SOURCE : COIN TELEGRAPH
The withdrawal of funds from stocks and precious metals has coincided with the massive price increase of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It seems that investors have realized that Bitcoin is a more stable ‘store of value’ investment than gold.
CNBC has reported that the stock market has seen the largest withdrawal rate since 2004, with more than $30 bln being taken out of the markets over the past 10 weeks. The major withdrawal also included a huge abandoning of precious metals.
Precious metals at loss
Private client allocation to precious metals has seen a massive reduction, with portfolios holding 10 percent in 2013 being reduced to below two percent in recent weeks.
The precious metals investment decline has coincided with a removal of funds from the stock market overall, with investors choosing to pull back from the market, though the market continues to post gains. Concerns about current market levels and monetization policies may be fueling to flight.
Crypto-investment opportunities
Blockchain technology is producing new investment opportunities. Companies like LAToken and MyBit have developed methods for tokenizing investments, making it possible for large-scale investments to be purchased by smaller scale investors.
The decentralized platform of these companies makes it possible for investors to participate without the higher fees associated with traditional markets. LAToken has even produced a system where shares of Apple, Amazon and other blue chip stocks can be ‘tokenized’ and purchased in part by investors. CEO of LA Token Valentin Preobrazhenskiy says:
“We build a NASDAQ on Blockchain with a wider range of tradable assets, blurring the boundaries between crypto- and real economies, and offering our clients a dramatic reduction of listing costs, settlement time, and transaction costs.”
Oraclize, Digital Identity to Develop Financial Applications of Ethereum Blockchain
Oraclize has closed on €500,000 in their seed round led by Digital Identity SA, a growing firm delivering services for the Fintech industry.
The company believes that Blockchain technology opens many opportunities in a variety of areas, including Fintech and cryptocurrencies.
With its primary focus being on financial companies, cryptocurrency wallets, and decentralized exchanges, among others, Oraclize represents a strategic investment securing development of the layer on top of which these financial applications are built.
Natale Ferrara, director of Digital Identity SA, commented:
“Oraclize provides an infrastructure tool essential for Blockchain applications to grow and have a concrete impact. I believe that our investment in Oraclize will support the talented team with its activities and ultimately benefit the Blockchain ecosystem as a whole.”
In the Blockchain context, the company provides a safe data-transport-layer enabling decentralized applications (dapps). Since 2015, it has served over 200,000 requests on the Ethereum mainnet and several million on test nets, backing its claims with authenticity proofs based on a variety of cryptographic techniques.
It aims at developing Blockchain applications in order to overcome common limitations while minimizing additional trust lines. For this reason, the authenticity proofs rely on independent attestors, leveraging both software and hardware-enforced security technologies.
Thomas Bertani, CEO of Oraclize, comments:
“Since launching in March 2015, the Oraclize concept has evolved and reshaped according to the needs of the market. Today, Oraclize is the longest running Oracle service across a multitude of Blockchain platforms. Our activity goes beyond that, we have developed a powerful technology securing different kinds of processes. This funding will enable us in bringing our technology to the next level.”