Off The Ledger Archives

2020 Wrapped: Crypto Edition

January 11, 2021January 12, 2021 CoinPayments

2020 brought progress and innovation that might have remained dormant without any real sense of urgency to inspire action. Society became increasingly digital, as we worked, shopped, and lived through the web. In particular, the world of blockchain experienced a revival of interest, with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin reaching record-high prices. Gone are the days where cryptocurrencies are regarded as momentary fads or bubbles. The pandemic stepped on the gas of the cryptocurrency revolution, making the world much more prepared for a blockchain-based financial system in 2021. In this blog, we’re…

The Future of Blockchain: Cross-chain Interoperability

December 30, 2020December 30, 2020 CoinPayments

With blockchain technology in the picture, a new perspective has come to light where trust and transparency have become the de facto requirements. However, in order to compete with the existing systems and meet the demands of our ever-connected world, blockchain now needs to take it one step further. Cue interoperability: Why do we need it? With so many blockchain platforms being introduced in the market, we have reached an autonomous ecosystem where they work in silos. As in, they work independently and do not share information. Let’s consider a…

How Small Businesses Can Thrive with Crypto Payments

December 17, 2020December 16, 2020 CoinPayments

“From what was once a small afterthought for retailers to the predominant method of consumption, e-commerce has grown into a multi trillion-dollar market that’s slated to keep growing,” according to a recent infographic from eToro. The infographic went on to attribute the COVID-19 pandemic as the “catalyst for explosive growth,” revealing that the e-commerce share of total U.S. retail sales has gone up over 16% in the first quarter of the year. As the sector continues to experience massive growth, it’s important for small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to capitalize…

Paying with Cryptocurrencies Is Easier Than You Think

December 15, 2020December 11, 2020 CoinPayments

Blockchain technology stores all the transactions in a ledger, and chains all the previous transactions together using cryptography and hashing, making it easy for people to not only track transactions, but also leverage them and form a more credible, verifiable network. The fundamental features of blockchain, such as immutability, are helping us escape the expensive, less secure, and slow payment process we’ve grown accustomed to. A better understanding of this new technology and its implications is what has driven more consumers and businesses to opt for cryptocurrencies as a daily…

Blockchain’s Instrumental Role in the Future of the Gig Economy

December 11, 2020December 11, 2020 CoinPayments

The Freelance Workforce is Growing In the past year alone, 59 million Americans freelanced, according to Upwork’s Freelance Forward 2020 report. This figure represents 36% of the entire U.S. workforce, a segment that generates over $1.2 trillion in annual earnings through gig work. Now, the emerging demographic of Gen Z is being added to the mix, with half of the Gen Z workforce freelancing in the past year. This doesn’t seem to be a momentary trend, with 9 out of 10 Gen Z freelancers stating they plan to continue to…

The New Face of Finance: Stablecoins?

December 7, 2020December 7, 2020 CoinPayments

Stablecoins: Knights in Shining Armor? The roots of the existing financial system run too deep to be overturned. But with the unmatched liquidity, higher returns, and more transparency that comes with cryptocurrencies, it became harder to accept the status quo. The world got stuck in the middle. On one side of the camp are those that believe the “stable” financial structure, which has been around for centuries, does not need replacing. The other side could not ignore the disruption that crypto brought to the very financial system we thought to…

Open Banking has the Potential to Change Everything. So, What’s the Hold-up?

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 CoinPayments

Effectively, sometime in the last two decades, we went from being the desired consumer to the sought-after product. With the digital era’s industrial boom came a seemingly endless hunt for access to a trove of consumer information, and it can feel like we’ve lost ownership of our own personal data. And, as the world becomes increasingly data-driven, it doesn’t look like the hunt is going to slow down any time soon. This can all seem very bleak, but there’s hope. In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on…

Top 5 Blockchain Megatrends to Watch

November 24, 2020November 30, 2020 CoinPayments

1. BCoT We’ve all heard of “blockchain” and “Internet of Things,” but not many have heard these two buzzwords used together. Introducing “Blockchain Of Things,” which fuses the two concepts and is a trend that we are monitoring closely. As our devices become more interconnected, it is only natural these emerging technologies have synergized the way they have. By incorporating blockchain within IoT systems, personal privacy can be further strengthened across all of an end user’s devices — a crucial requirement in our growingly connected world. You can buy an…