January 21, 2022
JPMorgan has told its clients that ethereum is losing ground to rival cryptocurrencies, such as solana (SOL), in the non-fungible token (NFT) market due to sky-high transaction fees on the network. “It looks like, similar to defi apps, congestion and high gas fees has been inducing NFT applications to use other blockchains,” said JPMorgan. Ethereum Losing Ground in NFT Market, Says JPMorgan Global investment bank JPMorgan sent a note to clients last week explaining that ethereum is losing ground to rival cryptocurrencies, such as solana (SOL), in the non-fungible token (NFT) market. JPMorgan’s analysts, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, detailed that high gas fees and congestion have pushed NFT apps away from the Ethereum network. The analysts noted that Ethereum’s NFT volume share has fallen from 95% at the start of 2021 to around 80%. Comparing NFT apps to decentralized finance […]
January 21, 2022
Shakepay, a Canadian-based exchange platform for bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), announced it closed $44 million in Series A funding. The round was led by QED Investors, a US-based venture capital firm. “We love our devoted community of shakers, and this funding is going right to work to bring you more products and services to help you earn, access, and build wealth in bitcoin. In 2021, we grew 381% to more than 900,000 shakers with $6B in total volume and grew our team from around 20 people to 75 across Canada. Just imagine what this funding could mean for 2022 and the future beyond.”– The Shakepay Team As part of the capital raise, Matt Burton, Partner at QED Investors, will join Shakepay’s board of directors, alongside founders, Jean Amiouny, CEO, and Roy Breidi, CTO. Ongoing participation also came from Boost […]
January 21, 2022
pSTAKE, a protocol for unlocking liquidity for staked assets, has closed its public token sale hosted on CoinList, successfully raising $10 million. selling out a tranche of its native $PSTAKE token. The sale started on December 16, and sold out in 45 minutes, with 5% of the total supply of PSTAKE tokens listed at a price of $0.40 and a total valuation of $200M. The registration count topped 949,000 registrations in total, the highest of any CoinList sale to date, with 20,000 new token holders added to the ecosystem following the sale. On or around January 25, 2022, 25% of the tokens sold will be unlocked, with a six-month linear vesting schedule to follow. pSTAKE is one of the first liquid staking protocols for the Cosmos network. It previously raised a $10M strategic round, attracting some of the biggest names in […]
January 21, 2022
ShapeShift, a decentralized, non-custodial cryptocurrency platform, has announced the launch of its new open-source v2 web platform. The new platform allows users to manage their crypto privately, without KYC, simply by connecting their crypto wallets. In addition to a developer-friendly open-source code base, ShapeShift v2 allows users to track, trade, and earn a yield on cryptocurrency across different chains. Moreover, through building affiliate partnerships with DeFi protocols, ShapeShift DAO can reward users with the platform’s native FOX token from half of the revenue share model. In July 2021, ShapeShift announced that it would decentralize the company and open-source all of its code to build a community around a fully open-source system, which now allows developers to propose and instigate vital changes to the v2 platform. “By initiating changes and collaborating with the ShapeShift DAO, we can create the fastest, safest, and […]
January 21, 2022
Indian government officials reportedly said that India’s cryptocurrency bill will require more time because crypto is a complex subject. The bill is therefore unlikely to be introduced in the upcoming session of parliament. The government reportedly wants to hold more discussions to build a consensus on a regulatory framework for crypto. Crypto Bill Unlikely to Be Introduced in the Budget Session of Parliament The Indian government may not introduce a cryptocurrency bill in the upcoming session of Parliament, the Economic Times reported Wednesday. The government wants to hold more discussions and build consensus on the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, the publication conveyed, citing unnamed government officials with knowledge of the matter. A senior finance ministry official told the publication: The crypto bill may not be introduced in the budget session. It is a complex subject. This will require more time. […]
January 21, 2022
Owing to a security vulnerability in six tokens, Multichain users lost more than $3M over the week. A white hat hacker returned 322 ETH, but in excess of 527 ETH is still exploited.
January 21, 2022
A recent Senate report on digital asset regulation is a pro-crypto statement of intent from the Australian government that the world can learn from.
January 21, 2022
Jack in the Box and FTX have come to an undisclosed settlement over the mascot related copyright suit, suggesting that the Moon Man’s days may be over in its current form.
January 21, 2022
The popular stock and crypto trading platform will allow crypto withdrawals to a limited number of users who signed up for the crypto wallet waitlist program.
January 21, 2022
On Wednesday, U.S. president Joe Biden explained that the country’s central bank was dealing with a large share of the inflationary pressures the American economy is dealing with today. Biden welcomes the possibility of tightening monetary easing and noted that he “respects the Fed’s independence.” US President Joe Biden Says a ‘Critical Job in Making Sure Elevated Prices Don’t Become Entrenched Rests With the Federal Reserve’ Inflationary pressures have been building in the U.S. as consumers are paying far more for goods and services in 2022, and last year’s prices continued to grow worse. American consumers are paying more for housing, rentals, food, raw materials, lumber, and automobiles. Just recently, senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., published a report that said inflation or the “hidden tax” was “only going to get worse.” Furthermore, reports published on Thursday note that U.S. jobless claims […]
January 21, 2022
Mark Zuckerberg appears to have ignited a generational buzz around the Metaverse. Microsoft becomes the next trillion-dollar company to enter this space.
January 21, 2022
NFT investors are demanding that marketplaces recognize and give value to their users, prompting competitors like LOOKS, SOS and WTF to launch ambitious vampire attacks on OpenSea.
January 20, 2022
Good morning. Here’s what’s happening: Market moves: The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization falls under $41,000; ether and other major altcoins also drop. Technician’s take: Oversold conditions are attracting short-term bitcoin buyers. Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis. Prices Bitcoin (BTC): $40,882 -2.2% Ether (ETH): $3,024 -2.8% Top gainers Asset Ticker Returns Sector Cosmos ATOM +4.7% Smart Contract Platform ` Top losers Asset Ticker Returns Sector Ethereum Classic ETC −6.5% Smart Contract Platform Filecoin FIL −4.8% Computing Stellar XLM −3.7% Smart Contract Platform ` Sector classifications are provided via the The Federal Reserve does not commit to launching (or not launching) a CBDC in the long-anticipated document. Agoric Raises $50M in CoinList Token Sale to Bring JavaScript Developers Into Crypto: Some 40,000 investors snatched up the BLD tokens in a […]
January 20, 2022
Robinhood Financial is facing an investigation over CEO Vlad Tenev’s failure to register with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, one of Wall Street’s top regulators, the online broker disclosed Tuesday in regulatory filings. The firm said it received an “investigative request” from FINRA on Monday. In question is Robinhood’s compliance with “FINRA registration requirements,” particularly the status of Tenev and his co-founder, Baiju Bhatt. FINRA wants documents and information, Robinhood said. “Robinhood is evaluating this matter and intends to cooperate with the investigation,” the firm said in the documents. Although it was previously reported that Tenev lacked a FINRA license, the investigation by FINRA is new. It is sure to add scrutiny to Robinhood’s business practices as the popular online stock trading platform prepares to go public. The fintech offers cryptocurrency trading for seven major coins, including fan favorite DOGE. […]
January 20, 2022
The host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer, has warned about dogecoin (DOGE). He said that the meme cryptocurrency is a security and will be regulated. He also questioned the supply of dogecoin. Jim Cramer’s Dogecoin Warning Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s Mad Money, warned about investing in dogecoin (DOGE) Thursday. Cramer is a former hedge fund manager who co-founded Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website. “Please be careful with dogecoin,” he tweeted, adding that the meme cryptocurrency “is a security” and “will be regulated.” In addition, he wrote: “We will find out how many there are and how many are being created each day to make money for the exchanges.” Cramer’s comment about the popular meme coin, which also aired on CNBC Thursday, has drawn a lot of attention on Twitter. Many people disagreed with Cramer. Some expressed […]
January 20, 2022
The CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said the self-regulatory body will look at potential changes to crypto regulations this year as crypto adoption grows, Barron’s reported, citing a virtual conversation with Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) CEO Kenneth Bentsen Jr. on Wednesday. CEO Robert Cook said FINRA isn’t looking at making wholesale changes to current rules, but instead is planning to issue “an early-stage, concept release type of notice,” especially in the context of advertising and disclosure. “We’re not looking to regulate or fundamentally change the regulatory structure here,” Cook said during the webcast, according to Barron’s. “That’s above our pay grade – that’s the SEC, other federal regulators, Congress, figuring out what is the appropriate rules of the road here.” But Cook expressed concern that the range of regulators overseeing the various types of […]
January 20, 2022
Retail giant Walmart has announced it’s looking to get involved in the growing world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and it will also be unveiling its own cryptocurrency in the coming months. Walmart Is Building Its Own Cryptocurrency The news is fantastic in that it suggests more and more that crypto is becoming mainstream and legitimate in the eyes of everyday business ventures. Standard companies, stores, and brick-and-mortar enterprises are stepping deeper into what was once a purely speculative space as the industry grows, gets stronger, and appeals to more individuals and traders. The company has filed paperwork with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Not only is it looking to establish a whole new digital currency, but Walmart is also seeking to develop a wide array of virtual goods including electronics, décor, toys, sporting goods, and personal-care products so it […]
January 20, 2022
Yield App – the official digital asset wealth management partner of premier league football club West Ham United – has unveiled the hotly anticipated Version 2 (V2) of its platform, just 11 months since it launched in February 2021. In this short time, Yield App has garnered more than 70,000 users and more than $420 million in managed assets. The platform currently offers market-leading rates on USDT, USDC, BTC and ETH, as well as attractive rewards for holders of its native token, YLD. This new, second version of the platform brings with it a much sleeker user experience along with a raft of exciting new features, some of which are listed below. Control over compounding and earning V2 brings greater convenience and control, allowing you to view the value of your digital assets in the currency of your choice – […]
January 20, 2022
Cointelegraph’s Crypto Stories series on YouTube highlights the power of crypto to change the lives of people all over the world.
January 20, 2022
The feature can only be used by paid Twitter Blue users on iOS.
January 20, 2022
“The Federal Reserve would only pursue a CBDC in the context of broad public and cross-governmental support,” said the recently published paper.
January 20, 2022
This episode is sponsored by Nexo, Abra and FTX US. Download this episode NLW covers stories that show the full breadth of the crypto industry in 2022. In the first, he looks at a new report from the Russian central bank advocating a near-total ban on bitcoin and crypto in the country, along with new punishments for those who offend. In the second, he looks at news that Facebook and Instagram are testing new non-fungible token features, and that Twitter has gone live with verified NFT profile avatars. See also: Bank of Russia Calls for Full Ban on Crypto “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The […]
January 20, 2022
GLMR could be a top contender in 2022 if Moonbeam’s planned interoperability with the Ethereum Network is a hit with investors and developers.
January 20, 2022
For as long as crypto believers have been Twitter’s NFT verification process is both a bid to keep crypto enthusiasts on the platform and an explicit rejection of former CEO Jack Dorsey’s “Bitcoin-only” philosophy. Though Dorsey is one of the most prominent critics of what’s known as Web 3 – a new iteration of the internet, running on blockchains as opposed to cloud computing infrastructure and private servers – he’s a big fan of Bitcoin, which he’s said could “bring about world peace.” NFTs and Bitcoin don’t tend to mix, at least not yet. Most of the action in the NFT sector has happened in and around the Ethereum blockchain. Ready to show off your NFT? Follow these simple steps to connect your crypto wallet and let’s see your NFT PFPs! pic.twitter.com/epSL7VXG5o — Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) January 20, 2022 For […]
January 20, 2022
London is now home to a record number of bitcoin and crypto-related advertisements, and many are calling for a ban on such promotions as they feel the crypto space is far too risky. London Is Seeing an Influx of Crypto Advertisements Crypto assets are largely unregulated in the United Kingdom, and there is much concern in London and other parts of the country about the volatility associated with these assets. In addition, many fear that people will become addicted to crypto and experience financial harm along the way. Transport for London (TFL) is a subway system that many residents of the city use to get from point A to point B. These cars often feature a wide array of ads for crypto assets or companies, seemingly going against a promise made by Sadiq Khan – the mayor of London – […]
January 20, 2022
Bitcoin (BTC) buyers are attempting to reverse a short-term downtrend on the charts. Over the past two weeks, price action has been anchored around the $40,000 support level, which is where buyers previously stepped in ahead of the October price rally. Still, the cryptocurrency could face resistance around $45,000-$48,000 as intraday signals approach overbought territory. As of press time bitcoin was changing hands at $42,952, up 2.5% over the past 24 hours. The 100-period moving average on the four-hour chart is sloping downwards, indicating a declining price trend over the past month. A decisive break above $43,000 could signal a positive trend shift on intraday charts. On the daily chart, bitcoin appears to be oversold, albeit within a downtrend that began in November. That means upside could be limited given the decline in long-term momentum.
January 20, 2022
The former CEO of Binance.US hasn’t been active on social media for 276 days, and no one seems to have reported seeing her for months.
January 20, 2022
Agoric, a startup dedicated to creating JavaScript-based smart contracts, announced on Thursday it had sold over $50 million of its native BLD tokens in under two hours using the CoinList platform. The public token sale, which took place on Dec. 29, 2021, added to a private sale which garnered some $32 million, announced at the time the Agoric proof-of-stake base layer went live in November 2021. Combined with an earlier seed round, the project has thus far generated over $85 million. The public sale of BLD staking tokens has also brought another 40,000 or so new account holders to the Agoric blockchain. Read more: Smart Contract Platform Agoric Launches Public Chain Agoric started out back in 2018 as a JavaScript-based smart contract coding language, designed to access the popular developer language while bringing a degree of battle-tested security to smart […]
January 20, 2022
The U.S. central bank believes the current financial system might be bolstered by the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), but only one that works within the current network of private banks, rather than a CBDC that the Federal Reserve issues directly to consumers. The Fed released its long-awaited white paper on CBDCs Thursday. It did not commit to creating (or not creating) a digital dollar, but did explain its questions in approaching the issue and ask for public feedback on questions of privacy, financial stability and just how a digital dollar might be used. Fed Chair Jerome Powell alluded to this during a recent nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, telling lawmakers that the report was “ready to go” after several delays. “And by the way, it’s more going to be an exercise in asking questions […]
January 20, 2022
Regulatory uncertainty and tighter monetary policies continue to weigh on BTC price, but data shows bulls are attempting to provoke a reversal.
January 20, 2022
Data shows that spikes in Twitter mentions preceded price peaks in three of last week’s five most discussed altcoins.
January 20, 2022
Mayor Eric Adams previously said he would be accepting his first three paychecks, or $97,000 annualized, in cryptocurrency.
January 20, 2022
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is focusing on bringing cryptocurrency exchanges “inside the investor protection remit,” Chairman Gary Gensler has revealed. “If the trading platforms don’t come into the regulated space, it’d be another year of the public being vulnerable,” he stressed. SEC Focusing on Regulating Crypto Exchanges The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, talked about crypto regulation and the SEC’s priorities in a virtual press conference Wednesday. Gensler said that he’s hopeful cryptocurrency trading platforms will take steps to become more directly regulated in the coming months. The chairman emphasized that additional oversight of crypto trading platforms is crucial for crypto investors to get the same kind of protection they have when trading stocks or other regulated financial instruments. “I’ve asked staff to look at every way to get these platforms […]
January 20, 2022
The commission rejected a rule change allowing listing and trading shares of the First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust, citing similar reasons for disapproving Bitcoin spot ETFs from VanEck in November and WisdomTree in December.
January 20, 2022
Crypto.com has revealed that 483 user accounts were compromised in the recent hack that resulted in unauthorized withdrawals of about $34 million in cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether. Nonetheless, the company stressed that customer funds were never at risk. Crypto.com’s Hack Postmortem and CEO’s Comments Crypto.com revealed Thursday the number of users affected by the unauthorized crypto withdrawals that occurred on Jan. 17 and the cryptocurrencies stolen. The company wrote: The incident affected 483 Crypto.com users. Unauthorized withdrawals totaled 4,836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC and approximately US$66,200 in other currencies. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is $42,083.95 and ether is $3,178.94 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. Therefore, the value of BTC and ETH stolen during the hack is over $34 million. The CEO of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, commented on the security breach on his platform in […]
January 20, 2022
Russian central bank has demanded reinforcement of the ongoing crypto payment ban and seeks to introduce punishments
January 20, 2022
Meta reportedly plans an integration to allow social media users to display their NFTs on Facebook and Instagram.
January 20, 2022
Decentralized storage and computing network Aleph.im raised fresh funds to face Amazon Lambda as a decentralized alternative.
January 20, 2022
Bitcoin startup Shakepay raised $44 million Canadian dollars ($35 million) in a Series A funding round, valuing the company at $251 million.
January 20, 2022
Changpeng Zhao said that the majority of crypto demand and user adoption come from word-of-mouth marketing.
January 20, 2022
Crypto mining’s energy use will be in the crosshairs Thursday as the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee discusses its environmental impact. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will question five witnesses about proof-of-work consensus mechanisms, how crypto networks are powered and what tools or solutions exist to mitigate environmental impacts. The hearing comes one day after E&E News, a Politico subsidiary, revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency blocked two coal-powered power plants primarily focused on bitcoin mining from continuing to operate coal ash, a “toxic slurry produced from coal power.” “The profitability of mining and the increase of the value of [proof-of-work] cryptocurrencies over time supports massive investments in mining facilities, which require ever-increasing amounts of energy to power and cool machines,” a hearing memo said. The witnesses – Cornell Tech Professor Ari Juels, Soluna Computing CEO John […]
January 20, 2022
Jack Dorsey – the CEO of Block, formerly known as Square – has emerged to say that his firm is moving forward on plans to develop an open bitcoin mining system. Jack Dorsey Wants a World Where Everyone Can Mine BTC What does this mean? Basically, all customers of Block will have the opportunity to mine bitcoin and other forms of crypto through a fully accessible system. In a tweet late last week, Dorsey announced: We’re officially building an open bitcoin mining system. The company has been planning the system since early October of 2021 and is now looking to move forward in its plans with the goal of making the largest digital currency by market cap “more distributed and efficient.” These words come directly from the firm’s general manager for hardware Thomas Templeton. Bitcoin mining is a difficult process […]
January 20, 2022
This episode is sponsored by Kava. Today’s Stories: Bank of Russia Calls for Full Ban on Crypto European Shares Waver as Traders Contemplate Monetary Policy Direction | Financial Times Stock Futures Inch Up After Nasdaq Enters Correction – WSJ Featured Story: What You Own When You Own an NFT This episode was edited & produced by Adrian Blust.
January 20, 2022
Despite regulatory uncertainty, the United States is one of the world’s foremost cryptocurrency markets and dominates daily Bitcoin trading volumes.
January 20, 2022
Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is reportedly experimenting with non-fungible token (NFT) technology, according to unknown sources speaking with the Financial Times (FT). Allegedly, Meta is “readying” an NFT feature but it is “at an early stage and could yet change.” Meta and Instagram Are Reportedly Experimenting With NFT Tech A report stemming from the financial news outlet FT says that Meta and the firm’s subsidiary Instagram are currently exploring NFT technology. FT quotes unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that claim Meta and Instagram are conversing about “launching a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs.” However, there has been no official word about leveraging NFT tech from the American multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park. The sources said both companies have been “readying” an NFT feature, but the concepts could change over time. […]
January 20, 2022
Our societies are old – and they’re getting older still. Despite the often abstract rhetoric that surrounds discussions of “future demographic challenges”, the aging of modern societies represent very tangible labor shortages, loss of productivity, and stagnant economies. Keeping our creative brains running for longer will undoubtedly form part of the solution. That’s why we’re immensely excited to announce that Extend My Runway (EMR) has chosen KICK.IO launchpad for its public sale. EMR is a self-styled “brain-energy platform” with an ambitious vision to make revolutionary brain science accessible to millions. Its evidence-based and scalable approach combines the latest insights from cognitive neuroscience with behavioral AI to digitally nudge people to adopt behaviors and habits conducive to a longer and more productive life. EMR works closely with organizations to help them tap into the valuable but often overlooked talent pool of […]
January 20, 2022
“If policymakers take a cautious approach and foster a pro-innovation environment, the rewards for consumers, investors and all Americans are likely to be great,” said Jordan Ramis shareholder Gregory Zerzan.
January 20, 2022
A sharp uptick could have wider implications for the two-month Bitcoin price downtrend, one analyst reveals.
January 20, 2022
Last week, A16z reportedly said it would raise $3.5 billion for its VC fund, as well as another $1 billion for Web3 seed investments.
January 20, 2022
The decentralized exchange aggregator said it hopes to offer users more options for low-costs, high-speed transactions.
January 20, 2022
As NFTs continue their march into the mainstream, it’s important to know how these supposedly permanent digital assets stay that way – or not. IPFS (or the InterPlanetary File System) is a protocol that many NFTs (or non-fungible tokens) point to as their underlying asset. It’s part of the backbone of this new digital economy. NFTs are sold on the idea that a blockchain token that corresponds to another digital file – be they MP3s audio files, JPEGs of digital art or PDFs of mortgage certificates – can have monetary value if it is provably unique. But that non-fungible token, which will live as long as Ethereum or Solana or some such platform exist, isn’t the data it’s pegged to. To make these other files last, many NFT minters have turned to distributed file-sharing systems developed by Protocol Labs – […]
January 20, 2022
The community behind EOS is looking to right itself by renewing tech ties with the network’s OG developer, Dan Larimer, who has engineered a “mandel” hard break from the company that insiders say “burned” its $4 billion blockchain darling. Larimer, who quit Block.one – EOS’s now-estranged mother company – last January, is ratcheting up technical contributions on the software he spearheaded in 2017. In return, EOS Network Foundation (ENF) – now the ecosystem’s de-facto shot-caller – will bankroll Larimer’s development work with token grants in native EOS. Larimer’s “Mandel” upgrade is a hard fork that would give ENF effective control of the EOS codebase – and thus the network’s power seat – if validators adopt it in Q2. Neither Larimer nor Block.one returned requests for comment. Mandel’s release, and Larimer’s return, represent a new chapter for EOS, which went from […]
January 20, 2022
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is lunging into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with the launch of UFC Strike, its own NFT marketplace in partnership with Dapper Labs, the companies announced Thursday. Dapper Labs is, of course, the creator of the popular basketball NFT marketplace NBA Top Shot, which UFC’s product is closely mirroring in its style. The marketplace will feature video NFT “Moments” from the league’s history, each accompanied by audio, crowd reactions and broadcast commentary, according to a press release. “Video is our sweet spot in general, but we’re looking at [UFC’s] partnership a bit differently,” Caty Tedman, head of partnerships at Dapper Labs, told CoinDesk in an interview. “The UFC calendar is so different from the NBA calendar. So we’re going to structure much more around their pay-per-view events, which are like the premier events of their season.” Growing roster […]
January 20, 2022
Spellfire Re-Master the Magic, a modern take on classic collectible card games, has completed its private funding round, raising a staggering $3.8 million. Leading investors DAO Maker and Shima capital, are joined by Genblock, IBC group, Faculty group, IBA, Maven Capital, Autonomy Capital, Terranova ventures, x21 Digital and others who initially funded the project, and interest has since skyrocketed past all initial funding goals. The project is now close to being oversubscribed twice, marking a huge success for Spellfire’s development team, and leaving many of the industry’s top VC investors waiting in the wings. Continued expansion of Spellfire’s reach is now a top priority, and the project recently welcomed two highly respected crypto experts into it’s family. BitBoy Crypto and The Moon Carl join to ensure Spellfire becomes one of blockchain gaming’s hottest topics! Spellfire’s long-awaited, and much-anticipated Token Generation […]
January 20, 2022
Aleph.im, a cross-blockchain decentralized storage and computing network, has closed a $10 million funding round led by Stratos Technologies, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. The funds will go toward team expansion, particularly engineers, and the continued rollout of the network’s infrastructure. Aleph.im is a distributed cloud platform that provides serverless computing services, file storage and databases. The solution is meant to be a decentralized alternative to the likes of Amazon’s Lambda. Aleph allows Web 3 builders, dapps and protocols of any blockchain to decentralize an often overlooked piece of the development stack. “When everyone talks about decentralization, they’re all looking at blockchains or smart contracts,” Aleph.im founder Jonathan Schemoul told CoinDesk in an interview. “The truth is that there is a lot of middleware in between. When you go to a dapp, in most cases, you still […]
January 20, 2022
Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is one of the most important topics in cryptocurrency. The aim of DeFi is to create an entirely new financial system, completely independent of the traditional financial (TradFi) economy. There are billions of dollars being invested into this goal, along with the efforts of thousands of developers around the world. This is part one of our series on DeFi. The aim of this series is to provide a deep dive for financial advisors to further our understanding of this space and create a bridge that we can use efficiently to merge the TradFi world we work in with the new and innovative DeFi space that is being created. This article originally appeared in Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter defining crypto, digital assets and the future of finance. Sign up here to receive it every Thursday. […]
January 20, 2022
When I talk tech trends with technologists, there’s always a tendency to talk up their own book. Cryptocurrency advocates want to talk about all the latest innovations to help people invest in tokens and put their investments to work. Data specialists want to talk about all of the new ways to capture, store, secure and use data to help businesses grow and evolve. And wealth tech specialists throughout the advisor technology stack want to talk about their particular domain. Customer relationship management (CRM) software providers want to talk about CRM, financial planning software providers want to talk about financial planning software, and portfolio and investment providers want to talk about reporting, accounting, trading and managing client portfolios. This article originally appeared in Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter defining crypto, digital assets and the future of finance. Sign up here […]
January 20, 2022
Russia must ban cryptocurrencies, the country’s central bank said in a report released Thursday. The report, “Cryptocurrencies: trends, risks, measures,” was presented during an online press conference with Elizaveta Danilova, the director of the Bank of Russia’s Financial Stability Department. The report says cryptocurrencies are volatile and widely used in illegal activities such as fraud. By offering an outlet for people to take their money out of the national economy, they risk undermining it and making the regulator’s job of maintaining optimal monetary policies harder, the report says. The bank, therefore, suggest Russia needs new laws and regulations that effectively ban any crypto-related activities in the country. In particular, cryptocurrency issuance and organization of its circulation in Russia must be banned. The ban should apply to exchanges, over-the-counter trading desks and peer-to-peer platforms. An existing ban on using crypto for […]
January 20, 2022
Opensea, one of the biggest NFT marketplaces globally, recently announced it is acquiring Dharma Labs. The price is believed to be between $110 million and $130 million. As a result of the new agreement between the two companies, Nadav Hollander, a co-founder at Dharma Labs, will become the new chief technology officer (CTO) at Opensea. Opensea’s New Valuation One of the leading marketplaces for NFTs globally, Opensea recently confirmed it is acquiring the defi crypto wallet startup Dharma Labs. The acquisition of Dharma Labs for a price thought to be between $110 million and $130 million, comes shortly after Opensea’s successful seed round which saw its value surge to $13.3 billion. Following the acquisition, Opensea will move to shut down Dharma Labs’ app in what a Techcrunch reports calls a controversial move. In addition to shutting down the app, Nadav […]
January 20, 2022
Staking platform Stader Labs announced Thursdsay it has closed a $12.5 million private sale led by Three Arrows Capital, valuing the Bangalore-based company at $450 million. Staking is part of the consensus mechanism of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) protocols. Instead of relying on computers solving arbitrary mathematical problems to validate transactions on the blockchain, as is the case with Proof-of-Work, PoS randomly selects those that have staked large amounts of crypto to the chain to be validators. The more staking that occurs on a chain, the more secure the network is. Those that stake their assets are paid interest, in a similar fashion to a bond. Stader is building cross-chain modular middleware that allows users to stake their tokens, and institutions to build applications on top of Stader’s software. An example of this could be a digital assets bank offering staking to […]
January 20, 2022
Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler wants to apply greater pressure on crypto exchanges to bring them inside the market regulator’s purview. Gensler aired his concerns about the dangers to consumers if crypto exchanges are not properly regulated in a virtual press conference on Wednesday, according to a report by Bloomberg. “I’ve asked staff to look at every way to get these platforms inside the investor protection remit,” he said. “If the trading platforms don’t come into regulated space, it’d be another year of the public being vulnerable,” he added. Gensler had previously expressed his desire to see crypto exchanges registered with the SEC for the purposes of investor protection. In December, he said in an interview that exchanges are “doing a lot more than just trading,” given how they also hold crypto tokens and […]
January 20, 2022
When El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender in September, the move received a rapturous reception from the crypto community, with many predicting a change in the debt-ridden nation’s fortunes. Five months later, the perception of the country’s sovereign credit is four times worse than it was. El Salvador’s five-year credit default swap (CDS) has more than quadrupled to $1,800 since early September, according to Bloomberg data shared with CoinDesk by Marc Ostwald, the chief economist and global strategist at ADM Investor Services International (ADMISI). Credit default swaps measure the cost of insuring against a country defaulting on borrowing repayments any time in a specified period. “Salvador’s CDS is telling you a default is expected at some point,” Charlie Morris, CIO at ByteTree Asset Management said. As of Wednesday, the nation’s CDS was second highest in Latin America, behind Argentina. […]
January 20, 2022
The Gemini Dollar (GUSD) is a stablecoin pegged to and backed by US dollars held in FDIC-insured bank accounts. The funds held in reserves are routinely audited by the accounting firm, BPM LLP. GUSD was created by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, which was founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in 2014. Gemini received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to launch its stablecoin in 2018. The company has claimed that GUSD is the first regulated stablecoin, though Paxos also launched a NYDFS regulated stablecoin the same day. The Gemini Trust Company LLC holds USD deposits that correspond to the number of tokens in circulation. The Gemini Dollar is an ERC20 token built atop the Ethereum network, and its smart contracts are audited by security company Trail of Bits Inc. Vision The Winklevoss brothers have said that the […]
January 20, 2022
BlockFills, a Chicago-based digital asset trading technology company, has raised $37 million in Series A round to fuel its expansion plans. The funding round was led by a number of institutional investors like Susquehanna Private Equity, CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6E, Nexo Inc, and others. BlockFills aims to be a one-stop shop for financial institutions that wish to develop a digital asset trading business. While institutions will be increasingly looking to offer digital asset services, many might not have the technical infrastructure needed to do so, which is what BlockFills seeks to address. BlockFills intends to use the capital to offer more upscaled services to asset managers and hedge funds, such as risk mitigation and hedging strategies, according to an announcement on Wednesday. The funding will also be used to expand its financing service for crypto miners. Since August 2020, […]
January 20, 2022
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com said that hackers stole nearly $34 million during the Jan. 17 hack. The Singapore-based exchange, in an update on Thursday, acknowledged that unauthorized withdrawals totalled 4836.26 ether ($15.2 million), 443.93 bitcoin ($18.7 million) and $66,200 in U.S. dollars. On-chain data from PeckShield had previously suggested that 4,600 ether had been stolen and were being laundered via Tornado Cash, an ETH mixer protocol aimed at improving transaction privacy. The hack affected 483 users, all of whom have been fully reimbursed, Crypto.com said. Crypto.com suspended withdrawals on its platform on Monday following reports of “unauthorized activity”, subsequently advising users to sign back in and reset their two-factor authentication. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that the numbers for the hack were “not particularly material and customer funds were not at risk.” A recent hack of crypto […]
January 20, 2022
Shakepay, a company that allows Canadians to buy, sell and earn bitcoin, has announced a $44 million Canadian dollar ($35 million USD) Series A investment led by QED investors, a U.S.-based venture capital firm. The funding will be used to scale the business and launch new products. The valuation of the funding round was not disclosed. Shakepay is essentially a crypto-focused version of Block’s Cash App, allowing users to buy and sell bitcoin, as well as send money to friends. In December, the company launched a beta version of its Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card to a group of 180,000 early access customers. The card lets users earn cashback rewards in bitcoin. “We believe in the widespread adoption of Bitcoin,” Shakepay CEO Jean Amiouny told CoinDesk in an interview. “The adoption of bitcoin as a monetary standard will be better for […]
January 20, 2022
While many countries tend to simply ban Bitcoin (BTC) and virtual assets, regulators in the United Arab Emirates are taking a different approach. The country is consistently building the groundwork for a global blockchain capital. Arabic Cash DeFi (ABIC) is a cryptocurrency pioneer in the Arab world. ABIC is the crown jewel of Arab business Nearly one in four small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed by Visa said they plan to accept cryptocurrency payments. In the same survey, 73% of respondents said that the adoption of new forms of digital payments is a key factor that will affect business growth in 2022. Project Arabic Cash (ABIC) is an independent DeFi from Arab developers that was created in support of the global Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021. ABIC’s technology is designed around a system of loans and deposits, which will allow the […]
January 20, 2022
Cross-chain protocol Multichain tweeted on Thursday that one whitehat hacker returned 259 ether, worth $813,000. Multichain said that three hackers stole a total of 602 ether ($1.9 million). CTO of crypto wallet ZenGo Tal Be’ery told CoinDesk that one attacker stole at least 450 ether, and that the total funds stolen were around $3 million. The hacker who returned the funds kept $150,000, Be’ery said. The CTO found that other than the two main hackers, there were also some smaller players who exploited the vulnerability. The protocol, which was formerly known as Anyswap, told users on Monday to remove approvals for six tokens to protect their funds from a security vulnerability. Hackers were able to exploit the vulnerability and steal over $3 million in cryptos, according to a report. Read more: Multichain Says $1.4M in Ether Siphoned From Users Who […]