A New Leader in Crypto Adoption, Brave Fights Phishing, America Wants Blockchain While BTC Price Swings Again

by Lana Dobrić | September 10, 2020

In this edition:

A New World Order in Crypto Adoption
Brave’s Initiative to Protect Crypto Users from Phishing
The US Congress’ COMPETE Act Is Here to Beat China in Blockchain Race
BTC Price – Going up or Down?

Ahoy, my fellow Anchorians, was this a good week? I hope it was as interesting as the events in our world of crypto were. Some exciting pieces of information and news are waiting for you in this edition, as you will soon see.

We will talk about the leading countries in crypto adoption (no spoilers for now), how Brave browser plans to protect its crypto users from phishing attacks, what the US’ answer to emerging technology transformation in China is, and what to expect in terms of BTC price movements in the near future.

See? I told ya, some cool stuff. I guess the only thing left to do now is to buckle up and enjoy the ride in the 57th edition of Anchor’s Weekly Crypto Roundup!

A New World Order in Crypto Adoption

It’s not Christmas yet, but Chainalysis has prepared for us new research on crypto adoption! Okay, without further ado (*drum rolls, please*), the countries that have the best metrics in crypto adoption are – Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela, China, and Kenya.

On the other hand, among the countries that use cryptocurrencies the least are – Afghanistan, Algeria, Chad, Laos, and Libya.

‘’The Global Crypto Adoption Index is made up of four metrics, which we’ll explain in detail below. […] On-chain cryptocurrency value received, weighted by purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita; On-chain retail value transferred, weighted by PPP per capita; Number of on-chain cryptocurrency deposits, weighted by the number of internet users; Peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange trade volume, weighted by PPP per capita and the number of internet users.’’

While Ukraine as the global leader may come as a surprise, Venezuela e.g. makes perfect sense – the data shows Venezuelans often turn to crypto and ditch their national fiat currency due to inflation and loss of purchasing power.

Perhaps another surprise for some of you is that there are no Western European countries in the Chainalysis’ top 10 countries. Naturally, we understand why some parts of the world need to get more creative than the others when it comes to asset management. The good news is – crypto is there for everyone, and always will be.

Digitization of assets is an inevitable future for the entire planet, the only difference is who will be among the firsts. For example, there are at least three nations that will fully implement CBDCs in years to come – China, Sweden, and the Bahamas, along with many others interested in this topic.

Are you surprised by these results? Is your country among the top 10? Share it with us in Anchor’s Telegram Community >>

Brave’s Initiative to Protect Crypto Users from Phishing

We all know that the Brave browser is famous for its user protection policy and focus on privacy, and they have proven it once again by incorporating open source solutions from a cybersecurity firm dubbed PhishFort.

Phishing attacks are dangerous since this type of scam tricks users into giving up personal information and data with fake credentials. Furthermore, this is even more dangerous for crypto users because, in case of a phishing attack, they could lose all of their virtual assets. So, Brave decided to put a stop on that.

“When you’re a crypto-user, your username and password are only the start of your problems — and phishers are beginning to realize this […] they’re beginning to exploit the specific tools that we use to interface with our crypto.”

PshishFort has already assisted in removing 49 Google Chrome extensions that were built for crypto phishing scams and continues the fight by partnering with Brave, too.

Besides BAT (Basic Attention Token) rewards, a lot of members of the global crypto community use Brave precisely because it protects their privacy and it’s very crypto-friendly in general. Unfortunately, crypto enthusiasts worldwide are a desired and preferable target due to cryptocurrencies’ anonymous and decentralized nature.

We salute all initiatives in the fight against crypto scammers since solving the security barrier could be one of the main catalysts for mass crypto adoption!

The US Congress’ COMPETE Act Is Here to Beat China in Blockchain Race

Congresspeople in the US have decided to act on America’s failure to enter the global blockchain race. Failure may sound like a harsh word but, compared to China, the US is much further away in this domain.

“American Competitiveness Of A More Productive Emerging Tech Economy Act” (American COMPETE Act) was sponsored in a bipartisan manner – by Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). One of the bill’s co-sponsors is also Darren Sotto, Co-Chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus.

COMPETE Act calls for more studies of the emerging technologies, such as AI, quantum computing, IoT, and blockchain, as it recognizes their role in ‘’expanding the horizons of humankind, drastically changing the way we exchange information and interact with the world around us’’.

Naturally, this act is a response to the various Chinese blockchain initiatives in the last couple of years. Fearing the centralized but efficient approach from the Far East, the US has no choice but to at least explore these technologies and their potential advantage for the American economy.

While this bill was just conceived, these types of initiatives from congresspeople from both parties show how urgent and important is for the US to jump on the blockchain bandwagon and exploit its benefits, especially in these uncertain times.

Of course, we will keep you posted on further developments, fellow Anchorians!

BTC Price – Going up or Down?

Do you remember March and that shocking drop of BTC price to a mere $3,600? Crazy times when all the markets (stocks, gold, silver, crude oil) were crashing due to the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences.

Recently, we have seen another dip below $10k for Bitcoin, after the price failed to surpass the notorious $12k resistance line. While many hodlers began to fear what will happen next, the price soon rebounded and went over $10k ($10,284 at the moment of writing).

The main question is – are we going to see the March scenario once more?

Compared to that situation, the BTC market at this moment remains in its bullish trend, so there is no immediate danger for another sudden crash (like the black swan event in March). Additionally, the $10k remains a strong support line, as it was in 2017.

Everything indicates that the March crash was a sudden and ‘’irregular’’ event and very unlikely to happen again in this manner. The current BTC price remains in the $10-12k range, and any shifts above and below these lines could indicate new trends, if they hold, of course.

When it comes to other cryptocurrencies, ETH had its price crash (from $481 to $321), too. The same goes for LTC ($68 in August, now $48), EOS ($3,86 to $2,87), and LINK ($19.49 to $12.37).

We shouldn’t forget the whales either – mass transactions and the time of their occurrence can tell a lot about the future market movements. Be that as it may, the BTC price should remain relatively stable in days and weeks to come. Make sure you have a hedging strategy in place, nonetheless, just in case!

Final Thoughts

After breaking down these exciting news pieces, we come to an end of the 57th edition of your favorite Weekly Crypto Roundup. Crypto adoption, blockchain adoption, security improvements, and the BTC price – this was an eclectic, but all-inclusive edition!

The world of crypto can always bring both pleasant and unpleasant surprises, but as always, we will deal with them together. Until next week, my fellow Anchorians, I wish you fair winds and the following seas!

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not legal, accounting, or financial advice. I am not a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor. I am not registered as an investment adviser with any federal or state regulatory agency. The Information should not be construed as investment or trading advice and is not meant to be a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any cryptocurrencies.