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Showing posts from April 21, 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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Bitcoiners back social platform to escape shadowbans and demonetization

Anthony Pompliano and others have backed an alternative content platform that aims to give creators more revenue and freedom from shadowbans and demonetization. A new Social media platform called Locals has drawn strong backing from leading crypto figures as part of a push to escape big tech censorship. Locals Technology, Inc. announced a $3.8 million seed investment round on April 20, and included backing from the co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, Anthony Pompliano , former Coinbase CTO Balaji S. Srinivasan as well as Alexander Lloyd, co-author of The Little Bitcoin Book. Locals is an alternative platform that gives control to independent creators by allowing them to post content without wrestling with the ambiguous censorship standards on social media platforms such as YouTube and Patreon. Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip said that he joined Locals because it gave him back the control over his content, noting he was fearful over what content he could post...
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TrustSwap and Yield Launch a New FlashDrop Program to Incentivize Smaller Stakers

TrustSwap — a DeFi project offering a wide range of different services — recently announced the launch of a new program that was created to provide an incentive for smaller stakers. The program, known as the FlashDrop program, will essentially reward up to 3,000 users that have staked a certain amount of SWAP tokens. In doing so, it will create opportunities for the loyal SWAP community, and it will hopefully attract new users interested in participating in the program. What Do You Need to Know About FlashDrop? The crypto industry is rich with various projects, and there are millions who may still be unaware of TrustSwap . This program will help put the project on their radar, and show them all the benefits and advantages of this emerging DeFi project. When it comes to FlashDrop, there are a few important things to note. 1) Where is it being launched? First of all, it will be conducted from YIELD App, which is another DeFi-based platform that actually launched on TrustSwap’s Laun...
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Man Offers to Buy 111 Tesla Model 3s if Elon Musk’s Company Accepts Bitcoin Cash for Payments

On April 20, a video stemming from the Youtube channel called “1stmil.com” has the Bitcoin Cash community talking. The host of the channel sitting in a Tesla dealership parking lot explains in his recent video that if Elon Musk gets Tesla to accept bitcoin cash directly for cars, he plans to commit to purchasing 111 Tesla Model 3s. 111 Tesla Model 3s to be Purchased if Elon Musk Gets Tesla to Accept Bitcoin Cash Not too long ago, Tesla the electric car manufacturer announced accepting bitcoin ( BTC ) for payments and also mentioned that the coins wouldn’t be sold for fiat. Just recently, the host of the Youtube channel 1stmil.com claims he will buy 111 Tesla Model 3 cars . However, the host of the educational Youtube channel that teaches “people learn how to make their first million dollars,” wants Elon Musk to accept bitcoin cash (BCH) in exchange for the offer. 1stmil.com’s host is a Tesla fan and the model can be seen in a variety of his prior videos. Host of the educationa...
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Despite scams, Australian securities regulator keen to support crypto industry

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission wants to support the local cryptocurrency industry, despite receiving large numbers of reports about crypto scams. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, has expressed its desire to support the crypto industry, noting the challenges associated with regulating innovative technologies. Speaking as part of a panel during Australian Blockchain Week on April 22, ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour described the regulator’s objectives as working to “maintain, facilitate and improve the performance of [Australia’s] financial system and the firms that operate within it,” while also ensuring that “all investors and consumers have the confidence the participate in the system.” “When we’re talking about new innovations like [DLT], or new products like various crypto asset products, from our perspective at ASIC, we are really interested in how those products can be utilized to improve how our financial system operates.” ...
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Poor infrastructure stops farmers taking advantage of blockchain

While the agricultural sector is among the industries standing to benefit the most from blockchain tech, poor access to infrastructure has been holding the industry back. While the agricultural industry stands to reap enormous efficiency savings through the adoption of distributed ledger technologies, many farmers lack the digital infrastructure to support the integration of blockchain solutions. Speaking as part of Australian Blockchain Week on April 21, Bridie Ohlsson, the CEO of digital agricultural infrastructure provider Geora, discussed the challenges associated with fostering DLT adoption within primary industries. “In ag tech, it's been a problem of not having enough infrastructure, not there not being a use case,” she said. “As long as we have farmers calling up and saying, ‘Hey, your product looks great, but I don’t have internet on-farm’, that’s an infrastructure problem. And so we definitely need to be investing more in simply access to technologies." “In 2016...
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First Digital Trust announces $2.15M funding for Asian digital payments service

The funding will be used to develop debit and credit card payment rails in Asia. Digital asset custodian First Digital Trust has secured funding to bring crypto asset payment services and upgrades to the Asia Pacific region. The Hong Kong-headquartered company has raised $2.15 million in a convertible note funding round led by private investors including Asian venture studio Nogle. The total funding for the firm is now over $7 million according to Crunchbase which reported two prior funding rounds in March raising $5.2 million. The firm stated that the funding will allow it to launch the first debit and credit card rail that will enable its digital assert clients to accept card payments seamlessly. Companies will be able to accept digital assets for payments in more than 100 currencies and offer instant settlement, custody and compliance using a simple widget . FDT is Asia’s only qualified custodian and trustee capable of holding both traditional and digital assets. CEO of First...
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Nifty News: NFTs for Trump-haters, carbon offsets, fractionalized CryptoPunks and more

Hit Trump where it hurts by buying his Tweets to help out charities, a new scheme to enable NFT purchasers to offset carbon emissions, and get yourself a piece of a Punk. A group of anon uni students has come up with a way to hit former President Donald Trump where it hurts: by using his Tweets against him to raise money for charities they believe he "despises." 'Strategic Meme Group Incorporated' has set up the website Drumpfs.io to sell Trump's tweets, at least as recorded by the Trump Twitter Archive . However, there's no digital certificate of authenticity and the legal status of "ownership" of Tweets outside of the Twitter platform is dubious to non-existent. One hundred of Trump's most infamous Tweets are selling for 4.5 ETH each, while regular missives from the former Leader of the Free World change hands for 0.0232 Ether. Around 97% of the money raised will be donated to Americares, Clean Air Task Force, ACLU, Southern Poverty Law C...
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Investment Manager Guggenheim Warns of ‘Major Correction’ in Bitcoin

Guggenheim CIO Scott Minerd has warned of a “major correction” in bitcoin in the near term. Claiming that bitcoin is “very frothy,” he is forecasting a 50% decline in the price of the cryptocurrency. Scott Minerd’s Latest Warning About Bitcoin The chief investment officer (CIO) of Guggenheim Partners, Scott Minerd, is back with another bearish prediction for bitcoin’s price. Minerd is also the chairman of Guggenheim Investments, the global asset management and investment advisory division of Guggenheim Partners. Guggenheim Investments has about $270 billion in total assets under management across fixed income, equity, and alternative strategies. He said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday that bitcoin has run too far, too fast. The executive opined: Given the massive move we’ve had in bitcoin over the short run, things are very frothy, and I think we’re going to have a major correction in bitcoin. “I think we could pull back to $20,000 to $30,000 on bitcoin, which would be ...
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Peter Brandt: 'Laser eyes' to blame for Bitcoin correction — but it's 'very mild' anyway

Bitcoin has corrected 17% so far and could have further to go. But it should be OK. Veteran trader and chart guru Peter Brandt has made a cheeky correlation between the current Bitcoin market correction and the prevalence of ‘laser eyes’ on Twitter. In a tweet on April 18, the technical analyst tied the correction to irrational exuberance in markets as exemplified by the meme: “The chances of a correction in cryptos is directly related to the prevalence of laser eyes on Twitter. Want the correction to end? Get rid of your laser eyes.” The laser eyes meme that initially swept across crypto social media in February 2021 saw crypto influencers, industry leaders , and regular users change their Twitter profile pictures to include laser eyes. The fad was to signify support for Bitcoin’s price surging until it hit $100K. Coincidentally, it also roughly coincided with a local top for Bitcoin prices which reached $57,800 on Feb. 21 before correcting 25% to bottom out at $43,500 a week l...
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Multi-billion dollar investment trust backs Kraken ahead of possible listing

A London-based trust with ties to the Rothschild banking family, acquired a stake in crypto exchange Kraken last month. The $5.3 billion dollar investment trust RIT Capital Partners has acquired a stake in leading crypto exchange Kraken. The London based-trust, formerly named Rothschild Investment Trust, holds ties to the Rothschild banking family of England through Chairman Jacob Rothschild. In an April 12 note to investors, James Glass described the exchange “one the world’s biggest crypto exchanges having been founded in 2011. It has more than 6M clients and is the 4th largest exchange by trading volumes.” Glass suggested the acquisition had one eye on the potential direct listing for the exchange : “According to media reports, Kraken is considering going public through a direct listing in 2022, after seeing record trading volumes and new clients amid a surge in the price of Bitcoin.” While the amount of RIT Capital’s investment was not disclosed, it appears the firm is bull...
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South Korean Government Seeks to Regulate International Remittances Related to Crypto ‘Kimchi Premium’

The famous gap in cryptocurrency prices in South Korean crypto exchanges and overseas ones known as “kimchi premium” raises some concerns among the nation’s government. The latest reports suggest that the country is planning to regulate international remittances tied to kimchi premium-driven transactions. Remittances to Exploit Kimchi Premium Could Be Flagged as Money Laundering According to Maeil Kyungjae , South Korea’s government has found that some domestic investors actively send their fiat abroad to buy crypto from sellers in China. The maneuver allows these crypto traders to sell the digital assets bought from the over-the-counter Chinese sellers and other locations in South Korean exchanges to exploit the advantages of the kimchi premium. Moreover, South Korean authorities suspect that the fiat transacted with Chinese sellers could be subject to prosecution, as the domestic traders could be committing money laundering. That said, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is...
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Steve Wozniak’s EFFORCE (WOZX) Now Listed on Bitcoin.com Exchange and Opens Platform to the Public

PRESS RELEASE. Bitcoin.com Exchange is thrilled to announce the listing of WOZX, being available to trade on the 21st April 2021 at 10:00AM UTC. WOZX was created by the EFFORCE team, including Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak, as the energy savings token to allow contributors of their EFFORCE platform to benefit from the energy savings generated by efficiency projects worldwide. WOZX will start trading with ETH and USDT pairs. At the same time EFFORCE opens to the public its software platform after finishing the closed beta and launching the new EFFORCE Genesis Pool ( https://app.efforce.io/ ). In a constant effort to bridge the gap between the retail market and energy efficiency, the EFFORCE team spent the past few months designing a product roadmap which will help create an increasing understanding about a rather complex, multi-party ecosystem. What is EFFORCE? The Energy Efficiency market is a complex financial system. Thanks to EFFORCE, this market is becoming easily a...
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The Problem With Painting Blockchain With a Crypto Brush

Blockchain’s underlying decentralized ledger technology has many practical applications, yet, the value of the technology itself has in practice become secondary to token capitalization. Speculation in Coins and Tokens Routinely Overshadows Promising Developments and Initiatives As major governments and central banks worldwide continue labeling bitcoin and its cohorts as means to engage in criminal activity, primarily because it remains out of their purvey and control, this attention overshadows a more constructive conversation on the actual value of blockchain. With the public discourse centered mainly on bitcoin and its inherent value or threat to legacy systems, the seminal cryptocurrency has in many ways blocked out any meaningful discussion on blockchain technology’s extraordinary potential. Given that many commentators choose to paint blockchain with Bitcoin’s brush, the notion that decentralized ledger technology (DLT) is anything but speculative remains pervasive. In reali...
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BitGo expands crypto insurance to cover over $700M

Institutional clients have shown strong demand for airtight and insured custody options. Digital asset custody firm BitGo has expanded its cold storage insurance program, raising its insurance capacity by $600 million. BitGo debuted its crypto insurance program through global insurance and reinsurance market Lloyd’s of London in 2019. This enabled BitGo clients to acquire insurance for their digital assets held on BitGo’s Business Wallet service and Custodial offering for up to $100 million. BitGo announced Wednesday that its “Dedicated Customer Excess Specie” insurance program has been expanded to cover assets valued at over $700 million.  The expansion comes in response to strong demand from institutional custody clients. The excess insurance program was introduced in collaboration with insurance brokers Woodruff Sawyer and Paragon International Insurance Brokers of London.  As Cointelegraph previously reported, major crypto payment platform Crypto.com became one of B...
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Ethereum breaks out vs. Bitcoin: Why one trader says ETH/BTC looks 'absolutely insane'

Ethereum is breaking out against Bitcoin and traders are turning bullish on ETH/BTC and altcoins. Ether ( ETH ) price is seeing green in its Bitcoin ( BTC ) pair on April 21, reaching the highest levels since early February. Given the technical breakout of ETH/BTC, traders are beginning to expect a strong rally in the foreseeable future. During the first two weeks of April, ETH was outperformed by Binance Coin ( BNB ), the native token of Binance Smart Chain. The high transaction fees on Ethereum coupled with the high user activity on Binance Smart Chain led BNB to gain momentum against Ether. However, in the past few days, ETH price has started to rally against both Bitcoin and BNB, the first and third largest cryptocurrencies in the global market, respectively.  Why is ETH rallying against Bitcoin? In the past 24 hours, led by Ether, the altcoin market gained against Bitcoin, causing the Bitcoin Dominance Index to fall to 50.7% on CoinMarketCap, the lowest level since sum...
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One week of COIN: How is Coinbase’s Nasdaq listing shaping up so far

Coinbase’s largest investors — Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square, Ribbit Capital — have already roped in multi-billion-dollar profits. April 14 was considered by many crypto enthusiasts all over the world as a watershed moment for the digital asset industry , as it marked the day when Coinbase, one of the largest crypto trading platforms in the world, made its debut on Nasdaq via a direct listing. As one can imagine, the lead up to the moment was replete with a market-wide surge, with Bitcoin ( BTC ) scaling up to a price point of $64,800 a day before the listing went live. In the run-up to Coinbase’s Nasdaq debut, COIN’s reference price was set at just $250, with all of the company’s staff receiving a total of 100 shares each . What’s more, in true crypto fashion, COIN’s debut was mired by volatility, with stock prices rising sharply to around $430 just minutes after trading commenced. However, following this positive price movement, the value of COIN proceeded to plunge drastical...
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Early Tesla investor Baillie Gifford invests $100M in Blockchain.com

Big tech investor Baillie Gifford has backed the largest single investment in major crypto wallet service Blockchain.com. Baillie Gifford, a 110 year-old asset management firm known for its early bets on firms like Tesla, has invested $100 million in major cryptocurrency wallet service Blockchain.com. Blockchain.com co-founder and CEO Peter Smith announced Wednesday that Baillie Gifford’s contribution to its $300 million funding round in March has become the largest single investment in the company so far. Smith stated that Baillie Gifford’s participation in the round marked “one of their first investments in a crypto company.” “It’s also a validation that a balanced and diversified retail/institutional business has incredible growth potential in the coming years,” the CEO wrote. With over $445 billion in assets under management, Baillie Gifford has emerged as a major tech investor, gaining nearly $28 billion by betting early on Tesla and Alibaba, and pharmaceutical company Mod...
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Online digital music retailer Beatport accepts Bitcoin for songs

Beatport will accept Bitcoin as a payment method starting this July and is launching an NFT range in the meantime. Beatport, a digital music portal for DJs and musicians, announced this week that it would begin accepting Bitcoin ( BTC ) as a means of payment on its website. Beatport hosts and sells music tracks for use by DJs, returning a portion of the proceeds to the original artist. The company announced that it would accept Bitcoin as a payment method starting this coming June. Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels said the decision to accept Bitcoin was born of a desire to continue innovating, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “When it benefits and strengthens the artist community, there is no reason to stop innovating. It’s clear that, even in the midst of a pandemic, the DJ/Producer community is willing to lead the industry towards embracing new technology and innovative mediums for engaging with their fans,” said McDaniels, adding, “and the world of crypto currencies and non-fungible...
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64% of US adults are interested in crypto, new survey shows

The number of U.S. crypto investors is set to almost double in 2021, according to a new survey by Gemini. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States are interested in learning more about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ) or holding them soon, according to a new survey. Gemini, a crypto trading platform owned by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, released a new S tate of U.S. Crypto Report , providing insights about consumer trends in the crypto market in the U.S. The data was collected from a national survey of 3,000 U.S. adults aged 18 to 65 with $40,000 or more in household income. The report points to a significant expansion and diversification of the nation’s crypto investors over the course of 2021. As many as 63% of respondents identified themselves as crypto-curious, meaning that they do not currently own crypto but are either willing to learn more or planning to buy crypto soon. Based on survey findings, Gemini estimates that nearly 14% of the U.S. population — or 21...
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