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Showing posts from July 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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Binance Deploys Crypto Monitoring ‘Traveler’ System to Comply With FATF Travel Rule

Binance announced yesterday it deployed Ciphertrace’s Traveler system as part of its compliance efforts. Traveler is the first system designed for exchanges to comply with the Travel Rule proposed by the Financial Action Task Force. The exchange would be among the first wave of exchanges implementing this automatic Travel Rule compliance system. Binance Implements Ciphertrace’s Traveler Protocol in Its Trading Platform Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market, announced the implementation of Traveler , a system that will help them comply with the Travel Rule established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Ciphertrace, a blockchain analytics startup, created Traveler as a third-party compliance platform. Ciphertrace claims Traveler automatizes the process of complying with FATFs mandate, automatically making connections and identifying different VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers). Therefore, exchanges simplify their due diligence burden by imp...
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Bitcoin Blocks Will Soon Be 27% Easier to Find — Miners Brace for the Largest Difficulty Drop in BTC’s Lifetime

Bitcoin, the leading crypto asset in terms of market capitalization, has seen the cryptocurrency’s network hashrate drop considerably during the last two weeks. On Saturday, July 3, the network’s mining difficulty will see the largest epoch drop in history as the difficulty is set to slide by more than 27%. Bitcoin Difficulty Expected to Drop More Than 27% This weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) is set to experience the largest difficulty drop ever recorded during the crypto asset’s lifetime. At the time of writing, BTC ’s mining difficulty is 19.93 trillion and is expected to drop 27.04% by Saturday morning (EDT). In bitcoin mining, the network’s difficulty is the parameter that keeps the average time between BTC blocks consistent. The difficulty parameter is the metric that shows how difficult it is to mine a bitcoin block and the higher the difficulty, the more hashpower is needed to find a block. If the difficulty drops by 27% on Saturday, it is expected to be around 14.54 trillion. ...
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US State Department Official Wants El Salvador to ‘Ensure Bitcoin Is Well Regulated’

The U.S. Department of State’s undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, has explained during a press conference that the U.S. has urged El Salvador to be responsible with the country’s new bitcoin law. Nuland told the press that the U.S. was taking a “tough look at Bitcoin” and that Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele needs to “ensure that it is well regulated.” State Department Official Says US Is Taking a Tough Look at Bitcoin According to statements from a senior U.S. State Department official, the U.S. hopes El Salvador will be responsible with the country’s new bitcoin tender law enacted on June 9, 2021. The undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained that she had a meeting with the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele and they discussed the crypto asset bitcoin ( BTC ). The American diplomat stressed to Bukele that after the Colonial Pipeline ransomware case, the U.S. was taking “another tough look at bitcoin.” “I did suggest ...
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Bank of Russia to Study Risks of Crypto Investing With Banks and Payment Providers

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has set out to examine the risks associated with cryptocurrency investments. The regulator is going to conduct a dedicated study with the participation of major banks and payment processors operating in the Russian market. CBR Adds Crypto to Its Survey Program for 2021 Russia’s central bank, known as Bank of Russia, is planning to carry out research regarding the risks that accompany crypto investing. The study titled “Assessment of risks of using cryptocurrencies” has been added to the recently published “Bank of Russia survey program for the second half of 2021.” The survey will be conducted in order to “obtain information on trends to assess systemic risks in connection with investments of Russian individuals and legal entities in cryptocurrency,” CBR explained in a note. The regulator will send out questions to a number of financial market participants, including 15 banks such as VTB, Tinkoff, Alfa-Bank, Raiffeisenbank, and the state-owned ban...
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Venezuela to Slash Six Zeros From Its Currency to Facilitate Payments

The government of Venezuela is considering a new redenomination of its fiat currency. The proposal that is under study would cut six zeroes from the inflation-affected Bolivar. This would aid companies in processing taxes and provider payments that are absurdly complex with today’s numbers. However, the dollar is the predominant coin in retail payments in Venezuela, according to consulting firms. Venezuela to Redenominate Its Currency The government of Venezuela is studying a mathematical redenomination of its currency, the sovereign bolivar, to simplify payments for big companies. This redenomination would slash six zeros, making it easier to calculate payments now reaching high sums. While there has not been an official announcement yet, Bloomberg reported this subject was commented on by three people with knowledge of the matter. The new measure comes to aid companies who had to make big payments in bolivars. This would also aid consumers paying in bolivars using POS terminals,...
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Fed chair met with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and former House speaker in May

Armstrong said he had spoken about China’s central bank digital currency with lawmakers and heads of federal agencies, believing it to be "a threat to U.S. reserve currency status long term." Prior to the Federal Reserve announcing it would release a discussion paper on a central bank digital currency, chairperson Jerome Powell met with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. According to Powell's meeting calendar which was made public on Friday, the Fed chair held a 30-minute meeting with Armstrong as well as former House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on May 11. The reason for Ryan’s presence is unclear — the former speaker left politics in early 2019 and is now with private equity investment firm Solamere Capital. While Powell’s schedule did not reveal the topics under discussion, Armstrong referenced the meeting in a Twitter thread on May 14. The Coinbase CEO said his goal in speaking to members of Congress and heads of various federal agencies was to help answer l...
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Altcoin Roundup: Smart investors don’t just buy dips, they dollar-cost average

The crypto market may be down from its all-time highs, but dollar-cost averaging is still the best way to build long-term profits. Choppy markets have defined the crypto space since Bitcoin ( BTC ) sold off on April 19, and indecisive markets like these can test the patience and fortitude of even the most dedicated traders and analysts , especially when the incessant calls for a bottom are met with lower lows. While the periods of low trading volume and whipsaw price movements may be the perfect conditions for whale-sized traders to play in , the average investor doesn’t stand a chance, especially with multimillion-dollar funds now beginning to get in on the action. Data shows that instead of day trading and attempting to time the market bottom, dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is the best method for retail investors looking to build long-term profits in both traditional and crypto markets. In 2020, Coin Metrics pointed out that investors who dollar-cost averaged into BTC starting from...
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Cambridge and IEA data shows bitcoin carbon intensity peaked last year

Worst case projections seem to suggest that bitcoin emissions will be down by more than two-thirds in five years. According to publicly available data from the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and the International Energy Agency, or IEA, bitcoin (BTC) carbon emission intensity may have already peaked. The environmental impact of bitcoin's electricity usage is a favorite talking point of its critics and journalists on the crypto beat. But taking in the available data, Hass McCook, a retired chartered professional engineer, reckons bitcoin's carbon emissions "have already peaked a few months ago." McCook unpacked the data and defended that conclusion in a guest post on Bitcoin Magazine's website Friday: "From the above, it would appear that Bitcoin’s emissions peaked a few months ago, and thankfully, with the banning of Bitcoin mining in China, has commenced its aggressive march down to zero emissions. It is expected that in the wors...
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Skybridge Capital Launches Ethereum Fund — Ether ETF Filing to Follow

Asset management firm Skybridge Capital has launched an ethereum fund, CEO Anthony Scaramucci has confirmed. He added that the asset manager will be filing for an ether exchange-traded fund (ETF). Skybridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci revealed in the latest episode of The Scoop, published Tuesday, that his asset management firm has launched a private ethereum fund. “July 1st, we’re launching a private ethereum fund,” he said prior to the launch of the ether fund, adding: We’ll then file for an ETF for ethereum. Again, it is anybody’s guess when those things will be going. He also revealed, “As we’re speaking, we’re making an announcement on an ETF for a digital innovation fund that has some great publicly traded assets that we think are geared, related to [ethereum], related to bitcoin, but also the other coins.” The company filed a registration statement for a bitcoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May. Scaramucci emphasized: ...
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Axie Infinity (AXS) and Waves make gains as Bitcoin flatlines below $34K

Axie Infinity and Waves shake off confusion in the market to climb higher while Bitcoin continues to struggle below $34,000. Bitcoin ( BTC ) price remains relatively unchanged on the 24-hour chart, down 0.56% and trading around $33,200 at the time of writing. The overall cryptocurrency market traded flat on July 2 with the approach of the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the United States. The lackluster trading volume coincided with a slight decline in the total cryptocurrency market capitalization by $5 billion to its current value of $1.378 trillion.  Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Despite the struggles faced by the market as a whole, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro has identified bullish developments in Axie Infinity (AXS) and Waves (WAVES) thanks to recent developments related to nonfungible tokens. Axie Infinity (AXS) Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based trading and battling game that allows players to collect, breed, raise, battle and...
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Utility-focused NFTs: the future of blockchain art?

To stand out in a saturated market, NFT startups should focus on real use cases, according to COO at NFTY Labs, Titan Inc. Transitioning from static digital collectibles to tokens with real utility will lead to a new generation of NFTs according to Tytan Inc the COO of NFTY labs, a platform focused on building products for the NFT space.  In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, he said that even if the market is saturated, there is still room for startups to raise funds in the NFT ecosphere. “Most VCs are kind of catching on to the fact that a lot of the real value is in how you can use an NFT and not so much about what it looks like.”, he pointed out. Titan Inc. is particularly interested in NFTs as a method of authentication for accessing large databases, which they believe would solve the privacy and security issues inherent in traditional access systems based on passwords and user names.  “You replace that with a hardware wallet with the nontransferable NFT on it. ...
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Greenidge plans to expand mining operations to South Carolina

According to the crypto mining firm, the South Carolina facility has been capable of drawing 80 megawatts of power, two thirds of which is produced from zero carbon energy sources. Bitcoin mining company Greenidge Generation announced it would be starting operations in South Carolina as early as this year. In a Friday announcement, Greenidge said it would be operating in a carbon neutral crypto mining facility in the city of Spartanburg. The company said it had signed a letter of intent for a 10-year lease with printing firm LSC Communications’ location on the outskirts of the South Carolina city, where it plans to start mining crypto “in late 2021 or early 2022.” According to Greenidge, the location has been capable of drawing 80 megawatts (MW) of power, two thirds of which is produced from zero carbon sources including nuclear energy. Greenidge CEO Jeff Kirt said it was a step towards the company creating “environmentally sound Bitcoin mining” in the United States. The firm alr...
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