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Bitcoin News

Drake Gives $300,000 in Bitcoin to Kodak Black

Bill Kahan Kapri, better known by his stage name Kodak Black, just said that he got $300,000 in bitcoin as a gift from another rapper, Drake, who is also the creator of OVO Sound.

During his most recent visit to The Breakfast Club, a New York-based syndicated radio show hosted by DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne Tha God, Kodak Black revealed the facts of the 6.6 BTC gift he got.

Charlamagne Tha God asked Kodak about his friendship with the OVO Sound founder while chatting about some of his personal experiences.

Kodak described the circumstances behind the gift.

“We do a lot of behind-the-scenes talking and s**t. I ain’t tell nobody but the other week that n***a sent me bitch a quarter-million dollars for no f***ing reason. I don’t even know. Me and my brother Lance, we in the car and s**t. This n***a text me like ‘You got bitcoin?’ I was like ‘nah.’ He was like, ‘Set up a bitcoin then.’ So you know, I’m like, ok, I’m putting two and two together, that’s four, you know what I’m sayin’?”

In regards to the bitcoin in his wallet, Kodak stated that he had no plans to sell the assets. Instead, the American rapper intends to keep the 6.6 BTC present, which is currently valued roughly $254,000, for at least a time.

Celebrities have recently expressed interest in the crypto community. Drake, who gave the bitcoins to Kodak Black, just won more than $1 million in Super Bowl bitcoin wagers. Aubrey Drake Graham, the rapper’s full name, is also a singer and actress.

Drake used his Bitcoin holdings to place three significant bets, including one on the Los Angeles Rams to win the Super Bowl LVI finals versus the Cincinnati Bengals. He was able to win more than a million dollars in bitcoin with the three bets.

Recently, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also teamed up with American rappers Michael Carter (a.k.a. Lil Wayne) and Shawn Carter (a.k.a. Jay-Z) to donate 500 bitcoins to a bitcoin development trust, which was valued roughly $23.7 million at the time.

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Altcoins Price Analysis

Crypto 02/23 Forecast: Cardano, LINK, Polygon

Credit: Twitter

Santiment analysts have presented a strong and oversold screener for ADA, MATIC, CRO, and LINK, accounting for transaction volume, high market capitalization, and active addresses, all of which correspond to low returns at the moment.

The underlying logic is that the high disparity between fundamental factors and current market conditions suggests that these crypto-assets are currently undervalued, and prices are poised to surge further in the coming weeks. Santiment’s experts identified the following oversold (undervalued) tokens by applying this methodology to the current market situation: Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Crypto.com Coin (CRO), and Chainlink (LINK).

In terms of price variation from the model’s theoretically expected level, these altcoins show double-digit percentages.

Cardano and Polygon’s high valuations make them prime acquisition targets. If the cryptocurrency market continues to recover, ADA and MATIC prices may rise at a faster rate. Santiment’s methodology can be supported by technical analysis, which can be used to identify bullish and bearish patterns.

According to the Strong and Oversold Screener, Cardano and Polygon may exit the oversold area due to price appreciation. Crypto.com Coin and Chainlink may have a similar dynamic, but at a slower rate of price fluctuation.

As the cryptocurrency market enters a retention phase, with less fluctuation in the prices of Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies, traders tend to invest in tokens that they believe have a better chance of breaking out of the bearish circle.

The disparity among fundamental and technical factors is influenced by various factors, and Santiment’s analysis is useful for determining which cryptocurrencies are likely to rise in value. Historical data confirms the strategy’s ability to outperform average crypto market returns.

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Bitcoin Regulation

Bill to Regulate Crypto in Brazil is Being Debated in the Senate

The Brazilian Senate is set to vote on a bill that would make Brazil the largest Latin American country to regulate cryptocurrency.

On Feb. 22, the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee unanimously approved the crypto bill, potentially increasing the likelihood that it will pass a vote on the Senate floor. It will be sent to President Jair Bolsonaro for signature once it has been passed by both the Senate and the lower house.

According to the legislation, it establishes guidelines for the provision of virtual asset services.  Brazilian Senator Irajá Abreu stated on February 22 that he hopes the bill will reduce various financial crimes committed with cryptocurrency.

“The intention of the project is to curb or restrict illegal practices, such as money laundering, tax evasion and many other crimes. There is a market that is licit, legal, which is the vast majority of this market, but there are exceptions.”

The bill, which has been in the works for nearly three years, defines various aspects of what constitutes a virtual asset (VA), a broker or exchange, and which branches of the federal government would have jurisdiction over the matter.

A virtual asset is defined in the bill as a digital representation of value that can be traded or transferred electronically and used to make payments or for investment purposes.

A crypto broker or exchange, according to the bill, is a legal entity that allows participation in financial services and provisions and performs exchanges between VA and fiat currency, VA and other VA, VA transfer, and VA custody.

If the bill is passed, Brazil will become the largest Latin American country to regulate cryptocurrency. El Salvador, whose President Nayib Bukele has been vocal about his ambitions to make the country independent of US dollar reliance through the use of Bitcoin, is likely the most well-known LATAM nation to have such regulations (BTC).

Embracing cryptocurrency may have unanticipated benefits. Since last September, when BTC was made legal tender, the tourism industry in El Salvador has grown by 30 percent.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Loopring (LRC): What You Should Know

Loopring, one of a growing number of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, provides its platform by combining multiple cryptocurrencies, including its own LRC cryptocurrency.

Most prominently, Loopring claims that its platform will enable exchanges built on it to avoid the slow speeds and high costs associated with decentralized exchanges on Ethereum by utilizing a newer type of cryptography known as low rollups, or zkRollups.

What is Loopring?

Loopring (LRC) is a second-layer Ethereum protocol that allows anyone to create responsive DEXs. Notably, it was the first protocol to take advantage of the second layer advancements made possible by Ethereum’s introduction of the zkRollup protocol. It provides a wide range of powerful tools, protocols, and infrastructures to help DEX creation and operation. Here’s why Loopring continues to attract new users on a daily basis.

How it Works

Loopring’s architecture enables it to provide all of these advantages. In a novel way, the platform integrates powerful Ethereum smart contracts and ZK circuits. New users can quickly find everything they need to get started with Loopring. The platform explains how to create secure, scalable orderbook-based DEXs, AMMs, and payment apps.

The network employs Zero-Knowledge Proofs as one of its core technologies. This technology is a system that allows users to prove they have access to specific information without directly revealing any of the data. Traditional methods that gradually reveal vital information to the public provide less security than zero-knowledge proofs.

zkRollups use the same technique to combine hundreds of transfers into a single transaction, allowing for quick and cheap trades to take place outside of the Ethereum blockchain. These transactions are then settled on the blockchain, where zero-knowledge proofs are used to validate the accuracy of off-chain transactions.

Users must first send their funds to a smart contract managed by the protocol in order to begin trading on a Loopring exchange, which exchanges then offload the computation required to complete trades from the main Ethereum blockchain. This information includes things like a user’s account balances and order histories.

Loopring then settles transactions on the Ethereum blockchain to complete trades initiated off-chain. These trades are batch-processed in order to reduce costs and increase speed. Loopring claims that using this technique, it can perform over 2,000 trades per second.

Each batch of transactions is then added to the Ethereum blockchain with zero-knowledge proofs, allowing anyone to reconstruct the off-chain transactions. This gives users confidence that the transactions are genuine and have not been tampered with by unauthorized parties.

What Makes it Unique

Loopring offers numerous advantages to the market. For starters, Ethereum has the world’s largest Dapp and DeFi ecosystem. Loopring enhances Ethereum’s functionality and usability by providing a low-cost way to interact with this network. As a result, the platform has become an important saving tool for investors and developers.

Loopring also benefits from Ethereum’s full security guarantees. Ethereum, the world’s second-largest PoW network, is one of the most secure blockchains. Loopring demonstrated its dedication to security by launching with open-source code.

This code has been subjected to multiple third-party audits and has passed them all. Loopring allows developers to create complex DEXs, non-custodial AMMs, orderbook exchanges, payment protocols, and more.

Loopring has the same scalability as top exchanges. The network is built to batch-process thousands of requests off-chain, allowing for high throughput at low cost. Because less data is included, validating a block of transactions is faster and less expensive when using zkRollups and Loopring.

Traditional Ethereum-based DEXs, on the other hand, can settle 2-3 trades per second. Loopring allows for 2,025 trades per second. This scalability is extended to the Loopring network’s exchanges as well.

Bottomline

Loopring is an excellent example of how creative minds can devise novel solutions to blockchain problems. Ethereum is still playing an important role in the market. The protocol reduces the cost of interacting with Ethereum while also assisting in the network’s expansion via DEXs. As a result, the market capitalizations of Ethereum and LRC both rise.

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Altcoins News

Dogecoin-Themed Restaurant Opens in Dubai

A Dubai restaurant took to Instagram to announce that it accepts a variety of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, ETH, BNB, CRO, XRP, USDT, SHIB, and DOGE are among them.

According to a local news outlet, Time Out Dubai, it was launched by Rocket Kitchen, a chain of virtual restaurants that also prepares the all-American menu. Because it is a virtual restaurant, it only accepts orders and delivers burgers to customers. The packaging’s branding reflects the company’s affinity for Dogecoin.

However, it is not the only restaurant in Dubai that accepts cryptocurrencies. Other restaurants have been accepting cryptocurrency since 2014, according to Time Out Dubai. Doge Burger is not the first cryptocurrency-themed restaurant. Welly’s, which opened in Naples last month, is a Shiba Inu-themed restaurant.

Memecoins are rapidly gaining traction in the cryptocurrency space. Elon Musk’s Tesla is among the other companies that have begun to accept DOGE. Tesla plans to accept DOGE at its SuperCharger stations, according to Musk. Musk also intends to open a chain of drive-in restaurants at Tesla’s SuperChargers that will accept DOGE.

Despite its growing popularity, memecoin remains highly volatile. DOGE is currently trading at $0.13, down -6.05 percent in the last 24 hours.

Doge Burger is just the latest company attempting to increase cryptocurrency acceptance in the UAE. The country’s government intends to attract even more cryptocurrency investors. This month, the UAE announced plans to issue federal licenses to cryptocurrency businesses.

The UAE also intends to increase the number of crypto miners in the country. The Middle Eastern country claims that regulating the crypto sector will benefit its economy more. Meanwhile, the UAE is the Middle East’s third-largest crypto market in terms of transaction volume.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Russia Finance Ministry Submits Crypto Bill To Parliament

Russia Ministry of Finance has advanced its plan to regulate the crypto sector by introducing a cryptocurrency bill to parliament, despite a public spat with the country’s central bank over how to handle the asset class.

Despite the central bank’s objections to regulating the burgeoning industry, Russia’s Ministry of Finance has submitted a draft crypto bill to parliament. According to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry on Monday, the proposed bill, which was submitted on February 18, would allow Russian citizens to invest in digital assets such as bitcoin but not use them to pay for goods and services.

According to the announcement, the use of digital currencies as a means of payment in the Russian Federation will remain illegal. Digital currencies are only regarded as a tool for investment within the framework of the proposed regulation.

It went on to say that the proposal does not seek to make cryptocurrencies legal tender. Furthermore, crypto exchanges and OTC desks will be required to meet certain criteria in order to obtain a license and register with the government.

For a long time, Russia’s government and central bank have been at odds over how to approach cryptocurrencies in the country.

Unlike the Finance Ministry, the Bank of Russia insists on a complete ban on crypto mining and trading, citing concerns about the country’s financial stability and volatility.

The Ministry of Finance stated in the statement that the central bank’s concerns will be considered in future work on this bill where they do not contradict the Ministry of Finance’s approach.

The Finance Ministry’s legislation also specifies that crypto transactions must be conducted only through bank accounts. Furthermore, both cryptocurrency platforms and banks require users to go through know your customer (KYC) checks.

Customers must also be informed of the risks associated with crypto investments by exchange operators. Retail investors will be required to pass an exam that assesses their knowledge of cryptocurrencies and the risks associated with them. Those who pass the online tests can invest up to 600,000 Russian rubles per year in cryptocurrency, while those who do not can only invest 50,000 rubles per year, according to the press release. There will be no yearly limits for businesses or qualified investors.

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Gaming News

NFT Game Axie Infinity Makes $4 Billion in NFT Sales

Axie Infinity, a blockchain-based play-to-earn game, has reached a new milestone. According to data from industry tracking site CryptoSlam, the total value of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sold in the game has surpassed $4 billion for the first time.

Axie Infinity’s gaming model entails converting in-game assets into NFTs, which players can freely trade through an in-house marketplace. The majority of Axies (in-game characters that players collect and breed) account for the majority of Axie Infinity’s NFT trading volume. Since the game’s release in 2018, there have been over 2.8 million Axie holders and over 14 million Axie-related transactions.

Axie Infinity has maintained its market leadership position during a period of increased public interest in NFTs. The value of traded Axie Infinity assets is nearly twice that of the closest NFT collection, CryptoPunks ($2 billion), and three times that of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.

Axie Infinity’s latest milestone, however, comes at a time when daily trading volumes for the game’s assets are near yearly lows. This month, Axie Infinity’s marketplace has seen a daily average of $3.2 million in transactions, which is significantly less than the $40 million recorded during the market’s peak in November.

In the run-up to the market decline, the Axie community recorded its largest NFT land sale, worth $2.3 million. However, the current drop in volume reflects the broader crypto market, which has struggled to recover since hitting an all-time high around the same time.

Sky Marvis, the company behind the Axie Infinity game, raised $152 million in October to accelerate development and recently unveiled Ronin, an Ethereum sidechain that now houses the game’s resources. Ronin, in particular, makes transactions cheaper and faster for the Axie gaming community, and has played a significant role in the project’s recent growth.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Everything to Know About Rally (RLY)

Rally (RLY) is a decentralized network that allows organizations and communities to create social tokens. The project’s goal is to enable these organizations to engage with their followers in more meaningful and impactful ways. Notably, Rally offers creators a variety of one-of-a-kind ways to collaborate with their followers.

RLY is the Rally ecosystem’s primary utility token. This token can be used as a cryptocurrency on its own. Its primary goal is to allow users to securely interact with Rally’s features and services. RLY is an ERC-20 token that adheres to Ethereum’s most popular protocol. As a result, RLY can be stored in any ERC-20 compliant wallet. It’s also available on a number of DEXs, including Uniswap.

How it Works

Rally is a public network based on the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol is fully guaranteed by the world’s largest DeFi ecosystem. This technical structure also means that Rally users can seamlessly interact with the vast Ethereum DeFi ecosystem.

On the Rally network, social tokens are created. These tokens can be configured in a variety of ways to meet the needs of the community to which they are intended to serve. Users can enter critical information such as total amount, value, and technical specifications. Smart contracts encrypt the data and incorporate it into the token’s core protocol.

Rally can be used by anyone to create NFTs. Using the network’s NFT dashboard, the NFT minting process is simple. With these digital assets, creators have a lot of leeway. They can enter important information such as the NFT title, issuance data, royalty amount, sales prices, and method.

There are also numerous methods for launching your NFT. The platform allows for both direct sales and auctions. There are also some one-of-a-kind strategies, such as the Open Edition Drop. This feature limits the amount of time people have to buy your collectibles. There are also numerous giveaway options that can help you drive fan engagement.

Using the creator resources feature, content creators can gain valuable insight into the entire token issuance process and launch strategies. This section contains detailed documentation, videos, and tutorials. The creator resources section can assist you in determining the best launch strategy for your token as well as other important project details.

What Makes it Unique

Rally offers a plethora of features and services that are not available on other blockchain platforms to creatives. The entire project is centered on the development of self-sufficient digital economies. These micro-economies can be designed to be both sustainable and profitable.

Rally’s zero-fee structure is one of its most significant advantages. The network does not charge fans for interacting with creators or vice versa. This strategy enables communities to maximize the benefits of crypto integration. It also allows the tokens to be used as part of a community governance mechanism.

The Rally concept’s creators wanted to make sure their project was environmentally friendly. As part of this strategy, they used protocols with low environmental impact. Rally consumes far less energy than early Proof-of-Work (PoW) networks like Bitcoin.

Another significant benefit of Rally is its interoperability. The network was designed from the ground up to work with social media channels and other popular communication channels for creators and fans. A Reddit group, for example, could create a cryptocurrency to provide specialized services to their most valued content providers, among other things.

Bottomline

There is so much to gain from blockchain integration for large communities. The ability to reach instant consensus over large groups is a powerful tool for ensuring community cohesion. It also opens up new avenues for driving innovation and engagement. When using Rally, both content creators and fans gain more ROI opportunities. As a result, the network’s market adoption continues to rise.

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News People

Jake Paul and Soulja Boy Among those Sued for Safemoon Scam

Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, and Nick Carter are being sued for their involvement in the SafeMoon crypto scheme. According to the claims, the hired stars made “false or misleading statements” in order to entice fans to invest in the digital coin.

SafeMoon LLC, the company behind the $SAFEMOON Token, has been sued, along with several celebrity promoters and social media stars, for allegedly misleadingly promoting and selling a bogus scheme.

The company is accused of conspiring with celebrities and others to make the investment appear legitimate and to attract investors on social media, all while “disguising their control” over the tokens being sold.

A scheme like this is popularly referred as Pump and Dump, which is a felony offense intended to increase the price of a stock or security by making baseless, factually inaccurate, or greatly exaggerated insinuations by well-known figures.

The defendants have requested a jury trial, wanting to bring the class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and everyone who purchased the tokens between March last year and yesterday.

According to the lawsuit, Jake Paul and Soulja Boy were liable for participating in a scheme that involved a gradual sell-off of holdings while trading volume from normal investors remained overvalued.

According to the lawsuit, the Promoter Defendants’ improper promotional activities generated enough trading volume for all of the defendants to sell their $SAFEMOON Tokens to unsuspecting investors.

According to reports, SafeMoon founder and CEO Braden John Karony and the company’s other top executives launched the digital token with the intention of selling their holdings for a profit when the numbers reach a certain peak.

Even as the blockchain industry gains unstoppable momentum, crypto exchange company Binance has not steered away from alerting the masses about the risks of making an investment in upcoming cryptocurrencies, which is mostly hyped by mainstream celebrities.

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Bitcoin News People Price Analysis

Joe Biden Meeting Vladimir Putin as Bitcoin Aims for $40k Mark

Bitcoin bulls appear to be reawakening as geopolitical parameters improve. Reports that Joe Biden has agreed in principle to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in what could be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to resolve tensions surrounding Ukraine and avert a Russian invasion have crypto investors virtually going long.

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at around $39K, with a market capitalization of $741 billion.

During an interview on Sunday night, US press secretary Jen Psaki said the meeting would come after a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The meeting is scheduled for later this week.  Psaki stressed that this agreement is conditional on Moscow refraining from an invasion.

In a statement, Psaki stated that the president repeatedly stated that diplomacy would continue until an invasion occurred. Following the completion of the engagement with President Putin, Biden agreed to meet him in principle, assuming there is no invasion. “Diplomacy continues to be our top priority.”

Before this week’s price recovery, Bitcoin fell below $40,000 and dropped sharply as tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border grew and inflationary fears persisted. The majority of other major crypto assets have also declined.

Investors may have also fled cryptocurrency due to an exploit of OpenSea, the leading NFT platform. Over the last year, $40k has been a critical level for Bitcoin. Every time the price fell below and then reclaimed it, we saw a large rally to the upside. This could be an important area to keep an eye on right now.

Categories
Altcoins Bitcoin News

Chainalysis Report: Majority of Crypto Whales are Criminals

According to the Chainalysis 2022 crypto crime report, criminals account for 3.7 percent of crypto whales. This comes as the blockchain analytics firm notes that criminal activity has increased in tandem with market growth over the last year.

According to the latest Chainalysis report, there are approximately 4,068 criminal whales, accounting for 3.7 percent of all crypto whales. According to the report, these criminals have approximately $25 billion in crypto assets. According to the report, Chainalysis has identified 4,068 criminal whales with over $25 billion in cryptocurrency. Criminal whales account for 3.7% of all cryptocurrency whales.

In their report, Chainalysis revealed their method for identifying these criminal whales. Only private crypto addresses with over $1 million in holdings and more than 10% of their holdings obtained from illicit sources were placed in this category, according to the firm.

The report claims that 1,361 of these addresses received 90 percent to 100 percent of their holdings from known criminal addresses. A breakdown of the sources of funds received by criminal whales revealed that the Darknet market was the primary source of funds, accounting for 37.7 percent, followed by crypto scams (32.4 percent), and stolen funds, fraud shops, and ransomware attacks accounting for the remainder. Ransomware attacks accounted for only 1.9 percent of the total, making them the smallest source on the list.

Chainalysis was able to use timezones to try to give strong estimates of the whales’ longitudinal location using data from 768 of these whales. According to the firm, the majority of the 768 criminal whales’ activities could have originated in countries such as South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

According to Chainalysis, illicit crypto transactions accounted for only 0.15 percent of all crypto transactions in 2021. According to the company, the share of cryptocurrency transaction volume accounted for by illegal activity has never been lower. This was stated despite the fact that illicit crypto transactions were at their peak in terms of volume. However, the firm admits that the sheer volume of these activities is still a source of concern, posing a risk to innocent individuals and the crypto space as regulations become unfavorable.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Convex Finance (CVX): What to Know

Convex Finance (CVX) is a novel DeFi protocol built on the Curve Finance stablecoin exchange. Convex’s core concept is to reward Curve liquidity providers and CRV stakeholders with additional DeFi yields.

Convex’s aggressive push to secure as much Curve liquidity as possible has pushed the protocol into a DeFi war with Yearn Finance. Both projects require as many CRV tokens as possible in order to continue raising interest rates for Curve LPs.

Curve Finance has grown to become the world’s largest decentralized exchange in terms of total value locked ($8.76 billion). As a result, any DeFi protocol that absorbs that liquidity into its own protocol will be enormous by default, which is why Yearn and Convex are competing.

The CVX Token

Convex Finance’s native token is CVX. CVX can be used to earn a portion of Curve LP’s CRV earnings by staking it on Convex Finance. As cvxCRV, Staked CVX will receive a portion of the fees (tokenized veCRV). This is done to keep CRV in the system as a boost, but users can trade out their cvxCRV via the cvxCRV/CRV liquidity pool.

Convex CRV fees that would otherwise be returned to CVX stakeholders are locked in veCRV, tokenized as cvxCRV, and distributed to CVX stakeholders. CVX is used to vote on how Convex Finance’s veCRV is allocated to Curve.fi gauge weight votes. To participate, users must vote-lock their CVX tokens. More information can be found on the “Voting and Gauge Weights” page.

How it Works

The product’s features are fairly simple, but the overall goal is to provide an easy way for Curve users to earn more rewards with minimal effort.

When CRV tokens are staked, CRV stakers are rewarded with a share of the platform. The advantages are as follows:

  • Earn a percentage of Convex platform fees in CRV.
  • Earn trading commissions from the Curve platform (3CRV).
  • Receiving liquid cvxCRV enables anyone to exit their staked CRV position.
  • Take advantage of CVX rewards.
  • Claim veCRV airdrops such as EPS (we will do our best to distribute airdrops). Will necessitate collaboration from the other platforms).

While liquidity providers can earn trading fees and claim increased CRV without locking in CRV. Liquidity providers can benefit from increased CRV and liquidity mining rewards with little effort:

  • Earn a high boost and claimable CRV without locking any CRV.
  • Earn CVX points.
  • There are no deposit or withdrawal fees.
  • There are no fees for additional incentive tokens (SNX, etc).

Closing Thoughts

Convex Finance surpassed $1 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) in just two weeks after its launch and now has $4.87 billion in TVL. Despite the fact that the project is only a few months old, it has already received enthusiastic support from some members of the crypto community. Convex Finance is a promising DeFi project that acts as a yield optimizer for the Curve protocol.

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News NFT

Open Losses Millions Worth of NFTs To Hackers

Hackers are purportedly targeting high-value NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace. Hackers are actively stealing NFTs and flipping them for a profit on OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT platform, according to reports. NFT holders across the board are in turmoil. This attack on the OpenSea occurred shortly after it was disclosed that bad actors may steal NFTs using outdated stated prices without the owner’s awareness owing to a fault in the code.

Despite the fact that OpenSea has yet to discover the hack, the marketplace has issued a warning to its consumers via its website and Twitter.

“We are actively investigating rumors of an exploit associated with OpenSea related smart contracts. This appears to be a phishing attack originating outside of OpenSea’s website. Do not click links outside of opensea.io.” 

Because all blockchain transactions are available to everyone, the attacker was able to transfer many NFTs from different users to their own addresses without paying for them. The popular Bored Ape Yacht Club and the Mutant Ape Yacht Club own some of these NFTs. The hacker also took an NFT from the Azuki collection, which he later sold for 13.4 ETH ($36,000).

The attacker still has roughly 600 ETH in his wallet, which is worth a whopping $2 million. The attacker is also behaving strangely, since it returned numerous NFTs stolen from a single victim in one occasion. However, among the stolen NFTs was a BAYC NFT, which the market has frozen.

The most recent smart contract on OpenSea aims to address the problem of dormant listings, which allowed criminals to steal NFTs from collectors by paying a small fraction of the previously listed pricing. Many NFT holders on the site had unknowingly lost their NFTs at a fraction of their current value as a result of this error.

To fix the problem, the marketplace is now requesting that customers switch to the new smart contract. However, it appears that users of this platform are still in risk, as a new threat has emerged. A hostile agent is phishing consumers using a false page that looks exactly like the one produced for the smart contract upgrade.

Users who aren’t aware of the differences are mindlessly following the bogus page, resulting in the loss of personal information as well as valuable NFTs. This is not an OpenSea breach, but rather a phishing issue, according to Ethereum core developer Hudson Jameson.

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News NFT

Web3 In Bringing Crypto into the Mainstream Market

Non fungible token (NFT) was named word of the year in 2021, decentralized finance was trending in mainstream media, and crypto companies made headlines for a variety of announcements. This is undoubtedly due to the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, with many people looking for new ways to diversify their finances and a shift to working from home giving people more time to pursue new interests. Many people have chosen to invest in cryptocurrency.

As discussions shifted away from Bitcoin and toward larger crypto projects such as Ethereum network upgrades and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, news coverage would suggest that mainstream crypto adoption is already well underway.

Web3 represents the future of the internet, with an emphasis on community, in which users operate in a decentralized manner rather than relying on large private businesses or centralized government bodies.

Many see this as the next logical step for the internet, with the concept partially based on the shortcomings of Web 1.0 and 2.0, such as the concentration of power within centralized entities and privacy concerns.

We’ve all seen instances of this in the crypto and DeFi spaces, such as the MakerDAO project, which aims to create a fair global financial system run by the community. As the notoriety of DeFi grew in 2021, more projects and protocols appeared on the market, all striving to bring the benefits of DeFi to as many people as possible. Correspondingly, protocols like Nereus have been designed to address issues like fair governance and user experience, which reflects existing Web 2.0 issues.

Web3 In Bringing Crypto into the Mainstream Market

While cryptocurrency use has increased since the pandemic, the number of new wallet holders has begun to slow. This would imply that something is impeding the next stage of mainstream adoption. While it’s possible that waiting for Web3 to be implemented is the reason, government regulation could also play a role in driving crypto into the mainstream.

Previously, due to its complexity and perceived volatility, crypto was not seen as easily accessible to the mass market. Opinions are beginning to shift as more accessible crypto products, such as stablecoins, crypto-enabled debit cards, and DeFi products, enter the market.

Despite the numerous benefits that crypto and DeFi can provide, some people remain skeptical due to a lack of government oversight, which is understandable. Would crypto enter the mainstream if governments began to establish guidelines?

Given the evidence we’ve seen, the answer is unquestionably yes. Cryptocurrency is arguably already mainstream in countries with comprehensive regulation, such as Singapore, or countries with governments strongly supportive of cryptocurrencies, such as El Salvador and, most lately, Tonga. It is only on the sidelines in countries that are still developing frameworks and deciding on their stances on cryptocurrency.

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Blockchain News

Super Bowl Commercials Raise The Rate of Crypto App Downloads

The money spent on Super Bowl advertising by crypto companies has paid off. According to new data, crypto app installs in the United States increased 279 percent week over week. Following the Super Bowl, Coinbase, eToro, and FTX were among the top five most downloaded apps.

The data was provided by Sensor Tower, a market intelligence platform. Coinbase, which featured only a QR code bouncing around the screen in its advertisement, saw the greatest increase in new downloads. Downloads of Coinbase’s mobile apps increased 309 percent across the App Store and Google Play. The app’s ranking on the US App Store has also risen to No. 2 from No. 124.

Similarly, eToro’s app installs increased by 132% week over week. On February 13, crypto exchange platform FTX saw a 130 percent increase in week over week downloads.

According to the data, the other apps in the top five were the DraftKings Sportbook app and the Caesars Sportbook app, which saw 197 percent and 147 percent growth, respectively. Despite the increased app installations, the cryptocurrency market has been in a downward trend in recent days. The benchmark cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), is down 5.93 percent in the last week. It is now trading at around $39,973, down 2.25 percent on the day. Ether (ETH), the second-largest crypto by market capitalization, has once again fallen below $3,000. It is currently trading at $ 2,787, down -3.25 percent on the day.

To gain more exposure, crypto companies are increasingly leveraging the sports industry. Aside from the Super Bowl, other sporting events that have recently seen an increase in the presence of crypto advertising include Formula One racing. Bybit announced a $150 million multi-year partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing this week.

As a result of the increased visibility, there has been an influx of new users into the cryptocurrency market. According to Glassnode’s Bitcoin on-chain data, the number of daily active entities on the Bitcoin network has increased. While the level of activity is not indicative of a bull market, Glassnode claims that it reflects long-term network effects.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Everything to Know About Curve DAO Token

Curve DAO Token is an Ethereum-based token that powers the Curve.fi ecosystem, which is a blockchain-based decentralized exchange with an automated market maker. Curve DAO Token is the focal point of the one-of-a-kind user interface that taps into the potential of the decentralized finance market.

Curve protocol facilitates the exchange of various ERC-20 tokens while also providing swap support for Bitcoin tokens based on Ethereum and stablecoins such as DAI. Curve acts as a decentralized exchange that connects users to exchanges with the best rates by offering low slippage rates and low fees for exchanging tokens.

Curve DAO Token (CRV) has intrigued your interest, but you’re not sure what it’s all about or where to start? No problem. This article will tell you everything you need to know about cryptocurrency.

What is Curve DAO Token?

Curve (CRV) is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and liquidity provider created specifically for stablecoin users to provide DeFi services. Many Uniswap concepts, such as the integration of an AMM and liquidity pools, are borrowed by the network. As a result, its developers frequently refer to it as the “Uniswap of stablecoins.”

Since the concept was first introduced in 2019, curve has grown in popularity. Today, the project is popular among stablecoin traders and liquidity providers seeking low slippage and deep liquidity. Curve currently has $10,151,190,151.29 in locked liquidity, which includes factory pools. The platform has a daily trading volume of +$166,000,000 on average.

History

Curve DAO was founded and launched in 2020, making it one of the most recent projects in the decentralized finance sector. Michael Egorov, a Russian scientist, developed and created the Curve DAO Token.

Michael Egorov has prior experience with blockchain and cryptocurrency startups, having co-founded and served as CTO of NuCypher. NuCypher is primarily concerned with developing privacy-oriented protocols and infrastructure.

How it Works

The Curve DAO token is the fuel that drives the Curve.fi financial platform, which functions as an exchange and automated market maker. AMMs enable a new trading model in which assets can be exchanged permissionlessly and automatically. Trading is done automatically through liquidity pools rather than through order books.

Liquidity providers are rewarded for creating pools and depositing tokens. Each pool contains token pairs that are supported by that liquidity pool. Pools contain similar assets to minimize impermanent loss and increase the likelihood of returns.

The exchange market is built on liquidity pools, and the protocol connects users to various exchange markets in order to find the best fee rates. Curve.fi ensures low slippage and thus allows traders to maximize their returns. When a network user trades on the Curve network, liquidity providers are compensated for their participation with a portion of the trading fee.

What Makes it Unique

Curve assisted DeFi investors in overcoming some of the issues with Uniswap V1. The developers included some proprietary systems that allowed for efficient stablecoin trading, low-risk transactions, and passive rewards for liquidity providers.

When you first visit Curve, you will notice that the protocol is very simple in both design and technical structure. It’s clear that the developers wanted their platform to work on any internet-enabled device. You can easily navigate the platform and find the critical pool data you need to make investment decisions.

The difference between your trade price and what you actually pay for your assets is referred to as slippage. It is the result of price movement between the time your order enters the market and the time your trade is executed.

Slippage is a major issue for early DEXs. Curve addresses these concerns by emphasizing assets that are directly linked to national currencies.

Curve’s technical structure allows it to provide competitive exchange rates for stablecoins. The low fees are the result of the smart contract’s straightforward design. The system completes the trade in a single transaction, lowering traders’ gas costs. On average, traders pay 30% less in fees when trading stablecoins on Curve versus Uniswap.

Curve’s network capabilities are expanding. The platform currently supports many of the top stablecoins. DAI, USDC, USDT, TUSD, BUSD, PAX, and sUSD are all available for trading. The protocol also supports some BTC-pegged pools via RenBTC, WBTC, sBTC, and HBTC.

Bottomline

Curve DAO and Curve.fi have risen to prominence in the decentralized finance sector in a relatively short period of time since the project’s inception in 2020. Curve.fi makes exchanging ERC-20 tokens and stablecoins simple and cost-effective by offering some of the lowest fee rates and lowest slippage.

Curve’s role in the stablecoin market is growing as the market for stablecoins grows. The network is uniquely positioned to provide stablecoin users with a variety of features that are difficult to find elsewhere. For these reasons, Curve will likely continue to expand its operations in the future.

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Altcoins News

Dogecoin Creator, Billy Markus, Wants Twitter to Allow Tipping in DOGE

Billy Markus, co-creator of the original meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin, has revealed that he will strongly advocate for Twitter to add DOGE as a payment option via its tipping jar, following the addition of bitcoin and, most recently, Ethereum. Twitter has expanded its bitcoin tipping feature to include Ethereum wallet addresses, months after introducing it.

According to a Wednesday announcement, the social media platform has expanded its tipping feature to include a variety of payment options, including Ethereum. This means that users of its mobile app can now tip their favorite content creators in Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, as well as ERC-20 tokens. The new feature, however, will not support Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain names.

The tip jar feature on Twitter was first announced in May of last year. Later in September, the San Francisco-based firm released bitcoin tips. Users who want to tip in BTC can do so by copying and pasting the recipient’s BTC address or by sending payments directly through the Strike app.

Former CEO Dorsey is a well-known bitcoin enthusiast who has stated on numerous occasions that he is not a fan of Ethereum. Notably, now that Dorsey is no longer CEO of the company, Twitter has begun to accept Ethereum tips on its app.

https://twitter.com/BillyM2k/status/1494093976860643328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1494093976860643328%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fzycrypto.com%2Fdogecoin-creator-billy-markus-pushes-twitter-to-enable-doge-tipping-after-ethereum-wallet-support-was-added%2F

Markus, the founder of Dogecoin, has stated that he intends to send at least one tweet with the hashtag #DogeTwitterTipJar every day in order to bring the attention of the Twitter team to the fact that the dog-themed cryptocurrency should be added.

Markus mentioned that current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who took over for Jack Dorsey after his resignation at the end of November 2021, is currently on paternity leave. Nonetheless, he will continue bugging Twitter because he believes Dogecoin tips should be permitted on the platform. “What is crypto tipping without the original tipping currency?” asked the Dogecoin co-founder.

In another tweet, Markus explained why Twitter should add Dogecoin wallet support to the tipping feature, claiming that the coin would be most popular due to its low fees and community ethos. At the time of publication, a Change.org petition urging Twitter to accept Dogecoin had received 333 of the required 500 signatures.

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Business News

Sequoia Capital Will Launch a Crypto Fund Worth $600M

Sequoia Capital, one of the world’s oldest and most successful venture capital firms, has announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency-focused fund. This will be the venture capital firm’s first sector-specific fund since its inception in 1972.

In an interview with The Block, Shaun Maguire, Partner at Sequoia Capital, stated that the Sequoia Crypto Fund will primarily invest in “liquid tokens,” which are tokens that are already listed on cryptocurrency exchanges and those that are yet to be listed.

The fund is $500-600 million in size and is part of the larger Sequoia Capital Fund, which was formed in October 2021 as part of the VC firm’s restructuring. The Sequoia Capital Fund now owns all of the firm’s investments in the United States and Europe, including stakes in publicly traded companies.

In addition to the crypto sub-fund, Sequoia stated that it will continue to invest in cryptocurrency startups through its main seed, venture, growth, and expansion funds, which have a total capital commitment of over $7.5 billion.

Sequoia is not a newcomer to the cryptocurrency space. Since 2015, the VC has been investing in cryptocurrency in both equity and token deals. Last year, the cryptocurrency space accounted for 20% of the firm’s new investments in the US and Europe.

FTX, Fireblocks, StarkWare, and Filecoin are among its portfolio companies. When asked why they’re launching a crypto-focused fund now, Shaun Maguire explained that many founders have increasingly asked Sequoia to take a more active role in token management.

The company will now begin staking tokens, providing liquidity, participating in governance, and trading them in addition to investing in and holding them. According to the company, their network of builders at Ethereum, Solana, major DeFi protocols, and elsewhere urged them to do the same.

Michelle Bailhe, another crypto-focused partner at Sequoia, told The Block in the interview that crypto is still in its early stages and will only grow from here.

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Altcoins Price Analysis

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Forecast 02/18

Another wave of risk aversion hit the financial market, resulting in a significant drop in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin losing nearly $4,000 in value and falling to $40,000. While the majority of altcoins are attempting to recover from a flash crash, Shiba Inu appears unconcerned.

According to TradingView, Shiba Inu is currently experiencing a 5% price increase, following a 57 percent increase in three days. Despite an impressive price increase followed by a significant volume increase, whales and retail traders were unable to sustain the selling pressure for long enough, causing SHIB to drop below the $0.00003 threshold once more.

As for the Shiba Inu whales, who frequently completely change the market’s shape, previously existing buying power is no longer anywhere near the same levels, as the majority of whales have abandoned the market and prefer holding onto the asset rather than accumulating more coins.

Shiba Inu’s main competitor, Dogecoin, was unable to match the same positive performance and is still trading near the month’s low. The most recent market surge did not help the first meme cryptocurrency, which failed to break through the $0.15 resistance zone.

The market’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, is also following the general trend and has lost approximately 8% of its value in the last 24 hours, causing the same price action on smaller cryptocurrencies.

Following a sharp market drop, some digital assets are beginning to show signs of recovery, with Bitcoin trading with a 0.6 percent price increase in the last 24 hours. Traders, however, are not rushing to support the recovery, according to volume profiles.

Categories
Bitcoin News

Colorado To Start Accepting BTC Tax Payments By Summer

The race to be the first state in the United States to accept cryptocurrencies has begun. Colorado Governor Jared Polis recently announced that the state will begin accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment for taxes. The governor also stated that the plan is to eventually extend cryptocurrency acceptance to all payments made in the state.

This was stated by Polis during an interview with CNBC. According to the governor, the state government will begin accepting cryptocurrency this summer, which is less than five months away.

Payments for driver’s and hunting licenses are among the other crypto payments that will be accepted in the state over time. The state aspires to be the center of cryptocurrency adoption in the US.

The Western United States’ governor has also stated that his crypto acceptance plan will not expose the state to the cryptocurrency market. This is because the government will convert all cryptocurrency payments to dollars without holding them for any period of time.

Polis explained that an intermediary will be used to convert the cryptos back to dollars for their purposes. Last month, the governor made a similar clarification while speaking at a National Governors Association meeting.

Aside from Colorado, two other US states may be on the verge of accepting cryptocurrencies. Wyoming legislators have proposed allowing residents to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency.

A close proposition would make Bitcoin legal tender in Arizona and allow it to be used to pay taxes. Other state legislators in the United States have expressed a desire to accept cryptocurrency, attract cryptocurrency investors, and serve as hubs for the rapidly expanding industry.

Furthermore, the US government maintains its skepticism toward cryptocurrencies. Federal financial regulators in the Biden administration have continued to warn about the economic risks posed by digital assets. One such regulator is the SEC, whose chairman Gary Gensler continues to refer to the cryptocurrency industry as the “Wild West.”

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Enjin Coin (ENJ): What To Know

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) gained enormous popularity in 2020, both among investors and the general public. Enjin, a market leader in the NFT industry, is a platform that has been enabling users and other projects to create their own NFTs (and FTs) since 2017.

Enjin offers a complete and easy-to-use tokenization solution with broad applications, with a focus on enabling blockchain and NFTs to evolve the gaming industry, retail reward programs, art, fashion, and other industries.

Enjin (ENJ) has piqued your interest, but you’re not sure what it is or where to start? No problem. This article will tell you everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency.

What is Enjin Coin?

Enjin is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2017 by the company Enjin. 1 Enjin Coin is an ERC-20 token that can be sent and received using an Ethereum wallet. However, the technology that underpins Enjin is capable of much more than just dealing with a single currency.

Enjin is designed to be used in games—you can buy, sell, and trade NFTs using Enjin Coin and the Enjin wallet. For example, MMORPG players may buy an item in Enjin that is usable across multiple games and easily tradeable or sellable in an online marketplace.

The network’s parent company is based in Singapore, and it assists businesses in implementing their own solutions on the platform.

How it Works

Enjin helps with the creation, distribution, storage, trading, and integration of tokenized digital assets in a variety of industries, primarily gaming. The network uses ENJ-backed digital assets to create digital vouchers, NFTs used in gaming, and more.

The network assigns real-world value to every in-game or platform-based asset using a gamified approach. Furthermore, its community management services (CMS) platform enables users to create websites, stores, and forums, as well as modules such as in-game plugins, while reducing fraud, improving settlement times, and lowering transaction costs.

Enjin is well-known for its community management tools, which have helped over 20 million Minecraft users stay connected and form strong networks with other players.

Tokens and NFTs based on blockchain technology can be easily integrated into multiple platforms, allowing for cross-platform collaborations between game developers and major gaming brands such as Minecraft.

What Makes it Unique

According to co-founder Witek Radomski, ENJ is unique in that every token minted using the platform is directly backed by ENJ, the platform’s token. It essentially grants real-world liquidity to in-game items, opening the door to crypto-powered and blockchain gaming, as well as gamified real-world platforms.

Furthermore, Blagov stated that the company’s current focus is on the new platform’s adoption. He imagines a future in which millions of gamers use digital items backed by Enjin Coin without even realizing it. Enjin’s strong use case, combined with the intrinsic scarcity of the ENJ token, creates an excellent value proposition for the project as a whole.

Bottomline

Enjin’s software allows developers to create and manage virtual goods on the Ethereum blockchain. The mission of ENJ is to manage in-game items across multiple properties. This is accomplished by lowering transaction fees, eliminating duplication, and preventing fraud. Millions of transactions take place on the marketplace each month. It provides virtual goods owners with true ownership while providing users with a seamless NFT experience.

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Bitcoin News

The FBI is Establishing a National Crypto Unit 

According to Reuters, the US Justice Department FBI recently appointed Eun Young Choi, an experienced computer crimes prosecutor, to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement division. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made the announcement on Thursday at the Munich Cyber Security Conference in Germany.

Young is well-known for leading the prosecution team in a case in which a Russian hacker was sentenced to 12 years in prison earlier this month for stealing the private information of approximately 100 million customers from JPMorgan, the Wall Street Journal, and other institutions. He is now in charge of leading a team of cyber and legal experts in prosecuting accused individuals in the new cryptocurrency department.

Monaco also stated that the FBI was establishing a “virtual asset exploitation” unit that would be in charge of investigating suspected crypto crimes and seizing virtual assets. The two organs would cooperate and work with international sleuths to bring criminals in the blockchain sector to justice.

The announcement comes just days after the DOJ arrested a New York couple for attempting to launder a large sum suspected of being stolen during the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack, which resulted in Bitcoins worth more than $4.4 billion going missing. As a result of that recovery, crime watchdogs have pushed crypto-related crimes to the top of their priority lists, as crimes in the sector have increased.

Following a string of cyberattacks that frequently result in extortion, such as the one that rocked the United States’ fuel pipeline network and beef supplier JBS by a notorious Russian group called REvil, which frequently demands a ransom in cryptocurrency, Biden and other like-minded leaders have increasingly called for increased scrutiny on the crypto sector.

Despite various countries recovering and prosecuting suspected crypto criminals, there are still 4,068 “criminal whales” with a combined cryptocurrency value of $25 billion, according to a Wednesday report by leading blockchain data analysis website Chainalysis. With the DOJ and FBI stepping up their investigations, it will be interesting to see how these villains navigate the intricate web of snares laid out for them.

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Bitcoin News

President Nayib Bukele Slams US Senators

El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, asked US Senators to stay out of the country’s internal affairs on Wednesday after they demanded an investigation into the economic risks the US faces as a result of the Central American country’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender.

Senators Jim Risch, Bill Cassidy, and Bob Menendez introduced bipartisan legislation in the United States Senate requiring a State Department report on Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador.

The proposed Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador Act (ACES) aims to reduce potential threats to the US financial system, such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

If the bill is passed, federal agencies in the United States would have 60 days to submit a report evaluating various aspects of the Central American country’s cybersecurity and financial stability capabilities.

Bukele, 40, responded on Twitter, saying, “Okay, baby boomers… You have no power over a sovereign and independent country. We are not your colony, nor are we in your back or front yard. Please stay out of our internal affairs. Don’t try to control something over which you have no control.”

El Salvador was the first country in the world to legalize cryptocurrency alongside the US dollar, a move that drew harsh criticism from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Senators in the United States have also expressed concern that the adoption of Bitcoin will weaken the US government’s sanctions policy and increase criminal organization activity.

The Salvadoran government has been chastised by economists and the opposition for failing to be transparent in the process of purchasing and managing the funds, despite having purchased 1,801 Bitcoins since September.

El Salvador-US relations have deteriorated since the White House publicly condemned cases of corruption in Bukele’s government, as well as an escalation of measures to consolidate power.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

What You Should Know About 1inch Network

1inch became a phenomenon in August 2020 after receiving $2.8 million in funding from a slew of well-known venture capital firms, including Binance Labs, FTX, Galaxy Digital, Libertus Capital, Greenfield One, and others. Later in December 2020, 1inch will raise an additional $12 million in a Series A for Early-stage Ventures.

This article will introduce you to the 1inch Protocol, how it works, and everything else you need to know about 1inch and the 1INCH Token.

What is 1inch?

The 1INCH Network (1INCH) is a DeFi ecosystem and multi-chain DEX aggregator. The protocol includes a proprietary aggregation system that can search multiple DEXs (decentralized exchanges) for the best prices and rates. As a result, the network and its token have seen widespread adoption since their inception.

The 1INCH token is a multi-chain token that is available on Ethereum, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The integration with BSC was accomplished through the use of a bridge, implying that no additional tokens were issued on BSC.

The protocol can be used as a utility token as well as a governance token. In terms of utility, 1inch is used as a connector to improve the 1inch Liquidity Protocol’s routing efficiency.

History

At the 2019 ETHNewYork hackathon, 1inch made its public debut. The project’s creators are Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov. Since its inception, the platform has piqued the interest of investors. Notably, well-known tech firms such as Binance Labs, Galaxy Digital, and Pantera Capital invested $15 million in the company.

The network will release its most significant update to date in November 2020. The platform’s functionality and responsiveness were enhanced with the V2 update. It also enabled the system to carry out more complex trades in order to maintain low prices. The aggregator can now reroute money designated as collateral for loans using the decentralized lending protocols Aave and Compound.

How it Works

The network currently supports three protocols: Aggregation Protocol, Liquidity Protocol, and Limit Order Protocol. We’ll go over each of them and examine how they work.

The 1inch Aggregation Protocol addresses the issue of sharding liquidity throughout the market. By utilizing Pathfinder – a routing algorithm that enables 1inch to source liquidity from multiple DEXs – users benefit from the lowest slippage and gas cost possible.

To swap tokens, 1inch searches multiple DEXs such as Uniswap, Sushiswap, and Curve. Following that, it determines the best way to divide the trade into various swap transactions in order to produce the highest quality of trade.

When compared to traditional AMM swaps, 100 percent token Y is still received without the need for any additional procedures.

In order for this model to run smoothly and efficiently, 1inch requires liquidity pools from as many sources as possible. As a result, it has integrated with a wide range of AMMs, including Ethereum, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain, as well as Uniswap, Sushiswap, Pancakeswap, and others. (A complete list is provided below.)

1inch, as a go-to source for AMMs, has also developed an AMM product, the Liquidity Protocol. Both assets in the pool, including 1INCH, benefit liquidity providers. Here are a few examples of pools: 1″OPIUM, 1″ICHI, 1″VSP

What Makes it Unique

The platform is deployed using an innovative method known as routing and a Pathfinder algorithm. This algorithm parses all of the available options in the liquidity pool and automatically routes a client’s trades through the least expensive path.

To obtain a lower rate, the Network can perform multi path swaps, which involve swapping the source token to its destination over multiple paths. No other DeFi aggregation protocol has this feature.

The network is managed by the 1inch community using a proprietary process known as Instant Governance. Holders of 1INCH can vote on key protocol parameters and earn multiple rewards as a result. It is simple for community members to participate in and benefit from the process.

Conclusion

Today, 1inch is very important in the DeFi industry. Users can use the platform to generate passive income, save money on trades, and find the best rates. Furthermore, developers are constantly updating the network to include new features and services. As a result of these considerations, 1inch is expected to remain a popular choice for DeFi users in the future.

The protocol of the network provides an excellent crypto experience and adds significant value to users. Aside from finding the best exchange rates for your tokens, the platform also helps the DeFi space by accelerating transparency and decentralization. The network is a trailblazer in reshaping the way decentralized protocols are managed by offering rewards via an innovative governance model.

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News Regulation

Concerns over Binance Deal With Paysafe

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK’s main financial regulator, has expressed worry over the recent Binance deal with Paysafe, a retail payment processor.

The U.K. financial watchdog claimed the latest Binance arrangement gives it access to the huge retail payments network via Faster Payment Services, a vital function that the crypto exchange halted due to regulatory concerns. In June, the FCA ordered Binance to suspend all of its services. Banks such as Barclays have withdrew their backing for the exchange, causing financial services to be suspended.

Following its cooperation with Paysafe, Binance was able to reintroduce Sterling deposits to its customers and resumed Single Euro Payments Area transactions on January 26.

The exchange has become a source of concern for the financial watchdog, which has labeled it a “serious risk.” However, the financial regulator also stated that it has little influence in these kind of collaborations, according to the Financial Times.

Paysafe, according to the FCA, is aware of their concerns and is subject to close continuing monitoring, which is consistent with their policy for enterprises of its size. He also stated that they are unable to talk further.

The cryptocurrency exchange has claimed that it has been working with the FCA in the aftermath of the warnings to become a compliant exchange in the country. Binance’s regulatory problems in 2021 began in the United Kingdom, when regulators issued repeated compliance warnings to the cryptocurrency exchange, followed by an order to shut down operations.

Hong Kong, Thailand, the Cayman Islands, Japan, and other jurisdictions issued similar regulatory warnings. By the end of the year, the crypto exchange behemoth had mended its ties with a number of Asian countries.

Although the United Kingdom’s crypto regulatory frameworks have yet to be finalized, crypto trading is not prohibited. The lack of a clear framework, on the other hand, forces crypto firms to rely on regulator guidelines, which change on a regular basis. In the United Kingdom, the current regulatory debate is centered on decentralized finance lending and staking. Nonetheless, lawmakers in the country are divided; some want to turn the UK into a crypto hub, while others remain opposed.

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Blockchain NFT

JP Morgan The First Bank to Dive into the Metaverse

JP Morgan, the largest bank in the United States, announced that it has become the first lender to enter the metaverse, opening a lounge in Decentraland, a virtual environment based on blockchain technology.

In addition to the launch of the Onyx lounge (the name relates to the bank’s suite of permissioned Ethereum-based services), JP Morgan published a study on how businesses might identify possibilities in the metaverse.

JP Morgan’s head of crypto and the metaverse, Christine Moy, stated in an email that there is a lot of client interest in learning more about the metaverse, so they put together our white paper to help clients cut through the noise and highlight what the current reality is, and what needs to be built next in technology, commercial infrastructure, privacy/identity, and workforce, in order to maximize the full potential of our lives in the metaverse.

With the mainstream use of non-fungible tokens (NFT), the past year has seen a rapid surge into the metaverse, a catch-all for immersive gaming, world-building, and entertainment, fuelled by integrated commercial applications.

Samsung launched a Decentraland counterpart of its New York shop in January, and Barbados established a metaverse embassy in November, also in Decentraland.

JP Morgan begins its analysis of “metanomics” by noting that the average price of a parcel of virtual land more than doubled in the second half of 2021, rising from $6,000 in June to $12,000 by December across the four major Web 3 metaverse sites: Decentraland, The Sandbox, Somnium Space, and Cryptovoxels.

In time, the virtual real estate market may begin to see services similar to those seen in the actual world, such as credit, mortgages, and rental agreements, according to the JP Morgan paper. It also stated that DeFi collateral management might play a role, and that this could be handled by DAO rather than traditional finance corporations.

According to the study, work in the metaverse will be successful as well, citing a variety of entertainment providers as well as apps such as RTFKT, a virtual shoe designer recently acquired by Nike. According to the bank, another large investment will almost probably be on advertising, with in-game ad spending expected to reach $18.41 billion by 2027.

The JP Morgan paper sought to contrast the hype surrounding the metaverse with reality, stating that several aspects need to be improved. The overall user experience, avatar performance, and commercial infrastructure are examples of these.

Categories
Altcoins News Regulation

Ripple (XRP) Booming Amidst SEC Case

Ripple Labs is locked in a legal struggle with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which it appears to be winning. Ripple has won a number of tiny victories in the case, which could help it establish that its XRP token is not a security, as the SEC contends. A WhiteHouse report could erase all of this in the coming months.

Fox Business journalists Charles Gasparino and Eleanor Terrett disclosed in a recent tweet that their sources close to the SEC’s litigation against Ripple predict the upcoming White House study on cryptocurrency could classify XRP as a security. According to these sources, the SEC may be delaying the matter until the summer of this year, when the crypto report is expected to arrive.

While the specifics of this assertion are unknown, the cryptocurrency market anticipates a White House executive order this month. The Biden administration said last month that it was preparing to issue an executive order on encryption as a matter of national security.

The latest development has skeptics in the XRP community. Members of the community who have been closely monitoring the situation have questioned if a presidential order could override a pending court lawsuit. Mickey B Fresh, an XRP fan and YouTuber, said that an executive ruling would have little impact on the court case due to the checks and balances of the three branches of government.

Twitter user “TAIGxrp” chimed in, pointing out that the White House lacks the jurisdiction, if any, to declare XRP as a security while it is embroiled in litigation. In recent weeks, the judicial battle between Ripple and the SEC has gathered traction. Several key rulings have been made in response to motions filed by both parties.

The most recent motion to be decided was one that denied Ripple’s request to seal some documents from public view. The document, which includes communications between Ripple officials and other parties, was ordered made public by the court. Previously, the court ruled that the SEC was obligated to turn up documents that it had designated as non-disclosable due to Deliberative Process Privilege (DPP).

Ripple has showed amazing tenacity in the face of regulatory pressure. Following the failure of its Series C financing round in 2019, the financial business announced a share buyback late last month. Ripple’s valuation has risen to $15 billion as a result of the $200 million buyback.

Categories
Blockchain News NFT

YouTube Kicks Off Hiring Process for a Director To Manage Web3

The job posting lays out YouTube plans for a push into the metaverse, stating that it is searching for someone to design, convey, and execute the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Web3.

The job posting on LinkedIn requests 15 years of product management experience, as well as familiarity with Internet consumer products and/or cryptocurrency.

It lists experience in purchasing, owning, and trading cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and tokens under ‘recommended qualifications.’

It also requires knowledge of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, consensus methods, network functions, and other Web3 technologies.

In a blog post earlier this month, YouTube chief product officer stated that the business would begin producing metaverse experiences on its video platform.

According to Neal Mohan, the platform would work to add more interactions to games and make them feel more alive. Although the initiative is still in its early stages, the business is eager to explore how they can make these virtual worlds a reality for viewers.

The move is the latest indication that YouTube parent firm, Google, is seriously considering its future product offers.

To keep ahead of the competition, tech giants are focusing on augmented reality (AR). Google’s augmented reality headset, codenamed Project Iris, is slated to be released in 2024.

In June, the search engine giant changed its advertising standards for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers, while it still has limits on topics like as initial coin offerings.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Everything You Need to Know About Qtum (QTUM)

Bitcoin provides a secure means of exchanging wealth, but Ethereum added the capability of allowing developers to construct decentralized apps. Qtum has a goal to integrate the security of Bitcoin with the functionality of Ethereum – all in one revolutionary hybrid blockchain platform that is both efficient and cost-effective.

Do you want to learn more about Qtum but don’t know where to start? No problem. This article will tell you everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency.

What is Qtum?

Qtum is a cryptocurrency that combines the smart contract capabilities of Ethereum with the security of Bitcoin’s unspent transaction output model (UTXO) to create a platform appropriate for large companies to use. Patrick Dai, Jordan Earls, and Neil Mahl established Qtum in 2016, and its initial coin offering (ICO) took place in March 2017.

Qtum (pronounced “quantum”) founders wanted to combine some of the best characteristics of both Bitcoin and Ethereum in order to establish a secure exchange for business-focused decentralized apps (dApps). Qtum wants to disrupt the internet transaction market and merge into industries like finance and social networking. Its currency is referred to as a token.

The UTXO model, a sort of accounting system used by Bitcoin that provides a high level of transactional security, is a fundamental component of Qtum, which is based on Bitcoin. The UXTO system generates a form of receipt for unspent coins after a transaction. Qtum adapted Bitcoin’s UTXO code for its own platform.

History

Patrick Dai, Jordan Earls, and Neil Mahi launched Qtum in 2016. Patrick Dai earned a master’s degree in computer science and worked as the CTO of VeChain and the Chinese Bitcoin mining startup Bitse Group before focusing on Qtum and became the chairman of the Qtum Foundation. Jordan Earls, the President of Earl Grey Tech and the Co-chair of the Smart Contracts Alliance initiative, has been building software since the age of 13. Neil Mahi holds a master’s degree in business administration and has worked in software development for the past 20 years.

The founders are supported by a big team of team members that have previously worked at NASDAQ, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, as well as in the Bitcoin and Ethereum communities. The project is also supported by venture investors, key members of the blockchain industry, and executives from some of China’s leading technological firms. The first Qtum hard fork occurred in 2019, with the release of Qtum 2.0, which updated the consensus method and added new features such as confidential assets, offline staking, and chain-cloud interaction.

How it Works

To accomplish its high goal, the Qtum team changed Bitcoin’s code, allowing its software users to construct Ethereum-like smart contracts apps on top of it.

Simply said, its foundation layer is modeled after Bitcoin’s transaction model (UTXO), while an additional layer on top is modeled after Ethereum’s virtual machine (EVM), the component that executes smart contracts and decentralized programming.

Qtum, like Ethereum, has developed its own virtual machine that allows developers to create and run programs over its distributed network of devices.

Account Abstraction Layer

Qtum’s signature technology, the Account Abstraction Layer (AAL), is the component that allows the Qtum blockchain to interact between these two tiers.

The AAL allows the construction, execution, and handling of smart contracts that operate more like they do on Ethereum by changing Bitcoin’s core code with a set of additional instructions.

Finally, after processing smart contract transactions, the AAL updates the blockchain ledger by adding each transaction to new blocks.

Mutualized Proof-of-Stake

To keep its network in sync, Qtum employs mutualized proof-of-stake (MPoS) consensus, a form of proof-of-stake (PoS).

To validate and execute transactions, nodes must stake QTUM in a wallet. In exchange for validating, processing, and recording transactions, these nodes are rewarded with newly minted QTUM as well as transaction fees included in a block.

Each new block reward is distributed evenly among the nodes who produced the block and the nine nodes that came before them. According to the initiative, hiding the immediate block reward amount from potential attackers reduces the possibility of an attack.

What Makes it Unique

Qtum was the first Proof of Stake blockchain to use the UTXO transaction mechanism in conjunction with smart contracts. The project’s purpose is to integrate Bitcoin’s security with Ethereum’s functionality, all while employing the more efficient Proof of Stake consensus procedure. The unique implementation of the Decentralized Governance Protocol and Account Abstraction Layer technologies, which provide a performance advantage over other blockchains, enable this pragmatic design approach.

Qtum claims that the Bitcoin blockchain is insufficient for determining miner fees because it only examines transaction size. As a result, the project adheres to Ethereum’s gas model, which allows for post-transaction refunding of unspent gas. Qtum, on the other hand, anticipates that the gas price will be significantly different from that of Ethereum and is working on a free-market fee model that will allow both miners and users to optimize operations.

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Altcoins Regulation

US Introduces New Legislation For Stablecoin

The United States Representative for New Jersey, Joshua S. Gottheimer, has released an initial draft of legislation that will help bring regulatory certainty to the stablecoin sector.

According to a press statement issued on Tuesday, the new legislation, dubbed the Stablecoin Innovation and Protection Act, is aimed at developing qualified stablecoins and safeguarding investors’ interests. Only stablecoins that are 100 percent backed by the US dollar and can be redeemed at a 1:1 ratio will be considered eligible.

Stablecoins that meet these conditions could be issued by a government-backed bank or other licensed financial services providers, with the reserve consisting of USD, US debt, or any other asset approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as sufficient cash collateral (OCC).

The cash collateral must also be stored in a separate FDIC-insured account. To oversee the insurance for non-bank stablecoin issuers, the FDIC will be required to establish a Qualified Stablecoin Issuer Fund.

After the measure is passed, the OCC will be in charge of overseeing stablecoin issuers. It will develop rules that will control stablecoin issuers and the market as a whole, in collaboration with other necessary regulatory organizations.

“The expansion of cryptocurrency offers tremendous potential value for our economy. But for cryptocurrency to grow and thrive here in the United States, instead of overseas, we must provide more direction and certainty to the marketplace to help boost innovation and protect consumers… We shouldn’t stifle innovation in the cryptocurrency market. We should ensure the proper safeguards are in place and ensure our nation is a leading force in financial technology.”

This area of the cryptocurrency industry has evolved from less than $1 billion a few years ago to a stunning $179 billion market. Critics, on the other hand, have lambasted the asset class, claiming that it is used to manipulate the values of leading cryptocurrencies. Tether (USDT), the market’s largest stablecoin, has taken the brunt of this criticism.

While the USDT issuer and other stablecoin issuers hold a significant reserve of US dollars to back up the value of the produced tokens, it is not always assured that they can guarantee 100% cash redemption.

Earlier in October 2021, the United States Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) penalized Tether for making false representations about its USDT reserve.

As a result, Gottheimer’s proposed law intends to define stablecoins and create a framework for regulating the fast growing stablecoins market, distinguishing it from other virtual currencies, and safeguarding investors from rogue actors.

The document is still being debated, and Capitol Hill is being asked for feedback. Nellie Liang, the United States’ Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, has endorsed Gottheimer’s proposed legislation, according to Gottheimer.

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Altcoins News

Cardano (ADA) Added To Google’s ICC Rate System

Cardano’s market value has received widespread recognition. Google has now included ADA to their currency converter. Users of the search tool can now convert ADA to a variety of fiat currencies including as USD, GBP, EUR, and others.

With this action, Google affirms Cardano’s status as a prominent cryptocurrency that is widely used. Investors can utilize Google’s infrastructure to make a close price computation of ADA without having to rely on other services. Users who are still unfamiliar with Cardano may be more ready to learn more about it as a result of the new integration.

Although Cardano’s inclusion in the search tool is unlikely to have a direct impact on ADA’s market worth, it may be critical for a bigger audience. Because Cardano employs a proof-of-stake method, the greater the number of users, the greater the platform’s robustness. The integration makes ADA available to residents of both developed and poor countries. As a result of such initiatives, the cryptocurrency market may become more integrated.

Google’s currency conversion rate calculator upgrade is critical for the overall growth of the cryptocurrency business. The tech titan demonstrates that the crypto market is a critical component of current economic advancements.

Many of the advantages that cryptocurrencies give are not available with fiat currencies. As more people become aware of the crypto market beyond BTC and ETH, such proactive decisions will help diversify the crypto business.

If current trends continue, the search engine giant will cover the majority of key crypto projects, as the near-term integration of crypto with traditional markets is unavoidable. In any case, cryptocurrencies are increasing popularity and having a hugely positive influence.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Ravencoin (RVN): What You Need To Know

Mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has evolved from a hobby that people could conduct in their basements to a cottage industry that has become an increasingly centralized part of the economy. It’s become a costly endeavor that necessitates specialized hardware, and it’s still quite energy-intensive. This goes against one of the founding principles of blockchain technology, which is that it should be decentralized. The Ravencoin project is an attempt to buck these trends by allowing anyone with a standard PC to mine, issue tokens, and transfer assets.

Ravencoin (RVN) has piqued your interest, but you’re not sure what it is or where to start? No problem. This article covers everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency.

What is Ravencoin?

Ravencoin is a blockchain that allows anyone to create tokens on its network for a number of reasons, as long as the token’s primary function is to facilitate transfer. Ravencoin’s coding architecture is based on a Bitcoin fork, and the project provides token issuers with an alternative to smart-contract-centric blockchains such as Ethereum. Ravencoin’s key advantage over other platforms is its decentralization-friendly consensus method and security model.

History

The Ravencoin crypto project was created in 2018 by a trio of co-founders: Bruce Fenton, Joel Weight, and Tron Black. Unlike the majority of the crypto community, all three of them had prior experience in business and software development before embarking on this initiative.

Fenton was already well-known in the crypto community, having served on the board of directors and as executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation. He had a remarkable career in investment banking prior to his entrance into blockchains, dating back to the 1990s, when he was vice president of Morgan Stanley.

Overstock.com, the parent firm of Medici Ventures, which built the Ravencoin blockchain, employs Weight as its chief technical officer. He was previously the chief operating officer and chief technology officer of Medici Ventures and is a software developer with experience dating back to the dot-com era.

Black, like the other co-founders, has had a lengthy and successful career as the CEO of various software development companies. He has been involved in a number of crypto projects since 2013, including co-founding CoinCPA and Verified Wallet and serving as a senior software developer at t0.com. When Ravencoin was developed and launched, he was the primary software developer at Medici Ventures, and he is now the president of the Ravencoin Foundation.

How it Works

Although Ravencoin’s programming is based on Bitcoin, it has its own network, asset, and protocol regulations. Other parameters have been tweaked to encourage asset issuance and communication among users of specific tokens on the network.

Ravencoin uses a variant of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus method dubbed KAWPOW to keep its network in sync, with the goal of lowering the barrier to entry for mining on its network.

KAWPOW is utilized by a network of computers running the Ravencoin software to secure the network, validate transactions, and distribute freshly minted RVN, similar to PoW on Bitcoin.

Token Issuance

A user must burn (or destroy) a specified number of RVN coins and give their token a unique name in order to generate a new crypto asset.

Issuers can declare unique attributes for their token at the time of creation, such as the number of tokens produced, the number of decimal places it can be fractioned to, and its fungibility.

Any token issuer, for example, can give RVN awards to their token holders, allowing for the distribution of dividends inside an organization or the creation of incentives within a community.

Messaging

Ravencoin also allows token issuers to send messages to anybody who owns their tokens, allowing specific holders to be notified when new proposals need to be voted on.

Due to the transferability of all RVN tokens, token holders can not only delegate their vote to other network users, but they can also sell their interest in a community at any time.

What Makes it Unique

Ravencoin, in particular, is meant to be mined by a standard computer. Instead of a government regulating the money supply, as governments do, the supply of circulating cryptocurrency grows as it is mined. Miners for most cryptocurrencies use specialized hardware to perform difficult math problems in order to create new blocks, and they may be paid a fee or a block reward for their efforts. Miners, for example, get 6.25 bitcoins for each Bitcoin block they mine and add to the blockchain.

While Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency’s originator (or group of founders), intended for it to be decentralized, the technological know-how and advanced processing technology required to mine it has resulted in the cryptocurrency’s centralization around a small group of miners.

Mining has become more centralized in a few locations of China, where cheap electricity is abundant, in recent years, because enormous amounts of energy are now required to mine Bitcoin. Critics have pointed out that bitcoin mining’s concentration negates one of the technology’s key benefits: decentralization.
Many mining nodes would be required to pull their weight in a genuinely decentralized coin.

The Ravencoin blockchain seeks to address this by generating math problems that can be solved by standard computer hardware. Ravencoin, in particular, employs unique algorithms to eliminate the need for specialized technology to mine the digital currency. This prevents the complexity of the riddles from increasing too quickly, driving out would-be miners.

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News NFT Technology

Parag Agrawal Thinks Twitter Is The Forefront of Web3

Web 3 has won the hearts of developers all across the world, according to Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, who also cites a talent migration. Twitter, he feels, plays a crucial part in this tendency.

“If you think about the broader crypto ecosystem, which includes cryptocurrency, DeFi projects, and all the decentralized technology and applications being built on top of the biggest blockchains, what you notice is this incredible amount of developer energy which is interested in solving problems.”

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, discussed the growing number of developers migrating to Web 3.0 on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. After acting as the company’s CTO, the new CEO took over the reins from Jack Dorsey in December.

In recent months, there has been a surge in developer migration to Web 3. Two Youtube executives left from their positions last month to take up new positions in Web 3 firms. The enormous promise of blockchain technology and the thrill of venturing into unexplored terrain has been a common thread running through these migrations.

Twitter, according to the CEO, is an important part of the ecosystem’s evolution. Twitter, according to Parag, is where everyone in this ecosystem goes to find out what’s going on. On Twitter, the terms crypto and bitcoin were discussed over 100 million times in 2021, indicating that blockchain aficionados’ communities are growing in size.

Twitter has become a trailblazer in the implementation of blockchain technology, in addition to being a melting place for Web 3.0 aficionados. This adoption streak started with Jack Dorsey’s time as CEO and has continued long into Parag’s.

The company launched the Bitcoin tipping tool in September of 2021, which allowed customers to reward their favorite creators on the platform. Following the move’s success, Twitter formed a crypto team, managed by Tess Rinearson, and has hinted at the development of a decentralized protocol project.

The NFT profile image verification, which allows users to validate the authenticity of NFTs and show their NFTs, is the most recent application of Web 3 technology.

Categories
Bitcoin Business News

El Salvador Billion Dollar Bitcoin Bond Launching Next Month

According to the country’s finance minister, Alejandro Zelaya, El Salvador wants to issue its first bitcoin bond in March 2022.

Alejandro Zelaya, speaking on a local television program in El Salvador, said the administration expects to have the bond ready for issuance between March 15 and March 20. He remarked that if they truly want to improve the country, they must do so in this manner.

As previously stated during the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference on November 20, Zelaya acknowledged that the government is still preparing to issue a $1 billion bond for the first time. During the event, he also stated that the bond is expected to be oversubscribed by at least $500 million.

Because this new sort of bond has a $100 minimum purchase requirement and does not require the use of a stockbroker, Zelaya believes that more individuals will be able to buy it than a standard bond. Blockstream’s Liquid Network sidechain will be used to issue the bond. The bitcoin bonds, according to Zelaya, “shall comply with all financial market standards,” including know-your-customer (KYC) and due diligence requirements.

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, shared the stage with Blockstream chief strategy officer Samson Mow at the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference on November 20th, when the Bitcoin bond was first unveiled. Bukele also revealed plans to construct a new, crypto-friendly town named Bitcoin City, while Mow outlined the bond’s specifications.

While crypto fans are thrilled about the bonds and will likely want to acquire them to leave their mark on history, other financial professionals and agencies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have raised concerns about whether they are a good investment and will attract enough investors.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is said to be in talks with El Salvador for a $1.3 billion loan, recently stated that some of its directors are concerned about the hazards of issuing Bitcoin-backed bonds. In the meantime, according to Reuters, the country has a $800 million bond due in January 2023.

According to that November presentation, El Salvador’s first bitcoin bond will have a coupon of 6.5 percent and will maturity in 2032. During the conversation, Zelaya also referenced a voucher. The country intends to spend half of the issue to purchase bitcoin, with the remaining funds going toward energy infrastructure and mining.

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News NFT

Three NFTs Seized by UK Authorities in a $1.89M Fraud Case

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has seized three non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in what appears to be a first for the growing asset class. The seizures are part of an investigation into an alleged tax scam involving 250 phony firms that were used to hide taxes totaling £1.4 million (about $1.89 million).

According to the BBC, HMRC has arrested three suspects in connection with the alleged plot, claiming that they used “advanced ways” to deceive the tax office. To deceive HMRC, the suspects generated phony identity documents, residences, mobile phone numbers, and invoices.

The agency was able to track down the alleged tax evaders and seize cryptocurrencies worth £5,000 (about $6765) as well as three digital work NFTs.

HMRC took advantage of the situation to issue a strong warning to crypto investors who are attempting to conceal taxable income through NFTs. Nick Sharp, HMRC’s deputy director for economic crime, is said to have said that the seizure should serve as a caution to anyone who believes they can hide money from HMRC using crypto assets. He went on to say that they’re always adjusting to new technology to stay on top of how crooks and tax evaders hide their riches.

The recent seizure of NFTs in the United Kingdom may be the first time the new asset class has been seized by a regulatory agency in any jurisdiction. This could indicate that NFTs are rapidly transitioning from “JPEGs” on the internet to assets worthy of regulatory monitoring.

As seen by the recent $3.6 billion bitcoin seizure by US authorities in connection with the Bitfinex breach, regulators have become accustomed to seizing digital assets from offenders. Industry participants, on the other hand, will be watching to see if this trend, as well as other regulatory boundaries, will be extended to NFTs.

Recent incidents of NFT copyright issues and a tax evasion case in the United Kingdom may set the tone for tighter regulatory control of the emerging crypto sector.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

What You Need To Know About Bancor (BNT)

Bancor is a piece of software designed to encourage users to pool their crypto assets in exchange for a part of the fees paid by traders when they buy and sell them.

Bancor is seeking to make the functioning of an automated market maker (AMM) easier by doing so. An AMM is a well-established technique for providing liquidity to markets without requiring a financial institution to operate it directly.

Simply said, AMMs like Bancor are attempting to increase the liquidity of more niche crypto asset markets by incentivizing users to create and manage asset pools.

What is Bancor?

Bancor was founded by Eyal Hertzog, Galia Benartzi, Guy Ben-Artzi, and Yudi Levi in 2016. It is an on-chain liquidity protocol that allows automatic, decentralized exchange on the Ethereum blockchain. Bancor protocol is a trademarked system for the generation of Smart Tokens that is based in Zug, Switzerland. Smart tokens are coins with built-in conversion via smart contracts.

Bancor has received $152.30 million in investment from six investors so far. KR1, Crypto Chan, Alexis Berthoud, Tim Draper, Blockchain Capital, and ICONIZ are among those who have put money into the project. The Bancor Protocol’s total liquidity has almost hit $2.2 billion.

How it Works

Bancor is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to trade one cryptocurrency for another. Bancor and other DEXs, on the other hand, have major disparities. Bancor is fueled by its depositors, to begin with. Your money are utilized to help traders all over the world execute trades. Anyone with a crypto token can deposit it on the Bancor platform, and anyone with a crypto token can swap it out (i.e., place trades).

You will be rewarded as a depositor (staker) for helping the platform run smoothly. Traders must use the Bancor exchange to execute their swaps. The fee is utilized to compensate the depositors who allow them to conduct their business.

The concept of single-sided deposits is what separates the two. Let’s imagine you have some spare ETH in your wallet that you’d like to turn into passive income. There is no possibility to only deposit your ETH on any other available DEX. Each trading pair on a DEX is part of a pool of two crypto assets, and any deposits into this pool must include both assets in equal amounts. To put it another way, each trading pair gets half of the initial investment.

This strategy, however, opens the door to the danger of temporary loss. Simply put, when your savings are vested in a liquidity pool, there is a risk that they will lose value.

Bancor uses the fees it collects to compensate you, the depositor, for any temporary losses. You must lock your cash on the platform for at least 100 days in order to receive total protection — that is, to receive the same amount you invested when you withdraw.

Problems it Solves

When there is no means of trade, the problem of double coincident wants occurs. Money, thankfully, is a genuine medium of trade in our modern world. If this were not the case, any buyer would have to look find a seller who was interested in purchasing the identical products that the buyer was offering in exchange. In the field of cryptocurrencies, Bancor tries to solve the problem of double coincidence of wants.

The business addresses the need for a Smart Token standard that can connect all cryptocurrencies into a self-contained, decentralized liquidity network.

While Bancor allows for frictionless token conversion without the use of an exchange or third-party platform, BNT, the protocol’s core token, serves as the default for all smart tokens issued on the network. The protocol has attracted many token initiatives from well-known blockchain firms. Power Ledger, WAX Token, SENSE, and other startups are among them.

The liquidity challenge for cryptocurrencies is another critical issue that Bancor is attempting to solve. Bancor allows integrated tokens to be converted in a continuous, automated, and formulaic way. Anyone can instantaneously purchase or sell a Smart Token in exchange for any of its connector tokens since the Bancor protocol’s smart tokens contain one or more tokens in a connector balance on the blockchain.

Bottomline

Bancor overcomes various difficulties faced by liquidity providers (LPs) on AMMs as a liquidity protocol that can be implemented on any smart-contract enabled blockchain. Involuntary token exposure is one of these difficult considerations, because most AMMs require LPs to contribute liquidity to both assets in a pool, even if they only hold one. When the prices of pool assets diverge, the difficulty of impermanent loss occurs.

Although newcomers may find the Bancor platform a little difficult to navigate at first, once you get used to it, it’s a snap to trade on. Bancor avoids the majority of the issues that traditional DEXs face by automating liquidity in its network.

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Altcoins News Price Analysis

XRP Forecast 02/13: Is Ripple Hitting the $1 Mark

After plummeting by more than 70% in a correction between April 2021 and January 2022, the price of XRP has continued to recover.

On February 13, XRP/USD climbed to $0.916, well above its 50-week exponential moving average (50-week EMA; the red wave) of $0.833. The upside rise, while not decisive, opened the door for more bullish momentum, according to previous purchasing sentiment around the wave in question.

Traders, for example, successfully regained the 50-week EMA as support in the week ending July 27, 2020, more than a year after it had been flipped as resistance. In April 2021, the price of XRP soared by more than 820 percent to $1.98, its highest level in more than three years.

XRP’s 50-week EMA, on the other hand, served as a significant resistance barrier on several times throughout the bearish cycles between 2018 and 2020. That demonstrated the wave’s ability to endure strong recovery feelings like those seen during the current market bounce.

XRP must now maintain a firm hold above its 50-week EMA, or it may retake $1 in the next sessions. The level, which is about 25% higher than current prices, corresponds to XRP’s two major resistance levels. The first is a multi-month downward sloping trendline that has capped the token’s upward inclination since April 2021.

Meanwhile, the 0.382 Fib line of the Fibonacci retracement level drawn between the swing high of $2.70 and the swing low of $0.10 has a history of acting as both support and resistance for XRP’s strong movements.

The $1-level, while still a lower high, does not appear to be able to break XRP’s correction bias. Instead, it may provide opportunities for traders to lock in their short-term profits, potentially exposing XRP to a reversal toward an impending support target of $0.71, as shown by the Fibonacci retracement graph.

Failure to close decisively above the 50-week EMA resistance, on the other hand, might lead to a fall to the 200-week EMA (the blue wave) near $0.54.

This move risks keeping the price inside a range defined by the 50-week EMA as resistance and the 200-week EMA as support, potentially leading to another negative breakout. As illustrated in the figure below, the bearish view emerges from a fractal from the June 2018-June 2019 session.

XRP’s ascent to a record high of $3.55 in January 2018 corresponded with its weekly relative strength index (RSI) hitting a lower high, confirming a bearish divergence.

Later, the price fell below the 50-week EMA, but the 200-week EMA provided support. The RSI fell to a low of 37, barely over the oversold level of 30.

While the RSI remained above 37, XRP trended horizontally within the aforementioned moving average range. Despite this, the price fell below the 200-day EMA support in June 2019, extending the slide to as low as $0.10 in March 2020.

If the fractal plays out the same way it did in 2018-2019, XRP might fall below its 200-week EMA support near $0.54 in the next days. According to the Fibonacci retracement graph painted from $0.14-swing low to $1.52-swing high, such a move might shift XRP’s interim downside target to the 0.786 Fib line near $0.43.

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Altcoins Blockchain News

Cardano Surpasses BTC and ETH in Transaction Volume

On Sunday, crypto data aggregator Messari.io revealed that Cardano had surpassed Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of transaction volume, rising to first place (adjusted transaction volume in the last 24 hours).

While Cardano reached a high of $17.15 billion in transactions, Bitcoin came in second at $15.1 billion, followed by Ethereum at $8.64 billion.

It is vital to distinguish between “transaction volume” and “adjusted transaction volume.” While transaction volume simply reflects the total value transacted on a specific blockchain network, adjusted transaction volume is essentially a technique to compare UTXO style transaction volume to account-based transaction volume in a fair manner. On both models, it isolates only the relevant economic transactions.

This explains why Bitcoin ranks first in terms of transaction volume in the last 24 hours, with $36.74 billion, followed by Cardano with $17.56 billion, and Ethereum with $10.50 billion.

Cardano’s transaction costs have also been extremely low in the last 24 hours, with the network spending only $51,985 in fees. Despite the network’s average blockchain load meter rating of 81%, which is extremely high for any network.

This is the first time Cardano has surpassed Bitcoin’s adjusted transaction volume, indicating that something is going well. IOHK, the company overseeing Cardano’s development, has recently released a series of improvements aimed at improving network scaling and interoperability.

Plutus, a platform that provides a native smart contract language as well as the necessary tools to implement smart contracts on Cardano, was launched as part of the Alonzo protocol upgrade, which has been a major draw for DApp developers. As the Plutus script and Metadata transactions take over simple transactions on the blockchain, transaction volumes on the network have also increased.

The addition of decentralized exchanges on the Cardano blockchain, such as SundaeSwap, which is already praised for its top-notch security features, has increased the network’s appeal. Users have also been drawn to the network because of its ability to withstand difficulties that plague other blockchains, such as botched transactions caused by network congestion or denial of service (DOS) threats.

Hydra, which boosts network throughput while lowering latency, is to credit for this. Cardano has been able to handle transactions without issue over the past 1500 days or so, as previously reported.

Despite Cardano’s network’s exceptional growth and performance, the price of its token, ADA, has been hit hard by the overall crypto market selloff. As of this writing, the price is still well below its all-time high of $3.10, trading below $1.060, a multi-year yet crucial support zone.

Categories
News NFT

Rare Alien CryptoPunks NFT Gets Sold For Over $23 Million

Another one-of-a-kind CryptoPunks NFT has changed hands in a multi-million dollar transaction.

Last night, Punk #5822, one of only nine Aliens in Larva Labs’ renowned CryptoPunk collection, sold for 8,000 Ethereum. 8,000 Ethereum was worth around $23.7 million at the time of sale. Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of bitcoin infrastructure business Chain, purchased the piece and acknowledged his purchase shortly after by tweeting a photo of the Punk.

Punk #5822 is the most expensive CryptoPunk and one of the world’s most precious NFTs, with a price tag of $23.7 million. Punk #5822, another ultra-rare Alien, formerly held the record for the most value CryptoPunk NFT, fetching $11.75 million at Sotheby’s last summer.

Several more uncommon Punks have sold for millions of dollars in recent months, including Aliens and their slightly more common Ape and Zombie equivalents.

Due to their scarcity, rare CryptoPunk NFTs like Punk #5822 are regarded as gems in the NFT community. More common Punks aren’t quite as valuable, though they still command a rather hefty price: the cheapest on the market trade for roughly 70 Ethereum, or just over $200,000, today.

Demand for CryptoPunks increased last year as NFT craze started to take hold in the crypto realm and began to penetrate the mainstream. Around the same moment that Beeple sold an NFT at Christie’s for $69.34 million, two Alien Punks sold for 4,200 Ethereum each, kicking off the CryptoPunk bull market in earnest.

By the end of the summer, Visa had purchased its own CryptoPunk, and celebrities such as Jay-Z had joined the popular habit of utilizing CryptoPunk NFTs as social media avatars.

CryptoPunks surged in value alongside other NFT collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club as NFTs gained popularity. Despite recent controversies surrounding Larva Labs and its strong attitude to closing down copycat collections, CryptoPunks has maintained a cult-like status, thanks in part to its historical relevance and the “fair launch” process (Larva Labs gave them away for free in June 2017).

The Punk #5822 arrives as several so-called “blue chip” NFT collections trend upward, while significant assets like as Bitcoin and Ethereum are trading roughly 40% off their highs and have been bumpy for weeks.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Decred (DCR): Everything To Know

Decred, one of the first cryptocurrencies, cloned and updated Bitcoin’s code in order to empower and reward token holders who contributed changes to the network.

Decred experimented with approaches to increase user participation in its governance process in this way, and offered an innovative solution.

With this in mind, the Decred team designed Decred as a hybrid-consensus method that incorporates elements of both Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS), with PoW miners confirming transactions and PoS stakers proposing and voting on network modifications. Here is everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency.

What is Decred?

Decred is a cryptocurrency that takes advantage of both the Proof of Work and Proof of Stake consensus algorithms. It also has an intriguing backstory, which we shall look into later. Decred’s mission is to empower the community and give them control over the flow of transactions inside the Decred ecosystem.

A PoW/PoS consensus mechanism combined with transparent governance will prevent any one or group of individuals from dominating the network or controlling the flow of transactions. Decred also wishes to fund their development in a more sustainable manner. Decred’s tagline is “Secure, Adaptable, and Sustainable,” which nicely encapsulates what the company stands for.

History

It all started in 2013, when a developer going by the alias tacotime posted in a BitcoinTalk thread that he was considering developing a new cryptocurrency. The new coin, according to the developer, will be a hybrid cryptocurrency. It will make use of both the PoW and PoS consensus mechanisms. The developer, who goes by the alias tacotime, also stated that technical details regarding the project would be released soon.

The developer did, in fact, create a whitepaper for the new coin. Tacotime launched a new thread on the Bitcointalk website to share the white paper, which was titled “Memcoin2 (MC2): A Hybrid Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Stake Cryptocurrency.” The new coin was created using the btcd platform, which was also created by the Decred developers.

Cryptocurrency was referred to as Memcoin2 in the whitepaper. In terms of concepts, Memcoin2 possessed characteristics of both Litecoin and Peercoin.

Tacotime, the MC2 cryptocurrency’s principal creator, began working on a private coin project in 2014. Monero was the privacy coin project. As a result, Tacotime is also a member of the core team behind Monero. Regardless of his engagement in the creation of Monero, Tacotime was still involved in the development of MC2.

There was one more developer actively working on the MC2 project. On Bitcointalk, the second coder went by the alias _ingsoc. Throughout 2013, Tacotime collaborated with _ingsoc. In early 2014, _ingsoc approached Jake Yocom-Piatt, the CEO of Company Zero, with the notion of MC2, and thus Decred was born.

In 2015, Company Zero published a number of blog posts discussing Bitcoin’s issues and solutions. Later that year, the company debuted Decred as a cryptocurrency. The argument was that Decred did not have the same issues that Bitcoin does.

Decred is based in Chicago, Illinois, and the firm behind the Decred coin is known legally as Decred Holdings Group LLC. Alex Yocom-Piatt, Dave Collins, David Hill, Jacob Yocom-Piatt, John Vernaleo, and Josh Rickman founded Decred. Decred has had one investment round, in which they raised an undisclosed sum from Berlin, Germany-based BlueYard Capital. According to LinkedIn, Decred employs 32 people. They have a diverse staff that includes personnel from the United States, Ukraine, Mexico, Poland, Nigeria, Brazik, Vietnam, Israel, and Canada.

How it Works

Decred was built by cloning Bitcoin’s code, and as a result, the cryptocurrency offers similar functionality with minor differences.

Decred, for example, has a 5 minute block time (compared to Bitcoin’s 10), its mining difficulty varies roughly every 12 hours (compared to Bitcoin’s two weeks), and its block reward is divided among miners, stakers, and a treasury (as opposed to 100 percent issued to Bitcoin miners).

Hybrid Consensus: PoW/PoS

The hybrid Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism at the heart of Decred maintains the dispersed network of computers running its blockchain in sync.

Decred miners, like other PoW cryptocurrencies, devote energy to solve computational problems in order to validate transactions and add blocks to the blockchain.

Decred’s PoS then enables those who own DCR to validate and ratify such transactions while also participating in the network’s governance process.

Stakers are issued ‘tickets,’ which are non-transferable assets unique to the network, with 20 tickets accessible each block. Five of these tickets are then chosen at random, and their owners check the validity of the blocks offered by miners.

Once a block has been settled and put to the blockchain, the block reward is distributed to the parties involved as follows: 60% to miners, 30% to stakers, and 10% to a treasury.

Politeia

Decred’s Politia governance system attempts to establish an open atmosphere for new ideas as well as a vote system for approving and adopting them.

Users who want to propose prospective upgrades or policy changes to Decred governance can do so through the Politeia public proposal web platform, which allows for the submission, tracking, and discussion of proposed changes to Decred governance.

Bottomline

Today, there are over 5000 cryptocurrencies, the majority of which exist to compete with Bitcoin. The majority of these cryptocurrencies are based on the idea of becoming what Bitcoin cannot. Decred, for its part, has had decent success thus far, ranking in the top 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

It elevates Decred above thousands of other cryptocurrencies. Decred is currently a kind of hidden treasure in the cryptocurrency industry. It is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing crypto projects in existence today, as one of the top projects employing the PoW/PoS hybrid architecture.

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Blockchain News Technology

More Update On the Ripple vs. SEC Case

The legal battle between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has taken a new turn, with Ripple filing a fresh move to compel the government to turn up notes from a meeting between its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and a former SEC commissioner.

Ripple filed the move on February 10, requesting that the SEC provide over the notes from the November 9, 2018, meeting between Garlinghouse and former SEC commissioner Elad Roisman. In the motion, Ripple informs Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn that the regulator refused to provide the records because they are privileged.

The filing stated: “Exactly one week after the Court issued its ruling on the application of the deliberative in this case, following months of negotiation, letters, briefing, and argument, the SEC produced yet another privilege log listing just two documents, and asserting the DPP over both,”

The legal team for Ripple argued that the SEC should not claim privilege because the meeting was between the commissioner and a third party and hence not an internal matter. Furthermore, the SEC admitted that the conversation was not about a possible Ripple enforcement probe.

The motion further emphasizes that the conference records provided to the SEC show that the Ripple CEO departed the meeting believing that the securities watchdog was well aware of the legal limbo caused by regulatory ambiguity.

Ripple’s case, in which Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen are accused of executing a year-long unauthorized selling of $1.3 billion in the XRP cryptocurrency, is going rather smoothly.

The court decided earlier this month that two secret documents must be unsealed and made public by Feb. 17. Larsen, who included the documents as secret exhibits in his application to dismiss the SEC’s action against him, claimed that the 2012 documents did not refer to XRP as a security or investment contract.

Categories
Altcoins Blockchain News

Coinbase Removes “How to Buy” Links From Website

According to Reuters, popular crypto exchange, Coinbase has removed access to “how to buy” instructions for three cryptocurrency projects from its website.

The tokens – DeFi100, Mercenary, and SQUID – have been recognized as rug pulls, and the exchange believes that leaving the links on its website may result in users losing their cash. According to Coinbase representative Jaclyn Sales, the links were removed from the site after Reuters published a piece on the issue this week.

Sales stated that the pages were built using data from the main cryptocurrency price tracking website CoinMarketCap. The person also stated that the sites included a disclaimer stating that the content was not investment advice and that the company was not accountable for errors or delays as a result.

However, CoinMarketCap’s vice president of growth and operations, Shaun Heng, stated that the pages were not created by them and that they were not in conjunction with Coinbase.

“Crypto can’t grow without strong cryptography and strong security, but it also needs to be user friendly. Secure multi-party computation is an application of advanced mathematics to enable crypto assets to be stored, transferred, and deployed more securely, easily, and flexibly than ever before,” Coinbase said.

Coinbase, which was founded ten years ago, is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to purchase and sell cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and about 50 altcoins. With over 73 million global users, the platform is currently the largest in the United States.

With bad actors targeting trading platforms, Coinbase is not letting its guard down and has recently increased security to safeguard its consumers from scammers and hackers alike.

To bolster its security, the exchange announced last year the acquisition of top Israeli crypto custody infrastructure business Unbound Security.

Categories
Bitcoin News Regulation

Governor Of Hungary’s Central Bank Proposes EU-Wide Ban On Bitcoin

The Governor of the Hungarian National Bank, György Matolcsy, has advocated a blanket ban on all cryptocurrency trading and mining operations within the European Union.

Governor Matolcsy referenced China’s recent crypto prohibition in a blog post headlined “Time has come to ban crypto trading and mining in the EU,” which was shared by the Hungarian central bank, a.k.a. Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB).

He also mentioned the Russian central bank’s plan for a total ban on domestic cryptocurrency trading and mining. Matolcsy agreed with the recommendations for a crypto prohibition, saying that he fully supports the suggestion and agrees with the senior EU financial regulator’s view that the EU should prohibit the mining method used to generate the majority of new bitcoin.

The governor is convinced that cryptocurrency has the potential to “serve illicit operations and tend to form financial pyramids.” Matolcsy further emphasized the Russian central bank’s concern that the market value of cryptocurrency is decided by “speculative demand for future growth, which produces bubbles.”

Finally, Governor Matolcsy advocates for an absolute ban on cryptocurrencies to protect investors from the hazards associated with financial pyramids and bubbles.

For quite some time, the EU has been debating central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Mairead McGuinness, EU Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and the Capital Markets Union, said during a Wednesday fintech conference that the EU will legally create a legal framework for releasing the digital euro in early 2023.

A digital euro would be the European Union’s version of a CBDC issued and managed by the European Central Bank (ECB). “Our intention is to introduce legislation in early 2023.” “In the coming weeks, there will be a targeted legislative consultation,” McGuinness added.

The ECB is currently conducting internal pilot tests of the digital euro and wants to have a prototype ready by the end of next year. The Central Bank can then determine whether or not to proceed with the establishment of the digital euro, and if they agree, the CBDC might be implemented by 2025.

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Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

Everything You Need To Know About Compound (COMP)

Compound (COMP) is a blockchain-based decentralized system that runs on the Ethereum network. The Compound protocol, which has its own ERC-20 token, COMP, functions as a decentralized application that provides decentralized finance (DeFi) functionalities directly on the Ethereum blockchain. Users can request loans or earn interest by lending cryptocurrencies they own via the Compound system, which is powered by autonomous smart contracts.

Are you interested in Compound (COMP), but aren’t sure what it is or where to start? No problem. This article will tell you everything you need to know about Compound.

What is Compound?

COMP is the Compound Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol’s governance token. DeFi networks are attempting to decentralize traditional financial systems. Regular consumers thereby earn a part of revenues that were previously exclusively available to huge financial firms.

Compound is an Ethereum blockchain-based algorithmic money market protocol. This network is notable for being attributed with igniting the current DeFi mania. In mid-summer 2020, Compound was the first platform to introduce yield farming to the market. In many ways, yield farming is analogous to staking cryptocurrency.

Users entrust their cryptocurrency to massive farming pools. You are rewarded according on the quantity of cryptocurrency you lock and the length of time you engage in the pool. In comparison to staking pools, yield farming pools have substantially shorter lockup periods. Many do not have mandatory lockup terms.

The yield farming protocol of Compound acts as a decentralized financing system. Large lending pools benefit from the liquidity provided by users. They are rewarded in the form of tokens in exchange. These tokens can then be exchanged for any asset supported by the network. Other users can then use the lending pool to obtain short-term loans. These loans bear interest, which is shared between the lender and the lending pool.

History

The project first appeared on the market in May of 2018. At the moment, the network is based in San Francisco. Robert Leshner, Compound’s founder and CEO, was a member of San Francisco’s Revenue Bond Oversight Committee. He is uniquely aware of the subtleties of CeFi to DeFi conversion as a former economist.

Compound launched into the market with a bang, raising $8.2 million in funding at a seed round in May of 2018. In November of 2019, the platform raised an additional $25 million in its Series A fundraising round. Surprisingly, the venture capital company Andreesen Horowitz strongly supported this round. During the same year, the protocol got $1 million in USDC from Coinbase’s “USDC Bootstrap Fund.”

How it Works

Compound connects lenders and borrowers using a combination of Ethereum-based smart contracts and cryptocurrency-based incentives.

The platform’s two most active users are:

Lenders – Anyone who wants to lend a cryptocurrency on Compound can do so by sending their tokens to an Ethereum address managed by Compound in order to earn interest.
Borrowers – Anyone who posts collateral in the form of a cryptocurrency on Compound. They are permitted to borrow Compound-supported coins at a percentage of the listed value.

Compound compensates lenders with COMP tokens based on the number of cTokens kept in their wallet and a changing interest rate based on the available supply of that asset. The lower the interest rate, the greater the liquidity in a market.

Users who lend assets to the protocol can take out a loan in any other cryptocurrency that Compound offers, up to the amount of collateral deposited.

Importantly, borrowers can be liquidated if the item they borrow appreciates in value and becomes more valuable than the provided collateral.

What Makes it Unique

Compound is one-of-a-kind in its incentive-based approach to decentralized finance (DeFi). Along with the typical DeFi perks, users are awarded with COMP tokens for their involvement.

COMP not only rewards users for their loyalty, but it also serves as a governance token. This encourages users to not only engage in the system, but also to save their tokens in order to vote on future decisions that affect things like interest rates and other factors that may affect their future revenue.

Bottomline

Compound enjoys a valuable position as a pioneering force in the DeFi sector as the first platform to offer Yield Farming into the market. DeFi appears to be only getting started. Furthermore, it is one of the safest and most trusted solutions available to users today. Compound is set to remain a premier platform for many years to come.

Aside from its monetary value, users of the Compound system have another motive to hold the token. Anyone who owns COMP tokens can vote on the platform’s future direction. This includes voting on Compound’s future interest rates and other actions that may directly affect their earnings.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis

Bitcoin Analysis 02/11: Is the Largest Crypto Making A Retreat?

Bitcoin reached a high of $45,821 on February 10 before dropping. At $44,900, the high was set directly at the 0.618 Fib retracement resistance level.

The subsequent drop produced a shooting star candlestick pattern. This is typically regarded as a bearish pattern since selling pressure resulted in a long upper wick and a negative closing. The fact that it occurred in an important resistance region adds to its significance.

Bitcoin has broken out of an ascending parallel channel that has been in place since January 24 on the six-hour chart. Following that, on February 9 and 10, the price validated the level as support twice more (green icons). The next day, though, it broke down inside the channel once more (red icon).

Although technical indicators are indicating a negative trend reversal, they do not confirm it. The MACD, which is calculated using short and long-term moving averages (MA), is dropping but remains positive.

The RSI, a momentum indicator, is also declining. It is, however, still above both the 50-day moving average and an upward trendline that has been in place since January 24.

The current bullish trend will continue until this level is violated. The two-hour chart also reveals significant weakening. This is particularly evident in the bearish divergences that have formed in the RSI and MACD. This weakness came before the current downward trend.

Currently, it appears like BTC is in the process of verifying the channel’s resistance line once more. The major support area costs $41,000. This is the 0.5 Fib retracement support level and the rising parallel channel’s midline.

According to the most likely long-term wave count, Bitcoin has already reached a bottom. On terms of the short-term count, BTC appears to be in wave four of a five-wave rising trend (red). The sub-wave count is indicated in black.

The rise in Fed 10 and subsequent decline indicates that the wave took the form of a flat corrective. So far, sub-waves A and C have had a perfect 1:1 ratio, as is typical in such systems.

Categories
Blockchain News

Binance Invests $200 Million In Forbes

According to a Forbes release, leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has made a $200 million strategic investment in the American business magazine Forbes and Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited.

The 104-year-old magazine and digital publisher had previously declared its intention to become a publicly-traded business on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FRBS” via Magnum Opus investment firm, a publicly-traded SPAC (special-purpose acquisition company). The collaboration agreement was supposed to be finalized in the first quarter of 2022.

Binance’s $200 million investment will replace half of the $400 million in institutional investor pledges revealed alongside the company’s plan to go public.

Binance will become one of Forbes’ top two largest shareholders as a result of the transaction, and it will also receive two board seats out of a total of nine.

At the conclusion of the transaction, Patrick Hillmann, Chief Communications Officer for Binance, and Bill Chin, Head of Binance Labs, the Venture Capital Arm and Incubator of Binance, will join Forbes’ board of directors.

According to Forbes CEO Mike Federle, the partnership will allow the magazine to benefit from Binance’s experience, network, and resources.

Forbes’ goal of delivering knowledge on blockchain technologies and all developing digital assets will also be advanced.

Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), commented on the agreement, saying,

“As Web 3 and blockchain technologies move forward and the crypto market comes of age we know that media is an essential element to build widespread consumer understanding and education. We look forward to bolstering Forbes’ Digital initiatives, as they evolve into a next-level investment insights platform.”

Binance has upped the valuation of its user insurance fund to $1 billion.

The insurance fund, known as the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), was introduced in July 2018 as an in-house emergency insurance fund, with a 10% allocation of all trading fees going to users who have lost cash put on the platform due to a security breach.

Categories
News NFT

How China’s Metaverse Plan is Going

According to experts, China’s Metaverse will evolve considerably differently than other international marketplaces, and decentralized infrastructure may not be part of the game plan.

The Sino Metaverse appears to be on track to follow in the footsteps of the web. When the internet initially became popular in the 1990s, many people speculated that technology would hasten democracy in China.

The Communist nation’s aversion for decentralization, according to NewZoo’s 2021 trend report “Intro to the Metaverse,” will not necessarily prohibit it from participating in the network, but the experience may be extremely different, comparable to how the internet looks different behind the Great Firewall.

China filters politically sensitive content by strictly regulating its domestic internet and prohibiting websites from other countries. According to Mario Stefanidis, vice president of research at Roundhill Investments, China is likely to pursue a similar approach to Web3 trends.

“It will be much easier for China to oversee development of a local metaverse rather than allowing users to access the ‘global metaverse’ and spending significant resources censoring and blocking certain experiences.”

Nina Xiang, a journalist and the founder of Asian digital intelligence and data organization China Money Network, noted that the split will be especially visible between China’s metaverse and the United States.

In a press release announcing her new book, Parallel Metaverses: How the United States, China, and the Rest of the World Are Shaping Different Virtual Worlds, she stated that the materialization of the Metaverse will occur amid continuing US-China geopolitical and technological rivalry.

Chinese firms are undoubtedly intrigued by the Metaverse’s possibilities. More than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) was invested in Metaverse-related ventures in the three months ending November 30, 2021. According to Chinese crypto venture capital firm Sino Global, barely 2.1 billion yuan was invested in all of 2020.

Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant, released its own metaverse app XiRang, which translates to “Land of Hope” in December. Despite the app’s stated concentration on digital infrastructure, Baidu vice president Ma Jie made it clear that bitcoin or NFTs will not be supported.

Categories
Altcoins Guides & Tutorials

IoTeX (IOTX): What You Should Know

IoTex, which was founded in 2017, is a scalable blockchain network that elevates the internet of things (IoT) landscape to new heights. IoTeX wants to become the blockchain that powers the IoT ecosystem, a sector that is growing at an exponential rate.

According to the research firm GlobeNewswire, the IoT market is expected to be worth $308.97 billion in 2020. Its value is predicted to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.4 percent to $1,855 billion by 2028. IoT devices may collect and transmit massive amounts of data, and IoTeX aspires to provide the underlying blockchain that enables secure transactions.

IOTX, IoTeX’s native cryptocurrency, has recently been on a bullish run. Although it began at $0.06, IOTX reached an all-time high of more than $0.15.

What is IoTeX?

IoTeX (IOTX) is a decentralized ecosystem designed to link Internet of Things (IoT) devices. To boost efficiency, the network incorporates sophisticated technologies such as machine learning. IoTeX aims to make it easier for enterprise clients to integrate IoT technology into their existing business platforms. IoTeX has connected over 9,500 devices and conducted over 14 million transactions to date with a staff of over 30 researchers.

How it Works

IoTeX connects robots and humans via a scalable blockchain network. While many blockchain networks struggle with scalability, IoTeX overcomes this barrier by enabling real-time transactions at a minimal cost. Distinct IoT applications have different requirements, therefore putting all connected IoT nodes into a single blockchain is unfeasible.

The IoTeX blockchain focuses on this area by delegating responsibilities through sidechains. Each sidechain is designed to perform a certain function in a given application. These sidechains, which are linked to the root block, can communicate with one another when needed, reducing the burden on a single blockchain and enhancing efficiency.

The root chain is in charge of network security and governance, while its sidechains or subchains allow you to connect to IoT devices with similar functions or work in a similar environment.

What Problem it Solves

IoTeX uses these smart gadgets to power a new type of IoT-powered blockchain. As part of this plan, the system makes it easier to add new devices to the network. It only takes a few minutes to add a sensor to the IoTex system. Currently, the protocol is used by +9,366 smart devices. As part of the IoTeX strategy, the network was designed to be backward compatible with the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).

As a result, Ethereum Dapps can easily transition to IoTeX. They can then benefit from lower fees and increased scalability without having to reprogramme.

This technique makes logical when you consider that Ethereum now dominates the market. It has the world’s largest Dapp ecosystem. However, it is currently experiencing record-high petrol prices due to traffic congestion. IoTeX gives these individuals with much-needed relief.

Another significant challenge that blockchain users face today is compartmentalization. There are numerous decentralized networks, but only a few of them openly communicate with one another. This scenario has resulted in data islands that are still stuck in their own networks.

What Makes it Unique

The platform is known as the decentralized backbone for machine economics, and it is said to serve machines ranging from smart home devices to self-driving cars.

In addition, IoTeX has developed and launched a high-performance, quick, and EVM-compatible blockchain that provides scalability and flexibility for a variety of applications. Not only that, but decentralized apps and middlewares are built on top of the blockchain to enable self-sovereign oracles to exist in the real world. Furthermore, the previously mentioned IOTX serves as gas for the blockchain technology.

It is also critical that you understand that Burndrop is a one-of-a-kind economical architecture that leads to an overall deflation of IoT while the number of devices coordinated by the platform grows.

Bottomline

The combination of IoT and blockchain technology has long been a market developer’s dream. Both of these upcoming technologies have the potential to completely disrupt existing corporate operations.

They complement each other in a way that increases the performance of both systems when they are integrated. As a result, IoTeX will continue to gain traction in the corporate world as more companies seek low-cost blockchain and IoT integration options.

The IoTeX blockchain, which was founded just over four years ago, has showed enormous potential thus far. Because of the network’s capabilities, we’re likely to see more IoT devices and DApps developed on it, influencing the overall price of IOTX.

IOTX is just getting started in the market, and the IoTeX team has a long way to go. They appear to be on the right track, however, with announcements like MachineFi and great products like UCam and Pebble.