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Showing posts from May 2, 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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Phuture Raises $1.5m in Seed Funding to Launch Indexing Protocol on Ethereum

PRESS RELEASE. Phuture, a decentralised protocol built for the creation and investment of passive index strategies in a Web3 environment, today announced that it has completed its private seed round fundraise. The round, led by Ascensive Assets, raised a total of $1.5 million. Once live, Phuture will introduce an open design philosophy for creating passive investment strategies. Designed from the ground up to be intuitive to both crypto and non-crypto native users, Phuture provides the tools to create new indices or invest into existing ones created by the community. The Phuture protocol introduces its unique, scalable, aggregated index architecture that allows it to rebalance across multiple indices simultaneously. Its smart rebalancing engine dynamically ascertains the optimal rebalancing triggers, minimising value lost through swaps and improving index performance. The round included several prominent blockchain investors, including: NGC Ventures, SevenX, Moonrock Capital, Origin...
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Bitcoin Miners Start Signaling for Taproot Activation, People Prep for BTC’s Largest Update in 4 Years

Bitcoin miners have started to signal for Taproot activation and crypto supporters are looking forward to the largest bitcoin update in almost four years. The mining operation Slush Pool mined the first block signaling for Taproot and since then the pools Foundry and F2pool have joined in on signaling as well. Bitcoin Block: 681,458 Signals for Taproot It’s been a long time since the Bitcoin network has seen a major upgrade and the last time it happened was in 2017, back when BTC participants activated Segregated Witness (Segwit). Since then, bitcoiners have been discussing the next major upgrade Taproot . The Taproot proposal was introduced in January 2018 by software developer and Bitcoin Core contributor Gregory Maxwell. Last October, Taproot was introduced into the Github repository as a pull request initiated by Bitcoin Core programmer Pieter Wuille. Ostensibly, Taproot can help BTC scale and bitcoin transactions can become more private. The protocol that will be deployed if...
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MetaMask warns of new phishing bot

The latest MetaMask phishing scam asks users for their seed phrase in a Google Docs form posing as an official support portal. Crypto wallet provider MetaMask has alerted its users of a new phishing bot that attempts to steal their seed phrases. In a tweet published Monday, May 3, MetaMask warned users that the bot attempts to direct users to a purported “instant support” portal where they are prompted to enter information into a Google Docs form. PHISHING ALERT!: a new type of phishing bot is becoming active. Comes from an account that looks “normal” (but few followers) Helpfully suggests filling out a support form on a major site like Google sheets (hard to block). Asks for your secret recovery phrase. pic.twitter.com/EeHumnmzbE — MetaMask (@MetaMask) May 3, 2021 The form asks for the secret recovery phrase that can be used to respawn users’ crypto wallets. MetaMask stated that it does not have a Google Docs-based support system, urging users to seek support from the “Get ...
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Thailand to introduce in-person KYC for crypto exchanges

Thailand’s government aims to curb new crypto account creation with stringent KYC requirements. Financial regulators in Thailand are preparing to tighten restrictions surrounding new account creation at crypto asset exchanges. According to a May 3 report from Bangkok Post, the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) announced that as of July, crypto exchanges must verify the identities of new customers in-person using a “dip-chip” machine. While new users can currently verify their identities with crypto exchanges by submitting documents online, the dip-chip machines will scan a chip embedded in Thai citizen ID cards, requiring customers to be physically present for the verification process. The new rules may also prevent foreign investors — who are unable to obtain Thai ID cards — from accessing exchanges in the country. Lawmakers also appear keen to apply the same regulations for gold sales worth more than 100,000 THB (roughly $3,200). Some gold merchants located...
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Bill Maher Mocks Bitcoin, Citing Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Nassim Taleb

American comedian and television host Bill Maher mocked bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin, on his show Friday. He quoted several bitcoin critics: Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and “The Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb. Bill Maher Admits He Doesn’t Get Bitcoin Television host and political commentator Bill Maher mocked bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on his Real Time with Bill Maher show Friday. Naming bitcoin, dogecoin, and a few other cryptocurrencies, he said as far as he is concerned, dogecoin is “the same as all the other cryptocurrencies because the whole thing is a joke.” He called dogecoin “Easter bunny cartoon cash,” and likened cryptocurrencies to Tinkerbell’s light. “Its power source is based solely on enough children believing in it,” he asserted. Claiming to have read articles about cryptocurrencies and had it explained to him, Maher said: I still don’t get it and neither do you or anyone else. Maher then...
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Ethereum hits $3,000 for the first time, now larger than Bank of America

Further growth may be on the horizon for the world's largest smart contract platform. Ethereum’s ETH token has eclipsed the psychologically significant $3,000 per token mark today, rising as high as $3,003 on Binance at the time of publication. ETH price reached the milestone on several major exchanges, including Bybit, Coinbase and BitMEX.  The surge has helped Ethereum overtake institutions such as The Walt Disney Company and Bank of America in terms of total market cap. The world’s largest smart contract-enabled layer-one has grown 24% on the week to $346.72 billion, per tracking website Infinite Marketcap. By comparison, Bitcoin is presently sitting at a $1.079 trillion market cap, right below the total market cap of the precious metal silver at $1.416 trillion and above social media company Facebook at $923.12 billion. The remarkable run has even prompted renewed speculation that Ethereum could “flippen” Bitcoin , overtaking BTC as the largest digital currency in the worl...
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Bitcoin Is Number One Pick — Asset Manager Confident BTC Will Take Him ‘to the Top’ in Stock Draft Competition

At CNBC’s Stock Draft, an annual stock-picking competition, bitcoin was the number one pick. Tim Seymour, the founder of Seymour Asset Management, believes that the government will come out with regulations that support bitcoin. He is confident that the cryptocurrency will take him “to the top” this year. Bitcoin Was Top Pick at Annual Stock Picking Competition CNBC’s 2021 Stock Draft, an annual stock-picking competition, began last week. There are 10 contestants or teams of different professions. Each team makes 2 picks from a list of 60 stocks and other investments. The teams are led by asset manager Tim Seymour of Seymour Asset Management, professional poker player Maria Ho, Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy, Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary (aka Mr. Wonderful), and “The Stock Guy” Jason Frank. Also competing are mentalist Oz Pearlman, supermodel Petra Nemcova, Tiktok star Josh Richards, professional basketball player for the Miami Heat Andre Iguodala, and Chief Investment Strategist and Po...
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Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger Finds Bitcoin ‘Disgusting and Contrary to the Interest of Civilization’

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, says he hates bitcoin’s success. “I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth,” Munger said. Buffett, on the other hand, dodged the question about bitcoin because he did not want to upset the sheer number of investors who are long on the cryptocurrency. Charlie Munger Hates Bitcoin’s Success At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday, Vice Chairman Charlie Munger commented about bitcoin. The 97-year-old said during a Q&A session: Of course I hate the bitcoin success. I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth. Munger, who is often known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, added that he also does not like “shuffling out of a few extra billions and billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just invented a new financial product out of thin air.” Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett...
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Bank of England and UK Parliament get 'Bitcoin fixes this' treatment

The BoE has recently taken greater steps towards the rollout of a central bank digital currency. One crypto user is seemingly taking exception to current monetary policy from the Bank of England, or BoE, and expressing their frustration with a laser projector. Reported by Twitter user Dominic Frisby, an unknown person projected “Bitcoin fixes this” and other messages on the exterior walls of both the BoE and the Parliament of the United Kingdom on Saturday. The message appeared underneath Big Ben as well as the front of the central bank surrounded by a red box with the artist’s hallmark, and the photo has already been turned into a nonfungible token. OMG they did it on Parliament too pic.twitter.com/jijp6RutXj — Dominic Frisby (@DominicFrisby) May 1, 2021 Many financial institutions around the world have struggled to adapt amid restrictions and economic uncertainty brought on by the pandemic since March 2020. The BoE has since purchased billions in government bonds and corpor...
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Ethereum market cap hits $337 billion, surpassing Nestle, P&G and Roche

The value of the Ethereum network soared above major companies like Nestle and P&G after its market cap hit a new high at $337 billion. Ether ( ETH ) price has rallied more than 200% in 2021, resulting in a massive $337 billion market capitalization. This impressive figure pushed the value of the Ethereum network ahead of the total market cap of major companies like Procter & Gamble's ($326 billion) and PayPal's $308 billion. The market cap figure is achieved by multiplying the last trade price by the total outstanding number of coins, regardless of whether they've been moved. Therefore, it seldomly reflects the average price where most investors transacted. For investors from traditional finance, 'value' is assessed by comparing multiples and valuations. These are often calculated in the form of earnings, sales, and market share, and attempting to apply these same 'value' metrics to cryptocurrencies with multiple use cases creates uncertainty an...
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Bitcoin is a 'disgusting' product that comes 'out of thin air,' says Charlie Munger

"I hate the Bitcoin success, and I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth," said the billionaire. Charlie Munger, billionaire investor and vice chair of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, did not mince words when it came to describing his feelings on crypto. In the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting streamed live on Saturday, Munger addressed questions from investors alongside his fellow billionaire. While Buffett said he would intentionally dodge a question on whether cryptocurrencies were “worthless artificial gold,” Munger’s response was more direct, positing that the questioner was just “waving the red flag at the bull” in addressing him. “Of course I hate the Bitcoin success, and I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth,” said Munger. “Nor do I like just shuffling out a few extra billions and billions and billions of dollars to somebody who just...
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No. 1 NFL Draft Pick Trevor Lawrence Puts His Signing Bonus in Cryptocurrencies, Estimated Worth $24 Million

No. 1 NFL Draft Pick Trevor Lawrence has reportedly converted his entire signing bonus to cryptocurrencies via crypto firm Blockfolio. Lawrence is the top overall pick in the 2021 National Football League. His signing bonus is estimated to be around $24 million. NFL Draft Pick Trevor Lawrence Converts Signing Bonus to Cryptocurrencies Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence was selected No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night. The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder has partnered with crypto management and trading platform Blockfolio where has reportedly converted his sign-on bonus to cryptocurrencies. Lawrence tweeted last week: “Pumped to announce I’ve joined Blockfolio. Excited to help bring these two worlds together.” He also said: When it comes to my crypto portfolio, I wanted a long-term partner in the space that I could trust. According to Dealbook , “The quarterback’s first payment was made exclusively in crypto tokens transferred directly into ...
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Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, SOL, HT, ETC, AAVE

SOL, HT, ETC and AAVE are pushing toward new highs while Bitcoin trades within a tightening range. Bitcoin ( BTC ) price closed the month down 1.98% which according to data from Bybit, was its first negative close in April since 2015. In the same month Ether ( ETH ) price soared over 44% to hit a new all-time high close to $3,000. This wide divergence between the top two cryptocurrencies shows that the markets have matured and Bitcoin’s underperformance is not affecting altcoins as much as it did in the past. Ether’s bullish trend has attracted strong buying from traders. Data from Bybit suggests that Ether futures open interest climbed to $8.5 billion on April 29, rising 52% over the previous month. This increase has been supported by professional traders who seem to have taken a more bullish view on Ether than retail investors, as highlighted by Cointelegraph contributor Marcel Pechman. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 The strong performance from the crypto s...
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Comedian Bill Maher excoriates environmental impact of crypto

The mention of Dogecoin still got a few cheers from the socially distanced audience. Bill Maher did not hold back criticizing cryptocurrencies from Bitcoin to Dogecoin, implying the whole space was fake and yet still required an incredible amount of real energy. Speaking in the New Rules segment on his show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, the comedian said the goal of mining crypto was to “make something that is purposefully arbitrary.” Comparing the crypto space to a virtual game and speaking about mining in a seemingly derisive tone, Maher implied investing in tokens was a childish endeavor which some prominent financial figures like Warren Buffett were avoiding. “There is something inherently not credible about creating hundreds of billions in virtual wealth with nothing ever actually being accomplished and no actual product made or service rendered,” said Maher. “Unfortunately what is real is the unfathomable amount of electricity those massive supercomputers suck up fo...
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Spartan Protocol exploit results in loss of $30M

The price of SPARTA token plunged 30% on Sunday as details of the attack came to light. Spartan Protocol, a liquidity platform for synthetic assets on the Binance Smart Chain , was drained of $30 million in a coordinated attack on its liquidity pool late Saturday.  The exploit targeted a “flawed liquidity share calculation” in the SPARTA/WBNB liquidity pool, which enabled the attacker to withdraw the funds, blockchain security company PeckShield explained . The security expert continued: “In particular, the specific hack inflates the asset balance of the pool before burning the same amount of pool tokens to claim an unnecessarily large amount of underlying assets. The consequence of this attack results in more than $30M loss from the affected pool.” The nuts and bolts of the attack center around the manipulation of flash loans, which were used to inflate the balance of the pool before burning an equivalent amount of pool tokens. Spartan Protocol tweeted about the exploit lat...
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2021’s Largest Epoch Drop: Bitcoin Network’s Mining Difficulty Dips Over 12%, Hashrate Nears 200 Exahash

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has seen a massive drop this week, as the metric slid 12.6% and was the largest difficulty drop in 2021. The mining difficulty decline follows the recent electrical outages in China which had affected the network’s hashrate to some degree. Following the difficulty drop, Bitcoin’s hashrate is climbing northbound again nearing the 200 exahash per second zone. Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Drops 12% Allowing the Hashrate to Climb Higher On April 18, 2021, Bitcoin.com News and a number of crypto publications reported on Bitcoin’s ( BTC ) hashrate dropping after reports noted that in China the Xinjiang grid is having electrical blackouts. Initial reports estimated the loss of hashrate was above 40% but other reports mention the loss could have been between 12.61% to around 25%. On April 21, 2021, Coin Metrics’ founder Nic Carter said five-day stats had shown the Bitcoin ( BTC ) hashrate only lost around 25%. Whatever the exact number may be, BTC ’s network h...
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