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Showing posts from April 7, 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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VC Backed Billion-Dollar Stablecoin Project Fei Protocol Falls Below the USD Peg

The new decentralized finance (defi) stablecoin project called Fei had some issues this week after the 1:1 USD pegged token dropped well below its targeted $1 value. The Fei project was supposed to be similar to Maker DAO’s algorithmic DAI stablecoin and it was backed by major venture capital firms. Fei Protocol Market Price Drops to $0.73 and the Stablecoin Fei’s Bid Slides to $0.136 On social media and forums, crypto advocates have been discussing the defi project called Fei after it lost its peg with the U.S. dollar this week. Currently, a single fei (FEI) is exchanging hands for $0.76 per unit but the price sunk lower than current exchange rates. Coingecko data shows a single FEI dropped to a market price low of $0.73 per token on April 7, 2021. 1 FEI = $0.136, @rleshner is down 80% from his bullish buying price. I think one takeaway is big names mean nothing. pic.twitter.com/xGiwKqUUON — banteg (@bantg) April 7, 2021 However, the Fei protocol’s bid hit $0.136 and crypt...
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Paris Hilton drops surprisingly well-informed article about NFTs

Paris Hilton is bullish on non-fungible tokens and thinks the pandemic “illuminated the importance of digital worlds—and NFTs,” Paris Hilton revealed she is not only bullish about NFTs but also has a good understanding of potential applications of the technology, in an extensive blog post explaining her excitement about the sector posted on April 6. I'm so excited about #NFTs ! Here's why I think #NFTs are the future & everything you need to know to get in the game! https://t.co/mZHqsVqn9Z — Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) April 7, 2021 In a blog post titled “I’m Excited About NFTs—You Should Be Too”, Hilton demonstrates an informed understanding she said comes from learning everything she can about the subject by immersing herself in the NFT community on social media and “working with NFT collectors like WhaleShark, Illestrater, internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and the founders of Origin.” The 40-year old has a Twitter following of 16.9 million, and operates 19 diff...
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The Ledger Solution Is Your Secure Gateway to All Crypto Services

Everyone already knows that a hardware wallet is critical to protect your digital assets, but did you know that Ledger offers much more than that? By combining the hardware wallet with the Ledger Live app you can buy, sell, lend, swap and stake multiple cryptocurrencies – all in one place. Access the Full Ledger Solution If you are an experienced crypto user you probably already know that a Ledger hardware wallet is the best solution to protect and own your private keys . In fact, you probably already own a Ledger hardware wallet as the company sold over 2 million hardware wallets in more than 165 countries since 2014. What you might not already know is that Ledger also offers a solution to accessing all your other crypto needs. To access the full solution all you need is a hardware wallet combined with the Ledger Live app . This is easy and requires no further investment as all Ledger hardware wallets come with app. The app allows you to install crypto applications on your hardwa...
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ChainSwap raises $3M from investors including Alameda Research and NGC Ventures

The multi-chain bridge hub aims to bridge Ethereum and BSC and beyond. Cross-chain asset bridge and application hub ChainSwap has closed a $3 million strategic funding round with participation from some of the biggest names in decentralized finance and the crypto industry. In an April 7 announcement , ChainSwap stated that it raised the funds in order to accelerate its vision of creating a multi-chain and multi-asset application hub. Participants included some big names in crypto and DeFi such as Alameda Research, OKEx’s venture arm OK Block Dream Fund, NGC Ventures, Spark Digital Capital, Metaconstant Ventures, CMS Holdings, Rarestone Captial, SRC Capital, DAO Ventures, and a number of others. The ChainSwap platform allows projects to seamlessly bridge between Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and the Huobi Eco Chain (Heco). It plans to add cross-chain solutions for Bitcoin, Polkadot, and Solana in the future and has already begun with a Polkastarter bridge launched on March 21. Th...
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The Missing Link: How Chainlink’s Pallet Aims to Deliver Greater Informational Access

As demand for smart contracts climbs, Chainlink’s modular oracle for the Substrate framework aims to power developers and defi applications with trusted off-chain information and pricing data needed to attract projects to Polkadot and Kusama. Blistering Growth in Defi and Smart Contracts Beckon New Layer of Trust As the smart contract revolution continues to gain traction, the fissures and flaws in existing infrastructure that supports these transactional protocols are becoming more apparent. Among the chief issues facing smart contracts, costs and security are the main factors in the spotlight. To continue growing and scaling these unique protocols while not only addressing the accompanying shortcomings, smart contracts will effectively need to be “smarter.” Yet, given blockchains’ validation constraints, which are intended to preserve stability and security, there is a barrier to off-chain information by design. Concerning smart contracts, satisfying contractual conditions may d...
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3X as many crypto figures make it onto Forbes 2021 billionaires list as last year

Twelve crypto billionaires have made the Forbes list for 2021, with Sam Bankman-Fried the leader in crypto with a net worth of $8.7 billion. Forbes released their annual billionaires list on April 6, with Amazon overlord Jeff Bezos and his $177 billion topping the list for a fourth consecutive year. Announcing Forbes’ 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List -- The Richest in 2021 #ForbesBillionaires https://t.co/Sc7ie8JlQI pic.twitter.com/YniOjfZwSi — Forbes (@Forbes) April 6, 2021 The “digital gold rush” has seen nine new crypto billionaires join the Forbes list, pushing the total up to 12 (depending on whether you count the Winklevoss twins as one or two entries.) That's up from just four in last year's Forbes World’s Billionaires list Sam Bankman-Fried - Newcomer Sam Bankman-Fried is the wealthiest crypto-billionaire, with a net worth of $8.7 billion. Bankman-Fried founded trading firm Alameda Research and popular derivatives exchange FTX. The 29-year old has mad...
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Miners are hoarding Bitcoin from record daily earnings

Miners are back in accumulation mode, with 5,000 BTC added to Bitcoin’s unspent supply since the start of February. Bitcoin miners are stashing away their coins for higher prices, with direct transfers from miners to exchanges plummeting nearly 40% since mid-March. Data from on-chain analytics provider Glassnode shows that miners’ BTC balances have been increasing since late March , following heavy outflows throughout January and consistently reduced selling during February and earlier in March. Glassnode CTO Rafael Schultze-Kraft, notes several metrics pointing to recent miner accumulation — including flows from miner addresses, unspent BTC supply, and miner position net change. Glassnode’s data shows that unspent supply — BTC that has never been transferred from the (miner’s) original recipient address — has begun to rise after seeing a sharp drop in January, when 15,000 previously dormant coins were moved from mining addresses for the first time. BTC unspent supply: Glassnode...
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Crypto sentiment falls even as Bloomberg tips Bitcoin will hit $400K

Despite apparent sentiment shifts following this week’s price dip, experts are predicting Bitcoin will potentially reach $400,000 eventually. Analytics company Santiment reports that cryptocurrency sentiment has fallen to near-record low levels for 2021 — even as some experts are doubling down on $400,000 Bitcoin’s price target. Sentiment nosedived following Bitcoin ’s drop below $60,000 to its current price of $56,300 and Ethereum ’s dip under $2,000 this week, according to Santiment. Ether is currently trading at $1,986 The crowd mood toward #Bitcoin and #Ethereum appears to have dropped to extreme negative territory after $BTC fell back under $60k & $ETH dipped back under $2k this week. Historically, buying during this level of #FUD & fear is a #bullish opportunity. https://t.co/u7LKbvoqSt pic.twitter.com/ZTxQFroEfM — Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 7, 2021 But other analytics platforms show a less convincing shift with crypto predictive data platform Augment...
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Kyber Network introduces Uber-style surge pricing for DeFi token swaps

Dynamic fees will improve capital efficiency on the new DMM. Decentralized exchange Kyber has launched a Dynamic Market Maker, or DMM, in what it claims is a world first. The new platform, which was announced on April 5, has been designed to optimize fees and enable extremely high capital efficiency for liquidity providers. One of the major differences between Kyber’s new platform and regular Automated Market Makers, or AMMs, is the fee generation system. While platforms such as Uniswap charge a fixed trading fee of 0.3%, the new DEX will calculate fees dynamically, increasing during times of high volatility and demand, and decreasing when markets are quiet. This encourages traders to take advantage of cheaper trade opportunities which improve capital efficiency for LPs and the platform. The system mimics the Uber-style surge pricing that increases prices when there is a lot of demand for rides, such as in bad weather or rush hour, and drops them when there is less demand and t...
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JPMorgan Boss Says ‘Emerging Issues’ Like Cryptocurrencies ‘Need to Be Dealt With Quickly’

JPMorgan’s boss Jamie Dimon has a bone to pick with cryptocurrencies, shadow banking, and the financial technology (fintech) economy. In a letter to JPMorgan shareholders, Dimon explained that banks are “playing an increasingly smaller role in the financial system” and there’s a list of items like digital currencies he’s named that needs to be “dealt with – and rather quickly.” Jamie Dimon’s Letter to JPMorgan Shareholders Says Banks Need to Focus on the Future Jamie Dimon has written a comprehensive letter to shareholders about the company’s accomplished goals and future concerns. Dimon’s letter, of course, meets the needs of his friends in Davos and the World Economic Forum’s 2030 playbook . The JPMorgan CEO addressed many of these targets like addressing climate change and lending more money to minorities who have limited access to banking. In addition to the accomplishments and future changes, Dimon noted that financial incumbents are “bogged down in the past” and a concentrat...
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Bitcoin bulls return after BTC bounces at a key support level

Bitcoin price appears to be gaining bullish momentum after BTC bounced off the lower Bollinger Band. A wave of selling took command of the cryptocurrency market on April 7 after Bitcoin ( BTC ) price dropped below $56,000. The market-wide sell-off led to $1.4 billion in liquidations and some analysts suggested that this could be the final sweep out of overleveraged long traders before Bitcoin can make a run higher to the $70,000 level.  BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView One sign that the market had moved ahead of itself over the past week was the rapidly rising Kimchi premium, which was followed by a seven percent decline in BTC price  on April 7 as traders worried that it might be the signal for a market top. Despite the market downturn, analysis of on-chain data suggests that Bitcoin could soon see a rally to a new all-time high as whales, miners and long-term holders have decreased or stopped selling altogether and institutional demand remains high. ...
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China using Bitcoin as ‘financial weapon’ against United States: Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel has urged the U.S. government to reappraise China’s relationship with Bitcoin from a geopolitical perspective. PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, has warned that the Chinese central government may be supporting Bitcoin as a means to undermine the foreign and monetary policy of the United States. But, he added, it has tried to use the Euro the same way. Speaking at a virtual event hosted by conservative non-profit, the Richard Nixon Foundation, Thiel was commenting on whether China’s central bank-issued digital currency , or CBDC, could threaten the U.S. dollar’s status as a global reserve currency. While Thiel, who is known to be pro-Bitcoin, suggested an “internal stablecoin in China” will amount to little more than “some sort of totalitarian measuring device,” he added that China may view Bitcoin as a tool to erode the dollar’s hegemony : “From China’s point of view, they don’t like the U.S. having this reserve currency, because it gives a lot o...
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Chinese Lottery Firm Rebrands, Purchases Bitcoin Mining Rig Manufacturer for $100 Million

Following the acquisition of the Chinese mining pool Btc.com, the China-based lottery company 500.com revealed the purchase of a bitcoin mining rig manufacturer Bee Computing. The Shenzhen firm purchased the semiconductor and mining device manufacturer for roughly $100 million in a share exchange agreement. 500.com Changes Name to Bit Mining Limited and Acquires Bee Computing for $100 Million On April 5, 2021, the company 500.com Limited (NYSE: WBAI) registered a statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a Form 6-K filing. The Shenzhen-based firm detailed that it entered into a share exchange agreement with the company Bee Computing. The mining rig manufacturer Bee Computing was established in 2018 and the filing notes that it specializes in 7nm-powered mining machines. Additionally, after acquiring the well-established mining pool Btc.com, 500.com changed its name to “Bit Mining Limited.” Bee Computing has two mining rigs and both leverage 7nm semiconduct...
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DeFi needs regulatory clarity to interface with ‘real-world’ finance, experts say

Decentralized finance protocols and regulatory agencies need to figure out DeFi regulations to enable the niche crypto market to integrate with real-world finance. Rune Christensen, founder and CEO of DeFi bluechip MakerDAO, says the decentralized finance space is set to move from its current isolated bubble phase toward more integration with the broader financial landscape. Christensen made this known during Tuesday’s plenary session “Behind the Decentralized Finance Hype” at the ongoing Global Technology Governance Summit organized by the World Economic Forum. According to the MakerDAO CEO, DeFi protocols interacting with real-world assets, such as commercial real estate and trade financing, will require significant regulatory input, stating: “The huge difference between the primordial soup of DeFi building and DeFi in the real world is that now you have to engage with regulation and laws.” Indeed, the dematerialization of securities is an already existing example of the emerg...
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Ripple Wins Discovery: Judge Grants Access to SEC Internal Records on Bitcoin, Ether, XRP

Ripple Labs has reportedly won discovery from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The court has ordered the commission to produce internal records relating to discussions of whether XRP tokens are similar to bitcoin and ether, which are currently not classified as securities. Ripple Wins Discovery From SEC, Gaining Access to the Commission’s Internal Crypto Records A telephonic discovery conference was held Tuesday for the case against Ripple Labs brought by the U.S. SEC. Ripple Labs reportedly “won discovery” from the SEC. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn said, “I’m going to grant in large part the defendants’ motion,” noting that it was a “high-stakes” discovery win. she then proceeded to order the SEC to produce internal discussions relating to whether XRP tokens are similar to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin ( BTC ) and ether ( ETH ), which are currently not regulated as securities. The judge clarified that email communications between staff members are not ...
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CEO of biggest crypto exchange has ‘close to 100%’ of net worth in crypto

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao is placing his bets on crypto. Changpeng Zhao , founder and CEO of the largest global cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, and one of the world’s top crypto billionaires, does not own much except crypto. “I’m one of those guys who value liquidity much more than owning something. I actually prefer not to own anything,” Zhao said in a Bloomberg interview on Wednesday. He noted that various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ) now make up nearly 100% of his entire net worth as he does not own any real estate or much fiat holdings. When asked how much of his net worth is invested in crypto, Zhao said: “I would say probably close to 100%. I don’t own any fiat, the physical stuff that I own is probably negligible in terms of my net worth. So this is a concept shift. I’m not using crypto to buy fiat, I’m not using crypto to buy houses. I just want to keep crypto. And I don’t plan to convert my crypto into cash in the future.” Zhao said that it took ...
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Jump Trading makes equity investment in sports fan token ecosystem Chiliz

Chicago-based high-frequency trading firm Jump Trading has made an equity investment in sports fan token platform Chiliz. Blockchain-based sports platform Chiliz has sealed an equity investment of an undisclosed amount from Chicago-based trading firm Jump Trading LCC.  Jump Trading — a proprietary trading firm founded 20 years ago by Chicago futures pits veterans Bill DiSomma and Paul Gurinas — has been engaged for some time in the cryptocurrency space , alongside its wider activities in global futures, options and equities markets. The firm specializes in algorithmic and high-frequency trading strategies and has reportedly been market making for Chiliz’s tokens since early 2021. Chiliz’s year so far has been a bullish one , with its native token, CHZ, hitting all-time highs in the spring of this year and many of its associated sports club fan tokens seeing major gains during the same period. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus said: “The support of ...
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Coinbase would have earned $2B just buying Bitcoin with its seed money

The largest cryptocurrency’s 200% CAGR presents a serious challenge to even the most successful crypto business strategies. The United States’ biggest crypto exchange would have made more money by simply buying and holding Bitcoin ( BTC ) in 2013.  Data circulating on social media reveals that despite Coinbase’s $800-million profits in Q1, the company would still be richer had it used its seed funding cash to buy BTC. Coinbase profits lose out to 2013 hodlers Ahead of its initial public offering on April 14, Coinbase reported bumper revenue this week. At $1.8 billion, Q1 outperformed the entirety of 2020. The numbers became an instant talking point as market participants weigh up the likely impact of the IPO launch. Other IPOs, including the recent Deliveroo sale, sparked sell-offs. Amid sky-high valuations and the associated buzz, however, it appears that all Coinbase had to do in order to outperform was to buy Bitcoin. Specifically, the exchange’s $30-million seed fund...
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Are we just scratching the surface when it comes to what NFTs are capable of?

Counterfeiting, piracy and copyright infringement are all big problems in the digital realm. Could turning products into NFTs help solve some of these issues? Since bursting into mainstream consciousness in 2021 — and even being the  subject of a parody on Saturday Night Live — nonfungible tokens have become best known for serving as a vehicle for digital art. Although this application is revolutionary in itself, many crypto enthusiasts believe the industry is only scratching the surface when it comes to developing compelling use cases for NFTs. One of the biggest challenges when buying and selling goods in an online era concerns authenticity — and in recent years, several luxury brands have been exploring whether blockchain technology could help clamp down on counterfeiting. As the journalist Tim Phillips wrote in his book Knockoff: The Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods, copycat versions of practically anything can be manufactured… including prescription drugs and car parts. ...
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Sweden’s central bank completes first phase of digital currency pilot

The Riksbank said that CBDC technology still requires further investigation. After completing the first phase of its digital currency pilot project, Sveriges Riksbank has found some critical issues that must be addressed before Stockholmers can buy coffee and kanelbullar with e-krona. In a recent  study , Sweden's central bank presented the first results of its central bank digital currency pilot on a network based on R3’s Corda blockchain. The Riksbank simulated core aspects of a potential CBDC system, including liquidity supply via the Riksbank’s settlement system RIX and network members serving as e-kronor distributors. The central bank also simulated participants, end-users and payment instruments like mobile apps. The Riksbank said that the new CBDC technology needs further investigation, with scalability presenting a major bottleneck.  “The solution tested in phase one of the e-krona pilot has met the performance requirements made in the public procuremen...
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