28.03.2024

Bitcoin Rewards App Lolli Partners With Major US Pet Store Chain

Petco is the second-largest pet chain retailer in the United States, controlling nearly 20% of the market according to data from Statista.

Lolli, an app that provides Bitcoin rewards to users when they shop with partner stores, has teamed up with major American pet retailer Petco.

Lolli announced the new partnership in an official blog post on Aug. 23. In the announcement, the company notes that there are two new veins of rewards that come with the partnership. One is that Lolli users can earn up to 3.5% satoshis (sats) of their purchases on Petco’s website, Petco.com.

The rewards deal with Petco

Another is that Lolli users can earn a flat 5,000 sats payment for sharing a photo of their dog and commenting on the partnership. A satoshi is 0.00000001 BTC. Therefore, these users would earn 0.00005 BTC for promoting the partnership with their dog photos. At press time, this amount of Bitcoin is equivalent to a little over $0.51.

Lolli’s expansion with other stores

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Lolli partnered with the American grocery chain Safeway near the end of July. As is the case with the Petco partnership, Lolli announced that they would offer 3.5% back in BTC for their total purchases.

Lolli also partnered with the booking service Hotels.com back in June. This website apparently lists over 325,000 properties in approximately 19,000 locations globally.

Brazil Central Bank Adopts IMF Guidelines for Crypto Classification

The Central Bank of Brazil has moved to classify bought or sold cryptocurrency assets per International Monetary Fund (IMF) guidelines.

Brazil’s central bank announced its decision on Aug. 26. With the new classification under IMF standards, traded cryptocurrencies will be classified as non-financial products and as such, will be accounted as goods on the central bank’s balance sheet.

A central bank balance sheet, just like a regular bank’s balance sheet, summarizes its financial position, and is made up of assets, equity and liabilities.

Since purchasing and selling cryptocurrency involves the execution of foreign exchange contracts, the central bank considers selling and buying crypto assets in their export and import statistics. Moreover, because Brazil is a net importer of crypto assets, this apparently has contributed to lowering the trade surplus on its balance sheet.

Significance of cryptocurrencies on the bank’s balance sheet

According to Cointelegraph Brasil, the classification of cryptocurrencies as a good is significant. Recognition of cryptocurrencies as property would purportedly make them eligible to be used as a payment mechanism.

The central bank notes that these classifications were recommended by The Balance of Payments Statistics Committee – an advisory committee to the IMF Statistics Department that focuses on external sector statistics methodology.

IMF calls for scrutiny on Libra

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath joined other officials in recommending that regulators be vigilant in observing and taking action against Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency, Libra. Gopinath specifically called on global regulators to act immediately. Gopinath cited some specific concerns about Libra, too, saying:

“If you look particularly at countries that are not reserve currency countries, would this lead to backdoor dollarization? … All of these questions (and) whether there will be enough checks and balances in place to prevent money laundering … are very important.”

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