Day: October 8, 2024

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Samsung Pay has expanded its crypto payments capabilities by partnering with Alchemy Pay, allowing users to transact with cryptocurrency at millions of merchants globally. This new partnership enables over 500,000 users of Alchemy Pay’s virtual cards to link their cards with Samsung Pay for seamless crypto payments both online and in-store. With Samsung Pay available in 24 countries across regions like Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, this integration broadens access to crypto payments for a growing number of users worldwide.

A Major Step for Crypto Payments

The collaboration between Samsung Pay and Alchemy Pay marks a significant development in the growing adoption of crypto payments. Samsung Pay users can now leverage their digital assets for everyday transactions, from purchasing items online to shopping at physical stores. According to Alchemy Pay’s announcement on October 7, this integration is designed to be user-friendly, enabling cardholders to link their virtual cards to Samsung Pay by following a few simple steps within the app.

This partnership represents Samsung Pay’s second venture into the crypto space. The company first made waves in May 2020 when it collaborated with Swipe to enable the use of Visa Debit cards for crypto payments. With the addition of Alchemy Pay, Samsung Pay is strengthening its presence in the cryptocurrency payment sector, bringing digital currencies closer to mainstream adoption.

Alchemy Pay’s Expanding Ecosystem

While this integration with Samsung Pay is a notable advancement, Alchemy Pay has been making strides of its own. Earlier this year, the crypto payment processor expanded its reach by incorporating Google Pay into its virtual card service. It also integrated Apple Pay support for fiat-to-crypto purchases in January 2023. These moves are part of Alchemy Pay’s ongoing strategy to bridge the gap between cryptocurrency and traditional payment platforms, offering users more flexibility in how they manage and spend their digital assets.

With Samsung Pay now on board, Alchemy Pay’s virtual cardholders can use their crypto for payments across millions of global merchants, including popular platforms like Amazon, Netflix, eBay, and Apple Store. As Alchemy Pay continues to innovate and expand its services, it is becoming a crucial player in the drive to make crypto payments more accessible to everyday consumers.

The Growing Demand for Crypto Payments

Recent data highlights the increasing interest in using cryptocurrency for payments. According to an EY-Parthenon survey, 29% of crypto retail investors now use digital assets for payments, a 6% increase from 2022. The most popular use cases include online shopping, with 57% of respondents using crypto for e-commerce transactions, and paying friends and family, which 49% of respondents cited.

Interestingly, accredited investors show a greater appetite for crypto payments compared to non-accredited investors. Between August 2023 and July 2024, 69% of accredited investors used digital assets for payments, while only 28% of non-accredited investors did so. These figures demonstrate that while crypto payments are gaining traction, there is still significant room for growth, especially among non-accredited investors.

What’s Next for Samsung Pay and Alchemy Pay?

As Samsung Pay and Alchemy Pay deepen their partnership, both companies have ambitious plans for the future. Alchemy Pay is working to integrate additional digital payment platforms and expand compatibility with major card networks, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. These developments will further streamline the process for users to make crypto payments with their virtual cards, making digital assets more versatile and practical for everyday use.

Looking ahead, this partnership positions Samsung Pay and Alchemy Pay at the forefront of the crypto payments revolution, creating more opportunities for users to engage with cryptocurrency in their daily lives. With both companies actively expanding their services, the adoption of cryptocurrency for retail and online payments is expected to continue its upward trajectory.

Conclusion

The partnership between Samsung Pay and Alchemy Pay is a pivotal moment in the evolution of crypto payments, making it easier for consumers to use digital assets for a wide range of transactions. As more companies integrate cryptocurrency into their payment systems, the future of payments is becoming increasingly digital, bringing cryptocurrencies closer to mainstream adoption. For users looking to seamlessly incorporate their crypto holdings into everyday purchases, the collaboration between Samsung Pay and Alchemy Pay is a step in the right direction.

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FTX, once a major player in the cryptocurrency exchange industry, has received court approval for a bankruptcy plan that aims to repay customers using up to $16.5 billion in recovered assets. This development comes after FTX’s dramatic collapse in 2022, which followed revelations that its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, had misappropriated customer funds. The FTX bankruptcy repayment plan is seen as a victory for creditors and customers who are eager to recover their losses.

Details of the Repayment Plan

The approved plan is structured around settlements with FTX customers, U.S. government agencies, and liquidators overseeing FTX’s operations outside the U.S. One of the key features of the plan is that customers who held $50,000 or less on the exchange will be repaid in full within 60 days of the plan’s effective date. In total, FTX expects to repay 98% of its customers.

FTX estimates that it will have between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion available to repay creditors, enough to cover at least 118% of the value in customer accounts as of November 2022, when the company filed for bankruptcy. The company has recovered cash and crypto assets through settlements, asset sales, and an extensive process of rebuilding its financial records.

U.S. Government Agencies Agree to Prioritize Customers

In a significant move, U.S. government agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Internal Revenue Service have agreed to let FTX prioritize customer repayment over other claims, such as fines or tax debts. This agreement ensures that customers receive the bulk of FTX’s remaining assets, rather than seeing their funds go toward penalties or legal settlements.

This decision was made possible by FTX’s ability to recover substantial amounts of money through the sale of various assets, including investments in technology companies like Anthropic, a prominent artificial intelligence startup. These sales contributed to the billions of dollars FTX has recovered since its collapse.

Customer Reactions: A Mixed Bag

While the FTX bankruptcy repayment plan has been met with relief by some, not all customers are satisfied. The plan calculates repayment based on the value of assets at the time of the bankruptcy filing in November 2022, which has caused frustration among customers. For example, the price of Bitcoin has risen from $16,000 in 2022 to over $63,000 in 2024, leading some to feel that their repayments do not reflect current cryptocurrency values.

David Adler, a lawyer representing a group of objecting creditors, pointed out that many customers are disappointed that they won’t benefit from the rebound in crypto prices since FTX’s collapse. Customers are expected to receive a percentage of their original deposits in fiat currency or assets, rather than the actual cryptocurrency they originally held.

FTX has defended its plan, stating that repurchasing billions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies would be “exorbitantly expensive.” Moreover, FTX’s financial adviser, Steve Coverick, testified that when FTX filed for bankruptcy, it held only 0.1% of the Bitcoin that customers believed they had deposited on the platform. As a result, returning crypto assets as-is is simply not feasible.

FTX’s Impact on the Crypto Industry

FTX’s collapse has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry. Once seen as a trailblazer in crypto exchanges, FTX’s downfall exposed the fragility of platforms that mix customer deposits with risky hedge fund bets. Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s founder, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of fraud and conspiracy. He has since appealed the decision, but the case remains a cautionary tale for crypto investors.

Despite the fallout, FTX’s bankruptcy repayment plan is being hailed as a model for handling complex Chapter 11 proceedings. U.S. Judge John Dorsey, who presided over the bankruptcy court hearings, described FTX’s plan as a success story in recovering significant funds for customers in a remarkably short time.

Looking Forward

As FTX moves forward with its bankruptcy plan, many in the crypto community will be watching closely. While the repayment structure is not without its critics, it represents a significant step toward resolving one of the largest crypto collapses in history. FTX’s ability to repay most of its customers in full offers some hope for stability in an industry that has been rife with volatility.

The FTX collapse underscores the importance of regulatory oversight and transparency in cryptocurrency exchanges. As the FTX bankruptcy repayment process unfolds, the lessons learned will likely influence future regulations and the way investors interact with crypto platforms moving forward.

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DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, shared his candid views on crypto compliance, sensible AI deployments, and new growth drivers at TOKEN2049. Sharing the main stage with panelists from other leading exchanges, Ben addressed the growing pains of mainstreaming exchanges, and how they are adapting to meet increasing regulatory requirements at the annual premier crypto event, attended by over 30,000 participants and amplifying leading voices in the blockchain and crypto economy.

Advance Compliance: A Necessary Luxury

“Compliance is not cheap, but the penalties are more expensive. And it comes with not just monetary but also other consequences,” Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit remarked.

Steering the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Ben Zhou admitted Bybit was on the same learning curve as other major exchanges.

“We are not the first ones, and we have the opportunities to learn and adapt the business,” he said about the rapid changes in the compliance landscape, acknowledging that all exchanges including Bybit are ramping up their compliance efforts.

Only a year ago, exchanges used to place an amount limit on compliance checks; but Bybit has been taking a prudent approach of standardizing compliance and safety checks on practically transaction of any amount, after witnessing “what had happened in the industry,” he disclosed.

Compliance overhead has increased accordingly. “The operations are getting a lot heavier with a lot more manpower,” he said, adding that third-party tools such as Chainalysis have been useful in improving due diligence and KYC, adding costs but also efficiency.

At the time of writing, a team of over 50 risk experts operate Bybit’s AI-enhanced risk engine alongside a growing legal and compliance function comprising compliance officers of various specialities and in-house counsel.

Ben also took pride in crypto‘s contribution to improving compliance practices and raised the bar to make it harder for rogue actors to bypass sanctions. “In our industry, we have revolutionized how compliance has been done. For instance, someone trying to access our platform from a sanctioned address would be identified within minutes and the address would be blocked. The industry is revolutionizing the old ways of doing things in compliance,” he said.  

Incorporating AI Tools and Finding Growth

Bybit takes a “slightly different approach” to AI and recognizes the gap between the native interfaces and users’ demands.

“We don’t like to use APIs because retail users don’t understand them. Instead, we think about the user experience when they interact with exchanges: we use AI to make it a little easier with automation,” he explains.

In the fast-moving world of crypto, users seek not Wikipedia-style explanations of a newly listed token, but hard data and community feedback. Bybit uses AI as a co-pilot to produce a timely summary to break down data points and guide users doing their research to analysis, project background, and social noise. “Basically we look at which part of the process is mundane, and try to streamline it,” he said of the way Bybit deploys AI.

Ben also revealed the geography of growth as crypto continues to serve as a driver for financial inclusion. He commented on the fast-growing TON ecosystem and play-to-earn games, drawing in diverse user groups from Africa, India to parts of Eastern Europe, mapping out a new trend of onboarding users from emerging economies.

Crypto offers an engaging way to empower these communities, he said, where traditional financial infrastructure may fall short for retail users.

Themed “Exchanges at the Helm: Driving Crypto from Niche to Mainstream”, the panel was moderated by Michael Casey, Chairman of the Decentralized AI Society featuring prominent speakers including Ben Zhou at Bybit, Gracy Chen at Bitget, Vivien Lin at BingX, Sonia Shaw at Coin W and Alicia Kao at KuCoin.

#Bybit / #TheCryptoArk / #TOKEN2049

About Bybit

Bybit is one of the world’s top three crypto exchanges by trading volume with 50 million users. Established in 2018, it offers a professional platform where crypto investors and traders can find an ultra-fast matching engine, 24/7 customer service, and multilingual community support. Bybit is a proud partner of Formula One’s reigning Constructors’ and Drivers’ champions: the Oracle Red Bull Racing team.

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