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Showing posts from July 6, 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...

Sygnum Bank Launches ETH 2.0 Staking – Business Unit Head Says ‘Staking Is a Core Element for Portfolios’

The Switzerland-based bank Sygnum revealed on Tuesday that the firm now allows Ethereum 2.0 staking. The FINMA-approved company’s customers can access the Ethereum-based staking services via Sygnum’s banking platform. Sygnum’s Banking Platform Offers Ethereum 2.0 Staking Last November, Sygnum Bank AG revealed that it is partnered with the company Taurus Group , a firm that also works with SEBA bank and other Swiss fintech services. The financial services company also detailed at the time that Sygnum would offer customers crypto staking accounts. The partnership with Taurus also revealed the staking accounts available would leverage the Tezos network, a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. Now Sygnum is allowing customers to stake ethereum (ETH) via the fintech firm’s banking platform. Sygnum considers itself the first FINMA-approved bank to enter into the ETH 2.0 staking space. “Ethereum is the second-largest blockchain protocol, and ethereum staking is a core element for digital a...

Janice McAfee can't 'accept the suicide story' about John's death

Janice McAfee, the widow of John McAfee, has questioned the "suicide narrative" asserting that there was no mention of a suicide note when she picked up his belongings from jail. Janice McAfee, the widow of anti-virus pioneer John McAfee, says that she can’t “accept the suicide story” relating to the death of her husband until an investigation has been completed. In a July 7 Twitter post , McAfee noted that she is still in shock, as she expressed her disbelief that the 75-year-old would kill himself because of looming extradition to the U.S. to face charges of tax evasion, and the possibility of life in prison. The outspoken crypto proponent was found dead in his jail cell within hours of a Spanish court ordering his extradition to the U.S. on June 23. An official autopsy is being conducted by Spanish authorities, but newspaper El Pais has cited unnamed sources saying preliminary results showed the death was by suicide. McAfee described the mainstream media as a “malig...

Survey: 40% of institutional crypto investors intend to buy a lot more

More than 80% of institutional investors polled that have already invested in digital assets expect to increase their exposure. A new survey suggests that hedge fund executives, wealth managers, and institutional investors already holding crypto assets intend to increase their holdings. The survey, conducted by London-based crypto fund Nickel Digital Asset Management, revealed that 82% of the 100 investors and wealth managers polled expect to increase their exposure to digital assets between now and 2023. The research, conducted online in May and June and shared with Cointelegraph, surveyed 50 wealth managers and 50 institutional investors with prior exposure to crypto assets spanning the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and the UAE. Four out of ten, or 40%, stated that they will “dramatically increase their holdings” with just 7% stating that they intend to reduce their exposure, and only 1% planning to sell their entire holdings. However, Nickel did state that in most cases institut...

Pro-crypto Congressman stacks, anti-crypto Congressman receives $100K from TradFi

Alabama congressman Barry Moore has snapped up ETH, ADA, and Doge over the past two months, but his holdings have taken a significant hit amid the crypto downturn. News of two contrasting approaches to crypto from U.S. members of congress surfaced this week. Alabama Congressman Barry Moore has been loading up on cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), and Dogecoin (DOGE) over the past two months. Meanwhile anti-crypto California Congressman Brad Sherman — whose stated aim is to shut crypto down — has reportedly received more than $100,000 in campaign donations from top financial firms. According to a July 2 trading disclosures filing with the clerk of the House of Representatives, Moore purchased ETH on May 5, he bought ADA on May 10, 11, 13, and bought DOGE on June 13. The filing, which misspells Ethereum as “Etherium” and crypto as “cryto”, doesn’t specify the exact amounts Moore invested but does provide a range between $1,001 to $15,000 for each purchase. Th...

China Shuts Down Software Maker Over Suspected Crypto-Related Activity, Issues Industry-Wide Warning

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, has shut down a software firm over suspected involvement in cryptocurrency transactions. The central bank also warned organizations not to “provide premises, commercial display, advertising … and other services for cryptocurrency-related business activities.” China’s central bank warned companies on Tuesday against assisting cryptocurrency-related businesses as it shut down a software firm over suspected involvement in crypto transactions, AFP reported. The Beijing office of China’s central bank ordered the closure of a software firm called Beijing Qudao Cultural Development. The central bank alleged that the company had been involved in providing software services for cryptocurrency transactions. The central bank claims that the shutdown was necessary “to prevent and control the risk of speculation in virtual currency transactions, and protect the safety of the public’s assets.” The bank also warned organizations not...

NFT sales top $2.5B in first half of 2021

NFT sales in June alone have eclipsed those for the entire first half of 2020 for the OpenSea marketplace. Sales of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have surged to record highs in the first half of 2021. There has been $2.5 billion in NFT sales in the first six months of this year according to DappRadar, a massive increase over the $13.7 million in sales for the same period in 2020. Citing stats from Dune Analytics, Reuters reported that June has been a record month for the OpenSea NFT marketplace with almost $150 million in sales. This is almost a thousand percent higher than the sales figure for all markets over the entire first half of the previous year. NFT buyers and enthusiasts view them as unique digital collectibles with intrinsic value because of their cultural significance. Others simply treat them as investments, speculating on rising prices. According to NonFungible.com, which aggregates Ethereum- based NFT transactions, there have been between 10,000 and 20,000 buyers per...

Pundits say Bitcoin’s brutal quarter could see Tesla report up to a $100M loss for Q2

Analysts believe reporting requirements may compel Tesla to announce a paper-drawdown of between $25 million and $100 million on its $1.5 billion Bitcoin bet. Bitcoin’s second-quarter price battering has pundits speculating that Tesla may have to report a loss of up to $100 million for Q2. With the price of Bitcoin recently dropping to revisit levels last seen in January, CNBC business analyst Kate Rooney asserted on July 6 that Tesla may face an “impairment charge” — requiring it to report the drawdown in a disclosure to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She noted that as Tesla first disclosed its $1.5 billion in Bitcoin purchases in February , onlookers believe the electric vehicle manufacturer may have been underwater at the end of the quarter.  “Tesla holds crypto as an intangible asset and because of accounting rules, when Bitcoin's value drops below a certain amount, companies have to mark that down in their financial statements,” Rooney said, adding: “...

Goldman Sachs: Ethereum's popularity could see ETH become dominant store of value

Goldman Sachs says the popularity of Ethereum's smart contracts means it could overtake Bitcoin as the number one crypto by market cap soon. Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients on Tuesday that the blockchain with the highest "real use potential" is Ethereum, suggesting its ETH could become the dominant digital store of value. As such, Goldman predicts the total market capitalization of ether (ETH) could overtake the total market cap for Bitcoin (BTC) in the coming years, according to a report in Business Insider.  "[Ether] currently looks like the cryptocurrency with the highest real use potential as Ethereum, the platform on which it is the native digital currency, is the most popular development platform for smart contract applications." Smart contracts  comprise software enabling the automated execution of digital contracts, with the technology having facilitated the boom in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and crypto-powered decentralized app...

Crypto Exchange Binance Suspends Euro Deposits via SEPA Bank Transfers

Troubles at cryptocurrency exchange Binance continue as the platform is now reportedly suspending euro deposits via SEPA bank transfers. Binance says the suspension is temporary and it is due to events beyond its control. Binance’s Troubles Extend to SEPA Transfers Binance users reported Tuesday that they have received a notice from the exchange about the suspension of euro deposits via Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) transfers. According to the notice shared on social media by several people, Binance explained: Due to events beyond our control, we are temporarily suspending EUR deposits via SEPA bank transfers from 8am UTC on July 7, 2021. You are still able to deposit EUR and/or buy cryptocurrencies via credit or debit cards on Binance. The notice continues: “We are working hard to find a solution with our partners and thank you for your patience … Any deposits attempted via SEPA in the meantime will be returned within 7 working days.” The Financial Times also reported the n...

Sygnum becomes first bank in the world to offer Eth2 staking

Sygnum emphasized the robust DeFi ecosystem being built on Ethereum. Crypto-focussed Swiss bank, Sygnum Bank, has announced it has become the first bank in the world to allow its clients to stake Ether. According to the July 6 blog post , the firm’s clients can now stake ETH through Sygnum’s institutional banking platform to earn yields of up to seven percent annually. Sygnum describes itself as the “world’s first digital asset bank,” having secured a banking licence in Switzerland and a capital markets services license in Singapore during August 2019 and October 2019 respectively. The firm asserts that “the vast majority of decentralized products and services run on Ethereum,” noting the DeFi sector’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has grown by more than three times since the start of 2021: “With Ethereum powering the exponential growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, staking is a compelling choice for long-term Ethereum investors also seeking attractive yields.” Thomas...

Chinese banks tell staff to recruit up to 300 new digital yuan users each

Six of China’s top banks have tasked their employees with promoting digital yuan wallets to between 200 to 300 people a year. Chinese banks have begun a hard sell of digital yuan wallets, asking staff to recruit hundreds of new users each year. According to a translation of a June 6 article from Shenlian Caijing, employees of top banks such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, along with four other state-owned banks, have been instructed to promote digital yuan wallets to an average of 200 to 300 people a year. To entice new users, employees are able to offer an odd variety of small gifts, such as “laundry detergent, data cables, card holders, Chinese knots, umbrellas, and tissues.” The banks have included the task of promoting the central bank digital currency (CBDC) on employee evaluations, with the number of CBDC wallet recruits determining each branch's end of year bonuses. Essentially the banks have deployed an incentive scheme ...

Allied Payment Network Embeds Bitcoin Service, Will Hold BTC in Corporate Treasury

Payment service provider Allied Payment Network has partnered with New York Digital Investment Group, the bitcoin subsidiary of $10 billion asset manager Stone Ridge. Financial institutions using Allied’s platform will be able to offer their customers the option to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin. Furthermore, Allied will keep bitcoin on its balance sheet. Allied Payment Network (Allied), a digital payment service provider for financial institutions, announced Tuesday it has partnered with New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a bitcoin technology and financial services firm. NYDIG is a subsidiary of Stone Ridge, a $10 billion alternative asset manager. “The partnership enables financial institutions to offer their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold bitcoin,” the announcement explains, claiming that “Allied is the first bill pay provider in the industry to embed this service in its platform and offer it to financial institutions.” The announcement adds: Along with thi...

Financial Watchdog FinCEN Recruits First-Ever Chief Digital Currency Advisor

Following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) explaining the misuse of cryptocurrencies is a national priority last week, the bureau announced on Tuesday it hired its first-ever chief digital currency advisor. FinCEN’s acting director Michael Mosier detailed that Michele Korver will be the bureau’s new crypto expert and she brings “a wealth of digital currency expertise.” FinCEN Enlists Former DOJ Digital Currency Counsel as New Chief Digital Currency Advisor FinCEN, the U.S. regulator that combats domestic and international financial crimes, has announced the organization has hired the first chief digital currency advisor (DCA). Michele Korver will be FinCEN’s first DCA after she worked for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and as a former federal prosecutor for 20 years. Korver will serve as the DCA to the director of FinCEN and she aims to “advance FinCEN’s leadership role in the digital currency space by working across internal and external partners.” FinCEN is rea...

Bitcoin Taproot Support Lags at 27% — Even Though Soft Fork Is Opt-in Supporters Beg Nodes to Update

On June 12, the crypto community celebrated the fact that the Bitcoin network locked in Taproot support in order to activate the largest upgrade the protocol has seen in four years. 24 days later, Taproot support via Bitcoin nodes has only reached 27.55% and upgrade supporters are pleading with the community to update their nodes. It’s Your Duty to Upgrade Nodes, Say Numerous Bitcoin Taproot Threads Data stemming from the Twitter account called Taproot Signal shows that Taproot-supporting nodes only represent a touch over 27% of the known public node count. 72.45% have not updated their Bitcoin nodes to support the upcoming activation period in November. The upgrade, however, is a soft fork which means nodes don’t necessarily have to upgrade to remain within Bitcoin’s ruleset. Similarly, the soft fork Segregated Witness (Segwit) suffered from a lack of node adoption as well, when it was activated in 2017. Bitcoin Node Taproot Support: 27.55% 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧...

Alpha Finance Lab (ALPHA) rallies 50% as project fundamentals improve

ALPHA price turned bullish shortly after the project introduced staking, simplified farming options and a launchpad for new blockchain projects. Bitcoin ( BTC ) price continues to trade in a predictable range which has given traders confidence in trading altcoins and DeFi tokens. This translated to a 110% rally in the price of Alpha Finance Lab (ALPHA) over the past four days.  Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.30 on June 22, the price of ALPHA has rallied 196% to a monthly high at $0.89 on July 6 as its 24-hour volume spiked 433% to $293 million. ALPHA/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Reasons for the building momentum for ALPHA include protocol improvements to Alpha Homora V2, the launch of the Alpha Launchpad and an attractive price per earnings ratio (P/E) when compared to competing platforms. Protocol upgrades promote interoperability The biggest upgrade for the Alpha Finance Lab protocol came back on Febr...

STASIS and Free TON DeFi Alliance Partners to Boost the Development of Free TON DeFi Ecosystem

Free TON , a decentralized proof of stake blockchain powered by its community and STASIS , a EU compliant EURS stablecoin project, partnered to make DeFi more functional and affordable for everyone. The STASIS team will be deploying their protocol to the Free TON ecosystem, so that their stablecoin EURS can be minted natively on Free TON. This partnership will be implemented in two stages: Farming: Addition of EURS-WTON pair to native Free TON DEX – TonSwap.io , developed by Broxus , a multi-level turnkey platform for crypto exchanges, e-commerce, trading platforms. Sound TON rewards will be applied to users, providing liquidity to that pool. EURS deployment on Free TON: porting EURS smart-contract to Free TON, so that users can natively receive EURS on Free TON in exchange of their EUR. The partnership will allow users both from Free TON and STASIS EURS ecosystems to access highly scalable, stable, and on-chain money with low transaction costs and high TPS. “I am thrilled...

Licensed Iranian crypto miners ordered to halt production 'altogether'

Even Iran's minister of labor has reported electrical disruptions to his home as crypto miners continue to exert demand on the country's power grid. Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president of Iran under Hassan Rouhani, has called on all legally operating crypto miners in the country to stop producing coins. According to a Wednesday report from the Tasnim News Agency, Jahangiri said at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Energy that the electricity restrictions for Iranians were likely to continue until early August, purportedly in line with Rouhani’s previously announced prohibition on crypto mining. The president said in May that crypto mining would be banned in the country until September in an attempt to conserve power during the summer months. “We will ensure that the electricity will not be cut off in essential and important places,” said Jahangiri. “Licensed miners must also stop production altogether.” Crypto and Bitcoin ( BTC ) mining as an industrial ac...

Brazilian ‘King of Bitcoin’ Arrested for Involvement in Alleged $300 Million Fraud

Claudio Oliveira, owner of the Bitcoin Bank in Brazil and known as the ‘King of Bitcoin,’ was arrested yesterday for his alleged participation in a fraud scheme involving $300 million. According to inquiries from federal authorities, Oliveira faked a Bitcoin hack back in 2019 in which his company lost a significant amount of bitcoin. More than 7,000 customers lost their funds in this fake hack. ‘King of Bitcoin’ Apprehended in Brazil The Federal Brazilian Police apprehended Claudio Oliveira yesterday for his supposed involvement in a $300 million fraud scheme. Oliveira, who owned the Bitcoin Bank, reported a bitcoin hack on his company back in 2019. But according to police investigations, this was a staged crime to cover the withdrawal of these cryptocurrencies. Brazilian police also seized eight luxury cars and jewels. Operation Daemon, which cracked down on the Bitcoin Bank scheme, resulted in the arrest of four more individuals. The police searched 22 locations in one of the b...

BREAKING: Binance suspends euro bank transfers amid regulatory heat

As of 8 am UTC on Wednesday, Binance users will no longer be able to make euro deposits through their bank. However, they can still fund their accounts with credit cards and debit cards. Regulatory constraints facing Binance have forced the popular cryptocurrency exchange to temporarily halt bank transfers denominated in euros, according to an email sent to its customers on Tuesday.  Specifically, euro deposits via the Single Europe Payments Area, or SEPA, have been put on hold indefinitely due to circumstances beyond the exchange’s control, Binance said in the email: “Due to events beyond our control, we are temporarily suspending EUR deposits via SEPA Bank Transfers from 8 am UTC on July 7, 2021.” The email was sent a day after British financial giant Barclays announced it would no longer facilitate customer payments to Binance after financial regulators warned customers that the exchange was operating in the United Kingdom without proper licensing. In a follow up with Co...

From mining to software: China's regulatory crackdown on crypto continues

Financial institutions, crypto miners, and now software companies — where will regulators in China move to strike next? Financial regulators in China have shut down a Beijing-based software company they suspect of providing services to crypto traders. In a Tuesday joint statement, the Beijing Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau and the Business Administration Department of the People's Bank of China issued a warning to all financial institutions and payment service providers to not provide any crypto-related services to customers. This includes businesses not advertising or providing office space for any “virtual currency-related business activities.” As part of a regulatory crackdown, the two groups announced they had ordered the shutdown of Beijing Tongdao Cultural Development, a company which allegedly provided software services for crypto transactions. Regulators reported they had also suspended the firm’s website. Local registration records state the firm had...

Price analysis 7/6: BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, DOGE, XRP, DOT, UNI, BCH, LTC

Altcoins continue to move higher as Bitcoin trades in a predictable range but it’s still too early to know if the market is flashing any strong buy signals. The weekend rally in cryptocurrencies was led by Bitcoin ( BTC ) but this move was not supported by huge trading volumes. According to on-chain analysts at CryptoQuant, the low trading volume suggests that “whales are staying low without much action.” However, Bitcoin has successfully held the $30,000 support for two weeks, which suggests that accumulation is taking place at lower levels. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index rose to 29 on July 5, its highest level in about three weeks. This suggests that aggressive investors may have started bottom fishing. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 If bulls successfully hold the $30,000 level in Bitcoin for a few more days, trading interest is likely to increase further. Institutional investors usually do not buy in a falling market and wait until prices stabiliz...