Bank of International Settlements issues warning on crypto

Summary:

• Bank of International Settlements (BIS) issues a warning suggesting cryptocurrencies are not scalable and are likely to suffer a breakdown
• Brazilian entrepreneur creates a Bitcoin-powered coffee machine to prove the virtual currency has various potential use
• Two Russian largest banks pilot crypto portfolios for their private customers

Over the course of the recent days major cryptocurrencies have settled down being steered by nothing. However, on Sunday the Bank of International Settlements, being regarded as a bank for central banks all around the world, issued a statement where it warned virtual currencies are not scalable and are more likely to suffer a breakdown in trust and efficiency along with the rising number of people using them. The bank noted that for any form of money to work across large networks it requires trust in the stability of its value and in its ability to scale efficiently. In terms of digital currencies the bank claims that trust can disappear due to the fragility of the decentralized networks on which cryptocurrencies depend. The bank singles out difficulties such as congestion, high transaction fees, and the limited number of transactions per second virtual currencies can handle - all of these issues need to be coped with so as to reduce their (crypt) fragility. At the end of the day, the bank told central banks to think hard about the potential risks before issuing their own cryptocurrencies. Even as no central bank has done so thus far, the Riksbank is reportedly studying a retail e-krona for small payments.

Bitcoin seems to be getting closer to break out of a triangle pattern. Source: xStation5

Brazilian entrepreneur creates a Bitcoin-powered coffee machine to prove the virtual currency has various potential use

If you would like to get a cup of coffee and paying for it in Bitcoin you necessarily should go to Brazil where Ricardo Reis, a Brazilian entrepreneur, created recently a Bitcoin-powered coffee machine. The prime aim was to show that the most famous digital currency has vast potential and can be easily used in many cases. He said that his main intention was not to create something to explore commercially, he wanted to simply explore the technology’s capability and show other people how Bitcoin is ’programmable money’. Below you can find a video presenting how the machine works.

Two Russian largest banks pilot crypto portfolios for their private customers

According to local media outlets two largest Russian banks, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, are piloting cryptocurrency portfolios for their private clients. Revelations suggest that banks’ clients are to be offered shares in a special fund that will be trading the six most popular cryptocurrencies on major exchanges such as Kraken or Bitstamp. Sberbank Private Banking deputy chair said in a statement that "we’d like to offer our clients an absolutely transparent way to invest in digital assets with a full compliance with regulations that will let them invest in the product they are interested in Russia". Notice that portfolios will include such virtual currencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum or Litecoin.

Ethereum keeps moving close to its important short-term support placed in the vicinity of $480. Once it’s able to stay there, a pick-up toward $520 might be on the cards. Source: xStation5