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      "body": "The Facebook metaverse is now open to all US adults. Horizon Worlds is a virtual space where people interact by controlling three-dimensional avatars. Find out more at https://horizonworlds.party/.",
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      "memo": "Good morning @zb-group, Would you like to win 250$ for your BTC price prediction? My dear friend @ritxi is sharing info to interesting contest, which you may find worth your time. We're both not part of BlockFi (they are behind this contest) and we only share it with you since you've been posting about blockchain/crypto and I figured you may find this contest interesting. Yours, Piotr // LINK: https://steemit.com/contest/@ritxi/win-250-usd-for-you-btc-price-tip-or-by-blockfi"
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      "permlink": "the-great-librexit",
      "title": "The Great Librexit",
      "body": "![微信图片_20191017171509.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmS8LJwTwDNXXhLVJCJK8gxhVW1LaKyD7cfSDj9mAg1UbR/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20191017171509.jpg)\n\nThe dominant coalition has splintered. The Calibra association has fallen asunder, well, kind of.\nPayPal led the mutiny, and many of the other members promptly followed.\nThe Libra association was one that formed rapidly and disbanded just as quickly. Each member knew of the surface level risks going in but might not have anticipated the in-depth scrutiny and push back from regulators across the world.\nLibra issued strong statements and presented grand ambitions, much like a vast majority of the cryptocurrency projects that came out in 2016, 2017, and 2018. But the group is finding out that dreaming is easy; taking action is hard.\nPayment processors likely teamed up with Facebook in the Libra Association to have substantial exposure to the future.\nThere are much more scrutiny and issues from legislators, monetary policy experts, and state entities all over the world.\nEach payment processor from Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, and Mercado Pago, all are starting to peel back the layers of this regulatory laden Libra onion. They do not like what they see. Each of these ex Libra members, each of these financial entities, exists within the current banking and regulatory framework. They've developed their processes, cultures, and companies on this existing operating system. Every single one of these entities has received funding, has shareholders, and most, if not all, have found success and run profitable businesses within this current context.\nClearly, payment processors and financial companies that have built businesses around existing regulations have much more to lose than the leader of the project, Facebook. Whereas the other ex-members of the Libra Association have core businesses in the payments and financial realm, Facebook lives and breathes in an entirely different and emerging internet-oriented world. It thrives by facilitating communication, creating global communities, aggregating data, and monetizing the cumulative data by partnering with advertisers.\nFacebook's core business is in advertising.\nIt earned more than $50 billion U.S. Dollars in 2018 from advertising revenue.\nThe virtual currency (Libra) and its Geneva-based association is just a side business to Facebook.\neBay is also out of the Libra picture. This makes sense, PayPal used to be integrated inside the peer to peer e-commerce corporation.\nThese members have left the association before the rubber hits the road. The Libra Association will have its first meeting and will convene on the 14th of October. This meeting will be critical, as members of the Libra Association will have to make critical concessions and commit to playing a vital role in furthering the project. \nAll is not lost, while many high-profile members have left the Libra Association, 22 companies still hold the faith and remain. They still pledge allegiance to the purported open banking initiative helmed by Facebook. These members presumably have core businesses outside of the payments industry. They see much more upside by affiliation than those who've exited stage left.\n\nIt Is Tough to Be a Disruptor in A Heavily Regulated Industry\n\nIt is essential to take a look at bitcoin to understand how hard it is to be a disruptor in heavily regulated industries like payments, banking, and general finance. Bitcoin was formed in 2009 and is still being treated by different established entities as a joke. Many will still treat it as a vile currency or asset class. They state that it is a currency and system for money laundering. Similarly, other financial luminaries like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger dub it as rat poison.\nBitcoin has still reached a variety of milestones across the board, it's increased its market cap, possesses substantial volumes, and has spawned a wide range of compelling companies that support the facilitation of bitcoin. The leading digital asset can be a haven for those in countries such as Argentina, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and other nations such as Turkey.\nThe President of the United States has disparaged it, the Federal Reserve has commented on bitcoin in its speeches, and other organizations have created their cryptocurrency projects due to the growing interest in this sector.\nSuffice to say, bitcoin has created several ripples in the financial system over its short existence.\nWe're still waiting on a bitcoin ETF, it's still treated as a commodity instead of a virtual currency and still has a long way to go in terms of market adoption, but still, bitcoin persists.\n\nEverything's Not Lost for Facebook\n\nFacebook still has 22 members; one of these members is PayU, a corporation based in the Netherlands that focuses on payments. Large brand name payments entities might have left the Libra Association, but it shows no signs of despair. It still seems as if the Libra Association, much like bitcoin, will persist and find ways to exist.\nStrong support from those who reside within the payments sector would have bolstered the Libra Association, but it must continue without them. \nWhere does the Libra Association go from here? David Marcus has much work ahead of him as he navigates this perilous realm.\n\nPotential Strategy and Branding Issues\n\nThe firm still seeks to deploy its virtual currency by 2020, a period that approaches rather quickly. The Libra Association must either scale its ambitions down and make Libra something that seems much like a plaything (as Facebook was seen at first) or pivot in a different direction. Regulators fear the excessive control one entity would have over money, something that would diminish monetary authority, and seek to mitigate this Libra threat.\nDavid Marcus, the appointed Libra leader, noted that the association would do what it must work with regulators and see the project through to its implementation. He seemed reasonably confident that the project would go as planned and be operational in some form or fashion acting in compliance with regulators.\nWhile it has yet to comment on how it will take every action to comply with existing regulations, it is still taking specific steps to further its vision and mission.\nPresenting a distributed but united front is crucial for Facebook and the Libra Association, as regulators understand the level of control Facebook may have in politics, and in influencing people's lives.\nA recent report noted how Facebook inflated its ad relevance, with fake numbers, fake bots, and fake engagement, while only receiving a fine equivalent 0.18% of its revenue in one quarter.\nIt surely needs help and support from key entities to push the project forward unless or find a way to make it seem as if Libra is less of a threat.\n\nThe ZB Group Take\n\nWe've noted the complexity in merging the new with the old. There is always a clash, and the clash can be quite painful for all involved. Bitcoin faced it and still goes through this clash as it grows. Libra is going facing its hurdles and obstacles as it tries to enter into the cryptocurrency sector and become a central player in this emerging sector.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "body": "Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:\nhttp://www.kake.com/story/41188920/zbcom-announces-the-second-project-for-up-program-filenet",
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      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "zb-com-announces-the-second-project-for-up-program-filenet-which-will-be-available-for-half-price-purchases-with-usd500-000-usd",
      "title": "ZB.com announces the second project for UP program -- Filenet -- which will be available for half-price purchases with $500,000 USD worth.",
      "body": "![微信图片_20191014164709.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWr6KuvERaiwqhA76axvUqm7hwWfR7VQv6wfzRowczu4c/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20191014164709.jpg)\n\nZB.com/ZB.plus, the world’s leading digital asset trading platform, announced the second project of UP program — Filenet — will be available for half-price purchase with $500,000 USD worth at 14:00 on October 20th. VIP members at ZB.com are entitled to a higher subscription quota.\n\nUP is the enhanced iteration of ZB.com’s LaunchPad with a brand new half-price purchase channel for digital assets. The first project of UP was LivenPay’s LVN token. LivenPay is an Australian restaurant payment platform growing a worldwide platform. They provided total amount of 1 million US dollars worth of LVN. The actual subscription amount was completed within 4 hours, and the final subscription amount exceeded 200%. LVN rose more than 34% at the opening of trading.\n\nFilenet is a new incentive layer built on IPFS to reward miners for sharing their own storage and network resources. Filenet is also a token that runs on a distribution proof mechanism, a super cloud system based on IPFS for providing content sharing, dedicated to storing and distributing valuable content. It aims at connecting all idle storage space to form a powerful distributed data service system.Any storage device that can connect to the Internet can participate in mining. The project was launched by the IPFS community elite in October 2017 and led by Valiant Capital, a leading us venture capital firm.Filenet combined with IPFS protocol to construct an efficient decentralized data distribution network and form a business closed loop. First, through tokens to rewards, miners share their own storage and network resources. Second, they build a complete decentralized data service platform for the operation of DApps, which is the representative product of blockchain 3.0.\n\nHere are 5 strategies for participating in the Filenet subscription on UP.\n\n1. Account preparation\nIf you do not have an account of ZB.com, you can visit the official website of ZB.com or download the official App to register, and first pass the KYC authentication, because the trading of accounts without authentication will be restricted. UP subscription activity is expected to be held simultaneously on ZB.com’s official website and App.\n\n2. Set a purchase alarm\nThe opening time of “Fn” half-price subscription is: 14:00 Hong Kong time on October 20, 2019, and the end time is 18:00 on October 20, 2019. After the subscription is completed, Fn Token will be issued according to UP activity rules, and the withdrawal service will be opened immediately.\n\n3. Store up ZB Token in advance\nFn half-price subscription only supports purchase through ZB Token, and the same for all subsequent UP activities online, so it is necessary to prepare full ZB Token in the account in advance. ZB Token currently supports transactions on several platforms, including ZB.com, BW.com, ZBG.com and Bitfinex.\n\n4. UP subscription amount is linked to membership level\nThe UP subscription limit for ordinary users is only 100ZB, and the higher the VIP level is, the higher the amount can be.If you want to subscribe to more half-price Fn, you must first become a member of ZB.com, which is especially recommended to purchase members through “lock up ZB Token”. \n\n5. Pay attention to start time\nAfter the Fn subscription ends on October 20, ZB.com will launch Fn/USDT trading pair in the Advanced Market and Fn/QC trading pair in the Spot Trading. In the early days of market opening, digital asset prices can fluctuate wildly. If you are lucky enough to apply for the Fn, we suggest you pay close attention to the market.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group's flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world's largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world's first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea's Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open-source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "title": "The Latest News on Ripple and XRP DeFi",
      "body": "![微信图片_20191016102111.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRRQoVXnZgzKvVxLk2zrRNw3FBNxZAUKmSoiAohxi4iTB/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20191016102111.jpg)\n\nRipple is a fintech firm located in San Francisco, California. It has investors that range from the famed Andresen Horowitz venture capital firm to Lightspeed Ventures, Google Ventures, SBI Holdings, the CME Group, and other notable investors. It has raised more than 80 million dollars from its many different funding partners.\nThe company is associated with the controversial digital asset, XRP. Ripple runs an open-source platform to conduct simple, efficient, and seamless cross border transactions. The company works with banking entities to provide them with DLT and blockchain-based solutions to improve their processes and operations.\nThe firm uses RippleNet to provide an infrastructure for its banking clients, where RippleNet is a growing group of licensed and regulated payment providers that include a variety of financial institutions across the world. These financial institutions tap into Ripple's services to provide a better service for their end clients. \nRippleNet is supposed to work as an efficient way to connect different currencies to conduct a simple exchange.\nThe platform is prized due to its low transmission costs, currency exchange features, and payments. People may favor Ripple and its non-blockchain system because of its energy efficiency due to its non-proof of work system, its association with regulators (known as the bankers' coin), and its continuous growth and partnerships with several financial institutions across the world. \nXRP enthusiasts are fans of the fact that Ripple is innovating and figuring out how to disrupt the messaging system SWIFT. Ripple wants to eliminate the need for pre-funded accounts and increase liquidity in the banking system.\nXRP offers its investors with a potential way to get their feet wet in the cryptocurrency ecosystem with a centralized non-crypto, crypto token that is affiliated with many prominent players within the industry. Users might feel safe, or unsafe, knowing that Ripple owns more than 60% of the circulating XRP supply and conducts sell operations regularly. These sell activities might keep the price down.\nAdditionally, users must note that Ripple can freeze and censor transactions.\nIt is important to note that XRP does not have a blockchain platform and is one of the reasons why people may think it to be more of a centralized system. This specific currency has its method of verification and conducts consensus in a unique way.\n\nHere's A Quick Recap of Ripple To Date\n\nInvestments\n\nThe company has invested in a variety of firms, including Omni and MoneyGram. MoneyGram is quite probably the most notable investment made by Ripple as the company has invested $50 million into the firm and holds substantial equity in this publicly traded firm. The MoneyGram investment helped Ripple to increase the utilization of XRP.\n\nPartnerships and Customers\n\nBanking partners include firms such as Santander, Axis Bank, SBI Group, Westpac, Union Credit, NBAD, UBS, and many more across the world that use non-XRP powered Ripple products. \nOne firm in Japan has noted that it will issue XRP dividends to shareholders; this indicates that Ripple is slowly building up partnerships and are seeking to build more value into its XRP token. \nRipple is also growing its xRapid product by partnering with market makers.\nA representative from the company noted \"we've been strategically partnering with a number of market makers around how we establish contracts and incentives for people to want to engage so that as we send more volume through these channels, there is a depth of liquidity in the crosses that we need to support that flow. \nBut the way that we've structured these contracts is such that we leave an opportunity for new liquidity participants to have the incentive to enter.\" \nIt is working with partners in the Philippines, Mexico, and Brazil to continue to expand its xRapid platform.\nRepresentatives from the firm have also stated that the firm counts more than 250 banking clients as of 2019.\n\nNew Hires\n\nRipple has hired new people to interact with the government as well. Its latest hire includes Ron Hammond, an ex-congressional assistant. The hire surely makes sense as it shows that Ripple is seeking to align itself with the government to minimize risk and maximize opportunities. Hiring a person with a wealth of experience in navigating the political field will be of great use to the firm as it grows.\n\nCommentary On Recent Events\n\nThe firm has also noted that it is Facebook's Libra is a walled garden or a closed system and might not be as appealing in a more open world. This is certainly interesting as the firm has fielded allegations, noting that it too had a centralized system with appearances of a walled garden.\nMeanwhile, Ripple is pushing for further growth and utility of XRP. Its latest venture is to find ways to create more decentralized finance solutions powered by XRP.\nLet's find out more about this initiative. \n\nRipple, XRP, and Decentralized Finance\n\nRipple's investment division, Xpring, recently acquired Logos Network, a decentralized payments platform. Xpring will add to this venture by bringing more engineers to work on decentralized finance solutions. \nLogos will now become a part of Xpring, an extension of Ripple, and place the CEO of Logos as the leaders of their new decentralized financial division.\nXpring might be shifting its initiatives to look at a potentially growing sector and capitalize, bolstering the growth of XRP. \nRipple's decentralized finance division will likely bring about futures contracts, loans, and other types of derivatives that could bring about more interest in its token, XRP.\nA representative stated:\n\n\"We're still at an early stage of figuring this out, we've made investments in Defi companies in the past. We invested in Securitize and Dharma, but it's now an area where we're building.\"\n\n\nIt will be interesting to see how Xpring uses decentralized financial solutions to bring about more interest and excitement to XRP. \nAt the current moment, Xpring has invested in more than 15 companies and will likely bring about more debt and lending products to the market, bringing savers, lenders, and other participants to the forefront in this new era of XRP utilization.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "body": "Congratulations @zb-group! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :\n\n<table><tr><td><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/60x70/http://steemitboard.com/@zb-group/posts.png?201910120957\"></td><td>You published more than 50 posts. Your next target is to reach 60 posts.</td></tr>\n</table>\n\n<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@zb-group) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](https://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=zb-group)_</sub>\n<sub>_If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word_ `STOP`</sub>\n\n\nTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!\n\n\n**Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:**\n<table><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemfest/@steemitboard/the-new-steemfest-badge-is-ready\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRUkELn2Fd13pWFkmWU2wBMMx39EBX5V3cHBEZ2d7f3Ve/image.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemfest/@steemitboard/the-new-steemfest-badge-is-ready\">The new SteemFest⁴  badge is ready</a></td></tr></table>\n\n###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!",
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      "parent_permlink": "blockchain",
      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "signs-of-a-recession",
      "title": "Signs of A Recession?",
      "body": "![微信图片_20191012170729.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRKoEJ3qHhnAEzKKoirNE5uyt25aSS9K7e5SgJPDc5giT/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20191012170729.jpg)\n\nOne of the most essential questions in the cryptocurrency industry is how it will react when a recession occurs across the globe. Indeed, there have been many different warning shots across since 2016.\nVenture capitalists such as Bill Gurley and fund managers such as Paul Singer have commented on the state of the current markets, overvaluation, and irrational competition.\nFurther, they've discussed how low-interest rates have pushed up valuations across the venture industry, the public equities markets, and might create a variety of risky behaviors.\nIndeed, U.S. traditional equities are at ten-year highs, despite trade wars and other macroeconomic elements that may have an impact on stocks.\nRecession fears are egged on by many because it's been ten years since the last recession. It might seem as if much wasn't learned from the prior recession.\nA mixture of factors such as federal funds rates remaining low, negative interest rates, bloated valuations in the private and public markets, an increase in share buybacks, as well as possible increased leverage might continue stoke fears.\nFurther, pre-emptive maneuvering in monetary policy in many different countries to lower rates, in decreasing tax rates, and conducting repurchase operations to stimulate or stabilize the market.\nWe want to look at a few of these factors to understand recession chances, what experts have said about it, when it may come about, how it may impact cryptocurrencies.\nLet's start with economic uncertainty in 2016 because that's when we first might have seen signs of distress.\n\nEconomic Uncertainty in 2016\n\n2016 was a strong year for stocks and the economy. The S&P 500 index saw substantial gains, recording an increase of over 80% over the preceding years.\nUnited States unemployment was at lows and has decreased further to becoming less than 4% today. But one key concern was that of government intervention in stimulating the economy.\nThe effective United States federal funds rate decreased from 5.25% in 2007 to 0.15% in January 2009. It declined even further to 0.07% and stayed in the 0.09% to 0.012% level until 2015. The United States federal funds rate gradually spiked in 2016 to 0.34% and kept increasing to 0.54% by the end of 2016. It would rise over the next few years to 2. before slightly declining in 2018 and 2019.\nVolatility and a downturn started the new year in 2016 with Down Jones falling sharply (276 points) picking up and then dropping 800 points in the latter half of the year.\nBut why did it happen? Economic uncertainty in China might have led the sell-off. The SSE Composite fell 43% in less than three months in mind 2015. This led its government to maintain stability and devalue the yuan.\nThe concern in the latter half of 2015 was an economic slowdown in a major economic powerhouse, China, a decline in petroleum prices, and default conditions in countries in Europe. Investors across the world looked at the signals and sold assets.\nUncertainty was also present in the United Kingdom with the fears over Brexit. The latter half of 2015 saw significant declines in stock markets across the world, in emerging markets and developed markets.\nVolatility started happening in 2015. Markets would go down and pick back up. This cycle would continue into 2016 and the following years. Markets oscillated between declines and recovery.\nBy mid-2016, the Brexit referendum turned in a negative direction, and they voted to leave. The British sterling declined and continued its decline to more than 30-year lows. World stock markets reacted to this decision, and stocks tumbled substantially.\nThe U.K. still currently has a negative watch credit outlook by the different rating agencies. These events would compel investors to allocate more capital to precious metals like gold and other conservative asset classes. Central banks across the world noted their views on the economic uncertainty and issued releases confirming their intentions to intervene if necessary.\nThese events would be the start of global economic growth revisions over the following years.\nProblems outlined in 2016 haven't been solved.\n\nPresent Days\n\nEurope\n\nThe European situation is still a significant cause for concern as the relative health of many critical countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and others have dwindled. Europe leads the way in heading down the path of negative rates. Countries ranging from Portugal to Spain still have bloated debt issues and require continuous intervention from the E.U. as well as the IMF. Grexit fears might also lead to a splintering of the European Union is yet another concern among investors.\n\nAsia\n\nChina has devalued its currency several times and might have substantial overvaluation of overall asset classes from real estate to stocks.\nIndia implemented several actions to keep the economy stable, such as decreased corporate tax rates and lower federal funds rates.\n\nUnited States\n\nPersonal debts have increased with Experian noting that overall consumer debts have reached over $13.3 trillion, with revolving debt reaching over $4.0 trillion. Further, younger individuals from 25-34, hold an average of $42,000 in debt, according to CNBC. Student loans are another issue that causes high alarm. Students might not have the capacity to shoulder these debts soon. But experts note that the United States government backs a substantial majority of these student loans and investors typically see the USD and U.S. debt as a risk-off asset.\nUnfortunately, consumer spending on student debt takes away from other spending activities, indicating a potential slowdown. On the other side, real wages remain stagnant.\nThe United States treasury notes still yield positively, unemployment is still low, and stocks continue to remain active with macro-based volatility. Corporations rush to refinance or raise debt at a frenetic pace with players like Apple and others leading the way. A recent headline by the F.T. reads \"U.S. companies raise $28bn of cheap debt in a single day.\" Investors still buy corporate debt despite potential signals such as Ford's debt downgrade into junk territory.\n\nSouth America\n\nArgentina, Venezuela, and others still face economic issues, and general uncertainty is present here as well.\nThe Z.B. Group Wrap Up\nWe see several commonalities across the globe regarding valuations, and investors taking on more risk across asset classes. There might be marked improvements in banking since 2008, but issues such as personal debts, predictions by the IMF and others on a global slowdown, trade wars and other factors affect the economic outlook.\nAlso, central banks are close to zero in interest rates across several countries, and a few are in negative territory.\nDigital assets like bitcoin will see a test in its resilience in shocks to the traditional finance system.\nDo investors see bitcoin as a store of value in uncertain times and treat it like gold or sell bitcoin and other digital assets to grab cash in times of economic trouble?\nIt depends on when they purchased bitcoin, how they bought (if using loans or not) and their time horizon for holding the asset regardless of short-term economic conditions. The concentration of bitcoin holders also matters in a recession scenario.\nHow you act will depend on your confidence in the future. Take actions that will generate value and help to build the budding blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "facebook-horizon-and-its-ambitions-on-realizing-virtual-reality",
      "title": "‘Facebook Horizon’ and its Ambitions on Realizing Virtual Reality",
      "body": "![微信图片_20191010113041.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZoYyXh8H6FUfR4SG2FPVBhnvhgoTuSJxuGD6TrjDMj5B/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20191010113041.jpg)\n\nFacebook made a big announcement this past week. The social media giant will take even more people into the digital realm in an even more immersive manner. How are they planning on carrying out this activity? \nFacebook thinks it can do so by bringing virtual reality to the masses.\nThe social media giant expects more people to get involved in virtual reality over the coming years and is investing heavily in this growing sector.\nBut what have they done so far, and what are they doing now in virtual reality? Also, how many people are interested in virtual reality now and what kind of options are present in this new industry? How does this apply to the cryptocurrency industry?\nLet’s find out.\n\nFacebook and Virtual Reality Trends\n\nFacebook’s leaders know that the road to virtual reality land is not easy. The social media giant’s executives realize that the virtual reality journey is fraught with many different trials, obstacles, and issues. But the company persists. It seems as if the corporation has huge ambitions of conquering the virtual reality sector and providing virtual reality to its vast global audience.\nThe company believes that virtual and augmented reality should make a significant difference in people’s lives and will likely be a vital growth industry in the years to come. Facebook kickstarted its interests in virtual reality by investing more $1.5 billion in Oculus, the VR headset maker, before 2015.\nWhile its investments in VR and AR technology continue to grow, potential consumers have yet to follow. The popular belief is that the equipment to connect to virtual reality costs too much; the experience isn’t seamless and might feel stranger after a while. \nLastly, we know that that virtual reality, in its present form, may not provide as much value to a wide variety of people.\nOne key segment in virtual reality is that of gamers. To that extent, many different game makers have indeed rushed in to invest and create games for virtual reality. While difficulties might persist in the general adoption in other sectors, we might expect to see more healthy growth in the gaming industry.\nIndeed, VR headset shipping growth is on the horizon.\nFacebook isn’t the only vendor within the sector; Sony, HTC, Microsoft, and others also ship out their own VR headsets and products. \nSurprisingly, Sony leads the way in VR headset shipments, having shipped out more than 1.6 million headsets in 2017, 2 million in 2018, and a projected 2.2million in shipments in 2019. Facebook’s Oculus is the second-biggest seller in the world with 0.7 million, 0.9 million, and a projected 1.7million for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019.\nFinally, we know that Facebook earned about $1 billion from its virtual reality division in 2018, that’s out of all total revenues of $55.8 billion in that year.\nThe industry is still tiny, and Facebook and its competitors are still trying to figure out how to grow it.\nThe significant problem is that the content is not there for users to keep coming back to using virtual reality headsets. So, how does a company like Facebook help to solve this traction problem?\nFirst, make the virtual reality equipment better; second, focus on adding more content, and three, amplify the experience.\nKey executives at Facebook are working to make virtual reality more social and endearing by integrating more of its current offerings with these emerging technologies. To do that they’ve hired more employees and have grown its Augmented and Virtual Reality division to more than 3,900 people. They’ve been quite busy and have rolled out a variety of products to lay the groundwork for further features.\n\nPortal+ and Portal\n\nWe see new Facebook product lines such as its’ Portal+ and the Portal. These are hands-free video chatting devices. Artificial intelligence integrations allow these devices to be smarter by focusing on people as they move and talk. Augmented reality integrations are similar to Snapchat’s which overlays different fun effects onto the screen. Portal devices should enhance your user experience and should help you connect with friends and family in a more precise, vivid, and convenient manner. These devices range from $199 to $349.\nWireless Virtual Reality Headset\nOculus Quest is wireless, costs about $399 and requires no additional sensors.\n\nSpark AR\n\nSpark AR is the firm’s augmented reality studio that collaborates with partners and end-users to produce a variety of filters for mobile devices catering to different settings and experiences.\n\nMaking It Feel Real\n\nThe firm is also looking at making its virtual reality mimic and be as resilient and interactive as regular reality. This includes capturing the essence of human expressions and making virtual experiences more vivid and compelling.\nThese new advancements help the company to bring out more potential use cases for its users, allowing for more content, more engaging interaction, and connection.\nThis leads us to the next phase of Facebook’s VR trajectory, Horizon.\n\nFacebook’s Horizon\n\nGrowth for Facebook will come from further use cases such as integrating augmented reality and virtual reality into its present platforms and overall mission. As such, the corporation will find further ways to allow people to connect more deeply by using virtual reality. The social media entity seeks to engage people and have them use Facebook to work together, enhance communication, and potentially allow people to do more things with their lives.\nThat’s the point of Facebook’s Horizon, a fully immersive virtual reality space where users can create their own spaces to play, talk, and virtually live. \nFacebook Horizon will launch in 2020.\nUsers will have the freedom to form their avatars like in Sims or similar games and walk around in their new world. Further, according to publications like Techcrunch, users can socialize with their friends, go to different places, and play together in different virtual realms.\nThis virtual world will have Horizon locals who will act as guardians and protectors of this virtual space.\nWith Facebook Horizon, you aren’t controlling a character. You are the character. You get to hang out in a virtual world and create objects with a simple dashboard. \nBut no trolls are allowed.\nFacebook states on its Citizenship page “as citizens of Facebook Horizon, it is all of our responsibility to create a culture that’s respectful and comfortable . . . A Horizon citizen is friendly, inclusive, and curious.”\n\nThe ZB Group Take\n\nWhy is Facebook’s Horizon exciting and compelling? It is fully virtual. We’ve seen virtual currencies, and now we get virtual worlds. Facebook’s Horizon can help to lead the way for different unique experiences where different platforms might be able to integrate to sell different experiences allowing users to pay with cryptocurrencies in an automated fashion. Further, this new world might incentivize other developers to create similar experiences that push the space even further, giving people more incentive to step into a fully virtual world and interact for a while.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "permlink": "bitcoin-s-recent-moves",
      "title": "Bitcoin’s Recent Moves",
      "body": "![微信图片_20191009105604.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZkLgBpKf3TkVBrkBmDKf6wo5TJkhi83RDCruiMHCj7VJ/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20191009105604.jpg)\n\nAlas, bitcoin staggered and had a great fall during the last weeks. The price of bitcoin fell from its several months bound $10,000 range territory to it $8,100; at one point it slipped to around $7,900. This price movement is disheartening for many different individuals that might be new to the sector. Fortunately, this event is par for the course for those who’ve been in it for some time now.\nBitcoin is adjusting downward and is slightly bearish, but there’s a variety of important events to look forward to within this sector. We’ve seen exciting activities that range from countries adopting and accumulating bitcoin to players in the NBA being blocked from tokenizing their contracts for upfront payments. Much has happened, and the price is just one small component of these past few moves.\nLet’s take a look at some of the most compelling events that took place last week.\n \nCryptocurrency Projects\n\nKin\n\nKik, in an about-face, decided to shut down its widely popular application, an app, that many saw as the bedrock and the foundation of the Kin ecosystem. The company decided to liquidate its firm and focus its resources on fighting the Securities Exchange Commission. Many are perplexed by this approach. \nThey expected KIK to continue to lead and grow the ecosystem further and to provide more value to the KIN token.\nThe price of KIN is deathly close to zero at the time of this writing.\nIt looks as if the market priced in the sudden shut down of KIN and has minimal confidence in its prospects.\n\nJPM Coin\n\nJP Morgan Chase bank is just one of several banks that are now taking a closer look into cryptocurrencies. The large banking institution is currently working on delivering JPM coin and is working hard to build a coalition around its cryptocurrency project. \nSeveral Asian financial firms have joined the JPM project, also known as the Interbank Information Network (IIN). The blockchain payments project might be seen as a rival to Ripple and Stellar, as these projects are dubbed as the banker’s coins.\nWhy?\nThe Interbank Information Network (IIN) is likely pursuing the same goals as Ripple and Stellar, increasing speed in transactions, solving friction in cross border transactions, and minimizing costs in the global payments value chain process.\nPublications note that more than 250 banks show significant interest in the JPM project.\nThe banking firm will test and deploy its native coin, JPM coin on its growing network. The firm uses a permissioned variation of the Ethereum network.\nAgain, this is one of many prominent banks that are slowly building up their networks and blockchain-based coins to stay competitive within modern finance.\n\nMakerDAO Might Move to A More Centralized Future\n\nInterestingly, Maker DAO, the entity behind the DAI, a stablecoin, might incorporate KYC in the future. The fear among some DAI enthusiasts is that KYC might minimize the decentralized nature of the project and include chokepoints. Further, it has been facing some pushback recently as its current rates are quite high.\n\nBitcoin and Governmental Institutions\n\nEveryone is interested in bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and stablecoins. Organizations such as JP Morgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, Facebook, and even the International Monetary Fund are curious about this growing phenomenon. Countries such as China, the Marshall Islands, and India have also professed varying levels of interest in a stablecoin.\nThe International Monetary Fund recently released a document that takes into account the different uses of the stablecoins. The institution started to research the matter last year and continued to invest in the project.\nThis prominent financial entity comments on the opportunities and the risks present within these emerging assets. \nOne key asset they like is that of stablecoins. This notion makes sense; stablecoins allow for simplicity, for asset-backed reserves and an improvement on the current financial system. \nThis is also likely why companies such as Wells Fargo, Chase Bank, and others are confidently moving forward with their specific stablecoin projects. Stablecoins can simplify the process of moving money around while also providing for a wide variety of opportunities if used correctly.\nThe entity has also noted the different risks of a globalized stablecoin such as the one proposed by Libra.\n\nBitcoin and Venezuela \n\nBitcoin is used in multiple ways in Venezuela. People work for bitcoins, accept bitcoins as donations, and lastly, its government accumulates bitcoins. Bitcoin has been a substantial aid to those in the economically troubled country, Venezuela. Improper governance, corruption, and other aspects have plunged Venezuela into economic turmoil. \nThe government has done several campaigns to revive the economy, but it still ails from the issue. It launched the Petro, and now, its reportedly accumulating bitcoin to increase its economic strength. The country is taking more effort to collect fees in bitcoin and might start to accumulate bitcoin as a central bank reserve asset.\nLastly, Bitcoin Venezuela, a non-profit organization, is using bitcoin to continue to look after and aid the poor in the economically ravaged nation.\n\nBitcoin Infrastructure\n\nBakkt\n\nWall Street developed over several decades and continues to evolve even to this very day. Bitcoin started in 2009 and also grew each year in some form or fashion. Bitcoin, while still relatively young, has made significant progress, over a decade.\nBakkt is a substantial part of the growing bitcoin infrastructure.\nBakkt launched last Sunday. A day or two later, bitcoin started to decline. The two events are likely uncorrelated. The exchange is necessary because it is regulated and owned by ICE, the same group that owns the New York Stock Exchange. It will be a key component because of its security, status, and regulation. \nThe firm is expected to draw more institutional parties who will have the opportunity to tap into its derivatives, custody their assets, and spend bitcoin if they wish to do so. Further, Bakkt also settles contracts in bitcoin as opposed to USD.\n\nThe ZB Group Take\n\nEvents are taking place at a rapid clip within this sector. Everyone is seeking to get involved in some for fashion, and blockchain-based infrastructure will be integrated in some form or manner in several industries.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "body": "To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.\n[![](https://s18.postimg.org/51o0kpijd/play200x46.png)](http://ec2-52-72-169-104.compute-1.amazonaws.com/zb-group__by-leaps-and-bounds-zb-com-hits-more-than-6-million-registered-users.mp3)\nBrought to you by [@tts](https://steemit.com/tts/@tts/introduction). If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.",
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      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "by-leaps-and-bounds-zb-com-hits-more-than-6-million-registered-users",
      "title": "By leaps and bounds! ZB.com hits more than 6 million registered users",
      "body": "At the end of June 2019, ZB Group celebrated its 6th anniversary by publishing the operation data of ZB.com trading platform for the first time revealing more than 5 million registered users. Just three months later, the same figure has risen to six million, showcasing the industry's fastest growth. \n\nAs the world's leading digital asset trading platform, ZB.com has more than 6 million registered users, 10 million daily visitors and more than ¥10 billion CNY in daily transactions, according to the latest official data. The platform features four trading areas with QC, USDT, BTC and ZB open. These pairs are powered by trading tools that include spot trading, margin trading, OTC and leveraged financial management. \n\nSome outside voices believed that ZB.com, as an older trading platform, faces the suppression of the so-called top three trading platforms HuoBi, Binance and OKEx, and also has to watch out for the launch of newcomers like Matcha, Biki and Gate. As it turns out, ZB.com has actually been leading growth.\n\nLet's work out way back through the ZB.com timeline for the past 3 months:\n\nOn September 18, ZB.com announced the addresses of 1 billion ZB tokens burned. Previously, on September 16, ZB.com announced the recall of 49.2312 million ZB tokens in the third quarter and the one-time burn of 1 billion ZB tokens from The User Protection Fund.\n\nOn September 16, ZB.com announced that LVN, the first UP project, would open for trading, which rose more than 34% on that day. On September 12, LVN opened its subscription with US$1 million worth at half price, and actually completed the subscription within 4 hours and a final subscription exceeding 200%.\n\nOn September 12, ZB.com added a new domain name, zb.plus, in China, and the original ZB.com/ZB.cn continues to apply in most parts of the world.\n\nOn September 9, ZB.com announced that all ZB tokens made from the sale of UP tokens were burned 100%. \n\nOn September 6, ZB.com announced the opening of Advanced Market and held a five-day \"Trading For HX Gift\" activity, during which all VIP members involved in HX Trading Shared 3 million HX. According to the subsequent published results, some investors carved up a maximum of 120,000 HX.\n\nOn September 5, ZB.com, together with NovaClub and FINWEX, held the Consensus Summit in Shanghai.\n\nOn August 31, ZB.com held simulateous meetups in New York and Bangkok.\n\nOn August 26, ZB.com announced a new VIP system, with a minimum transaction fee rate of 0.03%, providing two channels of direct purchase with ZB Token and lock-up ZB Token. Moreover, 50% of the ZB Token obtained from selling VIP were burned and 50% were repurchased for the User Protection Fund.\n\nOn August 19, Aurora, Vice President of ZB Group and Founder of ZB Nexus, announced her attendance at the POW'ER 2019 Global Developers Conference hosted by Mars Finance. \n\nOn August 16, ZB.com announced that it has become an official strategic partner with Singaporean blockchain company Grounded. \n\nOn August 15, ZB.com's 24-hour trading volume jumped to the fourth place in CoinMarketCap.ZB Token has a total market value of $157 million, ranking 39th in the world. \n\nOn August 8, according to QKL123, a blockchain data service provider, the breaking rate of ZB.com's digital assets was 10%, significantly lower than that of Binance, HuoBi and OKEx.\n\nOn August 5, litecoin halved, with ZB.com trading more than 500,000 litecoin pieces. \n\nOn August 1, ZB.com held Meetup in Bangkok, Thailand. Jesse, ZB's International Business Director, said that the number of users from southeast Asia has increased significantly.\n\nOn July 31, Meetup was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after data showed that ZB.com's users in Brazil increased 2.78 times at the beginning of this year. \n\nOn July 31, CryptoCompare, an cryptocurrency data analysis organization, released a review report on the exchange in June. ZB ranked the second with a trading volume of $39.3 billion, with a growth rate of 8.4%.\n\nOn July 24, data from cryptocurrency analysis firm CoinGecko showed that ZBG.com was the first trading platform with 820% return on IEO investment, while ZB.com was the second with 553% return on investment.\n\nOn July 20, Aurora, Vice President of ZB group and Founder of ZB Nexus, attended BTC123 Global Travel ChengDu Summit.\n\nOn July 2, ZB & BW, two of the world's top trading platforms, held the Asian Blockchain Summer Cocktail Party in Taipei, China. \n\nOn July 1, ZB Nexus announced the development plan of four business segments: index research, industry research report, digital asset rating and Tokenomics Lab.\n\nNowadays, ZB Group is the world's leading financial service provider of blockchain and digital assets. ZB Group operates a cluster of digital asset trading platforms, crypto wallet, investment funds, research institutions and other comprehensive businesses. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, it has operations in the United States, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Dubai and Malta.\n\nZB.com is the world's leading digital asset trading platform. Since its establishment in 2013, it has provided digital asset trading services to more than 6 million people around the world. It has a history of safe operation for more than 6 years, with an average daily turnover of more than $3 billion. Adhering to the globalization strategy, ZB Group also operates the global innovative cryptocurrency trading platform ZBG.com, the world's first mining pool-based trading platform BW.com, as well as several trading platforms such as ZBM, ZBX, BitHi and XT.\n\nZB Nexus is committed to building an integrated blockchain research system and a top industry think tank to achieve a panoramic perspective of the blockchain industry. Relying on the industry research report, digital asset rating, index research and general securities economic laboratory, ZB Nexus will create value through research and promote the application of blockchain industry.\n\nZB Group has also set up ZB Labs, ZB Capital, ZB research institute (ZBRC) and other comprehensive business layout, from Capital, technology, talent and other aspects to support the upstream and downstream of independent blockchain projects of the industrial chain, to provide leadership and a more stable environment for the development of blockchain.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open-source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "body": "Hello, \n\nWe have contacted you on Twitter to verify the authorship of your Steemit blog. We would be grateful if you could respond to us via Twitter, please. \n\nhttps://twitter.com/steemcleaners/status/1178404014809059331\n\nPlease note I am a volunteer that works to ensure that plagiarised content does not get rewarded. I have no way to remove any content from steemit.com.\n\nThank you",
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      "body": "Hello, \n\nWe have contacted you on Twitter to verify the authorship of your Steemit blog. We would be grateful if you could respond to us via Twitter, please. \n\nhttps://twitter.com/steemcleaners/status/1178404014809059331\n\nPlease note I am a volunteer that works to ensure that plagiarised content does not get rewarded. I have no way to remove any content from steemit.com.\n\nThank you",
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      "body": "Hello,\n\nThis is Sariel from Steemit's \"Steemcleaners\" team.\nSomeone using your name has been posting and monetizing your content on Steemit blogging platform:\n\nhttps://steemit.com/@zb-group\n\nCould you please confirm if you are the author of that blog.\n\nThank you",
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      "body": "To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.\n[![](https://s18.postimg.org/51o0kpijd/play200x46.png)](http://ec2-52-72-169-104.compute-1.amazonaws.com/zb-group__bakkt-futures-and-bitcoin.mp3)\nBrought to you by [@tts](https://steemit.com/tts/@tts/introduction). If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.",
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      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "bakkt-futures-and-bitcoin",
      "title": "Bakkt, Futures, and Bitcoin",
      "body": "![微信图片_20190929164528.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWoGTL1QSq2kh1CjRRiuJymJ3ysEeXiPJ68Ri4x5Sz5bw/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20190929164528.jpg)\n\nEveryone is excited for Bakkt, the exchange launched by the Intercontinental Exchange, or the group behind the NYSE. Many were pleased with the initial announcement as it showed that bitcoin had come quite far since its early days.\nBitcoin started in obscurity with conversations between Satoshi Nakamoto and others who were present on an email list. It then slowly grew in stature over the years as it climbed in value. \nOfficially being embraced by Wall Street meant that bitcoin had grown up and was ready to join the ranks of the Wall Street elite, joining commodities and others that have futures contracts.\nBitcoin wouldn't just be associated with libertarians, Silk Road, Silicon Valley Moguls, and other participants, it would now be present in more ways than one. In fact, its anticipation only grew further as the company pushed back its release dates several times, increasing overall excitement.\nBut instead of fireworks, the cryptocurrency community saw a dud.\nBakkt was supposed to be a pretty big deal, but the results since its launch were subpar.\nLet's find out a little bit more about Bakkt, about futures and what it is all about today.\n\nIntercontinental Exchange Deploys Bakkt To Little Investor Appetite.\n\nBakkt is a signal of a particular stage of maturity in the cryptocurrency sector. The firm doesn't want to be just an exchange but intends to offer something more. It wants to bring about solutions to help take cryptocurrencies mainstream, allowing individuals to trade and utilize cryptocurrencies to make everyday purchases for all parties.\nA Bakkt launch proved several things to different people.\nThe first point was that of perception and reality. Bakkt proved that bitcoin crossed over a particular psychological line.\nBitcoin is not just for a specific group of people now, it's not some esoteric currency known to a niche group of technologists, cypherpunks, and those in the know. The leading digital asset has crossed over into mainstream media in a big way, is supported by institutions such as Fidelity, E-Toro, Robinhood, SoFi, and others. \nFirms such as Overstock created an entire crypto division called the Medici Ventures to facilitate its bitcoin and blockchain ambitions. \nSquare, a fintech firm, deployed bitcoin trading in late 2017. The company recently launched its crypto-focused division to facilitate the growth of open-source principles, innovation, and great design in the cryptocurrency universe.\nPopular books such as Digital Gold and Bitcoin Billionaires allowed bitcoin to enter into pockets of popular culture.\nBut having an association with the Intercontinental Exchange, a fully regulated and respected entity was still a pretty big deal. It was supposed to signal to traders and investors to come into the bitcoin waters and to speculate with the currency. Bakkt was supposed to show them that everything was fine, and they didn't need to shy away from this digital asset.\nBakkt also proved that bitcoin could be regulated in different aspects and that investors could comfortably invest with a reputable and credible exchange if they chose to do so.\nFurther, Bakkt wouldn't settle futures contracts in dollars, and it would do so in bitcoin. It would facilitate physically deliverable bitcoin futures contracts, opening up a new avenue for bitcoin traders. \nThis is what made Bakkt so special. \nIt wouldn't just provide bitcoin futures in USD like the CME Group, it would take it one step further and physically settle these contracts in bitcoins, traders would receive bitcoin at the end of their future contracts.\nFutures contracts are even more exciting because it shows that bitcoin-related financial products are also maturing. Futures contracts are usually seen in soybeans, oil, corn, and other goods. \nThese contracts, or binding obligations that two parties enter into to divest or acquire a commodity at one specific price over a certain narrow timeframe, allows investors hedge their bets and speculate in additional ways.\nThe regulated entity, Bakkt, notes that it would provide investors with the ability to speculate in futures monthly or daily.\nAdditionally, the emerging business even provides insurance on bitcoin stored with it.\nFinally, the company is also supposed to serve as another steppingstone to welcome the inevitable institutional herd of money managers and financiers.\nDespite these different options and additions, it didn't release to great fanfare.\nAlas, it seems that investors are still nervous about dabbling in bitcoin futures.\n\nThe Status of Bakkt Trades\n\nA few traders executed contracts on launch day at a price range above $10,000. Bitcoin's price decreased to the $ 9,000's and then increased slightly. \nBakkts’ order book processed two daily futures and more than 70 monthly futures contracts. Trades only took place after quite some time, and reports note it took more than 16 hours for investors to begin trade execution.\nThe operators of this platform aren't phased by the first day of trading. They still see that this is a milestone and helps to pave the way for further retail investor interest as well as potential institutional engagement.\nA representative stated:\n\n\"Bakkt is really designed for the institutional trader. So, this is a futures contract. That said, we expect this futures contract to trade through retail brokerages as well, so retail customers can trade this contract.\"\n\nRepresentatives of Bakkt also note that it might help in serving as a price discovery tool, helping to make this commodity more market efficient.\nNo-Risk No Futures\nBut it is easier to find value in hedging when there's significant volatility. Bitcoin has been trading in the $10,000 range for several months, and it seems that not many people are interested in hedging and making bets on the future if bitcoin acts similar to a blue-chip stock.\nVolatility might not be present right now, but bitcoin and volatility have had a strong history, as such, volatility is likely to make an appearance soon.\n\nThe ZB Take\n\nThe exchange accomplished a great deal over the past two years. Bakkt aims to provide solutions that allow for regulated trading, insured storage, and seamless ways to spend digital assets. It shows that more established industry veterans are interested in adding value, building out infrastructure, and contributing to the growing enterprise of blockchain, and cryptocurrency ecosystem.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "title": "",
      "body": "To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.\n[![](https://s18.postimg.org/51o0kpijd/play200x46.png)](http://ec2-52-72-169-104.compute-1.amazonaws.com/zb-group__wells-fargo-innovations-in-banking-to-compete-with-fintech.mp3)\nBrought to you by [@tts](https://steemit.com/tts/@tts/introduction). If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.",
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      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "wells-fargo-innovations-in-banking-to-compete-with-fintech",
      "title": "Wells Fargo Innovations in Banking to Compete with Fintech",
      "body": "![微信图片_20190925101256.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQme64kBrydvYVXDUBguusdELWL4PfSR2H7kqkKfgtBrra1/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20190925101256.jpg)\n\nTraditional banking typically stays relatively quiet on fintech developments. We see emerging fintech startups like Square and Stripe speed ahead in providing capital to emerging businesses, simplify payment processes, and provide better user experiences in sending money in a peer to peer manner. \nBanking giants may not feel the need to move quickly due to their many advantages. But fintechs aren't chopped liver either. While they may have been niche at first, they've changed up and now are becoming part of the majority. More fintech startups are stepping to tackle each aspect of banking. \nHere are just a few of these examples:\n\nSquare\n\nSquare serves merchants and consumers.\n \nFor Merchants\n\nThe fintech startup provides simple card readers that allow anyone to connect and process credit card payments from their phones. It recently rolled out Square Capital to lend to small and growing businesses, addressing the small business capital crunch. Finally, it meets merchants where they're at and helps to set up e-commerce solutions (from websites to simple payment processing).\n\nFor Consumers\n\nSquare brings simple and intuitive interfaces for users to accept and send payments quickly and easily. Cash App lets users accept direct deposits and payments right to their Square Cash app account, making banking simple. Square Cash even comes with a debit card that provides Cashback on select purchases across different categories.\nThe firm rolled out bitcoin trading in 2017 and scaled it further in 2018.\nThe only thing it doesn't provide is nominal interest (0.05% or less) on Cash held in Cash App accounts.\nIt is testing out potential zero commission trades to bring about brokerage services, providing a full end-to-end platform its consumers. From value storage to acceptance of payments, to eventual equities trading, Square aims to do it all.\nSquare, Inc. is a public company and sees bullish sentiment, for the most part, portraying the significance and growth of fintechs.\n\nStripe\n\nStripe is another payment processing company that has found great value in entering the sector and providing compelling services to its many different merchants. The entity conducts seamless online credit card processing and allows its customers to drill down into the data by leveraging its open application programming interface to create tailored e-commerce solutions. \nCustomers appreciate the simple stripe API for online-only businesses and restaurants that seek to provide their customers with streamlined experiences. Stripe catered to a key demographic, developers and helped them utilize Stripe to serve customer payment processing needs.\nStripe recently raised $250 million at a $35 billion pre-money valuation; as such, the company is a pretty big deal in the fintech world and will likely prepare for an initial public offering soon.\n\nFintechs Are Here To Stay\n\nUp and coming payment startups are not just for millennials, generations Y or Generation Z, it's becoming a strong contender for all demographics.\nThe rise of applications such as Robinhood, Acorns, M1 Finance, Kabbage, SoFi, Lending Club, C2FO, Creditas, Greensill, PayTM, and Oaktree are just a few more examples of how fintech is changing the face of traditional finance.\nIt is in this current context that Wells Fargo steps in and hopes to disrupt one growing segment of money transfers.\n\nWells Fargo Steps Up Blockchain Efforts To Improve Its Cross-Border Money Transfers\n\nThe banking titan has notably stated its blockchain-based initiative for cross border money transfers works at a faster rate than the SWIFT system.\nThis, if true, is a pretty big deal. \nWhy? SWIFT is used by more than 10,000 financial entities across the world to conduct transfers.\nIts payments processing system, Wells Fargo Digital Cash taps into R3's Corda Enterprise technology to conduct a portion of the transfer process.\n\"When we move money across the world and we need to exchange currencies, we have to go through third parties such as SWIFT and other banks,\" noted Lisa Frazier, head of the Innovation Group at Wells Fargo. \n\n\"That's a long process, and every time there's a connection with external parties, it takes time and energy and effort.\"\n\nWells Fargo notes that entities would see substantial improvements if they were to use its digital cash system.\n Digital Cash should extend its capabilities, providing it with one key improvement, moving funds to more than 15 hours a day, a marked improvement from where it's at today, a mere six hours of fund transfer time. It wouldn't have to rely on platforms like SWIFT, it couldn't simply use its internal system to conduct cross border payments transfers at a higher volume per day. \nSWIFT is the go-to messaging platform for international and cross border payments, but improvements such as this one could upend its hold on the industry.\nWells Fargo aims to test the program and deploy it on a small scale by next year. Additionally, Wells Fargo notes that it will hold reserves to match its digital Cash. The company aims to distribute digital cash tokens and create stablecoins and its digital wallets.\nCross border payments are a massive industry, and significant improvements would undoubtedly impact a high number of people.\n\nA Solid Response to JP Morgan, Fintech Startups and SWIFT\n\nWe haven't heard too much about movements from Wells Fargo within the blockchain sector, but this recent move would surely make a remarkable impact if deployed correctly. JP Morgan launched several initiatives with its ties to Quorum, the permissioned Ethereum blockchain, its announcement of the JPM Coin, and other partnerships with blockchain-oriented companies that issues bonds or other assets on blockchains.\nFurther, JP Morgan is not the only bank leading the charge in implementing digital assets. Signature Bank and True Digital, has created Signet, bringing more than 90 clients onto its platform.\nWells Fargo notes that it has tested blockchain projects with other firms and has tapped into distributed ledger technology within its firm to improve internal processes.\nThe company sees substantial potential in using blockchain technology to reduce friction and improve customer experience in sending cross border payments. Improving their book transfer process will surely add value to the firm and its many consumers.\nInterestingly, Ripple Labs, with its XRP token, exists to act as a better competitor to SWIFT. The firm has partnered with many different banks and institutions across the world in implementing DLT products but still sees push back on utilizing its digital token, XRP in systems.\nMeanwhile, SWIFT is also working with R3 Corda to improve its system and improve payment settlement.\nWells Fargo aims to keep its solution internal and tied to its networks. \nIf Wells Fargo wants to keep its innovations in house, players like Ripple still have the potential to work in other financial firms to improve internal and cross border transfer processes.\n\nThe ZB Take\n\nTraditional banking entities face disruption from cryptocurrencies and other fintech firms. DLT and blockchain technology is increasing in use as more firms seek to stay competitive and survive in the face of technological chaos.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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      "parent_permlink": "blockchain",
      "author": "zb-group",
      "permlink": "athletes-and-digital-asset-investments",
      "title": "Athletes and Digital Asset Investments",
      "body": "![微信图片_20190924105532.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSXsXkqDKfi4b3XLfFU43J7yx4Be3wLzWryfkuUZfthjB/%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87_20190924105532.jpg)\n\nAthletes are respected by many across the world for their hard work, their endurance, and their ability to push the boundaries in sports and other aspects of life. People idolize athletes for many different reasons, and athletes have a profound impact on how people live each day and go about their experiences. \n\nThe fact is that it is simple to view athletic prowess on television and be immersed in the game than comprehending esoteric text from an intellectual. Satoshi's whitepaper might be fascinating after several reads but what's more compelling than a dunk by Shaq or three-pointer by Dirk or Jordan? There's more simplicity and much less complexity in the game. \n\nIt is easier to get involved in the physical nature of sports and raw power and emotion invested in activities that might range from soccer to basketball or football. Sports also allow us to get involved by watching games with friends and family, playing our pickup games or in recreational leagues, and by acting as a manager and playing fantasy sports. Further, we can get as involved in sports as we want to be by following the passing yards, or the running yards, measuring performance and ability to move the overall team forward.\n\nWe respect people like Marshawn Lynch \"Beast Mode\" because of how they overcome obstacles and use their running styles and consistent abilities to be the greatest in their careers. We follow athletes and live vicariously through them, feeling a jolt of excitement when our favorite athletes score a touchdown or craftily kick a soccer ball into a net. \n\nIt's not about the simple act of passing the ball or stealing it from another player that enthralls us; it's the overall strategy, the fact that each minute counts and that it all adds up to a potential championship.\n\nOf course, the audience at home may be invested in the game in more ways than one, emotionally as well as financially. Traditional betting, predictions, and other platforms allow individuals to invest in the outcome of an event in some form or fashion. But for some, these traditional methods of investing in sports might not be enough, and for those, there are new options.\n\nAn audience might have more to gain from sports besides pure joy and money from small bets, and they might be able to invest in their favorite players with new types of contracts tied to bitcoin or tokenization in general.\n\nWe'll take a look at some of these different forms of contracts and what players have had to say on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.\n\nSpencer Dinwiddie and the Bitcoin Contract\n\nSpencer Dinwiddie is a point guard who plays for the Brooklyn Nets, a National Basketball Association member. He's not just a solid point guard but also plays other roles in life, such as being an entrepreneur and investigating different ways to enhance his life and career.\n\nThe basketball player just recently tweeted \"BTC\" teasing a potential foray into the bitcoin sector in some form or fashion. Later, publications noted that Nets' point guard is investigating a way to turn a portion of his $34 million-dollar contract into another offering that provides him with the ability to essentially immediately forward a lump sum of his total contract into his bank account.\n\nThe deal would work as such; Spencer Dinwiddie would conduct a variation of an Income Sharing Agreement (ISA) and issue a personal bond. Typically, corporations sell bonds to raise money and conduct operations. The entity which issues bonds ask for money now and gives it back a little later on. It offers coupon payments (interest) regularly plus the original principal back after a set amount of time (1-10 years or more).\n\nPersonal bonds are a fascinating concept and have yet to occur within the NBA. Securitization of NBA contracts has yet to happen, and if Spencer Dinwiddie accomplishes this offering, it will be the first in NBA history. What's even more fascinating about this offering is that it would occur in a fashion where he would use a digital coin that should guarantee the holder of the coin rights to his future income.\n\nSpencer would tap into such an offering to get more cash upfront to invest it into ventures and bring about more opportunities for increased cash flows. Dinwiddie and other players are looking at more ways to evaluate their situations and utilize their present earnings to create safety nets that will last, allowing them more financial freedom.\n\nInformation is still needed when the contract will be released and on who can invest. We do not yet know if it is just for accredited investors or for the general population. We also do not have all of the details on how much the initial buy-in is for this agreement and the potential payment outlook. \n\nFurther, a prospective investor would also need to know the minimum guarantee and overall rights before investing in such a deal. If this deal takes place, it will likely be as a security token. If so, then it might be restricted to accredited investors and might involve entities such as tZERO, Galaxy Digital, and others that seek to bring about more security tokens.\n\nKeep in mind that this is not exactly the first of its kind from a fundamental standpoint in sports. A company by the name of Fantex, launched in 2013, to allow investors trade shares tied to the future income of athletes. Famous football athletes from Arian Foster to Vernon Davis engaged with the firm and deals occurred from October 2013 to April 2016.\n\nBut as reported by Fortune, Fantex has closed its platform, but dividends for a few of the players still flow to investors. The firm closed its platform due to a lack of investor trading appetite. It shows that fans have an interest in holding these kinds of investments but might not have as much interest in trading them regularly.\n\nThe ZB Take\n\nThe blockchain allows for new types of interactions between different entities like athletes and fans or celebrities at large and their future income. We know that these interactions are not entirely new. It is enhanced through the power of distribution, access, reach, cost minimization, and other features brought about by compelling technological advancements through the blockchain.\n\n![zblogo.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcaKpNxrSDniRPqVrJRFW6kvgBYjtXfwonCLMWySbMdEv/zblogo.png)\n\nAbout ZB Group\n\nZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.\nZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank, as well as exchange brands ZBM, ZBX and Korea’s Bithi.\nIndustry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open source their reports and analysis for the public.\n\nLearn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com.",
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