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Showing posts from February 11, 2021

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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Sandbox Games and NFTs: Microsoft and Enjin Issue Minecraft-Compatible Blockchain Collectibles

Players who enjoy the best-selling video game Minecraft will be able to transfer blockchain-based non-fungible token (NFT) assets into the game. Microsoft and the company Enjin have issued Minecraft-compatible NFTs in order to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Minecraft-Compatible Non-Fungible Tokens The video game Minecraft is the most popular game today and the creators have sold 200 million+ copies since it was launched by Mojang Studios. According to the announcement , the latest blockchain-based items are meant to “champion women in science and technology.” The firm Enjin explained that the program leverages the latest NFTs to reward “inclusive behavior.” “Taking this partnership forward, we are delighted to collaborate with Microsoft on the occasion of 6th International Day of Women and Girls in Science, with the Azure Space Mystery game— an educational initiative that awards special-edition digital badges powered by the Enjin Platform,” the blog...
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India's crypto ban is coming, hodlers to be given transition period: Bloomberg

An anonymous Indian official has claimed the country’s parliament will soon introduce a blanket bank on crypto assets, and give hodlers three-to-six months to liquidate. An anonymous source claiming to be a senior Indian Finance Ministry official has claimed that the use of crypto assets will soon be completely banned in the world’s second most populated country. Speaking to Bloomberg , the source claimed that the use of cryptocurrency in all its forms will be banned under a new law expected to soon be introduced in the parliament. Transacting with crypto via foreign exchanges will also be prohibited. Crypto investors are expected to be given a three-to-six month transition period to liquidate their holdings after the new law comes into effect, the source said. The official emphasized that crypto assets have been targeted by India’s lawmakers due to their lack of backing from the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI. In January, India’s parliament introduced 'The Cryptocurrency and ...
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Founder of $8.4B Dogecoin sold everything in 2015 for ‘a used Honda Civic’

Dogecoin's original founder is struggling to come to terms with DOGE's recent gains. Dogecoin founder Billy Markus has revealed that he sold off his DOGE stash in 2015 for an amount equivalent to a used Honda Civic. Markus made the comment in an open letter to the r/dogecoin subreddit earlier this week in which he sought to introduce himself to new members of the community and outline what he believes is the “true value” of DOGE after the Dogecoin mania that saw it gain 900% since late January. In the post, he provided context on the history of Dogecoin, in what appears to be a love-hate relationship since the coin started as a joke back in 2013. Markus asserted that he stood down from Dogecoin in 2015 due to online harassment from the community, and because he was uncomfortable with the direction the community was taking. During the same year, Markus said he also ran into financial concerns due to losing his job and decided to cash in his DOGE: “I gave away and/or sold...
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Bitcoin market cap briefly tops $900 billion

Bitcoin’s market cap was less than $100 million short of $1 trillion for a few brief moments today. Bitcoin is closing in on a trillion dollar market cap, with the total value of all Bitcoin crossing $900B for the first time today as the price hit new record highs. Bitstamp , one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges still in operation, recorded a peak price of $49,000, resulting in a fleeting market cap of $912.69 billion. Bitcoin is currently priced at $47,250 per coin, up 5% over the last 24 hours and 28% in the last seven days. A market cap of $900 billion represents the addition of $354 billion in 2021 alone. The previous all-time high for Bitcoin’s market cap was set on Feb. 8, when it topped out at $888 billion. Bitcoin currently accounts for 61% of the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies, which also reached all-time highs as the majority of top altcoins moved up alongside Bitcoin. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies peaked at $1.463 trillion today – gaining 88.5% in 202...
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Microsoft launches game to celebrate women in science — with Minecraft NFT rewards

Microsoft’s new game rewards players with NFTs that unlock secret games inside Minecraft. Tech giant Microsoft and blockchain developer Enjin have teamed up to release a game celebrating women in science that rewards players with Minecraft-compatible non-fungible tokens . “ Azure Space Mystery ” is an interactive, fictional online game designed to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Players work to save the International Space Station , and on completion they can claim a limited edition NFT. During gameplay, players will also learn about prominent European female scientists including Mary Somerville, Caroline Herschel, and Raymonde de Laroche. The NFTs are compatible and transferable with the popular game Minecraft, which had 131 million monthly players as of October 2020. Bryana Kortendick, Enjin’s VP of operations and communications, stated: “Education is key to empowering the next generation of innovators. Enjin is proud to work alongside Microsoft t...
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Mobile money platform Pngme raises $3M to expand across Africa

The fintech firm hopes to expand financial products for the unbanked. Africa-focused but U.S. based unified financial data platform Pngme this week announced its successful seed funding round raised $3 million. The investment was led by Radical Ventures, Raptor Group, Lateral Capital, and EchoVC. It was actually closed in the third quarter of 2020 and came after the fintech startup raised $500,000 in a pre-seed round in 2018. The platform collects user-permissioned data through a partner’s existing mobile app using a one-click data-sharing feature which then delivers real-time financial data and alerts. Pngme hopes to tap into the burgeoning mobile money market in Africa that was kicked off with M-Pesa in 2007. Launched in Kenya , M-Pesa is a mobile banking service that allows users to store and transfer money through their mobile phones, largely targeting a massive population of unbanked citizens in the sub-Saharan region . Pngme has been aggregating financial data from mobile u...
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Belgium Energy Minister’s Twitter Account Hacked- Fake Ethereum Giveaway Advertised

The official Twitter account of Belgium’s Minister of Energy was the recent victim of a high-profile hacking incident. Tinne Van der Straeten’s profile was hacked to promote a bogus giveaway of ethereum tokens. Hacked Twitter Accounts Whoever was behind the incident changed the minister’s verified profile to “Ethereum Foundation” to make it look legit. First reports indicated that a fake giveaway of 50,000 ETH started to spread out over Van der Straeten’s account. But no tweets were seen at the time the minister’s staff restored the account. However, her Twitter profile’s activity during the incident showed that the hacker liked tweets published by bitcoin investor Cameron Winklevoss and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya. Quoting Van der Straeten’s spokesperson Jonas Dutordoir, The Brussels Times reported that they contacted Twitter immediately. Also, all passwords were changed by the cabinet accordingly. Dutordoir added: An investigation is ongoing to understand how th...
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Opportunistic trader front-runs HydraDX’s Balancer LBP contract for $50,000

A cunning trader exploited Balancer’s LBP contracts to front-run HydraDX’s token offering for $50,000 before it officially launched. Polkadot-powered decentralized exchange HydraDX has raised roughly $22.86 million in just the second public token sale offered using Balancer’s Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool, or LBP. However, one opportunistic trader was able to front-run the offering by exploiting the fact that Balancer’s LBP contracts are deployed in “unpaused” status by default. HydraDX is a substrate-based DEX that will use a single “omnipool” to drive automated market-making on the platform. The LBP offered Ethereum-based xHDX tokens that can be redeemed later for Hydra’s native HDX token. The LBP is designed to offer a mechanism for crypto projects to conduct fair launches that seeks to address the strategies traders were using to exploit Initial DEX Offerings , or IDOs, to gain an advantage over other participants. Despite attempting to ensure a fair distribution of tokens, ...
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$50B wiped from Tesla after BTC buy — but MasterCard and Twitter surge

Not all investors are keen on getting BTC exposure with Tesla’s stock falling 7% following its announcement that it invested $1.5 billion of its cash reserves in the cryptocurrency Electric car manufacturer Tesla has seen more than $55 billion wiped from its market cap since announcing the purchase of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin four days ago — but Twitter and MasterCard have headed in the other direction. Since Tesla’s announcement on Monday, the electric car giant’s stock price has dropped 7% from $869.52 ($834.6 billion market cap) amid strong backlash from the finance world. It is currently trading at $811.66 ($779 billion market cap). Some investors, such as Baker Avenue Wealth Management chief strategist King Lip, are concerned that holding 8% of the company's cash reserve in a volatile asset is an unnecessary risk, stating : “It will add volatility to the stock due to exposure to bitcoin. This is better for Bitcoin than it is for Tesla.” Tesla stock has been known to dis...
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Mysterious Address With $3 Billion in Dogecoin Sends Cryptic Binary Messages to Elon Musk

Ever since the infatuation between Elon Musk and the meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin, a number of people have looked at the asset critically. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the mysterious dogecoin wallet that absorbed more than 27% of the coin’s supply since February 6, 2019. This week, the dogecoin wallet with $3 billion worth of the crypto asset has been creating odd transactions with binary messages, further adding to the speculation that the address might be Musk’s wallet. Cryptic Binary Code, Elon’s Birthday, and Transaction Gibberish The cryptocurrency dogecoin has catapulted seeing ‘much value’ and shibes everywhere have been saying “wow.” The founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, has been one individual who has created a lot of hype around the meme-based crypto asset. But Musk hasn’t been the only one, as people have placed signs in Times Square in New York telling people in the city they should “buy DOGE.” On social media, there are many dogecoin fans shilling the token ...
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Andrew Yang says he'll transform NYC into a Bitcoin hub if elected mayor

Andrew Yang has plans for New York City that cryptocurrency users anywhere would find appealing. Andrew Yang, the Democratic Party front-runner in the race to be New York’s next mayor said he would transform New York City into “a hub for BTC and other cryptocurrencies” noting the city to be “the world’s financial capital.” The former presidential candidate made the comment in a tweet earlier today which drew a flurry of mixed reactions , with some proclaiming it to be a campaign-selling maneuver and others equating it to political suicide. The most unifying reaction, however, was the demand that Yang use his powers, if elected, to end the BitLicense, enacted by the New York Department of Financial Services. Meltem Demirors, CSO of digital assets management company CoinShares, suggested Yang would need to deal with bo high state taxes and the Bitlicense to make his plan a reality. no one wants to pay NYC's absurd taxes + the tax of the NYDFS bitlicense unless there's a...
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First Bitcoin ETF approved in Canada

The approval makes it the first North American Bitcoin ETF. A Bitcoin exchange traded fund for investment firm Accelerate Financial has been approved in Canada. This makes it the first officially approved Bitcoin ETF in North America after the Ontario Securities Commission gav the green light for the institutional product. The decision document was approved on Thursday, Feb. 11, and covers the following territories; British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. Accelerate Financial Technologies had filed and obtained a receipt for a preliminary prospectus with Canadian securities regulators for the Accelerate Bitcoin ETF (ABTC) on Feb. 2. It stated that the fund will offer units denominated in both United States and Canadian dollars with a 0.7% management fee, adding that it had applied to list ABTC units on the Toronto Stock Exchange. At the tim...
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Ethereum devs grumble as Harvest Finance and Value Defi eye Binance Smart Chain

Two Ethereum-native DeFi protocols are headed to Binance Smart Chain, but critics doubt the layer-1 has staying power Today, yield aggregator Harvest Finance and multi-service platform Value DeFi — two Ethereum-native decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols accounting for nearly a billion dollars in total value locked between them — announced planned expansions to Binance Smart Chain, the smart contract platform built by crypto exchange giant Binance. Not everyone in the Ethereum community is ready to take BSC seriously, however. Harvest, which is among the largest yield aggregators and currently boasts over 830 million in total value locked , said in a statement to Cointelegraph that the protocol is looking to hire two developers to bring Harvest to BSC. “At Harvest Finance we think this is an opportunity to show that "cross chain" yield farming is not only possible, it will be one of the next major milestones for the yield farming ecosystem,” said Harvest community mode...
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2021 Bitcoin Price Predictions: Analysts Forecast BTC Values Will Range Between Zero to $600K

As bitcoin has touched new price highs on Thursday nearing the $50k handle, people have been curious as to where the price will go in the future. Meanwhile, despite the gains so far, a number of luminaries, analysts, executives, and proponents from the crypto space believe the leading crypto asset will reach between $60k to six-digits this year. Mike Novogratz Predicts $100K Bitcoin: ‘Other CFOs and CEOs Are Saying, What Should We Be Doing?’ Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention has gained mass appeal in recent times as the leading digital asset bitcoin ( BTC ) has reached its highest value ever in 2021. On Thursday morning (EST), BTC spiked to an all-time high (ATH) at $48,697 per unit. Earlier in the morning at around 2 a.m., bitcoin was exchanging hands for $44,485 and saw an 8.98% increase since then. At the time of publication, at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on February 11, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping for $47,821 per coin. With BTC so close to the $50k mark, people have been forecasting ...
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Major Malaysian Bank Kenanga Acquires 19% Stake in a Crypto Exchange

One of Malaysia’s top investment banks has bought a 19% stake in a local crypto exchange via its private equity arm. The Kenanga Investment Bank announced its inception into the crypto business by investing in Tokenize Xchange. Tokenize Xchange Is One of the Three Malaysian Licensed Crypto Exchanges Per the official announcement , the bank made the transaction through Kenanga Private Equity Sdn Bhd via a conditional agreement to purchase 19% equity interest in the trading platform. Hong Qi Yu, chief executive officer of Tokenize Xchange, founded the firm in 2018. Since its launch in Singapore, the exchange has gathered a customer base of over 100,000. On April 1, 2020, the company went live as a licensed crypto firm in the country. Tokenize Xchange is one of the three licensed (DAX) exchanges approved by the national regulatory body, the Securities Commission Malaysia. Datuk Chay Wai Leong, group managing director of Kenanga Investment Bank, commented on the move and what the ban...
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Bitcoin whale clusters pinpoint $44,214 as the key near-term price level

Whale clusters show Bitcoin needs to defend $44,214 to see a continuation of the rally. Bitcoin ( BTC ) whale cluster data shows that $44,214 is the key near term level that the dominant cryptocurrency needs to defend. As Cointelegraph reported , in the last 24 hours, Bitcoin saw a sell-off after reaching a new all-time high at around $48,000, with the price shedding almost 8% and dropping to as low as $43,750 on Binance. Why is this level important for more BTC upside?  Whale clusters form when whales or high-net-worth investors purchase Bitcoin at a certain price level and do not move them. These levels often act as support or resistance levels because whales are more likely to buy more BTC at the level they are holding from or sell at breakeven. Bitcoin whale inflows. Source: Whalemap Analysts at Whalemap said that losing the $44,214 support level would likely result in a drop to $39,843 in the short term. But, if the level holds, then it would mean that it has becom...
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US Treasury Secretary Yellen says crypto misuse is a growing problem

The private sector invests enormous resources to help the government combat crypto crimes, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is concerned about crypto's supposed criminal element.  In Feb. 10 remarks to a financial sector innovation roundtable, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the misuse of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets has been a growing problem alongside cyber attacks triggered by the global pandemic. Secretary Yellen said that despite the potential of new technologies like crypto, such assets are still associated with major risks. “I see the promise of these new technologies, but I also see the reality: cryptocurrencies have been used to launder the profits of online drug traffickers; they’ve been a tool to finance terrorism,” Yellen stated. According to the official, the private sector has been making a significant contribution to the government’s efforts to combat these crypto-related c...
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Europol Arrests 10 Members of a Sim Swapping Criminal Gang That Stole Cryptocurrencies Worth $100 Million

The European law enforcement agency, Europol, has arrested 10 people believed to be members of the criminal gang that stole cryptocurrencies with an estimated value of $100 million. The arrests follow an international investigation into a series of sim swapping attacks that occurred in 2020. According to Europol, this criminal gang had also targeted high-profile victims that are based in the U.S. The Hijacking of Mobile Devices In a statement following the arrests, the law enforcement agency explains that eight members of the gang were nabbed on Feb. 9. The two other members, one from Malta and the other from Belgium, had been arrested earlier. As the statement explains, thousands of victims including “famous internet influencers, sports stars, musicians and their families” have been targeted by the sim swapping gang. Meanwhile, in a brief explanation of how the criminal network operated, the law enforcement agency says: The investigation uncovered how a network composed of a do...
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