Learning the friendly way

Day, Month,2021, LONDON: TAP Global has been shortlistedin the ‘Best Use of Crypto in Financial Services’ in the Emerging Payments Awards(EPA) 2021.

Now in its 14th year, the Emerging Payments Awardscelebrate innovation and collaboration by recognising companies thathave made significant impact in supporting and providing payment solutions forconsumers and businesses.

It is one of the most recognized awards within the UK payments industry with an independentpanel of 58 judges including this year:

·        Anna Maj FinTech Leader, Senior Advisor, Truffle Capital, SeniorLecturer CFTE

·        Jill Docherty [ of Business Development, UK & Ireland, Visa

·        Martha Mghendi-Fishe Founder & Executive Board Chair, EWPN

·        Mark Walker Co-founder & COO Editorial Director, The FintechPower 50 and The Fintech Times

·        Joanne Dewar CEO, Global Processing Services

·        Nikki Evans CEO EMEA, EML

Tap Global wasshortlisted for The ‘Best Use of Cyrpto inFinancial Services’ category based on criterias such as the benefits it providesto its end-users, how TAP stands out from its competitors due to its featuresand innovation, and the proven evidence of its success in the market.

“‘Tap was one of the first companies to launch a crypto prepaidpayment card with Mastercard in the EU’ in 2020 and our cryptocurrency-to-fiat prepaidMastercard and smartphone app give users the

power to instantly trade all major cryptocurrencies to fiat, andto make purchases with their cryptocurrency”, comments David Carr, CEO atTAP GLOBAL.

“Tap’s proprietary AI Middlewareconnects to multiple exchanges simultaneously, automatically validatingavailable liquidity and selecting the most competitive prices whilefacilitating trades in a matter of seconds. Users can convert their cryptocurrency assets to fiat instantly,allowing them to pay for goods or use an ATM anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Through the smartphone app, users can securely send and receivecryptocurrencies and fiat, view their transaction history, lock and unlocktheir card in case of loss and instantly view their PIN. Tap offers its usersfull EEA coverage for card, banking and cryptocurrencies and a named EUR IBANand/or GBP Sort Code and Account Number, as well as secure, offline, coldstorage behind a multi-signature wallet with the highest grade security for allcryptocurrency assets”, he further adds.

“It’s an honour to be shortlisted for this award which furtherrecognizes the added value TAP brings to market and the benefits for our end-users.None of this would have been achievable without the hard work of our teams andthe support of our partners”, says David.

Commenting on theannouncement, Kriya Patel, CEO at Transact Payments adds, “The EPAawards are some of the most prestigious awards in our industry recognisingcompanies that are making a real difference in driving innovation in payments.We’re delighted to be working with TAP Global and being shortlisted for thisaward.”

Now in its 14th year, the Emerging Payments Awards celebrate innovation and collaboration by recognising companies that have made significant impact in supporting and providing payment solutions for consumers and businesses.

It is one of the most recognized awards within the UK payments industry with an independent panel of 58 judges including this year:

·        Anna Maj FinTech Leader, Senior Advisor, Truffle Capital, Senior Lecturer CFTE

·        Jill Docherty [ of Business Development, UK & Ireland, Visa

·        Martha Mghendi-Fishe Founder & Executive Board Chair, EWPN

·        Mark Walker Co-founder & COO Editorial Director, The Fintech Power 50 and The Fintech Times

·        Joanne Dewar CEO, Global Processing Services

·        Nikki Evans CEO EMEA, EML

Tap Global was shortlisted for The ‘Leading Financial Services or Payments Start-Up’ category based on criteria s such as the benefits it provides to its end-users, how TAP stands out from its competitors due to its features and innovation, and the proven evidence of its success in the market.

“‘Tap was one of the first companies to launch a crypto prepaid payment card with Mastercard in the EU’ in 2020 and our cryptocurrency-to-fiat prepaid Mastercard and smartphone app give users the power to instantly trade all major cryptocurrencies to fiat, and to make purchases with their cryptocurrency”, comments David Carr, CEO at TAP GLOBAL.

“Tap’s proprietary AI Middleware connects to multiple exchanges simultaneously, automatically validating available liquidity and selecting the most competitive prices while facilitating trades in a matter of seconds. Users can convert their cryptocurrency assets to fiat instantly, allowing them to pay for goods or use an ATM anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Through the smartphone app, users can securely send and receive cryptocurrencies and fiat, view their transaction history, lock and unlock their card in case of loss and instantly view their PIN. Tap offers its users full EEA coverage for card, banking and cryptocurrencies and a named EUR IBAN and/or GBP Sort Code and Account Number, as well as secure, offline, cold storage behind a multi-signature wallet with the highest grade security for all cryptocurrency assets”, he further adds.

“It’s an honour to be shortlisted for this award which further recognizes the added value TAP brings to market and the benefits for our end-users. None of this would have been achievable without the hard work of our teams and the support of our partners”, says David.

Commenting on the announcement, Kriya Patel, CEO at Transact Payments adds, “The EPA awards are some of the most prestigious awards in our industry recognising companies that are making a real difference in driving innovation in payments. We’re delighted to be working with TAP Global and being shortlisted for this award.”

This year has proved to be an exciting one for the crypto adopters, with markets taking turns playing out to bulls’ and bears’ delights. Bitcoin crossed the $66,000 mark for the first time in history, and with that, a new data trend has emerged which has shone a light on a significant gap in the market.

Here we explore the vast potential of the integration of the corporate market into the crypto industry. Recent data has exposed the large gap between crypto trading taking place on major exchanges. It has been discovered that there is little trading activity between the retail or institutional type of trader, setting two extremes: retail investors trade hundreds to several thousands of dollars while institutional investors trade millions.

In other markets, this range is generally made up of family offices ,mid-to-large corporations, or high-net-worth individuals. However, in the crypto space it appears that navigating the $100,000–$500,000 trading bracket is not as common.

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An Overview of the ever-expanding cryptocurrency market

According to a study conducted by Chainalysis, cryptocurrencies usage across the globe increased by 880% when compared to that of last year. Meanwhile, experts forecast that this number is likely to increase. In 2021, major companies across many industries have taken an interest or invested in cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular, especially among institutions. This demonstrates that interest is no longer restricted to individual crypto aficionado traders. Large financial firms like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs have invested in cryptocurrencies, showing the potential of this asset class.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have grown popular and should be perceived as a positive development as it is a necessary step for cryptocurrencies to achieve widespread adoption. Some experts predict that more large, multinational businesses will accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology in the coming months.

Accepting cryptocurrencies as payment is something to consider if you run a business. As cryptocurrency adoption grows, so is the number of merchants who accept it.

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Bridging the gap

Several reasons why this corporate market is yet to engage in cryptocurrencies is believed to be due to the lack of trusted liquidity providers, reasonable pricing, banking partners or secure technology. If your company is interested in opening a corporate account enabling your business to accept crypto payment, transfer, billing, and trading, Tap can assist your venture getting started with cryptocurrencies.

Bridging the gap, Tap is launching a new service that will provide crypto exposure to this mid-range market through its trusted and verified mobile app. The new Corporate Account will provide specialised B2B services catered directly to companies looking to enter the world of cryptocurrencies.

Through these services, companies will be able to make and receive payments in the supported crypto and fiat currencies, enjoy reduced transaction fees through the native token XTP, as well as earn interest through the Earn feature. While the B2C market has become somewhat saturated, Tap Global has taken aim at the B2B market, providing an early entry, alongside transparent pricing, for corporate companies into the crypto sphere. 

As the financial landscape continues developing at a rapid pace, the app serves to provide an early and seamless approach to the future of payments that we are fast approaching. 

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From “Risky Investment” to global reserve

While Bitcoin hasn’t entirely evolved into a global reserve currency (yet), it has undoubtedly emerged from the speculative asset it was considered to be just several years ago. As crypto continues to break into new markets, the corporate market is growing in interest at a steady pace and seeking a way to integrate crypto payment and investments into their businesses.

With a range of reliable and tech-forward products on the market, there is little doubt that the rate of crypto adoption will continue to grow. While Tap provides a space for early adopters and high-net-worth investors, the company also opens its doors to a wide range of individuals and corporations, no matter where on the scale of net-worth or transaction volume they might sit.

Cryptography is the process of converting messages into unreadable text so that only the intended recipient will be able to read them. Cryptography is responsible for the security, anonymity, and trust less transactions of digital currency. – entirely without the services of a financial institution.

We'll define cryptography as the study of methods to exchange sensitive information over an insecure channel in such away that only authorized parties can access it. In our case, this will be exchanging ownership of cryptocurrencies (which is represented digitally), or transferring ownership by signing digital messages.

A bit of history:

Cryptography dates back to the time when people began exchanging messages in forms other than face-to-face conversations(e.g., via written letters). The first known use of cryptography can be traced to Egypt, about 2000 years ago, during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III. Other known historical uses of cryptography are in the works of Julius Caesar, who used a simple cipher for messages between him and his generals.

The purpose of cryptography in crypto

A blockchain-based cryptocurrency needs some form of encryption to secure its money supply from being stolen by hackers or malicious software. It also allows for the anonymous transfer of funds between individuals without requiring a trusted third party, such as a bank or government institution. Cryptocurrencies are entirely based on cryptographic ideas.

Compared to cash transfers, cryptocurrencies do have another layer of security built into the blockchain: cryptography. The purpose of which is to validate transactions and prevent unauthorized access to the ledger by keeping all information inside a digital file that only authorized people can see. It's kind of like a physical vault (or safe) where you can keep all your money. But, unlike a physical vault, there's also no way to access the safe without a private key or password.

Usage of cryptography in Cryptocurrency

Cryptography is used in several different components of Bitcoin's security model, as well as in other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin addresses, which are used to receive and send funds between people on the blockchain, have both public keys and private keys. Only the owner of an address's private key can spend funds sent to the address, and only the owner of an address's public key will be able to receive them.

Every time you send or receive bitcoins, your transaction is signed with the appropriate digital signature using your private key. Since you can't share your private key with the person receiving your bitcoins, they verify that the signature is correct using your public key. The process of sending and receiving bitcoins between addresses is entirely anonymous and doesn't require any personal information (although there are ways to link transactions to identities).

Cryptocurrencies use public-key cryptography in order to prove ownership of addresses and transactions. This is done with a piece of data known as a digital signature, which is obtained using the sender's private key, and attached to the end of every transaction block along with other information about that block. Each new transaction has its own signature, verifying that the sender owns the address that is being used to send the funds. Since only the owner of a private key can create a digital signature for it, this provides a very strong guarantee that nobody else has sent their cryptocurrency to an address other than the one currently being spent from.

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While the crypto industry continues to grow at a breathtaking pace, one problem continues to run wild. That problem is the fact that blockchains are not interoperable, meaning that they can only exist in their individual nature. Polkadot set out to change this, creating a network that aims to connect multiple blockchains in one simple solution. As a direct competitor to Ethereum, the blockchain network has a different structural approach.

What Is Polkadot (DOT)?

Polkadot is a blockchain network created by one of the Ethereum founders. Through the use of intricate architecture, the platform aims to connect multiple networks through their relay chain and parachain system (more on this below). 

Similar to Ethereum, developers can create their own decentralized apps (dapps) and smart contracts on the network. Referred to as a sharding multichain network, Polkadot aims to provide a platform on which developers can build multiple blockchain networks off a common standard. Traders can then trade a range of products built on the network, similar to how ERC-20 tokens are traded.

Who Created Polkadot?

Founded in 2016, Polkadot was created by one of the Ethereum co-founders, Gavin Wood, alongside Peter Czaban and Robert Habermeier. Woods notably created the Ethereum language Solidity, which allows developers to create dapps on the Ethereum network. 

Wood is also the founder of Parity Technologies and the president of Web3 Foundation. Web3 Foundation is a Swiss foundation that was designed to facilitate a user-friendly, open-source decentralized web. The company's approach to crypto is one of its kind and sets it above any other competitor.

How Does Polkadot Work?

As mentioned above, Polkadot utilizes a relay chain and parachain system. Each parachain is a blockchain in itself, however, they all rely on the relay chain to facilitate transactions. These blockchains work in a "parallel" manner (hence the name) and can each hold their own tokens and individual use cases. The relay chain provides blockchain support to the parachains on the network.

Finalizing the transactions and being responsible for maintaining network security, the relay chain is able to facilitate 1,000 transactions per second (TPS). Utilizing a hybrid consensus mechanism, the enterprise network has created proof-of-stake (PoS) and a nominated-proof-of-stake (NPoS) model. 

Through this variation, anyone can stake DOT in a particular smart contract and perform network roles such as being a :

• Validators (validate data in parachain blocks, vote on network changes)
• Nominators (select validators by delegating their staked DOT to them)
• Collators (nodes with full histories of each parachain, that transfer this information into blocks for the relay chain)
• Fishermen (responsible for monitoring the network and reporting bad behaviour to the validators)

These four roles allow Polkadot to have a highly sophisticated user-driven governance system as each role contributes to maintaining and securing the network while eradicating bad behaviour. 

The network is working on a third blockchain functionality known as a bridge. Bridges will allow blockchains on the Polkadot network to interact with "outside" blockchains, essentially allowing tokens to be swapped directly without needing to go through an exchange. 

Through this intensive structuring, Polkadot aims to solve two problems that the blockchain network is currently plagued with scalability and governance. 

What Is DOT?

DOT is the native cryptocurrency to the Polkadot network and is used as a governance and utility token, allowing users to vote on proposed upgrades and used for gas fees. It plays an integral role in maintaining and operating the network. As a digital currency, it can also be used to execute cross-border transactions.

The platform was launched in 2020 and has already established itself in the top 10 biggest cryptocurrencies. 

Does Polkadot Have A Max Supply Cap?

To answer the question "what is the total supply of Polkadot" the answer is that there isn't one. The network opted to leave the total number of DOT infinite. At the time of writing the circulating supply was just short of 1 billion coins.

What Is The Difference Between Polkadot And Ethereum?

A common question in the crypto community, not just because they share similar use cases but also because the two networks share a founder. Both networks provide a platform on which developers can create their own blockchains, and following the launch of Ethereum 2.0., will both be using a PoS consensus. 

Structurally the Polkadot platform differs in that it makes use of parachains and a relay chain. This is a unique feat in the blockchain industry. Through this structure, the network aims to improve on several of Ethereum's functionalities and deliver a trifactor of governance, scalability and interoperability to the blockchain industry, without compromising security. 

How Can I Buy Polkadot?

If you're looking to incorporate Polkadot (DOT) in your cryptocurrency portfolio, look no further than Tap Global. A recent addition to the exchange's portfolio, users can buy, sell, trade and store DOT directly through the professional app. Whether looking to trade DOT for its technology and smart contract capabilities, or to tap into a new market, Tap allows traders to diversify their cryptocurrency portfolio in one secure location.

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Risk in trading is the chance that something might negatively impact an investment. Before engaging in any trading activities it is important to evaluate your appetite for risk, determining whether you are able to handle more risk or are more risk averse. 

Measuring risk will be dependent on the type of asset you are investing in, the amount of capital you have to use, and the time frames in which you expect to see results. Different assets and trading strategies hold different amounts of risk. 

For example, investing in an index fund is considered a low-risk investment and is better advised to investors looking to make a slow and steady return over a longer period of time. Index funds aggregate the performance of the 100 companies listed on a particular stock exchange and pay back dividends accordingly. Because they are large companies the growth is often more likely to be smaller yet consistent. 

With a little more appetite for risk, in the crypto markets, the same could be said about choosing to invest in an emerging altcoin versus established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. An emerging asset would encompass a higher risk higher reward ratio, however, no returns are guaranteed. 

You can speak to a financial advisor to get a sense of your risk appetite.