Nigara Osman

Born on May 17, 1953 in the city of Alma-Ata (Almaty). Father – Kemel T. Tokayev (1923-1986), a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a well-known writer, founder of a detective-adventure genre in Kazakh literature. Mother – Turar Shabarbayeva (1931-2000), worked for the Alma-Ata Teacher Training Institute of Foreign Languages.

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Born on May 17, 1953 in the city of Alma-Ata (Almaty). Father – Kemel T. Tokayev (1923-1986), a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a well-known writer, founder of a detective-adventure genre in Kazakh literature. Mother – Turar Shabarbayeva (1931-2000), worked for the Alma-Ata Teacher Training Institute of Foreign Languages.

In 1975, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev graduates from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). He got his pre-degree internship at the USSR Embassy in the People's Republic of China. In 1983-1984, he interned at the Beijing Linguistic Institute. In 1992, he graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

He started his career in 1975 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was posted to the Soviet Embassy in the Republic of Singapore. In 1979, he returned to the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1984 to 1985, he worked at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then was posted to the Soviet Embassy in China, where he served until 1991 as Second Secretary, First Secretary and Counsellor.

In 1992, he was appointed as the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 1993, he becomes the First Deputy Foreign Minister. In 1994, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In March 1999, he becomes the Deputy Prime Minister. In October 1999, with the consent of the Parliament by the Decree of the President of Kazakhstan, he was appointed as the Prime Minister. In January 2002, he becomes the State Secretary – Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 2003 to 2007, he headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At this post, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was taking an active part in the global process of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

In January 2007, he was elected as the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament. In 2008, as the Speaker of the upper chamber of the Kazakh parliament he was elected as the Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

In March 2011, he was appointed as the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, as well as served as the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General at the Conference on Disarmament. In addition, he also held the position of the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament. He was also elected as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CIS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

On October 16, 2013, he was re-elected as the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament.

On March 20, 2019, he takes the oath as the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

On June 9, 2019, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had won the early presidential election with 70.96%, and was elected as the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On June 12, 2019, in accordance with the article 42 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, he took the oath of office and officially assumed the post of Head of State.

Since April 2021, he was elected as the Chairman of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan. Since January 2022, he becomes the Chairman of the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador. Doctor of Political Sciences. Full member of the World Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences. Member of the Council of the Wise Men of the Munich Security Conference. Honorary Professor of the Shenzhen University (China) and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Honorary President of Kazakhstan’s Council on Foreign Relations. Honorary Dean of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations. According to the Russian Biographical Society, he enters the list of winners of the “Man of the Year – 2018”. Over 13 years he headed Kazakhstan’s Table Tennis Federation.

He is the author of 10 books on international relations.

He has been awarded with numerous state awards of Kazakhstan and foreign countries, as well as with commemorative medals.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev supports a healthy lifestyle. He is fond of reading fiction, political and memoir literature.

He is divorced and has son Timur.

2011 - 2012

BitPay was first founded in 2011 to provide mobile checkout services to companies that wanted to accept bitcoins. Following the foundation of the company, co-founder Gallippi visited a conference in Prague in November 2011 to discuss bitcoin. At the time he announced that the company had around 100 merchants actively using their service. Within the first year by October 2012, BitPay had grown to having 1,100 active merchants.

One of the first major partnerships came in 2012, when BitPay became the official bitcoin merchant for WordPress. The move came to make WordPress more accessible to bloggers in countries that frequently faced blocks for either financial or political reasons. Bitcoin at the time had no central authority, meaning BitPay couldn't lock entire countries out.[6]

In September 2012, the company announced that it had reached the milestone of 1,000 merchants using BitPay to accept bitcoin payments. Around the same time a breakdown of BitPay's customer base was discussed with around 60% of their merchants based in the United States. Europe and the UK accounted for 25%, with the remaining merchants spread across a total of 98 countries.

2013

BitPay announced in January 2013 that they would be relocating their headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia from their previous location, Orlando, Florida. The move came following the announcement the company had secured $510,000 in seed funding. According to the company's co-founder, the city of Atlanta was chosen due to the number of fintech companies located in Georgia. At the time the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) stated that the state of Georgia was home to more than 90 fintech companies. Later that year, it was announced that the first bitcoin charity would be established, the BitGive Foundation. The charitable foundation was created by Connie Gallippi, the sister of BitPay's Chairman and co-founder, Gallippi. The board of directors included the BitPay cofounder, Pair. Shortly after the launch of BitGive, it was announced that BitPay would be the merchants for the charitable organization.

Gyft, who specialise in gift cards, partnered with BitPay in 2013. Payments began to be processed initially via Gyft's Android app. During an interview with Tech Crunch Gallippi announced that BitPay was processing on average $5 million per month in Bitcoin transactions for its merchants. In May 2013, BitPay announced that they had raised $2 million via Founders Fund.

In September 2013, the company announced it had reached the milestone of 10,000 merchants. Gallippi stated that since the foundation of the company they had processed over $34m, which was the equivalent to 270,830 bitcoins at the time on the Bitcoin Price Index.

BitPay developed a processing module in 2013 for WooCommerce, which allowed the company to process online orders made with Bitcoin. The move allowed orders fulfilled by Amazon.com to be placed with Bitcoin, but meant that Amazon and other e-commerce sites would receive the amount in their given currency. In late 2013, BitPay was used for the purchase of a Tesla Motors car, the Model S in California. Until that point, car purchases using Bitcoin had been rare. The partnership between the Lamborghini dealership and BitPay continued when news of the purchase featured in the media. The media coverage led to other potential customers to contact the dealership, requesting to pay in Bitcoin.

2014

In 2014 BitPay expanded its North American presence beyond its headquarters in Atlanta, opening offices in New York City, San Francisco and St. Petersburg, Florida. BitPay's European headquarters opened in Amsterdam and their South American Headquarters were opened in Argentina.

In January at CES 2014, BitPay announced that 12,000 merchants had signed up to their service. The D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Hotel and Casino both announced that BitPay would be used as their chosen merchant for Bitcoin in Las Vegas. They were two of the first casinos in Las Vegas to accept Bitcoin.

Shortly after CES 2014, the NBA basketball team the Sacramento Kings announced they would become the first major sports franchise in North America to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for tickets and merchandise. The transactions would be processed by BitPay, making them the first Bitcoin merchant to process sports tickets on such a large scale. The implementation of the virtual currency would start from March 1, when fans and visitors to the Sacramento Kings games would be able to use Bitcoin to make the payment. In this instance, fans would pay in Bitcoin before BitPay converted the Bitcoin amount into dollars for the Sacramento Kings. The move came after Adafruit began accepting Bitcoin in November, which enabled the Sacramento Kings to accept the cryptocurrency. Limor Fried stated at the time one of the biggest obstacles that BitPay helped overcome was letting "clients stay out of the currency and exchange process".

Within the same month, it was announced that Zynga would also begin to accept Bitcoin, with BitPay as its merchant. The deal would be for in-game purchases for the games FarmVille 2, CastleVille, ChefVille, CoasterVille, Hidden Chronicles, Hidden Shadows, and CityVille, which was confirmed by CNET following the initial announcement on Reddit. The news of the partnership between BitPay and Zynga prompted a sharp rise in the Cryptocurrency. This was following the fall in December 2013 after the Chinese government took steps to enact a crackdown on the currency.

In June 2014, it was announced that the rapper 50 Cent would be accepting Bitcoin for his new album release, Animal Ambition. According to USA Today, all the Bitcoin purchases for the album would be processed by BitPay. At the time of the album release, many independent artists had accepted Bitcoin as a form of payment before 50 Cent. He was however seen at the time as one of the best-known musicians to accept the digital currency as a form of payment. BitPay in August 2014 was the merchant for one of the largest home purchases to be made using the Bitcoin currency. The property was located near Lake Tahoe at a value of $1.6 million or 2,739 bitcoins. Around the same time of the transaction for the property on Lake Tahoe, the Wall Street Journal announced an American-based company would become one of the first nationally to stop receiving dollars and only accept payments through BitPay. From 2016 onwards Euro Pacific Precious Metals would only receive payments in Bitcoin, with BitPay acting as the merchant for all the transactions. In September, BitPay announced that they were partnering with processing giant PayPal for bitcoin acceptance in their Payment Hub.

In 2014, BitPay merchant BitGive became the first bitcoin charity to be recognized as a charitable organization by the IRS and was granted 501(c)(3) status.The 2014 FEC ruling that bitcoin donations can be accepted by political campaigns and organizations led to BitPay partnering with CoinVox and other fundraising organizations. In June, BitPay became the first Bitcoin company to sponsor a North American sports event. They sponsored the St. Petersburg Bowl, a college bowl game. Following the announcement, over 100 companies in the St. Petersburg area took steps so that they could accept the digital currency before the first event.

2015

In September 2015, the company sued its insurance provider in regards to non-coverage of a 5000 BTC theft that occurred in December 2014.

In May 2016, BitPay launched the BitPay Visa Prepaid Debit Card, the first prepaid Visa debit card available for bitcoin users in all 50 US states. At Money2020 in October 2016, company CEO Stephen Pair introduced the BitPay app, a secure bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet built on the company's open source Copay wallet platform.

The company also added new bitcoin-accepting firms including gaming platform Steam, nonprofit Heifer International, and precious metals provider JM Bullion. New collaborations and releases with Intel and Microsoft's Azure Cloud platform brought new features and capabilities to BitPay's Copay and Bitcore open source platforms.

2017

In December of 2017, Bitpay recieved notice that their European card provider, Wavecrest, would no longer be available to process loads and payments leaving thousands in cryptocurrency stranded in these wallets. Visa made an announcement in January of 2018, reporting that the European card issuer was then suspended from offering any new cards and would no longer be in their payment network. Visa later released a statement saying that they were not targeting cryptocurrnecy cards but instead WaveCrest was not in line with Visa's terms of service. At the time of this writing, United States Bitpay cards were not affected due to having another card issuer.

Services

BitPay enables merchants to accept bitcoin in payment for a transaction. Formally, BitPay enters into the bitcoin transaction on the merchant’s behalf, and converts the bitcoin amount to one of 30 currencies of the merchant's choosing. Bitpay mitigates the risk of bitcoin price volatility by allowing the merchant to accept bitcoin which are immediately converted to a local currency. BitPay transactions are non-reversible, making it valuable for merchants who are working internationally. In 2013 it was announced that merchants could accept bitcoin and receive fiat currency the next day for a 0.99% fee.

In July 2014, BitPay announced that it would offer free and unlimited payment processing, forever. This announcement resulted in TechCrunch declaring that bitcoin is a catalyst for the commoditization of payment processing. Merchants have the ability to accept bitcoin with open source plugins and hosted software.

The service for Bitcoin payments, fulfilled by Amazon was first introduced in 2013 and was seen as a positive move for the Bitcoin currency. The module was developed with WooCommerce and has meant that web stores using Amazon.com for fulfillment could from that point forward accept Bitcoin currency. Following the integration it was explained that the module worked closely with the fulfilment API and that the process would be completed automatically. When compared to other processors such as PayPal, many of them have to go through and enter information manually in order to complete the purchase, which isn't the case with BitPay.

In addition to their eCommerce offerings, BitPay also has point-of-sale integration with SoftTouch, VisualTouch and DC POS as well as a Web-App and Android app. The company also provides a payroll API whereby American employees can elect to have all or part of their salary paid in bitcoin. 2014 also brought the introduction of Get Bits, an easy to use Facebook app designed for Bitcoin beginners that searches a user's network to find someone who has Bitcoin available.

BitPay employs members of staff to work on open source projects to benefit the Bitcoin currency. In 2013, one of their new developers who had moved from Red Hat stated that he had been employed by BitPay to simply work on open source projects to aid the development of Bitcoin.

Since 2013 BitPay has offered various card program. In 2016 it opened the BitPay VISA card that enables users of BTC and BCH to spend that cryptocurrency at VISA merchants. While the card program has had some struggles since its launch, the BitPay card has a reputation as being a viable option from a company with a long history in the crypto space. [28]

Transactions

When an invoice is presented for the customer to use when paying, the Bitcoin address to pay is shown. A QR Code of that address is also shown, allowing easy payment from a mobile. The invoice also include a button for using the URI payment method which will allow easy payment from a bitcoin client that supports URI links.

The message "This invoice is valid for 15:00 minutes ONLY" is displayed and a timer counts down the clock. The reason this timer exists is to protect BitPay from exchange rate moves -- the price quoted is only valid for fifteen minutes.

If payment arrives after the timer has expired, an additional payment amount may be required to cover the difference in the exchange rate from the original quote.

Fees

The automated solution and shopping cart is available for all merchants for a fee of 0.99% of the value of the sale. If the merchant wants to receive a currency other than bitcoins, (e.g. US Dollars) BitPay can trade the coins for dollars, and send a direct deposit to the merchant's bank account. Merchants can have no currency risk of bitcoins at all.

Settlement

How to Buy and Sell Bitcoin Via Coinbase in the BitPay Wallet App

Sales proceeds may be withdrawn as bitcoins, as a bank transfer, or split among more than one method. For example, 20% of proceeds might be withdrawn as BTCs and the rest converted and sent as a bank transfer.

Withdrawals as direct deposit are available for the following[29], [30].

• Australia (AUD)
• Belgium (EUR)
• Canada (CAD)
• Denmark (DKK)
• France (EUR)
• Germany (EUR)
• Italy (EUR)
• Mexico (MXN)
• Netherlands (EUR)
• New Zealand (NZD)
• Norway (EUR)
• Spain (EUR)
• South Africa (SAR)
• Sweden (SEK)
• United Kingdom/UK (GBP)
• U.S. (USD)

Funding

Initial funding came from a variety of sources including Shakil Khan, Barry Silbert, Jimmy Furland, Roger Ver and Trace Mayer.

In January 2013 the company announced US $510,000 in angel investment, its first external capital after being internally bootstrapped. The investment coincided with the company relocating their headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia. It was stated at the time that the funding would be used to help advance Bitcoin processing.

In June 2013, BitPay received an additional US $2 million venture capital investment led by the Founders Fund. A Tech Crunch article stated that the investment would likely be spent on staffing, with a number of coding specialists required around that time.The funding was seen as an attempted push to become more global and was seen by some as a larger VC [and grab for Bitcoin companies. The Founders Fund investment was overseen by Peter Thiel, who was Facebook's first major investor. It was said the investment came from Thiel and Founders Fund, because he saw how BitPay could help ease online commerce across borders.

In December 2013, Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing invested through his Horizons Ventures firm about $2.7 million into BitPay. At the time of the investment he was seen as the richest person in Asia.

In May 2014, BitPay received $30 million in funding from investors including Index Ventures, RRE Ventures, Virgin Group's Richard Branson and Yahoo founder Jerry Yang.

Sponsorship

In June 2014, BitPay reached a deal with ESPN Events to become title sponsor of the St. Petersburg Bowl for two years. The NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football game began in 2008 and is played annually at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. BitPay secured the title sponsorship after Beef O'Brady's, who had sponsored the event since 2009, declined to renew. Rather than branding it with the BitPay name, the Bitcoin name will be used to brand the game, as BitPay intended the sponsorship to promote the technology rather than the company itself. The currency was supposed to be accepted for ticket, concession, and merchandise sales for and during the game, and the sponsorship itself was also paid in Bitcoin. However, reports from the game indicated that this was not the case. Financial terms have not yet been disclosed.

HONG KONG, December 09, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Finblox, a global crypto investment platform, has announced seven-digit funding from Sequoia Capital India, MSA Capital, Venturra Discovery, Coinfund, Saison Capital, Ratio Ventures and First Check Ventures. The round was closed in August and also saw the participation from 13 other investors including notable angels like Xinshu Dong (Partner at IOSG and previously Co-Founder of Zilliqa), Ron Hose (Founder of Coins.ph), James Simpson (Founder and CEO of mStable), Quentin Vanoekel (Co-Founder of Helicap), Binh Tran (Co-founder of Klout and Partner at Ascend Vietnam Ventures) and Eddie Thai (early investor in Axie Infinity and Partner at Ascend Vietnam Ventures).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211208006192/en/

Finblox - Grow Your Wealth with Crypto (Graphic :Business Wire)

Only a small fraction of the global population has had exposure to crypto - in Southeast Asia, that fraction is 2%. A bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial and wealth management products is required to onboard individual investors into the overall digital asset ecosystem.

Finblox is a high yield savings app powered by the digital assets - users are able to earn yield on their idle crypto holdings such as Bitcoin and USDC stablecoin. Currently, the app offers up to 10% Annual Percentage Yield on USD Coin and BTC, with payouts distributed daily. The returns are enabled through Finblox’s partnership with the financial institutions who borrow the crypto against posted collateral and trusted decentralized finance protocols.

The company was founded by startup veterans Peter Hoang and Dmitriy Paunin. Peter previously Co-founded Gotrade, a zero-commission stock trading app backed by Y Combinator and Dmitriy Paunin was a Chief Technology Officer at Coins.ph, Southeast Asia’s largest cryptocurrency exchange based in the Philippines that amassed over 16 million users.

Finblox will deploy the funds to product development and also to build the global footprint with initial regional focus in Southeast Asia. "Our vision is to help the next 1 billion people build their wealth with crypto. Finblox enables investors from over 180 countries to easily on-ramp into crypto and empowers them to hold the assets long-term with the savings product. What we’re able to offer is stability with more consistent rates and no lock-in periods associated with other DeFi platforms. Our core focus is to build an accessible and modern product that will help our users accumulate wealth over the long term and build the financial blocks for their future," said Peter Hoang, CEO of Finblox.

User assets are secured by Fireblocks Inc. ("Fireblocks"), a SOC 2 Type II certified digital assets custodian with bank-grade security.

Taking into account deep Information Security expertise in the fintech sector, the team has built a platform resilient to most of the problems that customers can face while working with digital assets. Processes and risk management that are based on the international standards (such as ISO-27001, PCI-DSS) allow the company to stand out in the crypto asset management space. Finblox works with the world-leading companies to assure security and accessibility of the assets.

Dmitriy Paunin, CTO of Finblox: "I'm incredibly proud of how quickly we have brought a top-class team of engineers and professionals onboard to develop systems that utilize the power of the blockchain technology and most trusted institutional partners, such as Fireblocks for asset management, Coincover for high-level industry digital assets security. Running a fast but secure platform is the main objective for us, and we will always put the needs and safety of our customers on the top of our priorities."

The team is actively building new product features requested by users and working to introduce new assets and exciting protocols such as Solana and Avalanche.

Another step to make the crypto asset class more widely adopted is clarity on regulation. "We are actively looking into acquiring licenses globally in the more established jurisdictions including the European Union, Singapore and also developing markets such Vietnam, Indonesia to establish our regulatory footprint. We believe crypto will become a number one asset class globally in the foreseeable future and regulation would bring a lot to the table in terms of taking it into the mainstream," said Peter Hoang.

Currently in alpha, Finblox is available on both App Store and Play Store for iOS users and Android users respectively.

Investor statements

"We believe crypto has the unique power to democratize finance and enable low-cost access to wealth preservation and creation for individuals underserved by traditional institutions. As global fintech investors, we're actively backing the shift towards crypto-embedded fintech across all regions and see Southeast Asia as a highly attractive geography. Peter and Dmitriy have the experience, drive, and complementary skill sets to build the next breakout winner," said Tim Chen, Investor at MSA Capital.

"Being able to protect your savings from inflation continues to be a major challenge for most people in South East Asia, and an alternative digital asset savings product has a huge potential to change that. I am excited to see the Finblox team taking this head on," said Ron Hose, angel investor and Founder of Coins.ph.

About Finblox

Finblox is a venture-backed startup with remote teams based out of Vietnam, Russia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The core product is a simple and secure app that allows users to passively earn yield on their crypto assets that have no limits on deposit and can be withdrawn anytime. Finblox is inspired by the words "Finance" and "Blockchain". The company, being supported by industry leaders such as Sequoia, Coinfund, MSA, Venturra, Saison, and more, is determined to create a crypto community on a platform that is well regulated and compliant with the laws of relevant jurisdictions.

Investors

About MSA Capital

MSA Capital is an independent global private equity and venture capital firm with over $1.7 billion under management. Their portfolio includes global sector leaders such as Nubank, Klarna, Meituan, Nio, and Animoca Brands.

About Sequoia Capital India

Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO and beyond. Sequoia India operates in Southeast Asia and India where they actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, Carousell, Druva, Gojek, OYO Rooms, Tokopedia, Truecaller, Zilingo, Zomato and more. They spur founders to push the boundaries of what’s possible. In partnering with Sequoia, startups benefit from over 49 years of tribal knowledge and lessons learned working with companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, Apple, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn and Stripe early on. From the beginning, universities, endowments and other non-profits have been the backbone of their investor base, which means founders’ accomplishments make a meaningful difference.

About Coinfund

CoinFund partners with the creators behind the digital assets, key enabling infrastructure, and decentralization technologies shaping the future of blockchain. Their portfolio includes Dapper Labs (CryptoKitties, Flow), Coinlist and Dfinity.

About Venturra Discovery

Venturra Discovery is a Southeast Asia-focused venture capital firm investing in early-stage high-growth businesses. The firm’s primary investment focus is in internet companies that are ready to expand internationally, in sectors including e-commerce, financial technology, marketplaces, healthcare, and education.

About Saison Capital

Saison Capital is a corporate venture capital arm of Credit Saison, a Tokyo-listed $30B AUM consumer finance company and one of the largest credit card issuers in Japan. The fund invests in Pre-Seed to Series B companies globally.

Related Links:

Official website: https://www.finbloxapp.com

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/finblox

Telegram: https://t.me/finblox

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/finblox

CleanSpark, Inc. provides bitcoin mining and energy technology solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Digital Currency Mining and Energy. The Digital Currency Mining segment engages in mining of bitcoin. The energy segment provides engineering, design and software, custom hardware, open automated demand response, solar, and energy storage solutions for microgrids and distributed energy systems to military, commercial, and residential customers; and develops platforms that enables designing, building, operating, and managing of energy assets. This segment also offers microgrid energy modeling, energy market communications, and energy management solutions comprising mPulse and mVoult, which are control platforms that enables integration and optimization of multiple energy sources; Canvas, a middleware for grid operators and aggregators to administrate load shifting programs; Plaid, a middleware for controls and Internet-of-Things products companies to participate in load shifting programs; and mVSO, an energy modeling software for internal microgrid design, as well as owns gasification energy technologies for various applications, such as feedstock for the generation of di-methyl ether. In addition, it provides design, software development, and other technology-based consulting services; data center services, including rack space, power, and equipment; and various cloud services, such as virtual, virtual storage, and data backup services. The company was formerly known as Stratean Inc. and changed its name to CleanSpark, Inc. in November 2016. CleanSpark, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.

Corporate Governance

CleanSpark, Inc.’s ISS Governance QualityScore as of June 1, 2022 is 10. The pillar scores are Audit: 10; Board: 9; Shareholder Rights: 7; Compensation: 10.

Corporate governance scores courtesy of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). Scores indicate decile rank relative to index or region. A decile score of 1 indicates lower governance risk, while a 10 indicates higher governance risk.

Cryptocurrency ATMs are a popular way to buy and cash out digital assets. With their help, you can bypass the banking system. At the beginning of 2021, the total number of crypto atms worldwide was about 24,068. About 50 new ATM's are installed every day around the world. This indicates that the sector is steadily developing and growing. In this article, we will tell you why cryptocurrency ATMs are popular and how they work.

What is a cryptocurrency machine and what is it for

A cryptobank is a device that makes it possible to buy or cash out digital assets. ATMs exist for both Bitcoin and altcoins. As a rule, one ATM only works with a certain coin. The difference from traditional ATM is that there is no need to use a bank card, instead a cryptocurrency wallet is used, to which assets are either credited or debited.

A cryptocurrency ATM is a pretty convenient way to buy coins for cash. They are popular with users who do not have a permanent access to high-speed Internet.

Sector development

The first cryptocurrency ATM was installed in Canada in 2013. It was installed in one of the popular coffee shops in downtown Vancouver. Since then, the sector has been steadily developing. As the level of trust in digital assets increases, so does demand. According to Coin ATM Radar, in September 2020, the number of cryptomats worldwide exceeded 10,000. Basically, cryptocurrency ATMs are located in the USA, Canada and the UK. Demand for the service in the Latin American, Asian and Australian markets is also growing rapidly. In general, cryptocurrency ATMs are installed in more than 70 countries.

Regulation of Crypto banks

Cryptocurrency ATMs make it possible to buy digital assets for cash, which means that they must be submitted to regulation. Therefore, in countries where cryptocurrency is allowed, ATM owners must comply with money laundering laws. For example, in the United States, they have the same responsibilities as banks with their ATMs. They must have a state license, as well as be registered with the Federal Network for Combating Financial Crimes.

In a number of countries, cryptocurrency ATMs are treated ambiguously. They are not banned, but regulators constantly conduct various checks and if something does not suit them, it may come to the point that the owner will simply be arrested. ATM holders often change jurisdiction. However, even in those countries where cryptocurrency is legal, crypto banks are not so smooth. This is due to the authorities' concern that digital assets can be used by fraudsters to launder money.

In Russia, the first cryptocurrency ATM appeared relatively recently, in 2017, in Ufa. At the moment there are only two firms that are engaged in the development of this sector. This is due to the fact that not everything is clear in the country with the legal field of digital assets. When the legislation is spelled out and the cryptocurrency becomes legal, then crypto banks will begin to develop further.

How Cryptocurrency ATMs Work

Before you start working with this kind of ATM, you should find it. It will not be difficult to do this. There are a number of specialized services that will show the nearest ATM on the map. The most popular among them is Coin ATM Radar. After you find an ATM, you should find out what functions it provides. This should be done due to the fact that not all ATMs are multifunctional. Some of them provide services only for the purchase of an asset, others for the sale and cashing out.

Then everything is as easy as in traditional ATMs:

Select the item “Sell” or “Buy”;

Next, you need to scan the QR code of the wallet. It can be either in the application or printed out in advance. The user can also run it manually, but here you need to be careful. If you make a mistake in at least one character, it will be impossible to cancel the operation;

See the course and commission;

Deposit cash when buying, or cash out the crypt using a QR code;

Confirm the operation and wait for the transaction to finish;

In most cases, crypto banks do not accept bank cards, but work only with cash. This is done to avoid canceling the operation that bank cards provide.

Pros and cons of cryptocurrency ATM

Positive

It is usually possible to buy a crypt in an ATM faster than on an exchange, where it will be necessary to pass verification and provide a full package of documents. Verification for the use of cryptomats, in cases where it is needed, takes only a couple of minutes.

You can buy a digital asset with cash.

This is often the most convenient option to buy or cash out cryptocurrency for people who do not have access to the banking system.

Minuses

The exchange rate and commissions are not as profitable as on cryptocurrency exchanges or exchanges.

Cryptocurrency ATMs are usually located in large cities.

An advanced user who is not afraid to use bank accounts and cards to buy or cash out cryptocurrencies, crypto atms, as a rule, are not particularly needed. First of all, it is because of the commissions and the gap in the course.

Conclusion

As you can understand from this article, using cryptocurrency ATMs is not so difficult and sometimes it is profitable. However, if you do not want to overpay the commission, then it is better to use the usual exchanges or exchangers.

What is the situation with cryptomats in Russia

In Russia, the first cryptomat appeared only in 2017 — in Ufa. According to Coin ATM Radar, 51 devices are currently operating in the country: in Moscow, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Rostov-on-Don, Smolensk, Samara, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk and several other major cities.

Russia also has its own manufacturers of cryptocurrency ATMs: RusBit and BBFpro. Both companies have all the necessary permits and licenses, and have passed regulatory inspections.

The development of this sector in Russia is hindered by legal uncertainty. The country has not yet adopted full-fledged legislation regulating all aspects of the crypto market. When the relevant regulations are prescribed, we believe that the number of cryptomats will increase dramatically. If, of course, the legislation turns out to be loyal.