After months of hype around the launch, the first Kusama parachain auction went off without a hitch. The now active parachain has already begun successfully processing transactions, paving the way for future slot auctions.

Kusama’s First Functional Parachain Goes Live

The anticipation surrounding Polkadot parachains over the last few months has at last been realized following the first successful parachain auction on the Kusama canary network. This development marks the first time that a 100% decentralized, heterogeneously-sharded blockchain has been launched.

The parachain, awarded to “Shell,” has since been upgraded to “Statemine,” a common-good parachain with several different utilities and functionalities. Other parachains will leverage Statemine’s utility thanks to the XCM protocol, which also allows KSM tokens to move between Kusama and the parachain seamlessly.

With this proof of concept in place and operational, “Parachain Slot Auctions” can commence, but they will require the input of the KSM community. The selection of parachains for the Kusama relay-chain revolves around staking the greatest amount of KSM tokens for as long as possible. Once the Kusama Council and KSM holders decide on the auction timeline, the next round of auctions can commence.

Accordingly, the Polkadot team has recommended the following auction timeline for the council and KSM stakeholders to approve:

• June 15th, 2021 – 12:00 CEST (Central European Summer Time): Opening of bidding for first Kusama parachain slot auction.
• June 17th, 2021 – 09:00 CEST: End period of first Kusama parachain slot auction commences. Any bids made prior to this date will be counted in the final result, with any bids made after this date and time facing a lower likelihood of consideration in the final results on a linear-reducing basis.
• June 22nd, 2021 – 09:00 CEST: Bidding officially ends for the first Kusama parachain slot auction. No bids will be accepted for this auction beyond this point.
• June 22nd, 2021 – 11:00 CEST: The first parachain slot auction winner will be announced based on the highest bidder over the previous five days.
• June 22nd, 2021 – 12:00 CEST: The second parachain slot auction will begin.
• June 29th, 2021 – 12:00 CEST: The third parachain slot auction will begin.
• July 6th, 2021 – 12:00 CEST: The fourth parachain slot auction will begin.
• July 13th, 2021 – 12:00 CEST: The fifth parachain slot auction will begin.

What do you think about the first Kusama parachain auction? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

A few Kenyan banks have started sending out warning alerts to clients engaged in cryptocurrency trading to be wary of the associated risks. These warnings have reportedly been sent to clients who have “used their credit and debit cards to buy cryptocurrencies on crypto exchanges.”

Crypto Trading Risks

According to a local report, one of the banks, NCBA Bank Kenya is now advising clients “not to buy, hold, or trade in virtual currencies.” In a warning sent to clients who have previously transacted on crypto exchanges, NCBA Bank said:

In accordance with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)’s circular No. 14 of 2015, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are not legal tender in Kenya. No protection, therefore, exists for you as our customer in the event that the platform holding or trading in cryptocurrency fails or goes out of business.

Throughout the emailed alert, the NCBA Bank repeats the common lines that are used by central banks when attempting to discredit digital currencies. For instance, NCBA Bank says “transactions in virtual currencies are largely untraceable, making them susceptible to abuse by criminals.”

Unregulated Crypto Exchanges

Furthermore, the bank also warns that cryptocurrencies are traded on exchange platforms which “are not properly regulated” and that consumers risk losing all their funds in the “event these exchanges collapse or close business.” While NCBA Bank clients can still transact with cryptocurrency exchanges, the bank still warns that it does not “approve cryptocurrency transactions.”

In the meantime, the report speculates that the banks’ latest action could mean that the CBK still frowns on cryptocurrencies. For example, in 2015 the central bank issued an advisory asking Kenyans to desist from cryptocurrency transactions. Similarly, in April 2018, the CBK cautioned banks against dealing in cryptocurrencies.

However, despite these warnings, crypto trading continues to grow in Kenya and some reports say the country now has the second-largest peer-to-peer traded volumes on the continent. It remains to be seen if acts by Kenyan banks are going to slow down crypto traded volumes.

What are your thoughts on Kenyan banks’ decision to warn clients against dealing with crypto exchanges? You can share your views in the comments section below.

On Monday, the San Francisco-based retirement plan provider for small to medium-sized businesses, Forusall, announced the launch of an alternative 401(k) plan that offers in-plan cryptocurrency access. According to the alt 401(k) investment option, Forusall is working with Coinbase Institutional as its retirement plan partner.

Forusall and Coinbase’s Institutional Arm Offer Crypto-Infused Alt 401(k) Plan

Forusall, the “one-click” retirement provider founded in 2012, has revealed that digital currency investors can now leverage the company’s alt 401(k) investment option in order to obtain tax-advantages from crypto asset investments.

The company Forusall claims to manage plans for over 600,000 employees from companies like Target, Coca Cola and Citigroup. By November 2019, Forusall was advising employees with over $1 billion in assets. The company’s focus on crypto assets applies to the alt 401(k) product, which can also leverage environmentally focused funds, mutual funds, and real estate.

“For too long, too many Americans haven’t had the same access to alternative investments that wealthy and professional investors have had. Our mission is to provide every American with the tools necessary to build a brighter financial future, and making these alternatives more readily available is a key step towards that,” Jeff Schulte, CEO of Forusall explained during the announcement.

The company’s website also mentions growing crypto asset interest and highlights that 60% of institutional investors believe in investing in crypto assets. “6 out of 10 institutional investors feel that digital assets have a place in their portfolio and 36% are already using it,” the Forusall website notes.

Alt 401(k) Plan Provides 5% Allocation With a Choice Between 50 Crypto Assets

Forusall’s announcement on Monday details that employers can choose to add the crypto option and employees can direct up to 5% of their portfolio into digital assets. The plan works with Coinbase Institutional, so employees that leverage Forusall’s alt 401(k) investment option can choose from 50 unique crypto assets. The retirement plan provider further said that the company monitors the crypto allocations and employees can always rebalance their portfolios into different assets.

The lead at Coinbase’s institutional crypto arm, Brett Tejpaul, explained during Forusall’s alt 401(k) announcement that expanding digital assets to mainstream retirement plans will broaden the playing field.

“When we created our institutional platform, our initial focus was making cryptocurrency accessible to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals,” Tejpaul remarked. “The next evolution is to broaden our reach and we are thrilled to be working with Forusall, the leading 401k technology platform, to expand access to cryptocurrency through 401ks.”

The alt 401(k) option from Forusall is not the first retirement plan to add crypto assets into the fray. The U.S.-based Digital Asset Investment Management (Daim) revealed in November 2020, that it offers a company-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan. Daim’s product allocates up to 10% in bitcoin via the institutional-grade custodian Gemini Trust. The firm New York-based Gemini also works with Bitwage to give employees the ability to invest their pre-tax and post-tax dollars in bitcoin (BTC).

What do you think about Forusall’s alt 401(k) investment option that allows a 5% allocation into cryptocurrencies via Coinbase? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Investment scams have been by far the most common type in Australia recently, a new report by the country’s consumer watchdog has revealed. And while a growing number of Australians fall victim to fraudulent schemes involving cryptocurrency, bank transfers remain the scammers’ favorite way to extract money.

Australians Lose $670 Million to Scammers in a Year, Including $75 Million Through Bank Transfers

Residents of Australia have lost $851 million Australian dollars (almost $670 million) in over 444,000 reported scam cases in 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced in its latest Targeting Scams report published Monday.

The review compiles data from the commission’s own Scamwatch website, Australia’s cybersecurity center Reportcyber, other government agencies, and about a dozen banks and financial intermediaries. ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard commented:

Last year, scam victims reported the biggest losses we have seen, but worse, we expect the real losses will be even higher, as many people don’t report these scams.

The agency has registered increasing financial losses to investment scams in 2020 with the total figure reaching a record-high $328 million Australian dollars ($254 million). Reports to Scamwatch increased by 63% to 7,295 and losses rose to $66 million Australian dollars, or over $51 million. Almost 34% of people who reported an investment scam lost money. The average loss was $26,713 Australian dollars, or around $20,000.

Bank transfers remained the most common payment method used by scammers, with over $97 million Australian dollars ($75 million) lost through such transfers, a 40% increase over the previous year. According to the ACCC, bitcoin (BTC) was the second-highest payment method, with $26.5 million in losses, or a little over $20.5 million. Adding these to the “Other Payments” category, including cryptocurrencies such as ethereum (ETH) and apps like Zelle or Skrill, brings the total to $50 million Australian dollars (almost $39 million).

‘Romance Baiting’ Scams Lure Young Australians to Fraudulent Crypto Investment Schemes

Despite still lagging behind traditional payment methods, bitcoin and other crypto payments are becoming more common. “The perceived anonymity of unregulated cryptocurrencies can impede the ability to recover funds or identify scammers. It is likely that we will see increased use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the years to come,” the ACCC report remarks.

Amid an ongoing Covid crisis, health and medical scams increased last year more than 20 fold compared to 2019, accounting for over $3.9 million Australian dollars ($3 million) in losses. But in 2020, Scamwatch identified a new type of scam, which it refers to as “romance baiting,” often associated with crypto payments. Perpetrators are targeting social groups which have not previously suffered heavy losses.

Victims are typically contacted on a dating app, redirected elsewhere and lured into an investment scam involving cryptocurrency, the ACCC explained. Young Australians, aged between 25 and 34 years, have lost the most money to romance baiting last year – $7.3 million Australian dollars ($5.66 million). In total, citizens filed 414 reports of such scams, with losses reaching $15.4 million Australian dollars (almost $12 million). Crypto scams are by far the most common in this genre (57%), the commission noted.

Other scams targeting potential crypto investors have employed fake celebrity endorsements. The face, name, and personal characteristics of a well-known public figure are usually used to sell a product or a service. This product could be health-related or linked to an investment strategy encouraging people to invest in various cryptocurrency schemes. The report details that victims are offered an opportunity to collect high returns in a rather short period of time from a trading or investment platform that suddenly disappears.

What are your thoughts on the findings in the ACCC report? Let us know in the comments section below.

Switzerland-based 21shares announced it’s going to offer its crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) to institutional investors in Britain. The platform said the aim is to provide U.K. investors with exposure to bitcoin without the need to deal with crypto custody and security.

New Bitcoin ETP to Be Offered on London-Based Aquis Exchange

The 21shares bitcoin ETP (ABTC) will be made available through a partnership with GHCO, a leading market maker and liquidity provider that specializes in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It will be listed on Aquis Exchange, a multilateral trading platform based in London and Paris. The exchange facilitates stock trading across 15 European markets.

The ETP is engineered like an ETF and will be centrally cleared, 21shares detailed in a press release on Monday. As ETPs trade on exchanges similarly to stocks, institutional investors in the U.K. will be facing a regulated framework and structure to which they are already accustomed to. The Swiss company further elaborated:

The ETP has been designed to provide institutional U.K. investors with secure and cost-effective exposure to Bitcoin without the associated Bitcoin custody and security challenges.

UK Launch to Follow Debut on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam

The bitcoin ETP will be offered in the United Kingdom this summer, following successful launches on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam on June 1, 21shares revealed. One unit of the ETP represents exposure to roughly 0.00035 bitcoin entitlement, the crypto firm added. Its chief executive Hany Rashwan was quoted stating:

This is the right time to bring our successful crypto ETP to the institutional U.K. market. Our strong track record and existing institutional reach across continental Europe means that investors can confidently gain exposure to Bitcoin via a liquid and conventional investment product.

Institutional investors will have access to ample liquidity provided by GHCO which is an authorized participant in the offering.

“GHCO has been actively trading ETFs and recently started quoting crypto ETPs. It has an unrivaled track record in quoting the tightest spreads, a key demand for institutional investors,” 21shares pointed out.

Zug-headquartered 21shares is a leading crypto ETP issuer with over $1.5 billion in assets under management across 14 ETPs listed on several European stock exchanges. The company has already offered cryptocurrency ETPs for institutional investors in Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria, and the Netherlands. In March, 21shares launched bitcoin cash (BCH) and ethereum (ETH) ETPs on Deutsche Boerse’s Xetra.

What’s your opinion about cryptocurrency exchange-traded products? Tell us in the comments section below.