Hello and Happy Holidays!
2020 has been a wild year for everyone all over the world and for some a year to forget. The covid-19 pandemic has been in the news every day since early March 2020 when the first cases were detected both inside and outside of China. In March we had no idea of the scale of the spread, infection potential and just how much it would shape our current world. While the financial markets to a turn for the worst as everyone buckled down for a cold bear market, the crypto markets continued to trade, grow in size and innovate.
Over 2020 there has been some major news, innovation and trends that have continued to push the space forward, if you're reading this email, you're one of the few that contribute to this space and help it move forward. Congratulations!.
Bitcoin is still the king.
Bitcoin was already making impressive gains following 2019 trends before COVID-19 hit globally. Since March BTC has rallied several times to not only break previous all-time highs but completely smash these levels and rally an additional 14% to over $28,000. Xmas came early to BTC investors and traders in 2020 (read more: https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-50-why-bitcoin-still-king)
Enterprise blockchain going mainstream.
Enterprise blockchain solutions such as JPMorgan's Quorum and R3Corda have made major advancements in onboarding clients onto their enterprise solutions to clear up back-office traffic, streamline processes, reconciliation and cross-department secure data sharing. More solutions like these will bring even more emphasis on data security and cost-saving in the future. (read more: https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-adoption-2021-going-mainstream-through-enterprise-use )
Central banks and digital currencies.
Central banks are quickly becoming interesting in blockchain tech and in issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). It's unknown yet whether these tokens would operate in tandem with traditional FIAT currencies or replace them altogether in a new digital world. (read more: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2020/october/central-banks-and-bis-publish-first-cbdc-report-laying-out-key-requirements )
coinpass.com Company Updates
In 2020, coinpass.com has come a long way in developing our platform, our community and our team. Our core vision has remained the same, "to blur the line between banking and crypto into a single digital layer" and offer the best service possible for our clients in the UK and beyond. Here are just some of the highlights for coinpass.com in 2020.
March 2020 - coinpass.com wins "Best UK Cryptocurrency Exchange Platform " from CITYAM.
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July 2020 - We launched our first podcast episode and have recorded 19 episodes to date with many crypto industry leaders from all over the UK and the globe.
Youtube Link: https://bit.ly/3hpS74j
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3hnSEn8
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/37UzRNu
Anchor.FM: https://anchor.fm/coinpass
October 2020 - coinpass.com goes mobile!
Launching a mobile app may be simple for a regular fintech company, but Apple and Google are yet to fully embrace crypto and creating a compliant, secure and feature-rich mobile app that followed our high level of security and quality testing took longer than originally anticipated.
We launched both Apple and Android at exactly the same time with much thoroughfare and support from our amazing community both on social media and through the various social groups we actively participate and contribute to.
Try our latest version with support for iOS 14 and Android 11.0
📱 Apple: https://apple.co/3m4E0TE
👽 Android: https://bit.ly/3fvQvVv
2021 New Year Insights - The Year of the Ox
2021 is the year of the OX. If your superstitious and into your Chinese Zodiac's there are many things to look forward to in 2021.
2021 is the Chinese Year of the Ox and, according to wealth manager Brewin Dolphin, previous years of the Ox saw bull markets with an average return of 12.3%*. Whilst it is impossible to accurately predict growth rates for 2021, Brewin Dolphin believes that it could be a good year for global markets with vaccinations for Covid-19, continued technological innovation, spectacular consumer growth in China, and a Biden presidency heralding an era of international co-operation and investment in green infrastructure to combat climate change.
Guy Foster, head of research at Brewin Dolphin, said: “There is no doubt that 2020 is a year many would want to forget. It is a year in which we saw the Covid-19 pandemic cause a global recession and the impact of lockdowns across the world bringing the worst slump in activity in peacetime. In the UK, we saw the economy shrinking, business closures, job losses and rising government debt. (read more: https://ifamagazine.com/article/2021-is-the-year-of-the-ox-will-it-be-a-bull-market-based-on-sustained-recovery/ )
From the Desk of our co-founder and CEO
Hello everyone, welcome to the end of 2020!
What can I say about 2020, where do I start?
In March I was spending some time off with my mother in Switzerland when two things happened. Our brand coinpass.com won the "Best UK Crypto Exchange 2020" and COVID-19 hit the same month. I was happy, ecstatic and worried all at the same time. I rushed back to the UK to get safely back on UK soil but with lockdown already in full effect, I was unable to celebrate our achievement. Not just the UK & Europe but the entire world was now adjusting to a new style of working, communicating and living. You couldn't simply pop out to your favourite shop, pub, restaurant or club anymore. You couldn't arrange that client meeting, attend a networking event or see a loved one, this was a stressful time for everyone.
However, the online, 24/7, expansive and innovating community that is "crypto" didn't stop, sleep or give up. While the rest of the world was closed down, silent and waiting for everything to be over, crypto and blockchain thrived. The decentralized nature of our business, our team, the community, the markets and the technology itself meant that the ecosystem grew and evolved even faster than before. In 2020 alone we've not only broken previous all-time highs of $20,000 but reset the All-Time-High number to 25k, 27k and now 28k!.
At coinpass.com, 2020 was a big year for us. Firstly, winning the award for best UK exchange, then adding new team members increasing our headcount to 18 in app development, marketing and support. We released our mobile apps across Apple and Android which gave users the ability to use our platform on the move live never before! We've been also working hard on a new website design which will be ready very early in 2021 as well as a professional trading platform to cater to more active traders and investors with a fresh look at trading not offered anywhere else on the market. In 2020 the UK Financial Conduct Authority turned it eyes on crypto and established a registration scheme for all UK based crypto-asset firms to register and comply with by Jan 10 2021. We were one of the first companies to register our application even before COVID-19 had landed on our doorsteps. The FCA were instantly on the backfoot with the number of registrations, the complexity of businesses cases and quality of applications. Those companies who applied and followed good practices were granted temporary
2020, for coinpass.com, was a big year. It's gone by so fast that it's been hard to share specific things that made 2020 so great and special. One thing that always stands out, is your, our community. Without your support coinpass.com wouldn't be what it is today, a leading UK cryptocurrency exchange focusing on speed, security and support to the highest quality.
I thank you for your feedback, suggestions, referrals and recommendations. Join on us social media and get involved in the conversation. I look forward to speaking with your soon.
Season Greetings and Kind Regards,
Jeff Hancock
co-founder & CEO | coinpass.com