors, and other stakeholders in the value chain.
Top executives from Peregrine, Stockal, Neovision Wealth Management, MidChains, Cypher Capital, Forensic Risk Alliance, Crypto Oasis, Sheesha Finance, Equiti Group, Ghaf Capital, Roland Berger among others will be present at The Wealth Today Summit
Amongst some of the topics discussed by the regional senior most executives, Wai-Lum Kwok, CFA, Senior Executive Director, Authorization & Fintech, FSRA, ADGM will join Benjamin Ampen, Managing Director MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange, and Dr. Ryan Lemand, Co-Founder & CEO, Neovision Wealth Management to decode the topic ‘DeFi for family offices – a good diversification play?’
“Crypto assets face a reckoning, the recent upheaval having raised fundamental questions about their role in investment portfolios. Regulations will have a key role to play in providing more clarify and confidence for investors, if cryptos are to become mainstream. I look forward to speaking at The Wealth Today Summit and consulting with industry experts and practitioners to discuss market trends and industry analysis. The future of the investment landscape in the region is now and this is the right platform to explore underlying opportunities to build on it.”
– WAI-Lum Kwok, CFA, Senior Executive Director, Authorisation & Fintech, Financial Services Regulatory Authority.
Tokenization of Funds is promising to solve many existing problems. An expert panel comprising of Gaurav Dubey, CEO, TDeFi – Crypto Incubator and Advisory, Peter Coates, Head of Strategy, Peregrine, Alexander Rapatz, Managing Partner, Black Manta Capital Partners, James Munce, CEO, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partner, Gaurang Desai, Managing Director – Strategy, Equiti Group would discuss the trends and developments in the space with panel being moderated by Bhaskar Dasgupta, Independent Board Director and Advisor.
Crypto is becoming a staple in each investment portfolio. Our forward-looking regulation makes the UAE a prime location to invest safely. I greatly look forward to exploring this further with a distinguished audience and fellow experts at the Wealth Today Summit – Stefan Kimmel, Chief Commercial and Operating Officer MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange
The summit will also witness Bhavin Shah, Partner and Head of MEA, Forensic Risk Alliance, moderating the critical topic in crypto economy of ‘Family offices investing in crypto: next steps’ with Phillip Gillespie, Co-CEO, B2C2, Stefan Kimmel, Chief Commercial and Operating Officer MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange, Karim AbdelMawla, Research Associate, 21 Shares and Bijan Alizadeh, Co-Founder, Cypher Capital.
At 21Shares, we’re constantly working on new products and eagerly moving into markets where crypto can thrive. The UAE is becoming one of those markets, with local investors looking for new ways to engage with these rapidly growing economic ecosystems. Already we’ve launched on over 15 exchanges, with more than 30 products, so we understand the development of new markets. And, ultimately, that’s why 21Shares wanted to participate in this event. It’s a forum to explore the market in UAE, how it could evolve for crypto, and how we can innovate to best serve investors – Karim AbdelMawla, Research Associate, 21 Shares.
Participants at the Summit will get an opportunity to learn, ask questions, network, and dialogue on some of the most disruptive trends, including emerging technologies that are currently shaping the finance sector. Sponsors of the event include TDeFi – Crypto Incubator and Advisory, FasTToken, 21Shares, Kraken, Stockal, FRA, Neovision Wealth Management and Peregrine; with Crypto Oasis, Supporting the Summit as Ecosystem Partner
To find out more about The Wealth Today Summit kindly visit the website.
U.S. senators unveil bill to regulate cryptocurrency
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would establish new rules for cryptocurrency, and hand the bulk of their oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The bill, introduced by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of Congress’ most vocal cryptocurrency advocates, and Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, marks one of the most ambitious efforts yet by lawmakers to place clear guard rails around rapidly growing and controversial cryptocurrency markets.
The measure would stipulate that the CFTC, not the Securities and Exchange Commission, play the primary role in regulating crypto products, most of which the senators said operate more like commodities than securities. The smaller CFTC is generally seen as a friendlier regulator for cryptocurrency, as the SEC has typically found that crypto products must adhere to a host of securities requirements.
The bill is not expected to become law in the current session of Congress, with the midterm elections just months away, but its framework could serve as a starting point for future debates about how best to oversee those markets.
“We expect this bill will be the starting point for debate next year regardless of which party controls the House or the Senate,” wrote Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Cowen Washington Research Group. “What does matter is that there is a bipartisan effort to bring crypto into the existing regulatory regime even if the details are likely to change.”
Abu Dhabi’s ADGM Regulated Yoshi Markets Begins Global Client Onboarding
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Yoshi Markets Limited, the ADGM regulated Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) and Custodian for virtual assets announces today that it has started onboarding global clients on its Trading and Custody Platform.
The announcement marks a significant milestone towards the final goal of launching a trading and custody services on the Yoshi Markets platform. The platform will facilitate customers from across the world to open a trading account directly with the regulated Virtual Assets MTF (Cryptocurrency Exchange) based in the UAE, rather than trading on unregulated platforms or through brokers. Yoshi Markets will provide a much safer environment for customers, along with multiple benefits and reduce trading costs.
“We are proud to announce this major accomplishment as we have deployed best in class technology and processes to provide a superior trading experience to our customers,” said Arshad Khan, Yoshi Markets Founder and CEO. “To make this experience even more rewarding for our customers, we will be soon announcing very exciting sign-up packages.”
Yoshi Markets will commence the onboarding of clients before proceeding to launch the trading in different virtual asset pairs, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Additional virtual asset pairs will be added at a later stage.
The launch of Yoshi Markets in the MENA region sets forward the growing vision towards the future economy coming out of the UAE in recent months. According to Chainalysis, the Middle East is one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency markets in the world, making up 7% of the global trading volume.
“We are excited to be part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates, which has been thriving thanks to the continuous support by the local government and supervision by the Abu Dhabi Global Market,” Mustafa Kheriba, Executive Chairman at Yoshi Market stated. “We believe this milestone will bring us closer to our goal, which is to offer regulated virtual assets trading and custody services to an enthusiastic retail and institutional base in the United Arab Emirates and beyond.”
Global clients can now register by visiting the Yoshi Markets website (www.yoshimarkets.io) or by scanning the QR code through their mobile phones. The registration process takes only a few minutes to complete. Yoshi Markets will engage with customers and other market participants to collaborate and offer innovative and much-needed products within the virtual assets space.
Former Trussle execs move out of stealth with B2B BNPL startup
Tranch, a new London-based buy now pay later (BNPL) platform for SaaS sellers and professional services providers, is coming out of stealth, having raised £3.5 million in pre-seed equity and debt fundingThe funding round is led by Flash Ventures, the pre-seed investor behind companies including Spenmo, Everstox and Voly, and Global Founders Capital. Tranch is also backed by Y Combinator and will join YC’s Summer 2022 cohort as the startup gears up to launch in the US later this year. The round includes a debt facility from Columbia Lake Partners.
Tranch combines traditional credit reports with open banking to provide a way for suppliers to offer their end-customers flexible payment terms on contracts worth £10,000 to £250,000, while they themselves get paid upfront, faster.
Instead of settling invoices in full within a standard 30 to 90 day term, an end-customer that chooses to ‘Pay with Tranch’ can spread the cost of their contracts over six to 12 months.
Tranch was founded in London in 2021 by Philip Kelvin and Beau Allison, former CFO and head of engineering respectively of proptech startup Trussle, which was acquired by US mortgage bropker Better HoldCo in July last year.
Kelivin says: “My time as a scaleup CFO made me realise just how inflexible payment options can be for crucial SaaS tools and other business services, and how detrimental this lack of choice and payment ownership can be on thousands of companies. ‘Pay with Tranch’ solves that huge and costly problem, by putting flexibility and choice at the heart of the payments process in a way that works simply and favourably for both suppliers and buyers.”
He says proceeds of the investment will be used to grow the team, as well as onboard more suppliers across multiple verticals as the company continues its growth in the UK and then expands to the US later this year.
Securrency Opens Liquidity Lounge in Davos for World Economic Forum
Securrency, a leading developer of institutional-grade blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology, opens the Liquidity Lounge on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos taking place May 22-26.
Located in the heart of Davos, the Liquidity Lounge serves as the hub for focused discussions covering the evolution of global capital marketsand the ramifications for current and future market participants. From the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to enhance current market infrastructures to new regulations to innovative products, services, and practices that remove friction in global financial markets to opening up new opportunities for the financially underserved and excluded, the Liquidity Lounge offers participants and attendees the opportunity to gain a first-hand view of where the future of finance is headed.
Securrency and its world-class partners invite all World Economic Forum attendees to join them in the Liquidity Lounge at ESCHER Raumdesign, Promenade 115, 7270 Davos Platz, Switzerland. A seminal event, bringing together global leaders in digital asset finance, compliance and regulation, the Liquidity Lounge is co-hosted by several prominent stakeholders including, Abu Dhabi Global Market, Halo Investing, State Street, and the Stellar Development Foundation, and offers a full program at the cutting edge of global digital finance.
FinaMaze Appoints Harriet Yorston as Business Development Manager in Line with Growth and Expansion Efforts
ADGM-based innovative asset management firm FinaMaze has announced the appointment of Harriet Yorston as its Senior Business Development Manager. Her appointment comes into effect from May 16th 2022.
Harriet has been working in business development for startups and SMEs across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Australia; accelerating businesses into the next stage of their growth and expanding into new markets. With a focus on fintech and the next generation of investment, Harriet joins the team to continue to build the FinaMaze journey by increasing the commercial footprint and establishing strategic partnerships.
FinaMaze has over the past six months launched a number of products which have disrupted the UAE market and GCC region as a whole, and as it continues to expand, the department of business development remain key in achieving its vision – along with an existing strong code of ethics, transparency, and commitment to realistic investment scenarios and outcomes.
Speaking about her new role, Harriet said with excitement: “I am incredibly privileged to join FinaMaze. The opportunity to work with such an experienced team, working with technology that is set to empower investors through the impact of AI, I cannot wait to see what we can achieve together”.
FinaMaze is a Category 3 Asset Management firm regulated by ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). Teaming powerful AI with Data Scientists, Quantitative Finance and Software Engineers, FinaMaze connects machine learning with human behavioral science to provide personalized investment solutions.
U.S. needs ‘to act quickly’ to regulate stablecoins, treasury secretary says
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushed for regulation during an annual testimony in front of the Senate Banking Committee, at a time where Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST struggles to retain its peg.
“New products and technology may present opportunities to promote innovation and increase efficiencies,” Yellen said. “However, digital assets may present risks to the financial system and increased and coordinated regulatory attention is necessary.”
In response to questions from Senator Pat Toomey and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Yellen said it would be “highly appropriate” for stablecoin regulation to occur by the end of 2022 because there are “many risks associated with cryptocurrencies.
“We really need a consistent federal framework,” Yellen commented. “I really look forward to working with [Toomey] and members of Congress to devise legislation that would accomplish that.”
Stablecoins by definition are supposed to be stable and hold their value through a 1:1 ratio that is fixed to an external peg like the U.S. dollar or it can be tied to other assets like UST, which is backed by dollars, but also cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Avalanche.
While every stablecoin in circulation is backed by $1 equivalent in a reserve, there have been concerns recently about the validity of some stablecoins. For example, the algorithmic-based stablecoin UST fell as much as 35% from its 1:1 dollar peg on May 9, when it should technically never be away from the $1 amount.
“A stablecoin known as TerraUSD experienced a run and declined in value,” Yellen said. “I think that this simply illustrates that this is a rapidly growing product and there are rapidly growing risks.”
