Crypto Industry News:
VTB, the second largest bank in Russia after Sberbank, has piloted a new blockchain-based system for issuing bank guarantees. According to an official announcement last Wednesday, VTB has issued a blockchain-enabled bank guarantee to the country's largest mobile operator, MTS.
As part of the development, the bank issued MTS a guarantee of payment obligations worth 392 million rubles, or 5 million dollars. The commercial operation implemented Masterchain, an Ethereum-based blockchain prototype backed by the Russian central bank.
The parties finalized the transaction in real time and VTB issued a digital guarantee signed with an enhanced qualified signature. The MTS then approved the document by sending the appropriate notification to the bank.
Vadim Kulik, vice president and president of the board of VTB, said that the new integration allows the bank to speed up the process of issuing guarantees and significantly reduces paperwork. He noted that the implementation of blockchain also eliminates the risk of fraud related to bank guarantees.
Alexander Smirnov, Director of Corporate Finance at MTS, stressed that the Masterchain-based bank guarantee system will also reduce operating costs and increase competition between participating banks.
Introduced in 2016, Masterchain is known to be Russia's first certified blockchain platform to use local cryptographic data protection methods. The platform was developed by the Russian Fintech Association together with the Bank of Russia and major financial players such as Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, Tinkoff Bank and Qiwi. VTB's efforts to introduce blockchain-based guarantees are popping up among many major Russian banks actively researching blockchain technology.
Earlier in December, Alfa-Bank, one of the largest private commercial banks in Russia, announced a blockchain-based project to automate services for freelancers. In September, Sberbank - the country's largest state-owned bank - joined a blockchain-based platform to finance commodity trading through a Swiss subsidiary.
Technical Market Outlook:
The BTC/USD pair has moved below the level of $22,000 and made a local low at the level of $21,858 during the pull-back. Since then the market keeps trading around the short-term technical resistance seen at the level of $23,000. The momentum is still strong and positive, so the next target for bulls is seen at the level of $25,000. There is no indication of trend reversal on daily and weekly time frame. The key short-term technical support is seen at the level of $22,000 and $21,858.
Weekly Pivot Points:
WR3 - $31,175
WR2 - $27,625
WR1 - $25,844
Weekly Pivot - $22,429
WS1 - $20,661
WS2 - $17,171
WS3 - $15,431
Trading Recommendations:
Bitcoin made another ATH and bulls are in control of the market. The up trend continues and the next long term target for Bitcoin is seen at the level of $30,000, so any correction or local pull-back should be used to open the buy orders. This scenario is valid as long as the level of $20,000 is clearly broken.