Most surprisingly, CitiBank MD and its director Tom Fitzpatrick are predicting that BTC’s price could reach a record $318,000 by the end of next year.

According to Fitzpatrick Bitcoin could have the right characteristics to become the digital gold of the 21st century.

This idea, of course, is not new at all, but it is very surprising that it is proposed by the director of Citibank, a historic financial institution founded in 1812 in New York, with over 2,600 branches in 19 countries around the world.

According to Fitzpatrick the inflation of the dollar, and its devaluation, can make it possible to make a comparison between bitcoin and gold, also because Bitcoin Circuit was born just after the great financial crisis of 2008, when, for example, interest rates dropped to zero percent for the first time.

The key point would be the possible next devaluation of the US dollar, which is still the world’s reserve currency par excellence.

In such a scenario, Fitzpatrick sees similarities with the gold market of 1970, whose assumptions were laid down in 1944 in Bretton Woods, and lasted until 1973.

In fact, the Bretton Woods agreements anchored the US dollar to gold, and the other currencies to the dollar, in an attempt to build a monetary regime in which the US dollar was equivalent to gold as a reserve currency.

In the course of time, however, a predilection of the markets for gold emerged in comparison to the dollar, so that in 1970 a sort of „gold rush“ was created, during which the holders of dollars hurried to exchange them for gold. In 1971, President Nixon interrupted the pegging of the dollar to gold, creating the new fiat currency regime.

This would have generated the first bullish bitcoin cycle, i.e. the one that started in 2011 and ended in December 2013, with a value increase of 555 times.

In addition, the current scenario looks similar to that of the financial markets at the beginning of the 1970s, i.e. the one that led to the gold rush.

According to Fitzpatrick a bitcoin race could start at this point, which could bring the price up to $318,000 by December 2021.
Discordant forecasts of analysts on Bitcoin

However, it should also be added that not all analysts are so bullish about bitcoin.

Although at this moment it is difficult to find authoritative downward predictions, there are analysts who assume a consolidation phase, with relatively stable price, or others who predict price increases of a much lower order.

In fact, to tell the truth the assumed figures for 2021 are so much different between them to reveal a remarkable uncertainty.

It is quite likely that the forecasts of the vast majority of analysts regarding BTC’s prices for 2021 are simply wrong, but it cannot be considered insignificant that very few believe that the price will fall, and in any case not many believe that it will lateralize.

In other words, bullish forecasts prevail, but there does not seem to be any convergence between them.

For the first time in the history of an election in the United States blockchain technology will register the winner.

For the first time in history the US election is accompanied by the cryptomoeda Ethereum, which will register up to the winner and his votes. In addition, another cryptomoeda is also being used to do the pioneering work.

Cryptomoeda technology, also called blockchain, has a unique feature. Called even the protocol of trust, the data recorded in a blockchain cannot be modified.

In other words, in a controversial election like Donald Trump’s against Joe Biden in 2020, the blockchain gains ground. The tool was built by a traditional US association, which allows voters to audit the votes.

Once the result is achieved, the election will also be registered in two different public blockchains.

The US election is monitored using the Ethereum and EOS network

One of the most anticipated events in the world in 2020 was certainly the election for president of the United States. This is because, with the dispute between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the course of the next four years for the world’s leading power is yet to be defined.

It is worth noting that this year’s election is marked by a unique moment due to the OVID-19 pandemic. Even so, voters went to the polls to support their candidates and the outcome of the election is awaited.

To track the result in real time, the Associated Press (AP) has launched an innovative tool. Using cryptomorphic technology, the association is following the 2020 election.

The tool’s API is open to the public and keeps track of the counting of votes for president. For this, AP has used the blockchain of Ethereum cryptomoeda and also the EOS.

By the time of writing, AP had counted the votes of 44 states, in total 52. Of those, 23 had chosen Donald Trump as president and 21 had chosen Joe Biden.

The result of the main election of the year will be registered in two blockchains

Then considered the most promising technology for data registration today, the blockchain will have a role in this election. The result of the election will also be registered in both Ethereum and EOS blockchains.

In this way, any citizen of the world who wishes to audit the votes will be able to do so. This initiative can shape how elections are made in the world and even impact the future in the world.

In some countries blockchain technology is in fact already used to hold elections. Recently, Russia used blockchain for the most important vote in the country, and the process was even audited by a Brazilian.

In other words, the adoption of blockchain technology in elections has already started and for US president it is gaining protagonism. Ethereum is the most famous cryptomeda working with smart contracts today. EOS is a protocol that also works in a similar way to Ethereum.

The election data will be published on Everipedia, a Wikipedia competitor using blockchain technology. In this way, the result of the US election for president will be recorded in a public and unchangeable database.

At the end of last year, Wordline announced that it would work with the financial services provider Bitcoin Suisse to increase the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in retail and e-commerce. The pilot project has been running successfully so far; the final rollout is now set to follow in the next six months.

Exactly a year ago, the French payment service provider Worldlineand the Swiss crypto broker Bitcoin Suisse signed a letter of intent to jointly bring cryptocurrencies to the till

Both companies are initially pursuing the goal of offering Swiss retailers and consumers services for paying with cryptocurrencies in shops and online shops. Wordline is the largest payment service provider in Europe and the fourth largest provider worldwide.

The French company launched a pilot with selected dealers in Switzerland this July. These include mostly hotels and restaurants, but also jewelry dealers and electronics shops in different parts of Switzerland. Since then, they have been accepting Bitcoin and Ether via the company’s solution, but they are still paid out in Swiss francs. According to Dr. Andreas Rehrauer , responsible for the payment product portfolio and innovations at Worldline, should not bear any currency risk for merchants. In addition, there is no additional complexity in billing, as the transactions are integrated into the merchant billing like other card payments.

Dr. Rehrauer towards BTC-ECHO as follows:

Since the start of the crypto initiative about a year ago, we have come a big step further and now have a successful pilot in the market. Since the end of July, three-digit transactions have been settled using crypto currencies – the trend is increasing despite Corona. About three quarters of that was in Bitcoin and a quarter in Ether. However, the solution is designed in such a way that cryptocurrencies can be flexibly expanded or removed, depending on the payment preferences of consumers.

Dr. According to Rehrauer, the feedback from dealers is positive. So they „even partially actively advertised it themselves on their channels“.

How the crypto payment works

From the customer’s point of view, the transaction works in a similar way to the online payment app TWINT, in which Worldline is involved: A QR code is displayed at the point of sale that is scanned with a crypto wallet app. Then it is shown how much the purchased goods cost in the desired cryptocurrency. As soon as the user has approved the payment in the app, it is triggered, processed and confirmed. According to Dr. Rehrauer, the crypto alliance benefits from the fact that more and more people are paying with their mobile phones:

More and more people are used to paying based on QR codes. The best example is TWINT in Switzerland, but also, for example, in an international context, Alipay or WeChat Pay. And buyers who are already used to paying with their mobile phone and with a QR code, the step to Bitcoin is no longer so big for them.