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Showing posts from March 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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Goldman Sachs Reports Rising Customer Demand for BTC: Predicts an ‘Explosion’ in the Use of Digital Currencies

John Waldron, the chief operating officer (COO) of Goldman Sachs, says the financial services giant is seeing rising customer demand to own and invest in bitcoin. Nevertheless, the COO explained that his organization was still exploring ways of satisfying this demand without running afoul of regulators. ‘How Banks Should Be Regulated When Dealing With Digital Money’ In remarks made during an interview , Waldron, who is also the banking giant’s president, adds that Goldman Sachs “is in discussions with regulators and central banks about how banks should be regulated when dealing with digital money.” Meanwhile, in explaining the financial giant’s unique approach towards satisfying customer demand, Waldron said: We are regulated on what we can do. We continue to evaluate it … and engage on it. In addition to looking for ways of satisfying the growing consumer demand for cryptos, the Reuters report also reveals that “Goldman is also exploring a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and...
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WisdomTree's Bitcoin ETF filing joins hopefuls vying for approval

New York’s WisdomTree is seeking approval from the SEC to launch a Bitcoin ETF. New York-based asset manager WisdomTree has filed for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, or ETF, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm submitted its filing on March 11. It states the WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust would trade on Chicago Board Options Exchange’s BZX platform under the ticker BTCW. The trust would offer a regulated way for investors to gain exposure to the price of Bitcoin, and allow speculators to execute trades through their brokers. Contracts would be settled according to Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s “CF Bitcoin US Settlement Price,” a price index that tracks the price based on major BTC spot exchanges. The proposed ETF is not WisdomTree’s first foray into crypto, with the firm currently managing a leading institutional ETH fund . In June 2020, WisdomTree filed for an ETF that would invest up to 5% of capital into BTC futures contracts , despite the fund being primarily...
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Students in Georgia set to be taught about crypto at high school

High school students in Georgia look set to be taught about crypto after a new financial literacy program was approved by the Georgia House of Representatives. The Georgia House of Representatives has passed a bill that calls for state education officials to implement a study program based around financial literacy for high schoolers — and cryptocurrency is on the curriculum list. The bill passed the lower chamber of Georgia on March 8 by a vote of 169-2. The bill was sponsored by six Republican candidates and has been sent to the Senate for further deliberation. The program outlines 16 areas of financial literacy to be studied by students in the tenth or eleventh grade. The bill's text states: "The State Board of Education shall prescribe a program of study in personal financial literacy to be completed by students during high school." Cryptocurrency has found itself on the list, along with more traditional subjects such as balancing a checkbook, investing, money ...
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Bitcoin futures open interest hits new ATH as traders flock to derivatives

Traders are racing to speculate on Bitcoin in the derivatives markets, with open interest in BTC futures approaching $20 billion for the first time. With BTC again edging toward all-time highs, a large volume of money is flowing into the Bitcoin derivatives markets. According to crypto market data aggregator Glassnode, outstanding futures contracts pushed into new all-time highs on March 11, with open interest across exchanges approaching $20 billion. More capital is flowing into the derivatives markets, as the amount of outstanding #Bitcoin futures contracts reaches another ATH. Open interest across major exchanges is currently sitting at the verge of the $20B mark. Chart: https://t.co/ygoffzMSJW pic.twitter.com/BiJIpyTKDD — glassnode (@glassnode) March 11, 2021 Options have also surged to see record volumes in 2021, with Derebit now regularly hosting more than $1 billion worth of daily trade. According to Binance-owned CoinMarketCap , the three-largest centralized der...
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Validator Entry Thresholds on the Decline as Cloud-Based Staking Challenges Surmounted

Through the novel use of hardware security modules in conjunction with a communication module, a collaboration between Bluzelle and Equinix will significantly reduce the barriers preventing the equal distribution of opportunities for potential proof-of-stake (PoS) node validators. Lower Cloud Hosting Barriers Transform The Validator Landscape The gradual transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithms has tackled some of the most urgent problems facing greater blockchain adoption, like scalability and energy consumption. Despite these enormous benefits over the more traditional proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains, staking accessibility has been a high hurdle for prospective node validators. For an industry bent on leveling the playing field for all stakeholders and participants, the costs for running a validator node are notoriously high due to the accompanying hosting and security requirements. These costs involve running a robust and highly performant private infrastructure,...
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Collector turns down $1M for NBA Top Shot moment originally bought for $100K

An NFT collector has turned down a $1 million offer for a token depicting a basketball highlight. A collector of prized NFTs from Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot has turned down a $1 million offer for a single token depicting New Orleans Pelicans’ pro basketball star Zion Williamson. The collector “ jerlevine ” bought the #1 Jersey Match S1 Holo Zion Williamson NFT on Jan. 25 for $100,000. The token is of “legendary” rarity, and was first issued in the HOLOMMX pack during Series 1 of Top Shot. BREAKING NEWS We have news of the first $1 Million offer for an @nba_topshot moment! It was for the #1 and Jersey Match S1 Holo Zion Williamson. And @JerLevine turned it down. pic.twitter.com/j0Ct0EH7wI — OwnTheMoment (@OwnTheMomentNFT) March 11, 2021 NBA Top Shot, a blockchain-based marketplace that allows NBA fans to purchase rare multi-media “moments” depicting key players and highlights from basketball history, has exploded in popularity in recent months, with Dapper moving to lim...
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Funny money: Brooklyn 99 star launches own social currency

Brooklyn 99 star Terry Crews is launching his own cryptocurrency, $POWER, where people can own a piece of him and spend it at the local grocery store. Actor Terry Crews, known for his prominent character in the Brooklyn 99 TV series, is launching his own social currency, $POWER , through social crypto platform Roll . I have launched a social currency on the Ethereum Blockchain called $POWER ! Check out this exclusive from @TechCrunch : https://t.co/JpcdIGFbEA pic.twitter.com/1YFSALQhYb — terry crews (@terrycrews) March 10, 2021 Talking to TechCrunch , Crews said that the currency is a means to empower artists. His vision for the currency is for people to earn $POWER by selling their art, NFTs, physical goods, and experiences. Although details around the token are still vague, according to the project’s website , there will be a cap of 10 million coins (3.34 million are currently in circulation ). The founders, being Crews, Michael Peña (known for Shooter, Tower Heist, Battle: ...
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Alex Jones Says He Lost Laptop Containing 10,000 Bitcoins

The controversial host of Infowars and the Alex Jones Show claims that he has lost a laptop containing 10,000 bitcoins. The laptop was given to him by popular television personality Max Keiser, who confirmed the story. Alex Jones Claims He Lost 10,000 Bitcoins Stored on Laptop Alex Jones, the founder of the right-wing media group Infowars, has revealed that he has lost the laptop containing 10,000 bitcoins given to him by television personality and bitcoin proponent Max Keiser. During the Flagrant 2 show with Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh on Tuesday, he said that Keiser gave him 10K BTC on a laptop 10 years ago. The American far-right web and radio show host is known for his imaginative conspiracy theories. He has been described by New York Magazine as “America’s leading conspiracy theorist,” and the Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as “the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America.” A long-time bitcoin critic, Jones refused to warm up to cryptocurrencie...
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Eth2 transition accelerates amid rumblings of a miner rebellion

Ethereum appears to be hastening its transition to Proof-of-Stake, with developer Mikhail Kalinin publishing the specifications for the chain merge with Eth2. Ethereum’s developers appear to be hastening the network’s shift toward Proof-of-Stake consensus and away from the Proof-of-Work mining community. On March 11, developer “Mikhail Kalinin” published specifications for Eth2’s future blockchain merge with the existing Ethereum network. The documentation notes the consensus upgrade from PoS to PoW will be the core change enacted. 6. This is usually called the "merge" - when the existing Ethereum network will swap over to using the Beacon chain, instead of Proof of Work. There's growing consensus that the merge ought to be prioritized as the next step, see e.g. https://t.co/JlgD1S3GrY — Josh Stark (@0xstark) March 11, 2021 The publication of specs comes as tensions between Ethereum miners and developers ramp up. Miners stand to lose significant revenue with th...
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This month’s Ethereum options expiry suggests ETH’s upside is limited

Ethereum price has been in an uptrend since the start of the year but key options indicators suggest overcoming the $2,000 level will be a challenge. To date, Ether ( ETH ) price has gained 85% in 2021, and options traders are still highly optimistic about the altcoin's short-term performance. The upcoming March 26 expiry holds over 96,000 ($172 million) call option contracts open interest between $2,240 and $3,520. Does a 25% or higher gain correctly reflect the current market sentiment, or are these traders simply over-optimistic about Ether's odds? Ether price in USD. Source: TradingView Even though the effective price for the right to acquire Ether at a fixed price on March 26 is much lower, these options cost buyers at least $2 million. If Ether fails to increase by 25% from the current $1,808 price in two weeks, these $2,240 call options will be completely worthless. Ether options aggregate open interest,  March 26.  Source: Bybt As shown above, the call-put r...
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100% in Bitcoin: Gold Bug Peter Schiff’s Son Goes All-in on BTC

Gold bug Peter Schiff has revealed that his son, Spencer Schiff, has gone all-in on bitcoin. Calling his son “brainwashed” for buying so much of the cryptocurrency, Schiff added that he may need to “disinherit” his son to avoid the youngster burning through his hard-earned money. Peter Schiff’s Son Has Gone Full Bitcoin Euro Pacific Capital CEO and host of the Schiff Radio Show, Peter Schiff, tweeted on Wednesday: My son Spencer Schiff went all in on bitcoin on the last drop below $50k. 100% of his portfolio is now in bitcoin. He sold the last of his silver stocks to raise the cash. If my own son is this brainwashed imagine how vulnerable most kids are. He’s HODLing to infinity or bust. At the time of writing, his tweet has gotten 5.4K comments. It has also been liked 21.6K times and retweeted 3.1K times. The price of bitcoin currently stands at $57,983, based on data from markets.Bitcoin.com. Schiff further claimed: “The young generation likes bitcoin because most lack the kno...
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When privacy is a privilege: Ontology’s Jun Li on blockchain-based digital ID

Everyone’s car generates a lot of data every day, points out Jun Li, founder of the open-source digital identity blockchain Ontology. The automotive sector is one in which his companys ID solution has a clear use case, as each drivers data can be stored and used to calculate insurance premiums according to actual driving behavior. Some insurance companies will put telemetry devices on the cars to collect your driving information. Every year, your insurance pricing will be based on your behavior data. For Li, this is a positive development because good drivers will receive well-earned discounts on their insurance payments. But what if someone does not want an insurance company to access their driving records? They can decide what kind of data they want to share with whom, Li explains, adding that This meets the legal requirements for privacy and data protection. So, privacy remains under the drivers control… but at what price? If you want to protect your privacy, you can use thi...
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US luxury hotel brand to begin accepting Bitcoin payments

Bitcoin penetration in the hospitality industry is set for another expansion as a U.S. luxury hotel chain adopts cryptocurrency as a payment option. The Kessler Collection, an American luxury hotel brand, has begun accepting Bitcoin ( BTC ) and cryptocurrencies as a payment option. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the hotel chain has partnered with crypto payment gateway service BitPay to begin accepting Bitcoin. Other cryptos adopted include Ether ( ETH ), Dogecoin ( DOGE ) as well as four stablecoins — USD Coin ( USDC ), Paxos Standard (PAX), Binance USD (BUSD), and Gemini dollar (GUSD). The Kessler Collection now becomes the latest luxury brand to partner with BitPay to enable crypto payments for their products and services. For Fravy Collazo, the company’s chief financial officer, adopting crypto payments will also help to reduce the forex burden on international guests. Commenting on the move, the firm's CEO Richard Kessler stated: “This is one of the m...
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Bank of Russia to start digital ruble trials in 2022

The Bank of Russia hopes to complete a prototype platform for a digital ruble by the end of 2021. The central bank of Russia is expecting to start pilots for its central bank digital currency in 2022, a senior executive reportedly claimed. Bank of Russia deputy governor Alexey Zabotkin said that the bank is planning to complete a prototype digital ruble by the end of 2021, local news agency Prime reports Wednesday. Zabotkin announced the plans at an online event hosted by Moscow's New Economic School.  Zabotkin stated that the prototype will not support “real transactions” but would rather serve as a starting point to build the ecosystem on. “Based on this prototype, including refinement, we will start rolling out trial rounds next year,” Zabotkin stated. As previously reported, the Bank of Russia officially announced its CBDC plans in late 2020, issuing a consultation paper on the development of a digital ruble last October. In January, the Association of Russian Banks rel...
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France to Auction 611 Bitcoins Seized From Hackers

The French government will auction 611 bitcoins that were seized from hackers next week. There will be two sales comprised of 478 lots altogether. Each lot consists of between 0.11 and 20 bitcoins. Paris-based auction house Kapandji Morhange will auction 611 bitcoins on March 17. The company says this is the first auction of seized bitcoin by the French government. At the current price, this amount of bitcoin is worth almost $34 million. According to the auctioneer’s website, two sales will be conducted: one at 9 A.M. and the other at 2 P.M. The first sale consists of 437 lots of between 0.11 and two bitcoins. The second sale consists of 41 lots of between five and 20 bitcoins. The bitcoins were seized from hackers in 2019 and 2020 by France’s Agency for the Recovery and Management of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC). Most of the bitcoins to be auctioned were seized by the courts in connection to an attack on the cryptocurrency platform Gatehub, local news outlet Cybe...
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Gensler confirmation as SEC chair would be good for crypto, says Hester Peirce

SEC commissioner Hester Peirce is optimistic that the U.S. will eventually offer more clarity for cryptocurrency investors. Hester Peirce of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is well-known as a regulator who has shown consistent support for digital assets, so much so that her moniker "crypto mom" has become unshakeable. In a new interview with the Thinking Crypto podcast, Peirce reflected on the United States' regulatory approach to the asset class to date, arguing that, “I think we have missed the boat a bit on crypto. And I think a big piece of that comes from the failure to provide clarity in our rules.” She said that contrary to the persistent narrative that crypto is somehow indissociable from illegality and a desire to outwit the system, her own experience has been that industry participants want to comply with the rules, but have often struggled to do so without adequate guidance: “Am I optimistic that we're going to finally get to the p...
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Tether tokens go live on Ethereum competitor Solana blockchain

Tether's integration with the Solana blockchain is intended to help support a range of projects in DeFi, blockchain gaming and Web 3.0. Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced that  USDT  tokens are launching today, March 9, on the Solana (SOL) blockchain. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Tether's chief technical officer said that the integration with the layer 1 blockchain promises to support a wide array of projects in the Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, sector and other Web 3.0. activities. As previously reported, Solana is being pitched as a competitor to Ethereum , with the hope of drawing DeFi actors into its network as they  wait for the full benefits of Eth2 to finally kick in. According to Tether, Solana will enable users to transact USDT at speeds higher than 50,000 transactions per second. It also claims that transaction fees could be as low as $0.00001 each and that this lower-cost, higher-speed alternative to Ethereum will provide a boost to new applicatio...
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Chinese banks pilot digital yuan at Shanghai department stores

The Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank conducted digital yuan trials at two major department stores in Shanghai. Shanghai’s New World City and New World Daimaru Department Store, and food caterer Taikang Food Store handled thousands of digital yuan transactions over the past weekend, Shanghai Daily reports . As part of the trial, the retailers featured digital yuan payments as part of a sales campaign in conjunction with International Women’s Day. Brand director of Shanghai New World Li Wei said that the firm reached out to commercial banks to offer discounts as part of the campaign. “We have worked to upgrade the digital payment module ahead of the trial program, and we believe it offered extra stimulus for shoppers on top of the existing sales campaign,” Li said. Major Chinese banks including the Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank participated in the trial by providing retailers with virtual coupons to reward customers paying with the digital yuan...
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Gold's status as inflation hedge 'somewhat exaggerated,' says BlackRock exec

BlackRock executive Russ Koesterich says gold is failing as an equity hedge amid massive outflows from bullion ETFs into assets like Bitcoin. With the price of gold down more than 11% over the last six months, some investment managers are questioning its status as a hedge asset. According to Bloomberg, Russ Koesterich, portfolio manager at BlackRock’s Global Allocation Fund, gold is currently failing to prove its effectiveness as a viable hedge against inflation. Indeed, Koesterich countered the popular hedge asset narrative for gold, stating , “Gold’s ability to hedge against inflation has been somewhat exaggerated. While it is a reasonable store of value over the very long-term — think centuries — it is less reliable across most investment horizons.” The current investment horizon appears to be one dominated by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and the various responses by governments by way of economic stimulus packages. Inflation fears are currently palpable amid ma...
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Colombian Cryptocurrency Project Kmuschicoin Gains Popularity as Adoption on Local Stores Grows

A Colombian entrepreneur has joined forces with a Venezuelan teenager to launch a cryptocurrency in Boyacá, Colombia. The region is now known in the local crypto industry as the home of the most popular emerging local crypto in the country. Over 5,000 People From Other Countries Currently Hold The “Bitcoin Boyacense” Kmuschicoin, popularly known as “bitcoin boyacense,” was created by Germán Viasus, a local environmental engineer, and José Carmelo Campos, a Venezuelan programmer. The creators of the “bitcoin boyacense” say that kmuschicoin can be considered the first “environmental cryptocurrency” globally. Currently, it’s also the most valuable Colombian cryptocurrency in the market. In fact, Viasus pointed out in an interview with local TV program Testigo Directo that it was initially created to sell stocks from the company Tierra Viva. The firm is a Boyacá-based entrepreneurship that transforms solid waste into organic compost through beetles. About the name of the Colombian c...
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Peter Schiff’s son moves 100% of his portfolio into Bitcoin

Peter Schiff calls his son “brainwashed” for his 100% Bitcoin portfolio. Spencer Schiff, the son of gold bug and major Bitcoin ( BTC ) critic Peter Schiff, seems to have decided to move all his portfolio investments into one single asset, Bitcoin. “My son went all in on Bitcoin on the last drop below $50k. 100% of his portfolio is now in Bitcoin,” gold bug Schiff announced Wednesday on Twitter. The famous Bitcoin skeptic specified that his son sold the last of his silver stocks for cash. Schiff went on to express concerns over the investment choices of the younger generation, stating, “If my own son is this brainwashed imagine how vulnerable most kids are. He's HODLing to infinity or bust.”  The crypto community has widely welcomed the announcement, with many people expressing confidence that the 100% Bitcoin investment will make Schiff’s son richer than him. “At least someone in your family is growing their wealth this year,” Morgan Creek Digital’s co-founder Anthony Pompli...
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Bitcoin price sheds 5% after Oracle keeps quiet on $4B BTC allocation rumors

Claims that Oracle would announce a 72,000 Bitcoin buy-in on Wednesday were left unsubstantiated by executives as Bitcoin fell from local highs of $57,300. Bitcoin ( BTC ) fell $2,000 overnight on March 11 after United States-based multinational Oracle dispelled rumors that it had bought 72,000 BTC. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: Tradingview Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView  showed BTC/USD returning to $55,000 on Thursday after hitting local highs of around $57,00. The previous day had delivered strong performance across cryptocurrency, with bulls eagerly awaiting a retest of Bitcoin's all-time highs at $58,300. While the momentum did much to overcome a final band of resistance in place just below that level, it did not last, as an alleged adoption announcement from Oracle failed to materialize. Starting in February, claims began to surface that the firm planned to buy a huge amount of Bitcoin in a move that would rival top institutional i...
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