Analysis Today TheBitTimes.com

“A new alliance between Circle and Coins.ph is set to transform the financial landscape for 18 million users, promising them swifter, more affordable, and readily accessible remittance options. Circle, the issuer of the United States dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, is significantly expanding its footprint in the Philippines through this exciting local partnership. On the 10th of October, Circle unveiled a strategic collaboration with Coins.ph, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet provider in the Philippines. This dynamic partnership between Coins.ph and Circle is poised to revolutionize cross-border transactions and payments, making them faster and more cost-effective for the Filipino people, as both companies emphatically stated. In 2022, the average cost of sending a $200 payment to Asia was 5.7%, according to World Bank data. In the Philippines, remittances pose an even more intricate challenge, especially for the unbanked, constituting 44% of the adult popul...

The Philippine SEC is now collaborating with the U.S. SEC and the Asian Development Bank to better combat crypto-related crime. The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has teamed up with its United States counterpart, as well as the Asian Development Bank to crack down on criminals using cryptocurrencies to commit fraud and other financial crimes. According to a Sept. 15 press release, the three institutions conducted an International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Investigation and Enforcement Training workshop last month, in a bid to upskill their combined fraud and scam prevention toolkit when it came to crypto -related crimes. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Philippines collaborating with international organizations to further its mandate of protecting the public from securities fraud and other forms of investment scams. Read more at https://t.co/TzdieiKRSp#SECupdates pic.twitter.com/3ANDH9yrwC — SEC Philippines (@SEC_Philippines) Se...

Bitcoin Lightning Network adoption receives a boost with the launch of USD payments and decentralized social media platform, Nostr. Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN) capacity recently surpassed an all-time high of 5,000 BTC.  The Lightning Network is a neutral protocol built on top of Bitcoin and currently it does not have a “native” token attached to it like many decentralized finance platforms. Although the Lightning Network’s total liquidity is less than 0.5% of the ETH in DeFi contracts, the uptrend in Bitcoin’s LN capacity versus a downtrend in the amount of ETH locked in smart contracts is encouraging for LN development. Total ETH locked in DeFi contracts (top) and total BTC in Lightning Network channels (bottom). Source: DefiLlama While the liquidity on the LN has been rising consistently, the number of channels on the peer-to-peer network dropped drastically in November following the FTX collapse. It could be due to an exodus of miners operating LN nodes besides running mining ...