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Showing posts from July 14, 2021

Could You Build a Better Way to Wiki? Free TON Launches Contest With Over $80,000 in Crypto

Free TON, a decentralized international community of developers and enthusiasts, have launched a brand-new contest to rework the Wikipedia Governance model, and there are thousands of dollars worth of rewards on offer. Freecyclopedia Wikipedia currently boasts over twenty-one million individual articles, and while many last minute homework reports may have been saved by the dusty halls of these hallowed community moderated forums, the way in which we verify information is evolving. As a cornerstone of internet information databases, it is vital that the way in which Wikipedia works, stays ahead of the curve. The key to this could come from a system familiar to blockchain governance specialists, Byzantine Fault Tolerance . Since May 2020, the Free TON community have been tinkering with the mechanics of governance models in their ambitious social experiment to decentralize the internet. Now, as they enter their second year of being, the community have launched a wiki-lutionary new ...

Fantasy soccer NFT platform Sorare reportedly closing in on $532M in funding

Sorare is reportedly closing in a half a billion dollar funding round with a valuation of at least $3.8 billion. Reports have surfaced that French NFT-based soccer trading card game developer Sorare is closing in on a $532 million funding round with a valuation of at least $3.8 billion. According to unnamed sources in Business Insider, the latest funding round is expected to be led by Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank, along with participation from European venture capital firm Atomico. Other backers thought to be in the mix include European investment firm Eurazeo, and Blisce, a fund founded by French entrepreneur Alexandre Mars. Sorare was founded in 2018 and the firm’s NFT-based soccer collectible card game now has 142 licensed teams from top leagues across the world, such as Liverpool from the English Premier League, Real Madrid of the La Liga in Spain, Paris Saint-German from Ligue 1 in France and Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga. Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia ha...

DOGE attack: Co-founder slams crypto as 'right-wing hyper-capitalist’ tech

The crypto industry is controlled by a “powerful cartel of wealthy figures” according to Jackson Palmer. The co-founder of the memecoin DOGE, Jackson Palmer, has slammed the entire crypto industry and its investors in a vitriol-laden Twitter thread on Wednesday. Palmer, who created the wildly popular coin as a joke in 2013, unleashed his tirade in a lengthy thread about whether he would ever return to cryptocurrency, in short his answer is an emphatic “no”. He stated his belief that crypto is right-wing and inequitable: “I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity.” Palmer also claimed the crypto industry is controlled by a “powerful cartel of wealthy figures” which have “evolved to incorporate many of the same institutions tied to the existing centralized financial system the...

'DeFi Education Fund' defends controversial $10.2M UNI liquidation

The DeFi Education Fund has defended its shock liquidation of $10 million in UNI, claiming the move was necessary to “begin its work and fund future operations.” The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), an organization funded by Uniswap to spearhead lobbying and educational initiatives in support of the decentralized finance sector, has defended its sudden move to liquidate half of its UNI treasury earlier this week. The organization said it needed to convert the funds into stable assets to weather crypto market volatility. In May, the DEF was conceived in a Uniswap governance proposal from the Harvard Law Blockchain and Fintech Initiative, with the entity being formed earlier this month after the vote passed with a treasury of 1 million UNI tokens, worth more than $18 million at current prices. Despite indicating the UNI would be sold over the course of years, on July 12, the fund suddenly announced it had organized for half of its war chest to be liquidated into USDC by market maker, Gen...

France Proposes EU-Wide Cryptocurrency Regulation

France has proposed giving more power to the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and making it responsible for cryptocurrency oversight. French regulators say cryptocurrencies need EU-wide regulation. EU-Wide Crypto Regulation With ESMA as Main Supervisor France proposed Tuesday that the EU governments give the responsibility of regulating cryptocurrencies to the pan-European markets watchdog, the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), instead of national regulators, the Financial Times reported. The French markets regulator, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has also called for more regulatory power to be granted to the ESMA to regulate the crypto industry more effectively. The AMF said: Granting ESMA the power of direct supervision of public offers of cryptoassets in the EU and of cryptoasset service providers would create obvious economies of scale for all national supervisors and concentrate expertise in an efficient way, ...

NFL’s Saquon Barkley converting endorsements to BTC to create ‘generational wealth’

Saquon Barkley will use Strike to convert all of his endorsements into Bitcoin, and noted that he became interested in BTC after researching inflation. NFL star Saquon Barkley has revealed that he will be converting all of his endorsement money into Bitcoin. Barkley was the 2018 NFL offensive rookie of the year and plays as a running back for the New York Giants — a team that is also sponsored by Grayscale . The 24-year-old explained the rationale for the move earlier today during an appearance on “The Best Business Show” hosted by Bitcoin proponent and Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano. He noted that his research on inflation is what drove his interest in Bitcoin: "We're seeing inflation and we're learning you can't save wealth. That's why I am going to be taking my marketing money in Bitcoin." Barkley was joined on the show by Jack Mallers, the CEO of Strike, a payments company based on the Lightning Network . The NFL star cites the C...

Green BTC miner Bitfarms’ production up 50% after China ban, as Compass goes nuclear

Bitfarms is producing more BTC at a lower cost due to the drop in difficulty. Publicly traded North American Bitcoin mining company, Bitfarms, has doubled its productivity this year amid the Chinese crackdown and resultant miner migration. The Canadian hydroelectricity mining outfit claims to be currently powering an estimated 1.5% of the entire Bitcoin network with more than 99% renewable green energy. In a July 14 production update , the firm revealed that it had mined 1,357 BTC in the first six months of 2021, adding that this was the largest number of BTC mined in North America as reported by publicly-traded miners. It has projected the production of more than 400 BTC for the month of July, which would be double the 199 it mined in January, and more than 50% over June’s 365 BTC mined. Bitfarms, which was founded in 2017, also stated that more than 95% of its production this year, or 1,445 BTC, has been deposited into custody as of July 12. Earlier this month, Bitcoin experie...

Visa to Approve Cryptocurrency Card by Australian Startup

Visa is reportedly set to approve Australian crypto startup Cryptospend’s issuance of debit cards for spending bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies. “We have a lot of demand for the card,” the company claims. Global card giant Visa is expected to announce later this week the approval of the issuance of a physical debit card that will allow Cryptospend app users to spend their cryptocurrencies using existing payment terminals, Cryptospend co-founder and CEO Andrew Grech reportedly said. “It will be the first time cryptocurrencies can be spent using a payments card issued in Australia that runs on the network of one of the international card schemes,” AFR publication reported Wednesday. Launched last October, Cryptospend supports bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, bitcoin cash, and XRP . Grech detailed: We have a lot of demand for the card. If the market is green, someone could say it’s time to spend some of my profits. On the other side of the fence, another person might say it’...

SEC fines Coinschedule $200K over sponsored, favorable ICO ratings

The SEC asserts that Coinschedule violated anti-touting provisions of U.S. securities laws. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against the defunct initial coin offering (ICO) review website Coinschedule.com for violating the anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws. But two SEC commissioners have penned an open letter in response saying the settlement highlights flaws with the commission’s processes. According to a July 14 release from the securities regulator, Coinschedule failed to disclose it was receiving compensation from digital asset issuers for favorable reviews. The settlement’s terms state that Blotics, formerly known as Coinschedule, must pay a penalty of $154,434 plus $43,000 in disgorgement plus interest without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. The website operated between 2016 and 2019, with many of its visitors hailing from the United States. The site provided “trust scores” for more than 2,500 ICOs, claiming to asse...

Bank of America: Bitcoin Now 3rd Most Crowded Trade After Tech Stocks and ESG in New Fund Manager Survey

Bank of America’s latest global fund manager survey shows that “long bitcoin” is now the third most crowded trade. The most crowded trade is now “long tech stocks,” followed by “long ESG.” Bank of America’s global fund manager survey for July, published Tuesday, shows that “long bitcoin” has fallen to third place among the most crowded trades. The Global Fund Manager Survey is Bank of America Securities’ monthly report that canvasses the views of approximately 200 institutional, mutual, and hedge fund managers around the world. The most crowded trade is now “long tech stocks,” followed by “long ESG,” and “long bitcoin.” “Long commodities” has fallen to fourth place from being the most crowded trade last month. The surveyed fund managers in July were much less bullish over growth, earnings, and inflation compared to earlier in the year, Bank of America’s survey shows. Overall, 74% of fund managers still expect growth and inflation to be “above trend.” “Long bitcoin” was th...

First look: Spike Lee's TV ad for crypto touts it as new money for a diverse world

Coin Cloud chose Spike Lee to direct the crypto commercial specifically for his experience in exploring social issues, and the firm noted they wanted to “spark important dialogue” with the ad campaign. Spike Lee’s new ad dubbed “The Currency of Currency” launched online today, and the two-minute spot depicts crypto as new money for a diverse world. The 64-year-old Oscar winning filmmaker directed and starred in the commercial for crypto ATM provider Coin Cloud, and in the ad, he explores themes such as racial and financial inequality, diversity, and inclusivity. “Old money, as rich as it looks, is flat out broke,” Lee says, adding “they call it green, but it’s only white” as he cites the lack of diversity in people depicted on U.S. dollar bills and coins. While the ad spot had previously been touted as being a “Bitcoin” commercial, BTC isn’t mentioned by name at all in the ad. Instead the concept of crypto in general is referred to as “new money.” The ad does have a loose referenc...

SEC Charges Token Listing Website With Unlawfully Touting Crypto Securities

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a token listing website with unlawfully touting crypto securities. The site did not disclose that it was paid by the token issuers to profile their coin offerings. SEC Charges Website Touting Security Tokens Without Clarifying Which Tokens Are Securities The U.S. SEC announced Wednesday that a token listing website has been “charged with unlawfully touting digital asset securities.” The commission also stated that it has already settled charges against the operator of the website. Coinschedule.com was a popular website that “profiled offerings of digital asset securities,” the SEC described, adding that its operator was a company based in the U.K. called Blotics Ltd. The regulator explained that the website was accessible in the U.S. from 2016 to August 2019, during which time U.S. visitors comprised a significant portion of its web traffic. The website offered details of each initial coin offerings (ICOs) profiled, inc...

Triple-digit gains make Dogecoin and Ethereum Classic the top performers of Q2

Bitcoin and Ethereum were the center of attention in Q1 but data shows DOGE, ETC and MATIC were the top performers of Q2. In early 2021 Bitcoin and Ether price was the center of attention as each asset seemed to hit a new all-time high every 24-hours and traders called for $100,000 BTC and $5,000 ETH. Fast forward to the present and both assets are still more than 40% down from their all-time highs and the bulls calling for unbelievable price targets are nowhere to be found. A recent report from CoinMetrics reviewed the performance of Bitcoin and altcoins during Q2 2021 and the analysts found that even with the sharp May 19 market correction many assets finished the quarter in the green with Dogecoin ( DOGE ) coming out on top with a 392% gain. Q2 2021 returns for the top 25 crypto assets. Source: CoinMetrics Ethereum Classic ( ETC ) and Polygon (MATIC) were the other two breakaway stars of Q2, with each gaining 297% and 227% respectively despite a nearl...

Internet Company The9 Reveals Hosting Partnership With Russian Bitcoin Miner Bitriver

During the first week of April, the publicly-listed gaming and internet company The9 Limited revealed its intentions to purchase 2,000 Avalonminers from the manufacturer Canaan. On Monday, The9 announced it has signed a hosting agreement with the Russian-based firm Bitriver as the company will leverage 15 megawatts (MW) of Bitriver’s capacity for two years. The9 Teams Up With the Bitcoin Mining Operation Bitriver The9 Limited (Nasdaq: NCTY) has explained its plans to collaborate with the bitcoin mining company from Moscow, Bitriver. As part of the agreement, both parties can extend the two-year agreement for 15 MW for each additional year thereafter. “At present, the targeted data-center for The9’s mining machines has an initial total power supply capacity of 300 MW, which could be extended up to 500 MW,” the announcement details. The9’s deal with Bitriver follows the company’s acquisition of 2,000 bitcoin mining rigs from Canaan, which gave the company 0.1 exahash per second (EH...

Fed Chair says stablecoins need stricter regulation, speaks on CBDC

He stated that stablecoins need stricter regulations if they are to be part of the payment universe. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told the House of Representatives today that stablecoins should face stricter regulations similar to money market funds or bank deposits. Powell was asked specifically about Tether, currently the most valuable stablecoin, by Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH). Tether claimed each coin was backed by a dollar, but that has been proven false; rather it is backed mostly by commercial paper or debts. Powell said most of the time those assets are very liquid, but during the recent financial crisis that wasn’t the case. He explained: "The market just disappears. And that’s when people will want their money. It’s very simple: these are economic activities very similar to bank deposits and money market funds, and they need to be regulated in comparable ways,” Powell went on to say that if Stablecoins are going to be a part of the payment universe, then regulation...

SEC delays decision on Wisdom Tree Bitcoin ETF

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for comments regarding Wisdom Tree's proposed Bitcoin ETF. On July 13, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, pushed back its decision on Wisdom Tree’s Bitcoin ETF with a request for public feedback. This request will allow members of the public to communicate their position on whether the trust should be approved or denied. The SEC’s notice stated: “The Commission requests that interested persons provide written submissions of their views, data and arguments with respect to the issues identified above, as well as any other concerns they may have with the proposal.” Public comments are required to be submitted to the Federal Register within 21 days, and rebuttals filed in 35 days from publication. The SEC is asking for comments on whether the public believes that the proposed Bitcoin ETF would be susceptible to manipulation and whether the exchange’s proposal is designed to sufficiently prevent fraudulent and manipulat...

Dolce and Gabbana to launch of an exclusive NFT collection

Dolce and Gabbana announced the first in a line of NFTs in partnership with luxury marketplace UNXD. Fashion and Luxury brand Dolce and Gabbana has announced the launch of an exclusive NFT collection in collaboration with UNXD — a digital marketplace powered by the Polygon Network which hopes to become an exclusive marketplace for digital luxury and culture. The fashion brand’s debut NFT collection will be named Collezione Genesi , or Genesis Collection. Dolce and Gabbana will feature the collection at it’s upcoming shows for Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria, and Alta Goilleria in Venice at the end of August. The collection focuses on the deep-rooted artistic traditions of Venice, according to the release. Related: Nonfungible tokens soar even as Bitcoin price drops close to $32,000 The first concept in the collection is inspired by a dream from designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana called L’abito dei Sogni, or Dress from a Dream. Other NFTs in the Collezione Genesi collection w...

Record low Bitcoin velocity suggests BTC may ‘move to the downside’

Weekly Bitcoin transactions and velocity hit record lows, leading one analyst to suggest that even with BTC stable at $33,000, further downside could ensue. In the early hours of July 14, Bitcoin price took a surprise hit to $31,550 before slowly recovering back above $32,900 in the morning session. The swift drop near the crucial $30,000 resistance raised alarms among bulls and bears and whilst the $30,000 to $32,000 level continues to function as a support level, a recent market update from ByteTree CEO James Bennett paints a mixed picture of what may be in store for BTC. According to analysis from Bennett , the price of Bitcoin has stabilized near the $34,000 level due to a reduction in miner selling and an increase in accumulation, but he also warns that several metrics show that decreased activity on the network hint that BTC is still in a neutral zone where there is a reduced appetite from key players. Bitcoin transactions decline According to Bennett weekly Bitcoin tr...

Exchange Providers Halt BSV Services as Mining Pool Captures 78% of BSV Network Hashrate

The cryptocurrency community has been discussing the Bitcoinsv network as a mining pool called Taal has well over 51% of the hashrate. Data from the analytical crypto website Coin Dance shows the mining pool Taal commands over 78% of the network’s hashrate during the last 24 hours. On Tuesday, the European cold storage provider, Gravity, says it has suspended bitcoinsv trading “due to several large exchanges disabling BSV deposits [and] withdrawals.” Following Blockchain Reorganization Attack Last Week, Taal Captures Well Over 51% of the Bitcoinsv Network’s Hashrate According to statistics, a mining operation called Taal currently commands well over 51% of the Bitcoinsv ( BSV ) network’s hashrate. On Wednesday, the mining pool Taal captures more than 78% of the BSV hashrate in terms of distribution among five known pools and 13% of unknown hashrate. Data from the web page sv.coin.dance/blocks indicates that during the trailing seven days, Taal commanded 69% of the network’s hashp...

Price analysis 7/14: BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, XRP, DOGE, DOT, UNI, BCH, LTC

Bitcoin and most major altcoins are bouncing off strong support levels, indicating possible accumulation by the bulls. Bitcoin ( BTC ) has once again held the critical support area at $31,000 today, indicating accumulation at lower levels. This led some analysts to speculate that traders were selling their holdings to investors with a low history of selling in anticipation that “a supply shock” to occur when the re-accumulation process completes. Another sign of strong hands entering the crypto market was seen when Capital International Group, a $2.3 trillion asset manager, purchased a 12.3% stake in MicroStrategy, which many believe to be a sort of Bitcoin proxy stock because it holds 105,084 Bitcoin on its books. This acquisition suggests the asset manager is taking indirect exposure to Bitcoin. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 The United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged 0.9% in June 2021 over the previous month and 5.4% from a year earlier,...