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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bagaei: Information exchanges between Iran and the United States, as well as the activities of mediators, are continuing.July 27th - According to the Financial Times, SpaceXs potential European competitor, The Exploration Company GmbH, is in talks to raise at least $300 million, partly from the EUs "European Scale-Up Fund," which would boost the companys valuation to over $2 billion. Sources familiar with the matter say this still-pending funding round will support the companys development of Europes first reusable spacecraft for transporting cargo to the International Space Station (and planned successors). The companys last funding round was in 2024, raising approximately $160 million with support from the French and German governments. That 2024 funding round also financed the development of its reusable spacecraft, Nyx.According to Al Jazeera: Settlers have stormed into the Samra region in the northern Jordan Valley.On July 27, Brazilian President Lula published an article in The Washington Post criticizing the recent series of tariff pressures imposed on Brazil by the United States. In the article, Lula stated that negotiations between Brazil and the US, along with a ruling by the US Supreme Court, repealed the first version of the tariff policy that began last July. However, this July, the US government decided to impose new tariffs on Brazil ranging from 12.5% to 37.5%. He argued that these new tariffs are not only unfair but also a strategic mistake: they damage the US economy and the partnership with Brazil, and in the medium to long term, will disrupt the currently highly integrated production chains between the two countries, leading Brazilian companies to replace US suppliers with other partners.German government spokesperson: Chancellor Merz will nominate conservative Steffen Bürger as Minister of Transport.

Bitcoin Lightning Network-Based Strike Can Rival Visa – MS

Cory Russell

Apr 25, 2022 09:49

Morgan Stanley is optimistic about the bitcoin Lightning Network's potential as a consumer payment option.


They believe Strike, a Lightning Network-based payment technology, can compete with or even outperform Visa in the digital payments market.


Strike has partnered with Shopify and NCR, the world's leading supplier of point-of-sale payment solutions.


Morgan Stanley published a new analysis on the Lightning Network, bitcoin's Layer 2 fast payment system, and its potential to enable a "long-term move towards payments and settlements utilizing digital and cryptocurrencies rather than fiat currencies like the US dollar."


Morgan Stanley's positive analysis on the Lightning Network's potential for broader adoption comes after Strike, a US-based digital payments platform built on top of bitcoin's Lightning Network, announced earlier this month a new integration agreement with e-commerce giant Shopify.


Customers who paid in bitcoin will now be able to receive payments in US dollars from US Shopify businesses. Strike has announced collaborations with NCR, the world's leading supplier of point-of-sale (PoS) payment services.

Morgan Stanley Believes That Lightning Network Will Be Able to Compete With Visa

Morgan Stanley outlined why it believes Strike, a Lightning Network-based digital payment network, can compete with or perhaps exceed Visa in its recent study.


Morgan Stanley observes that "in essence, Strike is directly competing with Visa Direct, which provides real-time settlement," adding that "the primary distinction for merchants will be paid a significantly lower transaction cost."


"The customer advantage is that they may, if they choose, host their bitcoin on a private, secure network, enabling an element of secrecy connected with their transaction," the bank says.


Morgan Stanley emphasizes the importance of Strike's cooperation with NCR. "NCR software is used by one in every six PoS devices worldwide," the bank says, "so this news is important even if just a tiny percentage of retail businesses opt to add crypto capabilities."

Cons of Making Bitcoin Payments

The Morgan Stanley analysis points out some of the disadvantages of utilizing a bitcoin-based payment system, such as the cryptocurrency's underlying volatility on a day-to-day basis, which makes forecasting future buying power problematic.


Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley says that existing tax regulations, which require users to pay capital gains taxes on cryptocurrencies they sell, are a barrier to greater acceptance of bitcoin as a widely used means of exchange.


The bank, on the other hand, mentions the Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act, which has been introduced in the US Congress. If passed, the law would exclude personal bitcoin transactions from taxation as long as the profits are less than $200.


Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, cautions that this plan may meet criticism, particularly from anti-crypto members of Congress, since it serves to establish bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) as credible alternatives to the US currency.


The Morgan Stanley analysis "suggests we are at the beginning of an age when more and more people may opt to pay for items using Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies over time," according to Alex Gladstein, who summarized it on Twitter.

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