El Salvador Adopts Bitcoin As Official Currency; Chaos Ensues, Value Plunges

After passing legislation to make Bitcoin a legal tender, El Salvador yesterday officially implemented the cryptocurrency as an official currency in the country alongside the U.S. Dollar. President Nayid Bukele tweeted just before midnight local time, celebrating the occasion as a part of history. Earlier that day, Nayid announced that the country had bought an additional 200 Bitcoins.

Following the adoption, more than 1000 people marched in El Salvador’s capital to protest the adoption of the digital coin as legal tender. Tyres were burned and fireworks were set off in front of the Supreme Court building, causing the government to deploy heavily militarised police. “This is a currency that’s not going to work for pupusa vendors, bus drivers, or shopkeepers,” said a San Salvador protestor. The Bitcoin legislation allow Salvadorans to pay taxes in Bitcoin and conduct business and trade using the digital currency. Additionally, the currency will not be subject to capital gains tax.

To prepare for the implementation, El Salvador had installed 200 Bitcoin ATMs that would allow its citizens to convert the cryptocurrency into U.S. dollars and withdraw it in cash. The country also developed its own digital wallet called Chivo, which means “cool“, and promised USD$30 (~RM124) for each user. However, when citizens tried to install it yesterday, they found that it was unavailable on the Apple and Huawei app stores. Huawei and Apple later added the app by afternoon, with big chains such as Starbucks and McDonalds announcing that they have started accepting Bitcoin.

That being said, the official digital wallet seemed to not be able to handle the flood of new registrations and was temporarily unplugged. Bukele blamed the overload on the app stores and says that sign-ups will soon re-open. The price of Bitcoin plunged Tuesday morning, from USD$50000 (~RM207900) to USD$43000 (~RM178794), due to the uncertainty and technical issues of the adoption, causing crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken to be overwhelmed with transactions.

In a bold move, Bukele bought another 150 Bitcoins during the price dip, worth around USD$7 million (~RM29.1 million) at the time, increasing the state’s holding to a total of 550. Crypto platform Bitso announced that it would be the official service provider for Chivo moving forward, working with Silvergate Bank – a U.S. federally-regulated and California state-chartered bank – to facilitate transactions in U.S. dollars.

Those who support the move say it will cut the fees Salvadorans abroad pay to send money to their families back home. In 2020, Salvadorans sent home almost USD$6 billion (~RM24.9 billion) from overseas, mostly from the United States. The sum is equivalent to almost a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. When the legislation was passed, the populist president assured its citizens that the use of Bitcoin would only be optional and said salaries and pensions will continue to be paid in U.S. Dollars.

Dogecoin Value Reaches New High At US$0.68 Per Coin

Dogecoin achieved another milestone today, with its value now barking at an average of US$0.68 (~RM2.82) per coin. That is a surge of 30% from its last peak average value of US$0.40 (~RM1.65), which has been bouncing around since mid-April.

It’s interesting to see a cryptocurrency that was created as a joke to the initial wave so many years ago, take centre stage amongst the digital assets. At its launch, Dogecoin’s value was worth significantly less than a US cent; fast forward to January this year, the coin’s value was listed at US$0.0075 (~RM0.031).

While that was still just a fraction of a US cent, it was still a significant rise in value for the coin. However, in less than 24 hours, the coin began trading at US$0.03 (~RM0.12), and then at US$0.05 (~RM0.21). Right after that, the April surge came, and the rest is history.

Dogecoin’s surge in value can be attributed to a variety of factors. Some experts believe the sudden surge in its popularity began after Reddit investors thwarted some Wall Street investors’ plan to “short” – the process where an investor makes a profit from a company’s failure – GameStop’s stocks.

Then there is the coin’s endorsement by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla. Despite his political nuances, Musk’s opinion is somewhat valued heavily within both the advanced science and technology, as well as the cryptocurrency community. For proof of the latter, you don’t have to look any further than his recent US$1.5 billion (~RM5.77 billion) investment into Bitcoin.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Dogecoin will even be available in Malaysia; unless it can be proven to the Securities Commission (SC) that the coin has other applications other than its monetary value, there is little chance for the body to give it an official trading status.

Samsung Galaxy A Series 2021 Trade-Up Program Offers Extra RM 100 On Top Of Trade In Value

In conjunction with the recent release of Galaxy A32, Galaxy A32 5G, Galaxy A52, and Galaxy A72 in Malaysia, Samsung has also launched the Trade-Up program for them. The company has set up a similar program in the past but it was usually for its flagship series such as Galaxy S21, Galaxy Z Fold2, and Galaxy Note20.

So, it is rather interesting to see that there is also one for a mid-range release such as the Galaxy A Series. Not only that, the list of devices that the program accepts seemed to follow the theme as well since it consists of previous Galaxy A and Galaxy J devices.

Leading the list is Galaxy A21S which made its debut in Malaysia back in early June 2020 and has a trade-in value of RM 495 according to the list. Other high-value models in the list include Galaxy A51 (RM 430 – RM 485), Galaxy A71 (RM345 – RM 450), and Galaxy A70 8GB/128GB (RM 420).

At the same time, Samsung is also offering up to RM 100 of additional discount on top of the trade in value. The program which is being held through cooperation with CompAsia does accept other devices that are not listed on the site too, so it seems possible for one to obtain substantial discounts for their new Galaxy A Series 2021 device through this Trade-Up program.

But of course, the final trade in value not only depends on the model of your device but also its condition. For more details, you may want to visit the nearest Samsung Experience Store or participating authorised retailers but don’t take too long though as the program will conclude on 30 April 2021.

Apple Subpoenas Valve For Steam Data In Fight Against Epic Games

Apple is clearly not prepared to give an inch to Epic Games in its ongoing legal wrangle with the owner and creator of the Unreal Engine. To that end, the company took the fight, both to another level and unusual path; it reportedly subpoenaed Valve.

The subpoena, which was filed back in November 2020, demanded that Valve hand over a massive amount of data of the company’s Steam sales and operations that span several years. Now, there are some among you who are probably asking why Apple is bringing Valve into the dispute, especially since the Bellevue company has nothing to do with it.

Well, according to the subpoena, Apple’s lawyers argue that Valve’s documents would bring some relevancy to its case, in the context of Steam being the “dominant digital game distributor on the PC Platform”, as well as being a direct competitor to Epic Games.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Apple’s legal woes with Epic Games began when the latter decided to go against the guidelines on Apple’s App Store and launch its Epic Direct Payment plan on Mobile Devices. In the case of Apple’s iOS, the plan effectively circumvents Apple’s payment platform, and thus enabled Epic Games to avoid paying the 30% cut that the App Store demands from transactions made through apps.

Needless to say, Apple wasn’t all too happy with Epic Games’ move and in response, it removed Fortnite from its App Store.

As to what Apple is requesting exactly, it boils to two “Requests”. Namely, a Request 2 and Request 32, both of which are incredulous, to say the least. Request 2 asks that Valve provide the following:

• Total yearly sales of apps and in-app products.
• Annual advertising revenues from Steam.
• Annual sales of external products attributable to Steam.
• Annual revenues from Steam.
• Annual earnings (whether gross or net).

Then, as if those weren’t enough, Request 32 compounds Request 2 further with:

• The name of each App on Steam.
• The date range when the App was available on Steam.
• The price of the App and any in-app product available on Steam.

To condense all of the above, Apple basically wants Valve to provide details of every game it has launched and sold on Steam, along with the amount of money the platform has made from said games in the set number of years.

Apple has said that the information requested wouldn’t raise the risk of “competitive harm”, but given the nature of the information, Valve very obviously and vehemently disagreed with the subpoena. Even going so far as to say that Apple’s request far from being “narrow”. On that note, Valve argues that it doesn’t keep the information that Apple wants, on the grounds that it doesn’t need it.

At the time of writing, neither Apple nor Valve has commented on the subpoena.

Valve Refuse Apple Subpoena for Six-Year’s Worth of Steam Sale Data in Epic Games Lawsuit

Valve have rejected a subpoena from Apple demanding information on Steam sales and operations for six years, in the ongoing Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit.

PC Gamer reports a joint discovery letter was filed to the District Court of Northern California regarding the subpoena made in November 2020.

The letter explains Apple’s position that Valve’s Steam store is “the dominant digital game distributor on the PC platform and is a
direct competitor to the Epic Game Store.” Apple argue that Epic Games could sell Fortnite on Steam, and as such made a subpoena.

Apple had requested Valve produce “(a) total yearly sales of apps and in-app products; (b) annual advertising revenues from Steam; © annual sales of external products attributable to Steam; (d) annual revenues from Steam; and (e) annual earnings (whether gross or net) from Steam.”

They claim this information “is crucial for calculating the total size of the market for Epic’s available digital distribution channels, which this Court already has found highly relevant to this case.” This was due to the case requiring Apple to prove “the strength of competition for consumers and app developers” among online store.

In addition, Apple demanded “(a) the name of each App on Steam; (b) the date range when the App was available on Steam; and © the price of the App and any in-app product available on Steam.” Apple claim this would help them “determine the scope and breadth of the digital distribution marketplace,” and part of them proving the strength of the competition.

The letter claims Apple and Valve “engaged in several meet and confers,” but Valve would ultimately refuse to provide the requested information. Valve did state that the information requested is available in “some undisclosed, readily accessible format, but generically claims it won’t produce the information because it is confidential or too burdensome to gather in the manner Apple requested.”