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Showing posts from December 28, 2020

MLB Team Washington Nationals Partners With Terra Blockchain Community, Ballpark Plans to Accept UST

On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
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Digital Currencies Could Outshine SWIFT System, Says Central Bank of Russia’s Deputy Governor

The first deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has been vocal in a recent online meeting, reported by Russia Today (RT), about the topic of digital currencies challenging the SWIFT international payments system and make it redundant. Digital Currencies Could Challenge SWIFT System, Even Replace It According to Olga Skorobogatova, the development of digital coins makes international banking payment systems a topic of discussion, in the way that such traditional logic could become obsolete. She backed her comments on the fact that over 30 financial regulators “are currently working on their national digital currencies.” Also, she believes several countries could launch their cryptos over the next 5-7 years. Skorobogatova said: Then, we can deal with direct integration issues. In this case, SWIFT may not be necessary because it will be a different kind of technological interaction. However, the global banking network may become one of the platforms for the new form o...
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The Bitcoin Treasuries List Exceeds $30 Billion – 29 Companies Hold BTC Reserves

More than 1.1 million bitcoin or over $30 billion worth of the crypto asset is held by a myriad of companies, according to the web portal bitcointreasuries.org. The massive stash of bitcoin reserves held by well known companies started swelling after the billion-dollar firm Microstrategy purchased $250 million worth of bitcoin in August. Now there are 29 firms that are holding the cryptocurrency in place of traditional reserves like stocks and cash. There’s been a new trend lately, as a great number of prominent companies have decided to leverage bitcoin ( BTC ) for reserves rather than hold traditionally held assets. The trend started gaining ground after Microstrategy purchased $250 million worth of BTC and shortly after, the firm continued to purchase even more bitcoin. After a few purchases, Microstrategy has upped its holdings to 70,470 BTC or .336% of the supply . Following Microstrategy’s purchase, businesses like Square Inc . and Ruffer Investment Company joined the bitcoin...
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Coinbase announces it will suspend XRP trading as price drops another 10%

Coinbase plans to suspend trading for the token on Jan. 19 but added it "may be halted earlier as needed." Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will suspend trading for XRP in response to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission taking legal action against Ripple. According to a blog post published today by Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, the exchange will fully suspend XRP trading starting on Jan. 19 at 10:00 am PST. Coinbase clarified that “trading may be halted earlier as needed” to maintain the exchange’s market health metrics. In addition, the suspension will reportedly not affect Ripple-backed Flare Network's upcoming Spark (FLR) token airdrop. "The trading suspension will not affect customers' access to XRP wallets which will remain available for deposit and withdraw functionality after the trading suspension,” said Grewal. "We will continue to support XRP on Coinbase Custody and Coinbase Wallet." The U.S.-based exc...
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Marathon Settles Record-Breaking ASIC Acquisition, Buys 70,000 High Performance Bitcoin Miners

On December 28, the publicly listed firm Marathon Patent Group announced the purchase of 70,000 Antminer S19 bitcoin miners from Bitmain for $170 million. Marathon expects the shipments to complete in 2021, giving the mining operation over a hundred thousand ASIC miners or more than ten exahash of hashpower. Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) revealed the company is dedicating a lot of capital toward the bitcoin mining industry. On Monday, Marathon announced one of the largest mining rig purchases to-date, as the firm has purchased 70,000 Antminer S19 bitcoin miners from Bitmain . The purchase will cost $170 million according to Marathon’s announcement on Monday morning. The company anticipates the first delivery by July 2021, and the final shipment during the last month of next year. Marathon states that the company already commands a fleet of 33,000 miners and the recent purchase will triple the size of the operation. The company just bought 10,000 ASIC miners during the...
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Why you wouldn’t eat chicken nuggets, and why you shouldn’t trust Big Data

Do you really know how your data is used and monetized? If you did, you’d probably think twice about giving your personal details away so freely. Just like you might think twice about eating chicken nuggets once you see how they are made, you’d likely hesitate about volunteering your personal information once you see how it is used and monetized. Freedom has become one of the world’s most commoditized assets — and over the years, the internet has eroded it. We live in a world where we’re confronted with 5,000 words of terms and conditions when buying sneakers. Crucial details about what companies do with our data is buried in masses of legalese — prompting most of us to click “I agree” without thinking of the consequences. In other cases, companies are unacceptably opaque about how our data is used. This is a big problem when businesses are offering their services for “free”… provided we can give our email address, phone number and a few other details. A scene from the recent sci...
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Cover Protocol Attack Perpetrated by ‘White Hat,’ Funds Returned, Hacker Claims

The decentralized finance (DeFI) insurance project Cover Protocol was hacked earlier Monday in an infinite printing scheme, causing the price of the Cover token to plunge. Hours later, a so-called ‘white hacker’ claimed responsibility for the attack, saying all funds had been returned. The exploiter has cashed out over $4 million including about 1400 either, […] https://ift.tt/2WNQuUD
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Cover Protocol suffers infinite minting attack, price tanks 97%

Cover, the peer-to-peer coverage market, is the latest DeFi project to suffer an attack. A suspected hacker has exploited the Cover staking protocol, inflating the token supply by printing over 40 quintillion "coins" However, in a surprising move, the suspected attacker returned the funds with a note saying: "Next time, take care of your own shit." Cover Attacker Mints 40 quintillion tokens. Source: Etherscan.io  In the initial exploit, the attacker liquidated over 11,700 coins on the 1inch decentralized exchange aggregator after inflating the token supply according to data from the Ethereum wallet explorer Nansen . In total, the rogue actor drained more than $5 million from the project as of press time. Cover Protocol released addressed the incident in a message posted on its Discord group, stating: "The Blacksmith farming contract has been exploited to mint infinite $COVER tokens. We have restricted minting access to the farming contract in order t...
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CoinDeal Obtains in-Principle Approval for Maltese Class 4 VFA License

PRESS RELEASE. CoinDeal is pleased to announce that it is now the first publicly known company to have obtained a Class 4 Virtual Financial Assets License in Principle Approval from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). The exchange received the letter on 16 December, 2020. This allows CoinDeal to provide the following VFA services to both Experienced and Non-Experienced investors: Operation of a VFA Exchange, Dealing on own account and Holding and controlling of clients’ assets and money. In-principle approval means that the exchange received ‘in-principle approval’ which is valid for three months from the date of its reception. During this time, the applicant must meet additional requirements for both pre-licensing and post-licensing conditions. Once the application for a license has been approved, the exchange will be able to obtain it officially. The company is currently talking with various private investors, funds and other market players about the potential investm...
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Binance launches bilateral Bitcoin European options

Crypto exchange Binance has announced the launch of “European-style” Bitcoin options contracts on its trading platform. Crypto exchange giant Binance is set to expand its cryptocurrency trading catalog with the launch of a European-style Bitcoin (BTC ) options contract. Announced on Dec. 28, the launch follows a successful testnet trial carried out back in November. The press statement also revealed that the new options contract will be priced and settled in Tether ( USDT ). As part of the announcement, Binance identified the growing appetite for BTC options as the reason for debuting the new product. Earlier in December, Bitcoin options crossed $1 billion for the first time with total open interest almost reaching the $6 billion mark. Commenting on the launch, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao remarked that Bitcoin recently reaching $28,000 underscored the increasing level of investment in the crypto space, adding: “The crypto industry’s growth is in good part attributable to a combin...
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China’s Coal Standoff Causes Power Shortages, Chinese Bitcoin Miners ‘Heavily Affected’

Regional reports from China detail that bitcoin miners located in certain areas in South China are running short on electricity. The country has been having massive issues with coal prices soaring across the mainland, as the Chinese government hasn’t been allowing coal carriers into ports. Because of the sweeping electrical shortages, mining activities have been threatened by emergency power rationing measures. This week, while bitcoin (BTC) prices touched all-time highs and the overall network hashrate has been soaring, reports detail that Chinese miners have had issues with electrical shortages. Financial columnist for 8btc.com, Lylian Teng, detailed that while miners are dealing with mining rig and component shortages, electricity is also lacking in some parts of China as well. Teng’s report details that the reason for the electricity issues is due to the Chinese government’s standoff with the world’s biggest coal countries . Sailors from coal carriers have been stranded for m...
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Ethereum surges past $730: What comes next after the massive rally?

Ether price has surged past $730 in a strong overnight rally, breaking out against Bitcoin. The price of Ether ( ETH ) has surged past $730 for the first time since May 2018. Following ETH’s breakout, traders are becoming more optimistic in its short-term trajectory . There are two major factors behind ETH’s strong rally: a strong technical market structure and the CME Ethereum futures listing in January 2021. Ethereum continues to see the “higher high” pattern In technical analysis, the higher high pattern often indicates strong momentum because it shows every new peak is higher than the previous top. Ether has continuously rallied over the past week, sustaining the higher high formation. Cryptocurrency trader Scott Melker  said : “Endless series of higher highs and higher lows, with the most recent low confirmed by a fresh higher high. I deem this pattern the ‘Stairway To Heaven.’” On Dec. 28, Michael van de Poppe, a full-time trader at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, simil...
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Altseason and $30K in sight: 5 things to watch in Bitcoin as 2020 ends

A Christmas full of cheer for hodlers tops out above $28,000, amid warnings that Bitcoin is already in regulators' crosshairs for 2021. Bitcoin ( BTC ) has had a week like no other, hitting fresh record highs of $28,400 and staying near the top — what's next. As markets return to digest a wild Christmas, Cointelegraph presents five factors set to help with Bitcoin price direction this week. Gold surges as Trump signs stimulus bull Markets have been spared a nightmare this week after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to sign off on Congress’ $900 billion coronavirus stimulus bill. Set to add a large amount of debt to the Federal Reserve’s existing mountain, the package includes various benefits for businesses but stops short of providing Americans with the same level of direct financial support seen in March. Trump had said that the low direct payment amount of the second stimulus — $600 against $1,200 last time — meant that he could not condone it, but subsequently ch...
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$200 Billion in Fines: Mega Banks Rack up Penalties From Illegal Activities

Top U.S. banks have racked up almost $200 billion in fines and penalties over the past 20 years from illegal activities in 395 major legal cases. Bank of America tops the list, followed by JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, according to a new report, which also covers Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Big Banks’ $200 Billion in Fines Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo have collectively racked up $195 billion in fees and penalties, according to Washington-based advocacy group Better Markets. The fees and penalties from 395 major legal cases since 2000 were disbursed among government agencies, investors, and consumers harmed by the banks’ conduct. The report finds that “the banks’ behavior is deteriorating because it finds their conduct since the financial crisis has triggered more major legal actions than their behavior before it,” the Financial Times reported Better Markets chief executive Dennis Kelleher explaining on Thur...
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