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Showing posts from April 13, 2021

The Money Roundup: Making Cents of Blockchain Fundraising News

From crypto trading to defi, the most exciting areas in blockchain fintech development and innovation are attracting serious investments from all industry corners. To introduce more tools and complementary services to the ecosystem, the recipients of these capital allocations are endeavoring to promote greater adoption by removing many existing participation obstacles and taking a more mass-market approach. Projects Focused on Usability and User Experience Lead the Charge Between Atani’s all-in-one trading infrastructure, Enso’s decentralized finance (defi) strategy sharing platform, Don-Key’s social yield-farming initiative, MakiSwap’s AMM for professionals, Sheesha’s Defi mutual fund, The Defiant Defi-driven informational platform, and Consensys’ sizeable cash pile, take a closer look at the impressive fundraising figures that continue to multiply as investor demand spikes. Defi Portfolios Arrive Just in Time As defi’s total value locked (TVL) figures continue their upward march...

Singapore Crypto Exchange Bityard to Launch Its First Global Trading Contest

PRESS RELEASE. Singapore crypto exchange Bityard will launch its first trading contest before May 2021, with up to 60,000 Tether prize pool. The contest registration for each team’s captain is now open. As mainstream cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether have been increasing gradually in value, more and more investment institutes and major companies have flooded into the crypto market. So far, the Bitcoin bull market has shown no sign of ending, and some people are expecting Bitcoin to hit $400K this year. The continuous bull market also boosts the number of active crypto investors, which is a very good sign for many crypto exchanges. Bityard, a Singapore based cryptocurrency derivative exchange, will soon launch its first global trading contest with up to 60,000 USDT prize pool before May 2021, and the contest registration for each team’s captain is now open on Bityard’s official site . The trading contests launched by crypto exchanges would improve the user acquisition fo...

Nifty News: Kevin Smith sells horror flick rights as NFT, Megadeth’s ETH, farming MEMEs ...

MEME NFT farming platform launches the new and improved v2, Megadeth NFT nets $18K, and Kevin Smith tokenizes the rights to “Killroy Was Here”. Filmmaker Kevin Smith is releasing his latest horror anthology “Killroy Was Here” as a non-fungible token. The owner of the NFT will secure the rights to exhibit, distribute, and stream the work, making it a revenue generator outside of just a resale. The filmmaker said on Twitter that: “Back in 1994, I took my first flick to Sundance to sell it. Now in 2021, I’m taking my new flick to CRYPTO to sell it!” Smith, who will auction off his work on his independent crypto gallery ‘Jay and Silent Bob's Crypto Studio’, stated that crypto provides a new platform upon which to tell a story. On April 14 he tweeted : “I believe whoever buys it will sell it to a streamer, at the very least. They’re buying an NFT that also grants them ownership of the physical media files for KILLROY WAS HERE — so in an effort to support any type of theatrical dis...

Toddler hodler: 3-year-old Bitcoin educator interviews Michael Saylor

Three-year-old Lily Knight interviewed Michael Saylor on April 13 about his thoughts on Bitcoin and his plans for the future. Three year old Lily Knight, “ the world’s youngest Bitcoin educato r,” interviewed billionaire MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor for her YouTube channel in a video that dropped April 13. In the interview, Lily noted that Saylor’s accumulation of more than $2 billion worth of Bitcoin since August 2020 had been a “ballsy move.” The toddler and unconfirmed "hodler" became something of a vial sensation in the crypto space in mid February after she (aided by her parents) published a video explaining Bitcoin’s dynamics using Skittles candy. The video caught the attention of Saylor and fellow crypto billionaire Tyler Winklevoss and both retweeted the video. Winklevoss added that “Lily, a 3-year-old, understands Bitcoin better than most central bankers.” Lily’s father noted in a Reddit thread that the “ridiculous idea” to interview Saylor had co...

Kenyan Athlete and Olympic Champion Eliud Kipchoge Gets $40K in ETH After Auctioning NFTs of ‘Key Moments’

Kenyan athlete and world record holder, Eliud Kipchoge recently auctioned off his first set of NFTs for a total of 17.9837 ethereum tokens. The auction, which was conducted on the NFT marketplace Opensea, includes some of the key moments in Kipchoge’s career. According to a report , one of these moments, Kipchoge’s 2019 record-breaking run in Vienna fetched $14.8837 ETH while the marathoner’s Berlin Marathon run earned him 3.1 ETH or for over $6,500 at current prices. Meanwhile, in a Twitter post, Kipchoge, who is also an Olympic Champion, said he was grateful that some key moments in his career were now available as NFT. He wrote : I can say that I am really grateful to have the highlights of my career now available as NFT. I hope it will give someone around the world the same positive memories as it does to me. In the meantime, the report states that “Momentible.io created the NFT artwork in collaboration with Kipchoge.” It adds that “the video message is the official approv...

South Korea's largest bank joins Hedera Governing Council

Shinhan Bank plans to use Hedera’s infrastructure to bolster the efficiency of many of its internal processes. Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s largest financial institution by total assets, has joined the governance council overseeing the Hedera network. In an April 14 announcement , Shinhan announced it had become the latest member of the Hedera Governing Council to expand its efforts in the field of “digital transformation.” Hedera touts its hashgraph as an enterprise-grade blockchain platform capable of processing thousands of transactions per second . Shinhan representatives emphasized growing client demand for enhanced efficiency and security in financial services, stating: “Hedera's public distributed ledger in particular is uniquely suited to meet the needs of a widely-used fintech service that must be fast, fair, secure, and enable the controls and visibility required by service providers.” The bank will now begin integrating Hedera into its systems to “increase the effic...

Coinbase’s COIN stock reference price set at just $250, as 1,700 staff get free shares

Coinbase’s reference price of $250, received ahead of the Nasdaq direct listing, values a “thank you” gift to all 1,700 full-time employees at $25,000. Major U.S. exchange Coinbase’s COIN stock has received a reference price at $250 from Nasdaq, ahead of the much-anticipated direct listing on the stock exchange just hours from now. The price is far below the current FTX pre-trading price of $600, albeit on thin 24-hour volume of under $4 million. The exchange is going public via a direct listing instead of an IPO, meaning the reference price is not a direct indicator of the company’s market cap. It simply implies a valuation of $65 billion, which is below other estimates ranging between $68 billion and $120 billion. The Nasdaq announcement stated that the reference price, which reflects past transactions but was established by consultation with Coinbase’s financial advisors, was created due to the fact “COIN has not had recent sustained trading in a private placement market.” Th...

Revealed: Top 4 user complaints about Signal's new crypto payments beta

Signal has published user feedback from its beta integration with Mobilecoin, which saw users complain about the volatility and transaction fees related to MOB. Privacy-focused messenger app Signal has posted early user feedback from the UK-based beta launch of its payments integration with Mobilecoin’s MOB token. A blog post by Signal head of growth and communication Jun Harada revealed the top four user complaints about its new cryptocurrency integration so far — with a major complaint from many users about the entire concept itself because “cryptocurrency is the worst”. He reassured such users it was an optional feature. Signal announced on April 6 that is aiming to extend its privacy protection features to payments in an attempt to replicate the success of Paypal-owned Venmo — a fast and relatively cheap peer-to-peer payment service that is popular in the U.S. The top MOB-related complaint from users was that the “fees are too high”, with MobileCoin transaction fees curren...

Exodus Wallet raises almost $60M in crypto in regulated offering

Exodus’ claimed record share sale is set to be shattered by Coinbase later today. Crypto wallet provider Exodus has raised more than $59 million in just five days as investors flocked to participate in the public offering. Exodus Movement, Inc., a firm based in Delaware, began selling stock on April 8 in a sale that was approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The shares were listed for $27.42 apiece with a maximum investment of 2,733,229 shares. According to an April 12 report , the offering will close once the maximum offering amount of $75 million has been reached. The crypto wallet company is already 80% towards reaching that target with participation from over 4,000 investors. The firm noted that the majority of the investment has come from retail traders or non-accredited investors with just 8% of the total coming from accredited investors. The Regulation A sale allowed the firm to reach beyond deep-pocketed investors and offer participation to those ...

Civil Lawsuit Against Craig Wright Wants High Court to Rule Against His Bitcoin White Paper Claims

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a bitcoin industry working group focused on patent laws, has filed a civil lawsuit in the UK against Craig Wright. For many years now Wright has insisted he is Satoshi Nakamoto, but has yet to prove so to the greater crypto community. COPA is looking to get the UK High Court to rule that Wright is not the rightful owner of the Bitcoin white paper. COPA Files a Case Against Craig Wright Just recently, Bitcoin.com News reported on Craig Wright’s attempt to get websites to remove the Bitcoin white paper over copyright infringement. The attempt didn’t work out so well, as a great number of websites decided to openly host the white paper on their websites in a sign of solidarity. Moreover, COPA questioned Wright’s attempt with a letter and asked the self-styled Bitcoin inventor to prove his claims. Now COPA is taking it a step further as the bitcoin industry working group has filed a civil lawsuit against Craig Wright. “Today, COPA initiated a...

Bitcoin futures open interest soars to new heights ahead of Coinbase listing

Open interest in Bitcoin futures is soaring but volumes are falling. Open interest in Bitcoin futures has surged to new record highs ahead of Coinbase’s April 14 direct listing on the Nasdaq. Crypto market data aggregator Glassode states that Bitcoin open interest has exceeded $27 billion for the first time as Bitcoin pushed into new record highs above $63,000. The milestone suggests traders may be speculating on higher prices, although some may also be hedging against incoming volatility. #Bitcoin Futures Open Interest across major exchanges reaches record highs of more than $27B as $BTC hits new ATHs. Chart: https://t.co/GqgQ98W7Mq pic.twitter.com/KYBQC9WZxC — glassnode (@glassnode) April 13, 2021 The lion’s share of trading activity is on Binance, where the $5.2 billion in positions accounts for almost 20% of all outstanding positions being held on the exchange. It’s followed by Bybit with $4.66 billion, OKEX with $3.75 billion, and then Huobi, FTX, and CME with roughly...

SEC Commissioner: Banning Bitcoin Is Like Shutting Down Internet — Government Would Be ‘Foolish’ to Try

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce compares banning bitcoin to shutting down the internet, stating that governments would be foolish to try. She also offers some insights into whether the SEC will approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) this year. Governments Would Be Foolish to Try to Ban Bitcoin U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce shared her view of governments banning bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation in an interview at Marketwatch’s Investing in Crypto event last week. She was also asked about the likelihood of the securities regulator approving bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this year. Peirce, sometimes known as “crypto mom,” has been pushing for the SEC to approve a bitcoin ETF for several years. She was asked during the interview whether banning cryptocurrencies is a possibility since some people still believe that governments can always ban bitcoin, including Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio , The Big Short’s Michael ...

DeFi tracker Step Finance raises $2M from Solana ecosystem investors

The Solana ecosystem continues its development in DeFi. Step Finance, a Solana-native DeFi protocol, announced the completion of a private token sale for $2 million, which will help build and develop its platform. The round, disclosed on Tuesday, saw participation from notable Solana backers including Alameda Research, the hedge fund known for launching and backing FTX and Serum. Other investors include Raydium, One Block, 3 Commas Capital, Solidity Ventures, and some undisclosed individual investors within the Solana ecosystem. Step Finance is a DeFi position manager and aggregator, offering similar functionality to Ethereum’s Zapper. George Harrap, co-founder of Step, explained the current issues that the project is trying to solve: “The biggest problem in the Solana ecosystem is how most projects are siloed from one another. There is no way to know your token and LP balances, current position sizes, etc., without actually visiting each website individually and logging in to und...

All the ways the Coinbase stock listing may disrupt the crypto market

Coinbase’s direct listing will most likely set a precedent for other crypto firms, as COIN stock may rival Bitcoin for popularity. After an extended period of speculation as to when Coinbase would finally go live with its public stock listing, the United States-based cryptocurrency exchange released a blog post earlier this month stating that it had registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to hold a direct listing on Nasdaq on April 14 . In this regard, Coinbase’s Class A common stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “COIN.” The cryptocurrency exchange had previously set its eyes on a March listing, however, after signing a settlement deal with the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission worth $6.5 million last month — regarding the alleged improper reporting of exchange volume and “self-trading” — the exchange had to delay its plans. Coinbase executives had submitted a registration draft with the SEC all t...

Miami nightclub accepts Bitcoin as nightlife cautiously returns

E11even Miami is enabling payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as part of its post-pandemic reopening on April 23. A nightclub in Miami is set to return from oa COVID-19-related shutdown of over a year by accepting Bitcoin ( BTC ) and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. Luxury nightclub E11even Miami announced Tuesday that it will soon start accepting cryptocurrency as payment for tables, drinks, merchandise and other services. According to the official announcement, the list of supported cryptocurrencies will include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ), XRP and Dogecoin ( DOGE ). In order to provide the new payment method, E11even has partnered with a major cryptocurrency processing company, but did not specify the name of the payment processor. “With the tremendous growth and relevancy of cryptocurrency coupled with Mayor Francis Suarez leading the charge for Miami’s tech boom, we felt it made sense to introduce Cryptocurrency as an option to our guests ...

Crypto.com will provide liquidity to Finxflo in new partnership

“We want to eliminate the hurdles associated with crypto trading, and streamline the experience for new retail investors,” said Finxflo CEO James Gillingham. Cryptocurrency exchange platform and card issuer Crypto.com will be providing liquidity in a new partnership with Singapore-based hybrid liquidity aggregator Finxflo. In an announcement today, Crypto.com said it would be joining Finxflo as the firm’s first liquidity provider, reportedly allowing the exchange to increase its transaction volume and mitigate market volatility. In general, liquidity aggregators may allow crypto traders to take advantage of deeper liquidity pools and more advantageous price execution. “We want to eliminate the hurdles associated with crypto trading, and streamline the experience for new retail investors,” said Finxflo CEO James Gillingham. “As we continue to deepen our liquidity, we can provide the best possible price levels across liquidity pools for the institutional investors to price-sensitive ...

What is blocking the decentralized internet?

Interoperability is one of the hottest phrases in the blockchain lexicon, but there are fears that many of the solutions out there merely serve as a sticking plaster. Over the past decade, the proliferation of blockchain technology has resulted in hundreds of networks that are unable to talk to each other. With data siloed and developers’ options now extremely limited, the sector has been described as being at a “historical crossroads” — and unless this industry evolves and expands, it’s feared that blockchain will struggle to achieve the same reach and interconnectivity that the internet enjoys. Interoperability has been one of the hottest phrases in the blockchain lexicon in recent years. Although this cross-chain mentality is encouraging, it could be argued that many of the solutions being touted are a mere sticking plaster, only providing connectivity between a select number of networks. An everyday consumer would react with incredulity if they were only able to send an email ...

TIME Magazine Gets Into Bitcoin: Partners With Grayscale, Will Hold BTC on Balance Sheet

TIME Magazine will be holding bitcoin on its balance sheet, the company’s president has confirmed. TIME is also partnering with Grayscale Investments to produce a video series on cryptocurrency and has agreed to be paid in bitcoin. TIME Magazine Will Hold Bitcoin on Balance Sheet TIME Magazine has partnered with Grayscale Investments to produce a crypto video series. The company will be paid in bitcoin and has committed to keeping the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet. Founded in 1923, TIME Magazine provides guides for current affairs, politics, business, health, science, and entertainment. Published biweekly, the company says every week over 20 million subscribers worldwide turn to its magazine for exclusive coverage. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein tweeted Monday explaining that the videos explaining the crypto space will come out in the summer. He also confirmed that Keith Grossman, President of TIME, has agreed to take his payment in bitcoin and will hold BTC on the balan...

Linux Foundation launches blockchain-based platform for insurance

The Linux Foundation and the American Association of Insurance Services are co-launching a blockchain-based platform to help the insurance industry. The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit technology consortium that supports the Linux operating system, is backing a new blockchain-based project for the insurance industry. On Monday, the foundation announced the launch of the Open Insurance Data Link platform, a project that aims to reduce the cost of insurance reporting and create a standardized insurance data repository using distributed ledger technology. OpenIDL is a joint initiative of the Linux Foundation and the American Association of Insurance Services, a national insurance advisory organization in the United States. The open-source project brings together major global insurance firms like The Hanover and Selective Insurance Group, as well as technology and service providers like MOBI, Chainyard and KatRisk to participate in a common DLT platform to share data and bus...

South Korean crypto traders are pivoting to ‘smaller cap’ altcoins

Bitcoin trading activity in South Korea has reportedly dipped amid rising interest in smaller altcoins. South Korea’s “big four” crypto exchanges — Bithumb, Korbit, Upbit and Coinone — are showing a marked cooling off in Bitcoin ( BTC ) enthusiasm. Meanwhile, altcoins are now accounting for the highest 24-hour trading volume according to data from multiple market aggregators. Apart from XRP , which is often popular among crypto traders in Asia, altcoins with smaller market capitalizations are leading the way in terms of trading volume on the big four. Data from crypto research outfit Messari shows Ravencoin (RVN), Near Protocol (NEAR) and New Kind of Network (NKN) as the three top-traded cryptos by volume on the Upbit exchange. NKN’s volume surge on South Korean exchanges is indicative of the altcoin pivot seemingly gaining a foothold among crypto traders in the country. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, NKN saw a 1,400% surge between March 8 and April 6 , with the token...

Ether hits new all-time high above $2,200 hours ahead of Berlin hard fork

The pending hard fork will take the first steps in addressing Ether’s high transaction fees. Ether ( ETH ) surged to a new all-time high on Tuesday, with the next major update in its ongoing development — dubbed “Berlin” — scheduled for Wednesday, April 14. Ether’s price reached $2,228 on Tuesday, marking the highest dollar valuation the coin has achieved since its conception. The coin’s market capitalization exceeded $250 billion for the first time. For context, the market cap of Bitcoin ( BTC ) was at the same level just six months ago, in late October 2020. Ether’s 1,328% growth over the past year persisted despite major concerns regarding the Ethereum network’s transaction fees. In February, the average Ethereum transaction fee hit an all-time high of $38.21, according to data from Bitinfocharts, making Ether generally unsuitable as a transactional currency. But investors apparently hold out some hope for a reprieve from Ethereum’s unwieldy fees, particularly in the form of a...