The firm made this admission in its annual report, which was dated Feb. 27 and filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Deep in the 301-page document, JPMorgan — which manages $2.53 trillion in assets according to recent estimates — listed cryptocurrencies and peer-to-peer technology as potential disruptors to financial institutions and payment processors.


“Furthermore, both financial institutions and their non-banking competitors face the risk that payment processing and other services could be disrupted by technologies, such as cryptocurrencies, that require no intermediation,” the bank wrote in the filing. “New technologies have required and could require JPMorgan Chase to spend more to modify or adapt its products to attract and retain clients and customers or to match products and services offered by its competitors, including technology companies.”

Notably, the report was signed by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, a noted Bitcoin skeptic who has repeatedly lambasted the flagship cryptocurrency as a “fraud” and once threatened to fire any employees caught trading cryptoassets, although he recently walked back some of these comments.
Banks Sweat as Crypto Interest Booms

JPMorgan is at least the third major financial institution to cite cryptocurrencies as a business risk in its annual report for 2017.

Last week, Bank of America — the second-largest US bank — admitted that cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-based financial services present a threat to its business model, adding that it fears it anti-money laundering systems will need a facelift to account for cryptocurrency-related transactions.

Both JPMorgan and Bank of America noted that increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies could force them to make significant expenditures to ensure their products and services remain competitive.

Goldman Sachs — whose $917 billion in assets rank fifth among US institutions — also listed cryptocurrency as a business risk. The report said that Goldman’s concerns were primarily related the firm’s investment in startups that operate in the nascent cryptoasset space, such as Circle, which owns one of the most profitable cryptocurrency trading desks and recently acquired cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex. If flaws are exposed in the underlying technology, those firms could suffer losses, reducing the value of Goldman’s ownership stakes.

Source: CNN

CRYPTOCOBAIN

By far one of the more intriguing “color commentators” in the cryptocurrency ecosystem goes by the handle of @CryptoCobain. Although it appears that he is trying to quit this ecosystem once and for all, it seems to be a matter of time until he makes a full return. One could say CryptoCobain is as entwined with cryptocurrency as blockchain is with Bitcoin. It’s not always a happy marriage, but the associated parties are simply stuck with one another for the time being.

UK-based bank HSBC is close to launching live trade and transactions using blockchain technology.

The project was reported in late 2015, with the bank aiming to maximize efficiency and bring real-time awareness and organization to financial systems.

According to spokesperson Joshua Kroeker , the bank is almost ready to provide the service after having spent the past two years working through issues.


“Going from that PoC in 2016, we’re at the tipping point of getting our customers involved in live transactions in the coming weeks and months. The technology has come a long way, we’re much more comfortable with its security and scalability.”

The company is now looking for individuals to pilot the products, and hopes to roll out the system across a range of networks by 2019.

HSBC is not alone in this field, with today’s news following an announcement coming from Taiwan’s central bank chief revealing the bank will explore blockchain applications in its operations including payments. The development is occurring around the world – last year fifteen of India’s largest banks formed a consortium to oversee the introduction of an inter-bank blockchain, with the goal of integrating blockchain alongside existing infrastructure and technologies.

Blockchain is integrating into financial systems at a rapid pace, and one of the main players has emerged in the form of the virtual currency Ripple. Earlier this month news broke that Brazil and Latin America’s largest bank would use the virtual currency to streamline its cross-border payments system, joining a broad range of countries planning to use the protocol.

Whilst banks across the globe have been embracing blockchain technology, centralized financial institutions have shown concern over most decentralized cryptocurrencies. This week JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the US formally announced that the technology could disrupt its business. That hasn’t stopped banks from noticing the potential benefits that blockchain could bring, however,

Although blockchain technology is being developed rapidly by a range of financial institutions, HSBC may stand as one of the first to launch a working blockchain system as part of daily operations.

Source: CNN

CRYPTO SELLER BLUES

The Bitcoin seller is Eldon Stone Ross, 24, and he was charged with conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business after being nabbed by federal authorities. Between January 2015 and November 2016, he made bitcoin-to-cash and cash-to-bitcoin transactions and did not report them.

All told, Ross sold $1.5 million of the daddy of cryptocurrencies to undercover federal agents. Back in October 2017, he admitted to selling $50,000 of cryptocurrency to Homeland Security agents.

The prosecution against Ross is something quite new. The assistant US Attorney who prosecuted the seller said, “We don’t see many of these casers. It’s the first I’ve done here.”

TRON PUMP AND DUMP

Tron is a Chinese entertainments based cryptocurrency founded by entrepreneur Justin Sun. Part of its early success was the flurry of activity on social media propelling the coin from $0.002 at the beginning of December to a peak of $0.28 by early January. This epic pump resulted in a surge of almost 14,000 percent in less than a month. A lot of people made a lot of money on TRX, including its founder, however, a lot also lost out if they brought anywhere near the top as Tron has been sliding downwards ever since.

That is until today’s announcement that it would be listed on one of the world’s largest exchanges, Bittrex.

Price action took a jump a few hours ago during the morning’s Asian Trading session when TRX shifted up a gear to trade 20% higher on the day. The coin is currently trading at $0.05 which is still a long way off its all-time high.

Modern energy services are vital to human well-being and to a country’s economic development, yet according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), globally 1.2 billion people lack access to electricity. It’s thought that around 95 percent of these people are in either sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, with 80 percent in rural areas.
Ethereum-based platform ImpactPPA is attempting to turn on the lights using the power of the blockchain.

Selected as one of the top three most promising ICOs at this year’s North American Bitcoin Conference, ImpactPPA aims to disrupt renewable energy to finance and accelerate global clean energy production by decentralizing and tokenizing energy generation through power purchase agreements (PPAs). To achieve this, the platform is using blockchain technology, smart contracts and its energy protocol, the SmartPPA.

The project white paper describes how, right now, energy financing and distribution is bottlenecked by large, centralized NGOs and government agencies that have established an unwieldy financing system that can take years from proposal to product implementation.

The SmartPPA is the lynchpin of the new system and permits anyone, anywhere, to create a proposal for a project of any size. Even though ImpactPPA will allow users worldwide to access clean energy on a mobile device, the platform is primarily focusing on the emerging economies in the world.

Speaking to Bitcoin Magazine, ImpactPPA CEO Dan Bates explained that the current funding process with centralized NGOs is “too cumbersome and costly for many developing nations,” leaving many countries and their populations with limited access to power.

“ImpactPPA’s use of the blockchain and the crowd dramatically changes this paradigm, tapping into the vast potential of the socially minded impact investor and concerned citizen, looking to benefit the well-being of others while mitigating climate change,” he said.

As a company that has already been working in the traditional renewable energy (wind and solar) space for over 10 years, with projects on the ground in 35 countries, ImpactPPA’s platform is now ready to deploy with the blockchain component.

According to Bates, the team has more than 200 megawatts in discussion for PPAs around the world that they expect to begin executing within the next six months. Through its pay-as-you-go model for power, ImpactPPA is providing the most remote and underserved populations the chance to rapidly fund and deploy clean energy solutions that improve their quality of life, giving users the chance to purchase and consume energy on an as-needed basis.

“There is great need for our solutions in rural Africa as well as island nations like Puerto Rico and Haiti, which have been affected by hurricanes, just to name a few examples,” said Bates. “But as a company, we are interested in working everywhere and anywhere there is a need for power.”

ImpactPPA is currently working with the Haitian government and local partners to provide power to 42 of their coastal communities that have been left without power since Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The platform is planning on working with NGOs in the future too.

Delivering this energy to smart meters that are connected to the blockchain allows for government, utility companies, businesses or individuals to decentralize the flow of power while using the best of the blockchain to ensure trust and security of the power generated and transmitted, Bates explained.

Built on the Ethereum platform, ImpactPPA will sell its asset-based MPAQ token to enable projects, typically microgrids, to be quickly deployed.

“MPAQ token holders will be able to review and vote on proposed projects for funding by the company, giving the token-holding community a voice in the conversation about which projects should be funded,” Bates said.

ImpactPPA expects to begin its MPAQ token sale on April 22, 2018, coinciding with Earth Day, for funding projects currently in the pipeline.

It will also sell a GEN Credit to be used by consumers of the electricity generated by the renewable energy systems. It is priced in kWh and is determined by the PPA that it is attached to. Bates added that 30 percent of all net profits from implemented PPAs will be credited toward the platform’s GEN Pool. On a quarterly basis, and as long as the GEN Pool has a value of at least $100,000, ImpactPPA will use the accumulated GEN Pool to repurchase MPAQ tokens.

“It is this GEN Credit that will be exchanged by end users, buyers or proxies for the energy created by the renewable energy systems delivered to fulfill the SmartPPAs,” said Bates. “It is used to insure delivery of energy, manage storage devices, create interconnected data networks, and enable new economic models for the millions upon millions of people who will be positively impacted by the access to power.”

For Bates, the platform will deliver positive social impact in any form.


Energy begets an improved quality of life, education and self-empowerment, but energy is just the beginning for ImpactPPA.

Source: Bitcoin Magazine

DEMO LAUNCH

CRYPTOHUNT TOKEN SALE

VERSABANK MAKES AN INTRIGUING DECISION

In a way, it is rather surprising to learn that VersaBank – of all institutions – is pro-Bitcoin. With most of its counterparts actively preventing users from buying Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies, no one would expect a bank to offer a digital vault service of this magnitude. Even though this all-digital Canadian bank has a knack for introducing innovative features, focusing on the Bitcoin ecosystem is rather controversial. Even so, they see the merit in a blockchain-based digital safety deposit box for Bitcoin.

VersaBank claims this is the world’s first blockchain-based safety deposit box on this scale. Although other banks have hinted at potentially developing such a service in the future, none of these efforts have materialized as of yet. The service is not yet available to customers, as the project is still being developed behind the scenes. For now, there is no official timeline other than that the service is “expected to go live in June.” Its main purpose is to let users store cryptocurrency, although the bank has not alluded to any currencies besides Bitcoin being supported.

The VersaVault is being described as follows:

Your digital assets are just as valuable as any family jewelry, property deed or stock certificate, but protecting them isn’t nearly as simple. No storage device or commercial cloud service is completely safe, and most blockchain-based secure storage is only for cryptocurrency… and offered by companies you’ve never heard of, in places you don’t know. VersaVault is the solution your digital wealth has been waiting for: the impenetrable security and absolute privacy of blockchain encryption, created and managed by a chartered bank in one of the world’s most trusted financial markets. Like a safety deposit box, only you have access to what’s inside, and like a safety deposit box, it’s been built by an institution you can trust to be there for the long run.

Even though bank vault services are rather common when dealing with physical assets (such as precious metals), it has not been done for digital currencies as of yet. Coinbase, one of the world’s biggest exchanges, offers a similar service, but they are not an official bank. VersaBank, on the other hand, has nothing to do with cryptocurrency exchanges. Canada may very well become one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the world due to this project alone.

With so many exchanges being hacked over the years, the search for secure cryptocurrency storage solutions has only become more pressing. Using a hardware wallet to keep your holdings safe is still the best course of action, as it does not involve relying on third-party service providers. For those not willing to explore this option, the new service announced by VersaBank is well worth looking into. Most people already keep their valuable assets in digital form, and cryptocurrencies only illustrate that point further. As such, it is not entirely illogical that banks would want to tap into this market at some point.

It will be interesting to see what exactly this feature entails when it launches, though. Being secure and private seem to be two top priorities, but there will be more to this service than meets the eye. It seems other financial institutions are already showing a keen interest in VersaBank’s digital vault, which will hopefully lead to some exciting developments in the future.

Source: The Merkle

Western Union has formally confirmed that its Ripple-based blockchain trial will include XRP integration, making the money transfer giant the largest firm to test XRP in its internal payment flows.

As CCN reported, Western Union confirmed rumors about the partnership on Wednesday. Details about the trial were slim, but it seemed unlikely that XRP was involved given that most of Ripple’s partners have connected to RippleNet, the company’s private enterprise blockchain.

However, Ripple later issued a statement to media outlets making it clear that Western Union will pilot Ripple’s xRapid product, which uses XRP to provide real-time liquidity and reduce the capital requirements necessary for financial institutions to operate in emerging markets.


“We’ve been testing different products with Western Union for a while,” Ripple said. “We’re excited about our work towards a pilot implementation of xRapid, which uses XRP in payment flows.”

Western Union CTO Sheri Rhodes told Yahoo Finance that the 167-year-old firm, which was first founded as a telegraph company, is interested in blockchain technology for a variety of reasons:


“We continue to explore possible blockchain applications for our business, and we are piloting some settlement tests with Ripple for certain corridors. For blockchain in general, we’re looking at areas such as transaction processing and settlement, working capital optimization, regulatory technology, and digital identity. We have a strong platform and system that work well today, but we continue to explore and test whether these technologies could potentially reduce costs and improve the customer experience,” Rhodes said.

Western Union is the fifth prominent firm to test xRapid, a product that has proved much less popular than Ripple’s enterprise blockchain, which has been trialed by more than 100 financial institutions located across the world.

That said, two of those five companies — Western Union and fellow money transfer giant MoneyGram — are among the biggest names in financial services, which will likely provide the nascent product with a strong vote of confidence as Ripple attempts to market it to commercial banks and other large firms.

Source: Crypto Coins News